“All right, y’all,” Mama called out to the room. “Agent Cooper is here, so everybody dig in.”
Joshua was up and serving himself before Reggie could blink. How did he manage to be that messed up and that fast all at once? Bella gave a single joyous bark and joining Joshua at the buffet line.
She didn’t want to go up to the buffet right behind Joshua, but if she waited for Had to go first, she’d be next to Sariah. That was just as painful in its own way. So she went ahead and moved forward.
Then she caught sight of the food that was there, and all thoughts of social navigation went out of her head. The food in front of her was a glorious sight.
Some of the dishes, she wasn’t even sure she could identify. But there were grits, creamy and steaming, front and center. Following that dish, there were four full containers of meat. Bacon, link sausage, country sausage and… what was that last tray full of? Was that ham?
“Salt pork,” Had gushed. “Oh, Mama, you brought some.”
“Of course, sweetpea,” she answered. “I know it’s your favorite.”
Biscuits with country sausage gravy, scrambled eggs with something in them that Reggie couldn’t identify and some kind of hot grain cereal vied for her attention next. There was no way they could possibly eat all of this food.
And as if that weren’t enough, Mama was setting up a hotplate on the far end of the table, with a frying pan that was filled with… was that bacon fat? The woman fussed about for a moment, then called out to them.
“Oh, and if anyone wants some fried eggs with their grits…”
“Ooo! Me!” Had said, jumping the line and standing in front of his mother.
“Now, sugar, be polite,” she said, shaking her head.
But she was already in the process of frying up the eggs even as she reprimanded him. And the way she was frying them was like nothing Reggie had ever seen.
The layer of melted bacon fat in the pan was quite thick, and the eggs were sizzling away in the drippings. But then Mama took a metal spoon, scooped up some of the grease, and spooned it over the eggs. The hot liquid began to cook the top of the egg, without Mama having to flip it.
This was one step away from deep-frying the suckers.
And in spite of the fact that Reggie knew she should be grossed out by eggs that were essentially boiled in bacon grease, she wanted to order five of them. Instead, she contented herself with the two that Mama slid onto her plate after she was finished cooking Had’s.
As she carried the plate over to the table, Reggie worked her other arm around. Her old high-school injury was acting up again. She needed a massage. Bad.
“What’s this pink stuff in the scrambled eggs?” she asked as she set down her plate and got ready to dig in.
Had stared at her plate, then made eye contact with her. “You don’t want to know. Just eat and enjoy.”
In spite of the fact that the answer was not at all reassuring, the rest of the food was so good Reggie decided she’d give the mystery dish a try. She dug in with her fork, when a piercing sound rang out through the conference room.
It was Sariah’s cell phone.
Everyone froze, food halfway to their mouths. Well, everyone but Joshua, at least. He continued to shovel food into his mouth as if the state of the nation depended upon it.
Sariah answered her phone, listening with an intensity that gave Reggie a tiny thrill. There was something about the woman’s strength that was so compelling.
She mostly seemed to listen, with the occasional curt “yes” or “no” punctuation for what was otherwise a one-sided conversation. Reggie tried to listen without appearing to listen, shoveling some of the strange eggs into her mouth. It had an interesting texture, soft and spongy, but the taste was quite good.
And then Coop was off the phone and standing up.
“What’s the rush, darlin’?” Had’s mama asked, frowning.
“That was the CID,” the BAU agent answered, her mouth set in a grim line. “We have another situation.”
“They find more evidence?” Had asked, wiping his mouth and standing up.
“Well, yes and no,” Coop answered. “They found another body.”
All of the sudden, Reggie’s meal didn’t seem quite so appetizing.
CHAPTER 6
Leaving Mama with a room full of food had not been the best moment in Had’s life. And while she hadn’t said too much as they filed out, he knew that they would all pay the price for their negligence later on. Nothing overt, as there was no way that she could try to claim that her food trumped a murder investigation. But just enough passive-aggressive stuff to let everyone know they had screwed up.
Mama blew out a stream of air through her lips, pushing a lock of her hair up. It was something she did when she was irritated. Wonderful.
At least the fact that she needed to clean out the conference room meant that she wouldn’t be following them out to the base. All they needed right now was Mama somehow interfering with the case. She’d probably end up trying to flirt with Agent Klingler… or worse, Agent Shively.
Things were so strange this morning. He knew there was the whole aftermath of dealing with Joshua’s drinking, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t handled that before.
Something else was going on. Joshua wouldn’t seem to make eye contact with Agent Cooper or Reggie, and the two women were skulking about like they’d done something wrong. What the heck was wrong with everybody?
When Phoenix arrived to pick them up from the hotel, Had could see that she was excited to show off her new taxi. She jumped out of the car, a grin stretching from ear to ear, her pink hair vibrant against the fluorescent green tee shirt she was wearing. Bending down to greet Bella, she rubbed the Boxador’s ears, and Bella wagged her tail in response to the attention.
“Look!” she gushed, standing back up and pointing at the taxi. “Not only did I not get fired, but check out the sweet new cab I’m driving until they get the other one fixed!”
