Page 49 of So Deadly
Sierra ran alongside him, looking up at him with concern.He wanted to reassure her, but if he used his mouth for anything other than breathing right now, he was pretty sure he’d collapse.
Finally, he saw the road ahead of him.He kept running until he reached the shoulder, then collapsed in the dirt.He gasped, trembling on his hands and knees.
Then he broke into sobs.His shoulders shook, and he gasped and moaned, weeping as he thought of his own narrow escape, Jayce’s likely death, the potential loss of the other dogs.
He remained there for several minutes, body aching.Finally, Sierra nudged him.He got to his feet, still shaking.
Headlights approached from the east.His eyes widened.He turned and started to run, but Sierra barked and grabbed his belt, pulling him to a stop.He collapsed to his knees again, too tired to fight.Sierra licked his face, trying to comfort him.He wanted to look at the approaching vehicle, but he was afraid he would see military uniforms or agents in black body armor jumping out of an armored truck, rifles pointed at him.
The vehicle came to a stop.A car door opened and slammed shut.
“David?Holy shit, David?”
It was Michael.David expelled the breath he’d been holding and burst into tears.Michael wrapped strong arms around him and pulled him to his feet.“Are you all right?Jesus, you look terrible.”
“They killed him,” David sobbed.“They killed Jayce.”
Michael sighed.“Shit.I’m sorry.I was too late.”
David shook his head.The tears dried up as purpose filled him.“No.You weren’t.We got it.We got the proof.”
Michael’s eyes widened.“You have everything?”
David handed him the thumb drive.“This has everything we need to expose the 93rd.We’re going to take them down.”
Michael looked in the direction of the facility.It was too dark to see, especially with all the lights shorted out, but they both knew it was there, even if Michael didn’t know exactly where.
Michael’s face hardened.“Come on.Let’s get back to the city.As soon as we’re there, we’ll send this to the right people and put an end to those bastards once and for all.”
David allowed Michael to help him into his SUV.Sierra hopped up next to him and laid her head on his lap while Michael turned around and accelerated back to Oklahoma City.
Jayce had given his life for this, but David would make sure he didn’t die in vain.He would find justice for Jayce, for Sierra, for all of those dogs, and for everyone who had lost their lives to a madman’s pursuit of his dream.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Jessica’s shoulders slumped.“Got it.Okay.Thank you.”
She slammed the phone down, collapsed into the chair and dropped her head into her hands.Turk took a tentative step toward her, and she looked up and shouted, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Turk glanced at Faith, who chose to remain safely on the couch while she asked, “Another dead end, huh?”
“Yep.Mr.Barton apparently moved to an ashram in Punjab three months ago.The woman I talked to is his sister.She’s sending me a link to his webpage which posts daily updates on his spiritual journey.Apparently, he is actuallygratefulfor his trauma because it taught him to let go of Earthly connections.”
“Huh.Good for him, I guess.”
“Yeah, good for him, shitty for us.I haven’t even had breakfast, and all three of my leads have evaporated.”
She tapped her finger on the table and frowned.The petulant pout of her lips and the angry flush to her cheeks made her look adorable, but Faith figured now wasn’t a good time to mention that.She got to her feet.“I’ll get us some breakfast.Can you handle making coffee, or will I come back upstairs to find glass decorating the carpet?”Jessica glared at her, and she lifted her hands.“All right.Breakfast coming up.”
Like Jessica said, that morning had been very unproductive for them.Jessica had identified three men who had lost dogs to fake service animals.All three had histories of violence prior to the incidents, and two of them—Barton included—had made threats to the owners of those animals.None of those owners were one of their victims, but it was at least as much evidence as they had against Jennifer Suleiman.
Only none of them could have been the killer.The only one who lived in the area had suffered a work accident and was now quadriplegic and living with a caregiver.Another had received a lucrative settlement from the owner of the fake service dog responsible for his attack—some city official—and used that money to buy a house in Portland.Portland, Maine was only a couple hours north, but when Jessica followed up, she discovered the guy lived in Portland,Oregon.And then there was Barton at his ashram.Three up, three down.
Faith got them each a hearty breakfast from the hotel’s dining room: scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns for Faith and biscuits and gravy for Jessica.She headed back upstairs to see Jessica in a calmer mood if not exactly a better one.She gestured to a coffee cup sitting on the opposite end of the desk and accepted the plate Faith set in front of her.Faith sipped the coffee, which, as far as hotel coffee went, was all right.
“I just don’t see how it can be a woman,” Jessica said.“I don’t mean to be sexist, but theviolence, therage.Statistically, that’s a male killer.”
“It’s not sexist if the data supports it,” Faith said.“In our line of work, we have to be right, not politically correct.Are there no more male suspects?”
