Hill, Gerri - Angel Fire

“So did I,” Sam said with a smile.

Cameron stood after a brief nod at Sam. “I don’t think we’re making much progress here. Do you?” she asked Reynolds.

“I’m assuming, just like out in the desert, you want me to hand over Rowan to you,” he said.

Cameron shook her head. “What I want right now is for you and me to talk. How about we go to your room?”

Andrea watched Reynolds’s face, surprised at the hostility there. When they’d parted company in Barstow, Reynolds had been friendly with Cameron. She couldn’t imagine what had happened to change that.

“Very well. Perhaps we can come up with a plan of action.”

The tension in the room was heavy, and Andrea and Eric exchanged glances. Reynolds opened the door and Cameron followed, closing it rather loudly behind her. Tori was the first to speak.

“What the hell was that all about?”

“I have no idea,” Andrea said. She looked at Eric. “You?”

Eric nodded. “Yeah, I think I do. Apparently Cameron’s being blamed for the two agents getting killed.”

Andrea stood up quickly. “ What ? Why?”

“It’s a bunch of crap, that’s all,” Eric said. “One of the agents killed was friends with Reynolds. Humphrey. They worked together years ago. When we got briefed in Albuquerque, well, they needed to place blame. Seems some think that since Cameron and Angel were on the same team in the military, she’s got a soft spot for him or something. Reynolds went along with it.”

“That’s bullshit,” Andrea said. “Cameron hasn’t seen Angel in years. They weren’t even close when they worked together.” She clenched her fists angrily. “How about blaming the goddamn federal marshals who supposedly had him locked up in a van?”

“I didn’t say I blamed her, Andi,” Eric said. “I’m just telling you what the vibe is in Albuquerque.”

Tori came and stood between them. “Okay, this isn’t helping.” She turned to Eric. “And for the record, we busted our ass out there trying to catch up with him. So, to quote Andrea, it’s bullshit,” she said. “Now, what are we going to do to find Angel?”

“Excuse me,” Rowan said. “But I read through the file they put together on him. It’s rather brief. I understand they didn’t have a whole lot of time to dig.” He glanced at Andrea. “It might be helpful if I tried to go a little deeper. Of course, using Cameron’s supercomputers would be a lot quicker,” he said as he tapped on his laptop. “But I’ve always been pretty good at removing layers to find out more.” He looked up quickly. “Besides, Jason has given me some of his programs.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s a good idea.” She turned to Sam. “And right now, Sam, you’re the only one in this room who knows anything about him.”

Sam nodded. “Yes.” She looked at Rowan. “What do you need?”

* * *

Cameron slammed the door shut and stood facing Reynolds, hands on her hips. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Reynolds took a step closer, pointing his finger at her. “Tell me what I’m hearing is not true,” he said loudly.

“I don’t know, man. What the hell are you hearing?”

“That you and Angel were friends. That you let him slip away on purpose.”

“Jesus Christ, Reynolds. You don’t actually believe that, do you?”

“I know the type of team you were on back then. I know the pressure—the stress—you were under. And I know how tight you become on a team like that. It’s life or death. So if you and Angel were close, if you—”

“Come on, Reynolds.” Cameron ran a hand through her hair. “I can’t believe this,” she murmured. “After all we went through in the Mojave Desert? After you and I chased that fucker Baskin at that goddamn waterpark?” She shook her head with a humorless laugh. “Really? You think I’d let a killer slip away because we were once on a Special Ops team together?”

“They said you—”

“They who?” she asked, interrupting him.

“Albuquerque.”

“Oh. Of course. They lost two men.”

“I lost…a friend,” he said, his voice calmer now.

“And you need someone to blame,” she guessed. “ They need someone to blame.”

Reynolds turned his back to her and let out a heavy breath. When he turned back around, she was surprised to see dampness in his eyes.

“Tell me the truth, Cameron. Tell me you did everything you possibly could to get that bastard.”

“You know who the hostage was,” she said. “And she and Agent Hunter…they’re involved…romantically. Agent Hunter was with us as we tracked him. Maybe you should ask her if we did everything possible to catch him.”

Reynolds let his shoulders sag. “I’d known Humphrey long before the FBI linked us. We met when we were nineteen. Hit it off right away. Stayed friends all these years,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He nodded slowly. “Yeah. It was just such a shock.”

“Our line of work,” she said quietly.

“I know.” He rubbed his face. “Hell, I know.” He looked at her then. “I’m sorry, Cameron. You’re right. I needed someone to blame.”

Cameron tilted her head. “Murdock told me you knew Humphrey. So this case is personal for you.”

“Yes.”

She stared at him. “Remember at that bar in Needles? After we’d found Andrea? You told me when it gets personal, it gets dangerous. You said you let your emotions override your training.”

He nodded. “Yes. I did say that. I was speaking of you and Andrea, of course. My relationship with Humphrey was very different than yours is with Andrea.”

“Regardless, you’re letting your emotions dictate your actions now. I know you and I don’t have a lot of history,” she said. “Your first impression of me was when you were with Collie. He was a bastard and he hated me.”

“True.”

“But after Barstow, after all that, I thought you trusted me.” She took a step toward him. “Don’t question my integrity, Reynolds. I don’t always follow protocol, you know that. But I do my goddamn job.” She shoved her hands in her pockets. “And for the record, Angel and I were never friends.”

He met her gaze and didn’t flinch. He only nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “Then let’s do our job now. Let’s find this fucker.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“How did you find all this?”

Rowan shrugged. “It took me most of the night,” he said. “He’s been very careful.”

“Have you emailed this to everyone?”

“No. Only you and Reynolds,” he said.

“Okay. I’ll forward it to my team,” Cameron said. “I want Sam to read it.” She smiled at him. “Good job, Rowan.”

He blushed and shoved his glasses up higher on his nose.

“Come on back here,” she said, leading him through the RV to the small computer room that housed four monitors and two different computers. “Nothing has changed since you were in here last.” She glanced over her shoulder, looking for Reynolds. She could hear him talking to Andrea. “Actually, I don’t use them as much as I should.”

“Easier to call Jason?”

She laughed. “Yeah. Don’t get me wrong. I can use most of the algorithms that he’s written,” she said. “But I don’t always trust myself.”

“That you’re feeding the correct data, you mean?”

“Yeah. And that’s the major problem here. We don’t have much data to use. Not like in Barstow,” she said. “You used the algorithms perfectly there. But with serial killers, we’ve got a lot of data to use. Patterns and whatnot.”

Rowan had already pushed her out of the way and sat down. She smiled as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “If we need him, I’ve got Jason on speed dial,” Rowan said.