David Baldacci - Divine Justice

Alex, of course, knew about all of these things, but stayed silent because what could he possibly say that would do him any good?

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Oliver helped break up a spy ring operating in D.C. It involved one of your employees. Maybe you heard of it? He received a commendation from the FBI director."

"Wonderful for him, but I doubt that will carry much weight when he's caught and prosecuted for two murders."

"What exactly do you want from me?"

"I want to know what Knox asked you, and I want to know what you told him."

"Can't you just ask him yourself? I'm sure he has it down in some nice, neat report and-" Alex stopped. "Do you not know where Agent Knox is?"

"I'm not here to answer questions, merely to ask them. I believe you received a phone call from a superior at the Secret Service telling you to cooperate fully."

Alex spent the next two minutes telling Hayes what he and Knox had discussed.

"That's all?" Hayes said in a clearly disappointed tone. "I must have Knox go through an interrogation refresher course."

"He said he'd be coming back around to ask more questions. I'll be sure to tell him you're looking for him," Alex said, getting in a subtle jab.

Hayes rose. "One piece of advice. If I find that any of what you've told me tonight is untrue, or if I discover that you withheld anything of importance from me, you can catch up on your solitary confinement skills at the Castle."

"The Castle? That's the military prison at Leavenworth. I'm not military."

"Actually, it's also for prisoners convicted of national security crimes. But to more directly answer your question, you're anything I want you to be."

As soon as the door closed behind him, Alex realized he'd been holding his breath. He let it out with a gush and stood up on wobbly legs. He might as well have banded with the Camel Club to help find Oliver since it looked like he was headed to prison anyway.

The phone rang again. It was probably his boss telling him he hadn't been particularly cooperative and how did suspension without pay sound?

But he was wrong. The caller ID readout surprised him.

"Agent Ford? My name is Melanie Knox. My father is Joe Knox. Someone broke into his house and I can't get hold of him. The only thing I found was a list with your name on it."

"When's the last time you heard from him?" She told him. "I spoke to him before that. I haven't heard from him since. It could be a burglary. You should call the cops."

"Nothing of value was stolen. The two safes he had weren't even touched."

"I'm not sure what I can do about it."

"What did he talk to you about?"

"I'm afraid I can't disclose that."

"Agent Ford, I am really worried about my dad. The last time I talked to him he sounded, well, he sounded like maybe he was talking to me for the last time. I really think he might be in trouble."

Maybe that was why he'd gotten the visit from Hayes. His faithful dog had gone off the scent and the old man was operating blind. "When you talked to him did he give you any indication of where he might be?"

"He said something about being west of here, only a little more rural. I joked about terrorists in the hollers. And he said you just never knew."

"This isn't really my bailiwick, Ms. Knox."

"I'm a lawyer in private practice with lots of connections, and while my dad has never mentioned what he actually does for the government, I know it's not some State Department crap, that's just a cover. Can you at least confirm that? Please?"

Alex hesitated, but the pleading sound in her voice finally got to him. "As best I can figure he was doing investigative work for the CIA, or at least in connection with them somehow."

"Over something critical?"

"Critical enough. He's trying to find somebody who doesn't want to be found."

"Can this person be dangerous?"

"Most people who don't want to be found are dangerous."

He thought he could hear a groan from her. "What should I do?" she said. "My mom's dead. My brother's in the Marines in Iraq. What should I do, Agent Ford? I don't know anybody else to call."

Alex sat there staring off. It was as though his nearly twenty years in the Service had simply disappeared from his memory. If Hayes had had his way, that would be more true than not. So why sit here waiting for the nuke to hit him in the head?

"Give me a number where I can reach you anytime. I'll poke around and see what I can find."

"Oh, God, thank you so much."

"I can't promise that if I find out anything it'll be what you want to hear."

"Agent Ford, I know you don't know my father, but if you were in trouble there wouldn't be anybody else you'd want covering your back more than Joe Knox. He's as straight as they come. I hope that means something to you."

"It does," Alex said quietly.

LATER THAT NIGHT Stone sat up in his hospital bed staring at the wall opposite. He checked his watch and then slipped open the nightstand next to his bed and pulled out Danny's phone. He called Abby first and Tyree next. Abby was working at the restaurant and Tyree was out in the field trying to track down Lonnie Bruback, who, he said, seemed to have disappeared. They had found nothing in Willie's trailer other than a couple of torn-apart propane tanks and the remnants of the cookstove, he told Stone.

"I've got a bomb squad guy from the Virginia State Police coming to examine the scene. I know you don't want to hear this, but it might have been an accident. Willie was gone, maybe the propane was leaking and Bob lit a cigarette when Willie came through the door, and boom."

"If the propane was leaking, it would have exploded before then. I saw Shirley there like I told you and she was smoking a cigarette. And you would think Bob would've smelled the propane. The odor they put into the gas is pretty pungent for that very reason."

"I know. But why would they want to kill Willie so badly?" Tyree asked. "First an overdose and now a bomb?"

"He knew Debby didn't kill herself. He was going to keep making noise until the truth came out. Somebody obviously didn't like that."

"But now that they killed him we know there's something going on," Tyree pointed out.

"But these people are good and we have no proof that a crime's even been committed. So in their eyes it's better."

"Well, I'm not giving up until I get to the bottom of this."

"Tyree, everybody needs to watch their back here, and that includes you."

"I hear you."

Stone clicked off and stared down at the phone. Danny had a late-model Verizon cell phone with all the bells and whistles, including e-mail. Stone had never been into mail that didn't involve pen and paper. He scrolled down Danny's contact list. The names there were mostly female. He'd even made annotations by each entry indicating the lady's strong suits, and each contact also came with a digital photo of the woman. Several of the pictures would have qualified as pornography, at least in Stone's estimation.

He shook his head. Danny needed to seriously upgrade the quality of his female companions.

He looked outside. It was dark. He slowly eased himself from the bed. He was pretty stiff and sore but the more he moved around, the better he felt. His butt was already numb from lying in the damn bed all those hours.

He walked out of the room and over to the nurses' station. After being chastised for being out of bed, he asked and was told where Danny's room was.

He walked down that hall and saw a man sitting outside of Danny's room. When Stone approached the man stood. "Can I help you?"

"You the deputy Tyree put on Danny?"

"That's right. Wait a minute, you're that Ben fellow, aren't you?"

"Yes. I wanted to see Danny?"