Secret Service Setup. Jessica R. Patch
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in preparation.”
Evan frowned. “Why can’t my colleagues hear this?”
Shepherd’s jaw ticked. “Because I don’t believe the senator was the target. The first shot fired caused the crowd to panic and struck low as if he missed the senator. But no one this organized and well hidden—and able to exit the scene without being detected or arrested—is going to be a bad shot.”
What did this mean? “You think the first shot was to purposely cause a panic and create chaos?”
Shepherd nodded. “And to throw off law enforcement, which it has.”
“But not you?” Evan asked.
“No.”
Wilder stepped up. “Shepherd happens to be one of the top three snipers in the world. And he has an uncanny ability to observe things most people don’t.”
“I’m not questioning anyone’s ability.” Evan didn’t doubt Wilder’s team. “I just want to understand all the facts.”
“The facts are,” Shepherd continued, “the second shot grazed your shoulder when you dived. A moving target isn’t easy...for some.”
Wait...moving target? “The third shot came when we were bolting from the stage.” His neck turned hot.
“Right. But you were shielded by other agents, so it wasn’t easy and the shooter had to know he was pushing his limits and needed to jet.”
Evan massaged the back of his neck. “Are you saying that I was the target?”
Shepherd glanced at Wilder and back to Evan. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. But the shooter wanted it to appear that the target was Senator Townes. The question is why?”
Why, indeed? Evan paced near the fireplace, though his whole body was already inflamed. “Well, it’s not like I don’t have a fair share of enemies.”
A younger man entered the room. Tall. Lanky but not out of shape. Unruly copper hair and black-framed retro glasses. “I got what you asked for.” He handed a stack of papers to Wilder and looked at Evan and grinned. “Nice work.”
What was he talking about? Today? Today was not nice work.
Wilder whistled. “You’ve been a busy man, Agent Novak.” He glanced at the guy in glasses. “Nice job, Wheezer. Wheezer is our computer analyst. Meet Agent Evan Novak...a cyber genius in his own right.”
“Yeah, he is.” Wheezer shook Evan’s hand. “I’ve been reading through some of your cases. You’re infamous underground.”
Yes, Evan was well aware, and this guy going on and on both embarrassed him and sent a surge of pride through him. Evan had always been good with technology and it had come in handy when taking down identity theft and fraud rings online. Over a dozen cracked cases to date. If he was successful with the newest cyber mission he’d been tasked to lead, he was a shoo-in for the promotion to Assistant Director of the Office of Protective Operations. He’d worked tirelessly to climb the ranks. To validate he was an honorable and worthy man. Everything Dad never was.
Guilt stabbed his chest.
Jody had been on her way up, too.
Until he’d shot her down.
She stood silent in the corner of the room, face unreadable.
“I guess we need to decide who might want you dead most,” Wilder said.
“A random criminal with a vendetta would want credit for taking you out,” Jody said. “He wouldn’t hide it. And while the rally was advertised on the senator’s website, nothing advertised that you’d be on the protection detail. So if the hit was directed at you, then someone knew exactly where you’d be today.”
“You think it was someone on the inside? In my office? Why?” Anyone in the Macon field office would know he was at the rally, plus the few agents that were on the online task force he’d been leading. But Evan couldn’t imagine any one of them wanting him dead.
“I don’t know, but we need to figure it out,” Jody said.
The only person he could fathom on the right side of the law who might want to take a shot at him was Jody herself and she had left her post. Why? “Hey, where did you go? When you left the stage?”
Jody’s eyes narrowed. “Why?” The accusatory glare drilled into him. “You think I shot you? If I were going to shoot you, I’d do it at close range so you’d know exactly who it was coming from.”
Evan swallowed hard. Okay, maybe she hadn’t forgiven him if she’d imagined how she’d kill him. “I know you aren’t the shooter. I just want to know why you left your post.”
“You abandoned Mr. Wiseman?” Wilder asked.
“I didn’t abandon anyone.” Jody’s tone was low and cool. “I was following your orders. I thought you wanted to keep the situation with protesters outside contained to CCM. But you weren’t out there. I came back inside when the first shot rang out and hauled it back onstage.”
Wilder frowned. “Jode, I never gave you any orders.”
Jody snatched her phone from her blazer pocket. “Yeah. Ya did.” She tapped her screen and shook her head. Her jaw dropped. “Wilder, you did. I promise...but...it’s not here. All your other texts are, but not the one that told me to get outside to the east entrance.”
“Because I didn’t text you.” He scrolled through his phone and held it up. “Nothing.”
“Can I?” Evan reached for her phone and swiped through her apps. Nothing suspicious or visible to the naked eye. Jody wasn’t a liar. If she said Wilder texted her, then what she saw was a text from Wilder. Or who she thought was Wilder.
He glanced at Wheezer, and the other man nodded and looked at Jody. “Sounds like someone hacked your phone.”
Jody’s face paled. “Why? Why not text Evan to abandon his post and take a shot at him outside? What’s the point of getting me off the stage? Wiseman wasn’t the target.”
Evan wasn’t sure. There wasn’t a good reason other than it was causing turmoil and confusion right now. The insistence in her tone as she’d declared her innocence to Wilder about abandoning her station must have brought up what happened three years ago. Of course, it was never off Evan’s mind. He’d wanted to go to bat for Jody. He’d told her he’d have her back, come clean that it was his fault. In the end, he’d been a coward. His weak justifications—no, excuses—had kept him from revealing the truth. If he’d lost his position with the Secret Service, he’d have nothing left. He’d have ended up like Dad.
Why would someone want to hurt or take an emotional stab at Jody? Why would someone want to kill Evan—someone with intimate knowledge of his whereabouts and maybe even his past with Jody? But no one knew that! She’d taken her dismissal and walked away without looking back. Without throwing Evan under the bus. He’d never known why. But he wanted to. Why protect him when he hadn’t protected her?
He would protect her now. She’d been tossed into this whole fiasco. He’d make sure she got out. As far as knowing why they hadn’t texted him? “I don’t know,” he said.
Wilder huffed. “What are you working on now? Could it be linked to the attack today?”
Evan’s eye twitched. “Actually, I’m leading a relatively new cyber task force, but I trust every agent on the team.” There was no way one of them would betray him and there was no reason any of them should.
Standing, Wilder folded his arms across his chest. “You need to tell us about this new task force, and every agent working on it. We’ll need a list of people who knew you’d be at the convention center today. Colleagues, friends. Family. Because someone knew, Novak. And they tried to kill you.”