Kaulcrick said. “This is a national case that has literally taken the FBI from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. We’ve had two agents murdered, and we’re about to arrest another for being one of the people responsible. We have a great deal more invested in this than the United States attorney’s office does. And the director thinks if Pendaran’s arrest was released as national news in Washington, it would have much less of an impact on the Bureau’s image.”
“If you’re so worried about your image, maybe you should have fired someone like Pendaran when you had the choice.”
“What really worries me is when political appointees start examining everyone else’s ethics.”
“What does that mean?” Underwood said, his voice rising.
“It means that you’re the United States attorney simply because your party is in the White House. If that changes in the next election, you’ll be gone to some fat-salary law firm, and we’ll still be here dealing with your self-serving decisions.”
“Why, because we won’t let you hog the credit?”
“We solved the case.”
“And we have to take this into a courtroom and prosecute it, your mistakes and all.”
“Who do you think is closer to the attorney general, you or the director of the FBI?”
“The local United States attorney always makes the press releases concerning arrests in his or her jurisdiction. Let’s call the AG and let him decide.”
“Fine. While you’re calling him, I’ll call the director.”
Out of deference to the two men’s positions, Mark Hildebrand had not said anything, but now he decided it was time to interject himself. In a calm tone, he said, “If I may. Calling bosses will give them the wrong impression about your ability to handle your duties. A compromise will serve everyone much better. I can see both sides of this because I work for Don, but I work more regularly with you, Del. So how about this? We’ll have the news conference here in Del’s office. He can make the opening statement, a kind of ‘The Los Angeles United States attorney today announced the arrest of…’ Then Don, representing himself as someone out of Washington, can give all the details and make it more of a national release like they would have in Washington, telling how the entire FBI, coast to coast, has worked to uncover one of its own gone bad. That way it’s both local for the United States attorney’s office here and national for the FBI.”
Kaulcrick looked at the SAC, somewhat surprised at his diplomatic skills. Then he glanced at the United States attorney to see if he would agree. Underwood crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back in assumed contemplation. Finally the assistant director said, “I guess I can live with that.”
Underwood pondered it a few more seconds for effect and then said, “So can I. Exactly how much of the evidence are you going to reveal?”
“I know you’ve got to prosecute this, Del, so I don’t see a need to reveal any specifics.”
“I’ve gone over it with the lead prosecutor. He said while the gun barrel and birth certificate being traced back to Pendaran are great pieces of circumstantial evidence, he’ll need more to ensure a murder conviction.”
“We also found fifteen thousand dollars in his apartment. The serial numbers matched those from the three-million-dollar demand.”
“The prosecutor is aware of that. It’s still not the complete smoking gun he’d like. What’s the read on Pendaran? Think he’d make a deal to avoid the death penalty?”
“We’ve tried that. At first he was denying everything, even offered to take a polygraph. But when we started threatening him with the death penalty, the only word out of his mouth was ‘lawyer.’”
“Are you doing anything to find the money? It would certainly tie everything together. Then we wouldn’t need to bargain with him.”
“That’s all we’re doing. Mark’s got every available agent working on it, trying to trace Pendaran’s entire life. As soon as we know anything, you will, because we will still need search warrants.”
“Fair enough.”
Standing up to leave, Kaulcrick said, “I’ll see you this afternoon at the news conference.”
TWENTY-ONE
THE ASAC IN MINNEAPOLIS CALLED KATE BACK IN LESS THAN AN in the jury-rigged flamethrower had a former agent as its head of security, and he was able to access their computer records from home, since it was after five o’clock. She wrote down the information and thanked the ASAC. “The tank was sold to Outside Zsport Company, 2121 South Alameda in L.A. I’ll call and make sure they’re still open.” After