“Won’t there already be homicide people there?”

“Maybe. But if you get going, you could get ahead of them. We’re stretched pretty fucking thin right now, with all these crime scenes. Besides, you’re working this case. You have every right to be there. Come on. We don’t have time to lose.”

She stared him in the eye for a moment, and he saw the gold flecks in the honey brown that seemed to dance in the light from the hall lamp. She nodded once. “Feels like the roof is about to be on fire.”

Fletcher grinned wide. He’d told her how much he loved singing that song when he and his band were together. “Too right it is. I vote we let the motherfucker burn.”

“Baldwin will be here shortly.”

“I’ll fill him in. He’ll be good for the coordination of everything, since Daniels is stuck down there with Heedles. I’ll make sure the CDC is notified, take care of beginning the coordination of shutting down the vaccines. You go. Please, Sam.”

She nodded. “Xander,” she called. “Where are you?”

He came around the corner, Thor padding at his feet, the M4 resting easily in his arms, like a father cradling a baby.

“Gear up, babe. We have to go to Jason Kruger’s house, right now.”

Chapter 49

Potomac River

ROBIN HADN’T BEEN compromised, that she knew for sure. She was vulnerable, yes, she had the last vestiges of a head injury lingering about, was shattered by the death of her little sister and her mother’s constant betrayals, but she wasn’t compromised. She was going to end this before it spread any further.

First, she needed weapons. She wasn’t about to go into the breach unarmed.

The gun the Secret Service agent carried was already in her pocket. She started combing through Riley’s place, looking for guns and ammo, anything that might help. She found his gun safe in the small, tailored closet in his tiny bedroom. A combination lock and a key, double fail-safes. Shit. If she could only get back to her own place, she had an arsenal there. But she knew the cops had to be crawling all over it by now. Home was no longer an option.

She was surprised to feel the loss of her sanctuary keenly, wondered if she’d ever be able to go home again, but pushed away the emotional intrusion and kept searching. She found the safe’s key taped to the back of a painting of a sunset in the bathroom. She inserted it into the gun safe lock, turned it. One part down.

Think, Robin. Riley wasn’t trying to keep people out of his safe. Not really. It was for defense, but he was more likely to stay constantly on offense. He’d want to be able to get into it, and quickly. So if Riley was in a hurry, what would the simplest code be?

000.

She lined up the numbers, and the safe opened. She laughed to herself. Riley hadn’t expected her to toss his place looking for weapons. He hadn’t taken enough precautions. Regardless of what he’d been expecting, it was sloppy. Which surprised her. Riley wasn’t normally the sloppy type.

She pulled out a 5.56 Tracking Point 500 series AR, admired the state-of-the-art long-range weapon for a moment, followed it with a 9mm Smith & Wesson M&P. The TP AR would be good for a long-range shot, and it fit well against her back if she needed to run. She slapped on a leg holster with a K-Bar knife in the sheath, filled a pouch with multiple magazines for the handgun, and an extra clip for the AR, strapped it to her waist. She slammed the door to the safe and returned the key to its hiding place. If she couldn’t take them down with this arsenal, it was time for her to quietly retire.

She needed to call Lola, get her brain moving on things.

She picked up Riley’s phone, started dialing the number, then stopped and set the phone gently back in the cradle.

Don’t trust anyone, Robin.

Maybe Gina was right. Maybe she was better off handling things herself. The only problem was, she didn’t know where to start.

She needed some help. Riley’s unsecured desktop computer was sitting on his desk. She booted it up, hijacked the system, bypassed the passcode, encrypted the hell out of the system and was in.

It took her fifteen precious minutes to get all the addresses, phone numbers and maps she needed. She turned the computer off, picked up the phone and made a single call. She had to talk to Atlantic. She had to find out what was going on.

She was shocked when he answered.

“Riley?”

“No, sir, it’s Souleyret. I’m at Riley’s place.”

“Where is he?” There was a note of urgency in his voice she’d never heard before.

“I don’t know, sir. He told me you sent him to clean up my mess.” There was an edge to her own words, but she’d long ago stopped being frightened of powerful men. Atlantic could have her murdered in her sleep if he wanted, but why would he? She was an asset to him, until the moment she stopped being one. When he’d brought her on board, he’d pledged that he would let her know when she stopped being of use to him. It was nice to know she would be informed of her own expiration date.

Atlantic was quiet for a moment, then she heard a sigh. “I was afraid of this.”

She was shocked at her anger, but there was no stopping it now. “I’m sorry I’m such a disappointment. I’ll just go off quietly and eat a bullet. Will that do for you? Sir?”

“Robin. Riley is unsanctioned.”

The words hit her like a speeding train. “What did you say?”

“I have been searching for answers to your sister’s death since you called me this morning. I unearthed some tremendously frightening information. Riley has been working with Jason Kruger at the State Department. He is a part of an organization known as Pyramid. They come from Tripoli, an offshoot of al Qaeda. They went to Africa to raise an army. Their scientists, who have been funded handsomely over the past few years, were tasked with finding a way to attack the United States and Israel. These cowards are behind the terrorist attack planned on American soil tomorrow. I understand Mr. Kruger is dead, and the samples Amanda brought into the US are missing. They have stolen them. Riley has stolen them. There has been increasing chatter about an attack coming shortly. They’re planning to release a genetically modified superbug into the United States. They’ve been working on several different delivery methods. Water. Vaccines. Grenades. Putting sick people into airplanes. Their theory is, if they spread it widely enough, chances are good they can sicken thousands of people. This superbug kills in forty-eight hours, and it’s airborne. We will have a pandemic on our hands almost immediately.”

She felt the world breaking into fragments around her. Riley. Riley was behind this. All his anger today, his comfort, his words.

I can’t do this anymore.

He didn’t kill your sister.

She thought her heart might burst from her chest, the blood pumping so hard she could feel the individual beats against her ribs. “Did you know this threat was under way?”

“Yes. But we didn’t know who the players were. Now we know some of them. Maureen Heedles, who worked R and D for James Denon. Jason Kruger from State. We have the name of an organization. It will take time to track down all those involved, but we have a beginning.”

“And Riley is a part of this. Are you absolutely certain?”

“I am. I’m sorry. I know you have been friends for some time.” The word friends floated from the phone, spinning lazily in the air, tinged in green.

You could call it that, she thought, then her stomach seized and she fought down a sickening bout of nausea. Riley, who’d been helping her recover, who’d slid into her bed and into her body with ease. The head injury had forced down her walls. She’d been vulnerable for the first time in her adult life.