No Way Back(Jack McNeal #1)(29)

“I see.”

“We need to get a plan in place.”

“What kind of plan?”

“We need to think about how we can neutralize Jack McNeal.”

Forbes cringed, as if his head was about to explode. “Hang on, we’re getting off course. We haven’t discussed this. That wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Plans change.”

“Since when?”

“Since now.”

Forbes wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into. He thought it would all be taken care of, and that would be that.

“Are you still there?”

“What do you propose?”

“You’re the client.”

“I understand. What would you recommend?”

“We need to find out what he knows first. And then we make our move. We can’t have any more fallout from this.”

“What if he goes to the cops? Other cops. The Feds? What if he goes to the media?”

“I’ve got a plan in place for that.”

Forbes opened the minibar and took out a small bottle of whiskey. He unscrewed the top and gulped down the contents. A burning in his stomach. Blood rushing to his head. “You need to make this go away, or I swear to God, we’re all going to prison. Do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear. Leave it to me.”

“Do whatever you have to do.”





Twenty-One

The following morning in Westport, Jack McNeal and his brother sat drinking coffee in the kitchen. They mulled one more time over the explosive documents Caroline had unearthed but also considered the news of the break-in and theft of files from Seligman’s practice in Washington. They weighed it all up, knowing that Jack was no longer a person of interest.

“We need to do the right thing,” Jack said. “We need to focus. But we need to keep within the law at all times.”

Peter sighed.

“Agreed?”

“Sure.”

Then they began to explore what their next step would be.

Eventually, they both agreed. They needed to inform the FBI as soon as they could.

The brothers left the house just after 8:30 and were in Bridgeport a half hour later.

McNeal checked his rearview mirror as he pulled up outside the FBI satellite office in downtown Bridgeport. A motorbike came into view for a few seconds. Then it disappeared from sight.

“How you feeling?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. But I know this is the right way to respond to this. It’s measured. It’s legal. It’s the right thing to do.”

“You trust this guy?”

“Ryan Bone?”

“Bone, yeah.”

“I think so . . . We worked together on an anticorruption joint task force thing when he worked in Manhattan. I haven’t seen him for three years. But he seemed pretty solid, down to earth.”

“Name rings a bell.”

“He’s from Staten Island.”

“Yeah?” Peter grinned. “New Yorkers. Goddamn everywhere. I can’t escape them even if I want to.”

“They colonize every place they go.”

McNeal turned off the engine. He picked up a large manila envelope containing some of the documents he had been given by Caroline’s lawyer. He and his brother headed inside. They rode the elevator to the third floor and were buzzed into suite 306.

Bone was a huge guy, clean-shaven, dark suit. He shook both their hands and showed them into an interview room. “Nice to see you again, Jack.” He shut the door behind him.

“You too. This is my brother, Peter. He’s on the force.”

“Nice to meet you, Peter. So, how can I help you guys today?” he said. “Pull up a seat. Take the weight off.”

Jack sat down first as Peter pulled up a seat from the far end of the room. “Appreciate you seeing us, Ryan.”

“How is Internal Affairs these days?”

“Busy. Real busy.”

Ryan scribbled a few points on a legal pad. “I’m sorry about your wife. Very sad. I heard through the grapevine.”

Jack nodded. “Appreciate that.”

“She was a journalist, right?”

Jack nodded. “So, how’s life in the FBI?”

Ryan shrugged. “What can I say? It has its moments. Anyway, how can I help?”

McNeal took a few minutes to explain the background. The deaths of both his wife and Sophie Meyer. “The whole thing, Ryan, is crazy.”

Ryan took notes.

“Peter and I have been talking about something Caroline’s lawyer passed on to me.”

“Show me what you’ve got.”

Jack handed over photocopies of several of the files from the CD. “This is what we have. It relates to my late wife’s investigation into the death of Sophie Meyer a few years back. But it’s just a taste, to give you a flavor of what this is all about.”

Ryan scribbled some more notes before he leafed through the papers in the folder. He took a good ten minutes reading the information. “I can see this is something worth taking a very close look at. I know just the person.”

“You’ll make sure they get it?”

“I will send this down to DC myself, and I’ll ensure that not only is it given priority but that I get back to you as soon as I can.”