by Cindi Myers
Then the FBI had come calling and he’d found his niche, the one place where his particular skill could make a difference.
Two men entered the bar, dressed casually in jeans and T-shirts, engrossed in conversation. He’d seen the older one earlier on the street, buying coffee from a food cart. The other one was the wrong race for any of his suspects, though he filed the man’s face away for future reference, as was his habit.
“You’re doing it now, aren’t you?” Morgan asked. “Memorizing people.”
“It’s my job,” he repeated.
“Is that why you’re here—to memorize people at the bike race?”
“Let’s just say I’m here for work, and leave it at that.”
But he knew before he said the words that she wasn’t the type to leave it. “You’re looking for someone, aren’t you? Someone else you saw on those surveillance videos.” She went very still; he wondered if she was holding her breath, waiting for his answer.
“I really can’t talk about my assignment with a civilian. It’s confidential.” Maybe he’d already said too much.
“But I’m free to make an educated guess. And since you are a federal agent, I’d guess that you’re here because of the terrorist who’s been targeting bike races.”
“Let’s just say that after the bombings in Paris and London, there’s a big law enforcement presence at this race.” But only one small group was there with his assignment—to look for people who had been present when the other bombings occurred and bring them in for questioning. Only a handful of people had shown up at both the races where bombs had detonated, all of them men. Which didn’t mean others weren’t involved. That Morgan wasn’t involved.
“There was serious discussion about canceling this race,” she said. “The organization was just getting back on its feet after the doping scandals of several years ago, and now some nut job is setting off bombs at some of the biggest races.” She leaned toward him again, her voice low. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You’re looking for the bomber. Do you know who he is?”
Was she asking the question as a journalist or out of idle curiosity—or because she had a more personal interest in the answer? “I can’t say.”
“Of course, you know who he is. You said before you were here searching for someone who wasn’t me. You’re looking for the bomber.” She stared into his eyes, as if she could see into his head and decipher the image of the bomber there. “Why can’t you tell me who it is? I attend a lot of these races. Maybe I can help you find him.”
“Or maybe he’s a friend of yours and you’ll run right to him and tell him the FBI is looking for him.”
She gasped. “You don’t really think that, do you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about you but what you’ve told me.”
She tried to look wounded, but mostly she looked afraid. Because he’d hit too close to the truth? “Why does it matter so much to you?” he asked.
She stood, bumping the table and sending water from her glass sloshing onto the surface. “I have to go,” she said.
“What did I say to upset you?” He stood, but she had already brushed past him, hurrying out of the bar and into the lobby.
He started after her but stopped in the door of the bar. What would he do when he caught up to her? Clearly, she was done talking to him. And he had no reason to keep her, only a gnawing uneasiness that something wasn’t right.
Moving cautiously, keeping objects and other people between himself and Morgan, he followed her across the lobby. She stopped in front of the elevators and pulled out her phone, punching in a number. The anxiety on her face increased as she listened for a few seconds, then ended the call. She hadn’t said anything, and he had the impression whoever she’d been trying to reach hadn’t answered.
Had she been calling the bomber to warn him? His stomach knotted with a mixture of anger and disappointment. He didn’t want her to be guilty, but he couldn’t discard all the evidence that told him something wasn’t right.
The elevator doors slid open and she stepped inside. He moved from behind the pillar that had shielded him and her eyes met his. Beautiful eyes, filled with an aching sadness. The sense of loss hit him like a punch. He recognized that grief because he’d felt it himself. Who had she lost, and what had he done to cause her such fresh pain?
Chapter Two
Morgan choked back a sob as the elevator doors slid closed. She squeezed her eyes shut and hugged her arms tightly across her body, forcing the emotions back into the box she usually kept so tightly shut. By the time the elevator opened on the twelfth floor she felt more in control. She checked the hallway for signs of Agent Renfro. She wouldn’t have put it past the man to run up twelve flights of stairs to catch her outside her room. But the carpeted hallway, which smelled of old cigarette smoke overlaid with the vanilla potpourri that stood in bowls on tables by the elevators, was empty.
Safely in her room, she pulled out her phone again and hit the button to redial Scott’s number. She pressed the phone to her ear, listening to the mechanical buzz, then the click to his voice mail. His familiar voice, terse but cheerful, said, “Leave a message,” then came the disconnect. The mailbox had been full for months, and he never answered her calls. But she never gave up hope that one day he would pick up. And sometimes she called just to hear his voice. Three cryptic words that helped her believe he was safe and all right, somewhere.
She sank onto the edge of the bed and stared at the still life of a bowl of fruit on the opposite wall, the colors blurring as she kept her unblinking eyes fixed on it. If only she could dull her emotions as easily. At first she’d been annoyed—and yes, a little intrigued—that the good-looking guy in the suit was following her. She was sure she’d never seen him before, but, unlike Agent Renfro, she didn’t have a good memory for faces. When he’d flashed his FBI credentials, she’d been afraid she might faint right there.
She’d been terrified he’d approached her because of Scott. He was in some kind of trouble—big trouble, if the feds were involved. She’d almost said as much but had swallowed the words. Why give the agent a name if he didn’t have it? Worse, why put Scott on his radar if she was mistaken and he was looking for someone else?
She’d let herself be a little flattered when Luke Renfro told her he remembered her and was interested in knowing her better. Clean shaven, with thick dark hair cut short and deep blue eyes, he was the kind of man who would make any woman look twice. Relief had filled her at the thought of innocent flirtation. The FBI agent was good-looking, and when she allowed herself to relax and feel it, she could admit to a certain sizzle in the air between them.
