Кей Хупер - Blood Ties

“You made a donation to a monster.” She shook her head slightly, her eyes never leaving his. “You’ll pay for what you did. I don’t know what Bishop means to do with the evidence he has and will have, but whatever it is, I’ll help him.”

“Diana—”

“I’ll help him. But whatever he does or doesn’t do, you’re no longer a part of my life. No longer my father. As far as I’m concerned, you’re as evil as Samuel was. And the world should be rid of you both.”

Serenade

“Told you we wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep,” Tony said to Jaylene, yawning, as they relieved two other agents in the command center shortly after six A.M.

“Hey, I got plenty,” she said, sitting down at a console and logging in to the computer. “But then, I went to bed when we got back to the B&B. How long did you stay down in the dining room talking?”

“You make it sound social,” Tony complained, logging in at a second work console. “A bunch of us were working things through. Trying to get a handle on the situation. Weren’t making much headway until Dean came off duty at midnight and joined us for coffee.”

“Coffee at midnight. Yeah, that’ll help you sleep.”

Tony ignored that. “Plus, that’s around the time Reese and Hollis got back. With the great news about Diana being okay. And with more pieces of the puzzle.”

“Confirmation,” Jaylene said. “We’d already figured out this had Samuel’s name written all over it. Or, at least, Miranda had.”

“True enough. Nice to have it confirmed, though. And am I the only one who finds it totally creepy that this bastard is still after us from his grave?”

“No.”

Tony sighed. “Anyway, when Dean came off duty, he said he’d been pulling up everything he could find on Taryn Holder, looking for a connection to somebody here in town.”

“And not finding one, I take it.”

“No, but at least he made a solid start. Now we keep looking.”

About to start work, Jaylene paused to say, “You know, it hit me last night that we haven’t even talked about that poor reporter.”

“I hate to be blunt about it, but what’s to say? She was warned, they all were.”

“Yeah, I know that. And being equally blunt, that’s not what I was thinking about. The sniper could have just as easily shot Miranda. So why didn’t he? Why choose the reporter?”

“To shake up all the noncombatants around here, maybe.” Tony shrugged. “That’s what I’d do.”

Jaylene stared at him.

“Oh, come on, I mean thinking from the bad guy’s point of view. That is what profiling is all about, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah. My point, however, is that maybe Miranda was also right in suggesting that at least some of this could have been designed to draw Bishop out. Offering stark proof that he could have taken Miranda out might be expected to do that.”

“So would taking her out,” Tony countered.

“That’s what a typical enemy might think. But what if the enemy is psychic, Tony? Psychic enough to know that all he’d gain by taking Miranda out would be Bishop paralyzed at best—and dead somewhere far away at worst?”

Tony shook his head slowly. “There aren’t half a dozen people outside the SCU who know that the connection between Bishop and Miranda makes them that vulnerable.”

“But they are that vulnerable. Kill one, and you’ll very likely kill the other as well, or at the very least incapacitate him or her. Because they’re connected, and on a level deeper than any we’ve ever found, even between blood siblings. What if the sniper knows that? Because he’s psychic himself, or because Samuel was. And if he knows, what if killing Bishop long distance—as it were—isn’t good enough?”

“Then… you’re right. Taking out the reporter when she was two feet away from Miranda might be expected to bring Bishop here, and in a hurry. Makes sense. Bishop, more than any of the rest of us, is the one Samuel was always after. And the setup here sure as hell has all the earmarks of a trap.”

“Which is another indication that the sniper could be local, or at least somehow connected to this place. He’s moving around too freely for it to be otherwise. He knows this place like the back of his hand.”

After a moment, Tony said, “Tell you what. Why don’t you keep digging into Taryn Holder’s background?”

“While you do what?”

“While I start checking into the backgrounds of all the Pageant County deputies.”

“You seriously think it’s a cop?”

“I think that sniper has some serious military training, and if this is home, the only job he might feel comfortable in would be one where he carries a gun.”

“It’s a leap,” Jaylene said after a pause.

“Not a big one. There’s been so much confusion since the bomb, even before, that a deputy who knew the terrain could have slipped away long enough to play sniper. And we should rule it out. Hell, we should have ruled it out after the sniper took his first shots.”

“True enough. Okay. Let’s dig.”

Gabriel Wolf studied the old farmhouse, adjusting the binoculars until he had a crystal-clear view. There was no movement, no sign of life.

Maybe he’s playing possum , Roxanne suggested.

“Why would he be?” Gabriel kept his voice low. “You kept watch all night, and if Bishop knows what he’s talking about, this guy won’t pick up on either of us psychically.”

Doesn’t mean he doesn’t know about us .

“Oh, I’m betting he knows about us. I’m betting he spotted us. Bastard has the advantage of knowing this place, and well.”

Don’t be so disgruntled about it. We couldn’t have known .

“Yeah, yeah.” Gabriel frowned as the binoculars finally picked up a bit of movement in what he judged to be the kitchen windows. “Hold on. Looks like he’s finally up.”

About time .

Gabriel watched intently and was rewarded a little more than ten minutes later: A tall, dark man somewhere in his late forties, with a distinctly military bearing despite his casual jeans and a sweatshirt, came out of the house. The rifle Gabriel knew he carried today was concealed in an oversize duffel bag. The man appeared to feel safe, showing no signs of unease or worry as he crossed the small yard and briskly made his way down the long, fence-bordered drive toward the main road. And town.

“Man, I want to take him out,” Gabriel muttered.

Not the plan. We have nothing on the other one, you know that. We have to draw him out .

“Yeah. But I don’t have to like it.” Gabriel touched the almost invisible com device in his ear. “Hey. He’s on the move.”

“Got him,” a voice whispered back. “Our information says the one in the house should give you no trouble. But watch yourself.”

“Copy that.” He touched the com again, continued to watch the sniper until he was well away from the house, and then left his own place of concealment to begin moving cautiously toward it.

It was just after eight A.M. when Dean Ramsey joined Tony and Jaylene in the command center. He was bearing hot coffee and news. “Check your emails,” he advised them. “Word from Bishop.”

Tony groaned. “My eyes are already starting to cross from looking at this screen the last couple of hours.”

“Find anything?”

“I dunno. Maybe.” Tony blew absently on the hot coffee to cool it, staring at the screen. “There’s military training here, just not the kind we’re looking for. At least—”

Jaylene swore under her breath. She turned her head to stare at Tony. “Check your email. Looks like you were right, Tony. The sniper’s connected to this town, all right.”