Chapter Three

The B and B that had been reserved for them had exactly what was necessary. A great place to park, a soft bed and a shower in each room. It had been a long day and it felt like it was later than it was—almost dinnertime.

Carly saw Luke’s car was already parked when she arrived, but she found him inside, speaking with the owner of the house, a lovely woman in her sixties with one of the softest, sweetest burrs to her voice Carly had ever heard.

“We’re just—”

“Tossing stuff in our rooms,” Luke said. “We’ll eat right down the street, a place called Clarabelle’s that Mrs. Douglas here recommends very highly.”

“Perfect!”

Still, Carly took a moment to jump on the bed in her room and test it out. She hesitated a minute, thinking if she was still on her own, she’d pop out and buy a box of energy bars, eat in the room and enjoy the bed.

But she felt that she understood some of her new partner’s strangeness. He’d been at the beginning of this nightmare. Maybe given a chance, he could prove to be a team player. So—dinner!

She sprang out of bed and hurried back downstairs. Mrs. Douglas was nowhere to be seen; Luke Kendrick was standing by the door.

“Clarabelle’s. I’ve never been there before, but I’m sure Mrs. Douglas knows what’s good around here.”

“You know a lot of other places here?” he asked her, opening the door.

“Yeah, well, most of what I told Aaron Miller when I was checking into his castle was true. My father’s parents are from the area. Actually, they’re from a little place close to where we’ll be going. It’s called Drumnadrochit.”

“You’ve been there?”

“Of course. I’m an only child but I have three cousins. My grandparents took all of us when I turned ten, and I’ve been back since. Not for a while now, but...”

“And did you see the Loch Ness Monster?”

She grinned. “No. Nessie evaded me. Of course, there are great theories about the creature. Okay, it’s definitely not a plesiosaur—he’d have to breathe, and he’d be seen. Also, with a neck with eighteen million vertebrae, he couldn’t get his head out of the water in the way some ‘eyewitness’ reports suggest he could do. But maybe he is a huge fish of some kind. Sturgeon can be up to fourteen or fifteen feet...or something else.”

“There’s a great story that there’s some kind of monster in a lake in Sweden, and maybe they’re one and the same. Maybe the creatures come and go—and really enjoy Loch Ness during the salmon season.”

“Storsj?odjuret,”Carly said. “Apparently, both lakes connect to the North Sea. But! A big creature couldn’t make it over some of the rocks that would connect the water to Loch Ness, but then again, some researchers believe it could use the Caledonian Canal.”

“Of course,” Luke said. She was grinning, and he seemed relaxed at last, something that made her glad. As partners went, once he seemed more at ease, he was going to prove to be okay, she thought. He was an imposing figure—a good six-four, she determined. He was a crack shot; she’d seen that. And his first determination seemed to be to save lives. Of course, they’d needed Aaron Miller alive, but she felt it was more than that. Sometimes, it was easy to think they should shoot to kill. Sometimes, they had to shoot to kill. But killing was never her first choice, and she was glad it wasn’t for him, too.

She’d known he’d been one of the agents involved—the lead agent—on the first case. Naturally, this would dig into him.

But when he smiled, he was striking. He had a handsome face with sharp green eyes, lean cheeks, but a solid jaw. He was clean-shaven, and his dark hair was short, but not buzzed. He was good-looking, she realized—once she wasn’t feeling defensive, as she had at first, or worried, as she had been when she’d seen his tension working with other law enforcement.

“And what do you think?” he asked her, indicating a door that was just up the street.

“Well,” she said honestly, “since most of the world would think that I’m crazy if they knew what I do to begin with, I try to keep an open mind. Do I think it’s possible there’s some kind of a creature? Well, we know that creatures exist everywhere. The tuatara—looks like a really creepy iguana—lived along with dinosaurs, and so did a few other animals. And the whale shark has been swimming around for twenty-eight million years.”

“Okay. I’ll keep my eye out,” Luke promised. “If we’re sent that way.”

“Whether there’s a creature or not, the area is beautiful.”

“And the ruins of Urquhart Castle are fascinating,” he said.

She smiled. “So, you know the area, too.”

“I only have one grandparent from Scotland and she was born in Glasgow,” he said. “But, yeah, you know, your parents bring you places, and if you like them, you get back.”

They’d reached the restaurant. She almost opened the door but decided he wanted to do so and allowed him.

