Silent Night Standoff

by Susan Sleeman

  Skyler laughed, lightening the atmosphere in the room. She was thankful for their bantering to take her mind off the incident and off Logan.

  They continued to occupy her mind until Jake, Cash and Logan entered, each of them sporting grim expressions. So it wasn’t going to be good news. Skyler prepared herself for their report as Cash dropped a large evidence bag on the table.

  Brady grabbed it and examined the item closely before looking up. “A rifle sling. Military issue.”

  “Military?” she said slowly and let the military connection roll around in her brain until it jogged her memory. Finally. The thing she couldn’t come up with last night. “How could I not remember this?”

  “What is it?” Logan took a step closer.

  “Something’s been bothering me since the robbery. I didn’t know what it was until just now. It’s the way Marty held his gun. He kept his finger alongside the gun instead of on the trigger. As if he’d been taught that our natural instinct is to squeeze and he’d learned to prevent accidental discharges.”

  “That doesn’t sound like an amateur robber who suddenly decides to pick up a gun.” Logan’s eyes lit up. “More like someone with weapons training and experience.”

  She nodded. “Doesn’t mean he’s military, but if you add it to the ammo bag, it makes sense.” She continued to ponder the lead, her excitement quickly falling. “It also means if he’s former military, he may not have gone to college, and we can kiss the lead on college rings goodbye.”

  “Lots of soldiers attend college on the GI Bill when they get out.” Cash smiled, something he rarely did, letting Skyler know he was trying to make things seem less dire. “Plus it opens a new avenue to pursue. Soldiers often buy military rings that look a lot like college class rings. Maybe that’s what you saw.”

  “Good thought,” Logan said enthusiastically. “After my team finishes processing the scene, I’ll ask them to add military rings to their search.”

  “Wait. Why’s your team processing the scene?” Skyler shot a questioning look at Jake. “This happened in our own backyard. Why aren’t we taking point on the investigation?”

  “Don’t worry, squirt. It’ll be a joint effort.” Jake’s lips tipped in a soothing smile. “We all kinda like having you around, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have the fed’s forensic team give us a second look in case we missed something.”

  “Not likely,” Brady grumbled. “We’re as good as or even better than a team of suits.”

  Jake shot him an irritated look, and Skyler’s mouth fell open. It looked like Logan had completely won Jake over. How on earth had he done that? Winning her over, Skyler could understand because it involved her heart, but Jake? Mr. Logical and By the Book?

  Darcie stood, drawing everyone’s attention. “Let’s not forget Skyler was on the way to the doctor when this happened. Since I can’t add much to the investigation, I’ll work on getting an appointment for her. That way we can minimize the time she’s exposed to the killer.”

  “Or I could just not go,” Skyler said, not wanting to miss any part of the investigation now that it seemed to be heating up.

  “Not an option,” Logan said forcefully.

  “I agree.” Jake triple-teamed her. So much for the earlier smile. “I doubt our shooter is anywhere in the vicinity, but if there’s any chance that he is, we’ll need secure transport.”

  “I’ll request one of the bureau’s unmarked vans,” Logan offered. “Skyler can ride in the back unseen. We can take her home in it, as well.”

  Jake nodded. “Good. Do that.”

  As they worked out the details, Skyler sat back and didn’t say a word. What was the point in arguing? The entire squad seemed to be in agreement, and if she’d learned anything in her eighteen months with them, it was that trying to buck the general consensus was like trying to climb a hill in an ice storm. You took a few steps forward but would soon slide backward even farther.

  “I’ll go call the E.R. now.” After a lingering look at Skyler, Darcie left the room.

  Jake came to his feet. “Let’s finish this debrief and get Skyler to the doctor.”

  Still standing, Logan rested his palms on the table and leaned forward. “Before we do, I want to mention that we’ve learned Nicole’s last name is Hill. Her emergency contact on file with the Rose City Rollers listed a Portland phone number. Unfortunately, it’s been disconnected. We’re subpoenaing the records. If we’re lucky, a Hill family member still lives at that address.”

