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"Don't worry," Rapp offered. "It came up because I heard Reimer over at DOE was thinking about taking a job in the private sector."
"Really?" McMahon looked both comforted and surprised at the same time. "Who
with?"
"I'm not sure."
Their situations were similar. Both men had put in thirty-plus years of service to the government, and even though mandatory retirement was right around the corner, they'd both been promised extensions due to the importance of their jobs, "Well I can't say I'll blame him if he gets out." As an afterthought he added, "He sure will be missed, though."
"You both will be," Rapp said with sincerity.
McMahon dismissed the comment with a doubtful expression. "A month after we leave, you guys will have forgotten all about us."
"That's not true and you know it. We would all prefer you guys to stay right where you are, but we'll certainly understand if you decide to grab the golden ring."
Rapp knew McMahon had been offered a job as the head of security for a casino syndicate based out of Las Vegas. His expense account alone would be twice that of his government pay, not to mention all the other perks and a significantly increased salary. The guy deserved it.
"Yeah well, I haven't decided anything yet."
"You wanna know what I think?"
McMahon leaned back and placed a hand under chin. "Sure."
"As I said, I'd like you to stay. There's very few people at the Bureau as talented as you are. At the same time, however, there's a part of me that hopes you take the job. You've put up with enough bullshit. I'd like to see you get a little taste of the good life while you can still enjoy it."
McMahon smiled. Those were his sentiments exactly. "I appreciate that. It's not an easy decision."
Rapp shrugged. "It'll be easier than you think." Changing the topic he said, "As long as you're still employed by the government, would you mind bringing me up to speed?"
"Sure. You got in late last night?"
"Yep."
"Well I've been up all night trying to sort this mess out, and it just keeps getting better."
"How so?"
"How much do you know about what happened stateside yesterday?"
"I've got a handle on the big picture. We found a fire set and cash on the two ships bound for New York, and the explosives on the ship bound for Baltimore. The consensus is that they were going to bring all this stuff together in one place and then assemble the device."
"That's right."
"The nuclear material," added Rapp, "is out in the desert getting tested, and the two men who tried to pick it up are hopefully in a dark cell somewhere having very bad things done to them." Rapp said this last part with a false smile on his face, doubting, as he did, that this was what was actually happening.
McMahon nodded tentatively, not quite knowing where to start. "Last night Charleston PD got a call on a John Doe who had been stabbed to death in a parking garage. This parking garage just so happens to look down on the dock where our little package arrived yesterday."
"Have we I.D.'d the guy?"
"No, but he's Middle Eastern."
Rapp's eyebrows shot up. "Any chance it's al-Yamani?"
"Not unless he figured out a way to grow his leg back."
Rapp remembered that little fact and winced at his own stupidity. "Any security tapes?"
"Yeah but they're shit. We've got it narrowed down to about a dozen cars, based on the approximate time of death, and we're running them down right now."