Chapter 14

Jep had his weapon out as he picked up speed to reach Emery, trying to figure where the shots had come from and whether or not she had been hit.

"FBI!" he shouted when he was close enough. "Don't move. Put your hands in the air." The man in the overcoat pulled a gun, but before Jep could fire, another weapon discharged, and the man fell.

He looked for who fired and saw Em sitting up, still pointing her gun while the other suspect had her hands in the air and was staring wide-eyed at her dead companion. Jep rushed in before she could react.

"Keep your hands in the air," he shouted, noticing the bomb that was strapped to her chest. "Don't move. Em, you okay?" He couldn't see any blood on her. That was a good sign, but she didn't respond "Em! Have you been shot?" He kept looking between her and the woman, trying to secure the scene. Em still wasn't responding to him, but slowly, her arm lowered.

He moved in closer, keeping his aim on the woman, and checked the man to confirm he was dead. He looked like he might be from the Middle East, but this woman did not, and there was something familiar about her.

"Where's the trigger for the bomb?" he said to the woman.

"In-in my pocket. It's not live." She looked at Emery.

"Don't worry about her," Jep said. "You focus on me. I'm the one you should be worried about. Not her."

"We weren't going to blow anything up."

"No offense, but I'm not taking your word for it."

The woman looked at Emery again, and Jep grunted.

"Hey," he said. "I'll tell you what. How about you keep your eyes on the ground?"

Reluctantly, the woman dropped her head and focused on the grass at her knees.

Jep tried Emery again. "Em?"

She was still focused on the dead man, but her eyes shifted to him when he spoke.

He smiled. "How're you doing?" She just blinked. "Everything will be okay, but can you do something for me?" She nodded slowly. "I need you to go to the car. Can you do that?"

She turned to the woman and shook her head.

"Em," he said sharply. "It's not safe here."

"I killed him," Em said to the woman.

The woman looked at her and frowned but nodded, then said, "Why are you here?"

"Hey," Jep snapped in her direction. "Don't talk to her."

The woman looked back at the ground.

He wasn't getting anywhere with either of them. If Em was in too much shock to cooperate, he'd have to secure the bomb with her still in the vicinity and make sure to keep her from having a heart-to-heart with the suspect.

"Which pocket is the trigger in?" he said to the woman.

"Left."

"Mine or yours."

"M-mine."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Emery." Jep kept his weapon trained on the suspect but moved to Em and grabbed her arm, tugging her back. "I need you to give us some space. Can you do that for me?"

She scooted a little, but not far. It was clear she was struggling to make sense of her surroundings. "You're in shock, okay? But I need you to listen to my voice?—"

Pearce ran up. "We've got the area secure with—whoa. That's not good."

"She said it's not live."

"Course she did. What else is she going to say until she has the trigger in her hand? Why is Emery still here?"

"She's in shock."

Pearce lowered his voice so only Jep could hear. "We should eliminate the threat. One shot, and we're all safe."

"That's out of the question."

"She killed our own. Agents we both knew and respected. We'd be within our rights to do so."

" She didn't do it. And the only way we'll find out who's responsible is if we have a suspect to question. Where are we at with the others?"

"Deceased. This guy makes three."

"So she's all we've got."

"Yeah." He straightened. "We've got more agents on the way, and the bomb squad is on standby. I'll let them know they're needed."

He stepped away and radioed it in. Then Jep said, "Can I trust you to take over from here, Pearce? You understand we're taking the suspect in alive?"

"Yeah, of course. I was just making sure we'd considered all of our options."

"Good. I'll get Emery out of here."

"She's not looking too good." Pearce pulled his gun and aimed at the woman.

Jep returned his weapon to its holster. "Em's the one who shot that guy."

Pearce looked back at the dead man. "She did that?"

"Yeah."

"That was a good shot."

"She shouldn't have been here," the woman said.

"Excuse me?" Pearce said.

"Why is she here?" The look on her face passed between anger and fear.

"I don't think that's any of your business."

"She messed everything up."

"My apologies for the inconvenience. Next time, we'll do things your way. Or how about this? How about you lost your rights when you strapped a bomb to your chest?"

"I already told the other guy, it's not live."

"Save it for the interrogation," Jep said as he knelt beside Emery.

"She couldn't have known I was here," the woman said.

"I think you might be out of your mind," Pearce said. "I hate to break it to you, but the insanity plea doesn't work when it comes to terrorism because, at heart, you're all a bunch of lunatics already."

Em was rolling a piece of grass between her fingers as Jep leaned closer.

"You mind if I take this?" he said gently as he lifted her hand, which still held the gun.

Em looked up at him when he spoke, like she'd only just realized he was there.

"You saved my life, you know," he said after he pried the weapon from her hand and tucked it into the back of his pants. "That was very brave."

She mumbled something, then looked back at the woman.

