Phuket Thailand
The next 3 days were spent mostly in James' bungalow, collaborating information already existing on Thorpe.
Local contacts Casey had met earlier in the week, had failed to find anything more on Thorpes Asian business dealings, and James stateside contacts were having similar trouble finding information.
The frustration of it all was getting to Casey, she had become snappy and impatient and James' mood wasn't much better.
Sitting on the patio with Casey's laptop on the table between them James sighed heavily.
"This isn't getting us anywhere, the lead you had for Thorpe's Asian dealings was cold before you even got here, now it's plain disappeared."
"Stating the obvious" Casey said as she sipped a mineral water, trying to fend of the incessant heat. "So what do you think we should do?"
"I say we head back to the States, I have some business to attend to at the base, and I still have access to the databases at the comcentre." He looked at Casey. "I can see what new info they have on Thorpe and hopefully get some new leads."
"What business, I thought you said you were on leave?"
"I, uh, I've decided to retire from the teams. Your Dad offered to help me set up a new business. Actually that's something I wanted to speak to you about." James licked his lips "How would you feel about joining a private protection agency?"
"Me? What the heck would I do?" Casey laughed.
"You've been an Operative in the field for 10 years Case, we could use your kind of skills."
"You're serious?"
"Never been more seroius about anything in my life." He said, hoping she wouldn't see through him.
"This wouldn't be my Dads quirky little plan to keep an eye on me would it?" She asked, looking at him carefully.
"Nope, this is something I've been thinking about for the last few years and when I was speaking to AJ he asked me how the teams were, and then I mentioned my idea. He thought it sounded pretty good, he's trying to organise the legal side of things now in Washington. That's why I want to get back there."
Currans heart was in his throat, if Casey found out that his 'Agency' was actually partially funded by the CIA, she'd kill him. It had been Tim's idea, a way of keeping Casey actively involved in the Thorpe case, but without compromising the integrity of the CIA's own investigation into Thorpe. AJ had organised with Tim to have James terminal leave actioned immediately and he was installed as an Operative with the CIA 2 days ago. He was now oficially a spook and involved in the continuing investigation of Cody Webbs' murder.
"So who else have you hired on?" Casey asked.
"A few former Team members, Hawkins is looking to get out sometime in February and he said he's keen, you've already met him remember?"
"How could I forget, the guy takes 'mental dysfunction' to a whole new level."
"We've got Jason Atkins, a munitions expert, Keira Danebank a surveillance guru, Mark Dacey who's a genius at hand to hand stuff, we've got some good members so far, but I think that you'd really be an asset particularly in our overseas ops." he said smiling. " Besides, I kinda like having you around."
Casey smiled.
"Well I guess you'll just have to count me in too."
Curran let go of a long breath.
"Great, let get packed up and get a flight out of here, we have information to collect."
BACK IN WASHINGTON D.C
October 24th
CLAYTON WEBBS OFFICE
CIA BUILDING
LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
Clay walked through the office that morning, hearing the whispers and feeling the stares of his fellow operatives.
"He really lost it..."
"I heard she left him..."
"Shouldn't be back here so soon after..."
Each whispered comment seemed like a shout, as he reached his office door, grateful for the echoing silence within he shut the door behind him.
Some part of him registered that Casey's things were gone, he had heard from Tim that she had resigned and he had not been surprised, the things he had said to her were unforgivable, he had broken her heart and he knew it.
Surprisingly AJ had not gloated when he had rang to tell Clay that they had located Casey in Thailand and that she was fine, he was merely passing on a message in case he had been worried.
Clay had not even known that she was gone.
One thought and one thought alone had consumed him for the last week, bringing down Thorpe.
He sat down at his desk, someone had been in to feed the fish and tidy up behind him, his desk was neatly polished and there on the corner of the desk was the snapshot of Casey and Cody that he had taken on Cody's birthday.
A smiling Cody held a wriggling 007 while Casey laughed as she tried to hold them both still for the picture.
Rather than making him upset, the picture fuelled the anger that raged within him, if it was the last thing he did, he would find Thorpe and make him pay for his crime with his life.
He had spoken to Tim yesterday and had been cleared to access the files on Thorpe already existing within the Company's vast databases, any new information would assessed and if relevant to his investigation, would be passed on.
It wasn't much to go on, but it was still something.
Picking up his phone he dialled his secretary.
"Sharon, I want everything, and I mean EVERYTHING we have on Thorpe. Also get Davis and Jackson up here ASAP, I want a full team working this non stop until we find something we can use to find this bastard and bring him down."
Special Agent Graeme Davis slapped the manilla folder down on the desk.
"Dammit Webb there's nothing here we can use, anything we have on Thorpe is over 6 months old, there's no record of him after the Sydney bombing."
"There's information here Davis, we're just not looking hard enough."
"What makes you so sure that he even survived the Sydney bombing? Maybe it wasn't Thorpe that planted the bomb at Gillians apartment, maybe it was someone else?"
Clay turned and looked at Davis, his eyes dark and flinty.
"Thorpe rigged the Sydney explosion so that he would survive, forensic have already informed me that the devices used in that explosion work on a similar premise to a claymore mine. As long as he was standing behind it, he would have survived. They found no physical evidence to suggest that anyone other than the Agents working in the building were killed in the explosion."
