NOTE: Yesterday I uploaded two new chapters... 38 and 39... I noticed the read numbers on 38 are lower than on 39, so some readers may have missed 38... Thanks :-)

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St Louis, Missouri, Fairfield Inn, 2019

After informing Holden Snyder that his son was indeed alive and where to find him, the federal agent lay out in his cotton sleep shorts atop the covers; even though he knew sleep was unlikely to come.

Am I really considering this?

From the moment they discovered Snyder's identity in Arlington, he'd never once deliberated the possibility that the two young men might be innocent. Why would he, when they were already convicted in a court of law?

But that was exactly what Adrian found himself doing now.

Without going back to the files on his computer, he tried to put the evidence together in his mind. He cataloged the weapons, the fingerprints, the motive; along with Snyder and Mayer being found at the scene of the murder.

On the surface, there was more than enough evidence to conclude they were guilty.

But are they?

Maybe this confusion he felt was all part of a ploy by Mayer. Maybe Mayer hoped to build a case of reasonable doubt in the minds of a future jury. Was it possible this entire innocent act was all an elaborately concocted plan? Snyder and Mayer had certainly proven themselves smart enough after all.

Could they possibly have hurt the kid on purpose in an effort to garner a few sympathy votes? As that thought crossed his mind, Adrian was quick to dismiss it. He'd seen the very real pain on both faces of the men. That wasn't the kind of heartache a person could fake.

Besides, this theory wouldn't explain Snyder's attempted suicide nor Mayer's continual push to prove their innocence, despite thinking Snyder was dead.

No matter how he looked at it, Adrian couldn't shake that nagging doubt.

Once the men collected their son from the school they were home free. They had everything they needed to disappear again.

So why didn't they? Why had they come out in the open if not to fight for justice? Why else would they take such a massive risk?

Frustrated, he hurtled from the bed; grabbed his key card; and padded down the hall, stopping to knock loudly on the door to room 180.

Archie Blithe appeared like a thunder cloud in blue sleep shorts and a white vest top; rubbing his eyes. "God dammit, Adrian! Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Mayer paid me a visit!"

That instantly woke Archie up. "He what?"

"Can I come in?" Adrian asked. "I need to run a few things by you; and I kinda don't want to discuss them out here in the hall."

Archie stepped back to allow Adrian entry to his darkened room. As he closed the door he flipped the switch and squinted into the bright light.

"Hang on?" Archie realized. "If Mayer showed up in your hotel room, what are you doing here? Why isn't the place crawling with agents looking for him?"

Adrian rubbed his hands through his hair. "He's long gone. And anyway… I'm no longer so sure it's him we should be chasing!"

Over the next hour, Adrian laid it all out for the police chief. He repeated what Snyder told him in the interrogation room; and detailed Mayer's visit.

Blithe had already voiced some of his own doubts, so it didn't take him long to fall in line with Adrian's train of thought. "So what?" Blithe asked. "Are we thinking the bureau set these two kids up to take the fall as a cover up of some sort?"

Adrian nodded.

Archie shook his head. "I need a stiff drink!"

"I know what you mean… But think about it! If the FBI tells you they're guilty because of A, B, and C; and hands you the evidence to prove it, you believe them, right? I mean who's going to turn around and question the FBI? Nobody would!"

"Yip," Archie agreed. "You basically have a scenario where the FBI tells the courts exactly the story it wants the jury to believe. And it has the power to lay out all the evidence to support their contention that Snyder and Mayer killed Mayer's father and a room full of people. Nobody would check whether that evidence was well grounded, simply because the FBI provided it. The bureau is the country's top lead domestic law enforcement agency, right?"

Adrian nodded, "Exactly!"

Archie took a seat on the edge of his rumpled bed. "Okay… let's say you're right… Do you have any idea who at the FBI could have orchestrated this? I mean, it's not just like dropping a gun at a crime scene. It has to be somebody pretty high up in the bureau."

Adrian spent a few minutes pacing the room, trying to order his thoughts. "I have a theory," he said. "Can I use your cell?"

Blithe handed it to him. "Who you gonna call?"

Without replying, Adrian dialed a number and waited. Within a few minutes he heard the high-pitched voice of Deputy Supervisor Gordon Jones.

"Hey Gordie, it's Agent Williams here."

The agent made it a personal policy to get to know all the major players on the service floors at Hoover. They were a wealth of knowledge and willing to do just about anything for you, provided you put in a good word for them at promotion time.

