CHAPTER ONE
Faith Bold’s heart thudded in her chest. Her fingers trembled over the keys, and she closed them into fists and pressed them on the edge of her desk.
In front of her were emails from an address composed of random letters, symbols and numbers. Faiths’ first instinct was that they were scam emails. She nearly deleted them, but the subject line was Re: Your Interference. That was just ominous enough that she opened them.
And discovered that David had lied to her. He was hiding something from her. Something big. Something that prompted someone else to take pictures of him taking pictures and warn him to stop with a vague threat of consequences to follow if he didn’t.
And to think she’d felt guilty when she had Cybercrimes help her crack into his laptop. She’d actually felt bad for snooping.
She felt pretty damned wonderful about it now. That choice might have saved David’s life.
“Faith!” David called. “The birthday boy’s waiting!”
The birthday boy in question offered an enthusiastic bark.
Turk, her K9 unit, was turning eleven today, and they were celebrating with two cakes, one made out of cake for the humans and one made out of Kobe beef for the pup.
The Kobe beef cake cost north of nine hundred dollars and was by far the most ridiculous thing Faith had ever bought for Turk, but you only turned eleven once, and Turk had saved her life more times than she could count. He deserved to be splurged on.
All of which made this discovery even more frustrating. She should be enjoying herself with Turk right now, but she couldn’t. Not with this sitting between them.
“Faith?”
Footsteps headed up the stairs, slow, heavy ones and light pattering ones.
Turk reached her first, barking questioningly.
She turned to him and forced a smile that her K-9 of almost five years didn’t believe for an instant.
He went instantly to alert, sniffing around the room and staring out the window looking for the threat.
David arrived a moment later. “What is it?” he asked, noticing Turk’s behavior. “Faith, did you see…”
His voice trailed off when he saw the laptop screen. He went ashen, which was pretty damned appropriate considering what Faith was looking at.
Turk returned to Faith, a little calmer after confirming that nothing was amiss, but also confused that she was so tense. Faith scratched him behind his ears but kept her eyes on David. “Have you given him his cake yet?”
He swallowed. “Um… no. Not yet. I was waiting for you.”
She nodded. “Let’s go.”
He blinked. “Really?”
“Yes. It’s Turk’s birthday. Let’s go celebrate. We’ll talk later.” She thought a second, then said, “Actually, take Turk downstairs and get set up. I’m going to use the bathroom really quick.”
“It’s already set up. We just need…” His voice trailed off again when Faith met his eyes. He averted his own gaze and said, “Right. I’ll take Turk downstairs.”
Turk hesitated when David called him, but when Faith encouraged him to go, he followed David down the stairs, glancing over his shoulder worriedly when Faith didn’t come after them.
She entered the bathroom and locked the door, then sent texts to several different people. Better to do that now so that it was too late for David to argue.
She headed downstairs, and on the way down wiped the anger and fear off her face and replaced it with a smile. Turk barked happily when he saw her but still stared at her hard, not quite trusting her seeming change of mood.
She pushed through, lighting the candle in the middle of Turk’s cake and singing happy birthday. David joined in, his own smile not nearly as believable as hers. Well, that was fine. The smiles only needed to exist for a minute or two.
They took a picture of Turk with his cake, then Turk with each of them, then one with the three of them together. Faith noted how David tensed under her hand when they took the picture of all three of them. That only made her angrier. What did he think she was going to do? Hit him?
Take a breath, Faith. You need to be in control when you talk to him.
She took several breaths, leaving Turk to enjoy his cake while she put on a television show for him.
Their local channel was doing a marathon of The Dog Whisperer, one of Turk’s favorites.
She switched it on and called Turk into the living room.
“Okay, buddy! It’s your special day! Enjoy your super special show! ”
Turk barked happily and plopped on the floor in front of the couch. He wagged his tail, excitedly watching an anxious bichon frise learn how to interact with people without trying to bite their fingers off. When Faith left the living room, he turned to her and barked questioningly.
“Be down in a minute!” she called.
He watched her for a moment, but The Dog Whisperer was on, and he’d already made sure no one was trying to hurt her. She’d tell him if something was wrong, so he turned back to the tv and let himself enjoy his show.
Faith glared at David and pointed up the stairs. He shuffled up, head down. Like he was a goddamned child.