"Look, all I'm saying is if Thorpe did survive, why wouldn't he come after you directly? Why would he go to all the trouble of going after your son?"
Clay turned and faced the window, staring out at the treelined courtyard below.
"Because that's the only way he could truly get to me. Thorpe knows that I'm prepared to die in the line of duty, it's a risk we all run and we accept that. But I wasn't prepared to sacrifice my family, he knew that and it gave him an advantage."
"You sound like you believe he no longer has the advantage?"Agent Jackson asked.
"He doesn't."
"What maked you so sure?" Davis asked eyeing the older agent carefully.
"I have nothing left to lose, he has nothing left to take from me."
"What about your partner?" Nathan Jackson asked."Casey could still be in danger."
Clay looked at the softly spoken agent and shook his head.
"He won't go after Casey, but if he does, I'll be waiting for him."
Nathan picked up another manilla folder.
"We should maybe go through these files again."
Webb nodded his thanks and sat back down to review the evidence.
THORPE'S HIDEOUT
SOMEWHERE IN WASHINGTON D.C
Jack Thorpe stood at the workbench in the old warehouse , a smile playing across his lips as he viewed the photographs that had just been delivered.
One image in particular pleased him.
It was taken at night, obviously though the window of the two story townhouse.
A woman in an expensive looking business suit sat on the floor beside a childs bed, her face an image of anguish as tears rolled down her face. In the doorway behind her a man stood, his head bowed, perhaps in shame or guilt as he watched her grieve.
"These are very good, you were worth your asking price." Thorp said as he slid an envelope stuffed with money down the workbench to the weedy man standing at the other end.
"She's left him y'know."
"How very interesting."Thorpe said softly "You're quite the informant Mr Dalready."
Dalready shifted anxiously from foot to foot, this Thorpe guy made him very nervous, he wasn't the kind of guy you held out on.
"She packed her bags, went away for a few weeks and then came back. She's not working for those spooks anymore."
"Do tell."
"Yeah, she's uh, she's working for this private protection agency run by a hotshot former Navy guy."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a second set of photo's, this set was of the agency building.
Thorpe didn't look at the pictures, merely glanced at the covering shot and felt his blood pressure elevate.
"Have you told anyone else about this?"
"Noone, just found out yesterday, got the photo's and came straight over."
"Good. Did anyone see you getting them developed?"
"No" Dalready shook his head." I have my own darkroom, why all the questions..."
The pistol Thorpe held under the table made a low whipping sound as he fired two rounds into Dalready's chest, answering the man's question.
With a dispassionate look he watched as Dalready drew his last breath, the man's dead eyes staring sightlessly at his former employer.
"You really should be more careful about the company you keep Dalready."
Thorpe said with a laconic smile as he left the pistol, silencer attached on the table along with a photo of Webb and Casey standing beside Cody's grave at the funeral. With a manic flourish, Thorpe scribbled a message on the back of the photo and signed his name.
Walking out of the warehouse, he went to a payphone and dialled Langley to report a murder to Agent Webb's secretary.
CIA Building Langley
McLean, Virginia
"Agent Webb, I think you might want to listen to this call."
Agent Beckett from the Information and Communications Directorate patched the recorded call through to Webb's office.
"Is Agent Webb there?"
The voice was unmistakably Thorpes, he had made no effort to disguise it at all.
"I'm sorry, he's in a meeting, can I take a message?"
Darla, his secretary had been told to hold all calls.
"Just tell him that Agent Jack Thorpe rang, and that a surprise is waiting for him at the Addlesey Street warehouse."
"Wait, Agent Thorpe...Can I at least try his cell..."
The line went dead.
Darla hung her head.
"I'm so sorry Agent Webb, I had no idea who it was until..."
"Darla, it's fine, he didn't really want to speak to me." Webb looked at Beckett. "How long ago did this come in?"
"Two minutes ago, we have someone en-route to the warehouse now to check it out. We have a bomb disposal unit on standby just in case."
"Good, lets get down there, this is our first real lead."
ADDLESEY STREET WAREHOUSE
WASHINGTON D.C
The forensic team had already begun their work by the time Webb arrived, the body of Lester Dalready lay covered with a white shroud on the warehouse floor.
With a studied disinterested look Webb walked straight to the head of the forensic team for information on the body.
"Two 9mm round to the chest, the body's still warm, so I'm guessing this happened less than an hour ago."
"What about the weapon, any information on that?"
"Better, we have the weapon itself and from the looks of it, our perp didn't bother with gloves, we have a standard grip with at least three usable prints on it."
"How long will it take to get an ID?"
"About an hour, we still have to get everything back to Langley. Y'know Agent Webb if the Feds ever find out about this we're toast, they won't like us stepping on their toes."
"Was there anything else left behind beside the weapon?"
The forensic chief looked slightly uncomfortable, the nodded.
"He left this."
Reaching into the pocket of his jacket he pulled out a snaplock bag containing the photo.
Clay stared at the image for a full minute before he turned the picture over.
There on the back was Thorpe's personal message to him:
"Catch Me If You Can..."
Webb resisted the urge to crumple the piece of evidence into a ball and looked at the chief.
"I want the results of the testing on my desk in 2 hours."
"No problem Agent Webb."
Webb walked away from the warehouse, seething with rage. Thorpe was challenging him to a game of chase, he'd be damned if he'd lose this time.