Jones’ face brightened at the idea, but then darkened again immediately. “A victim?”
Laura nodded, glad he was keeping up. “Amy Fallow. Her father has been beating her. I took her out of the situation, but – well, now there’s an incident brewing.”
Jones nodded sharply. “You got her safe. Now you’re up in front of the firing squad?”
“Something like that,” Laura said. She wanted to smile ruefully, but the situation was so serious she couldn’t get her facial muscles to comply. “I need to explain everything to them, and Amy can’t sit there and listen. But I can’t leave her alone, either. She’s too delicate right now.”
“I’ve got this,” Jones said. He drew himself up and put on a fatherly expression, a gentle smile. “You’ve come to the right guy.”
“I appreciate that,” Laura said, feeling their ride bump to a halt. She only hoped Amy would get on with Jones as well as he did with other children.
The doors of the elevator opened on the right floor, and Laura led Jones on a rapid dash down the hall to Rondelle’s office. The door was already open, and as Laura stepped inside, she almost quailed: Rondelle hadn’t just called anyone in to consult on this. The room was full of the most senior members of the FBI administration, including the Director himself.
“Amy,” Laura called out, swallowing down her nerves. The little girl, still seated on the chair but now looking considerably more nervous, looked up immediately. “Come here, sweetie!”
Amy scrambled down from the chair and raced across the room, nearly bumping right into one of the other chiefs in her hurry. He stepped back with a noise of surprise, and Amy was free to run right to Laura, throwing her arms around Laura’s legs.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Laura said. “Don’t worry about all those men, they just want to help out. I want you to meet my friend, okay?”
“Who’s your friend?” Amy asked, looking up with wide eyes, her voice trembling a little but still strong.
“This is Agent Jones,” Laura said, turning to her colleague.
Jones hitched his trousers at the knees and got down to Amy’s leave, a gentle smile on his face. “You can call me Freddie,” he said. “You know what?”
“What?” Amy asked curiously.
“I’ve got a son about your age, and he really loves playing this game with me. You want to try it?”
Amy giggled. “Yeah,” she said.
“Alright, then,” Jones said, standing up but leaning down to offer Amy his hand. “Let’s go next door and wait for Laura to talk to those men while we play a game, okay?”
Amy glanced at Laura uncertainly.
“That sounds like so much fun,” Laura said, smiling encouragingly.
“Okay,” Amy said decisively, allowing Jones to lead her by the hand into the next room. Laura watched them go to be sure Amy wouldn’t get scared or turn back, and then finally walked into Rondelle’s office.
It felt like walking into a den of lions. All five of the men in the room were higher ranking than her, and Laura knew she had caused trouble by bringing Amy here. She could only hope that she hadn’t caused so much trouble they would decide not to help her.
“This has already gone out of control,” one of them was saying. He wasn’t in Laura’s chain of command, but she recognized him; of course, she did. He was the Attorney General. “I’ve been informed there’s an APB out with the state police for Agent Frost.”
“Has Governor Fallow made an accusation of kidnapping at this stage?” Rondelle asked, furrowing his brow. Despite all of the important high-ranking officials in the room, he remained behind his desk, and ostensibly in charge of the discussion.
“Not at this time,” the Attorney General replied. “He wants everything kept under wraps, I should imagine. This won’t poll well. Having a daughter kidnapped once is going to garner sympathy – twice makes him look like a man who can’t guarantee the safety of the people in this state.”
“Then we currently have that advantage,” Rondelle mused. “We have a little more time before the allegations get serious enough that we need to hand her over.”
Laura’s heart leapt in her chest. They were talking about her like she wasn’t even in the room – like she was some stranger, not one of their own. Being ‘handed over’, like she was a thing and not a person, rankled. Laura herself was being talked about, not to, as if she didn’t exist. And besides, it made her pulse race with fear. Would they really just abandon Amy to Governor Fallow?
“What about the abuse?” she said, speaking up. She felt she had to. It was now or never, and if she didn’t stand up for herself, she couldn’t count on anyone else to do the same. “If we share our own allegations with the press to counteract Fallow’s, and bring charges against him, then me taking a child into federal custody is absolutely justified.”
There was what felt like a very long moment of silence in the room, everyone else looking at Laura. She glanced around quickly, unable to help noticing so many different badges of insignia on so many different jackets. “Sirs,” she added quickly, as an afterthought.
“Do you have any evidence of all of this?” One of the men, who she recognized as being in charge of one of the other divisions, asked her. “Any proof?”
Laura swallowed hard. “No,” she admitted. “But there are witnesses. Governor Fallow’s wife and his employees.”