Deadly Little Secrets Page 0,44
a hand. “Conference room?”
Everyone turned to the third agent, who was nervously tapping a pen on the top of a cubicle wall. “Oh,” he said, when he realized everyone was waiting for him to identify himself. “I’m Perkins, from IT. I heard there was a problem, and headed up, but,” he looked around. “Seems like they shut you down all the way.”
“They did,” Pretzky stated. “You need anything else?”
Perkins managed a nervous negative bob of his head. “Uh, guess not. No. I’ll just be going.” He pointed at the elevators and, as fast as he could, got in a waiting car and left. Everyone sat in silence for a heartbeat. Ana wondered what the hell the guy had wanted, or thought he could do. She rubbed the back of her neck, wishing she had some Advil. Her head was pounding, and her muscles were as tight as a drum.
“Well, if that’s all on IT,” Pretzky broke the silence. “Let’s get the debrief over with. This way.” Pretzky pointed them all toward the small glassed-in conference room. “Agent?” she waited as Ana gathered her things, then motioned her forward as well. “I’ll sit in.”
“There’s no need—” IAD Agent Charles began, but Pretzky cut her off.
“Yes. There is. If there’s an issue here, the buck stops with me.”
To her surprise, Pretzky stayed for the entire interview. Ana laid out her movements over the last seventy-two hours, going back a bit to include the trip to the gallery. She didn’t mention she’d used an alias, but that would only mean a wrist slap if it came out later. Pretzky didn’t mention it either, so she figured it wasn’t a major problem.
“This case you’re on, the cold one,” IAD Agent Keyes asked, watching her closely, “do you think it’s the cause of this incident?”
“As I’ve already said,” Ana clenched her teeth, desperately holding onto a level tone, “I don’t know. It could be something from the incident in Rome. It could be something from this cold case. I’ve been making calls and contacting victims for nearly two weeks. It could be something connected with Mr. Gianikopolis. He’s known to have a number of enemies, according to his security people. I was there to interview him, and did so. It could also be from my contact with any one of these high-profile, highly sensitive individuals. Have to say, though, that I haven’t had any issues on Rome and nothing like this has come up until I pulled this case.”
“You’re an analyst,” Charles interjected. “Trained to assess these kinds of events.”
She didn’t look at anyone but Keyes, focused on him. “I can’t speculate on which case this incident is related to without more data about the weapon, the triangulation of the shot, and anything recovered from the round. As to the forensics of the computer hacking it’s remotely possible the two things are related. Then again, they may be coincidental. I’m not privy to what other people in my department are working on. Something from one of their cases may have triggered it rather than anything I’m doing.”
She managed not to shudder at the thought of the bullet, but addressed that one too. “As to the shot, I may not be the target. In fact, I’m probably not. I’m not working on anything volatile, to my knowledge. Besides, five other agents drive the same make, general color, and model car I do. Two drive the same model year.” She actually relaxed a bit as she said that, realizing the attempted hit could have been a mistake. A shot meant for someone else.
Of course that meant someone else was in danger, but it was a relief to think she wasn’t a target.
Pretzky shifted positions so that Ana could see her without turning. The faintest of smiles twitched her lips, and one eyelid closed in a subtle wink.
She cloaked her surprise with a cough, took a sip of Mountain Dew from the cup at her elbow. Pearson had brought it in. Another surprise. Apparently, the ladies of the fifth floor were closing ranks for her.
“Thank you, Agent Burton,” Agent Charles said after the silence had drawn out to irritating proportions. “We’ll follow up with you when and if we need additional data, or have data to give you. Let us know if you receive any communiqués, contacts.” Charles stopped, smiled briefly. “You know the drill.”
“Yes, I do. And yes, I will.” She stood and shook hands with both agents and remained standing until the door whispered shut behind