* * *
Sariah watched as Agent Klingler headed back to the welcome center to gather the rest of his team from CID. It appeared that Sariah and her group had caught them in the middle of lunch, so Klingler had wanted to give them a chance to eat before joining in with everyone else.
That was the kind of thing a good leader did, Sariah had to admit. At first, she hadn’t been too sure about this CID agent, but he was turning out to be a decent man.
Had was off to the side of the group, just getting off the phone with someone. His face was paler than Sariah had seen it in a while. Was he not feeling well? The last time she’d seen him like this was…
Well, it had been the last time his mother had come into town.
Wait.
She remembered the conversation she’d interrupted earlier. Was Mama coming out to visit again? That was definitely something she was going to have to check on. There were some major boundary issues with that woman.
Turning around, Sariah caught Reggie staring off after Agent Klinger, just as Sariah herself had been doing a moment ago. It caused some kind of a reaction in her that she couldn’t immediately identify. Was it simple curiosity, like Sariah’s? Or did Reggie find the man attractive?
Officer Regina Black was a bit of an enigma to Sariah. At once capable, intelligent and strong, she seemed to go young every time an older man entered the scene. Joshua. Klingler. It seemed simplistic to assign the “daddy issues” identifier to the scenario, but it was the closest thing Sariah could come up with.
But there was something else about the woman that belied that assessment. Reggie shook her head and spun on her heel, catching Sariah’s eye as she did so. A grin sprang up on her face, and Sariah blushed, embarrassed for some reason that she’d been caught watching the younger officer.
There it was. The other side to Reggie. There might be problems there, most likely were, in fact. But she didn’t seem to let those things get in the way of her living her life to the hilt.
Moments before Klingler disappeared from view, a woman passed by him, nodding as they drew near. Klingler acknowledged the nod with one of his own.
Part of his team, finished early with her lunch? The woman made a beeline over to their group.
“You’re with the BAU, right?” she said, extending a hand.
The woman was a bit more casual than Agent Klingler in his suit, but still well put together. A bright blue blouse over a pair of charcoal slacks, with flats instead of heels. Fashion meeting functionality. Her brunette hair was cut short in a style that should have been severe, but ended up complimenting her features with precision.
It was an expensive cut that was made to look like it wasn’t. Understated, just like the rest of her.
Her handshake was similar. Nothing you would notice, but there was strength in it. This was someone that flew under the radar. Someone used to not getting noticed, and who liked it that way.
Sariah decided that she wouldn’t be one to make that mistake.
“I’m Bailey Truscott,” she said with an open face. Again, nothing too overt, just enough to be pleasant without sticking in anyone’s memory.
“Agent Truscott? I’m Agent Cooper,” Sariah said, introducing herself. “You’re with Agent Klingler’s team?”
“Please. Call me Bailey.” The woman pulled out a sheaf of papers, glancing over them. “Just coming back with some results from the lab.”
“Forensics team?” Sariah asked, giving the woman an assessing gaze.
Bailey cleared her throat and peered at Sariah over the papers in her hands. “I did some pushing.”
“That’s good to hear,” Sariah answered. “What did you find?”
“It was definitely the Private’s blood at the scene,” Bailey answered. “So at least we know we’ve been looking in the right place.”
“Anything else they were able to tell you?” Reggie asked at Sariah’s elbow.
When had she moved there? Sariah could feel the officer’s presence at her side, and it threw off her train of thought for a moment. What had she been thinking of?
Right. Evidence.
“Yes,” Sariah said, clearing her throat. “Was there any other DNA evidence there? I know there were defensive wounds.”
Bailey shook her head. “Nothing there, unfortunately. That was one of the things I checked first. That could’ve been a real help.”
“But just getting confirmation on the scene is a good step in the right direction,” Sariah said.
“Hey, I’m just getting started. There were some footprints around the area that I managed to cast, even though the scene wasn’t kept pristine. Could be from later on, but I think they might be significant. Managed to find one that was still intact. Size ten and a half Nike.”
The woman was impressive. Sariah began to see that the woman’s desire not to draw attention to herself could be a result of wanting her work to speak for itself. She was an attractive woman, and Sariah knew well what that could feel like in a very masculine work environment.
“Good work, Bailey.” She gave the woman an assessing gaze. “Wish we had someone like you on our team. We lost our crime scene investigator recently.”
She said the words, only realizing after they were out of her mouth how they might affect Joshua. Trying not to be obvious about it, she glanced at the former agent. His face was pale and his jaw was clenched, but that wasn’t atypical. It was always hard to know when Joshua was upset about something, especially when he was drinking.
Catching sight of Joshua’s hand, Sariah realized he was shaking. DTs. He was drying out again.
To be honest, Sariah wasn’t sure which was worse at this point. She wanted him to get sober, of course. But this up and down that was happening was exhausting. It was almost easier to deal with the man when he was constantly drunk.
Shaking her head, Sariah turned back to Bailey, who seemed to be mulling over something in her head, at least by her expression. The woman’s mouth was pursed, and she was looking at Sariah intently.
