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She glared the mother of all glares at me then stepped aside with obvious reluctance. “No trouble.”
I breathed a thanks and moved to Andrew. He gestured for Snyder to back off.
“How did that footage get out?” I demanded, voice low. “Do you know anything about this?”
“I have no idea how the studio got their hands on it,” he said. “I swear.”
“All right. Shit.” I pulled my thoughts together. “What’s Dante Rosario’s deal? What does he do for Saberton besides the doggie demonstrations?”
“He’s worked security for close to a decade,” Andrew said, slowly regaining his composure. “He became Marla’s handler five years ago and was assigned to the Dallas lab for the past six months, up until you people raided it. He’s on extended leave now.”
“Sonofabitch,” I breathed. “If he worked the Dallas lab, he was deep into the zombie research crap.” An ugly suspicion stirred in my gut about the video files, but I wasn’t ready to share it with Andrew yet. After all, he was first and foremost a Saber of Saberton.
He gave me a grim nod. “I have an exit strategy in the event everything goes to shit,” he murmured. “It’s an absolute last resort, but—”
“That’s damn good to hear,” I said fervently. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” I did my best to keep my tone calm and casual. “Any updates on Kristi Charish?”
“Nothing yet. I’m scheduled to talk to my mother in the morning.”
“Good luck with that.” I made a face. “Keep us posted, and I’ll stay out of your way as much as possible.”
He snorted. “Why start now?”
My thoughts whirled as I left him in the tender care of his bodyguards. Dante Rosario had worked at the Dallas lab while Kristi Charish was there. According to Andrew, she’d taken a buttload of documentation with her when she escaped from the lab. What if she was the source of the leak?
Contents of USB Flash Drive from D.R. I didn’t know yet how it all fit together, but I had a crazy-strong suspicion that the mysterious “D.R.” from the file list was none other than one Dante Rosario.
Chapter 21
Rain from a sneak-attack Louisiana shower splattered my windshield and sent less adventurous Fest goers scurrying to their cars. My stomach growled as I briefed Dr. Nikas, and I switched the phone to speaker and set it on the dash. “Can’t security pick up Rosario?”
“He’s high profile Saberton,” Dr. Nikas said. “An acquisition would require finesse, even if we had sufficient personnel for the op.”
“So he walks?” I scowled and ripped the top off a brain packet.
“Other projects have priority.”
“But—”
“I know,” he said. “It’s frustrating. Potentially damning zombie videos have been made public, and you’ve uncovered fragments of intel that seem to fit together. But we don’t know Rosario is in league with Kristi or whether he has a Saberton agenda. It’s conjecture.”
“Then we find out for sure. Put a tail on him. Naomi or Rachel or—”
“Naomi and Dan flew out an hour ago to back up Pierce in Portland. Saberton is there in force, which makes recapturing Kristi impossible. Pierce is now hoping to convince Kristi to come with us willingly, but his only contact with her so far has been by phone.”
Ugh. I despised the idea of Kristi Charish working with us while being free to come and go as she pleased, but I also knew that the bitch had smarts and skills the Tribe needed.
“All of our available security people are deployed elsewhere or are working short-handed,” Dr. Nikas continued. “Jacques and Reg are armed because lab security is at half-strength. We don’t have the resources for a local non-emergency operation.” Dr. Nikas went silent for several seconds. “Angel, you’re the only available person who can deal with this.”
Jacques and Reg were carrying guns? Aliens taking over city hall would be less shocking. I sank back in my seat. “Well, damn.”
“I agree wholeheartedly.”
By the time we disconnected, the rain had passed, and a fat rainbow floated over the Fest grounds. Maybe it was a sign that everything was going to be A-okay.
I sipped the packet of brains as I mulled over my options. The most inviting one was to go home, kick back, and watch a bit of mind-numbing reality TV. But I was the Tribe’s only hope for gathering intel on Rosario. I was it, thanks to a perfect storm of a ton of crap happening at once. It wasn’t enough that FBI agents were snooping around funeral homes. No, the universe had to throw in the Kristi Charish wrench, forcing the Tribe honchos to scramble and change their plans to check their out-of-state funeral homes, and instead head to Oregon. Add in Saberton’s usual hijinks, Grayson Seeger’s murder, and Rosario possibly leaking the video files, and we were running around with our hair on fire while the universe laughed its ass off.
Well, screw the universe. I could handle the Rosario shit. There was always the chance he was still at the Fest, despite his earlier claim that he was leaving. It would be easy enough to check at the gate and find out. If he was still here, then I’d wait and tail him when he left. If not, a few calls to hotels within twenty miles might give me—
