Page 38 of Critical Witness

“Who do you think plays me in the movie when her story gets out, man?”

Will rolled his eyes at the immature man’s vain thoughts of an action movie. Of course, they had to stop sitting around waiting for something to happen. Word from the FBI and everyone else Joey was monitoring was that they assumed the assassin had fled and they were working on interfacing with INTERPOL. They still believed it was Ban Gil-Dong, which Will thought was foolish. But at least if his team was the only one chasing down the real killer, then the feds wouldn’t be in the way.

He listened to the audio of the president’s phone calls. The Secretary of the Interior had asked her to attend the meeting between the EPA and Marshand Chemical. Maybe Hannah was onto something. Whether the secretary knew what trap they were sending the president into would have to be investigated.

Will pulled out Hannah’s laptop and started it up, typing in the password she’d given him last time. The anonymous email server was easy enough to bring up, and Hannah relied on the browser to remember all her logins, so in moments he was there, staring at the inbox.

There were a few replies from other news stations. At first glance, they seemed legitimate in their desire to purchase the video from Hannah.

Of course, Mr. Lloyd had seemed legitimate, too.

He called Joey. “Hey, are you still working?”

“For a bit. I mean, I’m still at the hospital, but Cole is sleeping a lot and this keeps me busy. What do you need?”

“Have you been in the email account lately that Melanie-slash-Hannah was using? There are some other people reaching out. Can you run them to see if any of them aren’t legit?”

“Sure, I can do that. What are we hoping for?”

He took a deep breath and considered her question. “I don’t know. I can’t imagine he thinks she’d fall for the same trap twice, but maybe we can get him to send us something and use it to track him? Is that possible?”

Joey finally admitted that there was a possibility that she could track the IP address. “Only if he’s not using a VPN,” she added. “And if he’s smart, he is.”

“Well, I guess we’ll pray he’s not as smart as he thinks he is.”

“Have you told Ross?” Joey’s question came after a moment of dead air, her voice soft but holding just enough censure to let him know where she stood.

He rubbed a hand over his hair. “Next on my list,” he said before disconnecting.

In reality, the last thing he wanted to do was bring Ross and Flint into the loop. Doing that also meant bringing President Coulter into the know. Will didn’t think any of them would do anything to punish Hannah, but he wasn’t so sure that he would make out so clean.

Will considered his words carefully as he crafted an email supposedly from Hannah. He studied the first email she’d sent to a dozen news outlets. It sounded professional, but the telltale signs of her youth and inexperience were there in the words. Maybe he could use that.

He wrote a short message to Mr. Lloyd, commenting on the bad luck that their meeting was interrupted by the explosion and offering to reschedule. After all, Hannah still needed a job. Maybe Darkshade would just think she was clueless.

After sending the email, he pulled out his phone and dialed Ross’s direct line, taking the opportunity to step onto the back porch of the small house while it rang.

“McClain,” his boss said.

“Hey, it’s me.”

“You guys still hunkered down?”

“Yep. Bit of a shake-up there with Roscoe’s team in our nest, but Miranda got us set up. Will we see any more of the fibbies?”

“I don’t think so, but you never know. They seem to have moved on, but all it takes is one persistent agent with a grudge to make things flare up again.”

“I hear that. We won’t make any waves.”

The conversation stalled and Will knew he had to man up and spill the news.

“So, there’s been a development here, actually.”

“Oh?”

“Melanie Byers? Our witness?”

“I’m familiar,” said Ross with an amused lilt to his voice.

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