Chapter 28

TWENTY-EIGHT

Styles stared out of the window of Cash's cruiser as they completed a second lap of the backstreets, checking on motel and saloon parking lots for any signs of the shooter. Mist was billowing across the blacktop from the river. It dampened sound, and if the shooter had driven away without using his headlights until he reached the highway, they wouldn't have seen him. "Seems to me, this guy had a pickup point. He made the shots and then left."

"Maybe it was a warning?" Cash turned back onto Main. "Seems to me, if he was a professional, he'd have hit you."

Shaking his head, Styles frowned. "It wasn't a warning in Louan the other night. That was a hit squad and they wanted us dead."

"That's my phone." Cash's dash screen lit up and he pressed a button on his steering wheel. "Hey, Beth, what's up?"

"What's up? I'm pinned under a dead man on Main near the post office." Beth coughed and wheezed.

"I'm coming along Main now." Cash accelerated. "What happened?"

"Later. Where the heck is Styles? Is he alive?"

Grimacing, Styles pulled out his phone and switched it on. "I'm fine. Shooter got away."

"No excuse." Beth gasped for breath. "I need you here now."

Staring along Main, Styles made out a shadowy lump on the sidewalk. "Two minutes. Sorry, Beth, my phone wasn't on. I figured if it rang again, it would give away my position."

When she didn't reply, Styles glanced at Cash as he pulled to the curb. "Call Nate. We'll need a doctor on scene." He leapt from the vehicle and ran onto the sidewalk.

The scene that his phone light lit up made his stomach clench. A bearlike man had her pinned to the ground. Beth's face was hardly visible under his massive shoulder. A pool of congealing blood spread out around them, black in the moonlight. He bent down and peered at Beth. "Beth, look at me. Are you injured? Will moving the body cause a problem? Cash has called for Nate. He'll be along soon."

"I'm banged up some and I can't breathe with his weight on me." Her eyes flashed with anger. "Get that light out of my eyes and pull him off me."

Pocketing his phone, Styles pulled examination gloves from his pocket and snapped them on. Taking two handfuls of the man's coat, he wrenched the man up. He weighed a ton, but the moment he'd lifted him a few inches, Beth wiggled out from under him, a KA-BAR knife in one hand and her phone in the other. He dropped the body and went to crouch beside her, but seeing her blood-soaked clothes, put his hands under both arms and lifted her onto the steps of the post office. "Wait there. I'll grab a blanket out of Cash's truck."

"No!" Beth placed the knife on the steps beside her and took some deep breaths. "Check for a pulse. I want to be sure he's dead. Look at the blood, Styles. Dead men don't bleed."

Styles pressed two fingers under the man's chin and felt for the carotid artery. "He's dead. He bled out, is all, and pressed against you, it took a time to spill out. He blinked as Cash drove closer and his headlights spilled over the scene. Without saying a word, Cash climbed from the vehicle, pulled out his phone, photographed the scene, and then walked to stand beside him. Styles looked at him. "Keep out your phone and record what Beth has to say."

"Copy that." Cash walked over to Beth. "I'm going to record a statement, okay?"

"Do what you must." Beth didn't meet his gaze; her eyes were locked on Styles.

Taking in Beth's angry posture, Styles went to her side and sat on the steps. "Okay, what happened here?"

As Beth explained, Styles noticed the tremor in the hand still gripping the phone. "I should get the blanket. You're going into shock. You were in a fight for your life. There's no crime to answer here. This was self-defense. That guy is three times your size."

"I'm not going into shock. I'm angry." She gave him a look that would have most people running for the hills. "This was a setup. They didn't want to kill you , Styles. They wanted to get me out of the building alone and I walked right into their trap. Can't you see, this was never about you. I'm the target. They want to close down the investigation. I'm starting to believe they seeded the information on the dark web to see just how good I am. When I found it and followed it, they were watching me. I'm a threat to them and they know it."

Styles stared at her as the pieces fell into place. The director had told him that as a cybercrime expert she was at the top of her profession, but this was something else. The world of crime had recognized her signature on the dark web even with all the fancy gadgets she had acquired to make her a ghost. "Are you saying that there's no one else capable of breaking their code or whatever in the FBI?"

"I doubt it. I've been doing this since I was a kid. I can move around without being seen—or so I believed." Beth stared into space. "I'm getting close and that's why they want to kill me. They've likely set up traps now, to send me nowhere. Maybe I need to pick someone else's brains."

Uncertain, Styles leaned back, the step digging into his spine. "You mean, we ask the director if he can bring another team into the case? He is already spreading out the information on the missing kids we supplied to other teams. I'm not sure he'll agree to more boots on the ground here. He figures this is a near impossible case to solve as there are so many players with billions of dollars financing them." He let out a long sigh. "He said they move around like pieces on a chess board. The problem is we can never anticipate their next move. Right now, his focus is finding the kids. Once they're located, they might be able to backtrack and find the source."

"All the while more kids are caught up in their net." Cash's mouth turned down in the corners. "They're like mushrooms. You pick off a few and by morning another whole crop springs up."

"Yeah, it sure seems that way, but I'm sure I tripped over a lead to the organizer or kingpin, whatever you want to call him. This is what triggered the attacks on us. We came too close and they want us eliminated." Beth looked from one to the other. "I need help to work a few angles. Not here, we can work remotely and disguise the files as routine uploads. There's too much going through the FBI server for them to pick up one thread. The kid who works with Agent Carter and Wells, his name is Bobby Kalo. He impressed me with his talent for finding the invisible. I'll work with him and see if we can get in deeper without being noticed."

Styles rubbed the scar on his chin. "Is that possible?"

"Nothing's impossible, Styles." Beth picked blood from her nails. "If there's a door, we can open it."