“Are you serious?” she asked. “Because I have some furlough coming to me.”
Sariah took a step back, surprised. “Well, yes, actually. I mean, I wasn’t really trying to hire you out from under--”
“No, no, of course not,” Bailey answered, waving her hand in dismissal, her face bright with what looked like embarrassment. “Forget I said anything.”
“Now hold on. I was serious about needing someone like you on our team,” Sariah insisted, stopping her. “I just don’t want to cause any tension between myself and Agent Klingler. But I’d be more than happy to ask if he can spare you for a while.”
“Really?” she asked, beaming. “I’ve always wanted to work with the BAU.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to him.”
“Actually, don’t worry about that. I can take care of it.” Bailey nodded off in the direction of the welcome center. “I’ll just tell him I’m taking my furlough to help you guys out.”
“Won’t he need you on this case?”
She shook her head. “Shouldn’t be an issue. He’s got another CSI person on his team already. I’m kind of redundant.”
Sariah smiled at the woman. “I doubt that very much.”
Bailey gave her a grin in return. Looked like the team might have their very own CSI once more, at least on a temporary basis.
But this time, one who wasn’t a psychotic killer who turned out to be Joshua’s daughter that Sariah would end up having to kill. That was an important difference.
* * *
Agent Klingler’s team had returned without Klingler… apparently he was waiting on one of their number who was a slow eater… and now everyone was hiking out to the place he’d identified as the spot where the killer might have gotten into the base. He’d given directions to a young man who identified himself as Agent Shively.
The guy seemed like a total putz. Where at least Agent Klingler had experience to back him up in his kind of arrogant, buttoned-down prickis
hness, this guy was just the prick without the backup.
Even his suit was ostentatious. Some designer name that he’d probably picked up at an outlet somewhere and tailored to fit him. The creases in the guy’s slacks looked like he could cut steak with them, and the look he directed at Coop’s team was just short of overt insolence.
And his attitude seemed to permeate the rest of the CID team. The two groups were staying apart from one another as much as they could, but the terrain kept forcing them together.
Awkward.
They were now headed through another wooded area of the base. That appeared to be the vast majority of the land here. A perfect place for practicing maneuvers. They’d passed by a group of recruits doing just that, the poor trainees looking like they might die at any moment.
That wasn’t far off from how Joshua was feeling himself.
The tremors had gotten worse. So far, Joshua was pretty sure he’d managed to keep it to himself, but Reggie’d given him a few odd looks. He shoved the hand that wasn’t holding Bella’s leash into his pocket.
Jack fell down and broke his crown…
At least his dog seemed to be having fun. Bella kept nosing around the area, finding one treasure after another. As far as Joshua could see, they were all just different plants, but she certainly seemed excited about them. Her tail was waving a mile a minute.
Joshua felt a smile forming on his face, in spite of everything else that was going on right now. In spite of the memories bouncing around in his head.
He glanced over at Bailey, the newest pseudo-addition to the team. Granted, it looked like this was a temporary thing, but her presence was an irritant. Some itch just under the surface of his skin that he couldn’t get to. He couldn’t help but think of Agent Lobo every time he saw this new woman’s face.
Strange how he still thought of their previous CSI as Agent Lobo instead of as Livvie, his long-lost daughter. It was like she was two different people in his mind.
There was the amazing investigator that had seemed to be helping the team. The one that he’d admired, even liked.
And then there was Livvie. His broken, precious baby girl. So far gone that she’d been willing to take him out without a qualm, her beautiful face marred by the anger and hatred he’d seen there.
And Jill came tumbling after…
It was only through Coop’s interference that Joshua was here at all. He was here and she was not.
And that, more than anything else, was what was truly unforgiveable.
“You’re Agent Joshua Wright, aren’t you?” Bailey asked him.
Joshua started. A moment before, he’d been observing her from afar, now she was right at his elbow. He must have been more lost in his thoughts than he’d realized.
“Ah… yes. I’m Joshua. No ‘agent’, though. That was a long time ago.”
“Right,” she said, nodding her head and frowning. “Sorry about that. I wasn’t going to do this, but…” She seemed to gather herself up. “It’s just that I know all about you. Studied your work on Humpty Dumpty, back all that time ago.”
“Right.” There really wasn’t much to say on that account, so Joshua just kept walking along, hoping against hope that this woman would just stop talking.
No such luck.
“It’s just that you were doing such amazing work, you know? You were right on his trail, just about to catch the guy…” Bailey trailed off, more than likely realizing where her train of thought was about to take her.
So Joshua decided to do her the favor of going there himself. “Until he found my family, slaughtered them in a park bathroom and ran them through a wood chipper.”
Her face blanched, and Joshua felt a thrill of something dark run through him. Vindication? Possibly.
And then he watched as a single tear rolled down the woman’s cheek. She brushed it away, her manner brusque, businesslike. Trying to hide her response to his harsh and overly direct words.
Dammit.
He sighed. “Knock it off,” Joshua muttered. “They’ve been dead for a long time.”
