“Thank you for coming,” Carissa said as she welcomed Alan into Kyle’s office. She refused to think of it as hers yet.
Alan took Carissa’s hand and cradled it in his. “Anything for you, Lady Markel,” Sympathy filled his eyes. “I’m sorry for your loss. Your brother was a good man and he will be missed.”
Carissa clenched her jaw against the pain and lowered her face. Something inside her told her that he was still alive, and she hung on to that hope trying to keep herself together. When the burn in her nose subsided and she was sure she wouldn’t burst into tears, she spoke. “Thank you.” She pulled free of his hold and quickly turned towards the desk to hide the quiet sob that worked its way up. Waving a hand at the empty chairs, she pointed him to a seat. “Please sit. I have some questions for you.”
“Of course,” Alan said, taking the chair offered. “What can I do for you?”
Taking a final breath to compose herself, Carissa sat on the other side of Kyle’s desk and considered the aide. She didn’t really want to talk about her brother yet, but she needed to know what the mess on his desk meant. “Did you meet with my brother before he left?”
Alan jerked up straight in his chair. Surprise covered his face. “Yes,” he said timidly.
“What was the meeting about?” Carissa asked.
“Well,” Alan said as he fidgeted in the chair. His eyes landed on Michael leaning against the wall behind Carissa. He looked back at Carissa with imploring eyes. “It’s a sensitive matter.”
“Please,” Carissa pushed. “I need to know.”
Alan’s eyes darted to Michael again, but the aide placed his hands on the desk and leaned over it.
Carissa leaned in so she could hear him.
“I think there’s a traitor in Eternity.”
Drawing in a sharp breath, Carissa sat back as if he’d slapped her. Kyle hadn’t come out and said as much, but she was sure her brother had suspected something was wrong with the organization that policed and protected dragons. He had become very secretive with his work and had spent a lot of time on wing with Daniel recently. She felt Michael’s supportive hand touch her shoulder. “Who?”
Alan’s eyes jumped up to Michael once again, but he leaned closer and spoke softly. “Daniel Callaghan.”
Carissa’s eyes widened in disbelief. That couldn’t be! She could feel Michael’s hand tighten on her shoulder. She didn’t need to look back to know that he was yelling in silent protest. Daniel was Kyle’s most trusted friend. “Impossible,” she said for them both.
“Then how do you explain this?” Alan asked as he sat up and waved to the stack of files on Kyle’s desk. “All of these reports were filed by Commander Callaghan and all of them are incomplete.” He stood up and grabbed the first file, looked at it, and dropped down in front of Carissa. “Here’s a missing person’s report, yet there is no investigating agent and no follow-up information.” He picked the next up. “Here’s one about a shipment of dragon hormones intercepted by Eternity, yet there’s no explanation on how they were taken or what happened to them after they were confiscated.” He dropped that file and grabbed Michael’s thick file. “There’s no inquiry or explanation for Jareth Rosenthorn’s death.” He went for the next thin folder. “Alexander Fied’s report is completely missing and the man hasn’t been seen since he was put on medical leave.” He looked at the next file in that stack. “I’ve yet to locate any investigation into Raven Nightingale’s murder, and Callaghan won’t give up Noah Dove’s location so I can bring him in for questioning!” He dropped the paperwork back to the desk and held his hands out towards the inconsistent documents. “These are all part of the biggest case the Ministry has ever seen. People are dying, and your top man is doing everything he can to hamper the investigation. Tell me what I’m supposed to think.”
Sliding her fingers over the top of her head, Carissa pulled at her golden curls in shock. “Can’t be,” she groaned unable to believe all of the damning evidence piled on the desk.
Alan tapped the stack of files. “This is just a sampling of the incomplete reports I’ve found. All of them filed by Commander Callaghan.”
Carissa shook her head again. Daniel was working hard to solve this case. Kyle promised they were on this.
“And don’t you think it’s rather convenient that Kyle goes missing as soon as I brought this up?” Alan suggested. There was a suspicious tone to his voice.
Carissa’s eyes snapped up to meet Alan’s. “You don’t think Daniel had something to do with the plane crash?” Daniel would never hurt Kyle.
Alan crossed his arms and shrugged. “I’m just saying it’s a convenient coincidence. The king said he was going to discuss this with Daniel before he left. Maybe the commander freaked and saw a chance to rid himself of the king before his transgressions could come to light.”
Thoughts raced around in Carissa’s head. A plane crash with a missing body would be a great way to cover up a murder. But Daniel? She still couldn’t believe the trusted man could do this, but she was starting to see the possibilities. There were still several little holes in Alan’s theory. “If Daniel did kill my brother…” Michael’s hand tightened on her shoulder again, but she ignored it and went on. “…why hasn’t he come after you?”
