The room was tiny, and there wasn’t anywhere for her to stand except for right beside the bed. “Hey.”
Gil held out a hand. “I want to shake your hand.”
She took it, and his grip was firm despite the trauma of the day. “Thank you.” Deep emotion laced Gil’s words before he winked at her. “I hear you missed your calling as an Indy car driver.”
“Maybe I’ll try that if this FBI thing doesn’t work out.” Gil’s eyes closed and stayed closed a few seconds longer than was normal for a regular blink, but he forced them open again. Would he even remember this conversation later? “I hope you know I’m keeping score, and you’re coming in second in the contest for number of holes. I didn’t realize how competitive you guys in the Secret Service are, but I think you’ve taken it too far this time.”
Gil’s words were slurred when he spoke. “I’m going to have to think of a loophole I can crawl through to win. Something aboutthe severity of the holes or som...” He trailed off, and his eyes did not reopen.
“I’ll wait outside. If he wakes up again, tell him we can argue about it later.” Faith tried to squeeze behind Luke, but he didn’t move.
She was in charge of the biggest investigation of her career. But instead of being in the office, working the evidence and reports as they came in, organizing the investigation and up to her sunglasses in every detail, she was in a hospital with two men, both of whom had nearly been killed by the person she was trying to catch.
And she was trapped.
“Whoa. Where’s the fire?” Luke took a small step and pressed himself against the edge of Gil’s bed, effectively giving her six more inches. “We aren’t being chased. Well, not at the moment.”
She eyed the space. She could squeeze through it, but not without rubbing against Luke in a very unprofessional way. For a too-long moment, the walls closed in on her mind. She forced them back, took a few shallow breaths, and chose a light and cheery response to Luke’s remark. “Let’s hope he doesn’t catch us in here. We’d be fish in a barrel.” Without giving Luke a chance to continue the conversation, she put both hands on his arm and shoved. “Now, will you please move so I can get out of here?”
Luke did not comply with her request in the way she’d expected. He turned and walked out the door, leaving her trailing after him. She caught up to him at the elevator. “Why are you leaving Gil?”
“Gil’s fine. He’ll sleep for another hour, and his twin sister, Emily, will be here in about thirty minutes. She’s a physical therapist, and she’s nice enough, but she’s also part Terminator.” He gave her an overdone grimace before he continued. “He has police protection, and Emily will make sure he’s receiving the absolute best care. Besides, you’re the one who has to solve this case, soit’s in my best interest and the best interest of my entire team for you to stay sharp ... and unperforated.”
He mixed seriousness and humor so much, it took her a few seconds longer than it should have to catch up to his joke. But she got there. “Unperforated, huh? I have to agree with you there.”
“Great. Let’s find out what sort of setup they have for us tonight.”
The setup turned out to be the top floor of a hotel. Three rooms. One for her, one for Luke and Zane to share, and one for Tessa. The rooms were adjoining and all the interior doors between them were open. Luke walked through the three rooms and approved of the plan immediately. “Yes. Smart. I like it.” Zane and Tessa were already there, sitting at a table in the corner of Tessa’s room. They were both focused on a shared laptop, and while they acknowledged Faith and Luke, neither of them made any effort to get up.
“Don’t you think it’s risky?” Faith glanced toward the windows. “We’re on the top floor. It’s going to be hard to get out if he blows the place up or lights it on fire or something.”
Luke paused to allow her to go first through the room he would share with Zane, and then into her own. He paused, still in his room, and leaned against the connecting doorway. “I’m sorry, but have you forgotten what we do? Protecting people is our area of expertise.”
She tossed her bag onto the bed, thankful she never went anywhere without an overnight bag in her car. She took a few seconds to familiarize herself with the space. It was clean and comfortable, and she had her own bathroom. She would be fine. “You typically have days or weeks to prepare. And more resources than you have at the moment.”
Luke pushed away from the door and settled himself into thechair in the corner of her room. Did he realize how carefully he moved? She doubted it. He had to be hurting more than he was letting on. “First”—Luke ticked items off on his fingers—“he couldn’t have known where we were going to be and couldn’t possibly have already set up anything. Second, it’s not that easy to blow up a hotel or set one on fire. The world is a dangerous place, but it takes determination to pull off something like that, even without all the local law enforcement agencies in the city on high alert. Third, it makes it harder for him to get to us. Fourth, this is the tallest hotel in the city, and there are very few areas where he can get line of sight to shoot through the windows, and I can assure you that those locations are being watched.”
“How do you know all that?”
“This is my city. If a protectee comes to town, we have to know how to protect them here. The protective detail would lean on us to give them information like this. I had a feeling they would put us in this hotel. It’s the best choice all the way around.”
Faith was impressed. “I guess I think of the local Secret Service offices as being more focused on financial crimes and counterfeiting.”
“We are, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t ready to fulfill our protective mission at the drop of a hat. It’s nice to have notice when a protectee is coming to town, but we have to be ready to act on short notice when necessary.”
One thing was bothering her though. “Who’s left in your office to take care of this?”
“Jacob would have done most of it. Marty, our office manager, would have helped with anything he requested. And the RAIC in Greensboro used to be in Raleigh, and he came over on Monday to help. Our office is down to almost nothing, but there are other RAIC offices in North Carolina. They’ve sent everyone they can spare.”
“The new agents would be unknown to our attacker, so that’s good.”
“Well, we hope so. We don’t know what this guy’s deal is. If the motive is connected to one of our current or recent investigations, then we’re being targeted specifically and other agents should be safe. If he has a beef with the Secret Service...” Luke didn’t need to finish the thought. If the attacks were generalized to the Secret Service, any agent was in danger.
But that wasn’t how this felt. Ugh. She hated using feelings in an investigation. She preferred facts and evidence. Gut instincts were inadmissible in court. What would she say to their families if one of these new agents were killed? “I didn’t think they were in any danger?”
No. There had to be proof. Real evidence that would indicate what the attacker was doing—or what he or she might do next.
She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She focused on the case, starting with the shootings on Monday. Then the events of today. There was something there. “The guy coming after you. He’s been careful.”
