by Donna Raider
“I believe the flight manifest listed him as Federal Air Marshal Lincoln Crockett.” Ames smiled.
Sara nodded.
“Did he tell you that was his name?” Ames asked.
“Yes.” Sara frowned. “Lincoln Crockett.”
“Where did he say he was flying to next?” Ames continued.
Sara frowned, thinking for a minute before she answered. “San Francisco, I believe,” she said.
“That was fast thinking on your part.” Ames smiled at Sara. “It says here you locked yourself in the lavatory and cut a hole through the side of the plane to shove out the cellphone.”
Sara nodded.
“What did you use to cut the hole?” Ames’s question was quick. He was trying to fluster her.
“A knife from the galley,” she answered just as quickly.
“You’re a doctor?” Ames asked.
“Yes.” Sara nodded.
“What kind of doctor?” Ames continued his rapid-fire questions.
“Genetic research,” Sara answered.
“What were you doing in Peru?” Ames was firing questions faster.
“Research.” Sara glared at him. The man was ridiculous. She could tell by the way he shot-gunned his questions that he didn’t care how she answered. He was headed in a specific direction.
Mika moved slightly toward Ames, but her wife’s hand on her arm stilled her.
“Where did you meet Lincoln Crockett?” Ames asked.
“On the airplane.”
“That was the first time you had ever met Crocket?” he pushed.
“First and only,” Sara barked.
“What was he carrying?” Ames asked.
“He had a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist.” Sara grimaced.
“Was there anything unusual about the briefcase, any special markings?” The agent was almost in Sara’s face now.
“It bore the papal seal,” Sara answered. “He said he was delivering it to the Miami Archbishop. What is going on here? What are you after, Agent Ames?”
Grant Ames looked at the beautiful young woman, perhaps five years his junior. She was extremely poised.
“I’m sorry, Miss Cross.” He glanced down at his pad as he scribbled some notes on it. “Thank you for your cooperation.”
Sensing that she had been dismissed, Sara stood. “Typical,” she growled as she turned and left the room with her parents in tow.
##
“What the hell was that all about?” Carlie hissed at the agent. “You drag decent, upstanding citizens in here and interrogate them as if they were common criminals. No wonder people don’t trust our government.”
Grant Ames held up his hands as if to ward off her attack. He shook his head and sighed heavily. “We do not have, nor have we ever had, an Air Marshal named Lincoln Crockett.”
“What?” a stunned Carlie gasped.
“Lincoln Crockett is not a US Federal Air Marshal,” Ames continued. “The man simply does not exist. We have run his photo through every data bank known to man and came up with nothing. I have watched the video from the plane a dozen times. He’s a trained killer—much better than any of our guys.” He opened his computer and played the video.
“Watch how easily he snaps the neck of the terrorist. He is incredibly strong and faster than the man, stopping him before he can move his finger to pull the trigger. The idiot never knew what hit him.” Ames watched the video as Watcher moved so quickly, he was a blur. “After everything is under control, he removes the briefcase from the pole and attaches it to himself. He takes Miss Cross a drink as if nothing has happened. They chat the rest of the way to Miami then she follows him from the plane. Cameras pick them up in another terminal, dining together. Then he sees her to her gate and watches her board the plane. He walks out of the terminal and disappears.”
Carlie stared at the video as Ames zoomed in on the briefcase. The seal on the side of the briefcase was clearly the papal seal.
“He had a forged marshal’s identification and a passport good enough to fool the customs agents in Peru and Miami. His face is not in any passport database,” Ames continued. “The Miami Diocese knows nothing of him, and he certainly did not deliver anything to them.
“Hey, now I know where I’ve seen her!” Ames grinned. “She’s Leah Redman. She plays you in the TV series Marked for Murder. God, she is much more beautiful and terrifying up close.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Carlie growled. “You and your dumbass questions have probably just cost me the friendship of her and her family. I hope it was worth it.”
“Not really.” Ames shrugged. “We will follow up on his going to San Francisco, but he was probably lying to her.”
After Ames left, Carlie made copious notes in her Catholic Murders journal. She knew Marshal Lincoln Crockett was connected to the Catholic Murders. Damned Catholics.
##
A month had passed since he had disposed of the three men in Lima. Watcher ran his hand over the stubble of hair that now covered his head. He looked like a baby chick. He grinned. It had been a long time since he had seen the yellow of his thick blond hair. He had shaved all his facial hair. For the first time in years, everything about him was natural. It felt good being himself. He said his name aloud. He liked his name. He always had. It had been his father’s name. His father had always called him his good omen.
Jax brought his leash. The dog wanted to go for a walk. So did Watcher.
When he left Sara Cross in the Miami airport, he had purchased a car, using some of the cash in the briefcase. He then drove to Santa Fe. He drove carefully, never breaking the speed limit. The last thing he needed was to be pulled over by a local cop. It had taken him five days to reach Jax, but for the first time in a long time, another living creature was important to him. He did the same thing driving from Santa Fe to New York. In no hurry, he had stopped along the way and done some sightseeing with his dog. It had taken Jax and him a month to get back home.
Today he had followed the Cross family and their friends to Coney Island. Although he had been in New York for several years, he had never visited the beach area.
He had intended to steal a look at Sara but was totally captivated by one of her sisters. She was the image of her mother. Darkly beautiful and as graceful as any queen Watcher had ever seen, and he had seen several queens in his long life.
He couldn’t see her eyes. She was wearing sunglasses.
He desperately wanted to know her name.
END BOOK THREE
Marked for Murder Book 4
Mika & Leah Cross Saga
will be available on Amazon in February.
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Books by Donna Raider
The Mika & Leah Cross Saga
A Twist in Time – Book 1
A Twist of Fate – Book 2
Marked for Murder – Book 3
Marked for Murder Continues – Book 4