He knelt down in front of the window and scanned the ground. Nothing. He lowered his hand and felt around, sliding it beneath the hutch and the desk he had searched. His hand hit something that rolled away. He lay down on his right side, pulled out his smartphone, and activated the flashlight app.
Against the wall lay the object he had been hoping to find. He removed a pen from his inside jacket pocket and snared the metal item. He got to his feet and held it up to show DeSantos.
His partner backed into the room, maintaining his view of the doorway, then glanced down at the brass casing perched atop Uzi’s pen. “Smoking gun?” he whispered.
“More like the empty metal cartridge of the smoking bullet.”
DeSantos nodded toward the window, where, in the distance, a large black truck was pulling to a stop behind Bishop’s parked car. “Cavalry’s arrived. Let’s go fill them in.”
Law enforcement personnel swarmed the area. Outside the boundaries of the yellow police tape, news crews and reporters jockeyed for position as close to Tad Bishop’s body as they could get. Keeping to accepted convention, the police established two distinct crime scenes: the first where Bishop was killed, and the second where the sniper was hunkered down. Either way, definitive answers were a long time coming.
A core contingent from Uzi’s task force had been notified, and as they arrived he attempted to connect the dots for them — without leading them to Knox or Coulter. But with a couple dozen agents sniffing around, chances were decent they would eventually stumble onto the Knox connection, lessening the blow Shepard would endure when the dust settled.
But even if they didn’t identify the connection, all was not lost. Knox had something on Uzi; it couldn’t hurt for Uzi to have something on Knox as well. It might just keep everyone honest.
Hoshi arrived in the second wave of cars that descended on the scene. She approached the area cautiously. At first Uzi thought it was because she was using her analytic skills to appraise the logistics of what had gone down. But when she reached him, he realized her face was white and her eyes moist.
“Hoshi, I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know why I feel this way. It’s not like I knew the guy well. He was a source, someone who fed me info. Half the time I just let him ramble on about how the NFA was controlling our government. After a while, I think I became numb to all of it. I stopped listening.” She looked out over the body bag the coroner was zipping twenty feet away. “And now this.”
“Hold it,” Uzi said. “You did the right thing putting me in touch with him. Bishop was on to something, and whether or not he told us, he was already on their radar. Someone didn’t want his nose where he was sticking it.”
“Maybe I could’ve prevented it. Warned him somehow. Protected him.”
Uzi took her by the shoulder and led her away from the body. “The guy used to be a PI. He knew there were dangers in what he was doing. He was naturally paranoid. He knew something was up but he felt he had to keep digging.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Listen to me. He felt he had to do this. He didn’t do it for Hoshi Koh. He did it for Tad Bishop. He had his reasons.”
She bobbed her head. “I guess.”
“‘Guess’ all you want. You know I’m right.” He stopped walking, dropped his arm from her shoulder, and faced her. “It’s tough to lose someone like this. I know, it’s happened to me. But the kind of work we do… These are the risks we face.”
Uzi caught sight of DeSantos talking to Douglas Knox, who had arrived at the scene. In the distance, it appeared as if his partner was filling in the director on what had gone down. Uzi excused himself and started toward them, but a hand hooked on his forearm and stopped him in midstride. It was Leila.
“Hey. What are you doing here?”
Her eyebrows rose. “Nice greeting. Did they teach you that at the Academy, or am I seeing one of your undesirable sides?”
“Abruptness? One of my undesirable sides. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“I’m on M2TF. Didn’t Shepard tell you?”
Shepard’s name sent a pang of guilt through him.
The moment was approaching when he’d have to lie to his friend about Knox’s personal directive to continue the ARM investigation. Friendships didn’t come easy to him, but when he did find one, he held onto it dearly. Until this blew over, at which point he’d level with Shepard, he would avoid him whenever possible.
“I haven’t seen him much. I’ve been a little busy.” Uzi shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad to have you on board.” And I’ll get to see more of you this way. How could I complain about that? “You got my text, I take it.”
“If I hadn’t, I’d think you stood me up and I wouldn’t be so civil.”
“True.” Uzi caught a glimpse of one of his agents approaching with a member of the forensic crew. “So welcome, officially, to the team. Do you know what your role is here?”
“ADIC Yates and ASAC Shepard assigned me to you, as the liaison between M2TF and JTTF.” She raised her eyebrows seductively. “And I always know my role, Uzi.” She turned and walked off, leaving him to gaze at her rear as she moved down the path.
“Uzi.”
He turned to see one of his task force agents approaching with a forensic tech at her side. “Well, well, well. Tim I-never-met-a-steak-I-didn’t-like Meadows,” Uzi said, extending a hand and flashing a broad smile. “How you doing?”
“You two know each other?” the agent asked.
“Best high-tech guru we’ve got in CART,” Uzi said. “’Course I know him.” He turned to Meadows. “What are you doing out and about? I didn’t think you ever left your lair.”
“Very funny, Uzi. I see you haven’t lost your sense of humor. Oh, wait a minute. You never had one. This must be something new you’re trying out.”
“I’ll leave you two to talk shop,” the agent said, then moved back toward the secondary crime scene.
“Seriously. This isn’t somewhere I’d expect to find you.”
“I got a call from Shepard,” Meadows said. “He needed a favor.”
“I don’t see any motherboards or hard drives out here.”
“You think that’s all I can do?”
“I guess I know better than to assume that.”
“I told Shepard it’d cost him a meal at Angelo & Maxie’s. He said to talk to you about it.”
“If your info’s any good, you got a deal.”
“If my info’s any good?”
Uzi clapped him on the back. “Glad you’re here. We need all the help we can get.”
“I’ve already got some stuff. You want to hear it?”
Uzi crossed his arms over his chest. “No, Tim. Keep it to yourself.”
“There’s that biting humor again. I’m beginning to think it borders on sarcasm.”
“No borders about it.”
“Did someone say sarcasm?” The voice emanated from their left, in a patch of darkness. Stepping forward into a spot of light was Karen Vail.
“Well, there you go,” Meadows said. “The very embodiment of sarcasm.”
“Glad to see you here,” Uzi said.
Vail shrugged. “You know how it is. No desire to have a life, always at the Bureau’s service.” She sang, ‘You just call out my name and I’ll be there, yes I will….’”
“James Taylor,” Meadows said.
Vail looked over her shoulder. “Where?”
Uzi rolled his eyes, then nodded at the plastic evidence bag hanging from Meadows’s left hand. “What’ve you got?”
“Oh. This. Yeah, this is that empty brass casing you found… 7.62 round, I’d say. Exactly what type of round, I don’t know yet. There are a lot of similar 7.62 cartridges. When I get back to the lab, I’ll throw it under the microscope. I should be able to tell you which type of rifle was used.”