Page 30 of Nora
“We’ll talk later,” Lucian said, speaking in low tones.
She arched an eyebrow at his presumption but said nothing as she walked away. Stepping into the elevator, she responded to the text string.“Everything is fine. I’m on my way to my room. I’ll call you in a few minutes.”
Cyn didn’t bother to wait and two seconds later, her phone rang. “I figured I’d call you and by the time we have everyone conferenced in, you’ll be in your room.”
Nora nearly sighed but stopped herself. Her friend’s response was born of concern; she needed to remember that. Cyn might sometimes be a bull in a china shop, but she always had good intentions. At least when it came to the club.
“Let me get my earbuds so I can use my keyboard,” she said, walking into her room as Six, the last to join, said hello. “Okay, I’m back,” Nora said when her devices were in her ears and she was seated at her desk. She had no doubt her friends would want to see all the files, and she’d already opened her computer and turned it on.
“And?” Cyn demanded.
“And what?” Nora asked, distracted by entering her password.
“What the hell is going on?” Six demanded.
“You should be on vacation, Six. You don’t need to worry about me. Go back and, I don’t know, have sex on the beach or something.”
Silence filled the line, but when Six next spoke, Nora realized she’d vastly underestimated her friends’ concern. “I can’t believe you just said that, Nora. Not once in the entire time I’ve known you have youeverbacked out of helping one of us. I can’t believe you’d think I, or any of us, would even consider leaving you alone with something like this. Whateverthisis.”
Nora paused at the hurt she heard in Six’s voice. That hadn’t been her intent, but somehow, she’d managed to hurt her friend. “You don’t take vacation very often, Six. This thing Franklin has me doing isn’t like the terrorist attack we helped Cyn prevent or the conspiracy you stumbled into when Jeremy died. I didn’t mean to offend you. I just want you to enjoy your vacation.”
Earlier in the year, Cyn had uncovered a small but deadly group of terrorists and together, they’d stopped the attack the students had planned. A few months after that, Six and the club had brought down a company that was responsible for a number of atrocities. Even more recently, the club had helped Devil and her partner Darius stop an attempt on the Chinese president’s life. But thiswasdifferent. It wasn’t a plot to kill hundreds or espionage or an act of war. This was, to sound callous, a simple case of murder.
“Well, I can tell you now that I won’t enjoy my vacation until I know exactly what’s going on,” she countered. Nora frowned but knew her friend spoke the truth.
“What is it?” Devil asked, stepping into the conversation for the first time.
Nora took a deep breath and told them. She told them about the NATO program, the prior murders, and the body discovered that morning. They asked questions about the participants and victims. Forty-five minutes later, her friends knew everything she did.
“Three of the fifteen people are clear, leaving you with twelve people to investigate,” Devil summarized.
“Eleven if you take my cousin out of it. He’s had a rough time lately, but he’s not a killer. Well, not a cold-blooded one,” Six amended, no doubt referring to his time at AISE. Nora had no idea if he’d ever had to kill someone when he’d been an active agent, but she held the same opinion as Six.
“I agree, but I told Franklin he’d stay on the list because he doesn’t have alibis,” she responded.
“And Sabina is looking at all the prior victims?” Cyn asked.
Nora confirmed it, but to head off the next comment, she added, “I’ve sent you everything Franklin sent me. It should be in all your emails.”
“And what about this morning? Who had alibis for this morning?” Devil asked.
“Anne and Marie were at the gym. Jurgen and Jonah went out, but I don’t know where. And I’ve confirmed with CCTV that Craig was on a run. Lucian was out as well, but, well, I think he was following me.”
A pause followed. “Why would he follow you?” Cyn asked.
“And where were you?” Devil chimed in.
“I went for a run with a few of the soldiers assigned to guard and manage the facilities. It’s not an active base anymore, but it is still military-owned. As to why—”
“He was following you,” Six said, obviously having texted her cousin. “He said it’s because he suspected you were up to something and that I’d kill him if he let anything happen to you. He’s right about that,” she added.
Nora sighed. “I don’t need him to look out for me, Six. Whatever is going on in his life is enough for him to be dealing with. Like I said, this isn’t a terrorist attack or anything like that. No one from the program has been hurt or threatened. As the vet, I’m considered part of the program. I’m investigating, but I’m not in danger.”
“Until your killer realizes you are closing in on him or her,” Devil pointed out.
“I’m inclined to think it’s him,” Nora said, ignoring the main point of Devil’s comment. “I believe most of the women arecapableof killing, I just don’t think they could have done it the way Michael Kelly was killed. Kelly was big. Not heavy, but tall and fit. He was put in a chokehold and dragged off the trail. I don’t think any of the women would physically be able to do that.”
“So if you exclude the women, along with Jonah and Cencio, who Franklin cleared, that leaves eight men,” Cyn said.
