posse that they can’t hang the alleged horse thief. He has to be returned to town where he will stand trial by a jury of his peers because that is what is dictated by law. In fact the word “republic” came from the Latin res publica, or the “public thing,” meaning the law.
It took seeing the video for her kids to fully grasp that without law, there was chaos, and with too much law, there was tyranny. In order for the right balance to exist, the laws needed to be enforced and citizens needed to be vigilant stewards of the republic and strive to elect the most responsible leaders.
What the video didn’t teach, and what she had tried to keep her young children shielded from, was the absolute evil that existed in the world. As an FBI agent she had seen horrors she hoped her children would never know about, much less experience. Man’s capacity for inhumanity was boundless.
Roe had grown up in a solidly middle-class family with a mom, a dad, two siblings, and a cat, just outside Detroit. Her parents had taught her right from wrong and had encouraged her to become the best she could be. Their vision of the American dream was to see their children go farther in life than they had. Her parents had succeeded. Their daughter was happily married with a family of her own and she loved her job. When people screwed up, though, it made her angry.
Wong’s purchase of a last-minute plane ticket to Nashville had immediately caught Roe’s attention. There had been no phone or email contact with anyone in Nashville, and as far as they knew, Wong didn’t have any friends or associates there either. It was completely out of character for him, which was why Roe and her partner had been so interested to see where he went and with whom he met. This could be the break they were looking for.
Pulling up the phone number in Nashville, Roe hit Dial and raised the phone to her ear. Moments later a man’s voice answered on the other end.
“Detective Hoffman,” the voice said.
“Detective Hoffman, this is Special Agent Roe.”
“So you got my text?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I got it, but I don’t understand it.”
“What don’t you understand? Your guy didn’t get off the flight.”
“You’re absolutely sure of that?”
“Positive.”
“You were there, right?”
“I was there and your guy Tommy Wong wasn’t. Trust me.”
“You had the picture I sent and everything?”
Hoffman let out a condescending laugh. “Agent Roe, contrary to what a lot of folks might think, Nashville’s a pretty cosmopolitan place. We get our share of Asian visitors. If I had a plane full of them, it might have been hard to spot your guy. This plane wasn’t full of them.”
“Were there any?”
“There were three—an old man in his seventies, a young girl in her twenties, and some middle-aged guy. There was no twenty-six-year-old matching the photo or description of Thomas ‘Tommy’ Wong. How positive are you that he got on the plane in the first place?”
As progressive as the FBI was, Roe had come up through the ranks feeling that she had to work twice as hard to prove herself as any male agent. She had a chip on her shoulder, but it was a small one. It manifested itself only when she thought she wasn’t being treated with the proper respect. “I don’t know how the Nashville PD does things, Detective Hoffman, but I wouldn’t have asked you to be there if I didn’t know for certain that Tommy Wong was on that plane.”
“Did you see him get on?”
“No, but—”
“So you don’t know for sure if Wong was on that plane, do you?”
Technically, Hoffman was correct, but Roe trusted and respected her LAPD colleagues. It was the same respect she was trying to extend Hoffman as a member of the Bureau’s Nashville Organized Crime Task Force. Multiagency task forces were successful only if everyone did his job. She needed to win him over.
“You’re right. My guys in LA might have screwed up,” she admitted. “Are you still at the airport?” she asked.
“I’m on my way to the parking garage, why?”
“I need a favor. I don’t like that your time was wasted. And I really don’t like that we’ve lost track of Wong.”
“What do you want?” Hoffman asked.
“How solid are your airport contacts?”
“They’re not bad.”
“Do you think you can get me a copy of the flight manifest and security camera footage of the passengers deplaning?”