“Aaron Stuart captured this photo of the shooters. It shows three out of the five of them pretty well. Dev’s right, one looks like a woman. I wanna see if any of them look familiar to you,” Joe said, turning his monitor toward Cash and Shanna. He tuned in enough to look at the screen. Shanna was up from his normal seat, craning her neck to see too.
“No way,” she said in disbelief.
Cash’s every sense shot to high alert. It couldn’t be. “Is that Vernie? From the local DEA office?”
“Sure looks like her to me,” Joe replied, rolling his chair forward with small footsteps from the front, until he faced the screen too.
“Yeah. Vernie. Wow.” Shanna leaned in further. “She’s completely covered, but it doesn’t matter. It’s her. She was the lead shooter based on their stance. Wow.”
“The shooter has three little skin tags under the right eye and look at the shape of her eyes. Can we zoom in closer?” Cash asked Joe.
“Yeah, hang on. It’s here in the pictures sent to me.” Joe went back to his email, the screen showing every move he made as he flipped through several attachments until it opened to a more focused photo of Vernie.
“It’s her,” Cash said, seeing the small gold flecks in her pupils and long lashes around her eyes. “Do we know who any other shooters are?”
“Does it matter?” Joe asked, spinning around in his chair to face Cash. “This confirms what Lily suggested.”
Cash’s racing mind zoomed in fully on Joe. Lily had used the word “we” by accident.
“What’s he talking about?” Shanna asked, her seat spun toward Cash.
“Shanna’s not dumb, and clearly she now knows that Vernie was part of the massacre,” Joe explained. Joe pushed his chair back to his normal spot at the table, bringing the monitor with him.
“So are you saying the local DEA office is responsible for the hit on my father?” Shanna asked, coming to her feet in front of Cash. Her fists went to her waist but otherwise she looked more inquisitive rather than angry or hurt. “It wasn’t a rogue attack?”
Cash stared down at Shanna, wishing more than anything that he didn’t have to say these words to Fox’s daughter, regardless of her being an agent or not.
“Evidence suggests they took matters into their own hands and took Fox and team out. They’ve tried for years to get him under control and never could. Everything’s changed with law enforcement these days. Your father was a loose cannon. A liability now.”
Her brows knitted together. For the first time, she showed signs of sorrow.
Cash reached out a hand to caress her bicep as her jaw clamped tightly shut. He wanted her to know she hadn’t been cut out of the information loop. “They haven’t told me much except we’re still searching for the missing money.”
“But Lily told you that we were responsible?” Shanna asked. Tears welled in her eyes.
“She didn’t mean to say it,” Cash explained and did something he’d never done with a female agent before. He drew her into his arms to offer comfort. She responded, wrapping an arm around him as her forehead landed in the center of his chest. “But our directive hasn’t changed. We’re still in search of the money.”
“If we ordered the hit, why weren’t we given time to get Dev out of there? Why weren’t we better prepared?” she asked. She took a small step back, tilting her head back to better see him but didn’t release her hold. He didn’t either. “Why wouldn’t they let us know? Dev’s on our side.”
He ran a hand down the length of her long hair. How did he say he had all the same concerns, but they still had to find a way to keep moving forward until they heard something more?
“How then can we keep my mother safe?” Shanna’s cell phone rang before he had time to answer. She pulled away, giving a single shake of the head, her fists tightened. She reached for the phone, giving a quizzical look then swiped a thumb over the screen. “Shanna Fox.”
Her chin hit her chest as her eyes closed. Instinct had Cash walking toward her. “No, he’s here with me right now.”
“Joe, check Dev’s location,” Cash directed, instantly knowing Dev had played them again.
“You don’t have to do that, Joe,” Shanna said and extended the phone to Cash. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Cash brought the phone to his ear as Joe pulled up the feed from Dev’s surveillance equipment on his monitor, turning the screen toward Cash. It showed a stationary view of the inside of the clubhouse.
“Goddammit.”
“Hey, that’s my word,” Dev drawled in the silly teasing way he had. “Did you mean to say it?”
“Where are you?” Cash barked harshly.
“When did you find out I was missin’?” Dev inquired. Apparently neither were willing to answer a question.
