smirk and laid Mitchell’s laptop that I had in my other hand on his desk and it made a loud thud as I set it down.
“Blake, you can’t just take things from the scene of a crime. You know – tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, that kind of thing.”
“The FBI already did that. They have Mitchell’s phone and laptop. Whatever is on these devices is on the ones the Federal Bureau took. And if not, they’ll get easy access to his phone records and Web traffic. We don’t have that kind of access. But we have you. Now it’s a level playing field,” I said and started to walk away. Morgan stood up.
“I can’t be involved in this. Seriously Blake, we can get in a lot of trouble for what we’re doing.”
I stopped and turned around. “And if that happens, I will take full responsibility. You can blame me. When this is all over, if Base doesn’t send someone down here to fire me and if the FBI comes looking for someone to blame, I will step forward. And if I have to, I’ll step down. Morgan, please. I need your help.”
He sat down and I nodded. “Start with the phone,” I said and I walked through the maze of cubicles to Jami’s desk.
“I’m back,” I said as I approached her workstation.
“Still looking into the Jihadi Coalition connection to Aasaal Nazir.” I looked around to find a place where we could set up a command center in private.
“Let’s work from a joint workroom, JW7 should be free” I said and Jami nodded. “I’ll let Morgan know.”
I went back to my office, undocked my laptop, and headed over to JW7. Although the agents and analysts that I worked with directly varied by the case, it felt like the three of us, Jami, Morgan, and I, worked especially well together.
Chris Reed was out on his own island. I had made Chris the assistant special agent in charge because he was a hell of a smart guy, a lot smarter than me and the best thing you can do when you’re the boss is to hire people who are better than you are. Chris not only had a high IQ, he also had emotional intelligence. He could work by the book while being rational when needed. Still, Reed was the kind of guy that really could go either way on things. He could either be against you or fully on your side. It was a crapshoot.
Right now, he was keeping his distance and monitoring the situation from afar as the FBI had ordered.
When I walked into JW7, Jami was already getting set up. I put my laptop down at the seat next to her and walked over to the far side of the room to brew some coffee for us.
“The responding officers at Mitchell’s apartment already turned over control of the scene and briefed the investigators in charge,” Jami said.
“That was quick. Have they issued an all-points for me yet?” Jami shook her head.
“Not yet.”
It was two-thirty in the morning and Morgan checked in with us every thirty minutes or so. Mitchell’s laptop would take more time to decrypt so he said he would run a program to scrape the contents at the same time that he would work on the cell phone. Jami read every report that she could find on Nazir and the JC while I strategized. Sometime past five, we crashed from lack of sleep but were jolted awake at six.
“I’ve got something!” Morgan yelled as he ran to the joint workroom. Jami and I awoke at the sound of his voice. We looked at each other and I felt a rush of adrenaline surge through my body.
Chapter 34
About half an hour after the kidnapper returned and went into the next room to catch up on what the media was reporting while he was gone, Keller heard what sounded like an inflatable mattress being filled with air. A small motor was plugged into one of the extension cords coming from the small generator and Keller heard the noise for two or three minutes. Then a second lantern that Victor Perez had been using to illuminate the room he was working in was turned off and he heard the kidnapper lay down.
He was going to sleep , Keller thought. It was
“Blake, you can’t just take things from the scene of a crime. You know – tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, that kind of thing.”
“The FBI already did that. They have Mitchell’s phone and laptop. Whatever is on these devices is on the ones the Federal Bureau took. And if not, they’ll get easy access to his phone records and Web traffic. We don’t have that kind of access. But we have you. Now it’s a level playing field,” I said and started to walk away. Morgan stood up.
“I can’t be involved in this. Seriously Blake, we can get in a lot of trouble for what we’re doing.”
I stopped and turned around. “And if that happens, I will take full responsibility. You can blame me. When this is all over, if Base doesn’t send someone down here to fire me and if the FBI comes looking for someone to blame, I will step forward. And if I have to, I’ll step down. Morgan, please. I need your help.”
He sat down and I nodded. “Start with the phone,” I said and I walked through the maze of cubicles to Jami’s desk.
“I’m back,” I said as I approached her workstation.
“Still looking into the Jihadi Coalition connection to Aasaal Nazir.” I looked around to find a place where we could set up a command center in private.
“Let’s work from a joint workroom, JW7 should be free” I said and Jami nodded. “I’ll let Morgan know.”
I went back to my office, undocked my laptop, and headed over to JW7. Although the agents and analysts that I worked with directly varied by the case, it felt like the three of us, Jami, Morgan, and I, worked especially well together.
Chris Reed was out on his own island. I had made Chris the assistant special agent in charge because he was a hell of a smart guy, a lot smarter than me and the best thing you can do when you’re the boss is to hire people who are better than you are. Chris not only had a high IQ, he also had emotional intelligence. He could work by the book while being rational when needed. Still, Reed was the kind of guy that really could go either way on things. He could either be against you or fully on your side. It was a crapshoot.
Right now, he was keeping his distance and monitoring the situation from afar as the FBI had ordered.
When I walked into JW7, Jami was already getting set up. I put my laptop down at the seat next to her and walked over to the far side of the room to brew some coffee for us.
“The responding officers at Mitchell’s apartment already turned over control of the scene and briefed the investigators in charge,” Jami said.
“That was quick. Have they issued an all-points for me yet?” Jami shook her head.
“Not yet.”
It was two-thirty in the morning and Morgan checked in with us every thirty minutes or so. Mitchell’s laptop would take more time to decrypt so he said he would run a program to scrape the contents at the same time that he would work on the cell phone. Jami read every report that she could find on Nazir and the JC while I strategized. Sometime past five, we crashed from lack of sleep but were jolted awake at six.
“I’ve got something!” Morgan yelled as he ran to the joint workroom. Jami and I awoke at the sound of his voice. We looked at each other and I felt a rush of adrenaline surge through my body.
Chapter 34
About half an hour after the kidnapper returned and went into the next room to catch up on what the media was reporting while he was gone, Keller heard what sounded like an inflatable mattress being filled with air. A small motor was plugged into one of the extension cords coming from the small generator and Keller heard the noise for two or three minutes. Then a second lantern that Victor Perez had been using to illuminate the room he was working in was turned off and he heard the kidnapper lay down.
He was going to sleep , Keller thought. It was
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