Her cell phone rang. Daniels was calling. She put up a finger and answered, put it on speaker. “What’s up, Daniels?”

“Dr. Owens, I’ve got something. I’m still staking out Souleyret’s place. We’ve gotten into her files through her wireless connection—sloppy of her. She’s barely got any encryption on it at all. She was looking into her sister’s email. She downloaded a draft email that looks like it came from the State Department, though I don’t know if she knows that.”

“Who sent it? Girabaldi?”

“Nope. Jason Kruger. It came from his email. It says, ‘Did you get it in?’”

“When was it sent?”

She heard him typing. She could imagine him, sitting there in the car, his laptops spread out, Mouse working by his side. They were going to make a great team—Sam had to find a way to get the girl on board at the FBI full-time.

“It was drafted at eight-thirty this morning.”

“Before State called us in. That’s really interesting. You heard about Kruger, right?”

“That he tried to kill you and Detective Fletcher? Yes. I’m very glad he didn’t succeed.”

“Me, too. Unfortunately, he’s dead, and we can’t ask him what he was looking for, though I think we can guess. I can only assume he was talking about one of two things. The SD card or the vaccines. Which are in the wind, by the way. Someone posing as a CDC courier took them from D.C.’s HAZMAT team.”

“Jeez. Sounds to me like we have multiple people working the angles of this case, Dr. Owens. There’s no way only one person could be in so many places at once. It has to be a full assault team.”

“I agree. Two of them are down that we know of. One had been killed at Bromley’s office. We’re still waiting for an ID on him. And now Kruger’s dead. Assuming the attack on James Denon was a part of this, that’s three assassins down. One got away when Kruger was shot. We can only hope that’s the last player. And Robin Souleyret is still out there somewhere.”

“So you think she’s managing this? Someone has to be calling the shots.”

“I don’t know.”

“If there’s a team, ma’am, you need to be really careful. Even if you think three of the four are down.”

“You’re right, we do. It almost feels like there were multiple assassinations planned to be carried out simultaneously. This is incredibly well-coordinated. If Kruger was behind it, we might be in luck, but since he was out doing the shooting, I’m afraid someone else is running the show. I feel like everything is leading back to Girabaldi. Is she clean? Can you find out?”

“I can. I’ll have to pull out of Souleyret’s files, though.”

Sam thought for a minute. “Okay. Just dump them all, and let Mouse start going through them. You shift to Girabaldi. Be careful, Daniels. This is a very powerful woman were talking about.”

“I will. Hey, hold on a second.”

She could hear Mouse talking in the background.

“What is it?”

“A courier. DHL. He just pulled into the driveway.”

“Where’s he headed?”

“Hang on. He’s driven past the circular drive entrance for the main house. He’s heading down the track to Souleyret’s.”

“Is he for real? Or is this someone coming to eliminate Souleyret?”

“I’m watching. I’ve got night-vision goggles on. We’re well hidden in the woods.”

“What the hell is he doing out delivering so late?”

“I don’t know. That’s pretty sketchy. Want us to intercept? I’ve got another couple of cops here.”

Fletcher was standing to her left. Both he and Xander nodded. “Yes. Intercept him. Right now.”

She heard the squelch from the radio. Daniels was calling to the cops, telling them to get the guy. “I’ll be back to you in a minute. Talk to Mouse.”

And he was gone. Mouse came on the line. “Hi, Doc.”

“Hi yourself. Give me the play-by-play.”

“They’ve boxed him in. The cops are driving right up to him, guns drawn. He just dropped a package on the ground and put up his hands. No one went boom. That’s a good sign.”

Sam laughed. “Yes, that’s a very good sign.”

“Marc’s got the package, he’s opening it now. Looks like a CD of some kind. He just gave me a thumbs-up. It’s nothing dangerous. The guy has ID, looks like he really is just a courier. They’re checking the truck, too, just in case, but we look good here.”

Sam let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “All right. You and Daniels finish up there and bring that package to me. Right now.” She gave the girl her address.

“I’ve got a copy of Souleyret’s hard drive, too. We’ll be there in ten.”

She hung up. Fletcher raised an eyebrow. “I kind of like it when you take over the show.”

“Hush. What do you think is in that package?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do we know where Girabaldi is now?” she asked.

“Cavort said they have her under protection, so she’s probably reading a magazine in some bunker somewhere. I can push things, bump it up to her bosses, have them release her into my custody.”

“You’re off the case, Fletcher. You better stay put. You can’t lose your job over this.”

She could see the frustration on his face. “Honestly, Sam, right now, I’m more concerned about the idea of a gang of assassins on the loose in my city. I know this Chalk character is good, but I’m going to get some people watching the house, just in case. Armstrong will help with that.” He peeled off into the den near the back door. It was the only unoccupied room on the lower floor.

Xander watched him go, put a hand on Sam’s shoulder, dug his thumb deep into the tissue. She sighed as the muscle relaxed and released.

“That’s better. Thank you.”

He nodded. “No worries. Listen, I do have some news for you. I think Denon’s company is the one Amanda Souleyret infiltrated. I think he’s the money behind the vaccines.”

She reared back, nearly toppling a crystal vase from the small hall table. She managed to get a hand on it before it hit the floor. “What did you say?”

“His IT guy, Everson, just told me he found a back door that’s been in place for several months. He doesn’t know how bad the damage is yet, so we haven’t told Denon.”

“Do we know who’s responsible?”

He shook his head. “Not yet, but think about it. Amanda was sleeping with Denon. The affair had been going on for almost a year. You said she was trained as a honeypot, technologically and otherwise. What better way to bilk a company than bedding down with its CEO and putting a spike in his systems?”

Sam brushed her hair back from her face. It made an awful kind of sense.

“We’ve been assuming all along that she was working the right side of this. Are you saying you think she was behind it instead? And crossed the wrong person, who had her killed?”

“Her, and everyone who had anything to do with this case. They’re eliminating the knowledge base. Systematically.”

“Did you find a money trail for the man from this morning? The Spaniard?”

His face darkened. “The assassin I killed, you mean? Not yet, but we’re working on it.” He rubbed a big hand over his face, smoothing out his eyebrows. She could see he was tired, bone-deep. They all were. “This is a clusterfuck, you know that.”

“I do. And we have a bunch of possibly deadly drugs out there, most likely in the wrong hands. Who knows what they’re planning.”

“Let’s talk to Denon.”

“First, Xander, hon, are you okay? Tell me the truth.”

He glanced over her head, then put a hand under her chin, lifted her face so she was staring deep into his coffee eyes. He gave her a quick but thorough kiss, then a grin. “Are you?”

“I am now.”

He hitched his arm over her shoulders. “Then let’s do this.”

Chapter 44

THEY SAT WITH Denon in the living room—Sam, Fletcher and Xander, a triumvirate of frustration and exhaustion and hands shaky from too much caffeine, facing their last hope for an explanation of the day’s events. Sam sipped on a cup of tea, wishing for a stiff shot of Scotch, knowing it would just put her to sleep. Still, a girl could dream.