  Skyler’s hope blossomed. “Wonderful news.”

  Jake peered at Logan. “I’ve played nice and left this investigation to your team. As I just told Skyler, that ends now. Going forward, I want to know what you learn the minute you learn it.”

  Logan returned Jake’s stare. “I don’t have a problem with that as long as we don’t get in each other’s way.”

  “Translated,” Case said dryly, “don’t get in the suit’s way, but he may get in ours.”

  Brady snorted. “Typical suit behavior.”

  Skyler had to give Logan credit. He didn’t seem fazed by their jabs at all.

  “Do you want to sit around and talk about me?” he asked. “Or should we discuss the military implications of the sling?”

  Archer sat up. “Skyler and I have both negotiated several hostage situations that involved soldiers in the past few years.” He turned to Skyler. “Maybe after this shooting, you should prioritize your records search on military incidents.”

  “Couldn’t hurt, could it?” Cash asked.

  “No.”

  “Sounds like a good idea to me,” Logan said.

  And just like that, the squad agreed with Logan yet again, frustrating her when they sided with him. She thought about pointing out how the man they were agreeing with was the same one they’d slammed as a suit several times, but the shooting had zapped all her strength. And arguing wouldn’t change anything.

  Besides, the adrenaline keeping her going had all but disappeared. What little energy she had left, she had to reserve for a review of her files in case Marty wasn’t the creep who’d just escalated his desire to end her life.

  SIXTEEN

  Logan bid farewell to his team after they finished going over the crime scene with a fine-tooth comb. They’d gathered very little useful evidence. That could change when they processed the casing and sling. At least he hoped it would change. Hoped they’d find something—anything—to move the investigation forward. Until then he’d latch on to any lead they uncovered and run with it.

  He returned to the small conference room to check on Skyler’s progress. She’d insisted on continuing to search her files while she waited for the van to be delivered for her trip to the doctor.

  “Any success?” He tried to sound cheerful as he took the seat next to her.

  “Maybe.” She looked up and rolled her neck. “Three possible military standoffs fit the bill. Two of them are strong enough to pursue.”

  Though Logan still liked Marty for the attacks, he settled into his chair and gave her his full attention. “Tell me about them.”

  She pulled a folder from the small stack and slid it over to him. “The first one is Sam Vaughn. He’s a former soldier. Three months ago he had a mental break and took his family hostage.”

  Before opening the file he asked, “You think this guy’s capable of violence against you?”

  “No, but even if I did, he’s in jail. I do think his brother, Zac, who’s also former military, is not only capable, but sufficiently motivated.”

  Intrigued, Logan wanted to look through the folder, but he’d give Skyler a chance to give him the details first. “Tell me about Zac.”

  “I negotiated the standoff with Sam, which is when I met Zac. He believed he could talk Sam down by himself and didn’t want our squad t
o interfere. He figured if he didn’t involve the police, he’d keep his little brother from having a record.”

  “Sounds like a reasonable request for a brother to make, though I know your team couldn’t accommodate it.”

  “Zac didn’t understand that. I tried to comfort him by telling him if Sam surrendered peacefully his mental illness would likely get him transferred to a psychiatric hospital instead of spending time in jail.” She shook her head in sad little swings. “I was wrong. Somehow Sam managed to fool the psychiatrist who evaluated him and was found competent and in control of his faculties. The judge declared Sam a danger to the community. He sentenced the poor guy to five years.”

  “Ah,” Logan said, understanding the motivation now. “Zac blames you for his brother’s sentence.”

  She nodded. “He stopped by here to talk to me one day, but I wasn’t on duty. He left a bunch of verbal threats to pass on. A few days later, he started sending abusive letters. They arrived every week for a while. They’re in the file. He definitely was angry enough to take it out on me.”

