Gil reached around Zane and zoomed in on the wires. “What kind of wacky bomb is this? I thought most bomb makers were meticulous. How could you ever know which one—”
“Exactly.” Zane agreed. “I think that’s the point. There was no stopping it once it was set. Luke made the right call to drag us to the center of the space between the cars. It was the farthest we could get from either bomb.”
“I can’t pretend I was thinking that logistically,” Luke said. “I was just reacting.”
“But you reacted in the right direction, and you’re both alive.”Tessa was standing behind Zane’s chair, knuckles white from the grip she had on it.
One by one, people returned to their seats.
Gil was the first to speak. “If this is the guy Mi Cha went to see in Seattle—”
“Mi ChaandDavid Lee,” Luke said.
“Yes, but that’s my point. If the same bomb that blew up your cars is in this bomb maker’s shop in Seattle, and we know David Lee was out there, then is it possible he killed Thad?”
“But why would he have risked killing Mi Cha?” Luke’s frown made it clear that he wasn’t convinced.
“He wouldn’t have. He would have been targeting Thad. He wouldn’t have known she would get in the car with him. Remember what Mrs. Lin told y’all? Mi Cha had shipped all her belongings and was flying home that night? All she had was a backpack and a purse, and she was going to Uber to the airport. I’d bet anything Thad offered to drive her. He might have even been planning to run by the house and introduce her to Rose. But if Mi Cha kept all the details about Thad from David Lee, then David Lee never could have anticipated that she would get in Thad’s car.”
“Okay, fine. Let’s say, hypothetically, that David Lee blew up the car that Thad and Mi Cha were in. That he got the bomb when they flew out to Seattle. Although that doesn’t explain how he got the thing home without her noticing, but we’ll come back to that.” Luke paced in front of the board as he talked. “If he killed her, why is he still here? Why didn’t he get out of the country? We had nothing on him. In the first few hours after the explosion, we didn’t even know there was another person in the car, much less who she was. This could have been the perfect crime.”
Luke wrote, “Why is David Lee here?” on the board. If they could answer that, maybe they could get a handle on what was going on.
“Okay, but what does any of this have to do with who shot you?” Tessa held up a hand as Luke, Zane, and Gil all turned confused eyes in her direction. “I get the connection, but I don’t get why. If this guy didn’t like Thad, fine. But what did y’all ever do to him? You didn’t know Mi Cha existed until he killed her.” Tessa turned her attention to Faith. “And I don’t understand why he would go after Janice.”
“I do,” Gil muttered.
Tessa ignored him. “What purpose does it serve to go after her other than to put him right back on our radar. We thought he was in DC. He shows up here and tries to kill the agent who . . .” She frowned at the table. “What if that’s it?”
“Not following you, Tess.” Zane said it more like a question than a dig.
“Okay, David Lee hooks up with Mi Cha and goes on this trip to Seattle with her. Comes home with a bomb. Blows her up. Goes dark. Maybe he kills the one buddy who could have talked to Janice about him. For all we know, Mrs. Lin might be in danger. She knew enough about him to tell us who he was and what was up with him and Mi Cha.”
Faith kept listening, but she fired off a text to Hope.
LOCK EVERYTHING DOWN. STAY ALERT.
Warn Mrs. Lin. I may be overreacting, but better safe than sorry.
Tessa was still talking. “Maybe we know something about the case we don’t realize we know. And now David Lee is trying to kill off anyone who could connect him to Mi Cha and her death.”
“That might have worked when it was just Mi Cha and Janice and his buddy.” Zane looked around the room. “Now that wehave the case, that ship has sailed. He can’t kill every single Secret Service and FBI agent in the country. It doesn’t make sense for him to try. We’re missing something.”
Frustration floated in the air like a contagion, infecting the mind and discouraging the heart. Faith could sense it pressing in on her, tempting her to give in. But she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Not if she wanted to keep everyone alive.
“You’re right.” She stood. “It doesn’t make sense, and there must be something we’re missing, but we can’t give up. Whatever is going on, you’ve survived an onslaught and you’re going to continue to survive. This situation with the bomb maker is huge. It may finally give us the focus we need. We’ll find David Lee, and when we find him, we will find out why he’s done what he’s done.”
They wrapped up the meeting with plans to reconvene on Monday morning. Marty, bless her heart, had gone to her desk to work on some paperwork. Jacob checked her car before she drove away. When he returned to the building, he made it clear that no one was allowed to leave until he had their word they would check in when they were safe at their respective homes, or in the case of the Secret Service agents, a different hotel from the one they had been in the last several nights. All their belongings had been packed and moved to a new location while they were at the funeral.
“I think we should take separate cars,” Gil said. “More targets. Better chance of survival.”
“Wow. Getting shot in the head has turned you into a regular Pollyanna.” Luke put the caps on all the dry-erase markers and tucked them in their drawer.
“I’m not wrong.” Gil wasn’t backing down. “While I respect that we have a limited number of agents and officers who can provide security, I’m not convinced we all need to be in the same location tonight.”
“We didn’t even know we were being moved until we got in the air,” Zane said. “It will be fine for tonight, but I agree that if this drags on, we need to consider splitting up. And I agree that for now, let’s call separate cars. Even if we’re followed, he can’t follow all of us.”
Faith stood to the side as they all ordered a pickup. Two from Lyft, two from Uber. She should leave. This wasn’t her office, and they were done for the night. But she couldn’t imagine leaving anyone here alone.
