Expectation (Ghost Targets, #2) (24 page)

She shook her head at the thought, as she slipped through the iron gates and out onto the street. There would be rumors, as sure as there were onlookers. Before she got back to her hotel room there would be stories flying about Eric, about Meg, about Gevia. None of it would be true—not yet—but then, nothing about Gevia was true. It was all a fragile web of lies, so easy to break—

A voice called out her name, drawing her out of her thoughts. She looked up the street, and heard it again. It was a car parked on the curb, waiting to give her a ride. She approached it with a look of sheer curiosity, and pulled the door open to find a route back to her hotel room already prepped on the driver's monitor. She climbed in and let out a tired sigh as the door fell closed. Then she whispered quietly, "God bless you, Martin Door."

She half expected him to answer, some clever comment or humble deflection, but there was only silence. That was enough to suit her. She sank back into the soft chair and closed her eyes. Reed would probably be irritated at her for disappearing, but she didn't have the stomach to wrap things up—to sort out the politics and the permissions with the lieutenant and Chief Hart. She didn't want to face Meg again, either. She wanted to go home.

She didn't notice it happening, but she fell asleep before the car got to her hotel. The driver had to
bing
 twice to wake her up, and she was still groggy on the elevator ride up to her room. She had a fleeting, horrible fear that maybe she, too, had been drugged. It had certainly been the girl's intention. But in this case it was something far more straightforward. She was exhausted, and now that all the anxiety of the investigation was gone she was crashing. She'd always done that, at the close of a big case. All her life. She made it to her room, closed the door behind her, and fell face-first onto the bed. It was everything she could do to keep from falling asleep for the night.

Instead she measured her breathing, and ran through everything she needed to take care of. It was a short list. Her bags were still mostly packed, but she needed to grab her dirty clothes from yesterday and the toiletries from the bathroom. Reed was arranging their transport, but she needed to figure out exactly when and where, and somehow be awake to get there. She should make a pot of coffee, she decided, but instead of getting up and doing that, she stared at the print on the blanket from half an inch away.

She should call Reed. If he was at the Administrative Building, they could get a message through to him. She should try to explain, make sure he didn't need her back there. At the very least she should check in with Craig, see if she had any business messages. Without getting up, she said tiredly, "Hathor, connect me to Dad. Thanks." It buzzed and buzzed, and then asked her if she wanted to leave a message. There was a sudden weight on her chest and she had to fight to draw a breath, but she managed and forced out the word, "Yes." Then she had to go through it all again, to get enough air to say, "Dad.... I love you, Dad. I'm going to come see you. Soon." She cried then, for real. All the tears she'd held back at the clinic, all the emotion she'd battled every time she'd been there. Everything that had been building for two days came pouring out of her, and she let it go.

When it was over, when she was finally catching her breath again and dabbing her tears dry with a cheap tissue from the hotel's nightstand, she heard a voice over her headset. "Hi, Katie." It was Martin. "That was sweet."

She gasped, horrified at the interruption, and he clearly understood. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to pry. I wasn't trying to be.... Look, I'm sorry." His breath escaped him. "I just needed to talk to you, and I was waiting for a good time."

"In the cab would have been better."

She heard him smile. "I didn't want to wake you." She shook her head, irritated, but he went on. "I need to thank you, Katie. Even more than Theresa did. You did so much to protect my work—"

"I need you," Katie said simply. She made her tone cruel. "That's all there is to it. I need you. Mrs. Barnes tried to convince me I was a hero, but I would have done nothing here without your help. I would have done nothing with Janeane's case, either, if it hadn't been for you." She shook her head. "I can't afford to say no to you."

"You're hurting," Martin said, gently chiding, "and you're being pretty hard on yourself. I saw what you did for Janeane, and I saw what you did for Theresa, here. And what you did for me. You risked your life keeping Reed out of it, Katie. You didn't have to do that." He sighed. "I'm not a mercenary. No, I'm not prepared to hand myself over to the FBI, but you have to believe me. I'm here for you. As much as I can be. You don't have to do special favors just to make that happen." He was silent for a moment, but Katie had nothing to say. After a while he said, "I owe you, Katie. If I didn't already, I certainly do now. I am in your debt."