It was charming inside. There were several booths and tables, all offering little vases with flowers. A window opened to the kitchen and the chefs and cook could be watched.

“Going to have some haggis?” he asked her, noticing it was on a placard by the host stand that offered the daily specials.

“Salmon!” she said.

He laughed. “I’ll be going with the salmon, too.”

They were quickly seated. The salmon was served with potatoes and broccoli, and they both ordered it. And to her surprise, they both ordered coffee.

“You know, we’re going back to get some sleep,” she reminded him.

“I’m trying to stay awake long enough to get there,” he said. “And you?”

“Same.”

“Sleep will be amazing,” he said. He shook his head, frowning, looking down at the table.

“Is there an ant running around or something?” Carly asked him.

He smiled, looking up at her. “No, I guess I’m just disturbed. This ‘H. H. Holmes Society’ thing. Scotland is a relatively small nation within Great Britain. How long has that site been out there? And it would be one thing to believe it was only hitting the English-speaking world, but Mason and Della are in France following up on disappearances there.”

“It’s disturbing, but there’s hope! First, at headquarters, Jackson, Adam, Angela and others will be working their magic. Law enforcement across the world will know what’s going on, our country will be covered and we are working with amazing people. Luke, we will get it shut down. And for tonight—”

“Sleep.”

“Right.” She was silent a minute and then shrugged and smiled. “St. Columba was the first one to notice a Loch Ness Monster, you know, way back.”

He laughed softly. “Back to Nessie! As if history wasn’t enough.”

She winced. “Good old history. Man and his determination on bloodshed. And the greater the history in an area, I’m afraid we find a greater legacy of violence. In 1544, there was something called the Battle of the Shirts. It was basically between Clan Cameron and Clan Fraser, and Clan MacDonald supported Clan Cameron. And then in 1544 and 1545, they raided Urquhart, which was held by Clan Grant at the time. The place was wiped out—cattle, sheep, you name it, and... Anyway, none of my ancestors was executed, to the best of my knowledge, but it didn’t go well for Ewen Cameron, who was executed in 1546.”

“Do you think they’ll blame you now?” he inquired, grinning.

She laughed. “No, I’ve been there before, and all went well.”

He shook his head. “Like Campbell said, Bloody Scotland. If I have my history right, they can trace people dating back to about 3,500 BC. God alone knows what happened until the Romans came and defeated the Caledonians at the Battle of Mons Graupius in 83 AD, but the Romans decided the Scots were too wild, rowdy and violent, so they built the Hadrian’s and Antonine Walls in 122 AD and 143 AD—give or take a year or two. Tribes come in from Ireland and other places. Your St. Columba arrives in 500 something. Battle, battle, battle, the Vikings arrive. Iona is burned. In 1124, David I becomes king and introduces the feudal system. Then in 1128 David I founds Holyrood Abbey.”

Carly stared at him, frowning.

“What are you? An encyclopedia?”

He laughed. “Trouble really came after William I swears allegiance to Henry II of England in 1174—that causes war and violence for years and years to come because Edward I will then give the crown to John Balliol in 1292, which leads to the days of the hero, William Wallace, beating the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Of course, Wallace will eventually be captured and executed, drawn and quartered, with his ‘quarters’ being shipped about to be displayed so that others won’t follow his lead. But instead, while Robert the Bruce has been forced to play both sides at times due to his father’s close friendship with the English king, he will rise up at last after his father’s death, win battles, lose battles, but eventually prevail and become Robert I of Scotland.”

Carly leaned back, laughing softly. She hadn’t figured him for a man who would know history so well—and seem to love it.

“Very good.”

“I’m sure you could have told me.”

“I know basic history, but I couldn’t have rattled off those dates! Let’s see... Robert’s son, David, will succeed him at the tender age of five. After David II, Robert II will become the first Stuart king, and we all know what eventually happens to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.”

“But her son will wear the crown of Scotland and the crown of England.”

“I feel sorry for Mary, but she should have been much smarter!”

“It’s hard to judge, hundreds of years later,” he told her.

“Battle, battle, battle—but the Acts of Union passed by both the English and Scottish parliaments that put them together.”

He grinned. “And to this day some Scots are nationalists, and some want to hang tight to the financial status quo. Who knows what the future will bring?”

“They won’t go to war again—I’d bet my life on that!” Carly said, smiling.

