my town house.”
“And why wouldn’t that count since you were supposed to be in it?” Without waiting for a response, Paulie continued. “The guy is probably pretty pissed he got less than a third of the ransom he was demanding for the Mulder girl. Decided to go after the man who cost him the remaining seven million.”
“Actually, since you were the one with the skills to divert the rest, it’s you he should be targeting.” Dark humor filled Adam. He looked over at his friend. Noticed the way his hands were clenched on the steering wheel. And was touched by the unspoken concern. “It’s actually satisfying to have some evidence that we were right. Neither of us believed the feds’ version that Jennings was working alone to avenge his ex-girlfriend’s father’s death at my hand a decade ago. This makes more sense. Now we’ll yank on this connection you’ve found between the shooter in Philly and the Colorado kidnapping, see if we can finally figure out who was pulling the strings in the Mulder case. But you’re grasping at straws if you’re suggesting tonight had anything to do with those cases.”
“This from the man who doesn’t believe in coincidence.”
The trees alongside the road were thinning. They were nearing the interstate again. “There’s no coincidence. I just have a knack for setting people on edge. Amazing, given my winning personality.”
Samuels didn’t smile. His tone was dogged. “You can’t ignore the possibility that tonight is linked to the other attempts on your life, Adam. The shooter failed in May. Landed you in the hospital and rehab for months, but you’re still around. There’s no reason to believe the attempts will stop. The bank account discovery ties Jennings to the Colorado kidnapper. Who’s still out there and likely still wants you dead. That could be what tonight was all about.”
“If tonight was an attempt, it wasn’t much of one.” Jennings had been nothing if not persistent. Although bullets had been his usual method of choice, he’d turned to incendiary devices twice. The events of a couple hours ago were amateurish in comparison. “It’s likelier that tonight was a direct result of the investigation I’m currently working.” To distract the man and himself, he filled him in on the case so far. There was disappointingly little to report. They’d barely scratched the surface, and he had no idea what ground the other teams had covered that day.
“Hedgelin’s running the investigation?” Paulie’s long whistle was fraught with meaning. “How’d that meeting go?”
“About the way you’d expect.” Paulie had been in the bureau at the time Hedgelin and Adam were partners. Had worked with Hedgelin himself when the man was still in the cyber crimes unit. “You remember Tom Shepherd? He’s on the case.”
“Nice to have one friendly face there, I guess.” Paulie slanted him a glance in the dim interior of the call. “He’s grateful to you. That’s why he came down so hard on the field agents in Philly for getting Jennings’s whereabouts wrong the night you were shot. He believes you were responsible for getting him out of that shit hole North Dakota field office and reinstalled in DC.”
Adam shrugged uncomfortably. He’d never admit to his part in orchestrating just that. The man was a good agent. He hadn’t deserved his banishment nearly three years ago. A case of Adam’s had intersected with one of Shepherd’s back then and returned a missing girl to her parents. The fact that Shepherd and his team had failed to do so must have pissed off someone in the bureau, resulting in the man’s demotion.
Petty politics had always frustrated Adam. And he’d give a lot to discover who had been behind Shepherd’s reassignment after that case. Hedgelin? Or someone higher up? Maybe one of these days he’d ask. Because it was certain that whoever it was wouldn’t have been happy when the senior member on the senate intelligence
“And why wouldn’t that count since you were supposed to be in it?” Without waiting for a response, Paulie continued. “The guy is probably pretty pissed he got less than a third of the ransom he was demanding for the Mulder girl. Decided to go after the man who cost him the remaining seven million.”
“Actually, since you were the one with the skills to divert the rest, it’s you he should be targeting.” Dark humor filled Adam. He looked over at his friend. Noticed the way his hands were clenched on the steering wheel. And was touched by the unspoken concern. “It’s actually satisfying to have some evidence that we were right. Neither of us believed the feds’ version that Jennings was working alone to avenge his ex-girlfriend’s father’s death at my hand a decade ago. This makes more sense. Now we’ll yank on this connection you’ve found between the shooter in Philly and the Colorado kidnapping, see if we can finally figure out who was pulling the strings in the Mulder case. But you’re grasping at straws if you’re suggesting tonight had anything to do with those cases.”
“This from the man who doesn’t believe in coincidence.”
The trees alongside the road were thinning. They were nearing the interstate again. “There’s no coincidence. I just have a knack for setting people on edge. Amazing, given my winning personality.”
Samuels didn’t smile. His tone was dogged. “You can’t ignore the possibility that tonight is linked to the other attempts on your life, Adam. The shooter failed in May. Landed you in the hospital and rehab for months, but you’re still around. There’s no reason to believe the attempts will stop. The bank account discovery ties Jennings to the Colorado kidnapper. Who’s still out there and likely still wants you dead. That could be what tonight was all about.”
“If tonight was an attempt, it wasn’t much of one.” Jennings had been nothing if not persistent. Although bullets had been his usual method of choice, he’d turned to incendiary devices twice. The events of a couple hours ago were amateurish in comparison. “It’s likelier that tonight was a direct result of the investigation I’m currently working.” To distract the man and himself, he filled him in on the case so far. There was disappointingly little to report. They’d barely scratched the surface, and he had no idea what ground the other teams had covered that day.
“Hedgelin’s running the investigation?” Paulie’s long whistle was fraught with meaning. “How’d that meeting go?”
“About the way you’d expect.” Paulie had been in the bureau at the time Hedgelin and Adam were partners. Had worked with Hedgelin himself when the man was still in the cyber crimes unit. “You remember Tom Shepherd? He’s on the case.”
“Nice to have one friendly face there, I guess.” Paulie slanted him a glance in the dim interior of the call. “He’s grateful to you. That’s why he came down so hard on the field agents in Philly for getting Jennings’s whereabouts wrong the night you were shot. He believes you were responsible for getting him out of that shit hole North Dakota field office and reinstalled in DC.”
Adam shrugged uncomfortably. He’d never admit to his part in orchestrating just that. The man was a good agent. He hadn’t deserved his banishment nearly three years ago. A case of Adam’s had intersected with one of Shepherd’s back then and returned a missing girl to her parents. The fact that Shepherd and his team had failed to do so must have pissed off someone in the bureau, resulting in the man’s demotion.
Petty politics had always frustrated Adam. And he’d give a lot to discover who had been behind Shepherd’s reassignment after that case. Hedgelin? Or someone higher up? Maybe one of these days he’d ask. Because it was certain that whoever it was wouldn’t have been happy when the senior member on the senate intelligence
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