The flip side was that he would have an easier time finding Whitaker with the resources of the Berlin police than on his own. Working through official channels would also allow him to see some of their cards and would keep him from getting blindsided by them.
In the end, his mental tug of war ended on the side of hoping Solomon gave in to Graf.
“Fine. I won’t lie, I’m not crazy about Taylor becoming involved in this. I think you’re going to find you regret his presence once he goes off the reservation, and I promise you at some point he will, but I can’t think of an official reason to deny you the request.”
“I’m sure we won’t have any issues. Thank you, Director Solomon,” Graf said, standing and extending his hand.
Joe shook the offered hand and said, “Give me a moment with Taylor, please.”
“Certainly.”
Graf gave a slight head bow and turned crisply, walking out into the reception area.
“While I was honest when I said I wasn’t crazy about you going over there, the idea that Whitaker was involved in something like this doesn’t feel right to me. Find our girl and bring her home.”
“I will,” Taylor said, standing and turning to follow Graf out.
Chapter 2
Taylor made plans with Graf at seven-thirty, for the red-eye flight to Germany. He left the German officer to take care of the details, so Taylor could take care of things before he had to go out of town. While the Germans had agreed to pick up Taylor’s tab for the time he was on loan to them, he had been warned that they had a much lower budget than the FBI when it came to travel. The idea of flying coach all the way to Germany did not sit all that well with Taylor, who had managed to get rides on one of the FBI’s private planes several times over the last few years and found himself spoiled.
His displeasure over the upcoming trip and his preparations to get any urgent cases he was currently working on transferred over to other agents were both displaced by his worry for Whitaker. Everything about this situation smelled bad to Taylor. Whitaker’s belief in following both the letter and the spirit of the rules was the biggest source of tension they had, and the ultimate cause of the current hold placed on their engagement.
The very idea that the same woman would walk into a murder scene, and then, a few minutes later, turn and walk away from it did not sit well with Taylor at all. Her going into hiding, or at least operating enough below the radar that the German authorities could not find her, was just icing on the top of a, particularly disturbing, cake.
The problem was those were the very actions Whitaker had taken. The Germans had very convincing video of her entering and then leaving the crime scene and no one had been able to get ahold of her since, including Solomon, who had been trying to reach her since word of the incident hit him, yesterday.
To the Germans, and possibly Solomon to a lesser degree, that said she had done something wrong, or at least had something to hide. To Taylor, her actions meant something was very wrong, and she was most likely in danger.
All that together made it hard to keep his mind focused on clearing his schedule for a few weeks. He did manage to get it done, though. Taylor was not the ideal hire for the FBI by any length, but he was conscientious about making sure his cases were handled properly. Taylor wished that he had been the type of person to just take all the files and make them someone else’s problems, but it just was not how his brain was wired.
Taylor picked up his cell phone as soon as he finished the last file to take care of one more responsibility he had to push off.
“Senator Caldwell’s office,” Loren, the Senators trusty if someone priggish assistant said.
“Loren, its Taylor. Is the Senator free to speak for a moment?”
“May I ask what this is regarding?”
Taylor resisted the urge to sigh. He had the Senators' personal cell number if he really needed it, but he knew she was always busy and did not want to bother her if she was actively busy. He also knew that calling her official number meant he would have to deal with Loren. While the man did not seem to actively hate Taylor, he clearly thought of him as some kind of throwback Neanderthal and also disliked anyone stepping around him to get to the Senator directly.
What that meant was that, even when the Senator was not actually busy, Loren always made Taylor jump through hoops to talk to her.
“I need to cancel my appearance at tonight’s event.”
“I’ll let her know.”
“I’d like to tell her myself, Loren. I’d like the chance to offer her an explanation and apology since I’d promised I’d be able to do the event.”
“I’d be happy to pass those along.”
Taylor did let out a sigh at that.
“Loren, if she’s in the office, please let me talk to her. Otherwise, let her know I called but that I’ll be on a plane early tomorrow morning.”
Taylor thought that one day, Loren would decide he had enough of dealing with Taylor and actively pretend to give a message he never planned on passing along. Thankfully today was not that day.
“No need,” Loren said, sighing in return. “I will patch you through now.”
Taylor once again resisted the urge to
