Chapter 7 - THE MAN INSIDE THE FBI
Smoke filled the lower decks.
Crew members ran toward the engine room.
Hale ordered Rebecca escorted to the medical center.
She refused.
“I’ve spent three years hiding from him. I’m done hiding.”
I respected that.
But survival came first.
“Tell Hale everything you know.”
Rebecca grabbed my wrist.
“There’s a man named Warren Pike.”
Hale stopped cold.
“What?”
“Daniel’s contact.”
Hale stared at her.
“Assistant Director Warren Pike?”
Rebecca nodded.
The blood drained from Hale’s face.
Pike was Hale’s supervisor.
The man who knew every move of the investigation.
The man who had known I was supposed to meet a federal agent six weeks earlier.
Hale immediately reached for his phone.
“No outside calls,” Rebecca said.
“He’ll know.”
A blast shook the floor.
Captain Reynolds announced that steering had been partially restored.
The ship wasn’t sinking.
Not yet.
We moved toward the bridge.
On the way, Hale spoke quietly.
“If Pike is compromised, Daniel knew our surveillance plan before the wedding.”
“Then why didn’t he cancel?”
“Because he wanted you on this ship.”
That bothered me.
Why this ship?
Why return to the place Rebecca had disappeared?
Then I remembered cabin 8146.
The wall.
The bracelet.
The blood.
“He left something here.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“What?”
“Something valuable enough to bring him back.”
We returned to 8146.
The hidden passage was still open.
Rebecca entered behind us.
Her breathing changed.
“This is where he kept me.”
I looked at her.
“For how long?”
“Two days.”
She pointed into the darkness.
“There was another compartment.”
We searched.
Behind a steel panel was a waterproof case.
Inside were passports.
Bank cards.
Insurance documents.
Photographs.
Dozens of photographs.
Women.
Some I recognized from Hale’s files.
Others I didn’t.
Then I found a small black notebook.
Names.
Dates.
Dollar amounts.
Payments.
Beside several names were initials.
W.P.
Warren Pike.
Hale swore.
“This can bury him.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“No, Marcus.”
We turned.
A gray-haired man stood there holding a pistol.
Hale whispered his name.
“Pike.”
Pike smiled.
“You were always a good agent.”
May you like
His gun shifted toward my chest.
“You just never learned when to stop looking.”
