Page 42 of Defenseless
Sabina stilled and held Colton’s gaze. When she spoke, though, it wasn’t to answer. “I know the solution to that puzzle is somewhere in the past. And I promise you, I will give it thought. But before I get to that, I want to talk about two recent events. I wasn’t intending to hide them last night. With everything else going on, they honestly slipped my mind.” She paused and waited for Colton to gesture for her to continue. “There was a reason for my sudden change of plans to move here. On that topic, Chad was right.” She reached into her canvas bag, the same one he’d rescued from her Jeep last night, and pulled out a ziplock bag. She glanced at it then slid it over to Chad.
He picked up what looked like one of those free postcards that shops give away. This one was from a distillery in Kentucky, and it listed the name, website, and phone number. Turning it over, his body jolted.
Found you
That’s all it said.
Chad looked to Sabina as he handed the bag to Colton. “When did that arrive? And how?”
“The day before we left for Mystery Lake. Someone slid it under the door of my apartment while I was out on my morning run,” she answered. “I’ve been carrying it around ever since.”
His nerves prickled and crawled. No wonder she’d changed her plans and hightailed it off the East Coast. “Any idea how he found you?” he asked. There was no question the card was from Kevin Jacobs. The front image, with its ties to Kentucky, ensured Sabina would have no doubt.
She inclined her head. “You remember that fundraiser a couple of months ago? The one when HICC provided extra security for Stella, Hunter, Beni, Cal, and all the kids?”
Chad nodded. Stella’s brother, Calvin, and his wife, Benita Ricci, had twins who were a few months younger than Mateo. Beni had been an FBI agent prior to marrying the vice president and was the reason HICC had recruited him.
“What fundraiser?” Teague asked. Chad glanced at the man, somewhat surprised. Not at the question per se, but that he’d asked anything. He and his brother, Tucker, tended to be on the quiet side. Then again, when you were built like Teague and Tucker, Chad imagined their mere presence said quite enough.
“It was the opening of a new children’s garden and play park,” Sabina answered. “The couples wanted to bring the kids. It was a good day, but the event was out in the open, and Cal wanted more security.” She glanced at Chad, no doubt remembering the kidnapping attempts on him and his cousin. “He hired us to supplement his team.”
“But you’re not a field operative. If the senator was there, how would he have even seen you?” Chad asked. He hadn’t been there that day, as he’d been on a job down in Savannah.
“I was in the van, but after everyone left, I got out to gather my equipment,” Sabina answered. “It’s the only thing I can think of.” The surveillance van was her portable command center back in DC. She hadn’t taken it out often, but when she had, the things she could see and hear were astonishing.
“Providing additional visuals?” Ethan asked.
Sabina nodded. “We had some extra cameras and things like that in place. A few silent drones as well. Once everyone was gone, I left the van to collect it all. I also chatted with a couple of the operatives. If Jacobs was there, and I assume he was since it was such a big political event, he could have seen me then. It’s probably also how he connected me to HICC and found me here,” she added.
Chad agreed. In fact, he was kind of amazed she hadn’t run into Jacobs before that event. Sabina had lived in DC for over a decade, and Jacobs was a second-term senator. She might not be in the field often, but over the six years she’d been at HICC, he had to believe it was more than once or twice.
“We need an evidence person,” Chad said to Colton.
Colton studied the postcard that had made its way to him. “I agree. In the meantime, I can send this to the DC office. We can have the pilot drop you off in Memphis, hop up to DC, then come back and get you.”
It would be a lot of flying, but doable. And the DC office had a full lab staffed by four scientists. “Sounds good, thanks,” Chad said. “Now what was the second thing?” he asked Sabina.
“This,” she said, handing him a piece of folded-up paper.
He took it, unfolded it, and scanned the grainy image of a brown-haired man. Raising his gaze, he looked to Sabina in question.
“I went to see my sister yesterday. It was the first time I’ve seen her in three years, but she wanted to meet because of that man,” she said.
Chad looked at the picture again. The pixelation on the enlarged photo made it hard to see anything but the vaguest of features.
“Who is he?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Sabina answered. “But he was at a conference with Kara and was asking around about her. The company who hosted the meeting uploaded several images to their website and she found him in the background of one.”
“I can take that,” Ava said, leaning across the table to take the picture. Chad handed it over. There was no point in showing it to Colton, Ethan, or the others since it wouldn’t tell them anything.
“The name of the conference is on the back,” Sabina said to her team. “Kara thought I might be able to get a better picture. And an ID.”
“We can,” Leo and Collin said at the same time. Ava had handed them the paper, and they were both looking at it.
“We can also look through the hotel CCTV,” Collin said. Or at least that’s what Chad thought he said. He was sitting across the table and down a few people, so it was a stretch to hear him.
Ava nodded. “Leave this and the fingerprints with us, we’ll take care of it. We’ll also start taking apart Jacobs’s life. And of course, let us know if there’s more that we can do.”