She waited until they were both in their bedroom with the door closed, then looked at him, arms folded across her chest. He stared at the floor and said nothing. David, so help me God…
“Well?” she said out loud.
He swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
“Screw your sorry,” she said, her tone calm but her demeanor conveying her anger. “What’s going on?”
He swallowed again and started shuffling his feet. She gripped her arms, resisting a disturbingly powerful urge to shake him. For God’s sake, he was thirty-nine years old. “David, what’s going on?”
He sighed. “You remember that military working dog I told you gave me odd signs?”
“Uh huh?”
“Well… I told you that I examined her again, and she looked fine.”
“Uh huh?”
“She… didn’t. I lied.”
Faith nodded. “Hmm. And then what happened?”
His brow furrowed. “Damn it, Faith, what was I supposed to do? They’re abusing those dogs.”
They are the United States Marine Corps,” Faith said. “And they warned you to stop. Then you, apparently… Are those pictures of you spying on Marine Corps Base Quantico?”
“They’re doing it there,” he insisted. “Whatever they’re doing—”
“Whatever they’re doing is clearly classified, David. That email… ‘take steps to ensure you can’t?’ Did they threaten to kill you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, don’t be a fucking idiot, David. They threatened to kill you. That’s what a death threat looks like. You stepped in shit, and instead of bringing it to the attention of the people whose job it is to take care of shit, you waded even deeper and started rolling around in it.”
“I can’t let them keep abusing those dogs!”
“No one’s asking you to!” Faith snapped.
A questioning bark came from downstairs. Faith rolled her eyes and called back, “In a minute, Turk!” She glared at David. “You should have told me. I could have gotten you help.”
“What, the FBI? They’re just going to call the Corps, and the Corps is going to sweep it under the rug. It’s going to go to bureaucratic hell and die. Sierra’s going to keep being abused, and no one’s doing anything to stop it. I thought you’d be on my side.”
“I am on your—” She pressed her lips together and tapped her foot.
She looked over his shoulder so she didn’t tear his goddamned head off and started over in a calmer voice.
Well, a quieter one. “I am on your side. Had you come to me from the very beginning, I would have shown you that I’m on your side. ”
He shuffled his feet.
“David, stop acting like a kid caught with his hand in the damned cookie jar! You’re a grown man. Act like it.”
He flinched, but then his jaw tightened. He squared his shoulders and met Faith’s eyes. “I’m not going to stop. I’m not going to let them get away with what they’re doing. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but if you want to help, then you’re going to have to help me pursue justice for Sierra.”
“I am.”
He blinked. “What?”
“I texted Michael, Jessica, and Smythe.”
“You texted… Faith…” He looked down and rubbed his temples.
“Yeah, this isn’t up for debate, and I don’t give a rat’s rosy cheeks if you’re embarrassed. I texted them, because you are not going to do this anymore.”
“Faith, Smythe is a damned bureaucrat! You said so yourself!”
“And as soon as Michael has proof that the Marine Corps is doing this, Smythe will make it very uncomfortable for them to continue. He has friends in Congress. I doubt like hell the Marine Corp’s pet project is worth their entire leadership being canned for unethical practices, and even if it’s worth it to the Corp’s leadership, it won’t be worth it to the politicians seeking reelection. ”
“See, this is what I was afraid of,” David complained. “It’s bureaucracy.”
“I feel like you read that word and decided to use it as much as possible.”
“No, Faith, I—”
“Here’s something interesting,” Faith interrupted. “Tell me if you’re following: I actually work for the FBI. As a senior field agent. As Chief Instructor of the K9 School. I actually know what I’m talking about.”
David didn’t respond right away. Faith watched him, trying to look stern and angry and not shocked and terrified. For God’s sake, what on Earth was he thinking? It was like she tried to perform open-heart surgery on a dog without asking her veterinarian husband to help.
“How did you find out?” he finally asked.
Faith rolled her eyes. “I called Cybercrimes and had them walk me through it.”
His eyes widened. “You had Cybercrimes break into my laptop?”
“I had Cybercrimes help me break into your laptop,” she clarified. “Because I knew you were hiding something from me.” She laughed. “I kind of wish I had caught you cheating on me or something equally mundane.”
“Really?”