Knox glanced at his friend who got the sign immediately, rose and left. If he felt any anger for being kicked out of his own office, the savvy agent was too smart to show it.

Knox hunkered down, gripping the phone tightly. “I turned a lead that got me thinking about something in Carr’s past.”

“Where exactly in his past?”

Knox didn’t hesitate. “Triple Six days.”

“Knox—”

“I know what you said before, but here’s my theory. If Carr was with Triple Six and colleagues from his past were being killed—”

“That’s out of bounds.”

Knox said, “I know Finn and his back story are off-limits, but if I’m going to track Carr down, I need to understand where this guy came from.”

“I don’t think that’s relevant—”

Knox had anticipated this question and broke in. “With all due respect, if you’re deciding what’s relevant or not on this case, get somebody else to tackle it for you.”

“I’m not trying—”

“If you want results, General, then I need some control over my investigation. You called me in to do a job. Then let me do it!”

Knox waited for the man’s response, trying to breathe normally. He was betting the farm that Hayes would react one way, but the truth was, Knox could just as easily go down hard for this insubordination. Real hard. As in his butt being catapulted to Afghanistan, where he could spend a little quality time in the mountains with Osama’s boys on the Pakistani border.

“I’m listening.”

Knox went on autopilot. “Carr knows we’re going to be on him. He’s been on the run for a long time now. He’s loyal to his friends like you said. He’d want to keep as far away from them as possible. But he still needs cover. He still needs help.” Knox paused here to allow the bait to sink in. He wanted Hayes to say it. The man had to say it.

“You think he might turn to some old Triple Sixer for help?”

Thank you, God. “Well, General, look at it from his point of view. He pops Gray and Simpson and makes his initial escape. He can’t go near his civilian friends. He knows the machine is on his ass, so he has to look somewhere for cover. These Triple Six guys would be retired by now and deep underground. If I can get a lead on any that Carr was close to and either shadow them or beat it out of them, we might turn this guy. It’s a shortcut, but it might just work. I know you don’t care how we get there, so long as we get there. You know as well as I do the longer Carr is out there, the greater the odds that he does something that will hurt us.”

When Knox said us he of course meant you.