She nodded. “I saw them, but not up close. I was facedown on the mall floor when the guy shot me from close range. I was lying beside the little girl. After that I don’t remember anything.”
“You didn’t notice anything at all about him? Shoes, a smell, his voice, something he said?”
She shook her head as she pulled her hand away and glanced at the other side of the room. “No.”
She didn’t seem comfortable with the question. Maybe it was too hard to think back on those moments. He could understand that. “Well, I—”
“Hello there.”
Troy turned quickly. It was Dr. Harrison. And over the doctor’s shoulder, he noticed Travers standing by the door. The major had gone to his place in the mountains to retrieve his phone while Troy had taken care of several things in downtown Washington, and then hopped a taxi here to northern Virginia and the Fairfax County Hospital. Troy wondered how long the major had been standing there at the doorway.
“Hello, Dr. Harrison.”
“You didn’t tell me you were coming,” Harrison said as they shook hands. “I would have appreciated that.”
“Sorry.”
“Ms. Perez is still recovering.”
Troy glanced at Jennie and grinned. “She seems to be doing pretty well.” She smiled back, but it didn’t seem as sincere this time.
Becky Kimmel gazed up at the golden dome of the university’s main building as she walked across the God Quad — crowded by students at this hour — with her friend Vanessa. One more early class, and she was going home to San Diego for a few weeks of sun and fun. Just like all the other kids around her were headed home today. She couldn’t wait to hit the beach. It had been brutally cold in South Bend during the last few days, especially for a Cali-kid.
Becky and Vanessa didn’t make it much farther. Three men came around the corner of the main building, in the shadow of the statue of St. Mary that topped the dome, and opened fire on the God Quad.
The bullet that struck Becky pierced her lung fatally. As her life quickly ebbed away, she gazed at Vanessa, who was lying beside her and staring at her with doll eyes. Vanessa had taken a round directly in the middle of her forehead. She was already gone.
Three more universities, four churches, and two more restaurants were hit during the course of the day — including the University of Richmond by the northern Virginia squad. All of the attacks were well away from the big malls that had been hit initially, and they were all in smaller towns. The squads were spreading out, and the country was shutting down completely.
Everything was playing out exactly as Daniel Gadanz had anticipated — and prayed for. His father would have been so very proud.
He nodded to the pair of naked women, and they approached the man who was seated in the uncomfortable chair before his throne. The man would have them for a few hours and then be killed for stealing. The man was in charge of distribution in three southern states, and he was holding back more than his share of the take. His bookkeeper had squealed, and action was about to be taken. But not before Daniel enjoyed watching the women pleasure the man.
Daniel took a deep breath as he watched the scene unfold. If Jacob hadn’t been Daniel’s brother, he would have been murdered as well. The bloodline had provided him one more chance. But that would be it.
CHAPTER 27
Bill Jensen eased into the chair in front of the vertical bars, while keeping a watchful eye on the prisoner the entire time.
Shane Maddux stared back unflinchingly from inside the cell.
Bill had made certain that the chair was positioned well back from the bars, well beyond Maddux’s reach. He knew better than anyone what Maddux was capable of, and he wasn’t about to give the man a chance to take a hostage in case this exchange grew testy. Bill had a member of the new security team at the house watching via hidden camera, too. The guy had orders to get in here immediately if anything seemed even slightly amiss on the screen.
There was a camera but no microphone. Bill couldn’t have anyone but the two of them privy to this conversation. Maddux couldn’t, either. It was a good standoff.
“Decus septum,” Bill murmured.
“Decus septum,” Maddux replied. “Protect the peak.”
“Protect the peak. You okay?” Bill asked.
“Of course.”
“You were tased three times on the way in here from the cemetery.”
“What was that?” Maddux asked, putting a hand to his ear.
Bill began to lean forward, closer to the bars, and then stopped abruptly. That had been a subtle attempt to draw him physically closer. He could tell by the smug look on Maddux’s face.
“You heard me, Shane.”
“So, what are you going to do with me?” Maddux asked.
“First, we need to talk. Karen said you kept asking about Travers after you chased her down. Why?”
“You know why.”
“Was it because Travers gave Kaashif TQ Haze at the interrogation?”
Maddux nodded. “And I want to find Kaashif. If I have Travers, I have Kaashif. As long as the Haze is still working on Kaashif, of course.”
“But why did you come after Karen? You had Nathan Kohler slip Travers some of the TQ he was carrying. I know you did. Travers said his stomach hurt like he had food poisoning. And Kohler got him a drink before Travers went in with Kaashif again. That must mean Kohler lit Travers up like a TQ neon sign.”
Maddux nodded once more. “Very good, and my phone had Travers covered just fine. Then, poof, all of a sudden the track-and-trace app stops working.” He shrugged. “Sometimes that happens. I’m sure you’ve been told. Some bodies flush the micro-shards faster than others, and some do it really fast. Travers was one of those; he turned out to be a bad host. The guys who came up with the stuff are still working out the kinks.” He shrugged. “I figured Karen knew where Travers was because she showed up in North Carolina the other night.”
Bill shook his head. “She doesn’t even know who Wilson Travers is. She was telling you the truth when she said that. I was the one who had her go to North Carolina, not Troy.”
“Interesting, you putting a woman who isn’t even in RCS directly in the path of danger like that. What’s your real motive in all that?”
“No hidden agenda, Shane. She’s very capable, and she asked if she could help. She can handle herself very well.”
“So I saw.” Maddux stood up and began pacing slowly back and forth. It was a decent-size cell, so he had room to take several paces in each direction. “Who tased me, Bill?”
“Not saying.”
Maddux stopped directly in front of where Bill was sitting and wrapped the fingers of both hands slowly and tightly around separate bars. “Why do you and I have so many secrets these days?”
“You know why.”
“We used to work so well together.”
“Yes, we did.”
“It wasn’t that long ago, either.” Maddux glanced at a corner of the room behind Bill. “Maybe we should consider joining up again,” he suggested, covering his mouth with one hand as he spoke.
Amazing, Bill thought. Maddux had already pegged the camera’s location, and he’d covered his mouth so no one looking through it or examining a tape later could lip-read. “How did you find Imelda? What led you to her in Manassas?”
“I got a tip from one of my guys at Fort Meade.”
“Did she tell you anything during the interrogation?”
Maddux shook his head. “All she did was scare the hell out of me, Bill.”
That didn’t sound good. As far as Bill knew, the man standing in front of him wasn’t scared of anything. “What do you mean?”