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Wanting to be close enough to hear the conversation, I silently position myself on the other side of the counter.
“Hi, Patrick,” she greets. “I believe I have the information you seek from Gregory, but I am currently in Brooklyn.
The look of surprise that overtakes Emily’s face is concerning.
“You are here also?” her surprised voice questions. “If you are available tomorrow,” she continues before stopping.
Turning toward me, it’s as though all the color has been entirely drained from her face as she reaches out to hand me her cell phone.
“He wants to talk to you.”
How does he know I’m here?
“Patrick.”
“Always so serious, Hawke,” his smug tone replies. “But, honestly, did you believe I wouldn’t find out what you and Antonio were up to?”
“What did you do to Earl, Patrick?”
Laughing deeply, he mocks me by saying I’ve worked alongside him for years to already know, and if it is any consolation, Earl didn’t suffer. I’m not naïve enough to think he knew we were on to him through his torture of Earl. He would have started tracking Ant and me when he became aware of Sean’s involvement.
“Before he died, though,” Patrick continues, “he helped me locate an old friend.”
Sean
“But don’t worry, Hawke, I didn’t touch his beautiful wife and daughter.”
In all the years I have worked beside Patrick, I don’t think I’ve heard him sound as sinister as he does now.
As he relays the story, his plan to find Sean was meticulous and detailed down to the point that he knew I’d make the trip to Brooklyn to meet with Earl.
In fact, he was counting on it.
Patrick knew it’d only be a matter of time before someone discovered what he was up to but was indeed surprised to learn that it was Sean who had made the connection. He became suspicious upon his and Sean’s separate arrival back in the US from Afghanistan when Sean wouldn’t share the intel, he had discovered. Knowing Sean would only share his findings with one person, and that being the director of the CIA, Patrick knew who the director would reach out to.
“You are all predictable.” he taunted.
While Earl and I were secretly discussing his case, Patrick strategically positioned himself in the building, patiently waiting for me to leave. He knew it would be easier to grab Earl in the one place he’d believe he was safe, and he was right. Once he had Earl trapped, he knew it wouldn’t take much to get him to give up Sean’s location.
“You didn’t have to kill Earl, though.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew how stupid they sounded, and Patrick’s loud laughter confirmed it. If he had let Earl live, he knew I’d be the first person Earl would have called; that was a risk he couldn’t take. Patrick needed to locate Sean first to make sure he had leverage.
Leverage for what? I’m still not sure, but I doubt Patrick is finished.
“You know, Hawke, I am surprised you attempted to use that pretty little woman of yours to try and trap me, especially after the deaths of your wife and daughter,” he spits, snarling down the line.
“I wasn’t using Emily to do anything, Patrick,” I retaliate. “She is working this case with me.”
“Even so, that’s a dangerous move considering what I am capable of.”
What he is capable of.
What Patrick had been capable of when he first joined my and Ant’s team was ensuring our paperwork was done correctly. It was the one thing I hated the most, which he was good at. Back then, he was nothing more than a pencil pusher. It took us years to train him to be a decent agent capable of fieldwork. I wouldn’t have believed he’d be capable of any of this, yet he has far exceeded anything we ever taught him, and I guess we have his terrorist friends to thank for that.
“What do you want, Patrick?” I abruptly interrupt. “You know, once Antony discovers you have kidnapped his son, he won’t rest till he finds you both.”
“What I wanted,” he snarls. “Was to be left alone, but your incessant pursuit of finding Christopher Asher’s replacement has prevented that.”
