Divine Justice

CHAPTER 42

ANNABELLE AND CALEB marched into Union Station and went straight up to the clerk that Knox had talked to. Annabelle flashed her fake FBI badge.

"Agents Hunter and Kelso. Was there a man in here earlier asking questions and showing you a photo? He would've identified himself as Joe Knox? Said he was with Homeland Security?"

"Yes, that's right," the woman said nervously.

Annabelle let out an audible sigh. "Then we have a big problem."

The woman looked anxiously at her. "What was the problem? We helped Agent Knox as best we could."

Caleb spoke up. "The problem is his name isn't Knox and he isn't with Homeland Security."

The woman blanched. "Omigod."

Annabelle said, "Omigod is right. I need to speak to everybody he talked to, right now!"

A few minutes later Annabelle and Caleb were seated in the supervisor's office. The train attendant was there too, having stayed behind at the station to catch up on some paperwork and been summoned when Annabelle had made her demand of the manager.

"We thought he was a fed."

"I'm sure. He probably told you not to say anything to anyone about what he'd told you, right?" said Annabelle.

"That's right, he did."

"Standard operating bullshit, I'm afraid."

"But his credentials looked authentic," the Amtrak supervisor said.

Caleb held out his creds so they could look at them closely. They were still a bit warm from Annabelle having just created them in the van on the way over. "I'm with Homeland Security. Did you note that in the upper-right-hand corner of the picture there's a small 'e' done in reverse like there is in mine?"

The train men looked at each other and shook their heads. The supervisor said, "I didn't know to look for that."

"That's because it's a secret," Annabelle chimed in. "To prevent people from successfully duplicating our creds. It's a double-edged sword, I know. It's a secret so the public isn't supposed to know. But I thought a notice had gone out to certain levels of the federal government about it. You're a federal agency, right?"

"Quasi-governmental," the supervisor replied. He added, "And let me tell you, nobody from the federal government tells us shit about anything. Hell, a lot of them question why the country needs trains at all. What with the highways suffocated and the skies filled to overflowing and every civilized country in the world building trains and rails at record paces, you'd think they could figure it out for themselves."

"We'll put in a good word for Amtrak at the next budget meeting," Caleb said sarcastically. "But right now we need to find this jerk-off, fast."

"Wait a minute, aren't you guys supposed to wear jackets with your acronym on the back?" the train conductor said.

"Yeah," Annabelle said impatiently. "When we're knocking down somebody's freaking door to make an arrest! Not when we're undercover trying to nail a spy."

Caleb gave her a sharp and totally choreographed glance along with a quick shake of the head.

"He's a spy?" exclaimed the supervisor.

"Yeah, he is," she admitted. "Now, I need to know exactly what you told him."

The two men filled her in while Caleb took notes. When they were done, she said, "I don't blame you for what happened. And hopefully we'll be able to run him down with the intel you just gave us."

"Wish us luck," Caleb said sourly. "We're going to need it because he's got quite a head start."

The pair quickly left and returned to the van.

"Nice job in there, Caleb," Annabelle said admiringly.

"I was in the thespian club in college. I had dreams, you know. Not Hollywood, God forbid. The stage."

"So you wanted to be on Broadway but ended up a librarian? How come?"

"I loved acting but there was a downside I could never get over."

"What was that?"

"Stage fright. I was sick for hours before every performance. I lost so much weight and went through so many costumes I finally had to give it up."

"Well, today you were a star."