Chapter 20

Jake puthis pen down and shook out his hand cramp.

Claire had recounted the night with alarming detail, right down to the moment she saw the whirling red and blue police lights.

"It's my trigger," the girl said sheepishly. "The police lights. They remind me of Sadie and the Grave."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Dana replied, clutching her teacup like it was the glue holding her together.

Jake knew the feeling. He wanted to finish his report and send Dr. Doom packing so he could wrap Claire and Dana in his protection and keep the wickedness of the world away. God knew they'd experienced more than their share. But since that wasn't going to happen, he cleared his throat and did what he could to ease Claire's worries.

"You did good, Claire. I'll pass this description on to the police."

"You think it'll help?"

"Height, build, clothes, weapon … it's a slam dunk, kid."

"But I didn't see the killer's face. I don't know who it was."

"It's more than we had before and enough to start putting together a suspect list," Jake assured.

Claire turned back to Dvita. "And you're sure Max is the only one who's still missing from the center?"

"Yes. Everyone's been accounted for except for him."

"It doesn't make sense. He wouldn't just leave. Something must've happened to him."

"There's no need to jump to conclusions," Dvita replied.

"I know him, Dr. Dvita. Passages is more than just a job to him. It's his home." She turned to Jake. "You can help the police look for him, right?"

"Your safety is my only involvement in this case, Claire."

"Jake, he needs our help. Max is the only reason more people weren't killed last night."

"That's not exactly true," Jake muttered.

"What do you mean?"

The alarm in Claire's eyes gutted Jake, but he knew better than to keep things from her. The doctor had been right about one thing. Claire was stronger than Jake gave her credit for and that stopped now. "Like I said, I'm not working this case, but based on the victim's political history it's possible this was a targeted strike."

Tears filled Claire's eyes. "I still can't believe he's gone. Who would want to hurt Congressman Hayes?"

"Claire," Dvita warned. "I'd prefer you continue to keep my patients' identities private."

But it was too late. The cat was out of the bag and Jake was choking on it. He'd been sucking down his third cup of coffee of the day when Claire uttered the name. It shot through him like a ghost from his past leaving a chill in its wake.

Regaining his composure Jake put his coffee down. "Hold on. Did you just say Congressman Hayes? As in Norton Hayes?"

Claire looked confused. "Yeah. Do you know him?"

Outrage turned Jake's voice to gravel. "He's the victim?"

"This isn't public knowledge," Dvita warned, but Jake had stopped listening.

He was already out the front door, his phone pressed to his ear. He swore when it went to voicemail.

Waiting for the beep only exacerbated his temper. "I can't believe this is how I found out the piece of shit responsible for Ramirez and MY ENTIRE TEAM is dead!If you think I'm standing down on this, you're out of your mind, Jenkins. Find a way to read me in and do it now, because I'm on my way to the morgue. I want to see that bastard on ice with my own two eyes."

Jake was already in his SUV, engine roaring to life on Dana's sleepy street when she appeared on the sidewalk. Arms crossed, she locked eyes with him, challenging him to leave.

Swearing, Jake punched the steering wheel. It hadn't even been 24 hours since he'd made her a promise and here he was running off again without telling her why.

She deserved better.

He'd told her they were in this together, and that meant letting her in—all the way this time.

Jake left the engine running and exited his vehicle. Meeting Dana on the sidewalk he took her hands.

"Jake, what's going on?"

"Norton Hayes wasn't always a Congressman, Dana. He used to work for the Department of Defense, and long story short, he's the one who sent my Special Ops team on that mission in Ghazni."

"Jake … I know how much guilt you feel about that, but no one could've predicted that outcome."

"That's just it, Dana. I did and Hayes didn't care. As usual, his personal agenda took priority."

"What do you mean?"

"It's too much to get into now, but he was given a report explicitly stating the area was too volatile to infiltrate without more time to do proper recon. Hayes sent us in anyway and he never had to answer for that."

"Jake, the man's dead. Isn't that answer enough?"

"You know better than to think cutting the head off one snake ends this."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Make sure another head doesn't grow back by getting put on this case. Because if I know anything about guys like Norton Hayes, it's that they never act on their own. If he was doing something shady enough to get himself killed, I need to find out who else is involved so I can see them coming if they have Claire in their sights."

"Do you really think that will happen?"

"I don't know, but I'm not taking any chances. The last two people we know he was seen with were Claire and Meredith. I'm not letting him put anyone else I care about in the crosshairs, Dana. The best way for me to do that is to get on this case."

"Okay, I get it, but I know you saw what happened in there with Claire," Dana said, gesturing back toward her house. "I'm concerned about her. Can't we trust Jenkins to take the lead for now?"

"Jenkins isn't going to want me involved in this case because she'll think I can't see past my history with Hayes."

"Can you?"

"If it means protecting you and Claire, you're damn right I can."

"Okay, do what you need to, but Jake, don't even think about keeping me in the dark on this. I need to know you're going to tell me what you find, even if it's not what I want to hear."

"Roger that."

Dana gave him a tiny salute, and he couldn't stop himself from pulling her into a quick embrace. "Hold down the fort. I'll be back as soon as I can."