Had grinned at her. The taxicab was pretty nice, gleaming as if it were brand new. It might be, for all Had knew. He reached in to give Phoenix a high-five, which she returned with gusto.
The reaction from the rest of the team was a bit muted. But then again, the team seemed like they had all seen better times.
Joshua looked like he’d been hit by a bus. Coop had what looked like a perma-frown on her face. Reggie was staring back and forth between Coop and Joshua as if she didn’t know how to fix whatever was wrong here.
None of them said word one to Phoenix. After another beat or two, the pink-haired woman seemed to realize this, and her smile diminished by a watt or two.
“Okay, well… where am I taking this sad-sack of a group?” she asked while heading back over to get inside the vehicle.
“We’re going back to the base,” Had answered, trying to apologize with his expression. That was a lot harder than he would have expected, and there was no way to know for sure if she’d picked up on his covert signals. “There’s been another murder.”
Agent Cooper turned around and glared at him, and Had realized that he shouldn’t be sharing the details of their investigation. Of course not. That was a rookie mistake.
It was just that Phoenix seemed like such a part of their team. He cursed himself inwardly. Maybe there was something he could do to make it better.
“I mean, there’s been an alleged murder.” That made it better, right?
From Coop’s look, he was thinking maybe not. Well, at least he had tried.
As for Phoenix, it seemed that it would take more than a gloomy team riding in her cab to get her down. She grinned at Had in the rear-view mirror.
“Alleged murder. Gotcha.” She pursed her lips as she shoved a CD into her player. “How would you guys feel if I dropped you off at the gate this time? You know… just in case?”
The sounds of Sinatra’s “Witchcraft” sounded through the car as Phoenix turned to Agent Cooper, looking for a response. There was non
e forthcoming.
“Seriously, who died?” There was another pause. “That was a joke. Get it? You’re on the way to a… You know what, my bad. Sorry.” She spoke over her shoulder to Had in a stage-whisper. “I never really learned how to read a room. Used to get me in trouble with my C.O. all the time.”
Bella shifted a bit from her position sprawled across the legs of Had, Joshua and Reggie just enough to lick at Phoenix’s cheek. Their driver squealed in delight at the doggy kiss and turned around to focus more on where they were going.
Had chuckled in response. Maybe no one else was in the right mood to appreciate their driver’s sense of humor, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from enjoying it.
They moved through the streets of Columbia, eventually taking the entrance ramp to merge onto I-77. That was the freeway that would take them all the way down to Fort Jackson. It wasn’t much more than a ten-minute drive.
Staring out the window, Had watched as a black sedan pulled up alongside the cab. It was sleek and polished, with dark windows through which Had could see nothing, even considering the bright morning sunshine.
Wasn’t that kind of tinting illegal? Seemed like something he’d read had said that in South Carolina you couldn’t have more than 27% tinting on the windows. Someone should tell them before they got a ticket.
Had was about to say something about that, when the car beside them swerved toward them. Letting out a yell that ended up sounding more like a shriek, Had pushed back away from his own door, shoving against Bella to get her to move as well. He braced for the impact…
…that never came. Somehow, Phoenix had seen what was happening and managed to dart over into the shoulder of the road. At the same moment, she’d slammed on the brakes, causing the black vehicle to surge up in front of them.
“Take down the plate number!” Phoenix yelled as she steered them back onto the road. “That asswipe needs to go down!”
Had pulled out his cellphone and was about to take a picture, when the black sedan slowed down once more, coming alongside their taxi again. Phoenix muttered something decidedly unladylike and gunned the engine.
“Don’t let him come alongside,” Sariah panted as she pulled out her sidearm. “We don’t want him running us off the road.”
“Really?” Phoenix yelled back. “I was thinking that was the perfect plan.” She turned her attention to the sedan that was once more gaining on them, this time from right behind. “Oh no, you don’t.”
The pink-haired driver punched the acceleration on their vehicle, propelling all of them back into their seats. The car behind them fell away for a moment, but then started narrowing the gap between them within seconds.
“What kind of engine does that thing have under its hood?” Phoenix growled as she swerved in and out of lanes.
Cars around them honked and drivers waved fists as they passed, but somehow Had couldn’t bring himself to feel bad about any of it. They were running for their lives at this point.
“Get up in front of this truck,” Reggie cried, pointing to a semi that was in the middle lane, “and then see if we can pull around on the other side of it.”
“Good plan,” their driver said, hitting the acceleration once more. “There is no way my boss’ll let even a scratch slide this time.”
She came up level with the truck, then just past it. Tires screeched as Phoenix pulled hard on the wheel, whipping their vehicle to the other side of the semi.
“There’s an exit!” Joshua called out from the other side of the backseat from Had. “Take it! Get off now!”
And then they were on the ramp leading off of the freeway, watching the black sedan zip past them, still stuck on the thoroughfare. The car slowed, drifting to a halt as Phoenix steered the vehicle onto the side of the road.
