Danny stared in disbelief at Sam
'Christ……all I was told was that someone had tried to kill Maggie and that he had been 'restrained', no one mentioned this….' he gestured toward Sam's face.
Sam tried to smile but stopped when the Doctor attending to her tutted impatiently then stepped back; 'OK, well I've stitched the cut on your head but you need to watch for any signs of dizziness or sickness as they can be a sign of concussion and you really should have someone stay with you for the next 24 hours at least'
Danny took a step forward, 'Don't worry Doctor, we'll take good care of her'
The doubtful look the Doctor gave Danny suggested that he wasn't wholly convinced about whether this would be a good thing or not; turning to Sam he continued, 'Well you need to make an appointment to have the stitches removed in 5 days but other than that you're good to go'; he nodded at Sam and turned and left the cubicle.
Danny stepped closer to Sam, staring at the stitches the Doctor had just inserted into the wound on the hairline of her forehead and then down at the blood that soaked her shirt.
'Is all that yours?' he gestured toward the blood
'Yes, but it looks worse than it is'
His eyebrows reached his hairline, 'It would have to Sam'
She grinned weakly, 'You know as well as I do that head cuts bleed worse than any other type…..anyway, at least I was in the right place' she stood up and swayed slightly; Danny grabbed hold of her a look of concern on his face. She grinned at him and gestured toward the busy waiting area, 'and I got to jump the queue'
Danny kept hold of her arm, 'Sit down again' she could hear the concern in his voice.
She shook her head and winced at the pain the movement caused her, 'I'm fine, I want to go and see Martin'
Danny let go of her arm and looked at her carefully. She was very pale but had a determined look in her eyes; he decided that the effort required to try and stop her wasn't worth it, especially as he guessed she wouldn't listen to a word he said. Decision made he shrugged his shoulders,
'Come on then', he stepped aside so that she could leave the cubicle ahead of him.
He saw her pause and look at him suspiciously, 'I thought I was going to have to insist; why are you agreeing so easily?'
'I'm too tired to have an argument with you that I know I'd lose', he grinned at her, 'and anyway I want to see how Maggie's doing'
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
'Henry Saunders'
Jack and Viv stared at James Holland, disbelief etched across both their faces
'Henry Saunders'
Jack sounded as stunned as he looked, 'You're trying to tell me that Henry Saunders is behind one of the biggest organised crime syndicates on the East Coast?' his voice rose as he finished his sentence.
Holland nodded
Jack stared at Viv for a moment replaying Danny's words from earlier in his head
'He's hiding something'
Jack thought that if what Holland was saying was right then Danny's statement would rate as the understatement of the century. The silence in the room was broken by the ringing of the phone on the wall. Viv stood up
'Yes'
She looked at Jack; her eyebrows raised and she indicated with a nod of her head that he should follow her. For the second time Jack left the interview room to find someone waiting for him on the other side of the door
'Jack'
'Victor'
Jack stared at Victor Fitzgerald and then at the man standing next to him.
'Jack this is Tom Holden. He's heading up the investigation into Henry Saunders'
Tom Holden held his hand out to Jack; he looked like the typical Washington high flyer; late 30's, smooth faced, expensive suit and a blank watchful expression on his face.
Jack shook his hand, glancing at Viv; 'This is Vivian Johnson'
The two men shook Viv's hand and then Victor gestured toward Jack's office; 'We need to talk, is Special Agent Taylor around?'
'No, he's at the hospital; someone made another attempt to kill Maggie'
Jack saw the shocked look that appeared on Victor's face and cursed himself savagely; 'Sorry, sorry, I forgot….., she's fine, he was disarmed and Special Agent Spade was at the hospital at the time' he hastened to explain and saw the relief in Victor's eyes. He met his eyes; 'Sorry, it's been a long couple of days and I didn't think….'
He saw Victor wave his apology away; 'Is Special Agent Spade OK?'
Jack paused and looked at Viv, 'Have we heard anything from Danny or Sam?'
