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He’d make the call and start the ball rolling.
Offices of Forensic Instincts
Tribeca, Manhattan, New York
24 February
Saturday, 3:00 p.m. local time
Casey Woods, president of the successful and high-powered investigation agency Forensic Instincts, was seated at the brownstone’s main conference room table, reading an update on their current case. It was still in its infancy—preliminary interviews and computer searches being conducted—and Casey didn’t expect it to burst into full swing until all the intel had been gathered. For now, the urgency was moderate. Her gut told her that would change. By then, she and her team would be ready.
She’d just poured herself yet another cup of coffee when her cell phone rang.
She glanced down at the blocked number and frowned. She didn’t like anonymous calls. Still, she couldn’t ignore them. Sometimes they were important. So she settled for answering in an equally anonymous manner.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Casey. It’s Aidan.”
Casey’s brows rose in surprise. Aidan Devereaux was the older brother of her right-hand man, Marc Devereaux. Both brothers were forces to be reckoned with. Marc was former Navy SEAL, former FBI, former FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, and an original member of Forensic Instincts. Aidan was a former Marine communications and intelligence officer and current bigwig at Heckman Flax—plus something larger that Casey wasn’t privy to but suspected was huge. Aidan had consulted for FI on several significant cases. Still, she wasn’t accustomed to him calling her—not unless they were working on a case together. Which, right now, they weren’t.
“Hi, Aidan,” she said. “This is unexpected.”
“I hope it’s not a bad time.” He didn’t wait to ensure that it wasn’t. “I need to ask you a favor, and at the same time, I need to request that you not ask why.”
Casey’s lips curved. “Now that sounds intriguing. Surprising, too. You’ve never asked us for a favor, although we’ve called on you more than once.” She sipped her coffee. “You’ve saved our asses and our lives. Whatever you want is yours, no questions asked.”
“What I want is to borrow three of your team members. My brother, Emma, and Ryan.”
Whatever Casey had been expecting, it hadn’t been that.
“That’s an interesting request,” she replied. Marc was an obvious choice for whatever Aidan was doing. As FI’s techno genius, Ryan made sense, too. But Emma? She was the youngest and newest team member—a former pickpocket, now reformed. Invaluable, but still…
“Did I promise not to ask any questions?” Casey tried.
“Yeah, you did.”
A sigh. “Okay, consider it done. When do you need them and for how long?”
“Immediately. And for a week. Marc and Emma will be traveling and away full-time. Ryan will be on call twenty-four seven from New York.”
“Does this mean we’ll finally learn about the secret life of Aidan Devereaux?” Casey asked lightly but with genuine curiosity.
“It means that you and your team members will be given information on a need-to-know basis.”
“Understood.” Casey didn’t press. “The rest of us are available to you, as well. However we can help, we will.”
“I know. And thanks. I hope you’re not in the middle of a critical investigation that I’m interrupting.”
“I’ll handle things.”
“I’m sure you will.” Aidan didn’t miss a beat. “Do I have your permission to call your team members directly or do you need to speak with them first?”
“Clearly what you’re working on is urgent. There’s no need to stand on ceremony. Call them. Tell them I gave you the okay. They’ll know to check in before they take off.”
“Good enough.” Aidan paused. “I appreciate this, Casey. I know it’s tough as a leader to give an unconditional yes without knowing what you’re saying yes to.”
“I trust you,” she replied. “And I respect you—two things I don’t offer easily or often. Good luck with whatever this is.”
