Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 132962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Damn, he needed to pull his shit together. Cody needed him on his A game right now.
“Are you there?” Mitch asked into the phone, following Officer Parks to his squad car.
“Yeah, I’ve got Connors on the phone. I identified the voice and didn’t know who else to call when you didn’t answer. Hold on, let me connect us,” Aaron said.
“Connors, Knox, you both there?” Aaron asked.
“Yeah,” they said, pretty much in unison.
“Did you tell him?” Connors immediately asked.
“Not yet. Mitch the voice ID is coming back a match for Special Agent Peter Langley. He’s not Central Intelligence. He’s Secret Service, and he was also the one on the Greyson detail,” Aaron said.
“We interviewed him. He’s flagged, but his alibis held up,” Connors said.
“Fuck, do we have any idea where he’s at?” Mitch asked, getting in the passenger side of the patrol car.
“I’ve got a team forming now to head to his house, but my gut says that he’s there in town with you,” Connors stated.
“Who all knows this? I don’t want him to go into hiding before we get him,” Mitch responded, buckling in.
“We have to act. He’s attacking you personally now,” Connors said.
Mitch went silent. This was completely personal, a message straight to him. Langley had to have been watching him, and Mitch never noticed. Think!
“Okay, we think he works alone and leaves town after each strike. We’ve gotten nowhere in the cases, and he knows that. At some point, he’d get cocky and arrogant—we know that. Now is that time, he’s gotten careless.”
“True, but does he know he didn’t complete the job?” Connors asked.
“How do you know he didn’t complete the job?” Mitch questioned him, worried.
“I checked. It was me,” Aaron replied. “Connors is the only one I’ve told. I know to keep that on the DL.”
“So he wouldn’t stick around,” Mitch said, but he needed to get by Cody’s side, keep him safe, just in case they were wrong. He turned to the officer driving. “Step on it for me.”
The lights went on, the siren was left off so he could hear, and the car accelerated. “He’d think it was a direct hit to the heart. That would eliminate a survivor,” Connors added. “There’s no way he knows that we ID’d the voice.”
“I’ve got the street surveillance cameras that surround the building. If you give me a little more time, I’ll get into the security cameras of the building,” Aaron added.
“I don’t even want to know how you do that so fast,” Connors said.
“Remember, Connors, that’s within his jurisdiction. He’s national security. You know he has access to everything,” Mitch tossed out in Aaron’s defense.
“Still, Knox, he’s amazing. No wonder everyone’s freaked out about him. Besides, we’ve got a positive ID on his voice. All done the legal way. We don’t need to jeopardize the case by doing under the table procedures,” Connors said. Mitch hardened. They had a small window to work within. Soon the news stations would pick this up, and the guy could hide if they didn’t have him in custody first.
“Keep working, Stuart. Connors, see if you can find out if he’s boarded a plane. Good chance we can catch him when he walks off if he’s headed back there. Stuart, I’m authorizing you to access the Marshals’ intelligence system to help get a visual on the suspect.”
“Already there,” Aaron started and then stopped himself. “I mean, sure thing, I’ll get on that for you. I can find out if he’s boarding a plane, too.”
“I got that,” Connors said. “Stay in touch, Knox. I’ll message you if he is, and we’ll take him at the airport.” Connors disconnected from the call, leaving Mitch still on the phone with Aaron.
“Stuart, is there any chance he’s still in town?” Mitch asked.
“There’s always a chance. He’s crazy, man. He’s broken his patterns. He’s not thinking clearly. It makes him more unstable. It’s why I called Connors; otherwise I never would have,” Stuart said absently, a little distracted.
“Faster!” Mitch turned to the officer behind the wheel and demanded. The sirens went on, drowning Aaron out.
Minutes later, Mitch stared helplessly at the swinging doors of the OR. Being high level federal law enforcement gave him special privileges—one was that he was able to get this far into the hospital without being family, but no matter how he tried, he couldn’t get any farther. Cody was being operated on, and until he got to see his cowboy face to face, the nagging ache wouldn’t fade.
The lingering doubt that perhaps the killer was still somewhere close by wouldn’t let him go. Per a text message on a choppy signal, Connors arranged FBI security here in the hospital. Apparently, that decision hadn’t been popular with the Austin PD. The hospital was being flooded by the local police, as well as State Troopers, who packed the downstairs waiting room. The unity touched Mitch’s heart, but not enough to join the local police department in their fight to continue to provide security for Cody.
He absolutely did not believe they could handle this crime by themselves. There was no way they knew the severity of these offenses, and as for the suspect, currently Cody Turner was the only person on the planet able to give a positive ID.
It made sense that the killer would come back and finish the job. Mitch hardened his heart at the thought. The panic and desperation that hovered just below the surface fled as anger began to take hold. As the helplessness ebbed, he started to think a little more clearly—a first since he’d heard that gunshot through the phone.
No question, Agent Langley had come after him personally. Mitch would be staying right here in Austin to protect what was his until the FBI was in place.
In his moment of clarity, Mitch walked across the hall to a bank of windows and glanced down at his phone. His signal increased by one bar. That had to be enough. He dialed quickly, calling the two people he knew would help. First, his director in Louisiana.