Page 16 of Night Hawk
Clay grabbed her hand and squeezed. “It’ll be okay.”
His hands were that of a hard-working man. Callused and firm. And still, his touch was gentle.
“I could lose my job.”
“Even if you do, God will work it out for good.”
“I get that. Even believe it. Most of the time anyway. But I struggle when the outcome could be something so serious. Something like this. Or like when my dad died.” She shook her head. “I’m still struggling to see any good there.”
“Maybe the good is in the fact that we’ve continued to work this investigation. If he hadn’t died, I don’t think we would’ve found this school.”
“Yeah, maybe.” She started down the rest of the steps. This might be for someone’s good, but not hers as far as she could see.
At the door, she looked at Clay. “I need to talk to my supervisor alone.”
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but snapped it closed and marched outside. “I’ll be with my brothers if you need me.”
“Thanks.” She continued on into the moonlit night, the soft rays illuminating the agents bustling around. Clay joined his brothers, and she felt alone. Abandoned, even when she was the one who asked him to go. Maybe she’d hoped he would object and demand to speak to Adair. She had no idea what she hoped right now. Her emotions were in too much of a turmoil to know anything for sure.
She planted her feet in a stance she hoped displayed a confidence she didn’t feel and waited for Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nathan Adair to stop talking to the special agent in charge of their office. The earlier misty rain had disappeared. For now, anyway. At this time of year it would be back in short order.
Adair spun and marched straight over to her. Gut churning, she watched his confident walk. He was fit from hours at the gym and was dressed in deep gray suit pants and a white shirt with a gray-and-blue striped tie. But instead of his usual perfectly tailored suit coat, he wore a blue windbreaker with FBI emblazoned in yellow on the chest and back. His hair was short, inky black, and laced with fine threads of silver. His emerald green eyes pierced Toni. She’d never seen him quite this upset, and she’d seen him angry in the past.
He took a wide stance in front of her and locked onto her face. “Update me in a minute or less.”
Good.A minute or less meant she didn’t have time to tell him about her reaction to the snake. She formed her words carefully and shared the highlights of the night, feeling like a liar when she left out snake details.
She must have pulled it off, though, as he looked across the lot to where the Byrd family lingered by their vehicles. “You know these guys before tonight?”
“Clay, but not the others. And Sierra—”
“Is married to Rice. I better not find out he knew about this too.”
“I didn’t tell him.”
“It goes without saying that you won’t be involved in this investigation.”
“Got it.”
He lifted a dark eyebrow. “What, no fight?”
“I knew it was coming.”
“Still, you’re not one to back down.” Those green eyes dug deeper. “You’re not planning on investigating on your own, are you?”
Planning on it?She glanced at Clay, who was now being interviewed by the big boss. He was curling his hands into fists. Not a good sign. He caught her eye and transmitted his frustration, and in that instant, she knew they would definitely work this together.
“No plans, sir,” she said as they hadn’t made plans. Just a commitment.
“See that you don’t make any.” He turned to look at the building. “I’ll walk the scene, and I’m sure I’ll have additional questions for you.”
“Would you like me to join you?”
He gritted his teeth. “I don’t want you anywhere near the place. In fact, go wait in my vehicle.”
“Yes, sir.”
He marched back to the special agent in charge, and together they stopped at the door to don booties before entering the abandoned school.
