if you find anything, and listen, I really appreciate your help on this.”
“Are you kidding, Mac? A case like this? It’s fun to be in the ballgame, man. I’m on this.”
That brought a smile to Mac’s face. This was a hell of a case.
He made another call.
“Yeah,” the voice growled.
“You leave me hanging and now I’m left to investigate with this ex-FBI chick. Some partner you are.”
“Two things. First, fuck you. Second, at least she’s easier on the eyes than me,” Lich replied and Mac howled in laughter. His partner sounded fine although he reported he was very sore and very pissed off. “You find the bastards behind this yet?”
“We’re getting closer. This case is crazy. Get this …” Mac spent five minutes giving his partner the rundown of the day’s events from Checketts, to Darwin Ring and DataPoint, Ginger Bloom and the chase, and then finishing with the locker.
His partner had one piece of advice. “Watch your back, Mac.”
“I always do,” McRyan answered as Wire pulled back into the parking lot with Dixon and Sally. “Listen. I gotta go. I’ll buzz you tomorrow.”
Mac hung up and Sally came walking quickly to him and gave him a hug and a kiss. “Glad to see you in one piece,” she whispered in his ear, a touch of worry in her voice.
“I’m good. Wire and I were just spectators with a front row seat on that car chase.”
“Uh huh,” was his girlfriend’s skeptical and knowing reply. “The whole calling the move a ‘Bullitt’ was a nice touch by the way. Stealing from my favorite cop movie? Really?”
“Wire talks too much.”
“Mac, which one is Special Agent Berman?” the Judge asked, bailing Mac out for now.
Mac pointed to a stout woman with short brown hair wearing a black trench coat.
“Watch this,” Wire said with a knowing look.
Dixon approached Berman and extended his hand. Berman recognized Dixon and smiled when he introduced himself. They chatted for a minute and then the two of them walked away from the storage locker to have some privacy and engaged in a discussion for nearly five minutes. It looked like an agreeable conversation. Then Berman received a phone call. The call lasted a couple of minutes and then Berman spoke for about a minute and then the two of them shook hands and Dixon came walking back to the group.
“So?” Sally asked.
“FBI Director Mitchell called while we were over there.”
“Convenient timing,” Mac remarked, sensing a setup, a good kind of setup.
“Perhaps,” the Judge replied with a wry smile. “In any event, we’re putting everything on a plane here and going to DC. The director wants to be briefed directly on this. If the briefing goes the way I hope it goes, the director, probably in eventual consultation with the attorney general, will order an immediate mass review of all DataPoint voting machines for this virus mentioned in the letter. While in transit to DC, the secretaries of state for Iowa, Wisconsin and Virginia are going to be put on alert.”
“Which is what you want, right?” Sally asked.
“It is,” the Judge answered and then looked to Mac and Wire. “I think you two have discovered what this is all about and have explained why all these people were killed, why our Sebastian was killed. Well done. Well done indeed.”
McRyan and Wire both nodded modestly. The magnitude of what their investigation uncovered suppressed any urge to express happiness. “Now you two have a plane to catch with the FBI,” the Judge added and led them walking back towards the Acadia. “And Mac?’
“Yes, Judge?”
“You’re going to give the briefing to the director as soon as you get to Washington.”
That stopped Mac in his tracks. The Judge looked back with a mischievous smile noting the suddenly nervous look on the otherwise unflappable detective’s face. He doubted McRyan was someone who was often put back on his heels.
Dixon walked back to Mac and put a hand on his shoulder. “Son, nobody knows this case better than you—nobody. Wire can’t give the briefing because she’s been working for me—you haven’t. She can’t be there, nor can I. The bureau is just getting up to speed on this and they don’t know the ‘ins and outs’ of it. All you have to do is run the case down from beginning to end. FBI Director Mitchell will likely ask you some very pointed questions. Give him direct answers, just like you always do.” Dixon patted him hard on the back. “You’ve got about three hours to prepare.