"No," she said, flustered, but he spoke over her.

"And I have something for you, too. A token." He went on quickly. "I don't mean we're even. I'm not even sure this is something you want to know. But I found something...."

"What?"

"It's about your father," he said. "It's about his condition."

"Don't," she said softly, but he didn't hear her whisper.

"He was one of the five cases. The same drug that Meg used on Eric. I got into the sealed records, Katie, and his name was at the top of the list." She sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes closed, and said nothing. New tears burned in her eyes, but she didn't have much more left to give. Concerned, Martin said, "Katie?"

"I'm here," she said. "It...it doesn't change anything."

"I know," he said. "I just thought you would want to know."

"Thank you." She sniffled, and wiped her cheek with the crumpled tissue. "Thank you, Martin." She couldn't force any emotion into her voice.

"Umm...it's nothing." He sounded as awkward as she felt. "Hey, uh, I need to go. I want to help out some with the people who were trying to contact Miss Cohn. But I'll be in touch—"

"Yeah," Katie said. "Later."

For a moment he said nothing, then quietly, "Goodbye, Katie."

She spoke a command to turn off the room's lights, and for a long time she just sat there, in the silence and the darkness, alone with her thoughts. The next time her headset buzzed, nearly an hour later, she rose mechanically and went to grab her handheld from the nightstand. It showed her a travel itinerary warning, letting her know she needed to be at the airport in twenty minutes. She pressed the button to call for a cab, then moved into the bathroom to gather her things.

Five minutes later she was at the curb, and in fifteen she was at the airport. She waited alone in the boarding area until another buzz and another message on the handheld directed her through the boarding gate and onto her flight. She picked a seat by the window and sat staring out into the dark night while other passengers took their places.

She startled awake at a thud as Reed threw his bag into the overhead bin. The window's chill felt sharp against her forehead, and the soft little noises of passengers settling into their seats felt eerily exaggerated all around her. She blinked at Reed as he fell into the seat next to her. Then he turned to her.

"Oof," he said, shaking his head. "You look exhausted."

"I am exhausted," she said. "Can we go home?"

He smiled at her and almost patted her knee. "We can go home," he said. "We're heading there now." He pressed back in his chair, and pulled out his handheld. "Why don't you get some sleep on the flight? I'll get us checked back in at home."

She turned her head his way, curious what exactly he was working on, but couldn't quite focus on the screen. Before the plane ever left the ground, she was asleep again.

In DC, Reed woke her with a gentle touch on her arm. He spoke her name softly in her ear and she smiled, climbing slowly out of a dreamless rest, then stretched lazily and looked around the plane. Apart from the two of them, it was empty.

She looked to Reed, uncomprehending, and he smiled back. There was a sadness in his eyes that he tried to hide. "Good morning, Agent Pratt."

"Morning?" Katie said. "Really?"

He winced. "Only technically."

She gestured at the empty seats. "What's going on?"

"I exercised my special executive authority to buy you a few more minutes' rest."

"You shouldn't have," Katie said. "I'll be much more comfortable at home in bed."

That brought back the smile. And the sadness. He looked away. "We're not going home. Not yet."

Katie felt a black weight settle on her chest. She took a deep breath, trying to shake the feeling, and let it out in a sigh. "Accountability?"

"That's right. They've got some questions." She groaned, but he was watching her with too much concern, and there really wasn't any getting around it. "Fine. Let's get it over with."

He nodded and climbed from his seat.

Katie followed him, down the empty rows, through the empty gate, and out into a concourse that was still bustling, even at this time of night. She moved mechanically, dragging her bag behind her, and let Reed pick their path. He had a car waiting for them by the curb, and they rode most of the way to the office in silence.

Nearly there, he broke the silence. "Oh, hey, I got your message. Back at the clinic? It's no problem you heading out like that."

