Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(18)
“But he did,” she cried, melting against him.
Gabe shot a desperate look over the top of her head at his agent in charge. Zack answered with one short shake of his head.
Yeah. No way it could’ve been Alex.
Chapter Six
It had been a whole day since Kelsey was found. Once again, Mark assigned Gabe and Zack to protect Kelsey—not like he had much of a choice. Her recovery sparked The TEAM’s energy. They argued to relieve each other in overlapping shifts, but no way would Gabe or Zack consider it. They stood firm, their hearts on their sleeves and their minds made up. They’d found her, and possession was nine-tenths of their unwritten sniper code.
She’s ours. Leave your flowers. Visit for a while, but back off.
The unexpected dilemma of finding Kelsey turned out to be Mother. She’d shown up at the hospital ready to move into Kelsey’s hospital room with her, only to be politely rebuffed by Gabe. When Mark agreed with him, things went from bad to worse. She’d left in a huff, a very un-Mother-like reaction at a time when Kelsey needed her most. He chalked her bizarre behavior up to stress. He had more to worry about than the resident drama queen.
Kelsey had slept most of the time since Gabe and Zack found her. She was groggy and exhausted by the time Zack pulled into the emergency room parking lot. Mark had been so emotional just seeing her alive that he hadn’t asked enough questions before Kelsey was hustled off to her own room.
The doctors called it fatigue and said it was nothing to be concerned about. It sounded logical, but now Mark wondered. Relieved that she was safe, but damned baffled as to what really transpired that day on the river bank
Some guy named Olsen owned the place she’d been located in. He’d been out of the country with his wife at the time. He didn’t know her. Kelsey didn’t know him. No friend of Alex Stewart knew him, either. Curious.
The anonymous male tipster who’d contacted Harley had to be the one who’d saved her from drowning. Cared for her. Hid her for three long days. Then refused to reveal his identity? Why?
Unease prickled up the back of Mark’s neck at what might’ve happened during all those missing hours. Even the authorities were perplexed. Damn it to hell. What kind of a sicko stashes an injured woman, then doctors her himself instead of taking her straight to an emergency room?
The facts remained. By the time Gabe and Zack found her, she was already on a strong antibiotic, which her doctors immediately replaced with one of their choosing.
The IV Zack had found in Olsen’s home was simple saline. Someone had professionally set and splinted her broken fingers and hands, none of them compound fractures. Her hands were a bruised mess, but healing. Even her broken nose had been correctly straightened, the lateral gash across it stitched with the tiniest stitches to minimize scarring.
The whole thing smacked of Alex, but never in a million years would he have walked away and left Kelsey behind in that kind of condition. Hell, no. He’d have her in the best hospital with the best doctors. Nothing meant more to Alex than his wife. Nothing and no one.
The rumor still spread like wildfire. Harley’s nervous energy hit an all-time high. Exhumation took on another dimension Mark hadn’t expected—the need to prove once and for all who had been laid in Alex’s grave, if only to get everyone past the hysterics of all the what ifs.
Alex wasn’t Elvis, for hell’s sake. Not Lazarus, either. The miracle of resurrection didn’t exist in this day and age. Yes, someone had saved her from the river. Kelsey had seen what she’d wanted to see. That was all.
And Harley? Well, he was another case all together. He’d grown more intent on finding Alex since Kelsey had been located. Mark knew exactly what he needed. Or who.
Ember had located the list of ten in a folder Alex kept in his file cabinet of all places. The man never utilized technology. For a savvy entrepreneur, he’d still relied on pencil and paper when it came to detective work, that or his razor sharp memory. Taylor and Izza were working hard on the list, but coming up with a lot of dead ends.
The FBI meeting Mark had postponed when Kelsey went missing had finally taken place. Unfortunately, it raised more questions than answers. Mark listened politely with Harley and David while Agent Kenny outlined his forensic evidence. He corroborated the Medical Examiner’s finding that three ten-millimeter rounds had killed Alex.
The ME had the three slugs in an evidence locker should the assailant’s weapon ever be located. Kenny had pictures depicting the proper-sized holes in a man’s chest, plus others that showed corresponding blood spatter inside Alex’s car that fit the scenario.
He presented very scientific diagrams that proved the kill shots came from the rooftop across from The TEAM’s parking garage exit. The only thing Kenny couldn’t prove was who pulled the trigger. The shooter left no casings behind and no fingerprints. The FBI had no leads. While Harley insisted it had to be the gang of ten, Agent Kenny wasn’t impressed by unsubstantiated accusations.
“That was odd,” David stated quietly when Kenny left.
Harley leaned forward, his hands clutched in front of him on the table, his toe tapping a mile a minute beneath it. “Looked like he was trying to convince us how it all went down, huh? Didn’t it look that way to you?”
Mark remained thoughtfully quiet. The FBI had agreed with the ME. That in itself was unusual, but Agent Kenny used the identical phrasing from the ME’s report. Harley might be right.