The Canton Connection Read Online Free Page A

she couldn’t shake it off.
    He read down the list of impressive-sounding computer firms she worked for and the names of her clients. Quantum never came up.
    He finally reached the bottom of the list as he heard footsteps approach. He had a few seconds before Bob stepped into his office. That was enough time to find the name of her current employer: Verisign.
    He vaguely recognized the name. He only had a passing familiarity with the computer company.
    “Ready?” Bob said through a crack in the doorway.
    “Who’s your visitor?” Jake said. He checked his reflection in the poster he had framed of the fallen World Trade Towers.
    Bob chuckled. “Don’t bother. It’s not a broad.”
    Jake took a deep breath to calm down. He snatched up the folder and followed his boss around the corner to his office. Along the way, some in the staff looked up to study him.
    What was he in for?
     
     

Chapter 6
     
    Bob Snow’s office was a large corner suite with plenty of sunlight penetrating the tinted glass. Below lay a canopy of trees that shaded a working class neighborhood.
    A familiar figure sat profiled in the window.
    Jake straightened his tie.
    Werner Hoffkeit was an imposing man, a legend in the Bureau. He had worked his way up the ranks from the FBI Academy to one of the highest profile jobs in Washington: Director of the FBI. Why had the director come to see him, a lowly investigator in a third-tier field office?
    “Director Hoffkeit,” Jake said, and shook the hand extended toward him. “An honor, sir.”
    “Agent Maguire.”
    Hoffkeit was broad-shouldered and stood a ramrod straight six feet plus. His light gray eyes gave Jake the impression of windows into the man’s soul. And what Jake saw there was deep intelligence on high alert.
    Jake wondered if he was up for some Bureau honor. The most he deserved might be a pay increase. He certainly wasn’t up for promotion any time soon.
    “To what do I owe this honor?” he finally said.
    Bob closed the door. Then he and Hoffkeit sat down and acted as if they expected Jake to sit as well.
    He edged into the empty sofa opposite their easy chairs.
    Hoffkeit’s large forehead was furrowed. “I’ve been reading your personnel file. You have a clean record, worked on some tough cases, always come out on top.”
    “The FBI always gets their man,” Jake said.
    “I know that.” In FBI circles, it was a fact.
    Hoffkeit flipped through Jake’s file and ran a finger down a page. It stopped halfway.
    “You put together the evidence to finger the Pakistani boys?”
    “That’s right, sir.”
    “You coordinated the sting on the mini-van smuggling ring?”
    “Right. I did.”
    “You’ve worked on surveillance surrounding foreign diplomats?”
    Jake nodded. It was a nice list of accomplishments, but nothing high-profile, notable only for its variety and lack of specificity. To his mind, his record in the Bureau was spotty at best.
    Maybe this was going to result in a dismissal.
    Hoffkeit turned to Bob. “Anything I missed?”
    Bob scratched his head. “No. Those were the major cases.”
    “I see.” Hoffkeit turned his gray eyes back on Jake. “Ever work directly for a U.S. Attorney? Put together the legal side of a case?”
    Jake shook his head. “Just field work, sir.”
    He had spent his career on the ground looking for evidence, putting clues together, tracking down the scum that walked the earth. He had never done the front office work that made an agent’s career.
    “You’re still young,” Hoffkeit said.
    “Just over forty, sir.”
    “Good physical condition?”
    “I stay well within physical fitness requirements.”
    Hoffkeit nodded. “Traveled much?”
    Jake had been born, grew up, lived and worked in Northern Virginia. College had been in Charlottesville, in southwestern Virginia. FBI Academy had been in Quantico, Virginia.
    “Basically, I know Virginia.”
    “Travelled overseas?”
    He had to be honest. “I went to London for an interagency