suspension lifted.” He looked over at the two men. One of them shook
his head decisively.
“You’re the leak?” Reynolds said. “Not Ken?”
“Ken was no leak,” Connie said.
“But the money in the safe-deposit box?”
“That came from his card and coin trading. He operated all in cash. I
actually did some shows with him. I knew. He was cheating the tax
guys. So who the hell cared? More power to him. Most of it was going
to college funds for his kids anyway.”
“You let me think he was the leak.”
“Well, I didn’t want you to think it was me. Obviously, that would not
have been good.”
One of the men ran upstairs and disappeared into one of the bedrooms. A
minute later he emerged carrying Buchanan’s briefcase. He escorted
Faith and Buchanan down the stairs. The man popped open the briefcase
and took out the cassette. He played a little of the tape to confirm
what was on it. Then he cracked open the cassette, pulled out the tape
and threw the long strands into the gas fireplace and hit the remote
switch. They all watched in silence as the tape was quickly reduced to
a gooey mess.
As Reynolds watched the tape disappear, she couldn’t help but think she
was being shown the next few minutes of her life. The last few minutes
of her life.
Reynolds looked at the two men and then at Connie. “So they just
tailed us all the way down? I didn’t see anybody,” she said
bitterly.
Connie shook his head. “There was a transmitter in my car. They’ve
been listening in. They let us find the right house and then
followed.”
“Why, Connie? Why turn traitor?”
Connie’s tone was reflective. “I put in twenty-five years at the
Bureau. Twenty-five damn good years, and I’m still at square one,
still a grunt in the field. I got a dozen years on you and you’re my
boss. Because I wouldn’t play the political game south of the border.
Because I wouldn’t lie and just go along, they tanked my career.” He
shook his head and looked down. When he stared back up at her, he
looked apologetic. “Understand, I got nothing against you, Brooke.
Nothing. You’re a damn fine agent. I didn’t want it to end like this.
The plan was for us to stay outside and let these guys do their thing.
When I got the all-clear, we’d go in and find the bodies. Your name
would be cleared, everything would work out fine. Adams taking off
like that blew our plan apart.” Connie stared with unfriendly eyes at
the man in black who had identified him by name. “But if this guy
hadn’t said anything, maybe I still could have figured out a way for
you to walk away with me.”
The man shrugged. “Sorry, I didn’t know that was important to you. But
you’d better get going. It’s getting light outside. Give us half an
hour. Then you can call the cops. Make up any cover story you
want.”
Reynolds never took her eyes off Connie. “Let me make up a cover story
for you, Connie. It goes like this: We found the house. I go in the
front while you cover the rear. I don’t come out. You hear shots, you
go in. Find us all dead.” Reynolds’s voice broke as she thought of
her children, of never seeing them again. “You see someone leaving,
empty your pistol at him. But you miss, give chase, are almost killed,
but luckily barely survive. You call the cops. They get here. You
call HQ, fill them in. They send people down. You get bitched at a
little for coming down here with me, but you were just standing by your
boss. Loyalty. Who could really blame you? They investigate and
never reach a satisfactory answer. Probably think I’m the leak for
sure, came down for a payoff. You can tell them it was my idea to come
here, that I knew exactly where to go. I go in the house, get popped.
And you, a poor innocent dupe, almost lose your life too. Case closed.
How’s that sound, Agent Constantinople?” She almost spat this last