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Her phone pinged again, and she assumed it was her mother, so she pulled it out and almost dropped the phone when she read the message.
Today, no one died. You will not be so lucky next time and it will be all your fault because you didn’t stop me in Virginia.
ChapterFourteen
For a long moment, Tamilya stood frozen, her brain unable to process what the message meant. Words were like gibberish to her. She understood what the message said, but she couldn’t get her brain to compute and react. Ice stole over her, leaving her feeling as if she were encased in an iceberg. She couldn’t say or do anything. That iciness slipped beneath her flesh and she started to shake. It was just like Virginia Star all over again. She was going to fail.
Then, in a split instant, she snapped out of it. She wouldnotfail, and no coward hiding in the shadows was going to convince her either. She shook her head to clear out the recriminations and read the message again.
“Marcus,” she said, showing him her screen.
“What the hell?”
She walked over to the conference table and everyone followed suit. She set the phone down and heard Marcus on his own phone calling in her number so they could get a trace.
“It’ll be a burner, I’m sure of it,” Autumn said. Tamilya felt her friend pat her shoulder.
“Yeah, but we might be able to get something anyway.”
Autumn’s phone buzzed.
“What?” she barked, but she smiled when whoever talked on the other end of the line apparently gave her hell.
“I’m not rude. I’m abrupt.”
Another round of listening as Tamilya tried to hold onto her patience. It was a difficult task because Autumn gave them no indication as to what the call was about.
“Okay.” Autumn held her phone out to Tamilya. “Charity.”
“Do you have some kind of sixth sense?’
“No,” Charity said, but she didn’t laugh. Her tone was serious, one she rarely heard from the tech. “Autumn texted me.”
Tamilya hadn’t even noticed her friend sending a text. “What do you need?”
“Nothing much. Just wanted to know if this was an issue in the last case?”
“No. We had no contact before the incident.”
“Hmm, so this is a change in behavior.” Even on the phone, Tamilya could almost sense Charity’s mind humming along as she made a few connections. She heard Charity tapping on keys.
“We don’t know if it is the same person.”
“Aha!” Autumn said, pumping her fist in the air.
“What was that?” Charity asked.
Tamilya clicked on the speaker. “Putting you on for everyone to hear. And so you know, the idiotic noise you just heard was Autumn.”
“I knew that the FBI thought there were others involved,” Autumn said. “That mall hit was too extensive for one person.”
“The FBI does not think there were other people. There was no sign of it,” Tamilya said, reciting the line they had all been forced to use. Truthfully, the others were happy to use it. Whether they were happy she had been left to blame for the bombing or they believed the FBI’s official stance.
“But you do,” Autumn said. “If you could see her expression, you would agree with what I’m saying.”
“I agree with that assessment too,” Marcus said from behind her.
Surprised, she glanced at him.
