“What’s this Kreiss guy’s role in that theory?” Harter asked.
“Kreiss’s daughter was one of those college kids that went missing, remember? As we told you, he’s been looking for his missing daughter, who turned up at that arsenal.”
“And right now, y’all think he’s chasing down this Browne McGarand?”
“Yes.”
Harter and Whitney looked at each other and then back at Farnsworth, who knew what their question was.
“Kreiss used to be pretty good at hunting people. We wouldn’t necessarily be upset if he finds McGarand, especially if it prevents another bombing.”
Janet watched as Whitney nodded his head slowly. Farnsworth was obviously confusing the shit out of the locals “Oka-a-y,” Whitney said.
“But how do we get him for this homicide deal?”
“His daughter is now hospitalized in Blacksburg. I’m requesting that she be placed under police guard. Eventually, we’re pretty sure Kreiss will come back here to see her. Can you help?”
“Yes, sir, he comes back, we can take it from there, I think,” Harter said.
“And we’ll get some assets into that hospital.”
Farnsworth stood up, and so did the two uniformed cops. They shook
hands and Farnsworth asked Agent Bobby Land to escort them out.
When they were gone, he sat back down and ran his hands through his hair.
“Okay, so much for local legends. Janet, we’d been meeting for a while before you got back to the office. That little charade was for purposes of keeping local law occupied while we sort out what we’re really going to do. The U.S. attorney for the Southwestern District of Virginia is running top cover for us, but I thought I’d better add my personal reassurances to those guys.”
“Sir?” Janet said.
“I thought we were going to keep the Kreiss angle away from local law?”
Farnsworth cleared his throat, glancing nervously at the woman at the ‘ other end of the table.
‘ “Yes. Well. We’ve had some new guidance from Washington on that score.”
Janet couldn’t stand it anymore.
“May I know who she is?” she asked, pointing with her chin to the woman at the end of the table. The woman did not even look at her.
“When I’m finished, yes. Now, as usual, there’s a turf fight shaping up.
aTF headquarters is circling the wagons around their ‘natural causes’ theory of the arsenal explosion, apparently because their director found out that they had cleared the arsenal during a previous inspection of the place.”
“And the Bureau?”
“Bureau headquarters is officially deferring to aTF, but somehow, aTF has found out that we’re hunting two subjects, McGarand and Kreiss.”
“aTF is saying there’s no threat to Washington?”
“aTF is saying there’s no threat unless, of course, we have evidence to the contrary. I think they’re looking for a fig leaf, in case it turns out somebody has actual evidence that some bad guys were in fact making bombs down there.”
“But we do, sort of—Kreiss. And what his daughter said.”
“No, we do not, Janet,” he said.
“As of this morning, based on guidance I’ve received through our regular chain of command, we no longer know anything about any Edwin Kreiss, except as the parent of a girl who is no longer missing.”
Janet sat back in her chair.
“But don’t you think he’s chasing McGarand? Shouldn’t we tell Kreiss
that we think McGarand is going to bomb something in Washington? That’s there’s a tie between McGarand and Waco?”
“Officially, I no longer have any opinions on the matter of Edwin Kreiss,” Farnsworth said, setting his face into a blank bureaucratic mask.
Janet, baffled, just looked at him, and then at Keenan, who was now intently studying his hands.
“But I do,” the woman at the end of the table said. Her voice was low, but filled with quiet authority.
“And you are .. Janet said, turning in her chair.
“I am the person assigned by an appropriate authority to attend to the problem of Edwin Kreiss,” the woman said.
“I understand he is or was carrying a pager you gave him?”
Attend to—Janet remembered those words. She didn’t know what to say, but she found herself nodding.
“Very well,” the woman said.
“I want you to page him at eighteen hundred tonight, exactly. Then key in a number I’m going to give you. It’s a northern Virginia number, but it will bounce back here to this office.
Assuming he calls in, I have a message I want you to give him.”
“Not until I know who you are, or what you are,” Janet said. She was beginning to suspect that the “what” would be more important than the “who.”
“The last guy who wanted me to page Kreiss wanted me to tell him his daughter was dead. And guess what: That didn’t happen.”
Farnsworth looked up at the ceiling. The woman stood up, and Janet was surprised by how tall she was. She was wearing an expensive loose-fitting pantsuit, and she was clearly over six feet tall even in her flat shoes.
She picked up a handbag that could have doubled as a briefcase. She asked the two men in the room if they would mind excusing themselves. To Janet’s further surprise, both of them stood and left the room without a word, closing the door behind them. Looking at the expression on the woman’s face, Janet suddenly found herself wishing she was carrying her sidearm. The woman walked around the conference table and came up next to Janet. She perched one hip on the table and looked down at her, forcing Janet to crane her neck to make eye contact. The woman’s expression was disturbing; she was looking at Janet with a flat, slightly unfocused, zero-parallax stare.
“When we’re all done making the page call and delivering the message, I will return to Washington to attend to the matter of Edwin Kreiss,” the woman said. Her diction was precise and clear.
“Your director has assured my director that you will make the call, and that you will deliver the message.
Which goes like this: three words—tenebrae factae sunt. I’ll write it down for you, if you’d like. It’s church Latin for ‘night has fallen.” It will tell Kreiss that I’m coming for him.”
Janet didn’t like the sound of that, so she tried for a little defiance.
“And he’ll give a shit? That you’re coming?”
The woman’s unfocused look went away, and she looked right into Janet’s eyes with a wolfish smile that made her own black eyes glow.
“Oh yes, Special Agent Carter. He’ll absolutely give a shit. Anyone who knows me would.” She stood back up, smoothed her clothes, and retrieved her handbag.
“I’ll see you in Mr. Farnsworth’s office at eighteen hundred.
That’s six P.M. by the way.”
The woman walked calmly out of the conference room, leaving Janet alone at the table, her face burning just a little, and wondering what in the hell this was all about. She was tempted to page Kreiss right now and warn him that some female cyborg in an Armani pantsuit was after him, but the woman had mentioned her director and Janet’s director. This implied that the woman was an Agency operative of some kind. Another “sweeper” perhaps? What kind of outfit needed to have people like that in their stable? The woman’s mention of directors had been deliberate, though. And if the heads of the Bureau and the Agency were involved, it was definitely not time for junior special agents to be taking any sudden initiatives. Then she remembered what Farnsworth had speculated earlier:
They were going to let Kreiss hunt McGarand, but the Agency was going to join the hunt for Kreiss.
