Page 55 of Fatal Mistake
“C’mon, people.” Kaci dropped into a chair next to Shane. “Lighten up.”
“Go ahead and have a seat, Tara.” Cal’s serious tone was in complete opposition to Kaci’s comment.
Tara didn’t know how to get the happy guy from yesterday back, but she wished she could. As she crossed the windowless room, she took a closer look at the space. Bookshelves filled with dated three-ring binders going back seven months filled one wall. Another held a long workbench with a variety of tools neatly mounted above. And as Kaci had mentioned, whiteboards holding timelines for each bombing with graphic pictures and vinyl pockets containing information covered the other walls.
Tara took in the pictures of the murdered Muslim women posted on the wall next to burned-out buildings and car shells. As she read the names below, each woman became a person to her instead of a statistic, and sadness wove through her body. She spotted the names of her friends from Atlanta and Dallas, and she quickly averted her gaze before she saw any horrific pictures.
Her good mood long gone, she dropped onto the chair, wanting to be anywhere but in this room circled with death and destruction.
The door latch released and everyone looked at the door except Cal.
He kept his focus on her. “That’ll be Max.”
Eager to get a look at the person who commanded the very strong-willed team, Tara stared at the door.
A man about Cal’s height with military-perfect posture stepped inside. He had the squarest jaw Tara had ever seen and sandy-brown hair that looked like he’d recently run his fingers through it. He wore what she now assumed was the team uniform of khaki pants and a navy shirt. With his swagger and confident look, she could easily imagine him leading the Knights.
His fierce focus traveled around the table and landed on her, where it lingered.
“Ms. Parrish.” He stepped closer and offered his hand, his gaze lightening a fraction. “I’m Max White.”
She accepted his hand and made sure she didn’t flinch at his iron grip or close scrutiny.
“I’m sorry we have to meet under such dire circumstances.”
She nodded but couldn’t for the life of her come up with anything to say.
Cal clapped Max on the shoulder. “Feel free to speak your mind with Max. He can be kind of intimidating, but don’t let that stop you.”
“Kind of,” Kaci said, and the others grunted their agreement.
“It’s not intentional, I assure you,” Max replied warmly, then cast a baleful look at his team. He pulled out a chair and straddled it, making Tara think he didn’t plan to stay long. “So what did you need to see me about?”
Cal took a seat. “We’ve discovered information on a woman who seems to be working with Keeler.” He peered at Kaci. “You found the lead, so why don’t you share the details with Max?”
“Happy to.” She smiled and opened a laptop computer. “Hoping to collect any photos from the area before the bomb detonated, we set up LEEDIR before we left Dallas.”
“LEEDIR stands for Large Emergency Event Digital Information Repository and is a database,” Cal told Tara. “Basically law enforcement makes a plea to the public to upload photos they took of a specified area. It’s used mostly for large events like earthquakes, the Boston bombing, that sort of thing.”
Kaci nodded. “We figured it was a long shot, as there could only be so many people in the Dallas bomb vicinity. On top of that, they would need a reason to be taking pictures, but we put out a plea anyway. Last night three photos came in from a person who was visiting her sister and snapping shots of the barbeque joint next door. We cropped out the person at the barbeque place, then enhanced and enlarged the image background, revealing this woman.”
Kaci clicked a button on her computer, and an image flashed onto the large television mounted on the wall. The woman had dark skin, and a strand of jet-black hair peeked out of her head covering. Kaci advanced the pictures, and the woman moved in a way that would look furtive if you were looking for something suspicious.
Rick leaned closer to the screen. “She fits the size and build of the woman Hickson described.”
“I thought the same thing,” Kaci said. “And she’s acting odd, so we ran her through facial recognition.”
“And?” Max asked.
“It returned this.” She handed Max a sheet of paper.
Tara waited for Kaci to hand a page to her, but she didn’t. Obviously the team had decided not to share this detail outside the group. Tara was disappointed, but she couldn’t do anything about them keeping the woman’s identity confidential.
Cal must have caught her questioning look as he leaned close. “She’s a known ISIS associate who lives in the D.C. area.”
“D.C.?” Tara muttered. “So if she was in Dallas on the day of the bombing, she could very well be connected to Oren.”
“Yes, and all we need is a search warrant and we can raid her home.” Rick sounded like he couldn’t wait to break down the woman’s door.
