Domino Effect (2019 Edition)

in a partial grin. “We better get moving, the jet is fueled and waiting.”
“Before we leave, you need to change my travel plans.”
“Why’s that?”
“Becca is held hostage. Time is of the essence. I don’t have time to visit with President Lancaster. I need you to arrange another plane to take me from Andrews to the Keys. We can talk to the president via Skype while we’re in the air.”
Frank took out his phone and texted a message. “I’ll find you transportation, but we can’t talk to the president on the company jet. Too many ears. He’ll be at a location I chose by the time we get to Andrews Air Force Base. I’ll arrange the Skype call from there, inside my private car.”

6
During the flight to D.C., Sin reviewed the contents of the case file, but something didn’t add up. She’d watched the video so many times, it was ingrained in her memory, yet she still felt as if she was missing something.
Frank sat across from her, not saying a word. Just staring.
“You have something to say, Frank, or are you just undressing me with your eyes?”
He sat back and crossed his legs. “I’m glad you’re still a spitfire, O’Malley. Something tells me you’re going to need all that pent-up aggression.”
She placed the file on the small table between them, sat back and mimicked Frank’s position. “My aggression’s many things, but pent-up isn’t one of them. Why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you?”
“Okay,” he said, uncrossing his legs and leaning forward. “When Charlie died, I tried to reach you. In fact, a lot of people did, including Fletcher and Garcia, along with the rest of your old team. You never answered any of us. Why?”
“I wasn’t ready,” she said, raking her fingers through her black hair.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Just that.”
“Care to elaborate?”
She shot him a piercing look. “I wasn’t ready to talk about Charlie. I wasn’t ready to hear people say how sorry they were. I wasn’t ready to hear people talk about how much he would be missed, and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.” She inhaled deep and punctuated each word. “I. Wasn’t. Ready.”
“All I’m saying is you weren’t Charlie’s only friend. There are a lot of people who would have liked to have paid their respects.”
She answered with a faint nod and stood. “I need to stretch my legs.”
Frank nodded in reply. “Want a fresh cup of coffee?”
“That’d be great.”
Sitting back down, she crossed one leg under the other, reached for the cup of coffee, and took a satisfying sip of the dark, rich brew. “I know this case is brand new, but there’s a lot of stuff missing.”
“Such as?”
“Such as,” Sin held up a finger, her pearl-white polish glistening off the cabin light, “why take Becca’s roommate?” Before Frank could attempt to answer, she held up a second finger. “Why the hell did Lancaster allow her to traipse around Key West during Spring Break without a surveillance team.”
“Lancaster ordered a smaller, secondary security team to trail Becca. They claim they never received the order.”
“Where is all the security footage?”
“It’s a big island, and like you said, it’s Spring Break. Christ, there must be ten thousand college students down there. Nobody’s had a chance to study all the security footage yet.”
“Back to the security team, besides Sawyer, do we even know who was on it?” She didn’t wait for an answer and continued, holding up a third finger, “Why haven’t the kidnappers demanded anything yet? They must know the longer they wait, the tighter the noose around their necks is going to get.” She put her arm down, continued to eye Frank, and held up the thin case file. “Nothing makes sense. Or,” again, she held up a finger, “Lancaster is lying.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, maybe he’s not telling us everything he knows. Maybe he’s received further communication and hasn’t told anyone. Maybe there’s more to this than he’s letting on—something he doesn’t want anyone to know about.”
She watched Frank drop his head back, as if in deep thought. She watched his body language to see if he was hiding anything from her. He wasn’t. He straightened up and shook his head. “I’ve known Nathan Lancaster for close to thirty years. He entered the Bureau with Charlie and me. He’s always been a tough son-of-a-bitch, but family means everything to him. He wouldn’t put Becca in harm’s way for anything.”
She shrugged. “Power changes people.”
“Not Nathan.”
Silence filled the cabin as she removed her laptop from her backpack.
“There’s a computer station in the back of the jet.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Any reason?”
“Maybe after hanging around Charlie so much, some of his conspiratorial mind wore off on me. Or,” she said, looking up from the monitor, her fingers dancing on the keyboard, “I just like using my own computer.”
“Mind if I ask what’s so important that you need to do it in flight?”
“I don’t mind at all,” she said as she plugged Frank’s burner phone into her computer, downloading the files.
Frank looked at the burner. “Is that all you’re doing?”
Her fingers danced across the keyboard as she spoke. “As soon as this jet touches down, it’s going to be balls-to-the-wall, so I figured I’d answer some emails while I have the chance.”
“Hmm,” was his only reply.
She could tell by the tone, he didn’t believe her, but she didn’t have time to care. The conversation she was having via Instant Message was more important.
“Please fasten your seatbelts. We’re about to begin our approach.”
The pilot’s announcement signaled the end of their conversation, but not her thought process. There were a lot of loose ends; she hoped to tie up a few starting with her conversation with President Lancaster. Shoving the case file into her backpack along with her laptop, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t divulging the whole truth.
“Everything I said about Lancaster stays between us,” she said as they stepped off the jet.
“Reason?”
“Because you called me, and that’s part of the deal,” she said.
“Fine. It’s not like I’m