Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“How are you holding up?” Owen circled the desk where Jessica sat.
She stared at her computer, the images of the shooter becoming blurry before her unblinking gaze.
There was nothing left of Egon’s face. Asher had basically blown his head off.
And yet, she couldn’t look away.
This man had killed her friend. Tortured her.
Her stomach didn’t roil at the sight. Nausea didn’t bubble in the back of her throat.
No, she felt . . . nothing.
Numb.
“I’m good,” she whispered when she realized she hadn’t spoken yet.
“You sure?” Owen asked.
“Um, yeah, I’m fine.” She swiveled in her desk chair to face the room, finding Asher removing his vest, blood splattered on his clothes. Thankfully, it wasn’t his blood. “You really didn’t have a choice to kill him, huh?”
“He grabbed a hostage, Jessica.” Asher glared at her, disappointment toward her suspicions raging in his eyes. “I had to take the head shot.”
She lightly nodded. “Yeah, I’m sorry. If an innocent died because of us . . .” Too many people had died already. “Well, I uploaded the DNA sample into the system to double-check that it was him,” she said as Luke exited the en suite bathroom, freshly changed.
“Good,” Asher said. “But I promise, it was the son of a bitch.”
“Did you jailbreak his phone yet?” Luke strode between Jessica and Asher, as if attempting to cut the tension that had just slammed through the room.
“I’ve only had five minutes with it.”
He smiled. “Exactly. You should be done already.”
“And I am.” She grabbed the phone off the desk and tossed it to him. “Last GPS location—a home outside Salzburg. Looks pretty secluded, too.”
“Did you check satellite cams already?” Luke arched a brow.
“Yeah, since the jailbreak took all of sixty seconds.” She stood.
“Salzburg isn’t far. As soon as Max takes the body off our hands we’ll head out,” Luke said.
The body. Bravo had hidden Egon’s dead body until their German friend could arrive. “You scanned his palm?” she asked Asher. “In case we need it to get into his home?”
“Of course.” He removed his tee, and he stood in only cargo pants and boots.
Being shirtless in front of her wasn’t a first, even with the team present, but now that they’d slept together again .
. . she could feel the heat rise in her neck and into her cheeks at the sight.
Even if she shouldn’t be thinking about him sexually, her body wasn’t getting the memo.
“What’s Max’s ETA?” She refaced the team, thankful Asher was pulling on a clean shirt.
Luke checked his watch. “An hour.”
“So, he’ll take the credit for the kill, but what about the hostage? Will he be a problem?” She crossed her arms and studied the team.
Knox, Liam, and Owen were packing up everything from the room, and Asher now stood alongside Luke, a few feet away from her.
“We’ll be fine,” Asher said, dark brown eyes thinning. This wasn’t their first time being exposed in the field like this, and as long as POTUS didn’t shut them down, it wouldn’t be their last.
“How’s your dad?” she asked Knox.
He finished zipping a duffel bag and straightened, hands going to his hips, a slight tilt to his head. “Fine. I told him if he plans on running for president he’d better get used to shit like this.”
“Hoping to deter him?” Asher asked.
“You blame me?” Knox asked as Luke’s phone began ringing.
“Wyatt’s calling,” he announced.
“He must have something.” Her eyes met Asher’s, and everything inside of her tensed.
He could deliver so many thoughts and provoke so many emotions with a simple look, even at a time like this.
Their talk—and kiss—buzzed around in her mind.
Luke placed the call on speaker. “What do you have?”
“They got a new message and hopped into a van twenty minutes ago. I accessed their GPS, and it’s a match to the address in the ciphertext Samir sent them. They’re heading to New York City,” Wyatt said.
“Up until now, Samir only used those messages for meeting times.” Jessica dropped into her chair and flipped open her laptop.
“What are you thinking?” Luke asked. “This is a diversion?”
She stared at her screen, trying to get the wheels of her mind to work again.
Before she could respond, Luke said, “Text me the address. I’ll send some guys from the company to check out the building.”
“It’s a hotel in the Bronx,” Wyatt answered. “They reserved two rooms. No aliases used.”
The room was quiet for a moment, the team collectively coming to their own opinions on the matter.
“I’m with Jessica,” Asher said. “This is a diversion.”
They were a good team. The two of them.
She cleared her throat and attempted to think again. To focus.
“They may try and lose the Feds,” Asher said. “The GPS address could be bogus.”
“Well, we’ll stay on them,” Wyatt responded.
Jessica’s lips pursed in thought as an idea rolled around in her mind.
“Maybe Samir’s reaching out to these guys in another way.
The newspaper messages are for the Feds, but they’re getting their signals as to what to do from another source.
Or there are more than five guys. Another contact somewhere? ”
“We haven’t found anything else out of the ordinary aside from what we’ve provided you,” Wyatt responded.
“So look for something that wouldn’t raise flags,” Asher commented.
She could feel him standing close behind her now. She could always feel him whenever he was near—the same tingling sensation would move up her spine like a warm whisper.
“He’s right.” Jessica nodded and worked at her laptop. “Company emails. Texts with friends and family. Samir could be sending messages under the guise of someone they’re in regular contact with, which the Feds wouldn’t pay attention to. Could’ve used a classic substitution cipher.”
“Got it. I’ll see what I can do on the drive,” Wyatt answered.
“Keep me informed,” Luke said. “Asher took out Egon; we’ve got an address for him. Bravo will be heading to Salzburg in an hour.”