“It’s okay,” Josh said. “You can speak freely.”
“All right.” Taggart took a drink of lemonade. “You were in Gainesville for a funeral yesterday. Your friend Coy Whitmore was murdered.”
“That’s right.”
“A couple weeks back another friend of yours was killed.”
“Murdered,” Josh corrected.
“I stand corrected. The first man who was murdered was Pete Saldana. According to our information, both these men were special operations marines.”
Josh’s gaze sharpened on Taggart. “The police have been looking for a connection. You think that’s what it is? Someone killed them because they were soldiers?”
“It’s beginning to look that way. For more than a year, Homeland Security has been dealing with a group of terrorists working in Texas. Your brother ran into trouble with a guy named Bharat al-Razi. In February, there was an attack on the Texas State Capitol.”
“Beau Reese helped find the terrorists.”
“That’s right. A billionaire named Jamal Nawabi is now in prison for financing the cell that planned that attack.”
He nodded. “My brother and I talked about it. Some of it I read in the papers.”
Taggart took a long swallow of his drink. “During the sweep of the capitol and in the days that followed, members of the cell were either arrested or killed. We believed we had everyone involved.”
“Believed,”Josh repeated. “Past tense? Are you saying there are more of those guys out there?”
“Unfortunately, we now know several members of the cell escaped. Recently, one of them was killed when he attacked a retired police officer in Austin. We believe another man, the leader of the group, organized the recent bombing at the Houston Airport.”
“I thought the men who set off the bombs were killed,” Tory said.
“They were, but we don’t think they planned the attack. We think the bombing was funded by their billionaire sponsor, Nawabi, who’s somehow still managing to pull the strings from behind bars.”
“Wait a minute. Are you saying someone in the cell killed Saldana and Whitmore?” Josh asked.
“We won’t be sure till we have him in custody. We’ve spread a wide net, but so far it hasn’t caught anything. It was the death of your friends that alerted us to the situation.”
“That being two marines dead in a little over two weeks,” Josh said. “Both shot in the head. The cops trying to figure out who wanted them dead and why.”
“That’s right. When the most compelling link they found was the men’s shared military service, they called in the FBI. Turns out Saldana and Whitmore were both in Afghanistan at the same time.”
Josh nodded. “Deployed at the same time, both fought against the Taliban.”
“And so did you.”
Silence fell. Josh flashed on a memory, the echo of explosions and the rattle of heavy gunfire. He had relived it in his nightmares more than once.
Tory’s worried gaze locked with his. She was no fool. She understood exactly where this was going.
“My team was one of several that were there,” Josh said. “A lot of marines fought in Afghanistan.”
“You think Josh is also in danger?” Tory asked.
“Unofficially, yes. That’s the reason I’m here. Officially, we’re still investigating. But if there’s a member of a terrorist cell still at large in Texas and he’s already killed two other men, Josh could very well be a target.”
Josh softly cursed. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have enough trouble already. He was trying to protect Tory from Bridger. Now he had a new threat to worry about. Even if she wasn’t the target, there was always a chance of getting caught in the crossfire.
“What about the other marines who fought over there?” Josh asked.
“We’re contacting any soldier who fought there during the same time period Saldana and Whitmore were there. Anyone currently out of the service and back in Texas. We don’t know why the shooter specifically targeted your friends, but we’re working on it.”