“The world is a strange place.” He shrugged, but he was smiling, too. “Think about it—we bet our lives on humanity every day.”

“Nope,” she told him. “I count on those I work with. I count on the fact that, despite what we see, the vast majority of human beings are good! What, you’re going to argue that?” she demanded.

“Nope!” he said.

Their food arrived. It was excellent. They’d both consumed their coffee; they both asked for more.

“Think we’re pushing it?” Carly asked him.

“Maybe you, not me. I’m going to crash like a lead balloon!”

“Yeah, I will, too, I think. Tonight—”

“I’ve trained myself to wake up at just about anything,” Luke said. “But honestly, I know Jackson and Angela—and I know we wouldn’t be where we are tonight if they hadn’t thoroughly checked it out. That’s the incredible thing about the Krewe. We have such an amazing backup team. When they say you need rest, they mean it. And when you go into the fray, you know what you’re up against.”

She smiled and nodded, and soon they were heading back.

“Thank you,” he told her.

“For what?”

“I think you would have bought a deli sandwich somewhere and just gone to bed. I was really hungry. Thank you for going with me.”

“Hey. Partners,” she said.

He paused a second, looking at her, smiling.

“Yeah. Partners.”

He started walking again, and they headed on down the last block to their B and B, not pausing again until they were inside.

“I have an alarm set for whatever time Jackson or whoever wants us to get info,” he told her. “Turn your phone off—you had the worst of it. Get some sleep. I don’t intend to crawl out of bed until I have to.”

“That’s a plan! Thanks.”

She thought she could argue; he’d been at two crime scenes where horrible things had happened.

But she just didn’t feel like arguing. She smiled and they parted ways on the second floor and made their way to their own rooms.

She was afraid at first she’d be so overtired that she wouldn’t sleep. But after a long, hot shower, she fell into bed.

And sleep came almost instantly.

Luke woke as his phone rang. An instant tension filled him; he’d set it so that only a call from headquarters or Mason Carter would come through.

It was headquarters, and glancing at the time, he realized that Jackson or Angela had spent the night working—it had to be about 3:00 a.m. in the United States.

It was Angela.

“You’ve taken the site down?” he asked her hopefully.

“No, we don’t have it down again. But there is an internet café not far from you, and we know someone there accessed the site. I’m thinking the two of you might want a good strong cup of coffee to get the day going,” Angela said. “We’re on it from that advantage. We’re pulling all the security footage we can from the area. But if someone is on the site, and you can see who—we may be able to nip a problem in the bud.”

“We’d love a good cup of coffee to get the day going,” Luke assured her. He laughed softly. “And you’d be surprised by the Brits who want to get their day started with a good jolt rather than a fine cup of tea.”

“Be careful, be charming, and when in Scotland, use the term Scot. The trend for nationalism is growing, and they may prefer to be called Scots! Scotland is a country, but a country within a nation,” Angela reminded him.

“Got it.”

“And you will be getting a call from Campbell soon, I think. Aaron Miller is stable—they believe he might be able to talk by the afternoon.”

“Good. Maybe we can get something from him.”

“Don’t be too hopeful, Luke. These people are users—they are using the site. Somehow, we’ve got to figure out how it goes up so quickly after we get it down and how this person is routing things around the globe so that we have such difficulty finding the origin. No one wants to believe such a monster comes from their country—”

“But every country out there has produced a monster now and then,” Luke finished. “You know we all studied serial killers,” he reminded her quietly. And they had. Every country from A to Z, such as Abdullah Shah, who had killed twenty travelers in the ’90s, to the infamous Andrei Chikatilo of Russia, who had murdered at least fifty-five people between 1982 and 1990. “No country, no ethnicity, is immune—because however different customs, cultures and languages there might be, human beings are one and the same. Most want to live their lives being decent, if not good, people, working, playing, raising their families, finding the comfort of love for those families to be the driving goal in life.”

But there would always be those with hearts and brains not quite wired properly, and they could occur anywhere in the world.

“What about heading toward Urquhart, Loch Ness or—” he said.

“Still on it, nothing solid. Campbell is supposed to be getting back to me shortly. He’s having to deal with the media, play the right note between warning others and not playing into any kind of panic—or letting a monster know law enforcement might be on to him. Or her. I don’t think there is a gender bias working here. Be warned. He’s very carefully kept the two of you out of any information given to the public, but there was no way the public wasn’t eventually going to find out about a cache of bodies in a castle.”