“Not a scratch on her,” she crowed, turning to where the sedan was disappearing off into the distance. She raised both her middle fingers to flip off the retreating form of the car that had housed their attacker. “Suck on that, buttmunch!”
While Had agreed with her that the driving had been impressive, he was more troubled by what would happen next. Someone had now fired on them twice and chased them in a car once. When he realized that neither one was effective, what methods would the killer turn to next?
“Did anyone get the plates?” Coop asked, turning around in her seat, looking from one team member to the next.
Had’s heart sank as he realized that he had missed the opportunity. Just one quick picture was all they would’ve needed.
But Joshua was quick to step into the void in speech Had was leaving. “I saw it. I’ve got it up here.” He tapped at his temple.
“Good,” Coop answered, but her tone seemed to be saying that it was anything but good. “Call it in. See who the plates belong to.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he grunted, shifting Bella’s butt off his legs for a moment.
“What do you mean?” the BAU agent shot back. “We need to find out who was driving that car.”
“Well, you’re going to have to figure that out without the license plate,” he answered, his tone caustic. “Those are fake plates.”
“What are you talking about?” Reggie butted in. “They looked real enough to me.”
Joshua glared at her. What was that about? Reggie had always seemed to have a soft spot for the former agent. There was something going on here, and Had wasn’t liking it one bit.
“Look at the other cars around us,” Joshua urged. “See how many numbers and letters there are?”
Had watched as a sports car zipped around them, coming to a stop at the bottom of the exit ramp. There were three letters, followed by three numbers.
Joshua continued. “The plates for that sedan had six, just like all the others, but instead of the numbers and letters being separate, they were all mixed together.”
That was true. While Had’s phone hadn’t been quick enough to grab the photo, he remembered looking and seeing the first few digits. E7K.
Fake.
This was not good. Not good at all. Someone had now tried to kill them three times, and they were no closer to figuring out who it was.
* * *
Something was bothering Joshua.
Okay, that was an understatement. A whole hell of a lot of things were bothering him. But one thing right now kept rolling around in his brain.
Someone had known they were headed out to the base.
More than that, actually. Someone had known where they were staying, had known they were going out to Fort Jackson, and had waited for them on the highway.
That spoke of inside information.
“Who were you talking to, back at the hotel? The call from the CID?” he asked Agent Cooper
For a moment, her face was blank. Then she seemed to pick up on what he was saying.
“It was Agent Klingler’s number, but I’m not sure that it sounded like him, now that I think about it.”
“Did he identify himself?”
“No.”
That alone was strange. Anyone in law enforcement from any agency or department should be transparent about their identity. Too much hinged on possible accusations from suspects. Any whiff of law enforcement pretending to be someone they weren’t could scuttle a case. It was something ingrained into the fabric of just about everyone Joshua’d ever worked with over the years.
This had not been a mistake.
Someone was feeding information on the team’s whereabouts to their attacker. Or their attacker was a part of the investigation. Either way, they were compromised.
“This just means we need to get out to the base even faster,” Agent Cooper was arguing. “Check Klingler’s phone. Find out who on his team has gone missing or has stepped away for a bit.”
Everything Coop was saying made sense. So why was Joshua feeling so antsy? Could it just be the aftereffects of his binge last night?
Bella whined, sensing his discomfort, and he scratched her head in an absent fashion. The f
ur under his hand was soft and warm, a comfort to him in a time when it felt that there was no comfort. No safe haven.
Haven.
That was it.
“Turn around!” he barked out to their driver.
Phoenix’s eyes found his in the rear view mirror. Whatever she saw there convinced her that his fear was serious enough to countermand Agent Cooper.
But for her part, the BAU agent hadn’t quite gotten up to speed. “What are you talking about? There’s a body out there!”
“And there may be a body back at the hotel if we don’t get there and fast.”
Coop’s face tightened into a small frown. “Explain.”
Joshua sat forward, the urgency growing in his chest. This had gone from a gut reaction to a full-blown theory fast. His instincts were telling him he was right. Now he had to convince Agent Cooper.
“We were sent out into an attack.”
Coop’s pupils narrowed to pinpoints at that. Joshua would give her one thing. She wasn’t slow on the uptake.
“But that’s all the more reason we should get out--” she began.
Joshua cut her off, his tone savage. “The attack was a diversion. Hoping that we’d do exactly what we almost did.” Coop’s expression didn’t change, and Joshua pushed harder. “If they’d really wanted to get rid of us, why didn’t they shoot at us this time?”
That one made an impact. Agent Cooper sucked air in through her teeth.
“Still, that doesn’t explain why--”
“Dammit, Coop, think about it!” he snarled. “Why do all this? Why chase us down, almost force us off the road, but never fire a shot? We are being set up.”
“For what?” she snapped back, irritated.
That was the question. It was one that Joshua had been asking himself from the moment he realized this whole scenario had been one huge bait and switch.
And there was only one answer. He glanced over at Had, whose face had bled itself of all color. Coop may not have made the leap, but the young officer had.
“They’re after Mama,” he whispered, stricken.
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