9:21 p.m.
Jack Darling sat on the edge of the black faux leather couch in his living room and leaned forward, moving the mouse attached to his laptop computer. His eyes glued to the screen, he could not believe what he was reading. After his meeting with Adam, Jack had gone straight home. He plugged the flash drive into his computer and pored over the information it contained. Halfway through he realized his hopes and dreams of having one last story that would forever immortalize him as one of the best investigative reporters Washington, D.C., maybe even the nation, has ever seen, was about to come true. He was getting ahead of himself. He had to verify the authenticity of the data on the drive.
Without looking away from the screen, he reached for the glass of whisky to his left, brought the glass to his mouth and tipped it all the way back. When none of the liquid touched his lips, his concentration was broken. He lowered the glass and saw it was empty. Setting the glass on the coffee table, he reached for the bottle of Jack Daniels and started to pour himself another glass, but stopped. He needed his mind to be sharp. He had to formulate a plan to get this story to print.
Jack stood, rolled up his sleeves and walked across the living room to a small table cluttered with sheets of paper, a phone book and several pens. He shuffled through the papers. Not finding what he was looking for, he opened the wide drawer beneath the tabletop. Pushing items out of the way, he found the business card of an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation—Special Agent Raychel E. DelaCruz.
Jack had spoken with her a year ago when he was investigating Congresswoman Hayes, caught in a sex scandal involving one of her male staffers. The staffer was providing her with top-secret information in exchange for a future position in her cabinet, if she won her race for United States Senator. Special Agent DelaCruz had been the lead agent on the case, credited for bringing down Congresswoman Hayes. She had only been an agent for a couple of years, but she impressed Jack. He liked her ten seconds into their conversation. She was extremely professional, and he had a sense she was an honest, no-nonsense kind of person. Jack valued integrity and he had a knack for seeing that quality in others.
Flicking the business card between his fingers, he stared at the pile of papers on the table in front of him, not looking at anything in particular. After almost a minute, he reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone. After typing in the numbers from the business card, he put the phone to his ear. Several rings later, he heard the agent’s pre-recorded voicemail message.
“Special Agent DelaCruz, this is Jack Darling. I’m a reporter for the Washington Post. We met a year ago when you were leading the investigation into the case against Congresswoman Hayes. Anyway, I have recently come into the possession of some information I think you’ll find interesting. I’d like us to meet…”