Evan thought the debrief would never end. Eisenhower led the meeting, which included a look at employee files for the dam. The dam security manager had hired Nabi and Shah under the aliases of Rostami and Darzi. They must have spent the night in the apartment, drove straight to the Army depot to steal the RDX, then on to the dam to bring in the explosives brick by brick.
“And in closing...” Eisenhower said.
Evan almost shouted hallelujah, as all he could think about was getting Kiley alone for a few minutes. He still needed to get his arm evaluated at the ER, but the medics had bandaged the wound, stopping the bleeding.
“...the Waleed brothers were also apprehended a few miles from here,” Eisenhower continued. “We found phones with calls made to Gadi and Amari. We believe that in addition to facilitating the container shipment, they were also backup in the event Nabi and Shah survived the blast and needed a return ride to the container.”
“And,” Mack said, “Sony came through with the transmissions for the video-game chat. Nasim Waleed was in on the plot. That’ll help keep him locked up.”
“Great news.” Kiley smiled. “I’m glad you kept after that.”
“What about Shah?” Sean asked. “Did he make it?”
“He’s in surgery, but it looks like he’ll pull through.”
Kiley let out a relieved breath. Evan knew what it felt like to take a life, and he was glad Kiley would be spared from knowing the pain of such a thing.
“And finally,” Eisenhower said and looked straight at Kiley, “we recovered a Dragunov rifle in the Waleeds’ vehicle. We’ll be sending it to FTU to compare the rifling to the slugs from Firuzeh’s murder investigation.”
If anyone could find a rifling match, it would be the Firearms/Toolmarks Unit at the FBI’s Quantico lab.
Kiley’s face lit up at the news. “Adam Garvin evaluated the slugs and casing, so he’s our guy at Quantico.”
Eisenhower wouldn’t be the one to send in the rifle. It would likely be Kiley, but Evan suspected she was so overjoyed and exhausted that she was saying whatever came to mind.
Eisenhower smiled at the group. “I want to commend everyone on the fine work. Especially you, Agent Dawson. You really stepped up to the plate as lead. Well done.”
The others applauded her. A flush of red washed over her face, and she waved a hand. “A leader is only as good as her team.”
“Okay, people,” Eisenhower said with a clap of his hands, “let’s get back to work and wrap up this investigation.”
The meeting broke up, and Kiley’s teammates congratulated her. Though everyone was exhausted, they would still need to write reports before they got any sleep, and that included Evan. But before he started on his account of the terrifying night, he was going to talk to Kiley. Alone.
He stood and, without a word, grabbed her hand to lead her from the building before anyone else asked for her time or attention.
“Where are we going?” she asked but didn’t try to stop him.
“For a walk.”
“I don’t have time for a walk. I need to—”
He pressed his finger against her lips. “It’ll only take a few minutes, and it’ll help to clear your head before you spend hours getting your thoughts down on paper.”
He led her outside and through the crazy number of people working the crime scene. He stepped onto the walkway at the top of the dam. The storm had broken and the night was clear now, the stars sparkling overhead.
She slowed. “This is ... I don’t like being up so high.”
He wrapped his good arm around her waist and pulled her close. “We’re perfectly safe.”
“Says the guy who rappelled off a bridge seventy stories high.”
He grinned. “You should try it sometime. It’s a rush.”
“No thank you.” As if trying to prove her point, she planted her feet on the concrete.
They’d moved far enough away from the big lights illuminating the crime scene and had a bit of privacy, so he didn’t force it. He slipped behind her and circled his arms around herwaist, drawing her back against his body. His injured arm ached with the movement, but he didn’t care. He needed to hold her. “Look up, not down.”
She raised her head. “Hard to believe we were in a torrential downpour a couple of hours ago. The sky is so clear. The stars so bright.”
