Michael Weaver. Poison dart. Jogging track. Only fatality. No one else even realized there was a threat.
Jared Smith. Bombing. Only fatality. One condo besides his suffered minor damage. Fire marshal commented in his notes on the precision of the bombing. More explosive material would have destroyed the other units in the vicinity. Less wouldn’t have been enough to ensure the destruction of the entire unit.
Zane Thacker and Luke Powell. Shooting/car bombs. Early morning. Remote location. No other injuries.
Zane Thacker. House fire. No fatalities. Midday. No other homes damaged.
Gil Dixon. Shooting. Midday. One shot. Even though the shooter had ample opportunity to take additional shots, he didn’t.
With a growing sense of urgency, she studied the list, looking for a pattern that made some sense of the chaos. It had to be here, and she had to find it.
For all she knew, she could be the next one on the list.
LUKE JERKED AWAKE. Why was he in a hospital?
Then reality came flooding back, fast and ferocious. Faith! He threw his legs over the side of the bed.
“If you fall out of the bed, I won’t give you a cover story. I’lltell everyone what happened and laugh right along with them.” Faith sat cross-legged in the same chair she’d been in when he fell asleep. “Gil will not accept any additional injuries as valid.” Her lips were twisted in an obvious effort to keep herself from laughing at her own joke.
“Thanks a lot.” He sat straighter, and then waited for his head to stop spinning before he stood. “Any news?”
“Opal came by with more Cherry Coke for me.” Faith tapped the half-empty bottle to her left. “Gil was still in surgery, but the news from the surgeon was positive. Our bosses called. We’re being moved to a safe house tonight. Then a security detail will take us to your office in the morning.”
“Zane and Tessa?”
“Already at a secure location. Zane was ticked off when I spoke to him earlier. Tessa wasn’t any better. They wouldn’t let her go home, and they sent bomb and chemical dogs to her house. They’ve checked her car. Nothing has been found yet.”
Luke’s stomach did a nosedive. “She’s next.”
“I’m not so sure.”
Luke studied Faith. She wore a look of focus and ... something else. There was an intenseness to the way she narrowed her eyes and studied the screen. Luke got the sense that she intended to find out who was behind these attacks, and she would not be denied. All investigators wanted to solve their cases, but something about Faith’s drive made him suspect that failure wasn’t an option—not because it would leave a case unsolved but because it would destroy her. “What makes you think Tessa’s not on this guy’s list?”
“She’s new.”
“Not that new. She’s been here—”
“Nine months. And she got pulled out after two months here because there was an unexpected opening for some additionaltraining. She was gone for two months. Then she was back for three months, then gone again.”
“Yeah. Her father died, and she was granted a lengthy leave to go to India for the funeral. She’s a second-generation American, but her dad had requested to be buried in India. He’d promised his father. She was gone when Thad died. She didn’t get back until a week after the funeral. She felt bad about it, but she wasn’t close to Thad.”
“Even if I consider the recent attacks unrelated to Thad’s death, that still only gives a few months here and no chances to take the lead on anything more than some minor counterfeiting cases.”
“True. She’s still pretty green. Zane’s giving her more responsibility, but she’s not running investigations on her own yet.”
Faith uncrossed her legs and stretched them straight in front of her for a few seconds before dropping her feet to the floor.
“We can’t risk her life on the assumption that she’s not in danger, but we—”
A soft tap on the door and a calm “It’s Opal. May I come in?” brought Faith’s musings to an abrupt end. Faith went to the door, weapon in hand, while Luke sat on the bed, his own weapon drawn.
Opal entered and, after a quick glance around the room, raised her hands in the air. “Don’t shoot the messenger.”
The door closed behind her, and Faith slid her weapon back into the holster at her back. Luke laid his beside him on the bed.
“Your friend is out of surgery and in the recovery room,” Opal said. “His nurse said he’d be up for a visitor in a few minutes.”
Faith pointed at Luke. “You should go.”
