Page 66 of Protecting Silver
“I’ll do it,” Decker said. He poured them all a cup of coffee and settled at his own seat. “I’m John Decker, I worked for the FBI for thirty-three years out of the Cheyenne office. I was the director of the entire building before I was forced to retire.”
“Still have to retire at the age of fifty-seven?” Jackie wrinkled her nose at him.
“Yes. You are here about my very first case as a newbie. Back then, we were short-handed and I was fresh out of the academy. I was called to a home about a kidnapping case. The child, a boy, was twenty-six months old. In less than twelve hours, I knew the case was going to go cold.” He took the next hour to explain everything he had done, and why he’d done it. Along with all the roads he’d taken to get to the point he had.
“Holy shit, was it ever solved?” Jackie asked.
She frowned at his grin. “Sort of, but I retired last year, and as of today, I believe I’ve found that missing child.”
“Holy shit, sorry to keep repeating that, but really? You found a thirty-five-year-old man that was your missing child from decades ago?”
“Actually,” Tamara grinned at her partner. “We did.”
“Come again?”
“Remember when we were in Montana, and we took Freedman down? What was your reaction to seeing Atwal, the guy who insisted we call him Patch?”
“That he was Daniel’s twin.”
“So did I, that’s why I asked to take his photo, and showed them to Daniel when we gave our report a few weeks back. Remember when I got a call on my cell, and I left the bullpen earlier today?”
“Yes?”
“That was Silver Roundtree calling me. She and Patch were in the lobby and when they asked to see Daniel, the security guards joked that he must be getting old and senile to forget where his own office was.”
“Shit, so it wasn’t just us that saw the resemblance.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Daniel spoke. “When he walked into my office, I thought it was my father playing a trick on me, you know, by doing his hair and makeup to look younger, but when he started explaining why he was here, I realized he’s my kidnapped brother. He came to us for help.”
“With?”
“He wants to get the man who he believes kidnapped him, and sold him to other foster families. It’s all here in a report he wrote, and a ninety-something-page report from a man he hired to find Merrick, the man who was Patch’s caseworker when he was in the foster-care system.”
“Jackie,” Tamara said, and looked directly at her friend. “The guy who sent that report is the same guy who did the report on Freedman.”
“Holy shit, and you want us to verify the information he came across?”
“We do,” Daniel nodded. “We’ll be working around the clock, until I feel that all our i’s are dotted and our t’s crossed. After that, then we’ll plan the sting to try to trip Merrick up. Once he’s in custody with solid evidence against him, then we can get some answers and maybe my family, along with Patch can put the past to rest, and get to know each other. It’s been a long, long time. Hell, I don’t even know if Patch knows he has two sisters, and another brother back home.” Everyone looked at him, and then buckled down to work.
Chapter 31
“Follow me,”Daniel told Patch as they walked down a hallway in the basement of the FBI building. They were there to dress Patch as a rich man who wanted to adopt a child with his wife. Silver was over with Tamara and Jackie to dress the part, and get her makeup applied. While they were dressing, Tamara and Jackie would be placing several pieces of surveillance equipment. A camera in a hair piece, a button camera on her shirt. A mic in a diamond brooch, along with a wire taped to her body and the camera in her bra. They were making sure that they had all their bases covered.
Daniel and Decker were with Patch, making sure he had the same thing, except he’d be wired, and have a button camera in his collar, and his tie clip would be an extra mic with a camera. They entered a room, and Daniel turned to Patch and pointed. “We need you to strip down to your underwear. We’re going to dress you from the inside out as a rich executive who would do anything to get his wife the child she wants.”
“And we’re not asking for a baby? Not to sound crass, but anything around two years old? Boy or girl?”
“Correct. We don’t want to narrow the choices down so much that there’s no hope for you guys to get a child. Holy hell,” Daniel said as he looked at Patch as he stood in just his boxer briefs. “Where the hell do you have time to have an eight pack of abs?”
Patch looked up and grinned. “After serving in the military for almost ten years, I was used to the activity. When I’m at work, I spend most of my time in one place with my hands, wrist. and sometimes elbow deep inside a human body, and I hardly move. When I get a free moment, or two, I run. I’m also a member of a local gym. Believe it or not, the exercise relaxes me.”
“That’s what Bruce says from time to time.” Daniel shook his head as he looked at how toned and tanned Patch’s entire body was.
“Who’s Bruce?”
“My older brother,” Daniel didn’t hesitate the say. “You’re the oldest in the family. Bruce is thirteen months younger than you. Then there’s me, then Ellie and Nancy, my two sisters.”
“Oh,” Patch didn’t know what to say, his mind suddenly went blank, then he looked at Daniel with wide, terror-filled eyes. He whipped around and looked at Decker the same way.
