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She felt numb as she walked down the stairs beside him. She slipped her sunglasses over her eyes to protect them from the bright sunshine that assaulted her as they exited the building. Had the sun been this bright when she’d entered the building? She couldn’t remember. She realized she barely remembered the drive from the hotel to the campus.
They sat on one of the many benches in front of the main entrance to the Criminal Justice Building. Occasionally, a cheer from the soccer field across the campus would break the quiet of the area and remind Laura Lee that it was Saturday morning and people were living normal lives, oblivious to the dangerous people all around them.
Through comms, she listened to the normal wrap-up of the mission. Theirs had been muted. The information from the Op was being transmitted to Deputy Director Whiting at the FBI. The Digital Team found the true identity of Mark Samuelson. His real name was Geiger. He’d been with Delta before he took a discharge and began working for hire. He hadn’t been on anyone’s radar in over eight years.
Laura Lee took a sip from the water bottle Mike had gotten for her from one of the rental cars parked nearby. “Do they need you up there?” she asked him.
“Nah, there’s five of them up there. You and I will aid in the transfer to the regular FBI when they arrive, though.”
She was glad he could stay with her. She hadn’t thought she’d feel this. How did she feel? Numb, lost, exhausted, triumphant, all at the same time.
“This campus is beautiful,” Mike said after a few quiet moments. “The brick buildings and white pillar columns are historic and stately looking. The grounds are manicured to perfection. It had to be incredible to go to school here.”
She glanced around, seeing the campus through his eyes. She remembered her first visit to the campus and how impressed by it she was. She doubted she could afford to attend the school, but her mom was so confident that she’d get the Surviving Child of a First Responder’s Scholarship that she applied for. That, combined with the ROTC money, her living at home and commuting for the first year, plus a part-time job, would fund her education.
“Yes, I was so proud to attend this college. It would have been less expensive to just go to the community college for the first two years and then transfer, but my mom wanted me to have the full experience of attending a four-year university.”
“Your mom sounds like a great lady,” Mike said. “I hope that specialist clinic in Florida can help her with the Parkinson’s. Had she already been diagnosed when you started college?”
“Yes, a year earlier. That was two years after my dad was killed on the job. I always wondered if the stress of losing him is what brought the Parkinson’s on. They don’t know what causes it.”
“Yeah. It’s a horrible disease,” he agreed.
“Bubbles, you still got eyes on buff-boy?” Garcia asked.
“He’s in the shower, so no, but he couldn’t have left it without me seeing him.”
“Stay on him,” Garcia ordered.
“Roger.”
Garcia wanted to interrogate the three men. Shepherd ordered him to stand down. The FBI was en route, ETA at that point, twenty minutes. Shepherd had promised Whiting he’d get first crack at the men because West was one of theirs.
Laura Lee was just glad it was over. And she hoped Michelle Keslar wouldn’t have to testify. She hoped it would never even go to trial. The one thing she wanted was for the FBI to determine if West had killed any of the girls and made it look like suicide. Their parents deserved to know their daughters didn’t kill themselves if that was the case. Master Chief Frank Rose and his wife, Sue, needed to know if their daughter, Darla, had been murdered. She wasn’t sure if it would give them any type of closure or not, but she knew Sue Rose was still beating herself up because she hadn’t known her daughter was suicidal.
Romeo
Laura Lee was so deep in thought that she barely heard the order through comms for the team to bring their detainees out through the south entrance that emptied into the faculty parking lot. The FBI had arrived to take custody of West, Geiger, and Liu. They were parked in that less public lot for transfer.
Mike Rogers came to his feet and motioned to Laura Lee to stand as well. He switched his comms to transmit. “We’re heading around the building from the front to assist.”
“Roger that, Powder,” Jimmy acknowledged.
Mike removed his badge and creds from his back pocket. He carried CIA credentials. The FBI Team coming to take the three detainees off their hands had been told a multi-agency task force had performed the takedown. They wouldn’t question who was on scene.
Mike held his badge up as he and Laura Lee came around the corner of the building. Three black Ford Explorers were pulled up near the door into the building. Laura Lee counted nine men in dark suits and ties clustered around the double glass doors. One of the men had a phone pressed to his ear.
Through her comms she heard Garcia announce that he’d coordinated with the agent in charge on scene. They’d be bringing the three men down to turn over now. Laura Lee let her thoughts wander to her family. They were safe now and could come home. She would ask Shepherd if she could remain in Richmond for a few days to spend time with them.
The glass doors opened, and BT came out first, followed by Garcia, his hand holding West by the bicep. West’s hands were bound behind his back. A feeling of immense satisfaction rolled through Laura Lee. Harrison West was in custody for his crimes. Jimmy led Liu out next, followed by Roth and Tessman leading Geiger out.
A few pleasantries were exchanged between Garcia and the AIC as the Shepherd Security Team handed the three men over to the FBI Agents, who began walking the men to the three nearby SUVs. The Shepherd Security Team had concluded another successful mission. Laura Lee felt pride wash through every part of her. Now she understood why these men did this job. Now she understood why Garcia did a potentially dangerous job, even though a wife and baby waited at home for him.
Suddenly, shots from an automatic weapon rang out in conjunction with the shattering of glass and the sound of 5.56 rounds ricocheting off the brick walls and blacktopped surface of the parking lot. She saw red spread over West’s, Liu’s, and Geiger’s chests. Garcia and BT jerked backwards and then fell to the pavement. Instinctively, Laura Lee dropped to the ground, on her belly. She unholstered her weapon. Everyone was on the ground now, including Mike Rogers beside her.
“Shots fired! Shots fired!” she heard in her comms. She didn’t recognize the voice at first but then realized it was Garcia’s, strangled, and with little wind passing through his vocal cords.
“Where’d they come from?” Roth shouted.
