EVERYONE HELD THEIR professional cool as the video played out, and Agent Ridge kept talking as it did.
“A little history here. Bowie was recruited from Philadelphia PD into the Service in 1988. For thirteen years, there’s not much to tell, but shortly after 9/11, his performance started to slip.
“Then in February of 2002, after an improper firearm discharge, which I’m not going to detail this morning, Bowie was removed from the Service without benefits.”
Cormorant took it from there and brought up a slide of a generic-looking office building.
“In 2005, he opened Galveston Security here in DC—”
“Galveston?” someone asked.
“His hometown,” Cormorant said. “Today, he’s got satellite offices in Philadelphia and Dallas, with a personal net worth of seven million, give or take. The Philly ties don’t prove anything, but it’s worth noting that at least some contract work with the Martino crime family out of Philadelphia has been part of this whole picture as well.”
Cormorant’s eyes traveled over to me before he went on. “One other thing we can tell you is that phone records show two calls from Bowie’s cell to the one found in Remy Williams’s cabin today. One of those calls was made two months ago, and the other was four days ago.”
“Where’s Bowie now?” one of the agents asked.
“Surveillance puts him at home, as of twenty-three hundred hours last night. We have half a dozen agents watching his house.”
“How soon can we move on this?” someone else asked. You could feel the impatience in the room. No one wanted to tackle the operation, I think, so much as they wanted to get it over with.
Agent Ridge looked at his watch. “We go as soon as you’re ready,” he said, and everyone started to stand up.