Tactical Deception: Silent Warrior, Book 2 (17 page)

Rico looked at the picture, grunted, and turned to examine the area.

Angie looked around too, but back at the trees behind them. Something felt really off. Ever since they entered Piedmont Park, she’d been unable to shake a growing sense of menace. She told herself it was nothing more than the lingering horror of yesterday’s murders hovering like a ghost over the place but…

She moved closer to Rico. “I think we’re being followed,” she whispered.

Rico, still scanning the area, shrugged. “Not surprising. The FBI has been on our ass since we left your house this morning.”

“So you said. I haven’t seen them yet, but this is different.” She glanced over her shoulder again and shivered as if a spider crept over her soul. The park was like a ghost town. Was she just feeling yesterday’s horror or was something else out there? Rico didn’t respond to her statement. He was too caught up in his own nightmare.

“What’s the next picture?” And too impatient.

She pulled up several more photos, showing Rico the area and direction each shot was taken as they moved farther into the park. They soon reached crime-scene tape cordoning off the area where the sniper had shot four people. Franz had lived. The other three had died. In the distance she could see the
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stage and banquet tables sitting as they had been left. From the rank smell wafting their way, the Lowcountry boil had been left to rot as well.

“Damn. This isn’t working.” Rico ran an unsteady hand through his hair and made a three-sixty turn. Being the only witness, he wanted to give the FBI and NCS information they could sink their teeth into and so far yesterday’s pictures hadn’t helped his memory.

“You two need to move on.”

Relieved to hear another human, Angie turned to see a policeman crossing the open grassy area where an abandoned picnic basket, a trampled blanket, and the taped outline of a body lay.

Maybe not so good. The policeman was not happy to see them. He frowned as he approached. “I’m sure there are better things to do than gawk at other people’s tragedy. Please leave.”

Angie winced as Rico’s jaw clenched. The cop was only doing his job, but Rico was on a sharp edge.

After their 4 a.m. wildly interesting
breakfast
, Rico hadn’t been able to sit still. He’d paced her bedroom floor, mentally going through everything he’d seen at the park. Then asked her question after question about what she remembered. Seeing sleep was out of the question, she’d called her mother at five in order to pick up her camera and surprisingly found her mother awake, having seen Lauren, Jack and the boys off to the airport. Her mother had taken her camera and camera bag with her while Angie had ridden in the ambulance with Franz.

Liz, with Franz’s wolfhound, Caesar, in tow, greeted Angie and Rico at the door. Caesar baptized Rico in a matter of seconds by jumping up, putting his paws on Rico’s chest and licking him on the cheek. Rico had taken the doggie assault with a laugh, rubbed the brute’s ears and declared Caesar a horse. It was immediately evident that Matt and Mitch had taken over Liz’s house and built their “base camp” for their “secret military missions”. The downstairs had been turned into a maze of tents and tunnels with sheets and blankets everywhere that her mother had yet to dismantle.

Angie helped her mother clean up while Rico poured through the pictures from Piedmont Park until he started pacing in frustration. It was then Angie suggested they walk through their steps at the park with the pictures to guide them and Liz took a copy of the pictures to Agent Gibson at the downtown precinct.

The cop reached them. “Didn’t you hear me say move on?”

“Yes.” Rico crossed his arms and widened his stance. “Which means we have a problem.”

So not good
, Angie thought, wondering how grown men could turn into brick walls in a heartbeat. She stuffed her laptop in her backpack, ready for anything.

“Mister, you just mosey on back the way you came and the problem will be solved.”

“I can’t do that. I witnessed the sniper shooting here yesterday and I need to go back over the area to see if I can remember anything important.”

The cop looked as if Rico had just handed him a can of bullshit. “I hear every story in the book. You can’t cross the line unless you have a cop with you.”

“You’ll be with me,” Rico said.

“Nope. Has to be one of the investigating officers.”

“Let me get this straight. There are snipers terrorizing the country. We have no idea when or where they will strike next. I may be the only witness and I can’t walk the ridge behind you for two minutes?”

Angie could feel the tension mounting like an overinflated balloon. “Let’s just call Special Agent Gibson now,” she said.

“And what?” Rico asked. “Ask him to hold my hand so I might or might not recall something important?”

“Maybe he can tell the officer it’s all right for you to cross.”

“Let me see your phone, Angel.” She handed Rico the phone.

Rico dialed then handed the phone to the police officer. “You talk. I’ll walk.”

The officer looked at the phone, confused, then appeared as if he was going to have a cow as Rico slid under the crime-scene tape and headed for the
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stage.

The cop went after Rico. “Stop. You can’t cross—who’s on the phone?”

“Special Agent Aaron Gibson. FBI.” Rico said and kept walking.

Thankfully the cop didn’t pull his gun, but followed after Rico as he talked to the FBI agent. She would have hated to do something drastic, like backpack the guy from behind. Not a good choice, but standing by while the officer shot Rico wouldn’t have been an option. She wondered if that was how Bonnie got sucked down with Clyde.

“Here. He wants to talk to you.” The cop shoved her phone at her and went after Rico. “I have to accompany you wherever you go.”

Rico didn’t even turn around to answer, but Angie heard his response. “As I said, Officer Morrow, that won’t be a problem. Just keep up and don’t talk.”

Angie paused to speak low-voiced to Special Agent Gibson. “Hello.”

“Ms. Freemont. Sorry we haven’t met, but can you explain to me what is going on?”

“Rico is trying to recall anything that might help catch the sniper. He hopes that retracing his steps will help.”

“And the pictures? Why weren’t those brought to our attention yesterday?”

“Because a man who’s like a father to me was shot and I was at the hospital with him until I came to get Rico from the police station last night. I didn’t remember the pictures until early this morning.”

