On The Outside: Book 9 in the Ryan Kaine series by Kerry J Donovan

Author:Kerry J Donovan [Donovan, Kerry J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fuse Books
Published: 2021-08-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sunday 21st May –Afternoon

Pine Creek, Arizona, US

Kaine twisted in his seat to face SA Chang. She held his gaze and didn’t falter.

“A little over three weeks ago,” she said, her accent East Coast, and her voice deeper than her stature would have suggested. “April 29 to be exact, we had a walk-in at the FBI’s Field Office in Phoenix. I was on duty and interviewed a woman claiming to have knowledge of the large scale theft of weapons from an armaments company in the Midwest—”

“Colfax-Lacy Industries?” Kaine offered.

She nodded. “Yes, that’s the one.”

“Did you believe her?”

“Not at first, we get our fair share of hoaxers looking for attention, but she had some documentation and was extremely convincing.”

“Convincing enough for you to take it up the line?”

“Yes.”

“Then what happened?”

For the first time since SA Chang started talking, she broke eye contact to glance at Griezmann.

“Come on now. Don’t be shy,” Kaine pressed. “What happened next?”

Chang took a breath, but Griezmann jumped in before she could answer.

“To cut a long story short, Special Agent Chang briefed me, and I called Ms LeMaître into my office and spoke to her personally.”

“You spoke to Sabrina LeMaître yourself?” Kaine pronounced the surname correctly, in a gentle effort to educate the SAC.

“Sure did.”

“And what did you think?”

“At first, we—I thought she was being fanciful but, since her claims were so serious, I tasked Special Agents Steiner and Chang to investigate.”

Chang glanced at Griezmann and something flashed between them. A challenge?

“And what did you discover, Special Agent Chang?” Kaine asked, ignoring the dumpy SA Steiner, who sat hunched over his laptop, twiddling a ballpoint pen, and looking sideways at Kaine.

“The information Ms LeMaître provided seemed to be valid—”

“Which is when I set up a JTF with the ATF,” Griezmann interrupted, puffing out his chest. “That’s a Joint Task Force.”

“I know what a JTF is.”

Moron.

Kaine struggled to keep his emotions in check. The SAC couldn’t have been much more condescending and arrogant if he tried.

“Yeah, yeah. I guess you do.”

“When exactly did you set up this JTF?”

Griezmann interlaced his fingers and rested his forearms on the desk. He shot a shifty glance at SSA Beddow.

“Well?” Kaine demanded, adding an extra note of intensity to his question.

SA Chang found her voice again.

“Two days ago,” she said, at barely more than a whisper.

Kaine closed his eyes and tried to keep his growing rage under control. It wasn’t easy. Somehow, these people had hung Sabrina out to dry and they weren’t prepared to admit it. Not easily.

“So,” he said, breathing deeply, forcing himself to speak quietly and slowly, “you set up this Joint Task Force before Maurice LeMaître contacted your director, but after Sabrina had been missing for what? Two, three days?”

Chang lowered her eyes.

Sweat popped out on the SAC’s forehead although the temperature in the air conditioned auditorium couldn’t have stretched much higher than twenty degrees.

“Am I missing something, Special-Agent-in-Charge Griezmann?”

Griezmann closed his mouth, and his jaw muscles worked hard to keep it clamped shut.

“Well?”

The SAC disentangled his fingers and placed his hands flat on the table in front of him.

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