Chapter 14
'... showed up with the same two embassy types again...'
'... Sir Nigel... he is the only one she trusts...'
'... His parents were not pleased. They'd never really embraced me...'
David Whitledge had been an 'Embassy type'. Bobby was getting a very bad feeling about this.
He sat unmoving, staring at the floor as he sifted the puzzle pieces around to reveal the picture. He stood and walked over to the desk, where he'd put his gun yesterday. He checked the chamber and the clip. Sighing deeply, he chambered a round.
Hope had watched his movements from the doorway. Tentatively, she ventured forward, "Bobby? What's wrong? What's happened?"
"Sir Nigel Whitledge - your father-in-law - is on his way up here to see you."
"Wha...? Why?" A stunned and confused Hope asked as she slowly walked over to the sofa and perched on the edge of the seat.
"Sir Nigel has had you watched, probably since you came to New York. At work... at the apartment, likely every place you go to with any regularity. He's probably very aware of your routine."
At the stricken look on her face, he rushed on, "Most likely it's been passive surveillance - a simple phone call - it could be someone like Jimmy, our doorman at the apartment... the security guard at Hudson, maybe even your assistant..."
"A simple phone call..." Hope whispered. She couldn't imagine why anyone would think any surveillance - passive or any other kind was necessary.
Bobby continued, "... passing on the name of a visitor, a planned trip or vacation, any change in routine."
"A... a change of routine? So, in another word - you?"
Bobby nodded. "There was an electronic trace on your information, when that was triggered by the search my partner had done..." Bobby left the rest unsaid.
Hope chewed at her nail as she thought about his explanation. Her voice rose and gained strength with each word she spoke, "Nigel thought that I might be in danger. Okay, I guess that makes sense ... if you assume it makes sense to have me under surveillance, in the first place. Which it doesn't."
"But Sir Nigel was concerned enough to set you up with a new identity, why would that have been necessary if he didn't believe you might still be in danger? And if he did believe you were still in danger wouldn't he have made sure safeguards were in place for your continued safety? One follows the other."
Hope shook her head. This was all so confusing. So... so unnecessary. "Since I came back to the States, I haven't even heard from him - not a visit, not a phone call, not a letter, nothing."
"He might have had reason to believe that he was being watched, that any contact would lead someone to you..."
"Why? Because I survived an attack - I didn't see anything that night. I didn't know anything about David's work, I wasn't involved in .... in anything. I don't think I even ... even really knew who David was!" She sounded slightly hysterical to her own ears, seeing Bobby stand and come over to her; she realized he had heard it too.
He sat next to her and put his arm around her - pulling her back from the edge, literally. As he pulled her back to lean against the back cushion of the sofa, she had to scoot back on the seat cushion.
She leaned onto him. Neither said anything as they both tried to process the last few minutes. Slowly he could feel her breathing slow. Tilting his head down to look at her, he softly asked, "Better?"
Sighing heavily, Hope nodded into his chest. "So... what do we do? Just wait for Nigel to show up?"
"Not exactly. I want to be ready to move if it doesn't feel right when he gets here. Anything odd at all - we have to be ready to move."
She nodded again, "How long do you think before he gets here?"
"I have no idea. I think he's probably already on his way here. Maybe an hour? I should tell you that Alex is on her way up here too."
"She's concerned that there might be..." Hope began.
"She's cautious, and she doesn't completely buy the story that she was told yesterday." He hesitated before slowly asking, "Hope ... have you ... have you ever handled a gun?"
She froze. Her breathing stopped. Her heart stopped. Her world shifted again. She shook her head 'no' against his chest. She inhaled and let out a deep shuttering sigh, her heart beat again, rapidly accelerating. Slowly she pushed herself away from Bobby. She inhaled deep breath and let it out slowly.
With a new found steely resolve, she stood and looked down at Bobby, "There are things we need to do to get ready... "
Mentally shaking himself, Sir Nigel Whitledge admonished himself, Snap out of it! I need to know whom I'm dealing with.
Stealing a quick glance towards the agents sitting across from him, he wondered if either man had noticed his wool-gathering. Richardson seemed to be asleep, so no worry there. Clearing his throat, he complimented the agents, "This is quite a thorough background for having been thrown together so quickly."
Agent Danforth-Hayes pulled his gaze away from the view offered from the tinted window to focus on Sir Nigel. He had spent the last several minutes studying the passing scenery since the Home Secretary had removed his glasses, closed his eyes and leaned back against the head rest.
"We did have several days, Sir. Our initial contact with Detective Goren was recorded on Saturday, last. That contact initiated the collection of his background material. His history wasn't too difficult to track down - he has been involved in some high profile local cases and has had a fair amount of press."
