Finn caught her excitement. “Sounds like a promising lead.”
“So this Dr. Fox has a lead for us?” Russ asked, direct and to the point as usual.
“She does,” Finn said.
“Great.” Ryleigh smiled. “Not only will we have even more to go on, but it’ll be good to meet her too.”
Finn led the way to the back of the site where Sierra had returned to recover additional forensics, and Winter stood next to her. They both wore protective white suits, blue booties, and white masks, all dirty with black soot and grime. During Finn’s shift, he’d found Winter interesting to watch. She had dark hair to her shoulders that she’d almost angrily pulled back when she’d set to work, and a very intent stare. Not just when she was observing evidence, but Finn had noticed she seemed intense all the time, even during breaks.
She looked up, as did Sierra, who nodded a greeting. Winter didn’t nod, but she lifted her mask and stepped forward. She ripped off one of her gloves and held out her hand to Ryleigh. “You must be Ryleigh, who Finn has told me all about. I’m Dr. Winter Fox. Veritas Center’s forensic palynologist.”
“Thank you for coming.” Ryleigh shook hands and then stepped back.
“Are you kidding?” Winter said. “I’m glad to be here. This kind of scene challenges my skills.”
Russ introduced himself, and they shook hands as well. “What do you have for us?”
Sierra joined them. “Before Winter shares her findings, I wanted to tell you that we were unable to lift any full fingerprints from the recovered bomb fragments, including the photoelectric cell. We did find a partial, but not enough to search the database.”
Ryleigh frowned. “I was hoping for prints.”
“As were we,” Sierra said. “And I promise you we did our best. We did however recover DNA from the partial print, and Emory started running it last night. We should have the results sometime tonight.”
“That’s hopeful, then.” Ryleigh smiled.
Sierra nodded. “Wedidrecover fingerprints from Carla Nye’s documents. Hers, which are in the database from a protest arrest. And another set of prints lifted from the bomb schematics. Those prints were also in the system from protest arrests for a Dean Keenan.”
“No other prints?” Ryleigh asked.
“No.”
“And Keenan’s and Carla’s prints both matched to their names?” Russ asked.
“Yes.”
“Then we know they weren’t going under assumed names,” Russ said. “That could’ve changed though. We need to be open to the possibility that they’re both now using assumed identities to fly under the radar.”
“But we now know for sure that Keenan touched the schematics,” Finn said, his mind awash with the possibilities. “They could be his plans, and she stole them from him. But what I still don’t get is why she didn’t take the items with her.”
“Maybe she left them behind as an insurance policy,” Ryleigh suggested.
Russ cocked his head. “You mean like if he wanted to kill her, he couldn’t until he had the plans in hand that could implicate him in a bombing.”
Ryleigh nodded, her gaze locking with Russ’s. “We really need to find her.”
“We will.” His shoulders rose. “You can count on that. Maybe the alert will help.”
“Nick and Colin are working on getting additional information on both of them,” Sierra said. “It’s nearly impossible today to live without at least one connection on the web, and she’s bound to slip up somehow. When she does, one of them will catch her in their algorithms.”
Ryleigh’s expression brightened, likely excitement from her IT background. Finn honestly found all the internet searching boring, but the data Colin and Nick provided was priceless in today’s electronic world. Plus, this kind of surveillance was very efficient. With some keystrokes, Colin or Nick could provide information that would take a person weeks, maybe months, to locate with boots on the ground. If they found the data at all.
Finn had never been sent on an op as a SEAL without detailed analysis of intel found in the cyber universe, but he also personally surveilled his target or their allies whenever possible.
“Thank you for making the extra trip to your lab to process the items,” Ryleigh said.
“Gave me a chance to see my hubby.” Sierra looked at Winter. “You’re on.”
“Before you start, Dr. Fox.” Russ took a step closer. “I’ve never heard of a palynologist, so give me the low down.”
