Page 16 of State of Retribution

Sam’s heart ached for people she’d never met.

“We’ve added to the death toll as of twenty minutes ago,” Gonzo said.“Thirty-six-year-old Nate Andrews, a white, married father of two, who worked at the Department of Labor as an analyst.He was out for a run in Adams Morgan later on Sunday evening when he, too, was struck from behind with an unidentified object.He was transported to GW Trauma and died this morning.”

Sam was beginning to wish the Secret Service had forbidden her return to work.

“We started looking into him yesterday since the attack was similar to Sweeny,” Green said, “but like with her, we’re not finding any motivation for murder.Early days, though.”

“There’s one more,” Gonzo said.“Twenty-two-year-old Alexa Prescott, a student at Marymount in Arlington, who worked as a waitress at a restaurant on 14thStreet.She was walking to the bus stop early this morning, after working last night, when she was hit from behind.She died at the scene.”

“Do we have any security footage from the scenes?”

“Archie’s team is on that.He’s still out tending to a personal matter.”

Sam needed to check in with her friend, who was caring for a woman he’d become close to who’d been abducted, beaten and sexually assaulted but had no memory of what’d happened.

“What’re we doing about an alert to the public?”Sam asked the sergeant.

“Captain Malone is working on that this morning with Public Affairs and will be issuing it shortly.He wants us to brief the media.”

“I’ll do that, and then I want to talk to our victims’ families,” Sam said as she stood.

“We spoke with each of them over the weekend,” Gonzo said.

“Thank you for doing that.I’d like to see them, too, just so they know I’m here and trying to get them some answers along with my very capable team.”

“Understood.”Gonzo handed her the reports on all three homicides.

“Thank you for the great work this weekend.If anyone needs to speak to Dr.Trulo, please reach out to him.”She’d learned to encourage them to seek help from the department psychiatrist as needed, rather than letting the stress build up.

“Yes, ma’am,” everyone said on the way out of the room.

Freddie Cruz hung back.“How’re you doing?”

“I’ll be better when we know who sent drones strapped with semiautomatic weapons to disrupt our event.”

“They have no clue?”

“Nothing yet.They appear to be homemade devices with no traceable components.”

“Jeez.”

“The full power of federal law enforcement is working that case, so I’m going to stay focused on our three victims.”

Freddie glanced at Vernon, positioned outside the conference room.“Your detail has moved inside.”

“For now.Abundance of caution and all that.”

“I’m sorry you guys are dealing with this insanity.”

“We’re told it comes with the butlers and the fancy digs.”

“Sorry if I’m not joking about someone trying to kill my best friends yet.”

“We’re not joking either.Just trying to keep things real while continuing to do our jobs.That’s what I need from you right now.I need you to help me keep it real.Can you do that?”

“I can try.”

She placed a hand on his chest.“I know you’re upset, and I know it’s because you love us, and we love you, too.But I have to keep putting one foot in front of the other while this is happening.It’s how I’ll survive it.You know?”

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