“I can’t give you any more details, but I will tell you that it’s definitely related to our investigation,” he stated. There was no way he planned on letting anything slip. As of yet, the media hadn’t gotten wind of the Marines being murdered. If that got out, it would be a free-for-all.
“I need something for the report.”
Callie pulled her badge. “I’m with the FBI. He’s not telling you anything more. It’s classified. In fact, I’m going to need that report copied to me so I can forward it to my boss.”
He stared at her shield and picture, trying to figure out if it was real.
“She’s not making it up,” Quinn offered. “You better listen or she’ll take you in,” he added, as Callie went back to helping him into his shirt. From the look on the man’s face, he nearly wanted to laugh.
“Okay.” Finally, he gave in. “How about more details on the shooting then?”
Quinn rattled off all he knew, sharing the information on the caliber of the bullet and type of gun. Since his vest would only stop certain ones, he could narrow it down. “The bullet is already in the FBI’s possession and on its way to testing.”
He made notes.
Just then, Nate returned with a new vest. He’d double plated it just in case. If the killer was after Quinn, he wanted to make sure he was safe.
For his sister’s sake.
Callie helped him button his shirt. When she tried to tuck it into his pants, Quinn stopped her. “I think I can handle that part, baby.” The last thing he needed was her hand touching anything it shouldn’t be in a room full of people. He was already turned on by their last kiss.
Oh, and the adrenaline rush of nearly dying.
Callie winked at him before picking up his badge and sidearm. Handing them to him, she remained by his side. Until the fear wore off, she wasn’t leaving him alone.
“My boss isn't going to be pleased with this report. There’s holes in it,” the officer said.
That wasn’t really his problem, but he’d been in uniform a long time ago and knew how hard it could be.
“You can canvas the area. Maybe someone saw something, and if you do find anything, you can forward it to me,” Quinn stated, pulling a card from behind his badge.
The man took it and pointed at the Kevlar on the bed. “Can I take that in as evidence?” he asked.
Honestly, Quinn never wanted to see it again. It reminded him of what he nearly lost.
His life.
“Sure. I have a new vest,” he stated, as Nate helped him into it. Once velcroed securely in, he offered his wife his hand. “We need to get back out in the field.”
Callie laughed as the cop headed out. “Oh, you’re not going back out anywhere. We’re taking you to Nate’s and locking you up for your own good.”
“What?”
She wasn’t hearing it. “None of us are staying out in the open right now. That killer is still out there, and we need to regroup before hitting the streets again.”
Well, at least she wasn’t trying to tell him he was staying inside, and alone. If they were all going to lay low, he could rejoice that Callie would be safe. He wanted to see this next baby born and didn't want to see his wife shot before that could happen.
“Why don’t you two ride together?” Nate suggested. He was pretty sure that Callie wasn’t going to let Quinn out of her sight. Her knuckles were white as she clutched his hand in hers.
“Good idea,” said Quinn.
Outside, they scanned their surroundings. Their hopes were that the killer wasn’t waiting for them. By now, it would be obvious that a body shot was a mistake. With Kevlar in play, that meant that the next time it would be something far worse.
Like a bullet to the brain.
They couldn’t protect themselves from that.
At her vehicle, she waited as Nate helped Quinn inside. He was obviously hurting, since her usually limber husband was moving rather slow. Once she was behind the wheel, Callie dug through her purse for a bottle of pills. She handed him three pain pills and her water bottle.
“Thank you,” he said, taking a sip.
When she didn't reply, he stared over at her. “You’re going to freak out, aren’t you?”
Quinn was waiting for it. He knew Callista. It was only a matter of time.
“I’m beyond freaking out, Quinton,” she stated. “That was the worst call that I have ever gotten in my entire life. I never want to experience that again.”
He understood.
“If I lose you, I can’t go on.”
Quinn had felt the same when he nearly lost her. “I’m not going anywhere.” Taking her hand in his, he gently kissed her knuckles as she drove. “Baby, you know that every day there’s a risk that I might not come home. In fact, that’s true for you too. One or both of us could die on the job. I know that you don’t go out as much as I do, but it’s something we have to live with. If I did die, you’d have to go on and raise our kids.”
Her eyes filled with tears as she drove. “This isn't making me feel better. If that was a pep talk, you suck at it.”
Leaning over, even though it hurt like a bitch, Quinn dropped a kiss to her cheek. “You’re my everything, and I don’t plan on leaving you, but if it were to happen, you’d have to move forward. You would have to be strong, Callista. I’d need you to tell our kids all about me. They’d need to know that I loved them so much and fought to always be here.”
She understood what he was saying, but it didn't make her happy. “I love you, Quinn. I don’t know if I can do this every day,” she admitted. “I know when I married you that being a cop was important to you, but I never thought about this part. I don’t think I can do it.”
He stared at her and his heart began thumping in his chest. One of Quinn’s biggest issues was that one day his woman would walk away. She’d see that he wasn’t worthy of her standard and leave him.
“What are you saying? That you don’t want to be with me anymore? Because of my job?” It stung, especially since she’d decided to go back into the FBI and he followed. Before moving to Damascus, he had a cushy job as Sheriff. They could have stayed in Myrtle Springs and remained a couple.
