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She stared at him owlishly, chewing her lip for a beat, then, “Huh. I guess I’m not surprised. It’s not like him to completely disappear when there’s action. He likes to be in the middle of things. Where’d you find him?”
“At the port, next to some containers. He’d been shot in the head while sitting in his car.” He tried to gauge her reaction, but she seemed neutral.
“He loved that car. Always said he wanted to be buried in it. I guess he sort of got his wish.”
Dane cocked an eyebrow. “You okay?”
She met his gaze. “I wasn’t Casper’s biggest fan. I don’t think he deserved to die, but at the same time, I won’t be crying over his loss. He was involved in this thing up to his ears. It caught up to him.”
The rest of the team seemed to understand that Mac was fine, and they all got settled in chairs around the room once again. Dane went over, closed the door, and then took the chair closest to the bed. Tac handed him his meal.
“So, what do we know?” Cain asked as he waved a French fry.
“Someone is cleaning house.” Dane popped a piece of fish into his mouth, chewed quickly, and swallowed.
Mac was lifting her soda but halted halfway to her lips. “What do you mean?”
“It’s really the only thing that makes any sense.” Dane stared at his Styrofoam container. “Owens does something, and someone kills him. It seems to have kicked off a chain reaction. We know Casper was involved, and now he’s dead. Someone tried to kill Mac. Loose ends.”
“But how am I a loose end? I don’t know what the hell is going on.” Her forehead wrinkled, and the small lines around her eyes looked much deeper than they had yesterday.
Getting blown up will do that to you. Dane shook his head. “I’m not saying you’re involved. I think someone believes you know something, orcouldknow something, and they don’t want to take any chances.”
“But I really don’t know anything.” She looked around the room.
“Dane’s right.” Koa threw his empty container in the trash can. “You probably don’t even know you know it, but someone cleaning house is the only thing that makes sense. I also think it’s probably because of the last deal.”
Cass frowned. “How did you leap to that conclusion?”
“Those motherboards will be worth a fortune. Whoever sold them made a killing, pardon the gallows’ humor. He’s cleaning house and shutting down his operation.”
Mac asked, “What motherboards?”
Cain glared at Koa, who immediately froze.
Dane swallowed his food.Shit.He’d totally forgotten Mac wasn’t in the loop on that one. He winced.
Cain sighed. “Part of what was stolen from the Navy were motherboards for missiles.” He went back to eating his fish.
Mac looked at Dane and raised an eyebrow, but he sure as shit wasn’t taking the bait. No details would come from him.
So she asked instead, “Do you think we should warn Tom Rutledge? He’s part of the team. Maybe they think he knows something, too.”
Dane shook his head. “Someone would have already tried to take him out if they saw him as a threat. Look at the timeline. Owens is killed Thursday night. Friday night they set up to take you out, only you don’t open the door. Lawrence wasn’t so lucky. I would guess he’s been dead since last night. So, if Rutledge was on the list, they would’ve taken him out by now, or at least tried to. Besides, I’m sure your friends at CGIS have thought of this and will be all over him.”
“They aren’t here trying to protect me,” Mac pointed out.
“True, but people have been in and out all day, and Cass has been here. If they were going to make another try for you, it would be tonight.” That thought clanged like a claxon in Dane’s head. What were they going to do about that?
“Which means we need to move you,” Tac said. “It’s the smart play.”
“Agreed.” Cain stood and stretched. “We’ll sort that out in a second. First, Finn Walsh sent satellite images. Jace, can you bring them up on the laptop?”
Jace dropped his empty container into the trash and hauled a laptop out of a backpack that Cain and Tac had brought. A minute later, they were all gathered around Jace and the laptop.
“Excuse me?” Mac called from the bed. “Are you going to share?”
Cain studied her.
