Brantley moved closer, skimmed the data.He recognized most of the information because it pertained to the cases they’d worked—Kate Walker’s kidnapping, the hunt for Juliet Prince.There were clippings of images of him and Reese from an article on the task force back when they’d been hired by Governor Greenwood.
“They’ve gathered a lot of information,” Reese noted.
Yeah.They had.Most of it wasn’t news to Brantley because they’d worked alongside Travis’s family from the very beginning, back a few years.Whatwasnew to him were the articles pertaining to the Southern Boy Mafia and the FBI task force hired to take them down.
“Believe it or not, there’s a timeline depicted there,” Simon said when he walked into the room.“Or the beginnings of one, anyway.”
“It starts here?Twenty years ago?”Reese asked, gesturing to the farthest left, where there was an article about Samuel Adorite, Max’s father.
“Roughly seventeen, yes.”Simon pointed to the next article.“There’s a gap, but I had a buddy of mine look into the FBI agent handling the case at the time.”
Brantley looked at Simon.“And?”
“That’s where things get weird.”Simon lowered his hand and sighed.“I was skeptical about this whole thing at first.”He glanced at Holt.“No offense.”
“None taken.”
“But after gathering only a few more details, I’m inclined to think Holt might be onto something.”
“Something like what?”Brantley asked, not understanding the doublespeak.
“I think it’s safe to say we’ve got what appears to be a deeply-rooted conspiracy to take down the Southern Boy Mafia.”
Brantley looked at Reese, then at Holt, and then back at Simon.He was so fucking confused.“Conspiracy?I thought we were lookin’ for a missing woman.”
“She’s key, yes,” Simon noted.
“Okay.Correct me if I’m wrong, but the FBI creates task forces to take down criminal organizations all the time.Why’s this different?”
“Because I don’t believe in coincidence,” Simon stated.“And Meredith Prescott’s disappearance lines up too perfectly with the information Holt’s uncovered about the task force.”
Brantley directed his attention to Holt.“Do you have any facts to prove this?Or are you makin’ shit up as you go?”
“I’ve done my best not to trip any flags,” Holt stated.
“Meaning?”Reese asked.
“Meaning he hasn’t started digging,” Brantley answered.
Reese crossed his arms over his chest.“So what makes you think it’s a conspiracy?”
Holt glanced from one person to the next and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.“This is gonna sound strange.”
“Try us,” Reese stated.
“Something feels off.”
Brantley waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t.
“Off?”Surely, he didn’t hear the man right.“That’s what you’re goin’ on?Somethin’ feels off to you, so it must be a conspiracy?”
“Like I said, I was doing my best not to trip any flags, so I reached out to Simon to see if he thought it had merit.I figured if he thought there was a story there, he’d dig into it.”
“Which you did.And you do,” Reese stated, addressing Simon.
Simon nodded.“But I’ve been careful, too.Up to this point.Until I get my bearings, I don’t want to draw the attention of someone who might end up on my radar.”
“Like an FBI agent,” Reese stated.
