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Mark set his pencil behind his ear. “I assume you let Ray and Dorian know you were coming to Oak Creek this time since you’re not the dead body in question.”
Callum rolled his eyes. “Yes, I did, even though as actual law enforcement, that shouldn’t be required.”
“They’re protective of this town.”
Callum leaned one shoulder against the doorframe. “I suppose it’s nice for Oak Creek to have its own set of highly trained watch dogs. Even though neither of them actually exists in any database.”
Mark folded his arms over his chest. “That’s not a string I’d pull on too hard.”
Despite being the one to train them, the US government had turned its back on Dorian and Ray—Ray, especially—and labeled them enemies to the republic.
Ray and Dorian had come through hell to create a new life for themselves. Nobody in Oak Creek was going to let that be lost.
“I’m not. The Lindstroms are not my concern, neither now nor in the future. I have real bad guys to fight.”
Fair enough. “So, another dead body. What happened?”
“Third victim, broke in to a jewelry show in Dallas. This one didn’t die quickly. White male, nineteen years old.”
“He didn’t kill himself when he was arrested like the others?”
“No, law enforcement stopped him. But he went into some sort of cardiac failure while in holding. They got him to the hospital, but he continued to deteriorate from there. Died a few hours later. Nothing the doctors did to stop it helped.”
Mark gritted his teeth. “You can bet your ass Joaquin was behind that too.”
“Undoubtedly. This was some sort of fail-safe. We assume to keep the robots from spilling information about him and his organization. They have some sort of chemical in their system or something.”
“That one was basically a kid. Nineteen years old?”
Callum rubbed a hand over his dark hair. “They’re all basically kids. Besides the fact that they’re young, so far, we can’t find any tie between the robots or the places they’ve broken in to. All we know is that they’re programmed to die rather than let law enforcement interrogate them.”
Mark gripped the table. “That basically makes Joaquin a serial killer, just in a slightly more unique way.”
Callum nodded. “My feelings exactly. That’s why I’m going undercover.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Joaquin’s got to be on high guard after the last agent was discovered.”
“It’s a risk, but I’ve got an in, so I’m going to take it.”
Mark understood. If it meant Callum might be able to stop these robots and save lives, it would be worth the risk. Callum was a good agent.
“What do you need from me?” There was a reason Callum was here. “Ian’s already gone back to New York.”
“I know. He let me know you were still here. I need you to take point on this side of things.”
Mark raised an eyebrow. He’d stayed in Oak Creek because Linear Tactical had needed help on some general building repairs. Then as he’d started talking to Zac Mackay about some expansions they planned to make—service and emotional support animal training like their friends at the Resting Warrior Ranch in Montana—Mark had agreed to help draw up some of that.
And of course, Mark had wanted to stick close to Oak Creek in case he could help Jenna out with this case. He hadn’t seen her in the three days since pulling her car into her garage.
Hadn’t been able to get the look of despair that had blanketed her features out of his mind.
“What do you need me to do?”
“I have files that need to be delivered to Jenna. I know she’s an extreme introvert, so I didn’t want to just knock on her door. I was afraid she might have a crossbow too.”
Mark laughed, but he shook his head. The more time he had spent around Jenna, the more he realized that most of her colleagues, like Callum, generally assumed her desire not to go outside was based on not wanting to be around people. The assumption made sense. She was a computer whiz—the type of person often known for their introversion—plus her time in captivity helped explain her aversion to being surrounded by people.
But that wasn’t the case. Mark had been around her enough to see that Jenna definitely didn’t want to go outside, but it wasn’t because she didn’t want to be around people. Getting her out of the Eagle’s Nest the other day had proven it. She hadn’t been uncomfortable at all talking to everyone in the bar.
