Edge of Mercy (A Kate Reid Novel Book 11), Robin Mahle [freenovel24 .txt] 📗

“I’ll have to get my supervisor.”

“Please do that,” Walsh said.

The cashier disappeared into the back and Walsh looked at Palmero. “How? How the hell does this guy kill someone yesterday and manage to be on a bus to Mexico at the same time?”

“If we knew that, we wouldn’t be here,” Palmero replied.

The cashier returned with his supervisor.

“I’m Ron Weise. Can I help you?”

“I certainly hope so,” Walsh began. “We need access to your security footage for the past 48 hours.”

It was 3am when Nick and Kate returned home. The flight on the Bureau’s private jet was somber with hardly a word spoken among the team. Nick held open the door for Kate as she entered the condo. He locked it behind her and set down his bag. “It’s probably best if we try to get in a few hours of sleep. Fisher wants a full briefing first thing in the morning.”

Kate shed her coat and placed it on the hook next to the door. “I’m sure Eva will fill him in.” She walked to the breakfast bar and dropped onto a stool. “I just can’t believe it. We were so close. How could this have happened?”

“I wish I knew. Walsh said the video had been erased. An entire day, gone. And he couldn’t identify Bishop on video from the prior day. That man didn’t buy a ticket two days ago. That’s all we know right now. It’s a physical impossibility.”

“I can’t get my head around it,” she replied.

“Look, we gave Border Patrol the information. All we can do is hope he hasn’t crossed over yet.” Nick stood in front of her and gently took hold of her shoulders. “It’s late. We’ve been at this for the past 36 hours. We’ll have clearer heads in the morning and can work through this.”

“Sure. You’re probably right.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist and led her to the bedroom. “The work you did, though. Going to Providence and interviewing the girlfriend, it was good work. We wouldn’t have known where he was going otherwise.”

Kate stopped in her tracks and peered up at him. “Hang on. This morning, she said Bishop had contacted her the day before. And we tracked down the cell phone signal. So, how is it possible that he had left two days earlier? That doesn’t make any sense. I mean, I know the guy’s smart and knows how to hide, but…” Kate stopped dead. “He had help. That’s the only answer. Bishop had help covering his tracks.”

“Who could help him with something like that? He’d have to have friends in very high places with the means to manipulate national security data and private company surveillance. You can’t just go in and change the date someone used their passport and bought a ticket. I mean, that could only be done by someone with access to State Department and Homeland Security data.”

Kate pursed her lips. “I know… I just…”

“We aren’t going to get answers tonight. You can stay up and fret through it, or you can try to clear your head and tackle this first thing in the morning. Whatever happened, it doesn’t matter now anyway. Bishop’s gone. If he isn’t in Mexico yet, he will be soon. And if he did have the kind of help you’re talking about, Border Patrol won’t turn up anything either. Once he’s inside Mexico, we won’t get cooperation from them. I’m not sure I want to attempt it anyway.”

“Why?” Kate asked.

“They don’t even want us to designate their cartels as terrorists. They aren’t serious about fighting crime and corruption. What makes you think they’ll open up their country and say, ‘hey, come on in FBI.’ It won’t happen. That’s all I’m saying.” Nick continued into the bedroom.

“It can’t be worse than what we faced in Rio.” Kate walked behind him. “I’ll sleep on it tonight, but this isn’t over. I won’t stop looking for him.”

Walsh walked into his apartment in Quantico and threw down his keys before dropping onto his sofa. He was a single man and his apartment was decorated to reflect that. He’d been married once but she left him before he finished a tour in Iraq years earlier. The only fortunate thing was that there were no kids involved. Only problem with that was that Walsh felt it had been his only opportunity to have children. He was 42 and time had run out, or so he believed.

However, in times like these, he appreciated the solitude. If he wanted to punch a hole in the living room wall, which was what he wanted to do right now, he could do so without someone yelling at him. It wouldn’t solve anything, but it was his prerogative. The people he worked with were experts for a reason and that was because they got their man. It had been years since they let one slip by and that was because he had killed himself. Now, Bishop had outsmarted them. But there wasn’t a chance in hell he did it alone.

Walsh walked into his kitchen and retrieved a bottle of whiskey and a glass. A two-fingered shot ought to do it. At least calm him down enough to sleep. All that he and Kate had worked toward was for nothing. The interviews, all of it, just to see Bishop slip through their fingers.

Agent Palmero had returned to his office in Houston and the team was scheduled to meet at 7am tomorrow. Fisher would be pissed. He would blame himself for not being there and whatever flow they’d begun to have as a team with Fisher at the helm would vanish.

Walsh snatched his cell phone from the kitchen counter and pulled up Kate’s contact. “No. Don’t.” He’d learned enough about Kate to know she would also be beating herself up right about now. Even with Scarborough there to vent to, Kate would take this personally. They all would.

Walsh set down the glass and walked to