Page 23 of Over the Top

“Close the door, will you?” she said to Drago.

He reached out and pushed the panel closed without leaving his seat.

“Four cops were killed by automatic weapons fire. Five civilians dead. Four of them in a house, one—a woman—dead outside the house next door. Presumably she fled the scene of the house shooting and died from wounds sustained.”

“And the shooters?” Spencer asked tersely.

“They drove at least two blacked-out SUVs, possibly three. Unknown number of occupants. Armed with assault weapons and body armor. Surveillance cameras inside the police station show the police firing multiple shots at the assailants at close range using weapons as big as .45 without seeming to injure any of the bad guys. So… we’re likely looking at high-end body armor. Military grade.”

“If there’s film of them, do we have any IDs on the shooters?”

“They all wore ski masks and gloves. Proficient with the weaponry. Knew how to control field of fire.”

“They’re military?” Spencer blurted.

“Not necessarily. But they’ve had military-style training.”

“Anything else?”

“Their license plates were covered with tape, so it was a premeditated attack.”

“Have you got anything on the occupants of the house who died?”

“Nope. FBI’s got that information locked down tight. Sorry.”

“What about the kid?”

“I haven’t seen any reports about a missing child. That’s the sort of thing that would get broadcast wide across multiple law enforcement agencies.”

Spencer and Drago exchanged frowns at that.

Dray piped up, “Any missing persons reports floating around the system for Asian female children?”

“Lemme check.” She typed for a few seconds and read information scrolling across her monitor for several minutes.

“There are hundreds of missing Asian girls worldwide, but none with any link to Misty Falls, New Hampshire,” Penelope answered. Then she added, “I’ll put a request in to the State Department to contact all the Asian embassies and ask them specifically about a missing toddler. I’ll let you know if I get any hits.”

“Have you got anything else for us?” Spencer asked.

“No. But I’ll keep poking around. Nobody in the government can keep their mouth shut for long. Information will start to leak out soon enough.”

Spencer and Drago both snorted at that.

Then Spencer stood up. “Thanks for your help.”

“It’s good to see you again, Spencer. Any chance I can convince you to come work for me here? You’d make a hell of an intel specialist for the teams.”

“Not only am I retired, but I’m done with the military. They tossed me out on my all-American ear.”

“What will you do now?” she asked.

“Dray and I are looking into starting a security company. Small outfit to begin with.”

“Cool. If I hear of anyone who needs your kind of help, I’ll send them your way.”

“Thanks, Pen. I guess I owe you another one.”

She laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind. It’s always good to know an ex-SEAL who I can call in a pinch.”

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