Chapter 11

?

Amber fell asleep, surfaced, and realized where she was. The thought of Fort Knox had her feeling safe again for the first time in days. She rolled over and went back to sleep again. She woke the next time to a weird ping on her phone. She must have an email or a text. Picking up her phone, she checked the new email message, frowning at it. You wanted him. You got him. She didn't know what the hell that meant, and she sat up, noting an attachment to the email.

It couldn't load on her phone, and that frustrated her. She snagged her laptop, wondering if she should even be opening any attachment from this unknown sender. With so many viruses out there, that was definitely a concern, yet she brought up the email. As the image revealed itself, she stared at it in horror. She quickly reached for her phone again and called Jasper.

He seemed distracted when he answered.

"It's me," she said urgently. "I just forwarded you an email. Please tell me it's not what I think it is."

"Hold on. Hold on," he replied, taking full note of her panic. "Let me bring it up. When did you get it?"

"Like two minutes ago. It woke me up from a nap."

"That was crappy timing," he noted in a conversational tone. "Here it is. The picture is not quite… holy shit."

Her heart sank, and she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please tell me it's not what I think it is."

"I'm not sure what you think it is, but it seems to be our mystery man, the one who you saw in the hospital, right?"

"Yes, and you and I both know what that photo means."

"Unfortunately I do," he agreed, with a sigh. "Even more unfortunate is that I'm pretty sure that's the alley behind my house. Stay where you are. Do not go to the door. Do not answer your phone." When she didn't answer him right away, he snapped, "Do you hear me?"

"I hear you. I'm not doing anything. I'm just sitting here, waiting."

"You won't have to wait very long. I'll be there as fast as I can."

She heard him call out to somebody in the distance with a quick explanation, but he was still on the phone with her. "Good. I'll wait. You can disconnect now."

"For my sake, I want you to stay on the line, and I'll keep up a conversation with you the whole way home. That okay with you?"

Her stomach knotted. "Do you think I'm in danger?"

"No, I don't, but it will make me feel better." She snorted at that. "What? You don't think I'm worried about you? You would be wrong. I'm very worried, and right now this is not what I want to see."

"I don't think it's what anybody wants to see, and I highly doubt the dead guy on the ground in this photo wanted this to happen either."

"No, and I get that," he muttered. "So, we've got quite a situation on the go, and I have a team coming with me right now."

"Should I put on coffee?"

"No. I don't trust a couple investigators here, and I haven't had a chance to fully clear them yet."

"But they're part of the team?" she cried out.

"Yes, part of the existing team. However, I'm putting together my own team. The only person I'm bringing on board myself to date is Masters, and he's doing a bunch of running around for me as it is. If I can get him on the investigative part of the team, it will make me happier."

"Crap," she muttered. "Don't you trust anybody?"

"Right now, I don't trust anybody, and neither should you."

"What about trusting you?" she asked, half joking.

"If I was anybody but me,… I would say don't trust me either. However, right now you must trust somebody, so it better be me."

"Good God," she muttered, as she sagged back onto the couch.

"Are you downstairs?"

"Yes," she replied, yet still distracted by his previous comment. "Are you saying I can't trust you?"

"No, of course I'm not saying that. It should be obvious by now that you can trust me."

"Yeah, right up until you say shit like that."

"I'm on my way and in the vehicle, so hold tight."

"And are you still keeping the phone open?"

"Yes, I'm keeping the line open."

"See? That just scares me even more," she muttered, "because, if you weren't panicked, you wouldn't be keeping the phone open."

"It's just a precaution. I want to ensure that nobody is coming after you."

"How could they? You told me that this place is Fort Knox."

"And it is," he confirmed, "but you never know what assholes are out there right now. I never saw this coming. Did you?"

"No, of course I didn't," she cried out.

"You do recognize him, I presume?"

"I recognize him from the hospital, yes," she said, "but I don't recognize him in terms of this being somebody I'm supposed to know. I don't know who he is or anything about him."

"Good. By the way, I'm coming in with a guy named Morgan. He's part of the existing team."

"Yeah, the good part or the bad part?"

He chuckled, and she heard another man on the other end.

"The good part, definitely the good part," Morgan stated in frustration. "Why in the hell would you even say that to her?"

