AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Near us?” Amelia asked.
Beatrice nodded. “Back then, a local sheriff stopped him for a broken taillight, nothing alarming, but when they found a bag with clothes, cash, and several unregistered guns in a hidden compartment in the trunk, they arrested him. He was flagged by the Feds, but they had bigger things on their plate at that time. In court, the case was thrown out due to an overzealous deputy violating Jan’s rights during the arrest. He was once again in the wind.”
Moe raised a sheet of paper. “Until…a few weeks later when his fake ID was used to rent a car at the airport. Some grunt in an FBI cubicle put him on their watch list. It was happening to hundreds of innocent people at that time, but a few wankers were tagged as well.”
“After reading up on all of this, here’s what I think.” Beatrice brought up a photo of the sanctuary event showing their suspect and Amelia’s father, Baron Thorpe. “I reached out to one of my contacts at The Bureau. Your dad was a CI for the local branch in Columbia. Like all law enforcement, they were recruiting at that time, hoping to prevent further terrorist attacks on US soil. And they did. Your father, however, was put on Jan’s trail.”
“Wait.” Amelia blinked. “My dad was an informant for the FBI?”
“Plenty of patriotic folks volunteered then and some were recruited.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “That can’t be. My mom would’ve known, wouldn’t she?”
“Unlikely,” Rory said. “They would have insisted he keep it a secret.”
“He was a WL—instructed to Watch and Listen only,” Beatrice told her. “Jan lived half a mile from you and your dad passed his house daily. According to the file, Baron alerted them to Jan’s comings and goings when he observed them. He made notes about anyone he saw Jan meet with.”
“This isnotpossible.” Amelia gripped the table, her voice barely above a whisper as realization sunk in. “My dad was a spy.”
“And a good one according to my contact. He had a notebook full of Jan’s movements and had added pages of his own theories about what the man was up to.”
Rory put an arm around her shoulders before he asked Beatrice, “What happened the night of the event?”
“I think Jan saw an easy score—plenty of the local wealthy citizens supporting the fundraiser, and then, like a gift from the heavens, the then-governor Clemson dropped into his lap, along with his daughter.”
“Hannah?” Amelia recoiled. “He was going to kidnap her?”
“Yes.” Beatrice placed the remote on the table and pulled out her chair. “I think your father stopped him.”
Moe waggled a finger at his own face. “I fancy a wager that’s where he got the scar.”
“Why would my dad let him into our house, then? Why didn’t he call the police?”
“We may never know for sure,” Beatrice admitted. “The agent who recruited him was transferred shortly after the fundraiser and died a few months later from a brain aneurysm. Most likely, he’d told your father not to engage Jan, and if your daddidgive the man that scar, the agent may have decided to cut ties. Too risky to have an untrained, unofficial CI engaging criminals and getting into altercations.”
“Were there any incident reports about fights or attempted kidnappings that evening?” Rory asked.
Moe shook his head. “Although the copper who let Jan slip through his fingers due to his overzealous arrestwason duty that night and worked the party alongside the governor’s police detail. We can’t rule out that he may have also taken Jan to task, or at least kept any fisticuffs between Jan and Amelia’s pop a secret.”
“What about Masden and the other agents?” Rory asked. “Anything on them?”
Amelia sat back, eyes widening. “You ran background checks on Hannah’s Secret Service agents?”
Beatrice slid a paper down the table to them. “As you can see, they came up squeaky clean, as expected. Rory stated there was some concern about Agent Masden, but we found nothing to raise suspicions about him.”
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t snatch the purse,” Rory said, reading the paper over Amelia’s shoulder. “Why do you think anyone would want to steal those pictures?”
“To keep a secret hidden.” Beatrice toyed with her pen. “We just have to figure out what that secret is. My guess? The unidentified co-conspirator is in at least one of those pictures. He or she is still active in this ring, and they don’t want to be found out.”
“You think that’s who attacked me?” Amelia’s shock was growing. “I’m scared to even think about this, but…” She swallowed and set her face. “Why didn’t this guy kill me if he thought I could out him?”
“Because you can’t do it without the pictures,” Rory told her. “One of the most important tricks of the trade, whether you’re a criminal or a spy, is not to use overkill for a problem. Literally. Homicide brings too much heat. Make it look like a mugging and the police won’t give it more than fifteen minutes of their attention before the next crime draws them away.”
“My concern right now is a big one.” Beatrice tapped her pen. “It’s quite possible they’re planning something for Thursday night.”
“At the fundraiser?” Amelia looked sick. “You mean kidnapping. All those kids. But…most of them aren’t from wealthy families.”
Rory swore under his breath. “Their sponsors are. It’s the perfect setup to grab at least one of their kids, if not more.”