“Did Rico see anything interesting in the pictures and that’s why you two are at the crime scene?”

“No. We are here because he didn’t.”

“Good. I will see you shortly.” He disconnected and Angie stared down at the phone a moment.
See me shortly
? The FBI must be on their way here. She glanced at Rico and decided she better let him know. But when she reached him, he was murmuring his thoughts out loud as he retraced his steps.

“I was about here when the little girl ran from the trees just ahead on the right. She was screaming for her daddy. Her father lay dead over there. Her name was Tanya. I can hear her mother screaming for her.”

Rico stared at the abandoned picnic basket and blanket. Angie’s stomach churned. She was a nurse and had seen a few things, but the scene hit her hard. The flies, the strong stench, the body tape, the blood-blackened grass all brought a visceral level of horror to the scene.

“I left the tree line and ran after her. The son-of-a-bitching sniper fucking shot at the little girl. He missed. I caught her and we rolled until I gained my feet. I brought her to her mother, who was over here holding an infant. I pushed them behind the trees, heard more shots, screams, and moved faster.”

Angie wasn’t sure how she kept silent. How she kept from going to Rico and wrapping her arms around him. He could have died. The little girl likely would have died then if he hadn’t acted. Tears stung her eyes as she followed him. She ached to touch him and to reaffirm again that they were both alive.

She could tell by the cop’s solemn expression that his attitude had changed. They moved to the area the sniper had shot from, then headed for the exit as Rico described chasing after and fighting with the man in fatigues. “He got away and I ran after him. I took a picture of him, his license plate and called 911 as I headed—”

Rico sucked in air. “Son of a bitch. It wasn’t before I saw the man in fatigues. It was after, when everyone else was leaving the park. Angie, let me see those pictures again.”

Angie pulled her laptop from her backpack. “What are you looking for?”

“Two women in burkas pushing a stroller. I tripped over the stroller wheel coming back into the park and nearly fell on the covered baby. I apologized to the women, but they never even glanced my way. They just rushed past me with their heads down. Maybe I’m being prejudiced, but if a man almost squashes your baby, aren’t you going to at least look at him? The stroller was completely covered too. On a hot day would a mother do that? I think you have a picture of two women dressed like that walking along the path pushing a stroller. It was before you started taking pictures of the
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gathering. Angie flipped through the photos until she found the one Rico wanted. He and the cop leaned in to see it.

“Can you zoom in on them?”

Angie made the adjustment. The photo became extremely grainy but there wasn’t much to see apart from black garments and a tiny opening for eyes, too blurry to make out any details.

“There,” Rico said, pointing to the women’s feet. “They are both wearing men’s sneakers. Doesn’t that strike you as suspicious?”

Rico turned around and headed for the exit to the park. Angie snapped the computer closed. “Where are you going?”

The cop followed Rico.

“There was a homeless man outside the gate yesterday. I want to see if he’s still there.”

“I can answer that,” the cop said. “Everybody calls him Sarge and the entrance out front is his daytime office. My partner took him to the Underground Rescue Mission over on Luckie Street last night. He’s probably still there.”

“Angel, can we get to the car by taking this street?”

“Yes. But I have to tell you something. When I spoke to Special Agent Gibson, he said he’d see me shortly. My guess is he’s headed here.”

“Which means we need to move faster than ever.”

“You’re not going to wait and tell them what we found?”

“I wait and they’ll have my ass back in their office with nothing to tell them. Officer Morrow, let Gibson know what we found and who we’re going to see. They already have a copy of the pictures, right?”

“Yes. SA Gibson mentioned he had them.”

“Then let’s see if this Sarge person saw anything important and if he’s of sound mind enough to tell us. If he can give us a lead to the burka wearers and they aren’t just neighborhood women out for a stroll, then we’ll have something to tell.”

The cop spoke up then. “Sarge always knows what’s going down on the streets. You tell him Officer Morrow said you’re legit. Otherwise he won’t say squat.”

“Thanks,” Rico said and returned to shake the officer’s hand.

“I hope you’re onto something,” the cop said.

Angie caught up with Rico’s ground-eating stride. She hoped they were onto something too. Now that Rico had a mission, some action he could take, he was a changed man.

Chapter Twenty

Gainesville, Georgia

From his rooftop perch, Salaam Meshood pressed a cloth to his brow. This morning was a crucial step in his plan and he was feeling the heat. Weeks of surveillance had outlined a small window of time to assassinate their target and stay undetected.

The offices in the building on whose roof he stood would open at nine. The security guard would arrive at eight thirty. The man he needed to kill at the bank across the street religiously arrived at 8 a.m. and parked in the same reserved space. Their inside source hadn’t reported there’d be a change in routine.

Salaam could not afford another mistake like yesterday. Both he and Abdullah had almost been caught by a man and one of the victims had lived. It was an affront to his flawless reputation and a mistake he was correcting. His trusted servants were watching and waiting, especially searching for the man who’d run into him in the park. He was the greatest threat.

Salaam hadn’t expected people to react so quickly. He’d shot the guy on the stage and then aimed for the woman with sinful red hair, but she was already on the ground and being protected. He’d made three kills then they’d left. Before they cleared the park, the man had come running their way. Salaam had urged Abdullah back into the trees and tightened his grip on the knife in his pocket, ready to slit the man’s throat. But the man saw someone else and ran past their hiding spot. When he and Abdullah ran into the man again at the park’s exit, the man had been on the phone reporting that he’d taken a picture of the sniper.

Allah had protected him and Abdullah. Still, it had not been good and Salaam did not want any witness left alive—nor victim either. Allah had to be displeased. Already his plan for this morning was not going well. He only had a short window of opportunity…