That horrified her. “No! I always want to be with you, Quinn.” She didn't want to fight. “I’m just saying that I make more than enough money to support us. The FBI pays us well. With me making double your salary, you could retire. I can talk to Elizabeth and ask if I can remain in-house. Ethan is overburdened with profiling, and I can be his back-up.”
His heart stopped pounding in his chest. She wasn’t talking about ending their marriage, only his career. “You want me to quit my job?” he finally asked, unsure how that sat with him. He’d always wanted to be a cop. From the time he could hold a play gun and try to arrest his brothers in their back yard.
This was who he was.
Wasn’t it?
“Yes.”
Callie knew it was probably the wrong time to bring this up, but she’d been thinking about it for a while. “After this baby is born, we’ll have to pay for daycare for two kids at FBI West. So, maybe you can stay home and raise our children.”
He stared at her and could hear the emotion in his own voice as he spoke, “I’m not sure how I feel about that. It’s not really stopping the problem, since you can’t guarantee one hundred percent that you won’t be out in the field.”
She wanted to be able to give him that, but he was right. So, Callista took a new route. “The last time I went out in the field we met, and the only other time I’ve been out of the office is now for this assignment. I’m not out there every day.”
“I don’t know, honey.”
“Just think about it, for me, Quinn. We have time before this baby is born. Just mull it over and keep an open mind. It’s all I ask.”
“Okay, Callie. I can’t promise you I will, but I’ll keep it on the back burner.”
Parking the vehicle, she leaned over to gently kiss him. “I love you, Quinton.”
He did
n't doubt it. “I feel the same, Callista.”
Jumping out, she helped him slowly lower himself to the ground. Then they walked hand in hand to Nate’s condo. He was at the door waiting for them.
“I’ll call for pizza,” he offered.
That was fine with them. In the hall, they began stripping out of their gear and leaving it there, in case they needed to make a hasty exit.
Once inside, Quinn headed to the couch. “I’m going to lay flat. It hurts less,” he stated.
Nate dialed for their dinner while Callie remained close to Quinn’s side.
“While we wait, how about we talk about what we found?” Callie suggested. She needed to stop thinking about Quinn getting hurt. It was making her crazy.
Then, Nate decided to start with the shooting.
Well, so much for trying.
“Why did he go for Quinn and not me?” Nate asked. “I’m the Fed. He’s just a lowly public servant.”
Quinn pointed at him. “Newsflash. You’re paid by the same people I am. So get off your high Federal horse.”
Callie already had an answer for her brother. It was an easy one in her mind. “It’s because Quinn is Maura’s brother. If the person doing this wants to lure her out, what’s the best way?”
“A funeral.”
At that answer, Callie wanted to throw up. When Quinn’s hand lovingly stroked her back, she tried to breathe through it. Apparently, her brother didn't have a clue as to how brutal that reply had been.
She pushed on. “Exactly. The person behind this wants to take out the whole team, and that means Maura too. That shot was to either slow us down or draw her out.”
Quinn didn't like the way that sounded. “We’re not telling Luke or my sister about this. If she hears that some nut is taking shots at me, she’ll come here and try to be my shield. That’s exactly what the killer wants her to do.”
They all agreed.
“I need you to promise me, here and now, that she doesn’t hear about this,” Quinn reiterated. There was no way he could face his family if Maura died because of him.
It wasn’t happening.
“I won’t say a word,” Nate offered. He understood the angst that Quinn was facing. He had a sister who would act as a shield to keep her loved one’s safe.
“I dug up some interesting details,” she offered, sharing with them the conversations with the colonel and Bethany Harris.
“What’s your impression?” Quinn asked.
“I think the colonel is just doing what he feels is right. I mean, he’s keeping a team together, even if he’s not doing what is right for justice.”
They all began thinking about that.
“Isn't our killer justifying the killings as sins being outted?” Quinn asked.
“Yes, why?”
“Since the colonel is covering them up, is it possible that he is also righting the scales on his own time? Maybe the most obvious choice is the right one. He did know about the PFA, the fight, and the DUI. There’s always the chance he’s taking care of the situation behind the military’s back. Granted, he needs to keep Bravo Ghost quiet, but in war you lose people. He could be killing them off but keeping the integrity of the team. Maybe it’s his way of getting rid of problems.”
Callie had to think about it.
“I think we need a little profile,” Nate said. “What can you give us?”
She thought about it. “Well, all of our victims are the same gender. The killer made a shot at Maura, so that throws a wrench into the mix.”
“If you had to give us a percentage on the gender of our killer, what are you leaning toward?”
Callie weighed everything in her head. “It’s fifty-fifty for me. Unless you learned something new today, before Quinn got shot, that’s what I’m going with. We have two female suspects, who are sleeping or have slept with people on Bravo Ghost. Did Stephanie know her fiancé was cheating? If she did, that could cause her to lose it and go after him, plus the other men she dated. Then there is Maura’s competition. My only caveat is that the killings started six months ago. Captain Harris admitted the affair with Thomas Archer only began three months ago.”