She frowned at him, confused, and he shrugged. "I just wanted to let you know that. Whatever else we've got waiting for us, I understand what happened after the bust. Meg gave us a pretty good account of what went on in there, and Mrs. Barnes corroborated it point for point. We got what we needed, and after what you went through, I wouldn't have expected you to hang around." He patted her knee. "I'm just glad you made it through."

She arranged her face into something like a smile for him. "Thanks," she said, and then the silence came back.

The building was mostly dark when they stepped out of the car. The lights in Rick's office upstairs stood out sharply against the blackness all around, and Katie and Reed both stood transfixed for a moment.

Then he took her hand and pulled her toward the doors. The lobby was empty, the elevator ride miserably quiet, but he didn't let her hand go until the elevator doors opened on their floor. Then he pulled the door open for her, and Katie gave him another smile.

The Steves were waiting for them. Stephen Penn had his back to the windows, waiting patiently in one of the guest chairs, but Steve Fredrik was in Rick's old throne, feet propped up on the desk while he read a report off a tablet-sized handheld. He set it aside as Katie approached and met her eyes with a glare.

"Thank you for joining us, Agent Pratt," he said. "That makes things much easier. Agent Reed, please place her under arrest."

From his place by the door, Stephen Penn shook his head. "Is that really necessary?"

At the same time, Reed stepped in front of Katie. "Not a chance," he barked.

Fredrik arched an eyebrow at Reed, then addressed his answer to his companion. "It's absolutely necessary. You saw as much I did, every minute since they left. She's been insubordinate, obstructing her own investigation and participating in the destruction of evidence. And worst of all,
after
 we impressed upon her the seriousness of the crime, she's been willfully colluding with Martin Door."

"You're wrong," Reed said. "Katie is personally responsible for solving the investigation. And Martin Door isn't a criminal."

Fredrik showed his teeth. "Oh, he is now. Thanks to Katie, we've got enough evidence to bring the same charges against him. As soon as she's dealt with, catching Martin Door is going to be this office's highest priority."

Reed smirked. "It's not."

"Actually," Penn said with a tired sigh, "it is. We understand it won't be
your
 highest priority—"

"Ah," Reed said. "I see."

Katie shook her head. "I don't. Reed's done nothing wrong—"

"Everything about this investigation has been a farce," Fredrik snapped. "From the moment you two picked it for a fun little field trip to the
vast
 resources Reed expended chasing down your theories. You can't really tell me this little adventure is the right way to do business? The whole case could have been resolved from here, with a little bit of patience and a little more attention to detail—"

"And Theresa Barnes would be dead right now," Katie said. And Gevia's secret would be out. She didn't say that, though. She didn't want these men investigating the dark corners of Gevia.

Reed wasn't so careful. "This isn't even about the murder. The poisonings! In the course of this investigation—
because of
 Katie's special resources—we were able to uncover a plot to sell national secrets—"

"Were you?" Penn asked, climbing to his feet. "See...we've been examining the events of the last twenty-four hours, and it seems like your investigation of Ellie Cohn fell apart. Maybe I'm missing something, but according to your records, she didn't turn out to be a threat at all."

Katie frowned. "What?" All eyes turned to her, and she shook her head. "No, that's not right. He—we found her buyers."

Fredrik favored her with a cruel little smile and shook his head. "Funny," he said. "I'd expect a detail like that to be entered in your casefile. Your man Reed was awfully careful to put in everything else."

She rounded on Reed, astonished, but he just gave a helpless little shrug. He seemed as surprised by the outburst as the other two.

"I don't understand!" she said.

And then Martin spoke into her ear. "Give it a moment," he said.

She opened her mouth to shout at him, to demand an explanation, but in front of these two men she didn't dare. She ground her teeth, acid roiling in her stomach, and watched as Fredrik pulled his feet off the desk with a slow melodrama and unfolded himself in front of her.

"What you need to understand," he said, "is that you're through playing games with the mission and resources of this department. Miss Pratt—"

"Hold on," Penn said. That drew an irritated frown from Fredrik, but the other auditor ignored him, one hand to his headset as he listened to something. "All right," he said after a moment. "Put this call on the room's speakers."