While Galileo Preys by Joshua Corin

Author:Joshua Corin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery And Suspense Fiction, Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, Serial murderers, Fiction - Espionage, American Mystery & Suspense Fiction, Fiction, Fiction - General, Mystery fiction, Thrillers, Suspense fiction, General, Thriller
ISBN: 9780778328117
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2010-09-15T23:29:40.623000+00:00

For Tom Piper, the optimal dialectic wasn’t Fear-Desire but Win-Lose, and he knew exactly where this case fit on that paradigm. But that didn’t stop AD Trumbull, with whom he was on a conference call along with several other higher-ups, from reminding him.

“It’s disgraceful,” said Trumbull, and then coughed for a minute. It was an open secret that the old man had lung cancer, but if a career employee for the United States government wanted to die in his office, so be it. Everyone on the conference call patiently waited for Trumbull’s bronchial attack to subside. Tom used the time to rub his tired eyes. He was in a secure room behind closed doors at Eppley Airfield, the historic airport which served the greater Omaha metropolitan area. Most rooms of this nature—where questionable passengers were detained—had chipped paint on the walls and creaky furniture. This room had recently been repainted—eggshell white, of all colors—and the wooden chair on which he sat couldn’t have been more comfortable. It was simple pleasures like these that Tom had to embrace right now, because they were all he had. His own phone buzzed from inside his luggage. Someone was calling him. Whoever it was had to be better conversation than this. Tom was tempted to press mute on the room phone and take the personal call, but then Trumbull cleared his throat and carried on with his tongue-lashing:

“Explain to me how it is that you diverted manpower to Santa Fe and our guy shows up in San Francisco. Was San Francisco even on your radar, Tom?”

“With all due respect, sir, I asked for surveillance on Lilly Toro. I believed she might be at risk, and my request was denied.”

“I read your request,” piped in another assistant director. “You had twenty-two names on that list. How are we supposed to prioritize when you give us twenty-two names?”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Tom stared at the bright wall. “I wasn’t aware there was a limit on the number of people the Bureau is supposed to protect.”

“There is a limit on the number of resources the Bureau has at its disposal, as you well know. And when those resources are squandered in the middle of New Mexico—”

“We have credible evidence that Santa Fe is on Galileo’s list. What happened in San Francisco doesn’t—”

“And how long is that list, Special Agent Piper? Twenty-two names?”

Tom sighed.

“I’ve also looked at this so-called ‘credible evidence’ and it is awful flimsy, Piper. “

“Except what happened today, sir, confirmed the connection between Galileo and the Kellerman campaign, which was the lynchpin of Esme Stuart’s hypothesis. It stands to reason—”

“The Kellerman campaign is off-limits, Piper.”

“Beg pardon?”

“They don’t want federal intrusion on their day-today operations. They seem to think we’re beholden to the vice president since he used to be Bureau director and that we’d report everything back to him. That’s their paranoia, not mine.”

“Sir, paranoia’s not really a defense against obstruction of justice.”

“It’s an election year, Piper.”

“It’s always an election year,” Tom replied.

“We need to tread carefully, especially given your—our—recent performance.

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