Page 82 of Operation: Sharp Angel

“Yeah, it was rough on her,” Sherman said. “Brielle and I talked every night. She brought Bastian in bed with her most nights.” He paused and chuckled. “So now I’ll have our babybetween us and have to wrangle with my wife to get him back in his crib so I can make love to her.”

“Sorry,” Tessman said with a grin.

“You’ll understand one day,” Sherman said. “Rumor has it you slept in the apartment with the client.”

“Where’d you hear that rumor?” Tessman asked.

“Yeah, where did I?” Sherman teased. “You’re not denying it.”

“No reason to,” Tessman said with a grin. “Anyway, I just wanted to be sure Brielle was ok. I know this case bothered Jackson, two dead kids, so I knew it had to bother Brielle,” Tessman said.

“You got the bastards that did it, that’s all that matters,” Sherman said.

“We did. I’m sure all involved will be buried in some hole, never to see the light of day again. We have our debrief at zero nine hundred and I hope Shepherd will confirm that they’re all rounded up.”

“Yeah, Brielle left Bastian with Dahlia to come in for the debrief. I can’t wait to get home to him. I hear you helped with the drunk beating on Dahlia’s door the other night.”

“Yes, a fucking seven-foot mountain.”

Sherman laughed. “Had Bubbles been home, he probably would have just shot the motherfucker.”

Tessman chuckled with him. “I’m not sure we would have subdued him if Kegger hadn’t tased him.”

“Kegger does like his taser,” Sherman said. He offered his hand. “Anyway, thanks for checking on Brielle.”

“I’ll catch you later,” Tessman said after shaking Sherman’s hand.

***

Shepherd already sat at his conference table with Brielle when Tessman and Becca entered his office. Jackson rushed in moments later. Flores, Winston, and Robinson were the last to arrive.

“Thank you for being on time ladies, and gentlemen. I have a packed day,” Shepherd began. “Mason asserts that Jude Ross went rogue and the development of the two drugs, and all that followed was not an approved CIA mission. They scooped Ross up at his residence last night and are still interrogating him. Mason has promised that if anyone else was involved, they will be found and dealt with.”

“Do you believe him?” Flores asked.

“As of now, I have no reason not to. He knows that we have copies of the interrogation tapes from last night, and I’ll burn him if he lies to me,” Shepherd said. “One of his people was responsible for the deaths of six innocents, including children. That will not be taken lightly by any agency. I think we can expect that Mason and the CIA will be on their best behavior for the foreseeable future.”

“What about Well-Life and whoever is working on those drugs now?” Winston asked.

“It’s been shut down. The FDA and its Office of Criminal Investigations are all over that place this morning. Nick DeSoto’s boss, Neil Eddy, took over the research when Nick died. It’s being looked into if Eddy knew the extent of the fraud and cover-up. They’ll proceed appropriately, depending on what they find.”

“But it’s stopped, right? The research has been stopped?” Becca asked.

“Affirmative. The FDA’s OCI is working the case, will make arrests, and prosecute those guilty of any wrongdoing,” Shepherd answered. “They may be in contact with you, Becca. I would remind you of the NDA in answering any of their questions.”

“I understand,” she said.

“One last thing,” Shepherd said. His gaze went to Brielle.

“I finally got access to the contents of the package the driver was delivering when he saw Nick DeSoto’s body in the house,” Brielle began. “It was a letter from Senator Mark Henshaw, thanking Nick for meeting him the previous day and referring the issue to him. He promised to follow up on it and stop the drug from any further development.”

“Holy shit, damn, fucking A,” several of the team members cursed, their voices overlapping.

“Senator Henshaw sat on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. They have jurisdiction over the FDA and are responsible for oversight of the drug approval process,” Brielle said. She paused and gave Becca a small smile as she reached over and laid her hand on top of Becca’s. “Your brother-in-law was a whistle blower. He was a hero.”

Becca teared up. “Thank you, Brielle.” Then it occurred to her. That was the urgency. Getting that letter. It was the link that suggested they had motive and that they killed the Senator too.

“So, they killed Henshaw too?” Jackson summed up. “Davis, with the Schaumburg P.D. has us to thank for the closure of another one of his homicide cases.”

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