Sir Nigel could see that not all of that press was favorable, but his credentials were very interesting and reassuring. "Still, quite remarkable..." He said as he began to page through the documents again. United States Army Criminal Investigation Division. Mentored by the once great FBI criminal profiler - Declan Gage - (shame what's befallen him and his reputation of late). His years with the New York Police Department showed a remarkable tendency for justice, not merely arrests and convictions. Those same years also showed a remarkable proclivity to rubbing his superiors the wrong way. He was counting on the fact that the information provided in this report painted an accurate portrait of Robert Goren. Hope Thornton's life might depend on it.
Agent Danforth-Hayes glanced over at his partner - James Richardson - who had muttered something about needing more sleep, as soon as the limo pulled out of the Embassy grounds. He still sat, slumped down in the seat, arms crossed on his chest, head leaning against the glass of the window. The sleep of the innocent.... or the foolish. Danforth-Hayes greatest regret was no longer being stationed in a area of conflict. Most of the twenty years he'd spent serving his country had been in doing the dangerous and important work of looking out for his country's security. The last three years service in the United States had been little more than routine, boring and safe. That 'routine' seemed to suit the younger Richardson, or 'Jamey boy' as he often referred to his partner as, just fine. Danforth was chafing under the restraint required of him to work with a partner. Until coming to work in the civilized surroundings of New York City, he'd never needed had a partner and he wasn't adjusting well to working with one. He missed the freedom of relying only on himself and yes, dammit - the danger, the adrenaline rush of intrigue, of risk - he was anxious for his return to 'the game', his request for transfer already submitted and hopefully soon to be approved.
Lewis quietly slipped back into the bedroom after speaking to Alex on his cell phone.
Groggily, Gina asked, "Who's calling you so early? I thought you were taking today off?"
"Shhh, go back to sleep." Lewis opened the closet and pulled on a clean shirt.
Gina was awake now, wide awake. "Where... where are you going? Who was that on the phone?" Gina sat up and watched as Lewis pulled a pair of jeans out of the dresser.
"It was Alex - Bobby's partner. She wanted directions to the house." Tucking his shirt into the waistband of his jeans, he added. "I've got a bad feeling …, Bobby could be in some serious trouble now."
"So... you're going to go up there to save his ass..." Gina flung the blanket off herself and swung her legs over the side of the bed, "...wait for me."
"No, Gina. You need to stay here."
"No. You need to not tell me what to do. I care about Bobby as much as I do and if you're going up to the house my parents sold me - my house - then I'm going with you. Now get out of my way." Gina pushed past Lewis, dressed and ready to go.
"Oh, and on the drive up to the house, you can tell me exactly why it is that Bobby's partner - Bobby's female partner - has your cell phone number..."
Lewis grimaced and shook his head as he followed Gina out of the room. "Don't go making that out to be something..."
Thankfully Lewis couldn't see the grin on her face or read her mind, 'Deflection and distraction... keep him off balance.'
As soon as Alex got off the phone with Lewis, she was on her way out of the city, somehow finding that five-minute window before the weekday morning commute turns to stop-n-go gridlock. Now she was making good time on the interstate, and thankful that she had decided to install a GPS system in her car. It was going to save a lot of time looking driving around looking for Lewis' house. She hoped they matched the directions she'd just gotten from Lewis. She hadn't wanted to call Lewis, but she did want to get to Bobby and Hope as quickly as she could. Just because she was a woman and willing to ask for directions didn't mean she ever wanted to stop and ask for directions. If anything was going to happen today, she would hate to be late because she'd gotten lost. This could still turn out to be nothing, but she wasn't willing to risk her partner - her friend's safety and well-being on that off chance.
The drive upstate was giving her time to think and organize her thoughts. She felt a certain amount of guilt that her rash and impulsive request to Ira to run an unauthorized check into Hope Thornton's background had inadvertently set the whole chain of events in motion. As Captain Ross was fond of saying, 'the law of unintended consequences...' She was supposed to be the steady one, the one looking out for him, watching him. This episode rivaled and maybe even topped the stunts Bobby had managed to pull off over the years.
More disturbing that this professional breach, was the breach into the personal - Bobby's personal affairs. Never in all their years together as partner's had either crossed that boundary between professional and personal. They knew each others' history, they did talk to each other about their lives - they even knew some deep and dark secrets about the other, but neither had ever stepped over the line to become involved in the others' private life. Even though when the two spoke on the phone earlier, everything seemed fine between them, she had her misgivings. She knew there would come a time when he would confront her about what she'd done. What defense would she have? That he had been through such emotional turmoil that last few years, she didn't trust him to give the red flags in Hope Thornton's past their proper consideration; or worse, that he was already too emotionally vested in the relationship that his judgment couldn't be trusted. That would really bring to an end of their partnership. No, she was counting on history being in her favor, she and Bobby had survived difficult times before, they would survive this one as well. Both had invested more faith and trust in their partnership than either ever did in their personal ones.
Another of Ross' admonitions was swirling through her memory, 'keep me in the loop'. As she picked up her phone to call in she wondered, what her relationship with her partner was going to be like tomorrow...
To be continued....
