“I guess we should get to it,” Jake said, leaning down to check Max’s harness. “You’ll be okay here?”
Cassidy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. There was still a bomb strapped to her back. How okay did he want her to be?
But he meant well, and good intentions earned him the benefit of minimal snark. She inclined her head. “You go on. I need to call Emma Parker and see if she’s come up with anything,” she said, reaching for the phone Bud supplied.
“Emma’s the best we have when it comes to this sort of thing,” Aronson said with a nod of approval. “Let me know if the two of you come up with any leads.”
She forced a tight smile. “Will do.”
She watched as the two men and the dog moved to the edge of the platform and held on, measuring the pace of the increased velocity.
Jake and Max leaped first, the dog landing with far more grace than his partner. Aronson hesitated a beat too long, then opted to hang on for one more circuit. Not wanting to make him self-conscious, Cassidy made a point of looking away. He made the leap at last, and she lifted her head as soon as she heard his boots hit the asphalt with a slap.
Jake was by the commander’s side in an instant, offering a steadying arm. She watched as the two men made their way out of the warren of aluminum gates, their heads bent together in conversation. Max trotted along at Jake’s side, ears twitching and a spring in his step, clearly pleased to be back in the game.
Still, he turned to look at her.
And as if moving in synchronization, Jake did, too.
Cassidy lifted a hand in farewell then held up the mobile phone for them to see. She’d saved Special Agent Parker’s number when the two of them had spoken earlier in the day. And though she was entirely certain she agreed with the team commander’s decision to move forward with efforts to disarm the IEDs, it felt like they were finally making some progress in figuring this game out.
She sat back as much as the pack would allow and watched the world pass by. After a moment, she let her gaze go unfocused and her mind sharpened. There was something in the records. She knew it. The question was, would she be able to locate this particular perpetrator in her past?
Tapping the screen to place the call to the cyber crime specialist, she set her jaw. If whoever was on the other end of this wanted to move faster, so would they.
Emma Parker answered on the first ring. “Hey.” Her greeting was distracted. Clearly, she was in the depths of her research. “You were a busy bee in the service.”
“Just doing my job, ma’am.” Cassidy affected a laconic drawl. “And I’m still a busy bee. When I’m not being held hostage by bomb-building maniacs, that is. Have you found anything interesting?”
“I’ve isolated some of the more serious cases you worked on. Not finding any suspects with a background in explosives, but of course, these days it hardly matters. It’s not like the information isn’t out there for all to see.”
“It certainly is a popular topic for search engines,” she said. “I wonder if all those tech gurus anticipated their creations being used for nefarious purposes.”
Emma gave a soft snort. “Aside from their own nefarious purposes?”
“Well, yeah,” Cassidy conceded. “Read me some of the names and let me see if anything rings any alarm bells.”
“Ableton, Foster, Kozlowski, White…” Emma began. “They served the most time in military detention,” she added. “There are also those who got off with being dishonorably discharged as accessories to various crimes—Baker, Harlow, Inonichi, Lam—”
A few of the names rang vague bells in Cassidy’s memory. “Give me the gist on Kozlowski, White and Baker.”
“Looks like Kozlowski was multiple counts of Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer,” Emma revealed.
The moment the word “unbecoming” was out of her mouth, Cassidy recalled the details of Kozlowski’s case. “Ah, yes, Kozlowski. He was a training officer who liked to get a little too hands-on with his trainees,” she said with a scowl.
“Were you one?” Emma asked.
Cassidy shook her head with vehemence even though she knew the other woman could not see her. “No. I wasn’t involved in any way other than assisting with the arrest.”
“How about White? Looks like he was busted for discharging a firearm during a domestic disturbance,” Emma disclosed.
“Yeah, that was a mess.”
Cassidy recalled the scene. “Airman White was showing his girlfriend around on base when it became apparent she’d dated another airman in residence prior to meeting Mr. White. The two men exchanged words. We thought the situation was resolved, but Mr. White decided to retrieve an unauthorized weapon from his vehicle and threatened the other airman—”
“Tzarnik,” Emma interjected.
“Yes. He pointed the gun at Airman Tzarnik, but when his girlfriend screamed at him, he shifted his aim just enough to put a bullet in the side of a dumpster. Of course, with shots fired, the base went on lockdown. Another security officer was positioned behind the gunman and managed to tackle Airman White before he could get another shot off.”
