“We’re not one hundred percent certain but, based on many suspicious events, we’re exploring the possibility that Galloway wasn’t the man behind any of these acts and was simply a scapegoat.”

“But if he was accused of all those acts in the first place, why is this the first we’re hearing about this guy?” Maxwell asked.

“We’re not sure of the details, but we do know Galloway was presumed to have died in the embassy fire he was accused of setting. A subsequent investigation, led by the team at Army Counterintelligence he had previously commanded, found evidence of his misdeeds. Communications with foreign terror organizations and drug cartels. Wire transfers into off-shore accounts, which they were able to link to Galloway. However, someone issued a gag order. With many unanswered questions still lingering, the case was sealed and all agents who had been working on it were ordered not to discuss what they had found with anyone.”

Returning his attention to his laptop, he pressed another button and Mackenzie’s photo appeared on the screen. “This, as you all know, is Mackenzie Delano. She was born Serafina Galloway.” Another image appeared on the monitor beside that of Mackenzie. “This is her mother, Magdalena Galloway. Shortly after the attack on the embassy, they went missing. A two-year search yielded nothing and it was assumed they were killed. Our theory is perhaps someone knew Galloway was being set up and needed to ensure his wife’s and daughter’s safety as a precaution.”

Pausing, he took a sip from his water bottle and surveyed the members of our team, their eyes glued to him. “Fast forward eight years. During her first year of college, Mackenzie began to date this man.” A photo of Charlie in his service uniform appeared on the screen. “This is Charles Patrick Montgomery. At this point, I’m sure you’re all aware of who he is.”

“Yes,” a petite woman with auburn hair I recognized as Gretchen said. “He’s wanted in connection with a string of murders.”

“Correct,” Eli replied. “He was working for Army Cryptology while he was dating Mackenzie and, from what we’ve been able to ascertain from his file and from Miss Delano, he was asked by an acquaintance to look into a missing person’s case – one Serafina Galloway.”

“Who was this acquaintance?” Martin asked.

“We don’t know. There’s certainly more questions than answers in this case and, unfortunately, the two people who could help fill in the blanks are in hiding. Now, it didn’t take Montgomery long to figure out Mackenzie was Serafina Galloway and he approached her to verify this. They dated for most of the year until, one day, he was committed to the psych ward at Walter Reed, where he spent the next eight years being treated for schizophrenia. When he was being taken away, he warned Miss Delano of her mother’s death. The following day, Miss Delano went home to find her mother was killed in a car crash.”

“Have you determined whether there was a connection?” Kevin, an agent who looked more like a playboy than a retired Marine, asked.

“Nothing firm. You’ll soon learn that Montgomery’s involvement here is open to two different interpretations and we’re not entirely sure what to believe about him. So, as far as all things having to do with Charles Montgomery go, exercise an overabundance of caution. Now, back to what we do know. During all of this, keep in mind it was assumed Galloway was dead. It wasn’t until about two years ago that intel surfaced indicating he was alive.”

“And what was that intel?” Martin inquired.

“Unfortunately, we don’t know. The CIA handler who had contacted the company to hire us to investigate all of this has now disappeared.” Eli pressed another button on his laptop and a photo I had never seen before appeared. There was a distinguished-looking older man in all black staring at the camera, a forced smile on his face. “This is Benjamin Collins. We tried to find as much information about him as we could but, given he was working for the CIA, we were met with several dead ends. I couldn’t access any information about his family or whether he has any sort of connection to Galloway. We are unsure of whether his disappearance has anything to do with this case, but we are operating under the theory that it does.”

“So, what is your working theory then?” Martin asked.

“Well, this isn’t set in stone, but here’s what we think. Galloway is innocent. We think he was set up to take the fall for someone else, someone with power, either in the military or the government. This is why the investigation was stopped and a gag order was issued. At first, we thought we were getting too close to figuring it all out so Collins was abducted, perhaps by someone thinking they could squeeze him for information, but we don’t think that’s the case anymore. He’s CIA and is trained to withstand days upon days of the most brutal interrogation techniques there are. We think he may have some sort of connection to Galloway and that’s why he went missing, although we’ve been unable to find any link between them. Then there’s Montgomery, the loose cannon. We have no idea whether he is responsible for the deaths of which he’s accused or whether he’s being set up, too.”

“Now, the murders Montgomery’s accused of…,” Gretchen interrupted. “They seem random. Are they, or is that just the police not finding a connection?”

Eli nodded. “A little bit of both. Some were random, but some were connected, although the police could never find what that connection was, considering the file’s been sealed. Montgomery was the sole survivor of the attack on the embassy attributed to Galloway. The theory is that he conspired with a man named Justin Whitman, more or less a hired gun, to carry out his plan of revenge against all those who took his family from him. Many of the murders attributed to Whitman and Montgomery were of several men and women who it was thought helped Galloway in his attack on the embassy, although it was never proven. Montgomery had top-level security clearance during his time in Cryptology and used this access and training to eliminate those who killed his family. It is thought his next target is Galloway and he would use Mackenzie to get to him. He escaped Walter Reed a little over four months ago and broke into Mackenzie’s place, as did Whitman. Okay, that’s one theory.

“The other, as you can probably guess, is that Montgomery stuck his nose somewhere he shouldn’t have when he was working for Cryptology and paid with his freedom. Then, when it was discovered he had escaped Walter Reed, whoever is behind all of it wanted to find a way to silence him once more, preferably forever, and planted evidence to set him up for a ring of murders he had nothing to do with.”

“But isn’t it a bit suspicious that a number of people who helped to kill Mr. Montgomery’s family were then killed?” Martin asked.

“This is true, which is why it is important we not settle on any theory when it comes to any of this, particularly in light of new information Tyler has.”

All eyes turned to me and I nodded at Eli. He pressed a button, a photo of a man and woman in their sixties appearing on the screen. “These are Mr. Montgomery’s alleged latest victims, Mr. and Mrs. Sheperd,” I explained. “Emily Sheperd used to be Emily Mills before getting a divorce, then remarrying. At the time of the embassy attack, she lived next door to the Galloways. Incidentally, her former husband, Harrison Mills, disappeared several years ago. He simply never showed up for work one day. He had been estranged from his wife and family for years, so they were no help in finding him. After a year, he was assumed dead.

“Mills was close to Galloway, having served under him in the Rangers, then in Counterintelligence. In fact, after Galloway’s disappearance, he was the one who had been tapped to lead the investigation into the embassy attack.”