Free Traitor by Murray McDonald Page B

we guess he could still be swimming ashore or already in this area,” he added, circling the area around Le Touquet. “We have the French covering this whole area and we’re sending every asset we can get our hands on to assist.”
    “That seems like a very premature descent,” said Carson, tracking the oval out to the twenty miles off shore point.
    “It’s exceptionally early,” confirmed the Lieutenant.
    “Almost like it was planned?” suggested Carson.
    Turner looked up from the map. “What, are you saying he jumped twenty miles from shore?”
    “It’s one of the busiest waterways in the world with many large vessels that a competent parachutist could easily land on.”
    Turner looked at the lieutenant. Up until Carson’s arrival, he had been his aviation specialist. The lieutenant nodded that it was possible. “It would explain the very early descent towards Le Touquet.”
    Turner shook his head in despair. Every time he thought he was gaining some ground, it was lost. “We’re going to need a lot more resources,” he said, turning to Carson.
    Carson nodded his head and took out his cell. He had contacts in the British and French navies that he knew would be more than happy to assist.
    As the net expanded across the entire English Channel, Turner realized once again that Nick may have slipped through their fingers. “Frankie, are you okay to talk now?”
    Frankie nodded.
    Turner led her through to the adjacent room where a team of suited agents were working. The walls were covered in just about everything they knew of Nick Geller. Photos of his childhood were pinned to the wall next to photos of Nick with Frankie.
    “Frankie, I know this isn’t going to be easy,” Turner said sincerely, “but we really need to know everything you know about Nick, no matter how insignificant.”
    Frankie nodded again and took a seat. Turner introduced her to the six agents in the room, three from the FBI, two from CIA and one from DIA, a colleague of Nick’s that Frankie had previously met. She smiled at a friendly face who, like her, was shell-shocked at Nick’s betrayal.
    Special Agent Sarah Reid kicked off proceedings. “Can you tell me what you know of Nick’s background and family?”
    Frankie took a deep breath and a sip of water. “His parents were Jewish Americans having moved here from Tel Aviv just before Nick’s birth. Unfortunately, they both died when Nick was a teenager and he spent a few years in various foster homes before joining the forces as soon as he could.”
    Agent Reid nodded her head as she ticked off the numerous points with the information she had before her.
    “How did you meet Nick Geller?”
    “Wait a minute,” said Flynn, the DIA agent who had been a colleague of Nick’s and whom Frankie had met previously. “As hard as this is for Frankie, I think it’s only fair that we bring her up to speed with what we know so far. It’s certainly helped me focus on catching him.”
    “Like you needed an added incentive? He shot the President and blew up the White House!” said one of the CIA agents angrily. Interagency cooperation was alive and well.
    “Don’t be an asshole, Barry, you know what I mean.”
    “Okay guys, cut the bullshit,” intervened Turner, nodding for Special Agent Reid to continue.
    “His parents weren’t Jewish. After a lot of digging, we discovered they were originally from Lebanon. It looks like they managed to escape the civil war and made their way into Israel and from there, came here to America. They were Shi’a Muslims.”
    Frankie was shaking her head. “But he’s not Muslim, he talked about his Jewish heritage a lot.”
    “All a sham,” Reid replied, producing some photos of a teenage Nick in a mosque with his parents. “We found these in a safety deposit box at his bank. When his parents died in an auto accident, he was cared for by three different foster families.”
    Frankie nodded and another photo was set before her, a slightly older Nick