"Hey, how are you?" Gordon responded. "What can I do you for?"

"What do you know about the Snyder apprehension in St Louis?"

Adrian heard some nervous shuffling and that got him excited. He was definitely onto something.

"Um… I don't know if I'm allowed to discuss that," Jones nervously replied.

"It's okay, Gordie. You won't get in any trouble. You know full well this is my case…"

"Yes… it's just… the flag on the files said private/confidential and your name isn't on the approved list… I'm not sure…

Files?

"Look, I wouldn't ask you to bend the rules unless it was really important. But I need your help here. Just tell me what's in the files; and I'll be sure to tell your supervisor how helpful you have been in solving this high profile case."

As per usual, those seemed to be the magic words. As Jones spilled what he knew, Adrian's mind raced.

Marsh! Why didn't I see it?

Marsh was the one who set the trace that led the feds to Luke Snyder. He traced the phone of a Dr. Christopher Hughes, after the good doctor accessed files connected to Colonel Mayer and the Army research being done in the lab.

Adrian reasoned Dr. Hughes must have been with Snyder and Mayer at the motel, when the raid went down. Somehow, in the confusion, Mayer and Hughes escaped while Snyder ended up in custody.

As far as Adrian was concerned, there was only one reason Marsh would have put a flag on archived files from Branson and Oakdale!

He knew! Marsh knew, or at least suspected, they'd come back one day! He knew there was a chance they'd try to prove their innocence! And he was ready for them!

His face flushed as he put more of the puzzle pieces together. He didn't want to believe this. This kind of thing could blow up in his face. If he was wrong he could certainly kiss his career goodbye!

But Adrian was a man of honor. He couldn't let it go. The very thought of the law being twisted and used in this manner set anger boiling inside of him.

"Say that again?" Archie asked with disbelief as soon as Adrian filled him in.

"You heard right!" Adrian told him. "FBI Deputy Director Stanley Marsh is behind this!"

Archie whistled, "Jesus, Adrian! You better be right before you even think of going down this road."

"Oh, I'm sure! I'd bet my badge on it!" The more certain Adrian became of Snyder and Mayer's innocence, the worse he felt for allowing Mayer to leave without telling him Snyder was alive. He worried what Mayer's next move might be. "So..." Adrian continued, plopping down into a nearby armchair. "...let's assume everything going on in Washington right now, with the weapons allegations surrounding Senator Marsden, are all somehow connected to a discovery made by Colonel Winston Mayer in 2007. Let's assume the colonel confronts Marsden and Marsden sees his whole world crumbling…"

Archie nodded. "…all Marsden has to do is find the right person in the FBI to get rid of the colonel and anybody related to him; just in case the colonel might have confided in one of them…"

"…and fabricate a story to cover it all!" Adrian finished. "I did a search while I was on the phone with Snyder's father. There are further reports of similar bio-weapons being used all over the Middle East. Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria… You name it!"

"And Marsden could have a hand in all of it!" Archie gulped. "Jesus! This thing is massive!"

It was just like the different colors of paint found on an artist's pallet. When taken individually, no one incident was enough to draw a conclusion that any of Adrian's hypotheses were true. Yet weave the colors together and you've got yourself an entire picture.

Marsh and Marsden were the common denominators in all of it. They conspired to create the canvas for such a deadly work of art.

"The main problem when you go back and look through the original case files is clear as day if you only take a moment to see it," Adrian told Archie.

"What's that?"

"The investigation was led by one of the masterminds responsible for the crime. The agents on duty weren't trying or weren't encouraged to dig deep. They only asked the questions that would help solidify the case. Not one of them ever asked whether it was possible Snyder and Mayer were innocent."

"Christ!" Archie stood up and headed for the window, just to have something to do. "We are seriously up to our eyeballs in shit with this one! But… I'm with you. I'll stand by you as far as I can."

Adrian smiled. "I knew there was a reason I brought you along!"

"So… It wasn't just because of my irresistible charm?"

Adrian laughed. "Sorry to disappoint but one, you're too old for me Grandpa; and two, I don't swing that way!"

They chuckled together for a moment, if simply to release some of the tension.

"We still need to find the kid and bring in Mayer," Archie surmised. "Their lives are obviously in danger if all this is true."

Adrian nodded. "We'll have to think about how we do that."

"And then?"

"We pay my boss a visit, of course…"