Alan’s hand dropped to his side. Carissa could see the man hadn’t thought about that possibility. His eyes dropped to the desktop as he worked through the answer. “Maybe the king didn’t mention where he’d gotten the information.” He met Carissa’s gaze again. “He could have easily picked up any of these files while following this case.”
She glanced over the papers again, unsure what to do. If it were anyone else, she wouldn’t hesitate to go after them. Why did it have to be Daniel? She looked back up at Alan. “And what would you have me do? Arrest the head of Eternity?”
A perplexed look crossed Alan’s face. “It’s not the best option, but the man does have a lot to answer for.”
Michael grabbed the back of Carissa’s chair and spun her around to face him. “He didn’t do it,” he mouthed the words silently.
Carissa stared up into his angry face, shocked that he would interrupt her meeting like that. “Then explain this.” She held her hands out, fishing for some reasonable explanation for the lack of information.
Anger filled Michael’s eyes, but he could not give her an answer.
“I do not believe Daniel could ever hurt my brother,” Carissa said as she turned back around. “But I don’t know how to explain this.” She picked up the mostly empty folder containing Alex’s report. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. And I can’t just let it go.”
Michael let out a frustrated breath but didn’t protest further.
Dropping the file back to the table, Carissa picked up the phone. “Let’s see what Daniel has to say.”
Alan reached out and grabbed Carissa’s wrist before she could lift the receiver to her ear. “Before you do that.”
Carissa stopped and stared at the minister’s aide.
Dropping her wrist, Alan pulled his hand back and cleared his throat. “Umm…Perhaps you should have SWAT bring him in.”
Carissa cocked her head. “Why?”
Alan licked his lower lip before proceeding. “Well,” he started timidly before getting to his point. “On the off chance that he did kill your brother, don’t you think it would be wise to have some backup while questioning him?”
Carissa considered his point for a moment before dropping the phone back in its cradle. Alan had a very good point. Daniel was a very crafty man, and although she was a powerful mage, there was no sense in taking stupid risks. She hated to have Daniel arrested, but it was the best way to make sure they were all safe.
The muscle in the corner of Michael’s eye twitched as he watched Carissa pick up the phone to call SWAT. Daniel didn’t do anything wrong. Yes, there was some information missing from the files, but that was no reason to arrest the man. There had to be a logical explanation for everything. He just couldn’t think of it at the moment.
Frustrated, Michael turned and walked over to look out the window. Alan had laid a convincing case against Daniel, but something didn’t sit right. Why would Daniel falsify Eternity’s official documents? Michael thought back over everything he knew of the few cases he’d been involved with. There had been an inquiry into Jareth’s death. He’d been questioned in the investigations. Why wasn’t that in the file?
He pushed that aside and thought about Alex’s case. The lack of information was painful. He knew some of the stories from his visits to Terra’s hospital room. Why wasn’t there anything on Terra or the fact that she was turned into a dragon? He knew that Alex was having issues with his memory. That may explain why his report was incomplete, but there should have been something about Terra and her condition. Daniel should have documented that at the bare minimum.
An epiphany struck and Michael looked out over the green yard without seeing it. Something Alex said rang in his head. Someone from Eternity is leaking information. The truth of the matter coursed through Michael raising goosebumps. Eternity was compromised. Daniel was sabotaging the files. He was trying to keep important information from leaking out!
Michael turned around to tell Carissa but stopped. His dragon was screaming to be wary. He looked at the man standing on the other side of the desk. There was a very satisfied look in Alan’s eyes that rubbed Michael the wrong way.
Turning back to the window, Michael pulled out his phone. His instincts told him they had a problem. If Eternity was damaged enough for Daniel to alter the reports, they needed to proceed with caution. Someone had taken out Jareth while in Eternity’s custody. Having Daniel arrested would give them an opportunity to do the same to him. And with Kyle gone, that would leave no one to stop the compromised agents. He had to warn Daniel. But how?
Normally he would call one of his buddies. The Elites of Eternity could easily deal with this, but most of them were out on assignment. Of the few that remained, Michael didn’t know which ones he could trust. He chewed over his decisions and came to the conclusion that he didn’t dare trust any of them.
He listened to Carissa order a SWAT team to apprehend Daniel and hold him for questioning. An idea hit and Michael punched up the number for one of his drinking buddies in SWAT. He knew McGee could be trusted. He tapped out a quick message. Hopefully, it would reach McGee before SWAT got to Daniel.