Page 2 of Jep

“No. It’s not that. I’m not the only one who’s found this entire operation over the last year unusual. We’ve had so many problems we’ve never faced before.”

“The world is changing. We have to adapt. That’s normal.”

“And the intel we’re receiving? It isn’t coming through the usual channels. Everything is so quiet, and then out of nowhere we get this lead.”

“You’re concerned because we’ve had a breakthrough? Luck doesn’t exist on this task force. Everyone here has been workingtheir butts off to catch these guys. And you know that whenever we get information that may lead us to the truth, it gets taken apart and put back together. We look at everything and weight it up. The assistant director was confident to move on this, and the deputy director agreed. If you believe you know better than them, perhaps you’re in the wrong job.”

This time, Em did bite her lip. “But we found it so…easily. That’s what bothers me.”

“I wouldn’t call the way we gathered that intel easy. It was messy. Very messy.”

“I know. But if you look through the files…or…I was hoping you’d see the connection. There’s not much, but it’s there.”

“Have you considered that you’re seeing a ghost because you’re desperate to see it? There’s nothing in here to support anything you're saying.”

“But it was there—” Em jerked straighter in the chair. “—I mean…”

Gardener leaned forward an inch, and her face hardened. “What was there?”

“The information. I remember?—”

“Then where has it all gone?”

Emery’s mouth remained open as she tried to find a fitting response. “I’m not saying someone removed it.”

“I should hope not. Or if you do, you had better bring me something more than a gut feeling.”

“No, I know.” She squeezed her hands into her lap. “I don’t think anyone’s done anything with it. I must have remembered wrong. In fact, I’ve spent the last several hours in the archives proving that I remembered it wrong. I just can’t explain how or why. I don’t know how I’ve put together what I have in my head.”

“You didn’t overhear anyone speaking? The other agents? Lawson?”

“No. I don’t like to eavesdrop.”

“Then maybe it’s like I said. You had a bad feeling, and you had to justify it.”

“But what if I’m right? What if our team is heading into a trap? If something happens to them, and I did nothing, I’d never live with myself.”

“So, that’s what brought you to my door in the end.”

“Yes.”

Gardener squeezed the bridge of her nose. “Emery, while I appreciate your passion for your job, you are an analyst, not a soothsayer. We need facts, not intuition.”

“I know. And I tried to bring you more.”

“Even if you found what you were looking for, what course of action could we take?” She looked at her watch. “The operation will likely be over in a few hours.”

“We could pull them out.”

“You’ll definitely need more than this.” She tapped the files. “Without probable cause, there’s nothing we can do. There have been countless man-hours put into this. You really think Lawson will call it off because you have a bad feeling?”

Em dropped her eyes to the floor. She was desperate to shake her head and walk away, but she was determined to see this through to the end. “We could try. It would mean more coming from you.”

“No offense, but I’m not willing to lose face on your hunch. You’re a great analyst, and I like you, but I won’t die on your sword.”

“No. Of course.”

“I’m not trying to hurt your feelings. In a job like this, you can’t be thin-skinned.”

---