Page 50 of Midnight Secrets

Isabel, Felicity, Lauren. Three beautiful women, smiling at each other. But though both Felicity and Lauren were good-looking women, they couldn’t hold a candle to Isabel. It was like she had a special aura around her.

Felicity and Lauren stopped talking and Isabel turned around and saw him. And she smiled at him. It was almost staggering. Joe rubbed at his chest where his heart had thumped—hard—inside his rib cage.

He swallowed, hooked a thumb. “Going over to my place to show the guys something. We’ll be back soon.”

Lauren cocked her head. “I’m glad you’re quitting early. Jacko and I want to take a vacation to Europe next summer and we won’t if he keeps losing money to you.”

Felicity, who understood her man, said, “What you’re going to show the guys. How many bullets does it shoot?”

Joe smiled. “None.”

“A knife, then. Don’t be gone long, we have to stop by the Apple store on our way back home.” Felicity often stopped by the Apple store where she had nerd friends who could use her help. Felicity was persona very grata there.

“You got it.”

“Fixed or folding?” Jacko asked as Joe pressed his thumb to his front door. He’d seen a movie where the security depended on the DNA contained in a drop of blood. Very cool. But not practical. The door gave a discreet click and he pushed it open. He would need to program it to recognize Metal, Jacko, maybe Midnight and the Senior. It already recognized Isabel.

They walked in. Joe had a really weird sensation walking into his own home. It felt…odd. Cold. It was clean because he was clean and neat—you couldn’t be anything else in the navy—but there were no nice smells, just bleach and detergent. He hadn’t paid any attention to decor, just shoved the pieces of furniture he needed against the walls. Unlike Isabel’s house that smelled of spices and flowers, full of colors and pleasing shapes.

“Folding. Make yourselves at home. I’ll go get it.”

He’d left the karambit in its box, in the closet. He opened the closet door, pulled out the box, placed it on his desk—and froze.

“Guys.” He kept his voice steady. “Get in here.”

Metal and Jacko came. Whatever they’d heard in his voice made them move fast.

They both held weapons in their hands, coming in high low, Metal to the right, Jacko to the left, as if they’d rehearsed it. Which, of course, they had, in the Teams. Thousands of times.

When they saw what he was pointing to, both of them holstered their Glocks and came closer to his monitor.

Do you know anyone in the FBI you trust absolutely?

“Same guy?” Metal asked quietly.

“Yeah. I think so. But this is new. He just took over my computer. Letters that appear on my desktop. Which means he really knows what he’s doing.”

Jacko was studying the monitor but beyond the words in caps, Arial 40, there was nothing to see. “We don’t know when he sent this.”

“Or she,” Joe answered. “But no. I was at Isabel’s all night. I came over at about nine to grab some fresh clothes and it wasn’t here. It’s seventeen hundred hours. It could have arrived at any time over the past eight hours.”

“He didn’t ping your cell. If he can do this, he can find your cell phone number.”

“Absolutely.” Joe nodded. “So I gotta go with the idea that he wants to communicate this way instead of texting me.”

Metal cocked his head. “If you let me, I’ll ask Felicity. But I get the sense that this is more private and less traceable than sending a text.”

Joe grunted. This was someone who was connected to Isabel in some way. The first message had been to protect her. And now this.

“Dude.” Jacko elbowed him. “You gonna answer?”

Joe sat down and typed:

Yes. Nick Mancino. Former SEAL. Now FBI HRT.

An old buddy and a real stand-up guy. He’d helped find and rescue Felicity’s old mentor, retired FBI Special Agent Al Goodkind.

“He’s answering.” Metal’s voice was quiet. He knew he owed Nick Mancino, big-time. They all did. Was Joe getting Nick into trouble?

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