Page 95 of Always Been Mine

Gabe stood beside Porter. “Hundred bucks says that the senator’s former Chief of Staff was murdered and didn’t die from a heart attack.”

“Short of exhuming the body, we couldn’t prove it,” the admiral said. “But I’m going with your hunch. You did say Hybernabis could mimic a heart attack in those with pre-existing conditions.”

“Correct.”

Caitlin gave a whoop that made the admiral and Gabe switch their attentions to her.

“Found anything?” Porter asked.

“I’ve kept an open-match algorithm against Philip Crowe’s records, including both living and deceased people,” Caitlin said. “The fingerprints bear a 91% match against Zacharia Alvarez. Deceased. Car accident.” She shook her head and added derisively. “Sounds like a common cause of faked deaths. Anyway, Alvarez and Crowe were in the same collegetogether until the second year when Alvarez supposedly died. They were both computer science majors. Crowe dropped out to join the Army soon after his death.”

“Let me guess, Alvarez is Colombian?” Gabe asked.

“Irish-Colombian. That’s why it’s hard to tag his ethnicity.”

“So Zacharia Alvarez becomes Zach Jamison.”

“You think Crowe and Alvarez were acquainted with each other? Going to the same college and sharing the same major would assure they’d at least moved in the same circles.”

“Hacking into school records now,” Caitlin announced. It took maybe fifteen minutes for her to find what she was looking for, oblivious that he and Porter were looking over her shoulders. She zoned them out. By this time, Travis had quietly entered the room. “Yep, they belong to the same fraternity and . . .” She covered her mouth with her hand. “Um . . . Yeah, they know each other.” Caitlin’s eyes angled toward the three men in the room. “Does someone get the vibe that they’re more than just friends?”

All three men shifted uncomfortably. There were several pictures of Crowe and Alvarez in rather compromising positions. The images were faded, probably over fifteen years ago.

“Aren’t those pics too racy for fraternity websites?” Gabe asked. “You’d have thought with Zach’s new identity, they’d have erased every trace of him.”

“I’m not on a fraternity website,” Caitlin said. “That had been sanitized. I went to one of their former frat brother’s micro-blogging site. That’s where you’ll find interesting pictures. Get Doug in here, let’s get his opinion.”

Gabe was trying not to chuckle as Travis left the room to get Doug. Beatrice returned with her assistant.

“Oh, my,” Beatrice said. “That explains a lot, doesn’t it, Doug?”

“Oh, yeah,” her assistant replied, eyes wide on the screen.Doug looked at everyone in the room. “There’s something between those two all right.”

“If he and Crowe continued to be lovers, that would explain his hatred against you, Admiral,” Caitlin said.

There was silence in the room as everyone absorbed the motive. It made perfect sense, Gabe realized. Although a lover’s revenge seemed to be simply the tip of the iceberg because everything had been set into motion long before Porter had shot and killed Philip Crowe. This meant Zach Jamison had been recruited to be a sleeper agent, meant to infiltrate the political system and keep the CIA apprised of its schemes, totally clandestine and not sanctioned by the U.S. government.

“You think Zach is bi?” Beatrice asked suddenly.

“Now why the fuck would you think that?” Gabe asked.

“Well, he’s been trying to ask me on a date,” Beatrice explained. “But he reserved his goo-goo eyes for Doug and Nate.”

“Nate?” Travis asked in amusement.

“By the way, where is Nate?” Caitlin asked.

“The senator called him to his office, probably to apologize,” Doug replied.

“This late?” Beatrice asked.

Doug shrugged. With the loss of his Chief of Staff, burning the midnight oil at the senate office wouldn’t be surprising.

“Okay, let’s get back on point here,” Porter interrupted. “Caitlin, we can focus on Zach Jamison. See how he moved through the ranks to become Chief of Staff for a United States senator.”

“That’s easy,” Caitlin said. “Pretty much public record. He switched his major to Political Science and graduated with honors from Miami University. Everything before that time was definitely fabricated. He worked as an aide for a statesenator before he worked as the Director of External Affairs and then the Chief of Staff of the Florida governor.”

“Wasn’t there some scandal surrounding the governor?”

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