Part of her was holding back from following his train of thought, she knew, because it was making everything much more real. It was easier, she realized with a start, to think of what they were doing as blocking the potential for what plans could be coming. It was different to think of the situation as one where they were trying to counter someone who was already actively engaged in (if Connor was right about the kidnapping, and he likely was) criminal and violent activities.
She had seen the pictures of the little girl who was credited with slowing the man down enough that he had been apprehended before he could abscond with the intended target. She hadn’t gotten off unscathed. It took a special kind of evil, she thought, to hit a child like that.
“The unstated implication being that I’m operating on the assumption that I knew her well to begin with?” He didn’t need to sound so ready to jump down her throat. That wasn’t exactly what she had meant, but they might as well discuss the possibility since he had mentioned it.
“Some of the details you’ve skated around,” she told him. She was hardly an expert on the history of all things Connor and Meredyth.
“I know I’m not always overly forthcoming, Anna, but trust me when I tell you that I know Meredyth. I know how she operates. This was not her.”
“We don’t know that it was Wyatt either,” she pointed out to him.
“We don’t,” he allowed. “There’s always a chance that it was a random targeting of a political figure’s child. I don’t think that’s likely. This was an unplanned location -- an unscheduled stop. Someone had to have him under surveillance looking for a chance to pull something. Your average crazy doesn’t have the resources or patience to do that -- at least not for very long.”
“So, what do we do about it?” She asked. He must have pointed it out to her for a reason.
“Nothing,” she wondered if he noticed how shocked she looked at that response.
“Nothing,” he repeated. She guessed that answered her question of whether he had noticed her expression. “There’s nothing to do. It didn’t work. The security around that little boy is going to be unbelievable for the near future. Meredyth will rake Wyatt over the coals. Neither one of them are going near the Klines for a long time.” He seemed to think of something. “Wait, there is one thing we can do.”
“What?” She knew there must be something.
“We can enjoy the fact that Walsh owes his failure to a six year old.” Connor suddenly looked very pleased about something. Anna gave him her best questioning look.
“Come on, Anna, it is okay to be happy about it. We’re both getting bogged down in the enormity of it all here. Let’s just take a moment to enjoy the fact that something went right this time, and we didn’t even have to be the ones to make it go the right way.” The questioning look wasn’t leaving her face; this was a rather abrupt change from Connor’s usual.
“Seriously, Anna, think about it,” he gave her a full blown grin. “The best laid plans of Wyatt Walsh were foiled by a little girl with a propensity for biting. You can’t tell me that that’s not deeply satisfying somehow.”
“We may have to keep an eye on that one,” he mentioned as if it was an idea that was just occurring to him. “She’s fighting crime when she’s barely enrolled in elementary school.” He chuckled and got a far off look in his eyes. Anna wondered what it was that he was seeing. “I like that kind of spunk. Yeah, we’ll definitely keep an eye out. That kind of natural tendency deserves to be nurtured. Besides,” he said blinking and seeming to refocus his eyes on Anna. He was serious again. “We may need her help someday.”