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“All of them, Ms. Battaglia,” Nichols replied. “You should know your reputation precedes you.”
“I’ll take that to mean we all know I earned my place on one of the most elite teams in the Army, Special Agent Nichols.” She turned a brilliant smile on the DEA agent and extended her hand. “It’s good to meet you at last, Hannah. Are you staying?” She glanced around. “We could make it a girl’s retreat and kick out these guys.”
Carson thought the FBI agent’s jaw might crack.
“Tempting,” Hannah replied with a stiff smile. “But I can’t stay. I only tagged along with Ross from the Columbia office when I heard about the, ah, incident.”
“You’ll see him before you go.”
It sounded like an order to Carson’s ears.
“I will,” Hannah agreed. “You do know you get better toys when you play nice?”
Eva slid her gaze to Nichols. “You brought me toys?”
“I have some resources in the car that might expedite your search,” Nichols said. “I’ll be taking your current computer and phone.”
“Absolutely not.”
“I have Ross’s approval.”
“Well, he didn’t get mine.” She took a step back as if ready to defend her computer and phone to the death.
“Our forensics team—”
“Won’t find a damn thing I can’t find.” Eva cut him off. She threw her hands up. “I’ll keep you informed of my progress. If someone found a weak link in the CS network security and exploited it, I can turn that to our advantage. It’s better to feed him what we want him to know than cut him off and force him to start over.”
“You don’t get a vote.”
“Then you don’t get my help.”
Nichols took a step closer, and Carson shifted to block him. Nichols tried to stare him down, but Carson didn’t flinch. His job was keeping Eva safe so she could stay on task.
“What are you trying to hide, Ms. Battaglia?”
“Not a thing. If Ross wants you informed, I’ll do that, but not by handing over my system.”
“Eva,” the sheriff said calmly, drawing Nichols back. “We’re all here to help you resolve this as soon as possible.” He motioned the other agents back. “Go on and get the system and give us a minute.”
Carson heard the FBI agent cursing Eva’s stubbornness as he walked out. He added the strange animosity to the growing list of questions he wanted answered.
“I can’t turn over my phone, Sheriff,” she began, but he cut her off with a raised hand.
“You have to. The plan is to have those two leave the house in Nichols’s car with your computer and cell phone.”
“Oh, lord.” Her hand went to her pendant. “They’re trying to draw out the sniper.”
“Yes.”
“If they fail…”
Carson could tell she was more worried about the agents succeeding in drawing the sniper’s attention. He agreed with her concerns. It felt like an unnecessary risk.
“It’s long odds.” The sheriff patted her shoulder. “We don’t have any hard evidence from the post office rooftop. Not a footprint or shell casing. No indication of where the sniper might be.”
“No leads from the false alarms?” Carson knew it was early, but surely someone had seen something.
“None,” Sheriff Cochran said. He turned back to Eva. “Ross needs you to hand over the phone and computer. Trust him.”
