'Do you deny ever being inside this house?'
She wanted to deny it, but the truth was, she had been here before, and with damn good reason. Triumph shone from Dodson's eyes.
'What are you doing here, sir?' Kaiser asked.
'Last night, Webb Tyler informed me that you were taking unauthorized measures in his area of operations. It's a good thing he did, since you're obviously getting the Bureau deep into a case that belongs to the Mississippi authorities. What can you have been thinking, Agent Kaiser?'
'Sir, I had reason to believe that this case involves deadly biological weapons and, as such, required immediate federal intervention.'
This brought Dodson up short. 'Biological weapons?'
'Yes, sir. Yesterday we discovered a clandestine primate lab owned by one Noel D. Traver, which is probably an alias of Dr. Eldon Tarver. Under the guise of a dog-breeding facility, Dr. Tarver appears to have been conducting sophisticated genetic experiments on primates, and possibly even on human beings.'
Dodson suddenly looked less certain of his position. 'I'm aware of yesterday's fire. Do you have proof that such experiments were conducted?'
'We have some escaped animals in captivity. I was waiting for approval to proceed, due to the complexity of the laboratory studies required.'
Dodson licked his lips. 'I'll give that further consideration. But I want Ms. Morse held at the local field office for questioning.'
Kaiser stiffened. 'On what grounds, sir?'
'The Bureau received multiple complaints from Mr. Rusk before his death that he was being persecuted by Ms. Morse. We know she blamed Rusk for the death of her sister. I'm going to have to establish beyond doubt that Ms. Morse did not take the law into her own hands last night.'
Kaiser stepped toward Dodson. 'Agent Morse has a service record-'
'Of losing control of her emotions during stress,' finished Dodson. 'Don't overstep the mark, Agent Kaiser. You don't want to throw away your career trying to save hers. That's a lost cause.'
Kaiser went pale. 'Sir, I happen to know that the disposition of her case is not yet final. And-'
Dodson held a piece of paper up to Kaiser's face. 'This is an interview with one Neville Byrd of Canton, Mississippi. Byrd was apprehended in a downtown hotel with both laser and optical surveillance equipment in his possession. He had been surveilling the office of Andrew Rusk. When asked who hired him, Byrd stated that one Alexandra Morse had hired him at double his normal rates.'
Alex gasped in disbelief.
Kaiser turned and looked at her. Seeing the doubt and pain in his eyes, she shook her head in denial. Kaiser looked around at the audience of field agents, hungry for the denouement of this battle.
'Sir, I want to state for the record that it was Agent Morse who first uncovered a connection between Andrew Rusk and Eldon Tarver. Six weeks ago, she suspected criminal collusion between them, and she proceeded to investigate them despite active resistance by the SAC of the Jackson field office and by yourself.'
Dodson laughed scornfully. 'You've just defined insubordination. You can testify against Morse at her final hearing.'
'I don't think so,' Kaiser said in a voice so commanding that a glimmer of fear came into Dodson's face. 'I don't think there's going to be any such hearing.' He held up a plastic evidence bag that he'd been holding alongside his right leg. 'I'd like you to examine this evidence, sir.'
A wary look from Dodson. 'What is it?'
'A document. It's self-explanatory.'
The ADD took the Ziploc bag and tilted back his head so that he could read it through the bottom of his no- line bifocals. His skeptical expression didn't change until he reached the bottom of the document. Then his mouth opened like that of a fish gasping for air.
'You noted the signature, sir?' Kaiser asked.
Dodson's face had gone slack with horror, the horror of a bureaucrat realizing he has backed the wrong horse. 'Where was this found?' he asked in a scarcely audible voice.
'In the victim's safe. That document is absolute proof of criminal collusion between Rusk and Tarver and may well prove espionage against the United States.'
'Not another word,' said Dodson, his eyes blinking. 'Agent Kaiser, join me in my car.'
Kaiser glanced at Alex, then followed Dodson down to a dark Ford in the driveway. Alex stood on the porch, trying to contain her glee at seeing Dodson taken down a peg, and so publicly. But what truly warmed her heart was the way Kaiser had stood up for her, and at great personal risk. She looked down at the Ford, but its windows were too darkly tinted for her to see what was going on inside.
Two minutes passed before Kaiser and Dodson got out. Dodson's face was red, but Kaiser looked cool and composed. He motioned for Alex to join him. As she walked, she caught encouraging looks from three different FBI agents, two of them women. When she passed Dodson, the deputy director didn't even acknowledge her. Kaiser took her hand and led her to the Suburban he had driven up in.
'What about my car?' she asked quietly.
'Drop your keys on the ground. I'll have one of my guys bring it.'
'What?'
'Drop them.'
Alex dropped her keys on some pine straw and let herself be pushed into the backseat of the Suburban. She settled into the deep leather while Kaiser climbed behind the wheel.
'What happened in the car?' she asked.
'Nothing's decided yet. You are
'And you're not? Thanks, by the way.'
Kaiser sighed heavily, then began to laugh. 'You don't get many paybacks like that in this life.'
'Did you tell Dodson about the GPS coordinates?'
'Had to. There's no holding back anything now. It's all going to be kicked upstairs to Director Roberts. We only won a skirmish, not the war.'
'It still felt good.'
Kaiser started the engine, backed around, then stopped and waited for a coroner's wagon to come through the long line of law enforcement vehicles.
'Where are we going now?' Alex asked.
'You're going back to the hospital. Don't even think about arguing. I'm putting out a statewide alert for Rusk's powerboat, as soon as I can get a description of it. Then I'm going to see this Neville Byrd character, the one who claims you hired him to watch Rusk.' Kaiser cut his eyes at her. 'You didn't do that, did you?'
'I've never even heard of the guy. I swear to God.'
Kaiser nodded. 'I'm hoping Tarver hired him. To make sure his partner wasn't crossing him, you know?'
'Absolutely.'
As the coroner's wagon rolled by, something occurred to Alex. 'Did you tell Dodson about the writing on the floor? ‘A's number twenty-three'?'
Kaiser said nothing.
Alex suppressed her delight. 'I thought you weren't holding anything back anymore.'
'Screw that precious little bastard.'
'Amen.'
A young FBI agent rapped on Kaiser's window. Kaiser rolled down the glass. 'What is it?'
'They sent me to get you, sir. The AD, I mean. They found something in the garage.'
'What?'
'I don't know. But they're pretty freaked out.'