  Logan scanned the letters. They held words like death, revenge and retribution. Each letter escalated in tone. He noted the last of six letters was date stamped a month ago. “It seems odd that he went silent for a month and is suddenly choosing to act.”

  “I agree, but he’s still a good possibility.”

  Logan concurred. “And the other guy?”

  She tapped the next folder in the stack but didn’t give it to him. “This one is older. Happened about a year ago. Roger Felder came home from Afghanistan experiencing mental health issues. He ignored the warning signs until one morning he woke up with his hands around his wife’s throat.”

  “That’d make most men sit up and pay attention.”

  She nodded. “He voluntarily checked himself into the hospital for a psychological evaluation. That’s where things went south. While there, he relived a bombing attack and took a nurse hostage. I was called in and negotiated a peaceful surrender.”

  “Nice to hear these things do sometimes end peacefully.”

  “Actually, they end that way more often than not. You only hear about the ones that go wrong on the news.” She fingered the cuff of her vivid gold-and-black tunic as if searching for something soft to comfort her through her stress.

  The sadness in her face tugged at Logan, and the urge to console her nearly had him reaching out to her. Like he had outside. Draw her close and hold her. Make promises he wasn’t ready to keep, just to rekindle that feeling of home. To feel like a part of something, of someone again. But he couldn’t promise her anything other than he’d find the man trying to kill her. That’s what she needed from him. Nothing else.

  He swallowed down the urge and gestured at Roger’s file. “How did this guy come to have it in for you then?”

  “After he surrendered,” she said, seeming completely oblivious to the war going on in Logan’s mind, “he was committed to the psychiatric ward on a psych hold. Since he’d come in voluntarily, up to that point he could have left at any time. But now he was forced to stay, and he needed to get out. His wife was pregnant. He couldn’t work from the hospital, meaning they were getting behind on bills, and he blamed me when they wouldn’t discharge him.”

  “Any threats after that?”

  “No.”

  “Which guy do you like for this more? Zac or Roger?” Logan kept his voice calm. Not an easy thing. Not when his desire to make both men pay for threatening her nearly had him jumping out of his chair to hunt them down.

  “Zac,” she replied. “Don’t get me wrong, though. Roger was mad. Good and mad. But despite his fragile hold on reality, he didn’t seem as upset as Zac. Maybe deep down he knew he’d benefit from the treatment.”

  “We need to find out if he’s still in the hospital to rule him out.”

  “My squad can handle finding him.”

  Logan reluctantly nodded his agreement. He wanted to take on the task himself—go after these guys—but her team needed to help her, too, and he had to let them participate. “What about the third case you mentioned?”

  She rested her hand on another folder with tattered edges that made Logan think it’d been handled many times. “It’s not really viable. This guy isn’t alive anymore and I’ve never received a threat from any family members.”

  “So why mention it?”

  “It was the first time I soloed as a negotiator.” She looked at her knees and started unraveling a thread from the hole in her jeans. “You know how you never forget your first real incident on the job that ends badly? The way it lives with you and you keep wondering if you could’ve done something differently?”

  “Yes,” he replied softly.

  “Yeah, well, this one ended about as badly as it could have.” She paused and took a breath. “After this guy was arrested, he committed suicide in his holding cell.”

  Logan slid closer to gain her attention. “You can’t feel responsible for anything that happens once the standoff ends.”

  She looked up, her wounded expression cutting him to the core. “I know, but sometimes I can’t let it go.”

  After everything she’d been through this week, he didn’t want to make her relive this case if she didn’t have to. “Tracking down the first two guys while chasing Marty will strain our resources. If none of these leads pan out, we can come back to this one. Until then, I think we’re better off focusing on the first two. Deal?”

  “Deal.” She glanced at her watch. “I’ve got another hour before my doctor’s appointment. I’ll use that time to track Zac Vaughn down and maybe we can go see him afterwards.”

