Page 107 of Final Exit

“No, he was smart. Brilliant actually. It’s more that, well, I guess I never thought that he’d be able to pull everything together like he did—the teams, the facilities, the computer resources. He wasn’t high enough in the organization to have the kind of clout I’d have expected to be necessary to get all of that without someone questioning him.”

“You think, what, that he was working with someone else?”

“Yes. No. Hell, I don’t know. I just wish I had some hard evidence in front of me.”

“What about the mercenaries we captured in the caves? Were they interrogated? Did they reveal anything new?”

He shook his head. “Devlin took charge of all the prisoners, said he had contacts who’d ensure they did some hard time and couldn’t hurt anyone else. But I didn’t even think to ask whether they’d been interviewed.”

“Maybe you should.”

“Maybe.”

He sipped his bourbon, then set it back down. The smoky flavor didn’t give him the pleasure that it had earlier. Those little doubts that had started up the moment the fight had ended were getting stronger now. He shook his head. “I just don’t buy it. There’s something more to all of this. There has to be.”

“Work through it then. You say Faegan wasn’t high enough up in the FBI. Who’s higher than him? Who would have the clout you think was necessary? Ignoring all the agents at the same level as him, just looking at the ones above him, that’s probably a pretty small number, right?”

He slowly nodded, thinking about the men and women in positions above him, above Faegan. Kendall was the first name that came to mind. But, no, Kendall had left the bureau when Gannon had. They’d both gone to Homeland Security together. So who did that leave? He counted them up. “Not that many, less than ten.”

“And you know them?”

“Every single one.” He picked up the glass again and turned it around and around as he thought through the list. “None of them fit. I just can’t picture them being a part of hiring mercenaries and becoming cold-blooded murderers. Which means Faegan must have been at the top of the food chain as far as EXIT goes. He did what he did to protect himself, to keep anyone else from finding out.”

She studied him, her head cocked to the side. Then she slowly shook her head. “Nope. You don’t believe that. You still think he was taking orders from someone else.”

He was about to deny it, but then he said, “Yeah. I guess I do.”

“But it’s not anyone you know of in the FBI?”

“Not that I can think of.”

“How about other agencies?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, like the CIA or Homeland Security. I was talking to Jace earlier and he mentioned that there used to be a Council that worked with Cyprian Cardenas, to oversee his activities.”

“Well, that didn’t work out so well, did it?”

She smiled. “No, it didn’t. At the time, though, it consisted of people from several different alphabet agencies. Which means, it’s possible someone in those other areas still has some knowledge of EXIT and what it used to be. Maybe one of them was working across organizations with Faegan. I don’t see why not. It’s not like everything was on the up-and-up, going through official channels. If they met at some social function where several agencies were in attendance, they could strike up a conversation, realize they both had the same goals, and start up a partnership.”

He stared at her, her words triggering some kind of memory that he couldn’t quite bring into focus.

“If you follow that theory,” she continued, “Faegan would have worked with someone he trusted, and they each would have used their positions at their respective agencies to help cover their tracks. Going with that theory, is there anyone you know at another agency who hates you and would want to ruin your life? We’re not talking someone who wants you dead. If that were the case, you’d be dead already. No, whoever did this wanted to make you crazy, to ruin your reputation, to make it impossible for you to ever work at the FBI again.”

“Go on,” he said. “What you’re saying makes sense.”

“Okay, well, the person who wants to ruin you wouldn’t want you to go to prison either. Because they would never let someone with inside information on EXIT go to prison for fear that they’d talk, right?”

“Right.”

“So this enemy of yours, hypothetically speaking—if your worries are right—wanted you to live with the guilt over not being able to save your supposed wife. He or she wanted you to go down the path of self-destruction. Whoever it is, they wanted you to lose everything, to hit rock bottom. Had you ever done anything to Faegan that he might hold against you enough to want to destroy you?”

He slowly shook his head. “I’ve been thinking about that myself, ever since I realized I was being set up. And it’s baffled me from the get-go. There’s nothing that I can think of that would have made Faegan want to destroy me.”

“Well, there you go. That’s why this isn’t sitting right with you. It may be that all Faegan needed as incentive was the money, and you were just convenient. It wasn’t personal at all. But if it was personal, then you need to think about anyone you might have slighted, even unintentionally, who might hold a grudge they could never let go. Things that start out small can eat at a person and sour them from the inside out. What seemed like nothing can become a mountain of rage after years of letting it fester.”

The last piece of the puzzle fit neatly into place. And he suddenly knew exactly who hated him that much, who blamed him for missed promotions, missed opportunities. The same person who’d once been his best friend, but who was always second best when they went up for a raise, a promotion, a coveted assignment. The man who blamed Kade for stealing his girlfriend. A man who’d refused to forgive Kade, even years later. They’d both worked in the FBI for the same bosses—Faegan, andhisboss, Kendall—for years. Then his friend had left with Kendall for an opportunity in Homeland Security. As for Faegan, he could have kept in touch through the many social gatherings between FBI and Homeland Security agents, just as Bailey had predicted. It had been right in front of Kade this whole time and he’d never even realized it. The man who’d set him up was Robert Gannon. Had to be. A few quick calls and he could have Robert’s home address.

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