“I imagine the reality was a little different from what you expected.”
“Oh yeah.Yeah, rebellion doesn’t survive boot camp.”Her smile faded, and she looked past Jessica again.“But it was the fighting that really shocked me.I had never seen anyone seriously hurt before Iraq.One of the kids in my class broke his arm, but I didn’t see it.He just came to school with a cast the next day.That’s the closest I ever came to seeing someone hurt.Then my first day on deployment, I saw a man split in half by a roadside bomb.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah.Bit of a shock.”
Flashes of the event flickered across Faith’s mind.It was, ironically, less disturbing than many of the things she’d seen during her career with the FBI, but the emotions it stirred up were far more intense.One thought remained seared into Faith’s memory.This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening.
And Hayes was there for her.When she came back to base, sneaked off to the “junkyard” where vehicles were repaired or, if irreparable, cannibalized for parts, he found her, sat next to her, and stayed there until the shakes faded and she could talk about what happened.
And now she could see horrific things, people mutilated, humiliated, arranged as mockeries to satisfy the vindictiveness of deranged killers and never bat an eye.It made her a good agent, but she wondered sometimes if it made her a worse person.
That way lies madness,the voice of Jack Preston, her old FBI mentor, warned.
She took a deep breath and said, “Anyway, the point is that Hayes was an island in the storm for a lot of scared kids who had no idea what they’d gotten themselves into and no idea how to handle it.”
Jessica nodded.“And did everyone feel this way?”
Faith grinned.“Are you asking if I know anyone who might want to kill Hayes?”
Jessica smiled slightly.“Well, if you do, I figure it’s worth following up on.”
Faith sighed.“Yeah, it would be.Unfortunately, no.I served with him from the age of eighteen to twenty-one, and then he was assigned to another unit.I haven’t spoken to him in over fifteen years.Everyone I knew loved and respected him.”
Jessica nodded again.“I figured.Just thought I’d ask.”She finished her coffee and got to her feet.“Well, the cemetery’s closed now.We should go take a look at the scene.”
Faith got to her feet, and she and Turk followed Jessica out of the café.The late afternoon traffic was nightmarish as usual, but Faith didn’t mind.Talking to Jessica had helped clear a lot of the cobwebs from her mind, but she still wasn’t looking forward to investigating the brutal death of a man who had taught her how to survive exposure to brutal death.
She would find him justice, though.She hadn’t been there for him in life, but she would be here for him now that he was gone.She owed him that much.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Oh, God damn it.”
Faith became instantly to alert.“What?What is it?”
“Vultures.”
Jessica turned sharply down a side access road that would bring them to the other side of the plot where Hayes had been murdered.Through her passenger window, Faith could see several news vans parked just outside of the locked gate.
“Ah.Those kinds of vultures.”
“Yeah.I was afraid of this.After the Jacob Moss killings, I was worried that the media was going to jump all over another ritualistic killing at the cemetery.”
Jacob Moss was a mentally ill former soldier who had killed former K9 handlers in the military and law enforcement because he felt that their actions had endangered the dogs that worked for them.He had also deluded himself into believing that Turk was his old working dog and belonged with him, not Faith.Thankfully, he had come somewhat to his senses by the end, enough to turn himself in quietly and submit to custody and mental health treatment, but not before he had left three viciously exsanguinated bodies at different memorials around Washington, D.C., including Arlington Nation al Cemetery.
Faith had no desire to interact with the media.In her best moods, she preferred to keep media appearances, short, professional and focused only on the facts.She was not in her best mood right now.
“I’ll park here,” Jessica said, pulling into an alcove behind the fence surrounding the back lot of the cemetery.“We’ll probably get shit for hopping the fence and not checking in with the security office, but we can deal with that later.”
She parked the car, put her hazards on, and jumped out.Faith and Turk followed, and Turk easily jumped the nine-foot fence, pushing off at the top with a light touch of his paws that looked almost catlike, though Faith would never say that to him.
“How old is he again?”Jessica asked.
Faith smiled slightly and scaled the fence, a lot slower and less gracefully than Turk.Jessica landed somewhere in the middle, alighting easily and without the wince of pain Faith showed when her knees absorbed the impact of the landing.
God, am I getting that old?
