Page 43 of Raven's Curse
“Greer, I?—”
“I already called.” She closed her eyes for a moment, reliving the roil of her stomach she’d experienced when she’d had to contact her old office. “Laid it all out. Requested assistance.”
“And?”
“Apparently, there’re another couple dozen sheriffs, police chiefs and joint task forces who all want help. The BAU is swamped. Their local office is understaffed and overtaxed. They did say I could use their lab if I needed it. Run any possible suspects through their more advanced databases.” She snorted, bouncing her fist on her thigh. “Like that’s what’s holding me back from solving this thing.”
She stood and paced across the room, resisting the urge to toss something at the wall. Expend a bit of her restless energy. “What I’m trying to say is, they turned me down.”
Bodie coughed. “That’s not what they said.”
“It resulted in the same outcome.”
“Except where they told you that you were already one of their best profilers, and if you couldn’t figure it out, none of their people could, either, and that other departments don’t have that advantage.”
“Not exactly earning that praise, am I?” She startled when her cell rang before glancing at the screen. Nick Colter — CIA operative and one of the few people outside this room who she truly trusted. “Finally.”
She put the call on speaker. “Nick. I hope this means you’ve got some good news for me.”
A laugh floated over the line. “You know, Greer, if you keep asking me for these kinds of favors, you’re gonna have to fly down to Langley and take me to dinner.”
She glanced at Chase, noting the hint of red on his cheeks. “You’re on speaker, jackass.”
“What’s wrong? Is there someone there you don’t want to get caught flirting in front of? Like that guy you’ve mentioned? The medic?”
“Glad you’re not making this awkward.”
“Don’t shoot the messenger, honey.” He sighed, the heavy sound crushing any lightness from the room. “I went over your notes and all the evidence you sent, then scoured our joint operations. Based on those parameters, I narrowed the possible target groups down to two. You should have a file popping up on your encrypted server any second now.”
“Can you give me the Cliff Notes version?”
Another sigh. Deeper. Rawer. And she knew he’d come to the same conclusion she had. “While I agree there’re some disturbing similarities between the techniques and keywords your perp’s utilizing, we both know the sheer skill of that last hit rules out most of the sleeper agents they’d be able to send your way. These people are savage and relentless, but they aren’t marksmen. Most of the cult leaders and followers are low-level militia-trained at best. They rely on using mass-effect weapons and subterfuge to get their point across. Cleanse the undeserving. Definitely not the kind who’d be able to scheme to this degree while hitting a target at over seven hundred meters with dynamic forces in play. That…”
She pushed out a rough breath. “It takes years of extreme training.”
“Sorry, Greer, I know that’s not what you wanted to hear.” Nick paused for a few moments, the silence more than deafening. “Look, I’m in the middle of something, but I should be finished in the next few days. If I haven’t heard back from you, I’ll check-in. If you’re still in the thick of this, I’ll be there.”
Greer shoved back the wisps of hair that had broken free from her ponytail. “You could get into some serious trouble for that.”
“Screw trouble. You’ve always had my back. And I swore I’d always have yours. Nothing’s changed.”
“You’re just itching to play the hero, again.”
“Again?” He chuckled. “I never stopped.”
She smiled. “I’ll go through the file, and I’ll call if I need more help.”
“You watch your six. And to everyone else who’s listening, don’t play around with this asshole. If he’s this far gone, there’s no way back.”
He ended the call, the silence resonating through the room. Greer stared at her cell for a moment, the truth of Nick’s comment hitting hard.
Foster cleared his throat, gaining her attention. “Seems like you’ve come to a conclusion.”
She shrugged. “Nothing you boys haven’t already considered. We all know that sniper shot was too difficult for the average person to make.”
“You’re thinking our guy’s ex-military.”
“Let’s see what Nick sent before we make that final leap. Bodie?”
