NOTE: A somewhat heavy rewrite on this chapter starting right after Jones and Diana leave. :)
Chapter Eighty-five
Sitting at his desk Agent Walsh drank down a cup of black coffee like it was an unpleasant task that he needed to get through as quickly as possible. In truth he was just making sure that he kept up with his severe caffeine addiction so that he wouldn't get slowed down in the afternoon by a headache. He'd been telling himself for years that he was going to scale back on the stimulant but so far he hadn't actually found the motivation to put that plan into action. The closest he'd come was removing the sugar he usually put in it.
Draining the large cup, the second one of the morning, Walsh took a deep breath and moved the mouse on his desk to jump his computer to life. Quickly entering his password he scanned through his email hoping for some good news. The preliminary hearing was coming up soon but Walsh wasn't worried about it, Peter's testimony would be good enough to get them through that to an actual trial. The real concern was getting an actual conviction on a single eyewitness, even a highly credible one. It wasn't impossible but Walker would be bringing decades of well established philanthropy to attest to his 'character' and of course the best lawyers money could by.
"Maybe even the best judge money can buy." Walsh sighed heavily.
Walsh had never worked a case involving another Agent and he was determined not to let Walker weasel his way out of this. Walsh knew that he shouldn't be working the case somewhat backwards seeing as he'd been given the Walker lead by White Collar who had pointed him in his direction due to some painfully circumstantial evidence. Walsh really wished that Agent Hughes hadn't talked to his recovered Agent before Peter had had a chanced to identify Walker. A smart lawyer would know Hughes had just accused Walker of some very serious charges without evidence and the fact that Hughes had talked to Peter before Walsh had a chance to meet with him would be a perfect opportunity to cast reasonable doubt on anything Peter had to say.
Walsh perked up when a new email arrived that he'd been waiting for. Opening the mail gave him the first good news he'd gotten on this case. Walsh's request to have Walker subpoenaed to hand over the name of his informant in the FBI that had supposedly told him about Peter's disappearance. It had been tricky and they had massaged the law a little but Walsh had won the argument by bringing up national security if there was a leak in the FBI. Walsh was confident that Walker didn't know anyone in the Agency and when he didn't have a name to give the courts his carefully constructed web of lies would start to tangle him. Walsh wished he could be there when Walker got served the papers, the look on his face would be very telling.
"Not to mention satisfying." Walsh chuckled to himself.
Despite feeling energized Walsh was heavily considering getting a head start on a third cup of coffee seeing as this was starting to look like a very productive day. Along with the subpoena Asha had done an amazing job with Walker, easily gaining access to his computer without Walsh needing to intervene with a distraction. She had been in his office for less than five minutes when he excused himself to have a quick chat with a donor that had stopped by unexpectedly. He had handed the computer information over to the White Collar team since that was their specialty. Walsh was fairly certain he wouldn't recognize money laundering even if he was staring at the proverbial soapy water. When Walsh heard a knock at the door he assumed it was one of the Agents from Peter's old team coming with more good news, however a man in his early thirties that Walsh didn't recognize meekly entered his office. Walsh went on high alert as he noticed how nervous the man appeared.
"Agent Walsh?" The man asked despite the brass nameplate on the desk.
"That's right. Can I help you…?" Walsh trailed off to prompt the man to give his name.
"David, David Kisher…uh…Agent Kisher."
"Agent?" Walsh repeated surprised. "You seem a little on edge for an Agent. What's your division?"
"Cyber Crime." David reached into his jacket and held his badge up for Walsh to inspect.
"Okay Agent David Kisher from Cyber Crime. How can I help you?"
"You're…uh…I…" Kisher stammered.
"Pull yourself together, Agent." Walsh ordered.
"Yes, Sir." Kisher nodded. "I'm here to tell you that I'm the one who told Mr. Walker about Agent Burke."
"What?!" Walsh exclaimed as he jumped to his feet aggressively.
"I'm sorry…" Kisher cringed.
"Sorry?" Walsh spat. "I don't want to hear you're sorry, I want to hear that you're taking the piss!"
"Wha...what?" Kisher asked not understanding the slang.
"You realize that you're actively ending your career by coming to me, right?"
Kisher nodded solemnly.
"Then why are you doing it?" Walsh demanded.
When Kisher hesitated Walsh narrowed his eyes in suspicion of the sudden confession. Starting to physically sweat Kisher shifted his weight uncomfortably.
"Answer me."
"Please, I was just trying to help." Kisher said miserably.
