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“That’s not what he said, Bannister.” Bradley frowned at the woman. “All he’s saying is that we’re not going to leave your guy behind. Got that?”
“Got it.”
“Everyone is forgetting about Alex Filmore,” Damon said, speaking up for the first time.
I turned to look at him. “How do you think he’s involved in all of this, Damon?”
He sighed. “I’ve been wondering about that, and I think I know.”
“Well, what is it?” Lincoln asked. “And were you planning on sharing it with the taskforce?”
“I was, but I thought I’d wait until you guys finished bickering.”
“Damon…” Lincoln said.
Thorne smiled. “After all this happened, I decided to bring a big gun into the conversation.”
“A big gun? Who’d that be?” Lincoln asked, dragging his gaze around at the group before going back to Damon. “This conversation is classified as you know.”
Damon nodded. “Of course, but Mark Evans is already read into this, asyouknow.”
“Who’s that?” Bannister asked, sitting forward.
Damon ignored her as he kept on talking. “He and I have been backtracking Filmore’s movements since he turned up at Castillo’s house, looking at his emails, and his calls.”
“Who is Mark Evans?” Bannister asked, raising her voice.
“He’s the former Associate Director for Military Affairs for the CIA,” Damon said, keeping his voice cool. “He and I are in touch, and like I said, he’s already been read in on this case.”
Bannister threw up her hands. “Great…just great.”
“It’s a good thing, SAC,” Damon said. “He’ll get the satellite images of the house in real time.”
“How’s he going to do that?” Bannister asked, sounding a little less closed off than she had been.
“He’s still got friends in high places,” Damon replied. “Anyway, he and I have been looking at Alex Filmore’s calls and tracking his movements like I said.”
Bannister nodded. “Go on. What did you find out?”
“Remember Salvatore Mancuso? We haven’t talked about him here today,” Damon said.
“The guy who Tawny Flores calls a friend,” Lincoln said.
“Right,” I said, shooting Mike and Cassidy a look. “She claims he’s a family friend, but we know Tawny’s husband hired him before his death, probably at Aston’s encouragement. We also speculated that he’s got ties to the Sanchez Cartel and that he’s probably the one who stole the pigeon’s blood ruby out of Tawny Flores’ safe.”
“Yes. Mancuso flew down there on a cartel plane with Tawny, Brian Leopard, and Agent Willis,” Damon said.
“Okay, but why didyoulook into him?” Raven asked.
Damon turned to Snow, who nodded. When he glanced back, he was smiling. “Lincoln asked me to do a deep dive into him because the FBI has thought from the beginning that he had something to do with the rogue CIA operatives and the missing jewels. After talking to you and Miguel, Cassidy and Mike were convinced of his involvement in Mendez, and companies plot from the very beginning.”
“Really?” I asked.
Raven squeezed my hand and when I looked over, he canted his head toward Damon. “He’s about to tell us.”
I snorted before looking back at Damon. “Fine. What’d you find, Thorne?”
“We found that not only was Mancuso hired by Benedict Flores with Aston’s encouragement, but that he didindeedhave ties to Alex Filmore as well.”