Bowling Brook Apartments, Laurel, Maryland
A ring tone indicating a text message startled both Cade and Jana as their phones rang simultaneously. Cade pulled his out of his pocket and looked.
“It’s the office. Dammit, they must have something important. We’re supposed to come back there right now.”
“Jana grabbed a hair brush and ran it through her hair, then pulled it back into a ponytail.
“The bureau just doesn’t give a girl time to get herself ready, now does it?”
“As we said before, these terrorists have no sense of timing.”
Back at NSA headquarters, Cade and Jana walked into the situation room. Uncle Bill, Knuckles, and Kyle were gathered around a table, but no one sat.
Uncle Bill said, “Good, you got our message?”
Cade said, “Got your message? The blaring of the iPhones scared the hell out of both of us.”
“Good.”
Jana looked at the others. “So what’s the news?”
Knuckles said, “We have some information about Director Latent’s assassination. It’s a bit unsettling. Maybe you should have a seat, Miss Baker, I mean Jana.”
“No sense sugarcoating it,” Jana said. “Tell me.”
Uncle Bill said, “It’s about the autopsy, the autopsy of Stevie, Jana. We were just . . .we were just concerned talking about the details might upset you.”
Jana swallowed. “What about it?”
Knuckles looked at Uncle Bill, who nodded. “Well, during the autopsy on the BBC reporter that was killed along with Director Latent, they removed the crossbow bolt from his chest.”
Jana’s stomach tightened. The thought of the BBC reporter and Stephen Latent lying on a mortuary slab with their chests cut open gave her chills.
Jana’s legs became wobbly, and she slumped into a seat, then looked to see if anyone had noticed.
“What did they find that’s so strange?”
“Well, obviously we wanted to know every detail about the bolt and the broadhead—the manufacturer, the type, style, composite materials, all of that basic stuff. We’ll use that information to track down anyone who may have purchased such an item, the problem being of course that these are readily available. But we needed to see if any customizations have been made that might help us narrow our search.”
Kyle crossed his arms. “Look, it’s not as if we’re talking about blood and guts here. Just tell her what we found,” he said.
Knuckles exhaled. “They removed the arrow, then unscrewed the broadhead from the shaft. That’s when they found it.”
Jana’s scowl deepened. “Found what?”
“Evidence. They found things embedded inside the broadhead. It appears that the base had been drilled out. That left a cavity inside where they found a strange residue.”
Jana cringed.
“Poison?” Cade asked.
“No, that’s what I would’ve thought as well,” Knuckles said. “Instead it was packed with the pulp from a fruit. Fig, to be exact.” He let that sink in for a moment. “We have no idea what it means.”