Long Road Home(61)

Tony answered on the second ring.

“Tony, there are two guys here. Said you spoke to them. They’re assigned to protect Jules?”

“Yeah, sorry, I was going to call you. How is she?”

“She’s…she’s alive.” It was all he could say. “What are the agents’ names, and what do they look like?” Manuel asked, staring at the two men standing there.

“Agent Redding and Agent Farrow. Agent Redding is tall, blond hair, medium build. Agent Farrow is shorter, dark hair, mustache, stocky build. You can trust them, Manuel.” Tony paused for a long moment. “I know we don’t know who to trust in our own ranks, but these guys I handpicked myself. I go way back with them.”

“Okay. Just making sure.”

“I understand, man. Look, I’m right in the middle of sorting through all the shit we seized from the senator’s office and residence. I flew out to his home in Virginia and found some stuff in his safe. Why don’t you come over and have a look? I have a man there to drive you over.”

“I hate to leave her,” Manuel said quietly.

“I know. But Manny, you’re going to be in for a long vigil. Come over here. I’ll order some takeout, we can go through these computer files and you can get some rest. I have a guard detail on the senator so he’s not going anywhere.”

Manuel sighed. “All right.”

He hung up then pinned the agents with his stare. “No one is allowed in that room except medical personnel.”

Agent Redding nodded, his eyes softening with sympathy. Manuel wondered just what Tony had told the agents about his relationship with Jules.

With one last look in Jules’s direction, Manuel walked toward the nurse’s desk. He wrote his number down on a piece of paper and handed it to the same nurse who’d escorted him in to see Jules.

“If her condition changes or if she wakes up, call me immediately. Please.”

The nurse smiled. “I will.”

Manuel walked out of the unit, glancing back to see the two agents standing on either side of Jules’s cubicle. He was met in the hall by yet another agent, who flashed ID at him.

“I’m supposed to take you to Tony’s,” the agent said.

Manuel sighed. “Yeah, Tony told me.” And in truth, he wasn’t in any shape to drive, so he nodded and followed the agent out of the hospital.

The afternoon sun blinded him as they walked through the parking lot. The agent gestured toward the Ford Expedition parked a few spaces away.

Manuel slid in as the agent started the vehicle, and soon they were winging their way through the Washington streets. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the headrest. He couldn’t get the image of Jules lying so helpless in the hospital bed out of his mind. The only spark of life he’d seen was the zigzag line flashing across the heart monitor. His only reassurance that she was alive.

A few minutes later, the SUV pulled to a stop, and Manuel opened his eyes. He mumbled his thanks to the agent who’d driven him then climbed out of the vehicle.

He strode up to Tony’s door and knocked once before opening it. He found Tony in his office, surrounded by two laptops and a desktop computer, stacks of files and papers and other assorted boxes.

“Hey, man,” Tony said in greeting. “How are you?”

Manuel shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”

Tony grimaced in sympathy. “She’ll make it, Manuel. She’s a tough girl.”

“What did you find?” Manuel didn’t want to delve too deeply into a conversation about Jules. It was all he could do to maintain his composure as it was.

Tony gestured toward the computers. “The senator is up to his neck. I hacked into his secure files and found a list of all the hits he’s personally ordered over the last twenty years. Including Jules’s parents.”

Pain stabbed him in the gut. “You mean Mom and Pop?”

“No, her real parents. Apparently Jules was to have been included in the hit. What I don’t know is if the Pinsons somehow dropped Jules off in order to keep her safe or if Jules survived the hit and someone else dropped her in Tennessee where the Trehans lived.”

“Who killed Mom and Pop?” Manuel asked. “Was it Sanderson?”

Tony nodded.

“Son of a bitch.”

“The senator decided it would be more beneficial to him if he shut the NFR down. He planned to launch a sting operation against his own creation and take down the network and Sanderson with it. He had greater ambitions than just being the Director of Homeland Security. He planned to use the position as a launch pad for a presidential bid. His platform? Tough on terrorism. He would have been a shoe-in with the removal of the NFR as a threat.”

“I take it Sanderson didn’t like the idea.”

Tony shook his head. “He wanted to use Jules to kill the senator. There were several reasons. One, with the senator gone, Sanderson would take over the NFR and continue operations as usual. As twisted as it sounds, Sanderson considered himself a solid patriot and the NFR, in his opinion, upheld the ideals and interests of the U.S.”

Manuel clenched his fist. Patriot, his ass. The bastard had played him and Jules from the very beginning. Worse, he’d taken advantage of an innocent girl and turned her into a cold-blooded killer.

“Two,” Tony continued, “after killing the Trehans, Sanderson knew he’d have leverage to make Jules do just about anything. That leverage was you. Here was a girl who only had one person left in the world who meant anything to her.