“I’m not familiar with these men,” she said.
“They’re from Virginia Beach. Were radicalized by ISIS about a year ago when one of their uncles was killed in Iraq. He was taken out by U.S.-trained forces, though our military had no actual role in the death. Still, they blame us and want to make us pay.”
“A powerful motive for retaliating,” Kiley said. “Do you have their prints or DNA?”
“No. They moved to Iraq six months ago and weren’t on our radar until recently. They’ve been spouting terrorist propaganda as the foreign arm of a radical faction called The Righteous.”
Evan shot Kiley a surprised look. “Nasim Waleed’s group.”
“That’s right,” Quinn said. “I take it you’re familiar with him.”
“We just talked to him,” Evan said.
Quinn went quiet for a long moment. “Not about the bombing or these suspects, I hope.”
“No,” Kiley said, giving Evan a pointed look that told him to keep their conversation with Waleed to himself. “But sounds like we need to go back to see him again.”
“Look,” Quinn snapped, “you’re cleared to be read in on this incident, and I’ve been told to give you everything you need. Came down from the director himself. So you have pull. I get that, and I can’t stop you from questioning Waleed concerning the bombing. But one word of this to him, and you could be sabotaging my investigation, and two bombers could walk free.”
Kiley glanced at Evan, a question in her eyes. He wanted to honor Quinn’s request, but more than that, he wanted to nail Waleed to the wall. “You have any proof Waleed was involved in the bombing?”
“Not yet,” Quinn replied.
Evan looked at Kiley and shook his head.
“We’ll discuss it,” Kiley said, apparently not caring for Evan’s response, “and give you a heads-up if we plan to talk to Waleed again.”
“See that you do.”
The call ended, and the screen went black.
Kiley glanced back at Evan. “You don’t think we should talk to Waleed?”
He firmed his shoulders for an argument. “Not yet. Not when there’s no evidence of his connection to these men. Like Quinn said, talking to Waleed now might spook him. Let your super team find the evidence we need andthenwe go back and nail him.”
He waited for the argument, but instead she simply nodded and told CarPlay to text the team. “Find everything you can on Bilal and Gadi Amari. Homegrown terrorists affiliated with ISIS and members of The Righteous. Suspected of Pittsburgh bombing. And maybe ... just maybe our pair of terrorists.”
CHAPTER 16
KILEY STRODE DOWN THE HALLof her office building, heading toward her cubicle. They’d dropped off the journals and Waleed’s drink cup with a forensic tech, and he promised to call the minute he finished printing and lifting DNA from the journals so Evan could copy them and begin reviewing them.
She sank into her ergonomic desk chair that she often thought resembled a spider. She’d been gone less than two days, but it felt much longer. Could be because she was awake for most of the time. Or it could be because of the pressure of the investigation and the threat of an unbelievably large number of people dying. It made each minute seem more precious than gold, and as she spent them, the weight grew heavier and heavier.
Evan stood at her cubicle entrance, staring at her. “You okay?”
“Fine.” She sidestepped his concern as it would do no good to talk about her feelings. Hoping he would sit down and quit looking at her, she pointed at the side chair.
He remained standing and let his gaze rove over the area. “So this is where the hotshot RED team works.”
“You don’t sound overly impressed.”
“Well?” He shrugged.
“Not real fancy, is it?” With the red carpet treatment they received, he probably thought they occupied a very plush office, when in fact the space was extremely ordinary. “You’d be impressed if you saw all our toys, though.”
He grinned, his wide smile cutting right to her heart. She clasped the spider arms of her chair to keep from doing something dumb like taking his hand and holding it.
Feeling too closed in with him, she shot to her feet. “I’m gonna grab a cup of coffee. Want one?”