“Right.”

“Enjoy your coffee,” Angela said dryly. “Check in with Campbell in a few hours.”

“I’ll get Carly up and we’ll be right on it.”

“She’s a good agent—make sure you play fair,” she warned.

He frowned. “Angela, you know—”

“I know that finding the first of our Society’s victims was hard, Luke. But Carly is top-notch, and she has a Scottish connection. She has the charm to play just about anyone, and you need to make use of that. She’s clever—”

“She’s the brain and I’m the brawn?” he asked lightly.

“Don’t kid yourself. Give her an edge and she’ll knock your socks off. Seriously, our power is in the fact that we can share what we learn from the dead who have stayed and are anxious to help us when they’ve seen something or know something. By the way—”

“So far, the only spirits we’ve seen on this have been in whiskey bottles,” he said.

“Keep an eye out. Someone has seen something.”

“Angela—”

“Sorry about that one. Yes, you always have an eye out. So does Carly. Just remember to back one another as partners, use all our hidden talents and all we’ve learned through training and criminalistics.”

“Yes, of course. I will be a team player. Carly is already proving to be a partner I would have happily chosen myself.”

“Great. I haven’t lost my touch, then, at studying living human beings!” Angela said. “Well, you were the right people who I could get into the right place at the right time. Stick to it. We are working around the clock here, I promise you.”

“Right, and maybe you should try this thing called sleep tonight,” Luke told her.

He could almost see her smile.

Luke had been in the military. He’d been a cop for six months before entering the FBI Academy. He’d never imagined that there could be such a thing as the Krewe of Hunters until he’d received the strange call from Jackson Crow. And while their work remained brutal, he’d never thought he could work with people who were so decent and respectful, never asking of others when they weren’t ready to give of themselves to a case 100 percent.

A group of people who didn’t think he was crazy, with whom he could share some of his strange methods of deduction.

Rising, he made a call to Carly. She answered on the second ring.

“You slept?” he asked her.

“Soundly until about five minutes ago,” she assured him. “So...”

“No movement yet. Except for coffee.”

“That sounds wonderful—”

“At a café where someone has accessed the H. H. Holmes Society site,” he added.

“Oh, well, uh, still...coffee along with the job. Better than it could be,” she mused. “I’ll be out there in five minutes.”

She was. Luke wasn’t sure he’d ever worked with anyone, man or woman, who could promise five minutes and hold to it.

“So, how are we playing this?” she asked him.

“I thought we’d start out by ordering coffee,” he said.

She grinned as they walked, following the GPS to the address Angela had texted them.

“Café. Hmm. They may have full breakfasts, which shouldn’t be so bad—”

“Probably at tables, maybe separate from a bank of computers.”

“An internet café may well be an internet café, wherever it is in the world,” she commented.

They found the place easily. It was just 9:00 a.m. when they arrived, but the place was crowded, booming with a breakfast crowd and a group dedicated to doing whatever each individual did on the web.

Edinburgh was one of the most beautiful capital cities to be found anywhere and drew tourists from all over the world. It wasn’t surprising that the café was crowded, and Luke could only imagine how busy it would be during festival season.

“No desk spaces,” Carly murmured.

“But a table just opened there,” Luke pointed out. He gave the hostess a charming smile, and she assured him they could have it as soon as the staff had a chance to clean it.

They were seated in just another minute.

There were long tables at the far end of the room with computers. Twelve of them, Luke counted. Every computer was taken.

He thought back to the time he’d spent studying with the Behavioral Sciences Unit. Whoever they were looking for was probably midtwenties to midthirties and male. Someone who believed, at least, that they might emulate the charm that H. H. Holmes was rumored to have had, allowing him to create friendships and prey on the women he had married—two of them bigamously—and/or seduced.

A middle-aged woman was at one computer, two teens who should probably have been in school were seated next to each other on one side of her and a fortysomething businessman sat on the other. Two more computers were occupied by young women and six were occupied by men in their twenties to thirties.

“Someone is getting up,” Carly murmured. “Right between the two men.”

Luke knew Carly would appear less a danger to the men.

“Go,” he said quietly.

She rose to go over to the computer. As she did so, he called out to her, “I’ll order for you, and make sure you tell your mom hi for me and that we’re having a great time!”

