I shook my head. “Kyle’s, so she can find his trail through the woods and get to him.”
“Cami, you’re a freaking genius.”
We quickly searched my office, but there was nothing of his there, and I had no time to run upstairs.
I took Bella to the back door and went down on my knees. “Okay girl, we have to do this the hard way, but we have no choice.” I kissed her head and hugged her. My heart leapt into my throat when I realized she could get confused, run off course, and end up in the road. “Please, please, please, find Daddy.”
She pawed excitedly.
“Find Daddy, find him.” I opened the back door. “Go on girl. Where’s Daddy?”
She hesitated for a moment, probably expecting me to go with her. When I didn’t budge, she trotted out the door and gave me one last perplexed look.
“Go on,” I encouraged her again, “find Daddy.” I was terrified for her and nearly in tears.
She gave one yelp, dropped her nose to the ground, then ran, heading straight for the woods.
I closed the back door, leaving it unlocked. Remembering active shooter drills from high school, I ran back down the hall and told Gina to lock herself in my office.
“Not going to happen,” she said. “I told you, I’m not leaving you.”
She grabbed my hand and held it tight. I nodded, and we marched down the hall together, toward Darla, toward the hostage, toward the man who might kill us all.
We’d almost reached the door to the lobby when it swung open and Scott strolled into our back hallway carrying a very sick dog.
“There she is.” He grinned, but he looked anything but friendly. “There’s the woman who’s going to get my product out of this fucking dying dog.”
I held up my hands in a conciliatory gesture. “What are you doing, Scott?”
“Getting your help.” He jerked his head toward the front of the building. “I saw your boyfriend’s truck. Where’s he hiding?”
I considered lying to scare him away. But then I looked carefully and saw a gun at his hip, just as Gina had predicted.
“He’s not here today. He’s working at another job.”
“But he left his truck here?” Scott’s face turned dark and more dangerous.
I held up my hands. “I swear, he’s not here. You can check the building.”
The minute I said it, I regretted it. I hadn’t seen Doc, but I assumed he was in his office. He might be hiding, or he might be oblivious to the entire situation. Either way, I wanted to keep him safely out of this.
“I’m going to trust you for old time’s sake,” Scott said. “But I’m warning you, if loverboy makes an unexpected appearance, I’ll put a bullet between his eyes.”
34
KYLE
Thursday morning, I ran four miles to work, then participated in a punishing round of PT. After that, I showered, put on dress slacks and a button-down shirt, and attended a meeting with staffers from some of the US senators who sat on the subcommittee that funds HEAT. They had questions about our actions in the weekend debacle. They indicated they were inclined to believe our version of events, but until they met with us, then issued a final report, nothing was a given.
And yet, through it all, I couldn’t help smiling. Lang was annoyed by it. When we weren’t with the staffers, Wheeler cracked constant jokes at my expense, egged on by Pasco, who found the jokes hilarious. Hayes and Kat gave me pitying looks and once or twice muttered something about me being a goner.
Jensen, Pasco’s boss and back-up IT support for us, was in town for our morning meetings. After hearing more from my teammates about my love life than any colleagues should ever know, he clapped me on the back and told he would invent a special drink in honor of Cami’s and myhappiness. I tried not to take that as a threat. Bond, who came for the meetings and would stay on for a few days to run routine blood tests on us, looked at me like I was a specimen to be studied. But unless my extreme happiness became an impediment to my physical health or performance, I knew I could count on her to remain professionally detached.
We all put on our most serious faces for the meeting with the staffers. It was a huge point in our favor that we’d found and destroyed the kompromat Rikder had gathered against not only the son of the Joint Chief, but also some other high-ranking officials and their family members.
As soon as Sentate contingent left, we shed our dress clothes and returned to our normal work uniforms of jeans and T-shirts. Jensen said goodbye as he had a plane to catch, but he promised he’d return soon with that special drink recipe. Lang went to the planning room to make a phone call. Kat holed up in her office to confer with X and Bond. Pasco hurried to the IT room to play with the new equipment Jensen had brought for him.
~~Hayes, Wheeler and I seemed to be the only ones who had our priorities straight. We stormed the kitchen.