"Because I haven't had a chance to clear you guys yet," Jasper shared, with a chuckle.

"I told you that I had an alibi."

"You did, but again I haven't had a chance to clear it."

"Crap, no wonder the other guys get pissed at you."

"They can get pissed off all they want," Jasper declared, his tone hardening very rapidly. "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me because I only work with those who are telling the truth. So let's hope that nobody slipped out for coffee and did anything that impacts this investigation in any way."

"You know we aren't working for you, right?"

"Yeah, I understand how you all think that," he replied, with a knowing smile in his tone.

She listened to the conversation, wondering at the undertones and whether this Morgan guy understood that Jasper had already decided that Morgan and his team had no say in the matter. She wasn't even sure how that worked. In her department, changes like that were often made in the ER without anybody being aware, and it caused confusion and disgruntled conflicts all the time. Maybe that was happening here with Morgan, she didn't know.

When Jasper spoke again, he told her, "We're just pulling up into the yard. I'm going around to the back."

"Fine, you go there first. Maybe we've just been deceived by a costume party back there."

"Not likely," Jasper argued. "I'll end the call now. If you hear people out in the backyard, it's me." Then he disconnected. She sat here and waited and waited, wondering just what the hell she was supposed to do now.

When her phone rang again, Jasper said, "Hang tight. I'm coming inside through the back door." Just then she heard the alarm speak, saying the system was being disarmed.

"Please tell me that's you."

"It's me," he confirmed, "and I have Morgan with me."

"If you say so," she muttered, and suddenly he was there in front of her. She bolted off the couch, almost falling with the pain of it, when he caught her.

"Whoa, you shouldn't move so fast just yet," he muttered, then gave her a big kiss that caught her completely by surprise. When she turned around, he was grinning at the stranger in the room. "This," he began, rounding her to face the other guy, "is Amber. Amber, this is Morgan."

"Hi, Morgan," she said, as Jasper led her back to the couch. She looked up at him, willing to forget about the kiss for the moment, as she wanted to know what he'd found. "Please tell me that was a ghastly joke."

He grimaced and shook his head. "No joke," he replied softly.

Tears came to her eyes, and she shook her head. "Dear God," she whispered. "Why?"

"Probably because he got caught," Morgan suggested. "So, somebody is cleaning up potential loose ends, and he seemed to have drawn the short straw."

She gasped in horror. "So, you're saying that I'm responsible for this man's death?"

"No, you're not responsible at all," Jasper corrected, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. "You don't need to take on that guilt. It's not your fault at all. The dead man made choices that he probably wouldn't make again, if he knew what the outcome would be, but that is not your fault."

She swallowed hard and nodded. On some level, she understood what he was saying, but the fact of the matter was, if she hadn't called attention to him, he would probably still be alive today. She wrapped her arms around her chest and looked back and forth between them. "Now what?"

"Forensics is on their way, and we have a team working the scene right now."

"Are they in the yard?" she asked.

"No, they are in the surrounding area. I own that property too," he noted, with a shrug. "So they're searching that section. We're still on the inside of the gate." She just nodded. Jasper turned to address Morgan. "We'll need to interview the neighbors."

"I'm on it," he replied, starting for the door. He smiled, as he looked back at her. "Nice to meet you." Then he quickly left.

She looked over at Jasper. "Was that kiss a proprietary thing?"

"No, an attempt to let him know that you were okay, that you can be trusted."

"Ha, he won't necessarily believe that."

"Maybe not," Jasper admitted, with a grin, "but anything that eases the pressure right now is a help."

"If you say so," she muttered. "Right now it just feels as if everything is so damn wrong. Why would they have killed him?"

"Because he was seen," he repeated simply. "I told you that."

"People don't kill for that."

"These guys do. Obviously if the stakes are high enough, they can't take a chance that we can link the dead man back to the other bad guys involved here."

She swallowed, then nodded. "That picture will haunt me forever."

"I understand where you're coming from, but the guilt is not yours here," he said carefully. "Think of your ER work. Does every dead patient make you feel guilty?"

She wrinkled up her face and grimaced.

"Maybe that guilt must be part of your genetic makeup that led you to be a nurse, to be a healer. Probably nothing I can do about that because you won't believe it when we say it's not your fault, but it isn't. If he wasn't involved, then he wouldn't have ended up like this."

