Page 61 of Protecting Silver
“Sure, hit me when you’re ready.”
“Daniel Atwater, that’s A-T-W-A-T-E-R. Check your FBI information first.”
“Why?”
“Because the two agents that took down Eddie said Douglas was the spitting image of their boss, SSA Daniel Atwater. Is there any way to find out where he grew up?”
“Give me a few minutes.” Tex said, and while they waited, Patch went to the room that held Silver’s printer and began taking the pages from it. Once it was done, he grabbed a folder from the stack of extras, placed the pages in it, and went back to the kitchen. He had just sat back down when Tex came back on the line.
“Okay, it seems like this SSA Atwater is an FBI agent based out of Chicago. He grew up about three hours north of Cheyenne, Wyoming.”
“Thank you,” Silver said, and laughed. “I know this isn’t a laughing matter, but it seems to be falling into place now.”
“What is?” Both Tex and Patch asked.
“Think about it, you have no memory before you arrived at the Fosters, wait, oh shit, Tex, is there any information about a child kidnapped from the area where this Atwater grew up? Say around thirty-five years ago?”
“But I’m thirty-seven, and was four when I went to the Fosters.”
“Were you?”
“Holy fuck,” Tex said over the line.
“What?” Patch and Silver demanded.
“I’m sending you what I found, but thirty-three years ago, a two-year-old boy was kidnapped by his babysitter. The babysitter left a thirteen-month-old baby in the home alone.”
“Where were the parents?” Patch asked.
“At the hospital, they called the babysitter in, because she went into premature labor, and had to be rushed to the hospital. When the dad returned almost two days later, the two-year-old and the babysitter were gone. Because it was a kidnapping, the FBI was called in. Decker is the agent on record for handling the case.”
“Shit, so if that means the kidnapped boy was me, then I’m not thirty-seven, I’m thirty-five, and because the Fosters wanted a birth certificate, they fudged my last name. I could have gone from an Atwater to an Atwal.”
“Could have, what are you going to do now?”
“I think Silver and I need to head to Chicago. I’ll contact the agents who took down Freedman, and see if I can’t get a meeting with their boss. As much as I want to look into my past, I think Merrick needs to be taken down first, then I’ll look into this kidnapping.”
“Okay, let me know if you need anything else. I’ve sent you all the reports I just dug up on Decker, Atwater, and the kidnapping. I wish you luck. Please, let me know what you find out.”
“Thanks, Tex. Like I said before, send me the bill, you have my e-mail address.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.” Then, the line went dead.
Patch looked over at Silver and scrubbed his face. “What are the chances that you can take a couple of weeks off and head to Chicago with me? If it wasn’t for you, I never would have pursued this avenue. Now, because of you, I’m close to catching Merrick, and maybe, fingers crossed, finding my real family.”
“How much time before we leave?”
“I need to talk to the hospital, and jump though some hoops. If all goes as planned, we can leave the day after tomorrow.”
“Plenty of time to talk to Finn, and if he knows it’s for you, and getting answers, I’m sure he’ll approve of me taking time off. But let me do it, he’d give you the shirt off his back. I need to prove to myself that I can do this.”
“Agreed.” Patch pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. “In case I forget to tell you, thank you for being in my life. Since our first date, I have had nothing but good news when I’m with you.”
“You’re welcome,” Silver said, and moaned against his lips as he took hers with his.
Chapter 29
“Shit,”Patch said for the sixth time in the last five minutes. He looked at Silver in frustration, and rubbed the back of his neck. “How are we going to do this?” They were standing in the lobby of the Chicago office of the FBI, and every single time Patch had asked to see SSW Atwater, he’d been laughed at and the people he asked, had asked him if he’d lost his way to his own office. With each encounter, Patch was growing more and more frustrated. He scowled when Silver grabbed his forearm and dragged him over to the corner of the lobby.