"You think I'm going to believe that for a second? What's her name?" Walsh asked suddenly.
"Her name?"
"Agent Burke's wife. What's her name?"
"I…uh…"
"You have no idea." Walsh accused darkly. "Why would you risk everything to help a woman who's name you don't even know? Don't give me any bullshit about trying to help a fellow Agent because we both know the best thing you could have done for him was keep your damn mouth shut!"
"I was jus…"
"Stop." Walsh interrupted. "I'll tell you why you did it: you didn't. Walker has something on you, something dark, something dirty. I make a move to pressure him for a source and you magically appear? I don't think so. This is Walker working backwards to cover up the fact that he knew Burke went missing because he *made* it happen. What does Walker have you? Do you have a gambling problem?"
Kisher said nothing he just shook his head.
"We will find your connection to him. I will make it my personal mission in life." Walsh threatened. "Come clean right now and I swear the FBI will protect you from him."
Kisher shook his head again, too terrfied to speak.
"Please," Walsh switched tactics as he tried to rein in his temper "if you have ever cared about this Agency you'll tell me what's really happening here."
"I'm sorry. It's already on official record, my SAC insisted that I come up her and tell you myself. "
"Traitor." Walsh growled with barely contained rage. "Get out. Get out before I do something that only one of us will live to regret."
Dropping his eyes to the floor Kisher turned and left without another word. Walsh didn't believe Kisher's confession for a second. Adding finding Kisher's connection to Walker to his growing list of seemingly hopeless tasks Walsh realized that he had to seriously consider that someone along the chain of command for getting the subpoena was dirty as well and had tipped Walker off. Feeling like he was fighting a massive dragon that he couldn't even get close to Walsh turned and kicked his chair over in pure frustration. Jones and Diana arrived at the door just in time to see Walsh deliver a death blow to the innocent chair as he stomped on it.
"Maybe we should come back later." Diana suggested.
"I'm sorry, please come in." Walsh apologized chagrined and he took a deliberate deep breath to try to calm himself. "My last long term undercover alias had a major temper and honestly I've never managed to shake it off."
"Undercover can really mess with your head." Jones said sympathetically.
"It's probably too much to hope for that you two have come bearing good news, isn't it?"
The way the two Agents looked at one another sunk Walsh's momentary glimmer of hope.
"You didn't find anything on Walker's computer, did you?" Walsh sighed.
"Worse than that." Jones admitted.
"We found evidence of embezzling." Diana said.
"That sounds like a good thing." Walsh replied confused.
"The evidence points to your informant, Asha." Diana finished.
"No, no." Walsh shook his head. "She's one of the good guys, I know she is. This is Walker laughing at us. This is why it was so easy for her to get to that computer, he wanted her to."
"We agree." Diana nodded. "We need to do some more work but we are fairly certain that when we dig more that the numbers aren't going to add up and that the accounts won't line up right. It's not as easy to frame someone for embezzling as you'd think and a few little things stick out already."
"Although if anyone could do it it would be someone like Walker." Jones pointed out. "As her employer he'd have access to a great deal of her personal information, he might be trying to get rid of her."
"No, this was an intentional play, it's a trap. He wants us to accuse her and then he'll counter with some rational explanation for the hinky numbers. He's setting himself up to be the hero, he wants to save Asha from us. He's looking to cast more doubt on the FBI's motivation for coming after him and our basic competency." Walsh reasoned. "He should have used better bait. He thought we'd be mistrusting of her because of how close she's been with Elizabeth, but I'm not falling for it. I know a gentle soul when I meet one."
"I know she really helped Elizabeth." Diana added.
"Although I'm thinking that you two should go pick Asha up right away." Walsh said.
"You want us to arrest her?" Jones asked surprised.
"No, I want you to protect her. Walker knew she was going to flip on him and if his trap doesn't spring…I don't know, I just have a bad feeling. I want her to be safe. I worry that I've caught her up the middle of all this and she's going to end up 'disappearing'. I'd go but I'd rather it look like you two are arresting her in case Walker is watching her. Might as well make him think he's a step ahead of us while we are at it."
"We'll go get her right now."
"Thank you." Walsh smiled. "Tell her I'm sorry."
"We will."
Jones and Diana left giving Walsh a moment to regret having crushed his chair. Before he could pick up the pieces his cell phone rang. Pulling out his phone and seeing that it was his buddy, Ryan, on the police force calling Walsh once again hoped for some good news to salvage this day. Answering the call he was greeted by a double edged sword. Ryan finished his report of the situation and was greeted only by silence.
