“That would have been a big concession.”
Will nodded.
“But he wasn’t big enough to make it,” Maggie said.
“No.”
“Why do you think he felt that way?”
Will folded his hands together and leaned across the desk toward her. “I’m not the professional here.”
Maggie shook her head. “That’s not how we do the work. I don’t just give you the answers. You have to look for them yourself. Besides, you know the answer to this one.”
Will did because the answer was simple. “Jesse didn’t want them to be with me because it was a distinct reminder that it’s not all about him. Not where they’re concerned.”
A pleased look flashed in Maggie’s hazel eyes. “Bingo. But it cuts deeper than that.”
Will’s momentary triumph faded. “I don’t understand.”
“You were one of the youngest lieutenants ever promoted to commander,” Maggie said. “You can figure this one out.” She sipped her coffee.
Will was silent for a full minute as he tried to wrap his brain around what Maggie was saying.
“Do you think Jesse would have usurped Father’s Day from you if he could have?” Maggie asked finally.
“Yes.” Will answered without hesitation.
“But he didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why do you think he didn’t?”
“Because it’s Father’s Day.”
“Is the visitation written out in the divorce papers?”
Will gave that consideration and shook his head. “No. But it only seems fair. Barbara gets them on Mother’s Day.”
“Because you allow it.”
“Yes.” Then Will understood. “And she allowed me to have them today.”
“In spite of the fact that Steven and Wren have a new father figure in the house. This was Jesse’s first Father’s Day with them as their stepdad. It was probably kind of a big thing to him.”
“Because it’s all about him. Only today wasn’t, because Barbara didn’t let that happen.”
Maggie nodded.
“Maybe I shouldn’t feel as angry at Barbara as I have been for not having Steven and Wren all day.”
“You’re going to feel the way you feel, Will,” Maggie said. “I just want you to understand that you had something good today-several hours of almost stress-free time with your kids-that could have been much harder.”
“Barbara wanted me to be with Steven and Wren today.”
“I think so. But that can’t have set well with her new husband.”
“Because it’s not all about him.”
“Exactly. But even if they’d been there, he wouldn’t have appreciated them as much as you did. The emotional ties and investments aren’t there.”
Thinking back over the way Steven and Wren had reluctantly left him when he’d dropped them off, Will realized that what Maggie was saying was true. It helped a little.
“Father’s Day has gotten complicated,” he said.
“But not impossible.”
“No.” And please, God, never let it be impossible. Will relaxed a little more and glanced at the clock on the wall. “Have you eaten?”
“Not yet.”
“Neither have I. I could order Chinese in.”
“Sure.”
Even as Will reached for the phone on his desk, though, it rang. He lifted the handset and identified himself.
“Commander,” a no-nonsense voice on the other end of the connection said, “I’m Special Agent-in-Charge Scott Urlacher of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If I may, I need a moment of your time.”
1 0
›› NCIS Offices
›› Camp Lejeune, north carolina
›› 1923 Hours
Will covered the mouthpiece and looked at Maggie. “FBI. SAC Urlacher?”
Maggie shook her head, letting him know the name meant nothing to her.
“What can I do for you, Agent Urlacher?” Will hit the speakerphone button, motioning for Maggie to stay quiet.
“Do you know a man named Victor Gant?” Urlacher responded.
Will didn’t hesitate about answering, but he was instantly wary. “I do.”
“You’ve got paper out on his son, Bobby Lee.”
Will agreed to that as well, wondering why the FBI agent had called him.
“I’ve got a situation I was hoping you could help me with,” Urlacher said.
“If I can,” Will replied. He wasn’t in the habit of making blind promises.
“Victor Gant is in a bad bit of business out here in Charlotte,” Special Agent-in-Charge Urlacher said. “He runs with a local biker gang.”
“The Purple Royals,” Will replied as he gazed at the file Maggie had opened up on his computer in front of him. “He doesn’t just run with them. He leads it.”
“Yes, sir. Our intel suggests that the Purple Royals deal meth and weapons.”
The notes in the folder agreed with that assessment. Will didn’t say anything.
“We’ve had an undercover officer on-site in Charlotte for months,” Urlacher said. “He made contact with Victor Gant and was trying to negotiate a sizeable drug buy. Gant has a resource for opium that beats most anything we’ve seen down here.”
“Down here” let Will know immediately that Urlacher wasn’t from the South.
“How can I help you?” Will asked.
Urlacher hesitated. “I need some leverage to use against Gant.”
“I don’t have anything. We’ve been working the case against Bobby Lee.”
“I understand that. What I was wondering was if you’d gotten any closer to bringing Bobby Lee Gant in.”
Will swapped looks with Maggie, and he knew what the FBI man was about to ask.
“Not yet,” Will said.
“With everything Gant’s done, I can hold him for a few days before we have to charge him,” Urlacher said. “To hold him any longer, I’m going to have to charge him with something. I can make a case for threatening a federal officer, especially in light of how he confronted our undercover, but that’s not going to be enough.” The FBI agent sighed. “We might not even be able make that stick. Gant maneuvered the situation so it’s his word against my undercover’s.”
Will didn’t say anything.
“I’m wondering if you could heat up your search for Bobby Lee Gant,” Urlacher said.
“Trust me,” Will said evenly, “nobody wants him more than we do.” He’d interviewed the young Marine in the hospital and seen firsthand the damage that Bobby Lee Gant had wrought. Even after everything he’d seen while at NCIS, the atrocity had sickened Will.
The young Marine had looked small, helpless, and defeated in that hospital bed. His wife hadn’t looked much better. But she’d asked Will to find the man who had done that to them.
Will had promised he would.
“I need to put pressure on Gant to turn his opium source,” Urlacher said. “But to do that, I need something to offer him in return.”
“You want to offer him Bobby Lee?” Will couldn’t believe it. Anger stirred in him. “There’s no way Bobby Lee is going to walk after what he did.”
“He’s a young man,” Urlacher said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Still has a lot of years ahead of him. Hasn’t been in a whole lot of trouble, judging from the jacket I’m going by. A jury could be persuaded that young man could be rehabilitated.”
Will didn’t think so. Neither did Maggie, judging from her sour expression. Her profile of the man had shown him to be a career criminal. Salvation wasn’t in the cards for Bobby Lee Gant. Not once the jury saw the damage the young Marine and his wife had suffered at Bobby Lee’s hands.
“I’m willing to take my chances in court,” Will replied. In fact, he wanted a jury to handle the case because he felt certain they would punish Bobby Lee Gant more than a deal between the DA’s office and a defense attorney would.
NCIS had processed the evidence, and the case was airtight. The only trick would be in making the civilian DA stick to his promise to prosecute to the fullest extent of his office.
“Maybe you misunderstand what I’m getting at,” Urlacher said.
“I think I understand perfectly,” Will said. “For whatever reason, your undercover operation against Victor Gant was blown. You still want to salvage something. Since you don’t have your guy in the wringer, you want to offer to free the guy I’ve got in the wringer. That pretty much sum it up?”