There was a wrench in his gut as he realized that statement wasn’t true. They hadn’t all been dead. For just a moment, Livvie’s face was there in front of his vision once more.
At least it was until a bullet tore through his line of sight, splintering the wood of the tree in front of him. The retort of the shot came right on the heels of the mini-explosion, causing Joshua and all the rest of the two teams to fall to the ground.
“We’re under fire!” one of Klingler’s team yelled into a cell phone. Probably talking to Klingler, as a matter of fact. “We need backup out here, fast!”
But backup wouldn’t be fast enough to help them figure out who was firing on them. This was the second time today Joshua had been in the middle of a pitched battle with an unseen assailant.
To be honest about it, the whole thing was kind of pissing him off. And when Joshua got pissed off, he did one of two things. He either drank a lot of whatever he could find, or he took action.
And right now, he didn’t see any bottles around.
“Okay, I’m going after this bastard,” he growled.
Bailey did a double take, staring after him as he stood up behind the tree that had been hit. Another shot rang out, and it took out more bark, this time three feet away from where Joshua stood.
“Stay down,” he hissed at Bailey, who was standing up beside him.
She ignored his warning, hiding herself behind the next tree over. “It looks like the shots are coming from over there,” she said, pointing off into the woods. There was a slight rise in the land in that direction, which could be giving the shooter a little bit more of a vantage point.
Good call on her part.
Bella had gone into her serious mode, which meant that her usually exuberant behavior had morphed into stillness marked by moments of deliberate and direct action. Her fur bristled, and a growl issued from her throat.
And Joshua thought she had never been more beautiful.
He was just about to dart to the next tree over, when Bailey bent down and pulled a gun out from an ankle strap. She hefted the weapon, and then tossed it over to him.
“Noticed you didn’t have a piece,” she called out.
Who was this girl? She was CSI, but she was packing heat, with not just one, but at least two guns on her person. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.
He held the gun in his hand, the weight both strange and familiar at once. At least now he was going after this asshole with the odds evened out a bit.
His body tensed in anticipation of his next move forward, when Bella pulled against her leash. Distracted by the shooter, Joshua had released his firm grip on the lead, and the handle ripped out of his palm.
Bella sprang out of their cover, racing off in the direction of the shots that had been fired. Darting around the trees, the dog was a brown blur, a thing of graceful beauty and deadly intent.
“Bella! No!” Joshua screamed out.
Even as he sprinted off after his beloved dog, he heard Coop’s voice ringing in his ear. “Stay put, Joshua!”
He ignored her. What else could he do? Bella was out there and exposed to danger. He wasn’t about to leave her to it.
Racing as fast as he could, Joshua felt his body rebelling against the sudden exertion. His head pounded and his vision narrowed, stray spots appearing before his eyes at one point.
He could not pass out. He would not allow himself to pass out.
Another crack sounded nearby, and the bark of the tree Joshua was passing shattered outward, striking him on the side of his face. The retorts sounded like they were getting closer. And as they got closer, the shots were becoming more accurate.
The sniper had to be in the vicinity.
Bella barked once, a sharp sound that seemed to be a call to Joshua. He increased his efforts, his entire body protesting with every fiber and sinew.
He rounded a tree as a dark figure darted off through the under
brush about 50 meters ahead. The shooter! Joshua put on a burst of speed. If he could just catch up to the man before he managed to…
There was another retort from the sniper’s gun, followed by a yelp from Bella as she crumpled to the ground.
No.
Time seemed to slow as he watched his canine companion tumble over and over before landing in the middle of a large bush. Joshua felt his heart leap into his mouth as he changed directions mid-step, rushing over to help his fallen friend.
Sniper be damned. Bella was hurt.
* * *
Reggie found Joshua kneeling on the ground with Bella’s head in his lap. For a brief moment, it felt like the ground dropped out from beneath her. And then she saw Bella reach out a pink tongue to lick Joshua on the face.
She was alive.
Glancing over the dog’s body, Reggie could see where the bullet had struck her. From what she was seeing, it looked like the shot had simply grazed her.
Looking into Joshua’s face, she could see that he had made the same realization. But that awareness did not seem to have given Joshua any peace. His face was drawn, and he licked his lips. Tears unshed stood out in his eyes, and Reggie could see how much control he was exerting not to fall apart.
“It’s okay,” she said. “She’s going to be all right. She’s okay. Look at her.” Bella looked up at Reggie with her tongue lolling out, her tail wagging with strong thumps on the ground.
“I know that,” he responded, but still without any lightening of the pain in his eyes. “But what if…”
And then Reggie recognized what was happening here. This wasn’t about what had happened, but what could have happened.
“Don’t think about that,” she urged him, knowing that her words would mean little in the face of the danger to Bella. “She’s okay. Nothing happened.”
“Did you find him?” Agent Cooper called out, bursting onto the scene, her breath heavy from having raced over to join them.
Reggie made a cutting motion with her hand across her neck, trying to get Coop to leave off that line of questioning. But the damage was already done. Joshua had heard and his face was stiffening up.
“Bella’s fine, thanks,” he growled, glaring up at the BAU agent.
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