She shook her head, 'No, but I can try and get an update for you if you would like?'
Jack nodded and watched as Viv headed in the direction of the bull pen, her phone clamped to her ear. He indicated toward his office, 'Shall we go through?'
Once they had settled themselves in Jack's office, Victor indicated toward Tom Holden, 'I think it would be helpful if Tom gave you some background on all of this.'
Tom Holden cleared his throat, 'Obviously we are all sorry to hear about Ms Carlisle but it does appear as if she has got herself mixed up in all of this'
Jack stared at him; he could feel a cold rage start to creep over him and he took a deep breath in an effort not to let it show, 'What exactly is 'all of this' Agent Holden?'
From the look on Agent Holden's face and the look on Victor's he hadn't done a great job of keeping his feelings to himself
'All of this, Agent Malone, is an investigation that has been running for nearly two years and may very well be hopelessly compromised thanks to Agent Taylor'
'What the hell is Danny supposed to have done?' Jack sounded very pissed off now and was making no attempt to hide it
Tom Holden was on his feet, his face reddening and his eyes blazing, 'He tipped Henry Saunders off that he was part of an FBI investigation'
Jack stared at him in disbelief; 'he did no such thing; he interviewed a close associate of a man who had gone missing which is normal practice in these circumstances. Frankly it would be more likely to raise alarm bells if we HADN'T interviewed him'
Before Tom Holden could reply Victor cut across the two angry men; 'you said 'had gone missing', does that mean you've found Robert Kenilworth?'
Jack reluctantly tore his eyes away from the flushed angry face of Tom Holden and looked at Victor; 'No we haven't found him but we do believe that he is dead'
'For the love of christ'; the words exploded out of Tom Holden's mouth and Jack swung around to stare angrily at him again.
'Tom'; Victor's voice sounded a warning to Holden who swung away briefly in what appeared to be an attempt to regain control. He swung back, ignoring Jack and looking at Victor
'That's it then, that's our last chance to nail the bastard gone'
Victor stared at Holden for a moment and then looked back at Jack, 'Where has the information come from?'
Jack turned back to Victor, 'James Holland was there when they shot Robert Kenilworth this afternoon. Apparently they believed he had some information on them and wanted to know where it was. According to Holland, Robert told them that he had given it to Maggie…..'
'Why the fuck didn't you say earlier' Holden spat the words at Jack and reached for his phone and punched in a number, 'It's Holden, it's possible that Maggie Carlisle has the information we need, I want a guard on her room, no-one in or out without my say so'
He swung back to face Jack, taking an involuntary step back at the fury he could see on Jack's face
'Listen you pencil pushing smart ass, YOU are supposed to be briefing ME, which so far has consisted of you telling me nothing I didn't already know, and a pathetic attempt to blame my agent for your cock ups…'
Victor stepped between them again, halting Jack's words
'Tom, you need to give Jack some background' he sounded tense and Jack suddenly remembered that Maggie was Victor's god daughter and his son's girlfriend. He took a deep breath and resumed his seat.
Holden hesitated a second then took his seat again; he fiddled with his phone for a second then sat back and looked at Jack
'We first became aware of this crime network 10 or more years ago but we never got close to the top; then a couple of years back a city official was busted for drug use. He was desperate not to get sent down for 10 years and offered a deal, names for the charges going away.' He glanced over at Victor and then back to Jack before continuing;
'He started to spill names and details that gave us access to a much higher level of the organisation until the only thing missing was the man at the top. We tried and tried but although we knew it had to be someone big we couldn't get confirmation of who it was, he was just too clever. 'Our source wasn't high enough within the organisation to know who the top man was but a couple of weeks ago Robert Kenilworth contacted us; he told us that he had been blackmailed to provide information and ensure that certain contracts went to the 'right' people.'
