One Last Scent of Jasmine (Boone's File Book 3) by Dale Amidei Page B
Authors: Dale Amidei
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alpacas—she chided herself for thinking of the administrative staff as stock animals—began to appear. What troubles did you guys have last night? Kid threw up? Dog jumped the fence? Did someone ding the door on your Toyota? Let’s hear all about it now. There was a reason for Rex to have positioned his monitors so as not to expose them to visitors at his office door. This was surely a good day to maintain the arrangement.
As far as Boone could tell, Bradley's door remained closed. Hers, as usual, was not. Presently, Edna popped in after enough of her staff had appeared and her maternal sense of order was satisfied in other regards.
“Good morning, Boone. I see you managed a change of clothes sometime last night,” she observed.
“Good morning! And yes, though I might make it an early afternoon at the Director’s discretion.” Yeah, right. “We both logged some extra hours on the job last night,” ODNI’s Senior Case Officer explained.
“So his note said. Cairo resolved, as I heard on the news,” Mrs. Reese commented, making polite conversation.
I will take polite. Friendly is still a goal rather than an expectation . “Fortunately. The DNI is cloistered if you need to ring him.”
“I was about to ask. Have a good day, Doctor.”
“And you, Ed.” Never, ever antagonize this woman again. You and Terry have too much at stake now.
Edna Reese left Boone alone with her thoughts once more. So many things are at stake for everyone, everywhere, all the time … faith and conscience being not the least of those. The ODNI operative brushed her hand against the evidence bag inside of her short leather jacket, a garment she had not yet removed in the coolness of her office space.
Boone broke away from her draft report and flipped screens to the matrix of agencies under the umbrella of the United States Intelligence Community. One of those was the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Security Branch. As her global SITREP—Situation Report—summed up the state of those items deemed most significant on a broad scale, so did each agency’s more narrowly focused summation. The document was continuously updated for each successive shift or in a live feed as appropriate.
Just as I thought. It took a while to find the stiffs in the DARIUS data center. From what she read, the guards had indeed recovered from their anesthesia to summon the Fairfax County PD, which only a short time ago had notified the Feds of an incident occurring on the campus of a top-level Defense contractor. The whole scene is undoubtedly locked down and taped off this morning. I’ll never get near it.
Digging into the CID case assignments, she hoped to see a familiar name. There. They gave it to Eddie Catania. Awesome. Boone knew she would have to wait until lunch. The timing would present a perfect opportunity to run into an old friend . I chat up an old buddy, and then put the evidence back where it belongs—in the hands of the FBI. After I’m done, it’s just a matter of waiting to see if the Bureau has the stones to run the ball all the way into the White House West Wing.
La Mangiatoia Ristorante
McLean, Virginia
I tell my supervisor all the time: Man, you gotta eat to think. A brain your size runs on food, not willpower. Eddie Catania did not have a problem knocking off for lunch, even on a day like this. The coroner had carted the stiffs out of the DARIUS headquarters, and the scene was now in the hands of the Forensics guys. Someone— and we’ll have a hell of a time figuring out who —had laid the two intruders out at close range, nice and neat, before the pair could pull off their nefarious act of data burglary.
No identification was found on the bodies. Not much remained in the decedents’ pockets at all, except a magazine, keys and a needle case for the empty syringes they had used on the guards. Those security guys can’t even tell us anything. The one at the front desk at least saw it coming.
As far as Boone could tell, Bradley's door remained closed. Hers, as usual, was not. Presently, Edna popped in after enough of her staff had appeared and her maternal sense of order was satisfied in other regards.
“Good morning, Boone. I see you managed a change of clothes sometime last night,” she observed.
“Good morning! And yes, though I might make it an early afternoon at the Director’s discretion.” Yeah, right. “We both logged some extra hours on the job last night,” ODNI’s Senior Case Officer explained.
“So his note said. Cairo resolved, as I heard on the news,” Mrs. Reese commented, making polite conversation.
I will take polite. Friendly is still a goal rather than an expectation . “Fortunately. The DNI is cloistered if you need to ring him.”
“I was about to ask. Have a good day, Doctor.”
“And you, Ed.” Never, ever antagonize this woman again. You and Terry have too much at stake now.
Edna Reese left Boone alone with her thoughts once more. So many things are at stake for everyone, everywhere, all the time … faith and conscience being not the least of those. The ODNI operative brushed her hand against the evidence bag inside of her short leather jacket, a garment she had not yet removed in the coolness of her office space.
Boone broke away from her draft report and flipped screens to the matrix of agencies under the umbrella of the United States Intelligence Community. One of those was the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Security Branch. As her global SITREP—Situation Report—summed up the state of those items deemed most significant on a broad scale, so did each agency’s more narrowly focused summation. The document was continuously updated for each successive shift or in a live feed as appropriate.
Just as I thought. It took a while to find the stiffs in the DARIUS data center. From what she read, the guards had indeed recovered from their anesthesia to summon the Fairfax County PD, which only a short time ago had notified the Feds of an incident occurring on the campus of a top-level Defense contractor. The whole scene is undoubtedly locked down and taped off this morning. I’ll never get near it.
Digging into the CID case assignments, she hoped to see a familiar name. There. They gave it to Eddie Catania. Awesome. Boone knew she would have to wait until lunch. The timing would present a perfect opportunity to run into an old friend . I chat up an old buddy, and then put the evidence back where it belongs—in the hands of the FBI. After I’m done, it’s just a matter of waiting to see if the Bureau has the stones to run the ball all the way into the White House West Wing.
La Mangiatoia Ristorante
McLean, Virginia
I tell my supervisor all the time: Man, you gotta eat to think. A brain your size runs on food, not willpower. Eddie Catania did not have a problem knocking off for lunch, even on a day like this. The coroner had carted the stiffs out of the DARIUS headquarters, and the scene was now in the hands of the Forensics guys. Someone— and we’ll have a hell of a time figuring out who —had laid the two intruders out at close range, nice and neat, before the pair could pull off their nefarious act of data burglary.
No identification was found on the bodies. Not much remained in the decedents’ pockets at all, except a magazine, keys and a needle case for the empty syringes they had used on the guards. Those security guys can’t even tell us anything. The one at the front desk at least saw it coming.
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