"Em? Talk to me." He took her arm when she didn't respond. "Why didn't you go back to the car when I asked you to?"

She focused back on him again. "I couldn't leave her."

"Who? That woman?"

"You would have killed her. Or she would have killed you. Either way…I couldn't…I had to do something, but then…that man had a gun."

"Is this because of the prostitute from the other day? I know I told you we could try to help her, but this was different. Today, the woman needed to be stopped before she could have help."

Em's breathing sped up with her agitation. "No, I couldn't let you—" Tears appeared in her eyes.

"Why did you have to protect her?"

"Because she's my sister."

Jep glanced at the woman and let out a long, slow breath. He now understood what about the woman had looked familiar. It was the family resemblance.

A hand rested on his shoulder. The man standing above Jep was wearing full protective gear. "We're going to need you to clear out while we deal with this."

The bomb squad had arrived.

"Yeah. Give us a second." He shook his head to reset. "Okay, Em. We can talk about that, but we're going to have to move while we do." He lifted her, checking to make sure her legs would hold before he led her away, but she resisted. "They'll take good care of her," he said. "But we've got to get out of blast— We have to get out of the way before they can do that."

"They won't hurt her?" Em said, her eyes round as a kitten. Innocent and searching.

"No."

"How do you know?"

"Because that's the order I gave."

"What if they don't listen?"

"They will."

"How can you be sure?"

Jep put his arm around her, forcing her to take the first few steps. He'd carry her away if he had to, but once they got moving, she walked on her own.

"We all want to bring her in uninjured," he said. "We need to question her. She's safe."

"There's no way she knew what she was doing."

"She had a bomb strapped to her."

"No. She would never hurt anyone."

"Don't worry about any of that right now, okay? She'll have the chance to explain herself."

"Okay."

He led her down the hill to the sidewalk, past a crowd of agents and police.

An officer lifted the barricade tape so they could duck under, and Jep waited until they were far enough away that they had some privacy before asking her any questions. He'd have to be careful how he worded them.

"Were there any signs that your sister had extremist connections? Did she have a boyfriend who might have been involved?"

Em shook her head. "I have no idea—" She looked at Jep in horror. "Do you think that was her boyfriend who I killed?"

"No. I saw no indication of that." Was it a lie if he genuinely didn't know?

She gripped his arm tighter. "I can't make sense of this."

"Do you know if she was hanging out in any night clubs or bars or anywhere?"

"Last I knew, she was overseas."

"Did she tell you that?"

"She sends postcards to my aunt while she's traveling."

"What about phone calls? When's the last time you spoke to her?"

"Not in a long time. We don't really talk. We haven't been close since…"

"Since when?"

"Since, ever. Even as kids, we didn't play much. She was always busy doing her own thing. All I know is she's been traveling the world for a while."

"Do you know if your aunt saved the postcard?"

"Yeah, she— Who are they?"

Jep saw the group crossing the road and gritted his teeth. "Reporters."

"They'll get a picture of my sister. She'll be all over the news. I have to call Carla. She can't find out that way."

"No. You can't tell anyone."

"But she'll see Jade on the news."

"No she won't. We need to keep this confidential. We won't let anyone know who we have in custody. Don't worry."

"You're sure?"

"It's not the first time we've done it." Em tripped, but Jep caught her. "Whoa. Let's slow down. We don't need to be in a rush to get anywhere."

"I can't believe this is happening. She's gotten herself into trouble before, but not like this. Never like this."

"People who are searching for purpose sometimes find it in the worst places."

"But she's not looking for purpose. All she's ever cared about is her own self-gratification. She looks out for number one and no one else. Why would she suddenly be okay with murder?"

"People change."

"You say that like it's a normal life choice to kill people."

"I don't mean to diminish what's happening to your sister. We won't know what's really going on until we speak to her."

"I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You don't have to do anything besides decompress. And the agency has people you can talk to."

"The only person I want to talk to is my sister, but they won't let me see her, will they? It's personal, so I won't be assigned to the file. I know how this works."

"Probably not, but you never know. Stranger things have happened."

"What if she won't speak to anyone? What if she says she'll only speak to me?"

"Do you think she will?"

"I have no idea, but will they let me see her if she does?"

"Each case is different. We won't know until it happens." He paused. "You know they'll question you too, right? You need to be prepared for that."

"But I don't know anything. What do they expect me to say?"

"Everything you just told me. You said her name is Jade?"

"I don't think I can do this."

"You can. I know you can. You're stronger than you think. It feels overwhelming right now, but it's all really fresh. It will ease off soon."

"Can you be the one to question me? Will they let you?"

"They don't usually let partners question each other."

"Then I won't be your partner anymore."

"Is that what you want?"

"No."

She shook her head and curled her arms against her chest.

"Let me take you home. You need time to recover."

She didn't resist as he helped her into the car.