“She’ll just be so happy we’re here!” Carly called back to him.

She walked over and took the seat between the two men. She smiled in a friendly manner as they each looked at her, and then made it appear she was giving her complete attention to the directions on the screen. She logged in with her credit card and searched for her mail carrier.

She could be seen, just as he could be seen. He smiled, certain he knew what she was doing.

Writing to Angela as “Mom.”

Then again, maybe she would email her real mom. He knew her parents were alive; he’d done a bit of studying on her when he’d been told he was going to meet her. He’d discovered what could be learned online.

As she sat at the computer—and he was sure she’d switch from mail to information on travel in the area—their waiter arrived. He put in their orders for breakfast and asked for the check at the same time in case they needed to leave quickly.

She stayed long enough to look up a few sites and then logged out, smiled to the two men again as she rose. Both said something in return, smiling, their eyes appreciative.

She was a stunning woman, whether playing a role or not.

She slid back into her chair opposite his at the table.

Smiling still, she leaned forward as if she was excitedly giving him information about some special spot they might visit.

“The fellow with the reddish hair, thirties, watched me hardest when I left. He logged out when I glanced up at him, but I got a quick look. I think he was on the site, Luke. What do we do from here? He’s off the site unless he logged back on.”

She fell silent, sitting back and smiling and then saying thank you as their waiter appeared with their food, and their check as Luke had asked. He pretended to give his full attention to the amazing display before him, that included tattie scones, eggs, beans, bacon and tomatoes.

The man was a redhead with a full, impressive red beard. He appeared to be in his late twenties, thirty or thirty-one at most. He was dressed as if he was ready to head off to work in a casual blue suit with an open-necked tailored shirt beneath.

“This is delicious. Try to eat some of it. We can’t do anything to the man for sitting at a computer,” Carly murmured.

The food was great and he was hungry. He pulled his phone out to put a call through to Campbell while chewing until the man answered.

He didn’t need to describe their situation—Angela had been in touch with the agent. He and Carly would follow the suspect when he left the café, but law enforcement needed to be ready to head in and check out the computer and find the adherent’s identity.

He spoke quietly and Carly nodded, assuring him that he wasn’t being heard beyond their table.

The man who had accessed the H. H. Holmes site logged out and rose, grinning.

They hadn’t quite finished their food.

No matter. As he left the café, they rose to follow him the minute the door had closed behind him.

“Back up—let me get ahead alone,” Carly said. “But be on my tail!”

“Oh, you bet,” Luke promised.

She hurried ahead. Luckily, the man then seemed to be obsessed with his phone, and she was able to pass him on the street and then pause in front of a shop window in time to cause him to almost crash into her.

Luke kept a careful distance, but he could still see what twist she was using to draw his attention.

She appeared to be distressed, trying to smile, to be a pleasant human being, while pretending she’d just had a terrible fight with Luke, her travel companion.

The red-haired man smiled and just talked at first.

Then he set a comforting hand on her shoulder and indicated a walk they should take. Luke quickly realized they were heading far down the street that paralleled the Royal Mile, away from the castle and toward Holyrood Palace.

But then they turned off the street, as if they were going for a stroll.

It was hard to hold back. They were easing away from the busy area off the Mile and heading for Canongate.

Luke frowned and realized they were indeed going for a walk. A long walk.

They were headed in the direction of the highest point in the city that was geographically filled with rugged rock and peaks.

Arthur’s Seat in Holyrood Park was part of one of four historic hill forts dating back about two thousand years and built upon the remains of an extinct volcano.

The park was beautiful and was enjoyed by locals and tourists alike.

It was also where a man might find many a place to be alone with a young woman and do what he would with her.

Luke quickened his pace.

Luckily, others were on Canongate, but crossing the street where he wished didn’t prove quite as easy. He was afraid he might lose the duo as he stopped, giving heed to the traffic. But his moment came and he sprinted across and was soon sliding easily into the land that was the beginning of the large and beautiful park.

Edinburgh was fantastic if just in its geographic history, the volcanic remains giving it great crags, cliffs, heights and valleys.

The red-haired man wasn’t interested in a gentle stroll through the green grasses. As Luke had suspected, he had apparently convinced the lovely American tourist in his care she needed to head all the way to the highest point, Arthur’s Seat.

