to speak to Carrie Foster again. If the facts surrounding her injury were already being called into doubt, what else about her statement might prove unreliable?
8
A black embassy sedan was waiting for them when Ingrid and Gurley emerged from the hotel. Ingrid asked the driver to drop her on Gower Street so she could pick up her motorcycle: she didn’t want to add to the embassy’s growing pile of unpaid parking tickets. As she stood on the sidewalk and watched the limousine merge into the long line of traffic, the relief of getting away from Gurley for a while was greater than she’d expected.
Although the traffic from Bloomsbury to Mayfair was heavy all the way, on the bike Ingrid managed to arrive at the embassy parking lot ahead of Major Gurley. She took the opportunity to visit Sol’s office on the fifth floor, but when she got there his desk was empty. She called him and discovered he was heading up the welcoming committee in the Criminal Division office two floors below.
“An update, if you wouldn’t mind, agent?” he said when she got there.
Ingrid started to lay out everything she’d learned in detail, interrupted occasionally by the beep of Sol’s cell phone. When she stopped abruptly halfway through her account, Sol turned around to see what had caused the sudden halt.
“Major Gurley, you made it,” he said and extended a hand. “I’m Sol Franklin. Ingrid you’ve met, of course.” He put his arm around Gurley’s wide back and guided the MP to Jennifer’s desk. “And this is the most indispensable member of the FBI program here at the embassy. Jennifer Rocharde. Anything on any of our databases you need to find, Jennifer is the person to find it. We’d be quite lost without her.”
“Pleasure to be acquainted with you, miss.” Gurley nodded toward Jennifer and immediately her cheeks flushed bright pink.
“Now, where were we?” Sol sat on the edge of Jennifer’s desk and folded his arms.
Ingrid continued to tell him what she’d discovered, turning to the major sporadically for his input.
It never came.
“You haven’t said very much, major. What’s on your mind?” Sol said when Ingrid had finished.
“May I speak frankly, sir?”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way. And please—call me Sol.”
“I’m concerned we’re wasting time. The clock’s running down. We should be out there searching for Foster. We’re making polite conversation while the trail’s going cold.”
Ingrid wondered why the hell Gurley had even agreed to come to the embassy if he felt so strongly about it.
“We should be following standard US Air Force procedure: apprehend the man who’s gone AWOL, ASAP. Foster’s had survival training—in the event of being shot down in enemy territory. If he’s gone to ground, it’s going to be one hell of a job to track him down.”
“And you feel you’re the man for the job?” Sol’s tone was patient, if a little condescending.
“Due respect, sir. I know I am.”
Sol smiled up at Gurley’s blank face. “As a matter of fact, I’ve spoken to your superiors at the base and they agree. They have full confidence in your abilities. They want you and Agent Skyberg to share your expertise with the Met. But you have to understand, the Met does have some experience in apprehending fugitives.”
“To be truly effective, I’ve found it’s better if I work alone.” He glanced at Ingrid. “No disrespect, agent. I’m making no comment on your skills in these matters.”
For a man who didn’t mean to disrespect anyone, Gurley was doing a good job at demonstrating the complete opposite. Why was he making things difficult when the investigation had barely begun?
“Working alone just isn’t practical on this case,” Sol said. “I was under the impression that had been explained to you. The Pentagon has agreed to Bureau involvement.”
Gurley shook his head and stared down at the floor.
“But both you and Agent Skyberg must work closely with the Metropolitan Police Force. They have the best intel in this kind of situation. Their PR department are liaising with the major news outlets to get the story out there. The officers manning the phones in the police incident room have already received calls from people claiming they’ve seen Kyle and Tommy Foster.”
“Claiming? What does that mean?”
“None of the sightings has been confirmed at this time.”
“You see? Their intel isn’t worth a shi—” Gurley glanced at Jennifer and didn’t finish his sentence.
“Is Carrie Foster making a statement herself?” Ingrid asked.
“At the press conference. Hopefully that’ll happen tomorrow morning. She’ll be pleading for the safe return of