  Logan opened his mouth to refuse, but she held up a hand. “Don’t bother to say no. If you do, I’ll go without you.”

  “You think you can ditch me that easily?” he asked half-jokingly.

  “I know I can.” She stared him down.

  He didn’t doubt she could slip away from him if she put her mind to it, and he knew when to give in. Still, he’d have an agent scope out Zac’s place. Only then would he let her go anywhere near the potential killer. And she wouldn’t be going alone, of that he would make certain.

  * * *

  Logan pulled into the gravel driveway leading up to Zac’s house, which looked like it came straight from a horror movie. Logan’s sixth sense screamed to take care. He slowed by Agent Johnson, who’d had eyes on Zac’s place for the past few hours.

  Logan lowered his window. “Zac home?”

  Johnson nodded. “Been there this whole time.”

  “Anyone else?”

  “A woman—driver’s license says she’s his wife—and a boy. Maybe a middle schooler. The age of Vaughn’s son. I didn’t see anyone else.”

  “Stay alert and watch our backs.” Raising the window, Logan slowly eased down the drive.

  By the time he shifted into Park, Zac Vaughn was stepping onto his front porch, his arms crossed over a barrel of a chest. He wore a faded flannel shirt and torn jeans with untied work boots. He was in as much disarray as his ramshackle porch.

  Logan glanced back at the windowless portion of the van where Skyler sat. “You can come up here to look out the window while I check things out,” he said, knowing she was going to balk. “But promise me you’ll stay down and in the van until I signal it’s safe.”

  She sighed out a long breath.

  She was upset. He got that. The doctor had denied her request to return to active duty. Logan supposed her frustration was valid. They couldn’t seem to catch a break on the investigation, and her health issues complicated everything. But no matter how cute she was when her lower lip came out in a pout as it was doing now, he wouldn’t jeopardize her safety.

  “I’m sorry, Skyler,” he said, making sure to let her know he understood her situation. “It’s the best I ca
n offer.”

  Resignation settled into her eyes. “I promise to stay here.” She slipped up front and took the passenger seat.

  After one last look at her to be sure she meant it, Logan climbed down and headed across the yard.

  “No need to come any closer.” Zac’s booming voice reverberated through the trees. “I don’t want whatever you’re selling.”

  Logan fished his credentials out and displayed them as he continued forward. “Special Agent Logan Hunter, FBI.”

  “I didn’t do whatever you’re here to blame on me.”

  When Logan got close enough, he visually scanned the guy for a weapon. He’d like to frisk Zac, too, but he had no grounds to do so. “I’m here to talk to you about your brother, Sam.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Something happen to him?”

  “No. Nothing like that,” Logan said looking around the area for any threat. “I want to talk to you about how you feel about his incarceration.”

  Zac seemed to relax and leaned back against the doorjamb. “Don’t like it. End of story.”

  “I...” Logan crooked a finger for Skyler to join them. “We have a few questions for you.”

  Skyler jumped from the van.

  Zac trained his full attention on her as she joined them. Recognition suddenly broke on his face. He scowled and came to his feet in a defensive posture. “What’s she doing here?”

  “Like I said, we want to ask a few questions about your brother.”

  “I’m not talking to her.” He started to turn away.

  “Wait,” Skyler called out. “I got your letters.”

  “Yeah, and you did nothing about them just like you did nothing about Sam.” His lip curled. “You promised he wouldn’t go to prison. Next thing I know, he’s serving five years. So why should I listen to anything you’ve got to say?”

  “The judge made the decision. There was nothing I could do.”

  “Is that so?” he snarled.

  “Yes,” she answered.

  He crossed powerful arms. “You could’ve at least tried to talk to the judge. Maybe testify at the sentencing hearing. But no. We never see you again after the trial and Sam goes away with common criminals.” He shook his head sorrowfully. “A man who served our country. Saw his buddies die and lost a bit of his mind. Stuck behind bars with lowlifes.”