Page 82 of Sinner's Salvation

“I found something called the Freedom tunnel,” Evan said. “I guess it used to house a whole bunch of homeless people at one time. It’s empty now, but the place is covered in graffiti.”

The waitress walked up with his coffee, set it in front of him, and left.

“Why were you down there?”

Evan took a long sip before answering. “I was making sure Anna Breznik got to her embassy before any other idiots tried to kidnap or kill her.”

“So, she’s in her embassy?” Marek asked, in a casual tone that was a complete lie.

“I took her to the safest place I know. I tried to convince her to go to a hospital, but after what that Homeland Security agent, Ledger, did to her, she refused. She thought it would be too easy for him or others to kidnap her again from a hospital.”

“How badly was she injured?”

“A bullet cut a furrow along the rear of her head. An inch closer and it would have killed her. She’s going to need an MRI or some other scan to see how deep the wound is. She might need to wear something over her head until her bone can heal up.”

The waitress returned with his food and Evan dug in. It was the first full meal he’d eaten in more than twenty-four hours. “How’s Brian Stettler? Did he get to a hospital to get his bullet wound looked at?” Evan glanced over his shoulder at the FBI agents sitting at their table about twenty feet away.

Marek waved at the FBI agents, inviting them over. “I’ll let them explain about Brian.”

The agents arrived. Everyone shook hands, and they took seats at their table. Marek asked them to fill Evan in on Brian’s whereabouts.

They gave a fairly accurate summary of the goings on in Yvgeny’s apartment hours earlier, including how a raving Ledger shot Nika.

Evan shook his head. “That guy is going to start world war three with his ridiculous bullshit.” He looked at the FBI agents. “So, Brian is at the hospital?”

“He was.” The guy answering shifted in his seat. “About two hours ago, a half dozen Homeland Security agents arrested him and took him away.”

“And you let them?” Evan asked, sounding as shocked as he felt when he watched Williams relay the event to them.

Both FBI agents looked like they’d been caught cheating on an exam. “We only had one agent watching him. We didn’t think Ledger would continue with his vampire/terrorist story once all of us knew about it.”

“He’s completely bought into his own bullshit,” Evan said. “Logic and reason are foreign concepts to him now.” He shook his head and ate another bite of his breakfast. “Do you have any idea where Homeland took Brian?”

“We know where he is, the problem is getting him out. They have a large office here, he’s in one of their interrogation rooms.”

“Did he get his wound looked at?” Evan asked. “Last time I saw him, he hadn’t had it looked at yet. Ledger didn’t allow him to do much first aid on himself.”

“We’re not sure,” the FBI agent doing most of the talking said.

Evan didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. Everyone at that table knew the FBI had dropped the ball repeatedly.

“Well, I’d like to help you get him out of there,” Evan glanced at Marek. “As long as my boss is onboard with it.”

“Homeland isn’t going to cooperate,” Marek said. “If they do, they’ll be admitting they screwed up. Army Intelligence and the FBI can’t force them to release him.”

“So, we get the Department of Justice involved,” Evan said, with a shrug. “The Attorney General has the authority to override Homeland’s bullshit.”

“We?” Marek asked mildly.

“Ledger lied to the FBI,” Evan said, ticking off one finger. He ticked off another. “He lied to Army Intelligence, he shot a diplomat and an FBI agent, and he made death threats against me and anyone who knew Anna Breznik and Brian Stettler.”

“That is quite the list,” Marek said.

“Homeland has always had ago bigorgo homementality.”

“And there’s nothing to Ledger’s claims?” Marek asked.

Evan snorted. “I only know what he told me. What did he tell you?”

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