Philip looked annoyed. “I’ve always suspected the Secret Service was spying on me.”
Caroline shifted in her seat. Over the past year, while she had been praying for Luke, she’d never thought any further thangetting him safely back home. Now she was forced to confront the uncomfortable prospect that her daredevil brother and the straitlaced Nathaniel might have difficulty seeing eye to eye.
She was about to find out.
Caroline entered Wilkie’s office with Luke and Philip twenty minutes later. Nathaniel stood in the corner, dressed in one of his plain black suits. His expression was all business, but when he saw her, he gave her one of those closed-mouthed smiles that always made her weak in the knees, especially since this time it reached all the way to his eyes.
“Have a seat,” Wilkie said as he gestured to a cluster of chairs facing his desk. They all sat except for Nathaniel, who remained watching from his position leaning against the far wall.
“I’d like to hear about this investigation into military corruption,” Wilkie began in a silky voice.
Philip fidgeted in his chair, reverting to his Philip the Meek persona. “I don’t know what you’re talking about or why I’m here. My old college roommate is back in town, and we were just touching base.”
Nathaniel wasn’t buying it. “You’re engaged in undercover operations at the behest of the vice president, who had no authority to authorize such actions. It’s a travesty, and probably illegal.”
Philip immediately shifted tacks. He’d been caught and flashed a roguish smile. “It actually wasn’t technically illegal,” he said. “There is no law against asking an old friend to go to Cuba to sniff out suspected criminal activity.”
Luke gave an angelic smile. “And as a private citizen, I was happy to do my civic duty.”
“It sounds like the two of you ran off to start your own private crusade,” Wilkie said dryly. “We can save the legal niceties for later, but I need to know what you suspect about themilitary. I’ve got teams of investigators who can carry this out with both secrecy and benefit of the law.”
Mercifully, it looked as if Philip and Luke were willing to cooperate. The Secret Service was nowhere within the military chain of command, meaning they could be a neutral party to carry out the investigation. Caroline held her breath as Luke relayed what he’d learned while imprisoned alongside Mateo. He laid out the facts with confidence, but a hint of teasing mockery lay beneath the surface the entire time, keeping her on edge. Luke loved needling authority.
When he outlined the plan to use a fake telegram from Mateo to dupe Holland into action, Nathaniel flatly rejected it.
“That’s entrapment,” he said. “I won’t condone an investigation based on a lie.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “I forgot my smelling salts, so go stand in the hall if this is making you feel faint. I say we cut straight to the chase. It’s Saturday. Holland’s office at the War Department is empty. We can break in and have a look around.”
Again, Nathaniel shook his head. “If you want inside his office, you need a search warrant and probable cause. We need to do everything aboveboard.”
“And how does one do an undercover operation in an aboveboard manner?” Luke asked tightly.
Caroline bit her lip as all her misgivings started playing out before her. Nathaniel had gone back to his rigid formality, while Luke was hurling darts at the man she loved.
Even with all their bickering, within an hour, Wilkie and Philip devised a plan that was both legal and clever enough to provoke a guilty man into revealing his hand. Despite Nathaniel’s earlier rejection, Wilkie affirmed that using a fake telegram from Mateo was perfectly lawful. If Holland took the bait and sprang into action, the government would have probable cause for a search warrant.
“There’s another man we need to catch,” Luke said. “Hollandnever personally delivered the funds to Mateo. There’s a go-between in Key West, and I don’t know the identity of that man. All I know is that Holland wires money to Key West, then the go-between sails it to Cuba. We need to figure out who that man is.”
“Once we arrest Holland, we’ll be able to search his house and find the third man,” Wilkie said. “First we arrest the mastermind, then we go after his minions. It will take some time for me to arrange the fake telegram originating from Cuba, so let’s do the stakeout of Holland’s house tomorrow.”
Philip nodded. “The moment he is arrested, we’ll need to start tracking down that unknown link in Key West. If news of Holland’s arrest makes the newspapers, that third man is likely to make a run for it. I want this entire operation wrapped up in a week.”
It made sense to Caroline, but a hint of tension passed between Nathaniel and Wilkie. There was a time when she wouldn’t have even noticed it, but she’d become highly attuned to Nathaniel’s emotions and noticed his slight stiffening as he sent a tiny shake of his head to Wilkie.
Wilkie nodded in return, then shifted his attention back to Philip. “I’ll be assigning another agent to assist with the case. Agent Trask is needed elsewhere.”
“Who?” Philip demanded. “And why? I don’t want news of this operation going any further than the people in this room.”
“I’m sending Trask to Milwaukee on assignment. He leaves by the end of the week.”
“What?” Caroline shrieked. She stood, gaping at Nathaniel in dismay. This felt like a slap in the face.
Nathaniel held up his hands to pacify her. “Caroline, I didn’t want to tell you this way.”
The strength drained from her, and she sank onto her chair, staring at Nathaniel in confusion. “Tell me what?” she said weakly.
“The Kestrel Gang is back in action. Their counterfeit bills have been spotted in Milwaukee, and I need to get up there quickly to track them down.”