“Could Stephanie be the killer?” Quinn asked. “Does a woman have the strength and ability to take out a band of marines, or beat someone’s skull in with a tree branch?”
“Could your sister, knowing what we know now?” Nate asked.
“Yeah, she could.”
Callie laughed. “I’m glad you opted to not use me as your sample homicidal woman. If Stephanie is the killer, she could easily approach a Marine. If it were me, who would suspect that I could be crazed enough to take a life? She looks innocent. Big strong men assume that what they see is what they get.”
“Good point,” Nate offered. He thought about his boss, Elizabeth Blackhawk. She looked like a model, but was as deadly as a venomous snake.
Yeah, good point indeed.
“Then we have to assume that so could Bethany Harris,” Callie admitted. “The captain is jealous, ambitious, and not afraid to have sex to get what she wants. Why isn't killing one of those options to her? She wants Maura’s job in the worst way, and by taking out her team and her, she’s the next likely person to run it, right?”
Callie remembered something else that she was supposed to share. She told them about having to call Elizabeth to report that there were leaks regarding Oracle.
“What did she say?” Nate asked, knowing it was likely nothing pleasant.
“Other than the profanity and the meltdown?”
“Yeah.” He’d been on the wrong side of that tirade a few times and knew how brutal it could be.
“She told me to forget anything I heard and to let her handle it. She was going to call Gabe Rothschild and dump it in his lap.”
“Why do I get the feeling that we’re going to get the blow back from this mess?” Nate asked.
“Just lucky?” Quinn suggested, grinning.
“Either way, it’s out of our hands,” she stated. “We now can let Elizabeth deal with it. If Bethany Harris thinks that she has a snowball’s chance in hell, she’s delusional. She may be tough, but bad ass Elizabeth Blackhawk will cut her off at the knees and laugh the entire time.”
Nate agreed. That summed up their boss.
“Both women are running neck and neck in this for me. Stephanie Simpson works in HR and had access to every file in the place. Bethany Harris could access everything online. Things have gone missing, details were omitted, and we’ve hit roadblocks. To me, it looks like an inside job.”
“Agreed,” stated Quinn. “We learned some interesting things at that bar about our first two victims,” he stated, getting ready to drop the bomb.
Yeah, she wanted to hear about that. Callie was curious why her husband and brother looked freaked out whenever their interview was brought up.
They may think she didn't see it, but you’d have to be blind to miss it.
“What happened?” she asked.
“You mean other than a gay man hitting on your husband and trying to feel up his junk?” Nate teased.
“WHAT?” Callie exclaimed, turning to stare at her husband. “I’m sure I heard that wrong,” she stated. “Did my brother just tell me that a man had his hands on my property?”
Nate started laughing.
Quinn had no choice but to go with humor on this one. If he didn't, Callie might freak.
“You heard him right. Congrats. Your husband is a dick magnet.”
Chapter Twenty- Three
W atching her pace back and forth was beginning to make him crazy. It was like she was a caged tiger, dying to get free. Nothing he’d done had offered Maura any peace, and now he was beginning to believe nothing would.
She was stressed.
Emotionally twisted into a knot.
Worked up and not willing to let him help.
What he wanted to do was grab her, so that he could kiss her until she relaxed. Maybe sex would be the best option in this
case. Just as he pictured in his head how to trap her beneath him, she finally broke her self-imposed silence.
“I feel edgy.”
“I can tell,” he offered, patting the seat beside him on the couch. When she actually took it, Luke was surprised. “Why don’t you tell me all about it?” he asked.
Maura rolled her neck until there was an audible crack. “I can’t put my finger on it, Luke. I just feel like I’m stuck in the middle of a cyclone. My heart is pounding, my pulse is racing, and I’m freaked out over the unknown.”
“About what, specifically?” he asked.
“My team,” she offered. “Us, my brother, and what is probably coming. When I’m out in the field, you immediately know if something bad is brewing. You can just feel the energy around you. I’m getting that feeling right now.”
He completely understood. Often, when out in the field, he’d experienced something similar. It was true. An agent also always got that inkling when a job was about to go to hell in a hand basket. “Everything is going to be fine. I promise you.”
She tried to focus and not get freaked out.
“They’re my men. I have to worry about them. Jayson doesn’t have any family, and Redmond supports his two younger sisters in college. I can’t just sit here and wait for them to die.”
Once more, she was up, pacing back and forth.
It looked like their talking didn't help alleviate anything.
Luke wasn’t sure what he could say, but he completely understood. Maura was a very hands on kind of boss. She treated her team like they were part of her family. If someone hurt them, of course she would be insulted by that. Marines served unselfishly, and this killer was taking their lives. It was abhorrent to her, and him too.
“Can I make a suggestion?” he asked, waiting for her to stop moving so she could focus on him.
“What?” Maura asked.
“I know we’re saving battery life, but why don’t you message them and have them check in?” Luke knew it wasn’t part of the plan, but why not ease her heart a little. If it would calm Maura down, it was worth it.
She glanced over at her phone and thought about it. “Is it wrong that I need to do this?”
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