"You’re speaking of him like he's dead," Sharpe said and leaned back in his chair.
Warner raised one eyebrow and looked across the office at Mendoza and O'Reilly.
"This hasn't been released for intra-agency consumption yet, for obvious reasons…but Mr. Navarre was shot in the face during a transfer from the Federal Courthouse to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. A Mexican gentleman with terminal pancreatic cancer and a very well forged California driver's license fired three "frangible" 10mm bullets from a pistol at a range of five feet and tried to turn the gun on a U.S. Marshal, who had already drawn his service pistol. We didn't get a chance to question the suspect."
"How many days had he been in custody?" Mendoza said.
"Five. We discreetly snatched him out of a Beverly Hills home after DEA received a tip from an actress turned recently busted coke distributor, who wanted desperately to stay out of jail. The homeowner, a surprisingly well known director and kingpin for the coke distribution, apparently loved guns so much that he'd been paying Navarre exorbitant amounts of money to personally deliver the latest weapons. Bad timing for Navarre. The DEA's snitch thought Navarre was the drug connection.
"We get called in when DEA finds the director's vault. This guy had a weapons stockpile that would put all of our agencies' combined SWAT arsenals to shame. Anyway, you can imagine Navarre wasn't very happy being snatched off the street like that. He didn't know who to blame, but kept a level head. I think he sensed that we had a spotty case at best against him because he lawyered up and shut up really quick. He did, however, have a few tender moments before his lawyer arrived."
"Which is why we're here," Mendoza added.
"Navarre knew better than to start talking about the cartels, not that it made any difference in the end. Still, drug cartel activity remains one of the highest priorities for the ATF and DEA, so we started there. Javier was a shrewd businessman…his long tenure a testament to that fact, so before his team of lawyers could shut him up, he got a little cocky. He told us that we were being played by our own agents, and that he could prove it.
"He wanted immunity for this information, which at that point wasn't even a suggestion we were willing to entertain. Not until he expanded his theory a bit. Of course, we kept the talk alive and spoke about the amazing immunity deals granted to big time catches. His eyes widened a little and he told us more. According to Navarre, he'd been supplying some top shelf equipment to Argentinian contacts in Bolivia. Enough to equip a SEAL team. His exact words. He had also arranged smaller weapons cache deliveries for what he believed to be the same group in several locations around the world: the Middle East, northern Europe and western Russia."
"Why did he think this was an inside play?" Sharpe said.
"He suggested these were rogue DEA assets. Undercover assets. Said they spoke flawless Spanish, every nuance and inflection, but he just knew they weren't Argentinian. He couldn't place it at first, but then he said it hit him. It was the way they carried themselves. He knew they were American. He got panicky and started to investigate the contacts. Navarre's assets traced one of the men back to Buenos Aires, where he vanished. He did the same with the rest and couldn't find a trace of them. He stopped dealing with them."
At the mention of Buenos Aires, Sharpe glanced at O'Reilly, and Agent Warner continued. "I figured he was grasping at thin air, trying to come up with some conspiracy theory nonsense to get us thinking about a deal. Either way, he was killed before any further discussions could progress. His lawyers kept him buttoned up good. Nothing really came of this information, until my team entered it into the intra-agency database, with the search tags 'rogue U.S. assets' and 'Argentina,' among many others. That's when I got a call from Special Agent O'Reilly."
O'Reilly broke into the conversation.
"Right. The tagged information came to me through a routine system alert, since we're subscribed to get any information tagged close to this title. I get over two hundred alerts per day, but 'Argentina' caught my eye. This information got tagged again with 'domestic terrorist group' less four hours later."
"My techs added this tag because one of the agents recalled being told by Mr. Navarre that these guys were collecting weapons right here in the U.S. When pressed further, Navarre verified that one of the meetings took place on U.S. soil," Agent Warner said.
"As soon as I saw this, I called Frank and Marianne to compile any information regarding Navarre's business contacts. I know Navarre supposedly dealt with Al Qaeda at some point, so I figured Terrorist Operations would have a file on him. Photos, aliases, travel records…anything. That's when I stumbled upon an incredible coincidence in the ATF files. I found a picture of Navarre with a suspected buyer in Amsterdam. ATF didn't have any follow up information on the buyer, but I recognized the photo immediately. Robert Klinkman…or in this case Reinhard Klinkman."
At this point in the conversation, Sharpe stood up and picked up a different file on his desk.
"Sorry to hit you with this, Agent Warner, but I wanted to do this in person and not over the phone. I need to permanently requisition all files associated with Javier Navarre, as directed by this executive Justice Department order."
"What? This is highly—"
"Unusual? Yes, it is, but I'm not prepared to completely yank this out from under your feet. I understand this may feel like a rude slap to the face after all of the work your team has put into tracking and assembling evidence in Navarre's case, but the link between Mr. Klinkman and Mr. Navarre now falls under Compartmentalized Information Security Category One classification."
"Jesus Christ," Warner muttered.
"Not even J.C. has access to this information," Mendoza quipped, failing to amuse Warner.
"I want you to work with Special Agent O'Reilly to sort through all of Navarre's files, and see if we can find any more links like these. I'm specifically interested in Navarre's travels to South America. This has all been cleared by the assistant director in charge of your investigative division, and I have CIS Category One paperwork here for you to sign…whether you accept the assignment or not."
"Do I really have a choice?" she said.
"Probably not, but we really need your help with this. You know Navarre's case inside and out, and with Navarre shot dead by the Sinaloa Cartel, your investigation is running on fumes. Trust me, I know the feeling. This is a great opportunity to work on a project that has the direct attention of my director and a few extremely high-placed officials in the Justice Department."
"How did you know the Sinaloa Cartel killed Navarre?"
"Sign those papers, and Dana will explain it to you. Navarre's murder was big news in certain circles. Is there anything else that will help make this temporary transition any less painful?"
"We should bring over my lead data analyst. He can work directly with Dana to speed up and optimize the process of merging and analyzing the files," she said.
"Dana, please make this happen and ensure that the CIS agreements are fully explained, signed and filed. Welcome aboard, Special Agent Warner," he said and extended his hand for a formal handshake.
Agent Warner accepted the file in one hand and shook Sharpe's hand briefly without saying a word. Once O'Reilly and Warner stepped out of the room and the door was shut, Mendoza sat back down.
"Good to see you again, Frank. Looks like we might be back in business."
"We? I'm working on Muslim extremists, not Black Flag. I have to admit, you might be on to something finally," Frank said.
"I have a gut feeling about Argentina. This is the second link in three months. We busted Victor Almadez flying back into the country using false papers."