Chapter 16

Keefe was exhausted. The attack on Rippner's safehouse and the disappearance of its inhabitants had been almost 20 hours ago and still there was no sign of them. He, Whitley and all the other agents involved had been working non-stop since, frantically searching for clues and connections. For the millionth time, he went over the events in his mind and regretted ever getting Lisa Reisert involved.

The fact that three furious people had been yelling at him for the last forty-five minutes didn't help at all.

Keefe himself had spoken to Lisa Reisert's parents and two close friends about the phony abduction and he had assured them not to worry - Lisa was with them and she was safe and nothing bad whatsoever could happen to her. They had given their prepared statements to the police and everything was fine.

Unfortunately, when the very real attack on the safehouse took place, there had been an eyewitness with a camera and somehow, a picture had ended up in the news. It was a blurry shot of a dark-clad, hooded person carrying an unconscious and bleeding female into a van. That alone wouldn't have been so bad, but Lisa Reisert had immediately been identified by her family and friends thanks to the shirt she had been wearing at the time of the kidnap. After calling his office innumerable times, they had obviously decided that there was strength to be found in numbers and had personally come down to see him.

Joe Reisert waved a cell phone at him. "You tell Lisa's mother where her daughter is right now or God help me," he pointed at Marc Whitley who had tried to help while actually making matters worse, "I'm going to take this arrogant little shit and start smacking him around!"

There was a stream of shrill words coming from the phone, mingling with the assorted accusations that the three people present kept throwing at him.

Keefe rubbed his forehead. "Mr. Reisert, please. I can assure you –"

"With all due respect, sir, you have assured enough." Jay's angry voice cut in. "It was plain to see that Lisa was bleeding … or are you trying to say that was all part of the assignment?"

"And what was that assignment, anyway? Lisa is a smart girl, but we all know she has buttons that should never be pushed - and damn you if you did! What did you make her do?" Lisa's father paced the room, his body bristling with anger.

Cynthia took a deep breath and turned to Keefe, "Sir, I'm willing to believe that you would never intentionally let Lisa get hurt. That means that whatever happened was not part of your plan, which in turn means that you cannot state with certainty that she is okay! Am I right?"

Whitley tried to step in again, but was interrupted with a "Shut up, bitch, nobody's talking to you!" from Jay who put his arm around Cynthia when he realized she was close to tears.

"Mr. Keefe, you are clearly not able to give us any reliable piece of information on neither my daughter's current whereabouts, nor her state of health. Don't jerk us around, we've come too far for that."

"Mr. Reisert, I am not trying to 'jerk you around'. The problem is that the whole operation is classified and before you charge me with forcing your daughter into it, she joined it out of her own free will." Keefe nodded at Whitley. "Mr. Whitley is witness to this and will tell you just as I am that Ms. Reisert was familiar with the implications."

"So she knew for a fact that you would be unable to keep her out of harm's way?" Joe Reisert bellowed. "'Free will' is a fine idea, but very hard to define in your circles and don't even try to argue otherwise!" He brought his fist down on the table. "Lisa was finished with you and your agents and your secret crap, she had a good job and she was going on with her life. She would never, ever risk that on a whim!"

Jay gave Cynthia one last squeeze and focused on Keefe again. "Lisa would have never joined your little operation if she hadn't been one hundred percent sure nobody else could do the job. Someone gave her that idea and I think that was you." He snorted. "So much for your free will theory."

Once more, the room drowned in angry noise.

Whitley joined his superior's side and put up his hands. "Everybody calm down, please. Yes, Ms. Reisert's help was imperative for this mission and she was aware of that. We needed her to catch a big, important fish and …"

A loud thud made them turn. It was Cynthia, who had collapsed to the floor and was now sitting there, staring at them wide-eyed. "Oh no … please no. Oh my God, oh my God, ohmygodohmygodohmygod. It's Jackson Rippner, isn't it?"

Lisa's father helped her back up and ushered her to a chair.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Whitley exchanged a quick glance with Keefe. "Rippner's dead - Mr. Reisert himself saw the grave. Mr. Reisert, please speak up here."

Jay regarded Cynthia with a confused frown. "That can't be, Cyn."

"Don't you see! This is like a damn sequel and the bad guy always comes back!" She massaged her temples, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He was the one thing that haunted her and he must be whatever drove her back into this whole mess." Cynthia looked up, her tone almost desperate. "Don't you see?"

Joe Reisert tenderly stroked her hair and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Allright, allright, honey, it's okay. Just to put our minds at ease, Mr. Keefe …" For a moment, he found himself transported back into days long gone when he would hold his little baby girl by the hand in a doctor's office, telling her that the shot wouldn't hurt at all. Was this how it felt to have one's heart broken? "… Rippner's dead and has nothing to do with it, right?"

Keefe was an experienced politician and a natural talent at clouding facts with fiction, but he made the fundamental mistake of considering to tell them the truth for only the fraction of a second. Yet, that was all Lisa's father needed and with a loud cry, he launched himself at the Chief of Homeland Security.

"You bastard! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY DAUGHTER!"

Whitley immediately jumped to restrain him, but was hindered by Cynthia who tore at his shirt while screaming for him to get off Joe Reisert. Jay, on the other hand, was trying to get a grip on Lisa's father to pull him away – not necessarily to aid Keefe, but he feared Joe might suffer a stroke if not stopped eventually.

The commotion had apparently alerted a couple of agents outside, because after a loud bang, the room was suddenly filled with shouts and people. Two of them restrained Joe Reisert, two others grabbed Jay and Whitley himself managed to free himself of Cynthia, who kicked him one last time, just for good measure.

Keefe looked around with narrowed eyes. "Mr. Reisert, you pull another stunt like that and I'll have you arrested." His gaze shifted to Cynthia and Jay. "The lot of you. Is that understood?"

The three of them nodded in unison, throats dry.

He added with an annoyed sigh, "Don't make me regret this." and gestured for the agents to release them. "Everybody who just came in, leave now and close the door behind you. Thank you."

Keefe then took his time smoothing down his shirt, checking his suit for tear and rifling through one of the cupboards for drinks. "You are dancing on razorblades here. Water? … Whiskey? … No?" He sat down and pulled a large file out of one of the drawers. "I don't suppose this is news to you, but Lisa Reisert is a hero - and the only reason I'm willing to give you anything is because of her."

Lisa's father opened his mouth to speak, but snapped it shut when he received a warning glance from Whitley.

"You get fifteen more minutes of my time, but that's it. I insist you leave this building afterwards and don't come back except if asked to do so. I don't need to tell you that all this is strictly confidential, so keep it to yourselves and yourselves only." The harsh tone in his voice lost a little of its edge. "I will let you know as soon as I have news."

In brisk words, Keefe gave them a very general account of the operation and Lisa's role in it. He showed them plans of the safehouse, pictures taken after the attack on it and even a photo of Jackson Rippner from his time in custody.

Exactly fifteen minutes later they were escorted out the door and blinked their eyes against the bright sun.

It was Cynthia who spoke first. "So where do we start?"