He shifted in his seat looking uncomfortable as he continued, 'he had access to the top man and it was from him we finally learned that it was Henry Saunders who was running the whole thing. We knew we could use him to close the whole thing down but we wanted incontrovertible proof' He shifted again and Jack suddenly had a premonition
'You knew he was using cocaine, you knew he was falling apart and that he was desperate to get out' his voice was accusing and Holden's head jerked up, a defensive look on his face
'Hard decisions have to be made Malone, you know that. If we had pulled him straight out we might have been able to make it difficult for Saunders for a while but he would have got off and we would never have got the chance again, so we left Kenilworth where he was and told him what we needed.'
'So what went wrong?'
Holden looked frustrated, 'I really don't know; I just know that when I last spoke to him two days ago he had changed; he was very wary and accused me of betraying him. When I asked him what he meant he said that he thought that there must be a mole in the FBI because he was certain that Saunders knew he had spoken to us'
Jack stared at him, the pieces of the puzzle coming together in his head, 'you mentioned a city official that was informing for you, what's his name?'
For a moment Holden looked as if he was going to ask why Jack needed to know but instead glanced at Victor who nodded;
'Charles Lawton'
'Charles Lawton……….Robert's number two in the Legal Council's office was your mole'
'Yes'
'Did he know that Robert was talking to you?'
'No, he wasn't told'
'Well I think he found out and I think he told Henry Saunders' Jack glared at Holden
Holden looked at Victor and then back at Jack, flinching slightly at the look in Jack's eyes, 'But he doesn't know that Henry Saunders heads up the organisation',
Jack gave Holden a contemptuous look, 'and you know this because he told you I suppose? I mean who would you be more scared of; the FBI or a man who would turn you into fish food without a second thought? He knew Saunders was in charge and he found out that Robert was talking to you and he told him and because of that Robert is dead and Maggie is in a coma'
Holden stared at Jack, 'that's just supposition; you don't have any proof….'
'Danny said that Saunders was trying to make it sound as if Maggie was trying to blackmail Robert. I think he was trying to make us believe that Robert ended things with Maggie and that Maggie was blackmailing him. He wanted us to think that Robert attacked her and then disappeared when he realised how badly she was hurt, although I suspect she was supposed to die' he looked at Victor, 'he knew some thing's about Maggie that he couldn't have known without some serious digging around; I think he has known for a while about Robert and I think this was his way of trying to fix the problem but Maggie managed to stab her attacker and I think Robert managed to get some information to her that Saunders is scared of, hence the reason for the second attempt.'
He stood up, 'look, for all I care you can have Holland and you can take down Saunders; I've done my bit, I've established that Kenilworth is dead. Now I'm off to the hospital to see my agents and then I'm going home to get some sleep' he looked at Victor, 'if you want a lift to the hospital I'm leaving now'
With that, Jack turned and walked out of the door and headed for the elevator.
'Jack'
He turned to see Viv hurrying toward him; 'I've spoken to the hospital and to Danny', she looked at Victor who was emerging from Jack's office
'Director Fitzgerald, the hospital has told me that Maggie is coming round. Martin is with her but I thought you might like to know so that you can be there too'; she turned back to Jack, her back to Victor and Jack saw the fierce warning look she gave him;
'I've spoken to Danny as well; apparently Sam was hurt when Maggie was attacked. She's had her wounds stitched and Danny has persuaded her that she should go home and rest but apparently she may have a mild concussion and someone needs to stay with her for 24 hours to make sure there are no complications' she paused her face still sending a warning message to Jack.
He took a deep breath, 'where is Sam now?'
'She's at the hospital; Danny was going to run her back to her apartment but she wont go until there is someone to stay with Martin, he wants one of us to head to the hospital; he's worried that if she doesn't get some proper rest soon she's going to collapse'
Jack stared at her for a moment then looked at Victor; 'right, I'll run us out to the hospital; you'll want to see Martin and Maggie and I'll make sure Sam gets home and gets some rest' he looked at Viv, 'and you need to go home and get some sleep as well.'
He ignored the sceptical look on her face, 'Go! Go home now and get some sleep, I'll take care of Sam...'
