His phone rang.
An unfamiliar number.
James answered.
A weak voice spoke.
“Agent Carter?”
James froze.
“Who is this?”
“My name is Peter Lawson.”
James stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
“Where are you?”
“I'm alive.”
“Where have you been for twelve years?”
The man breathed heavily.
“Trying to stay alive.”
James gripped the phone.
“Peter, listen to me. We can protect you.”
“No,” Lawson whispered.
“You don't understand.”
A pause.
Then:
“The person who ordered the cover-up is still inside your government.”
The call ended.
CHAPTER 15 — THE WITNESS IN THE MOTEL
Peter Lawson agreed to meet James at a secure motel outside the city.
Marcus organized the protection team.
James arrived first.
At 9:15 p.m., a man in his late fifties entered the room.
His hair was almost completely gray. His face looked thinner than the photograph in the old case file.
But James recognized him.
“Peter.”
Lawson nodded.
“You look older.”
“So do you.”
Neither man smiled.
James offered him a chair.
“Tell me what happened.”
Lawson placed a small notebook on the table.
“The money was never stolen by individual officers. That was just the visible part of the operation.”
“What was the real purpose?”
“Control.”
Lawson explained that the stolen property and falsified reports had funded a network of private security contracts, political favors, and confidential payments.
District Seven had been used as a testing ground.
Officers who cooperated received protection.
Those who questioned the system were threatened.
James listened without interrupting.
Then Lawson opened the notebook.
“Rourke kept a second ledger. This one recorded the payments.”
James examined the names.
One appeared repeatedly.
ADRIAN COLE.
Another appeared beside it.
DANIEL WHITMORE.
But the final name made James stop.
It was the name of a senior federal official.
Lawson looked directly at him.
“That's the person who made your old investigation disappear.”
James slowly closed the notebook.
“Are you sure?”
“I signed the original transfer orders myself.”
Suddenly, the lights went out.
Marcus shouted from the hallway.
“Federal agents! Stay where you are!”
A gunshot echoed outside.
Lawson dropped beneath the table.
James pulled him down.
Then someone began pounding on the motel door.
CHAPTER 16 — THE MAN AT THE DOOR
“FBI! Open the door!”
James recognized Marcus's voice.
He approached cautiously.
“Identify yourself.”
“Marcus Reed. Badge number—”
The pounding stopped.
James waited.
A second later, Marcus spoke again.
“Director, don't open that door.”
James stepped back.
“What's happening?”
Marcus's voice lowered.
“Someone is in the hallway wearing our credentials.”
James looked at Peter.
The witness was shaking.
“How did they find us?” Lawson whispered.
James had no answer.
A metallic click sounded outside.
Marcus shouted:
“Everyone move away from the door!”
A loud impact shook the room.
The door remained closed.
Then came another voice.
“Director Carter?”
It was not Marcus.
It was a woman.
“I'm with the federal protection team. We need you to step outside.”
James looked through the peephole.
He saw a woman holding an identification badge.
But something was wrong.
The badge was facing backward.
He moved away from the door.
“Peter, get behind the bathroom wall.”
A moment later, the real Marcus called James's secure phone.