"How was he killed?"

"Single bullet to the back of the head."

She winced. "So, like an execution."

He nodded with interest. "I suppose you pick up that stuff in your work, don't you?"

"Yeah, whether I like it or not, it's just become a part of the business. We also talk to the cops a fair bit, so I guess the terminology comes across."

"Of course," he murmured. "It's probably just as well you're not going back to work right away, even after your days off."

"And is that your call or mine?" she asked coolly.

"Neither. More of a medical nature, for you individually and for those around you. One, you're still sidelined with a bum leg, and two, it's obvious that you still present a problem for somebody. And three, because this guy's been killed, I'm a little concerned about you taking that danger to the hospital."

She grimaced at that. "That's an argument killer right there," she conceded, as she stared at him in sorrow. "That's the last thing I would want."

"I know that. So, for the moment, just follow my lead, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," she muttered, with an eye roll, "and I suppose it comes with a whole pile of kisses."

"Why? Was the kiss a bad deal?" he asked, but his lips were twitching.

She glared at him. "That's not funny."

"Sorry, I figure any humor right now can only help ease a difficult time. So, I am sorry if that's not working for you, but it's one of the methods I've often used to get through these situations."

With that, she realized just how much he had probably seen in his life. "I see the other side of it," she shared, "but you're right. Humor is often a way for us to get through it, and I'm sorry too.… I promise that I'm not trying to be difficult."

He shook his head. "Point taken, and, fair enough, we're both upset over this."

"At least now you'll find out who he is."

"I will, and we also know that he arrived at the hospital just ahead of Mason's ambulance."

Her jaw dropped. "Oh my God, the hospital cameras helped you to figure that out?"

"They did," he stated, "and I did get permission, in case you're wondering."

"Right, of course you did. Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking."

"Yet," he added, "we still need to find out who else is associated with the dead man and the sniper and whether he has any military background because, from there, hopefully we can access a lot of other information."

"I hope so. Is it just me or is everything taking way too long right now?"

"Oh, it's not just you," he agreed. "Believe me that the brass is breathing down everybody's neck right now. Nobody wants this violence to go any further, and, more than that, they're all aware that the events are still escalating."

"Right, and that's the problem for me too."

"Exactly. The problem is escalating with you right in the middle of it. While none of us want that to happen, it is." When she didn't say anything, he added, "If you're okay for now, I'll head outside and confirm everything is moving forward."

She nodded. "Will you lock up afterward?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I will."

And, with that, he was gone.

*

Jasper stepped outside,on the doorstep, watching as the forensics people scurried around, while vehicles came and went. He looked over to see her standing a little bit behind him. "Are you sure you should be up?"

"You didn't put on the security system," she explained, "so I wasn't sure what the problem was."

"The problem is, chaos is out there, and I was keeping out of the way."

"Okay. I don't know whether you need coffee or something, but…"

"I would love a cup of coffee," he admitted, nodding solemnly, "if you are up to putting it on."

She nodded, then moved slowly into the kitchen. He turned back to the chaos on the other side of the fence. When his phone rang, he noted Morgan was calling. "Hey," he replied in a rush. "What's the report?"

"So, a single shot, just the one bullet in the body, and no casing, at least none that we can find so far. Everybody else will stay and finish the forensics. Where do you want me to go?"

"Head back to the office," Jasper replied, without even second-guessing his instructions. "Get all the interviews into the system, so we can sort those out. We also need to track whatever vehicle dropped off the dead body."

"You probably have better security and equipment for that part than we do."

Jasper almost swore at that reminder. "I'll take a look and see if they figured out what I've got—or not—for home security. I should have that information in a few minutes."

"What about Amber? Is she okay? She didn't seem that steady on her feet."

"She's okay. Getting hit by that car was no joke. She took quite a bump, and then her apartment got torched. Now she's just shocked with the dead body brought here. That violence is upsetting, especially when she feels responsible."

"And yet it's not her fault."

"No, it isn't, but she'll take on that guilt anyway. She's an ER nurse, and killing isn't part of her contribution to the world, but saving people is."

"Yeah, and her whole world has gone ass over teakettle in a big way," he muttered. "I see why you feel the need to keep her safe."

And, with that, Morgan rang off.