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Joe was caught completelyoff guard by Elly’s kiss. He hadn’t expected her to do such a thing when her brother Brady was nearby.
“We need to figure out a game plan,” Brady said, eyeing him intensely.
“I know.” He couldn’t bear to meet Elly’s gaze. He hated feeling like he was a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
Although the one time he’d tried to snatch a cookie, his dad had slapped him halfway across the room. He supposed he should be relieved Brady hadn’t done that considering the way he’d practically devoured his younger sister.
Nothing like playing with fire, he thought as he followed Brady back to the kitchen. He noticed Elly stayed behind, and it took all his willpower not to go back to make sure she was okay.
Seriously, he needed to get a grip. He couldn’t keep kissing Elly or letting her kiss him either. This absolutely couldn’t happen again.
“I just got a call from Brock,” Steele said. “They think they found the shooter’s location, but of course, there’s no sign of him now.”
“How does he keep getting away?” Joe asked.
“Good question.” Brady frowned. “Your theory that this guy is either in law enforcement or the military is a good one. I’ll put a call into Heath Strauss. He may be able to help provide some intel on recent military discharges.”
“Who?” Joe scowled. “I’ve never heard of the guy.”
“He’s a military investigator. We worked with him back when Aiden was having trouble keeping a widow and her young daughter safe.” Brady arched a brow. “Aiden and Shelby are engaged now too. They’re getting married next month.”
Was that some sort of subtle dig? Did Brady expect Joe to propose now that he’d kissed Elly?
The idea was more intriguing than annoying. He quickly averted his thoughts to the immediate threat of the gunman.
“Okay, give Strauss a call. Obviously, we can use all the help we can get.” Joe turned back to Steele. “Can you think of any reason why a former cop or military dude would do this? The motive is what keeps tripping me up.”
“No,” Steele said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Other than it must be personal,” Brady interjected. “No way is this a simple act of violence to make a statement. We’ve had profilers working on these types of incidents. As you’ve said all along, this one doesn’t fit the typical pattern. Most shootings are racially or religiously motivated, or they’re young men angry at the group of people they’ve targeted, like terminated employees or being bullied at a school.” He shook his head and sighed. “There is more going on here than we understand.”
“Yeah.” Joe glanced around the interior of the house. “It’s late; we need to get some sleep. But it may be helpful to have Steele stay the night.”
“I can sleep on the sofa,” Brady offered.
“It’s better if I plan to take a defensive position outside,” Steele said. “It seems this guy doesn’t get that close, but maybe if I’m stationed near the perimeter, I’ll find him before he can take another shot at Elly.”
“He shouldn’t know about this place at all,” Joe protested.
“Yeah, like the City Central Hotel,” Steele shot back.
His teammate was right. He didn’t like the idea of his buddy staying outside in the cold, though. “Too bad we don’t have another property nearby that we can use.”
“Hang on.” Brady worked his phone for a few minutes. “Okay, there is a house across the street that you can use.”
“How many safe houses do you have?” Joe couldn’t hide his surprise. Granted, his experience with working alongside the feds was limited.
Brady shrugged. “We didn’t have much to offer until recently. I put up a stink after the last incident with Aiden and Shelby. MPD has had better safe houses than we have. For once, Donovan, our special agent in charge of the Milwaukee field office, agreed with me. Shortly after that, these two properties were purchased by the bureau from the bank during foreclosure. They’re not perfect, but they’ll do.”
“I like it.” Steele rose. “It’s good to have two properties close together to help keep an eye on things. I wouldn’t mind if the shooter decided to use the roof of the house I’ll be staying in to aim at this one.”
“That would be nice,” Brady drawled. “But don’t count on it.”
Steele shrugged. “I can hope, right? I’ll head over there now and have Brock or one of the others on the team come relieve me in a few hours.”
Joe knew that was the right thing to do, everyone on the team was determined to keep Elly safe, and nobody could stay awake and alert for hours on end. Sleep was critical to staying sharp.
But he also hated taking resources from tracking the shooter. He tried to console himself there was a BOLO for this guy, which meant every cop in a fifty-mile radius should be looking for him.
