Page 59 of State of Alert

“I hope so.”

“You know where I am if you need me.”

“Always, and that’s a source of great comfort to me.”

He smiled. “I’ll let you get to work. See you tomorrow night, if not before.”

“See you then. Thanks for checking in and for the words of wisdom.”

“Any time, my friend.”

Sam took a second to get her emotions over the situation with the twins in check so she could focus on the task at hand—getting justice for Elaine Myerson.

She went to the conference room, where the rest of her team was gathered around two new murder boards—one for Juan and the other for Elaine. “Update on Rodriguez,” she said after she took her place at the head of the table. “NCIS has called us off for now.”

“Can they do that?” Gonzo asked. “We have jurisdiction.”

“Understood, but they’ve made a case to the chief, and he’s agreed with their position.”

Lindsey came into the room, wearing a stormy expression. “Are you talking about the Rodriguez case?”

“Yes, I was telling the team that NCIS has asked us to back off, and the chief agreed.”

“Maybe you can tell me why Juan Rodriguez’s mother called to tell me that the photo she requested of the body in my morgue isnother son.”

Oh shit.“Could we have the room, please?”

Sam waited until her team had left, closing the door behind them.

“What thefuck, Sam?”

She’d never seen Lindsey look so furious, and her anger made Sam feel sick. “The NCIS agent-in-charge came here yesterday and asked me to go with her. She made me swear tokeep our meeting entirely confidential and to confirm that the body was that of Juan Rodriguez. They said it was a national security situation and they needed my assistance.”

“You gave me afalseID?”

“I did. And I feel awful about it, but they were adamant that no one know that Juan is alive. They said their investigation hinges on their targets believing he’s dead.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“I wish I was. NCIS is deep into an investigation involving the former Joint Chiefs of Staff and their plot to overthrow Nick’s administration. Juan was the one who tipped Nick off to the plan, and he apparently has been followed ever since, to the point that NCIS decided to stage his disappearance and murder to get their subjects pointing the finger at each other. Or something like that.”

“His mother is devastated. How could he do this to her?”

“He certainly didn’t want to, but they said it had to be believable. They asked us to run the investigation the way we always do, and after I consulted with the chief, we decided to give them some leeway.”

“By lying to me and the rest of your team?”

“What was I supposed to do, Lindsey? They said it was an imperative national security situation.”

“I want Mrs. Rodriguez told—immediately—that her son is alive, or I’ll tell her. And P.S., who the hell is that in my morgue?”

“He’s a service member who closely resembled Juan. He was killed in a motorcycle accident over the weekend.”

“This is diabolical! I honestly can’t believe you went along with it.”

“Again, I’ll ask you, what was I supposed to do? They brought me in because of my dual roles as the Homicide commander and first lady and because Juan said he wouldn’t go through with it unless I knew the truth. I’d already agreed tokeep their secret when they revealed to me that Juan is alive. They put me in a very difficult position.”

“You could’ve told me the truth. I wouldn’t have breathed a word of it to anyone.”

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