Page 27 of Isla by Any Other Name

“Neil Dillon here.”

“Neil, it’s Mary Carlson.”

“Mary, how are you?” he asked, concerned. “Everything’s okay, I hope?”

“Neil, I need to talk to you. It’s important. But not in the office. Can you meet me at the coffee shop on East Third Street near the Mall?”

“What’s this about?”

“I’ll explain everything when I see you. Meet me at ten thirty,” she said as she hung up the phone and got dressed.

Mary got to the coffee shop at ten fifteen, ordered her coffee, and sat at the table in the corner. She needed to do this. Maybe the Bureau could protect her. Why was I so stupid? she thought, over and over.

Neil walked in the door at exactly ten thirty and looked around. He spotted her and walked toward her with a look over his shoulder. He sat down across from her. “Mary, what’s this about?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. She could feel the flush of fear crawl up her body. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. “Neil, there’s a mole in the Bureau, in our office.”

Neil’s jaw stiffened. “I knew it. Can you help me find out who it is, Mary?”

He looked like he trusted her. He thought she was going to help him find the bad guy. She was the bad guy. Mary swallowed again. “That mole is me. I’ve been on Hernandez’s payroll for two years now.”

The fury in Neil’s eyes was red-hot. “Are you kidding me, Mary? Is this a joke?”

Mary shook her head. “No—no joke.”

He shook his head. She knew he could call for her to be arrested right this second. But he sat back in his chair, looking at her in disbelief. “Why now, Mary?”

Mary played with the straw in her trembling hand. “It started out with just small stuff. A tip here and there. Was the Bureau looking into this or that? Then they wanted me to hack into the Bureau’s computers and find out what agents were on what cases. They wanted to know how certain cases were moving along. And when things would be going down, that kind of thing.” She felt herself rambling, spewing all the secrets inside her like toxic vomit. She felt like a monster inside. She needed that monster out.

Mary shook her head. “It wasn’t for the money, if that’s what you think. It was because I could do it, I could use my skills to give them the information they wanted. I’m a good hacker. I just think that I wanted some recognition for my skills. I wasn’t the mousy girl in the corner of the office shuffling papers around.

“Anyway, things started getting dicey when Hernandez got sloppy and got caught red-handed for the murder of Jim Watkins. They wanted to know who was on the case and where Isla Pierce was. I didn’t want to give them that kind of information. I knew that if they found her, they would kill her. But they threatened me. I knew what they would do to me if I refused. I figured out that Mitch Larkin and his team were on the case and I found out through a casual conversation with Steve that he has a hunting cabin in Virginia, so I did some digging and gave them a list of possible places that they could be keeping her.”

“Why are you coming to me now? You know I’ll have to take you into custody.”

“I know. But I can’t have Isla Pierce’s death on my conscience. I’m not a murderer. I’ll confess to what I have done and I’ll accept the consequences. Please, just keep me safe. I’ll testify against Hernandez and anyone else you want me to testify against. But please don’t let them kill me or Isla Pierce. As soon as they find Pierce they’ll come after me. I’m a liability. You have to help me, Neil. Please.”

Neil curled his lip in disgust. “We need to go back to the office. You will need to give us your statement and I’ll call the director and see what we can do. We’ll also need a list of those addresses you came up with. The sooner we get those addresses, the better off we’ll be. Let’s go.”

She stood up, her face drained of blood. Then she collected her purse with shaking hands. “Neil, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

“Sorry isn’t going to mean a thing if someone gets hurt or killed, Mary. You’ve put so many people in danger, it isn’t funny. You’re just lucky that your information hasn’t gotten someone killed in the past. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. You’re in a lot of trouble here. You’re responsible for keeping Hernandez’s drugs on the streets. You’re responsible for allowing murderers into our secure data. I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s not in my hands. Now let’s go, I have a witness and a team to protect.” He took her arm and they walked out the door.

Mary sighed in relief. It was over.

Neil Dillon picked up his office phone and called Mitch on his burner cell. The phone rang twice before it was picked up.

“Yeah?”

“Dillon here. We’ve been breached. We’ve found the mole and there is a possibility that Hernandez’s goons are onto you. I’ll read a list of addresses. Let me know if they mean anything to you.” He ran down the list of addresses and when he came to the fifth one, Mitch stopped him.

“Wait—that address is for the hunting cabin my family owns. Who found it? It’s not even in my name. Who’s the mole?”

“Mary Carlson. She just confessed that she’s been on Hernandez’s payroll for the last two years. But someone’s life wasn’t on the table like it is now. She couldn’t take the guilt—or the threat of her own execution. She said she would testify against Hernandez and his goons. My main concern right now is keeping Isla safe. Will they be able to find you where you are right now?”

“It’s a possibility, Neil,” Mitch said. “We’re in the same vicinity as that hunting cabin. It’s three miles from the compound. What do you want us to do? We could move to another safe house or stay here and end this now. It’s your call.”

“Talk to your team. I figure you have at least twenty-four hours before anything goes down. But that’s not a guarantee. Have a meeting with your team and get back to me. We can have reinforcements to you in four hours.”