He knew he had to keep his distance. He was glad he had done so when his phone vibrated—it was Campbell.

“We sent our team into the café. The bloke at the computer was Peter Bond. He has a record for petty theft—and for assault, attacked a young woman just outside a pub and the arresting inspector wrote in his report that he believed it to be an attempted rape. He’s currently unemployed, but he’s done all right dealing in Bitcoin. Most importantly, he was on that H. H. Holmes Society site—and it disappeared just as our techs saw it. Your people are trying to capture a source when it reappears. Don’t treat this fellow lightly.”

“Don’t intend to, sir!” Luke assured him.

The pair had disappeared just beyond a bend in the path.

Luke hurried after them with all speed.

“This is lovely of you!” Carly said sweetly. “I thought my day would turn to pure disaster, with me sitting alone in my hotel room, wishing I was home. But here you are, taking time out of your day, being gracious to a rather pathetic tourist like me!”

“Not at all, not at all!” Peter assured her. “Such a lovely tourist as yourself! I am sorry it’s in a foreign land that you’ve had such a blowout with your fiancé—”

“Don’t even use that word, I beg you! I shudder to think I even considered marriage to such a rude bore!” Carly told him.

“I’m just glad my secretary called and said my Belgian client had been delayed by travel concerns,” said the man who had introduced himself as Peter Bond. “It’s such a perfect time to be here. On the weekends, we’d not have a second of privacy, but...still, this morning, work for the adults and school week for the wee ones, so...” He paused, giving her a mischievous smile. “We should have some delicious time to savor the sights just on our own. The heights are terrific, the old hill forts—”

“Are so fascinating!” Carly said. Again, she employed the truth as she told him, “I’m just in love with old and historic places and things. I mean, the Spanish did settle St. Augustine in the 1500s, and it’s actually the oldest city in the States settled by Europeans, but...hey. I grew up in Daytona Beach. It’s a great beach, but nothing as cool as all this! I mean, wow. Edinburgh is so, so old!”

They were moving higher and higher.

Instinct told Carly he intended something. Privacy? For him to toss her from a great height? Or privacy so he could throttle her or rip her to shreds? Perhaps both.

But just as instinct warned her he seriously meant an attack, it assured her Luke was close behind—should she need help.

Peter Bond was going to be surprised if he believed an American tourist had no means of fighting back.

“Ah, St. Margaret’s Loch lies there, if we veer off a wee bit. Shall we take a look?” he asked her.

“Of course! With your kindness and being such an incredible tour guide, I will follow where you lead!”

He was leading them over a slope of grasses, toward the water.

And toward a rich grouping of trees.

And when they were behind them...

He turned suddenly, drawing her hard against him and pulling something from his pocket. At first, she couldn’t fathom what he was about. Then she realized he had a rag in a baggie that he was ripping open, and the rag was doused in something.

She held her breath, kicking him as hard as she could with a solid knee to the groin as he tried to cover her mouth with the cloth.

He let out a startled grunt of pain, doubling over but dragging her with him. She wasn’t even sure what he called her then, his muttering grew so dark, but she had to twist hard to avoid the rag. He was a big man, and she knew she had to maneuver against his weight as well as all else.

“I’ll have you now, whore! Fight, fight, fight me! I’ll best you yet!”

And he would if he could get the rag over her mouth and nose.

She couldn’t let that happen.

Carly ducked, causing him to slam to the earth, but he was up again quickly.

He caught her again, and she slashed out with a move of her arm and elbow learned in one of her martial arts classes, balancing her weight carefully as she did so. He cried out in pain, furious, swearing, obviously not caring in the least if anyone heard anymore.

If she could just get the rag to his face...

He moved toward her again, doubled over, screaming in pain, but not to be stopped. He was hurtling the whole of his body at her, ready to slam her down to the ground in order to trap her beneath the bulk of his body.

She was prepared, ready to slip to the side, but...

He never touched her.

He was ripped away.

Ripped. Literally. As if he was lifted from her by a superpower and cast far across the ground, where he went crashing into a tall tree.

Luke Kendrick was standing before her, staring at the wounded man screaming on the ground.

“You seemed to be doing okay,” Luke said. “But...” He shrugged. “Just seemed like we might as well get it over with and get Campbell out here as quickly as possible. I got the call. We are going to be able to question Aaron Miller—though I was thinking we might want to have a more civil conversation with this fellow right here.”