Free The Senator: A Blake Jordan Thriller by Ken Fite Page A

up.
    “I’m going to get him back,” I finally said to break the silence.
    “You’re what?” I heard my dad say with a disapproving tone of voice.
    “I’m going to get him back. I was supposed to be protecting him tonight. I messed up. I’m going to make this right.”
    “Blake, the news is saying that the FBI is working this. Is it a joint operation?”
    “No.”
    “Son, you let the FBI handle this. You’re going to get yourself thrown in jail if you interfere with this or worse, you’ll get yourself killed. You don’t know what this guy is capable of or what his motive is.”
    I thought about the two agents he had already killed. My dad didn’t know about that and I wasn’t about to tell him, either. I thought that would make him even more concerned about the fate of his best friend.
    “That won’t happen.”
    “Blake, you stand down. Do you hear me?”
    I walked over to the window of my office and looked over the Chicago skyline. Long strings of orange from the streetlights lined the countless roads of the metropolis. I could see flickers of red as drivers tapped their brakes along the roads. I wondered where in this huge city the senator could have been taken and how in the world I was going to be able to find him with such little resources available. For a moment, I had lost myself in thought but was brought back to the present by the voice of my dad calling my name.
    “Blake? You there?”
    “I can’t do that. I’m going to find a way to get him back. I have to go now. I love you.” I slipped the cell phone in my back pocket as Jami opened my office door.
    “Blake – Reed needs you right now.”

Chapter 26
    Chris met me as I walked down the hallway and asked me to join him in his office. Jami took a seat where I guessed they had been talking before deciding that they needed to come and get me. Jami and I sat in the two chairs across from Reed’s desk as he closed his office door so we could hear ourselves think.
    “I need to get you up to speed on a few things, Blake,” he said and dropped a manila envelope on his desk.
    He sat down and pointed to a TV he had mounted on the wall adjacent to us before speaking.
    “The media is reporting that the Jihadi Coalition is claiming responsibility for the kidnapping.” I turned to my right and looked at Jami who returned the same kind of skeptical look that I assumed I was giving her.
    “We knew about this an hour ago and I had someone look into the claim. It seemed to come out of nowhere,” Reed said before I chimed in.
    “That doesn’t make sense. There hasn’t been an attack of any kind by the JC on American soil. Not yet, at least. If they were going to do something, they’d be more likely to set off a car bomb or shoot up the parking lot, not pull off an elaborate kidnapping.”
    “Blake, the crosscheck I had run searched for any connections between Senator Keller and anyone believed to be affiliated with the JC,” Reed said as he laced his fingers together and placed his hands on the desk. He paused for a moment before continuing. “Aasaal Nazir is the only person that we found with a link to the senator. We got the report just a few minutes ago, right before Jami went and got you.”
    “Okay, so who is Nazir and what is his connection to Keller?” I asked as I crossed my legs, making myself comfortable. Reed glanced at Jami then back at me.
    “Nazir is the imam at the mosque on Washington and Clark. We believe –” I interrupted Reed and sat up in my chair.
    “Here? The guy is downtown? I know that place. The Islamic Civic Center. They’re harmless.” Reed looked down, as if he knew that I would say that. He slid the manila envelope over to me. I picked it up and started thumbing through the report.
    “Last year, when Keller announced his candidacy for president at one of the hotels over by Navy Pier, Nazir was there in the crowd and arrested for disorderly conduct. The charges were later dropped because he posed no danger