“He took a bullet to the head.” Daniel grabbed his phone. “I’m calling this in. There will be a price to pay.”
Disbelief coursed through Colt. He needed to see for himself that Steve was dead. He hurried down the hall with Maren and the dogs on his heels. He heard Daniel’s voice loud and clear inside the room.
“This is Agent Daniel Russell.” He gave the safe house’s address. “I need an ambulance here pronto. And put me in touch with Special Agent in Charge Leo Herman.”
In the back bedroom, Steve Loren lay on the floor, a single gunshot to the head. The window was shattered, indicating the shots had come from outside. But something about this whole situation didn’t sit well.
What had Steve wanted to tell Maren? Or was this all a ploy to get her here so Shadow could kill her and Steve? Was Agent Henry Spares involved in the deception?
FIFTEEN
The drive to headquarters was delayed because of traffic. A full team meeting had been called, and Emmett had lab results from their search of the house Derek Rolls had been linked to. Maren kept an eye out for any signs of trouble as Colt maneuvered the SUV through the line of vehicles clogging the road. She stared at the drivers of the other vehicles, not seeing anyone paying them any attention.
Undoubtedly, the other drivers were only worried about the report they had to write for their jobs, the columns that needed balancing or the children that needed tending to, while she was consumed with worry for her sister, for Mia, for Colt and for herself… Steve Loren had been killed and a DEA agent shot. She wasn’t sure what she and Colt had walked into or who had set them up. There were so many unknown variables that made knowing whom to trust difficult.
When they arrived at the task force headquarters, Colt parked, and they released Haven and Rusk from the back of the SUV, then hurried into the training center to drop off the dogs. The tightness in her chest made her breathing shallow.
“Take it easy.” Colt placed a hand on the small of her back as they headed upstairs to the conference room.
The concern in his voice clearly indicated she wasn’t very good at hiding her nerves. For some unfathomable reason, she took comfort in his touch. He steadied her. Grounded her. Kept the anxiousness from becoming too overwhelming.
All the task force members were gathered around the conference room table, including their tech, Eva Gomez. Maren was surprised to see the wealthy benefactor of the task force, Dodger Andrews, present and seated at the head of the table. As always, he wore a fleece vest despite the heat outside and plain-front khaki slacks. His thick gray hair looked as if he’d run his hand through it in agitation.
Did his apparent unease mean that it was Mia’s DNA on the hand towel Haven had alerted on?
A pang of sorrow zipped through Maren and burned the back of her throat. Mia had been a young innocent woman with her life ahead of her and her unborn child.
She and Colt took empty seats near the door. Maren leaned over toward Colt to say, “The older gentleman sitting at the head of the table is Dodger Andrews. He funded the task force. Mia is his granddaughter.”
Colt whispered back, “I can only imagine how heartbreaking this is for him.”
Maren didn’t need to imagine, she was living it with every moment that her sister remained missing. Opal was out there somewhere, trying to evade Shadow and his network of minions. Understanding the kind of fear Opal had to be experiencing had Maren wishing with all her might she could wrap her arms around her sister to comfort her, to protect her and bring her home.
“Any word yet from Vinnie?” Maren whispered the question to Colt, though she knew he’d tell her the minute he heard anything.
He shook his head. His green-gold eyes held sympathy in their depths.
Emmett strode to the front of the room, drawing her attention away from Colt.
“I have news regarding the evidence collected by Maren and her partner, Haven,” Emmett told the group.
All eyes turned to Maren. She smiled slightly and gave a nod to her boss. She hoped she appeared calm and collected, because inside, her stomach was cramping with anticipation.
“The hand towel found in the bathtub had DNA that matched that of Nina Olson.”
Maren sucked in a sharp breath. Nina’s body had been recovered five months before the task force was formed. The seventeen-year-old from Colorado Springs had been missing for ten months but hadn’t been reported missing by anyone. As far as the authorities could tell, Nina had willingly left her home so no one in her life had suspected foul play. Until her body was discovered. The pathology on her remains showed she’d recently given birth prior to her death. But so far, law enforcement hadn’t been able to identify her baby’s father or the location of her baby. They theorized the infant had been adopted through illegal channels they still hadn’t uncovered.
The news that the DNA matched Nina was a blow but also a blessing to Maren.
She hated to think of the young woman suffering, but not finding any of Mia’s DNA still gave them hope that the young woman, due to give birth in four months, was alive. And possibly had never been at the dilapidated house they’d searched earlier.
Dodger Andrews rose to address the group. “I want to thank you all for your hard work. I know you’ve been looking nonstop for Mia. Her family appreciates it.” A spasm of pain crossed his features. “It’s hard to not lose hope.”
A murmur went through the room as people voiced their heartfelt sentiments.
“We can’t lose hope,” Lizzie said.
“She isn’t close to her due date,” Autumn pointed out. “They won’t do anything to her—” She broke off with a grimace.
