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Are you out of your mind?”

McCarran Airport’s deputy director stood behind his desk, his face bright red, staring at Windermere like she’d asked if she could borrow a kidney.

Windermere cleared her throat. “Mr. Rawson, we’re dealing with a serial killer here. This is a nationwide manhunt. If this guy’s in your airport, we need to find him.”

Rawson exhaled slowly. Gripped the edge of his desk and released it. “I understand your concern, Agent Windermere,” he said. “Certainly, I respect your need to apprehend this fugitive. But you cannot—cannot—ask me to shut down my airport. The logistics involved. The lost revenue. For one man?” He shook his head. “Impossible.”

Windermere stared at him. “If this guy gets away, my case evaporates, Rawson.”

“I appreciate that, Agent Windermere.” Rawson held her gaze. “All the same, the only way you’re closing this airport is through the FAA.”

WINDERMERE CALLED her guy at the FAA. Begged him not to hang up. “It’s time-sensitive,” she told him. “I lose this guy and I’m screwed.”

“You have any evidence at all your guy’s in the building?”

“Precedent. This matches his MO.”

“What about the rental car situation? He drop off a car?”

Windermere shook her head. “Not yet,” she said. “Nobody’s seen him at Liberty or anywhere else.”

“So you don’t know he’s there.”

She sighed. “No, I don’t.”

“You have no evidence whatsoever that he came to McCarran. And you want to shut down one of the busiest airports in the country so you can play a hunch.”

“It’s more than a hunch,” she said. “I know how this guy works. I can catch him. Just help me, damn it.”

There was a long pause. Then a sigh. “Sorry, Carla,” the man said. “I don’t have that kind of power. And I don’t think I have the evidence to sway anybody who does.”

Windermere ended the call. Glanced back at Stevens and Mathers, who lingered in the doorway, Mathers now wearing a fresh bandage on his cheek. “Well, that’s that,” Windermere said. “On our own, boys.”