"Alan? Ryan asked "Still there?"
"I hate you right now, you know that right?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't get the guy I know it's important you catch this one."
"It's not that." Walsh sighed heavily. "I have to go offer that monster protection."
"You don't have to...I mean legally you have to, but I'll forget this conversation if you want me to."
"No. No, it's okay, I'm going to make this work."
"Good luck."
"Thanks, I need it."
Hanging up the phone Walsh untangled his jacket from the broken chair. Taking his weapon and harness out of the bottom drawer he threw them on before slipping on his jacket over them. Driving across town Walsh headed to the sky scraper that Walker owned the top five floors of. The main headquarters of Light for the Lost was far fancier than the small community building that Asha ran the support groups out of. Flashing his badge at the secretary Walsh was a little surprised that Walker was willing to see him immediately rather than making him wait.
Stepping into the large top floor corner office it was impossible not to take a moment to stare out at the breathtaking view of the city out the floor to ceiling windows. Walsh could see why Walker took the name 'York' down in the Labyrinth, he felt like he owned this city. Becoming more determined than ever to prove him wrong Walsh stepped up and flashed his badge at Walker. Sitting at a large mahogany desk Walker looked up at his guest, ignoring the badge in his hand, and flashed him a practiced smile that almost managed to look genuine. Walsh had the feeling that Walker had expected a visit from him but he was willing to bet that Walker had a different reason for the visit in mind.
"Agent," Walker greeted "how can I help you?"
"Actually, I'm here to help you." Walsh admitted.
"Really?" Walker asked with feigned interest. "What is it that you think you can do for me?"
"I'm here to offer you federal protection."
Walsh did get a little satisfaction from the brief flash of confusion slightly crease Walker's brow. Walker was very good at masking his thoughts but he wasn't a master of it.
"I can take care of myself." Walker said confidently. "I don't need to make any deals with the FBI, if anything you need protection from me or at the very least from my lawyers."
"I'm not looking to offer you a deal. This is a very simple and straightforward offer for protection against a credible threat to your life that has arisen as a result of my current case."
"I don't understand."
"As a Federal Agent it is my job to protect you as a citizen, information has been presented to me that someone has made a direct threat against you."
"Someone?"
Walsh hesitated to explain further, technically he didn't have to share any details as they were part of an open investigation. On the other hand there was a tactical advantage to rattling Walker's cage and this had the potential to give Walker a good shaking.
"Do you know Jacob Tulie?"
"No." Walker replied honestly.
"He goes by 'Jake'."
Walker did a good job of not looking surprised as he suddenly made the connection but the color had automatically drained from his face. Since the FBI hadn't brought any charges against him concerning Jake's abduction Walker had likely assumed that the branded man was among the dead.
"Sound familiar?" Walsh pressed.
"No." Walker repeated a little less convincingly.
"Alright, my mistake." Walsh said casually. "Sorry to bother you."
"Can I ask what made you think he's a threat to me?" Walker asked trying not to sound too interested.
"He broke into your old residence and tortured the current owner until they gave him your name. Are you sure you don't want the FBI's help?"
"I'll be fine."
"Okay." Walsh shrugged and placed once of his business cards on Walker's desk. "Call me if you remember why this Jake guy might be after you or if you change your mind about protection."
Walker didn't respond as he glanced down at the card. Thanking Walker for his time Walsh left the opulent office. Walsh had never really expected Walker to accept protection but now he could make it official record that he had offered it. Giving him Jake's name was a major gamble but hopefully one that would pay off. From everything Walsh had learned about Jake from Peter, Neal and Ethan he knew that he was a particularly dangerous and driven force to be reckoned with. Walsh was circling Walker like a vulture waiting for him to make a mistake and frightened men were far more likely to do something stupid.
Walker had been above the law for so long that he didn't fear tangling with law men, but Jake was an animal of his own making and there was clear fear in Walker's eyes now. Constantly looking over his shoulder was going to get old quick was only a matter of time before he slipped and tried to go after Jake before Jake could get to him. Walsh was watching Walker's every move and White Collar was keeping track of every penny he owned. With as fearsome a reputation as Jake had developed it would take some palm greasing for even Walker to convince anyone to go after him. Now it was more important than ever to find Jake, but if he caught wind that Walker was gunning for him it might even drive Jake to come to the FBI for protection. Although Jake had very little to lose and he might stop at nothing to get to Walker.
"I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep if 'nature' just took its course on this one…"
