The Cardinal and the Crook

“How are you doing, James?”

James let out a deep breath and shook his head. “Still a little shaken . . . but very, very thankful for the protection of your agents.” He hesitated before asking, “What happened? How did they find me?”

Joe’s face conveyed both worry and frustration; his cheeks seemed somehow hollower, and his nostrils flared. “We’re not sure how they were able to track you down. We’ve taken every precaution to ensure nothing like this would happen. Whenever Robert and Brian have come to meet you, we’ve taken several steps to prevent anyone from following them. We are reviewing everything now to determine where we might have failed.”

Joe paused for a moment, stretched out his long arm, and placed his hand on James’s shoulder before saying, “James, I’m truly sorry for what happened today. You’ve given up so much and have been a real trooper during this whole process. We let you down! I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure this doesn’t occur again. As far as what actually happened . . . a n assassin was attempting to kill you. Fortunately, the surveillance team spotted him on one of our cameras. He was carrying a semiautomatic rifle with a scope. It appeared he was trying to find a position that would give him clear visibility to the entrance of the farmhouse. When the agents converged on him, they demanded that he drop his weapon. He complied and put the rifle on the ground, but as he was straightening back up, he pulled a handgun from his back. He got off one shot before our agents opened fire. He’s in critical condition and has been rushed to the hospital. Based on his wounds, it’s doubtful he’ll survive. The first bullet grazed one of the agents, but he’s doing fine. We took the would-be assassin’s fingerprints, and I suspect he is not part of the Martoni crime organization. He’s probably someone from out of town that they hired to do their dirty work.”

Joe seemed to realize that he had just laid a lot on James, so he stopped for a moment to let it sink in.

James closed his eyes and absorbed everything Joe had just said, especially, an assassin was attempting to kill you. Several thoughts raced through his mind. How could they have found me? Will they try again? What if they had succeeded? What would that do to Father Pat . . . and to John? What would have happened to the case against the Martonis? These are really evil people . . . and they must be stopped! After a long silence, he looked straight at the FBI agent and said, “I won’t lie to you. I was more scared than I have ever been in my life. And I’m very concerned as to how they were able to find me. But if these bastards thought they were going to stop me from testifying . . . then they were completely mistaken. I didn’t think I could be any more committed to bringing them down, but after this attempt, I am even more intent on ending this evil!”