Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 113741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
“Absolutely,” Gage said, nodding.
“What if I don’t give it?”
“I’ll take this to Europe and move the family there. They’ll do it in a heartbeat, and they’re waiting now to be transported. I’m just giving my home team the first chance at doing the right thing,” Gage said.
“Will you still do the report?” Porter asked and sat back in his seat.
“Not if we keep it here. I’m giving it to you to handle discreetly and confidentially. Which is what you want, you just don’t know it yet,” Gage said, still sitting in the same position as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“So you’re giving up the report, turning it over to us, for the guarantee we won’t involve one family?”
“Well, that’s part one.”
“What’s the other?” Porter asked.
“You move in this morning to capture the suspect, and I want a meeting with him. You can be present, no one else,” Gage said. The general sat silently thinking over it all, his eyes narrowed and he never let his gaze slip from Gage. Gage kept a tight rein on the emotions threatening to bubble free, offering nothing more than a return stare while drinking his coffee.
“Why are you doing this?”
“I’ll give you a small amount of background after you agree.” It took another few minutes before Porter spoke again.
“I want you for the next twenty-four hours in DC, available to us. Then I want you on call and on notice for the future until this is resolved.”
“All right, do we have a deal?” Gage asked.
“Yes, against my better judgment, I’ll agree,” General Porter nodded.
“I want it from the top,” Gage immediately said.
“My word’s enough.”
“I understand, but this is too important. I need it backed by the top,” Gage said.
“It’s seven in the fucking morning, Synclair. He’s jogging.” Gage sat there a minute and drained his coffee, staring again.
“Synclair, you’re a trying, frustrating man,” Porter said.
“Yeah, yeah, compliments won’t help.” Porter palmed his phone, calling the president. As the phone rang, Gage’s heart began to pound. He was seconds from the final confirmation he needed to keep Trent and the children safe. As he watched the general on the phone, emotion rose to the surface. He hid the pounding of his heart and the deep breaths he took by rising to get another cup of coffee.
“Mr. President, I’m sorry to bother you this morning. I’m in Chicago with Gage Synclair. He has agreed to turn his next report over to us, step out of it completely, if we agree to keep an American family out of the case. He assures us there is no involvement on their part, and the case is big enough, we will want it regardless of their involvement,” Porter said quickly into the phone while on speaker.
“General Porter, what did you decide?” the president asked.
“I agreed to his terms,” he said, looking at Gage as he came back to the table.
“Then why are you calling me?” the president asked.
“Sir, he wants to hear it from you.”
“Synclair, his word is my word. It’s seven in the morning. You don’t need to hear it from me.”
“Sir,” Gage said.
“Do not sir me. If he says it’s a go, it’s a go.”
“Thank you,” Gage said and finally smiled. The relief was too much to hide it anymore. The first part was complete. The second would begin soon and then Trent would be safe. Gage found himself saying a prayer of thanks as they finished the call.
“General, I want a report on my desk by eight. If Synclair’s already this far in the game, I want whatever this is to be taken care of by ten, with a full briefing by eleven. I don’t want this hanging over me today, got it?”
“Yes, sir.” The phone disconnected. Gage slid the file folder closer and started from the beginning, explaining it all. It took forty-five minutes to get through it with all the forensic evidence tying Abdulla to every single case Gage brought to Porter. Gage started his laptop, showing all the bank accounts, video surveillance, and eye witness testimony of Abdulla being in every situation Gage connected him with. He also showed how Abdulla infiltrated the different government’s military, gained access to the sites he targeted, and faked his own death time and time again. There were even links to his bombing plots in the United Kingdom and France with surveillance of him dropping packages along the way.
Porter stayed quiet, looking at the information, checking facts occasionally on the government laptop he’d brought into the office with him. After a time, Porter stopped Gage. “We need to know it all, but this is enough to bring him in. Where is he?”
“An abandoned mission in La Popa Basin, Mexico,” Gage said.
“Why there?” Porter asked, and the question surprised Gage.
“Unsure, he hasn’t left there for two months. He’s staying quiet, it’s reported he took a vow of silence,” Gage said.
“Really?”
“So they’re saying. We caught up with him the day he landed there. Up until then, we were always one step behind him,” Gage said, sitting back in his seat.
“What was your plan going in? And how do we know your men?” Porter typed in his computer as he asked questions, Gage assumed preparing the briefing to the president, or perhaps getting the troops to the area. Who knew for sure; the man liked his mystery.
“My men will stand down if you’re involved,” Gage said. The general nodded. He typed on his computer for several minutes, and then fed paper into the machine, scanning Gage’s work.
“Now, tell me about the family you’re protecting while I’m awaiting confirmation the teams are being assembled,” Porter said. Gage looked down, weighing his words, but the general stopped him.
“I need you to be honest with me. You have your guarantee, and it’s off the record, but I need to know if anything comes up that implicates them or surprises us.” Gage flipped his personal file folder around and turned several photos over until he got to one of Trent with the children standing in front of the gallery. It was a great shot. The kids and Trent faced the camera while talking to Sophia. They didn’t know they were being photographed, and their beauty shone through in the candid nature. An all-American, home-grown beauty kind of shot. Gage stopped and looked at the picture for several moments before he spoke.