Cameron ran a hand through her hair, then looked over at their guests. They were still chatting with Andrea. “So we’re back on the case?”
“I don’t know who the hell has jurisdiction right now,” Murdock said. “Sheriff’s departments in two different counties are working it, U.S. marshals are working it. I’ve got orders to send a team back in. It’s not going to be pretty. Too many agencies have a stake in it now. We’re going to be tripping all over ourselves,” he said.
“So cooperation will be at a minimum? What about the Albuquerque office?”
“It’s personal for them now too, but they’ve been told to back off. He’s ex-military. You’ve got a history with him. You’ve been on the case since the beginning. I’m trying to pull some strings so you can take the lead on this, but hell, Cameron, you know how it is. The locals want their hand in it too.”
“In other words, Angel won’t be taken alive,” she said.
“Not if they get to him before we do.”
“Is that such a bad thing, Murdock? How many has he killed?”
“Too damn many. They’re running his photo all over the news, they tell me. You’ll have people seeing him in every corner, every store, every damn gas station,” he said.
“Okay. Well, let me break up our dinner party. And I was looking forward to steaks too,” she said.
“Sorry,” he said. “Get out to the scene as soon as you can. Not sure what you could find that hasn’t already been gone over. The rest of your team is coming in tonight.”
She frowned. “What team?”
“Reynolds.”
“Reynolds? What the hell are you bringing in Reynolds for?”
“Because he’s got a computer geek that you can use and he and his team are in between assignments.” He paused. “Besides, one of the agents that was killed—Humphrey—he and Reynolds have a history.”
“And you think that’s a good thing?”
“Sometimes when things are personal, there’s a little more urgency.”
Cameron frowned. “Are you suggesting that I wasn’t urgent enough on this?”
“I’m suggesting no such thing, Agent Ross. I’m disappointed we didn’t get our hands on him before the locals did, that’s all. And what’s wrong with Reynolds? I thought you and he worked great together out in the desert.”
“After I got him to loosen up a little, yeah. But I know how to use my goddamn computers, Murdock. I really don’t need Reynolds and his team on this.”
“I need you out in the field, Cameron. Let Rowan do his thing on the computers. Oh, and brief Agent Hunter. She stays on with you too.”
Cameron walked around the side of the motorhome, shaking her head. “No way. We don’t get along well enough for this. She’s…temperamental,” she said. “I don’t need her.”
“You might. Reynolds’ team is thin, just Eric and Rowan. With Rowan’s nose buried in your computers, you might need another body. Hunter stays on. I’ve already cleared it.” He laughed lightly. “Try to play nice with everybody, Cameron.”
“Yeah, yeah. And what about Kennedy?”
“Before you cut her loose, make sure you get everything you need from her regarding Angel. Reynolds and his team are on their way. They’ll meet you in Taos. You can decide if you want to move your operation to Santa Fe or not. Check your email. I’ll send all the specifics.”
He disconnected before she could protest any further, and she blew out her breath before pocketing her phone. Great. Just great. Stuck here again with Hunter.
She walked back around to where the others were. Andrea’s eyes flew to hers, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah,” she said. “Change of plans.” She looked at Sam. “Angel has escaped.”
Sam’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but it was Tori who spoke.
“That son of a bitch,” Tori murmured.
“Yeah. Murdock says you’re to stay and work this with us.”
Tori let out a long breath. “Great,” she said dryly.
“Yeah. That was pretty much my sentiment too.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sam stood back, feeling in the way as everyone jostled around her. Andrea was talking to two federal marshals and Tori and Cameron were walking outside the perimeter of the crime scene tape, looking for tracks, Tori had said. She turned away, heading back to Cameron’s truck. Cameron had emailed her a file that Murdock had put together on Angel. Cameron wanted her to see if there was anything she could add to it, based on the conversations she’d had with him.
She shook her head. She couldn’t believe that he had escaped, that he had killed eight men in doing so. Eight law enforcement personnel. They didn’t know the details yet, didn’t know how he managed that. But she knew without Cameron having to tell her that if Angel was spotted, he wouldn’t be taken into custody. No. Not this time. Unspoken orders, but orders nonetheless—shoot to kill. Angel would not walk out of this one alive.
Cameron had said that Angel was good. That he was very, very good. Had they let their guard down with him? Did they underestimate him? Something that he’d said to her that very morning stuck out. He said he’d been in worse jams than this one. Had he been planning his escape all along? But why would he get caught in the first place? Why drive into a checkpoint? It had to be intentional, which made no sense at all. Unless it was as he’d said, he wanted to make sure Sam had made it out okay. Was that it? Had he simply been worried about her enough to get caught, knowing he could escape at will?
No. No one could possibly be that confident.
She looked around, past the activity, into the forest that bordered the dirt road they were on. Was he out there somewhere? Had he taken to the woods again? Or was he on the road, running? He’d left all eight bodies inside the van and had taken the car. He’d removed his shackles and changed clothes, leaving the orange jumpsuit behind and taking the clothes from one of the FBI agents, right down to the shoes. Shoes and credentials and his service weapon.
She got in the front seat on the passenger’s side but left the door open. She and Tori were taking the truck. Cameron and Andrea’s motorhome was parked up on the highway. They would be heading back to Taos as soon as they were through here. She and Tori would stay in a hotel, the same one where Cameron’s new team was going to stay. Murdock had already arranged that, and Andrea had secured a campground only a few miles away. The shadows were long with the sun nearly gone from the sky. She sighed and got out her phone, pulling up Cameron’s email. She wasn’t sure how much help she could be, but she would read through the report.
It was in a timeline format which was easy to follow, but it wasn’t very detailed. They knew he had lived in the Taos area as a kid, she saw. The report made note of his mother’s death in California but no mention that his father had been drinking at the time of the accident. It covered his military years and when he got out, nearly six years ago now. She noticed there was a break in time, right after he got out. Two years were missing before it picked back up, with Angel back in the Middle East. But even then, there were gaps in the timeline. According to this, he got back in the States just six months ago. Nothing after that.
“Well?”
She looked up, startled to find Cameron standing beside the truck watching her. She shook her head. “There’s not much here.”
“No. They didn’t have a whole lot of time to put this together. Bare bones,” she said. “But he’s kept a low profile. When we were on assignment, we had to learn to disappear from time to time. Go under the radar. He’s good at it.”
“He told me his father was a drinker, that he was drunk when he had the accident that killed his mother.” Sam shrugged. “I know, it doesn’t help any with all of this.”