Cold & Deadly (Cold Justice: Crossfire #1)(72)

He put his hands in his pockets to hide the fact they were suddenly shaking. The others moved away, and he and Ava stood staring at one another, surrounded by chaos and frantic activity.

“That’s where you met Van?” He had the epiphany out loud.

She nodded.

No wonder they’d been close and the guy had sung her praises. He’d known her since she was a little kid with a target on her back.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything.” She spoke low so only he could hear.

And that was where part of his anger came from, he realized. The fact she hadn’t confided in him. She hadn’t told him her deep dark secrets. Which was hypocritical because Dominic did not trust easily and guarded his secrets like a miser’s gold. WitSec wasn’t your average confidence. Lives depended on not revealing information that didn’t need to be revealed.

He and Ava had known one another five minutes. Five minutes that felt longer than a lifetime.

Eban and Charlotte were clearing up, gathering the notes they needed to make their reports.

“Remove Ava’s name from any of the documents and case notes,” Dominic told them.

Eban nodded. Charlotte kept her lips pressed firmly together in disapproval.

Ava’s eyes told him she was grateful.

“Want to do the walk-through with us?” asked Eban.

Usually Dominic would do exactly that. See if they’d missed anything or could have done anything differently or better.

“You guys go on without us.” He was still trying to put the pieces of his brain back together.

Before Charlotte and Eban could leave though, the warden arrived in the doorway, wearing an over-sized, black HRT t-shirt and the same pants she’d been wearing for days.

She cleared her throat. “I wanted to say ‘thank you’ to the people involved in resolving this siege, the tactical unit but especially to the negotiators.” Her eyes were red, and her hands trembled. The woman knew they’d all seen her naked and at her most vulnerable but here she was, facing them head-on, meeting their gazes with an indomitable spirit. “You kept me from falling over the edge of hysteria in there and allowed me to retain a shred of dignity.”

She shook hands with them all. Joe and Eban both had their jaws clamped so forcefully shut Dominic knew they were holding back tears.

It was impossible not to be moved. He glanced at Ava and although she held herself stiffly, her eyes were glassy. For all her attitude, Ava Kanas had a big heart and had taken a giant risk with her and her family’s safety to help rescue this woman, a stranger to her.

And yet she held back with the group hug while Charlotte dove right in.

He narrowed his gaze because he knew from the way she held herself she wanted to join that embrace but didn’t feel welcome.

Suddenly he wanted to scoop Ava up in a big hug but was afraid if he did so everyone in the room would be able to read his thoughts and feelings regarding this woman, and he wasn’t even sure what they were himself.

He knew he liked her. Really liked her. To the point where he’d compromised himself in a way unimaginable a few hours ago. It appeared he’d taken over from Van in trying to protect her within the Bureau—mainly from herself.

For the first time in days his cell phone started buzzing in his pocket. Comms were back on inside the prison. He’d be lying if he said he’d missed being plugged in.

Mallory Rooney was on the line. “Ballistics from a rifle found in the back of Caroline Perry’s car match the bullet casing found on the roof after the Calvin Mortimer shooting.”

“So, you found her car?”

“Down by the river.” Rooney paused. “Ava didn’t tell you?”

He ran his hand through his short hair. “I asked her not to tell me anything until this siege was over, which it now is. She can fill me in on everything I missed. Tell me the new stuff.”

“The task force is trying to place Caroline Perry at the scenes of any of the deaths of the FBI agents in question. We are also looking at Karl Feldman. Seeing if they were possibly working together. We have someone trying to trace where she purchased the gun but nothing so far.”

Dominic rubbed the bridge of his nose. The scab had healed, and his bruises were starting to fade. His shoulder still ached though. And his ribs. But the injuries were fading, and he was keen to put this nightmare behind him.

“Task force is trying to establish a connection between her and any of the NYFO cases your squad worked. Maybe she assumed another identity and isn’t really Caroline Perry.”

“Have the BAU worked up a profile of the likely offender yet?” asked Dominic, trying to ignore the whirlwind of activity that swirled around him. Ava crossed her arms and stared at him, patiently waiting for news.

“Given the wide-ranging, potential crimes with differing MOs it hasn’t been easy,” Rooney admitted. “They found plastic explosives on Fernando Chavez’s speedboat on the weekend. The guy was insanely lucky that there was a fault with a detonator or else he and his whole family would probably be dead by now. The fact the UNSUB can move across the country so easily suggests they have means and are above average intelligence but we haven’t narrowed it much further than that, yet.”

Dominic’s world slowed. “Wait. Fernando Chavez? Fernando only crossed over with some of the older agents by a couple of months…”