He was interesting, too, with his unusual talent for remembering people. It was like knowing someone who could do complicated math in his head, or someone who remembered the phone numbers of everyone he knew.
Except Luke’s talent had a more sinister side. His talk of the bombings hadn’t made her feel any easier. When he’d all but admitted he was looking for the bomber, she’d wondered again why he’d approached her. Maybe the line about wanting to meet her was just an excuse. Maybe he’d only been pretending not to know her name in order to see what she’d say. He could have stopped her because he knew about her connection to Scott and he wanted to see if she knew anything more.
As much as she told herself Scott would never do something so horrible, how could she really know? The man she loved wasn’t the man he had been lately. He might be capable of anything, even something as terrible as this.
“Scott, where are you?” she whispered. “What have you gotten yourself into?”
* * *
LUKE RETURNED TO his surveillance of the mall, alert for any sign of Morgan, as well as his suspects. Was she mixed up in the bombings somehow, or was she just an unneeded distraction from the more important work he had to do?<
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Dusk descended like a gray curtain as he made his way to his hotel, down the mall from the one where Morgan was staying. Once in his room, he shed his jacket and tie, and telephoned his supervisor to give his report. “No sign of any of our suspects,” he said. “But a lot of familiar racers, support people and fans are converging on the city. Maybe I’ll have better luck at the kickoff banquet tomorrow night.”
“Steadman thinks he saw one of our guys at the airport yesterday afternoon, but he lost him in the crowd.” Special Agent in Charge Ted Blessing had the smooth bass voice of a television preacher, and the no-nonsense demeanor of a man who was comfortable with wielding authority. “If Steadman is right, we’ve got to stop this guy before he makes his move.”
“If Travis says he saw the guy, he saw him,” Luke said. Though he had no doubt Blessing would go to the mat to support his team, the Special Agent in Charge had never bothered to hide his skepticism about the whole super-recognizer phenomena. “And if he’s here, we’ll find him.”
“Unless he gets past us again. He’s avoided detection so far. Which is one reason our analysts think he can’t be acting alone.”
“I thought they’d decided that he was a lone wolf. Has some group claimed responsibility for the other attacks?”
“No. But other intelligence has come in that points to a terrorist cell with links to each of the bombing locations. We’ve got people trying to track down a connection to Colorado right now. Plus, we finally have results from the tests on the explosives he used in the London bombing. Scotland Yard believes the bomber used military-grade C-4. Not impossible for a civilian to obtain, but not something you’d pick up at the local hardware store, either.”
“Maybe some of the other suspects on our list are involved.”
“Maybe. Anything else of interest I should know about?”
The image of Morgan’s frightened face flashed into his mind, but he pushed it away. “Nothing yet,” he said. He wasn’t ready to offer her up for the Bureau’s scrutiny. Not until he’d had time to try to discover her secret himself.
They said goodbye and ended the call and he retrieved his tablet from the room safe and booted it up. Time to do a little research into Morgan Westfield.
The knot in his stomach loosened a little as he read through the search engine results on her name. She’d been telling the truth about being a writer. Every hit featured one of her articles, mostly about cycling. He read through her recap of the Tour of Britain, caught up in her depiction of the excitement and tension of a sport he hadn’t thought much about before being assigned to his case. The Bureau had briefed him and his fellow agents on the basics—how races are organized into stages, which could combine circuit races, cross-country treks and individual time trials. He understood the concept of racing teams that worked together to support one or more favorite riders, and had read about the dedication of the men for whom professional racing was their life.
But those facts hadn’t breathed life into the events the way Morgan did in her article. Reading her words, he felt the struggle of the racers to meet the demands of the challenging course, the devotion of the fans who followed the peloton from stage to stage and the resources that went into putting on an event that was popular around the world.
He hesitated over the keys, then typed in another name, one he tried to refrain from searching but always came back to, month after month: Mark Renfro. The familiar links scrolled down the screen: an article Mark had written about the destructive potential of so-called dirty bombs, a piece for a scholarly journal on nuclear fission, a profile of him when he won a prestigious award from the University of Colorado, where he taught and conducted his research.
Farther down the page were articles about his disappearance almost a year before: Top Nuclear Physicist Missing. Professor Mark Renfro Missing, Feared Dead.
Luke read through that article, though he’d long ago memorized the text.
Mark Renfro, professor of nuclear physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder, has been reported missing after failing to return from a hiking trip in Colorado’s remote Weminuche Wilderness area. Professor Renfro set out alone to hike to the top of Wilson Peak on Monday, and has not been seen since a pair of hikers reported passing him on the trail at about noon that day. Renfro was an experienced hiker who had reportedly been struggling with depression since the death of his wife in a car accident six months earlier. One colleague at the university, who wished to remain anonymous, stated he feared Renfro had arranged the hike with the intention of committing suicide.
Luke exited the screen, familiar anger rising up inside him. Mark had not committed suicide. Yes, he’d been devastated by Christy’s death in the accident, but he would never have left their four-year-old daughter, Mindy, alone. Something had happened to keep him from coming back to the girl. Luke was certain his brother was still alive, and he would give anything to bring him back.
He’d driven Mark to the trailhead that day and arranged to meet him back there in two days. Luke’s work schedule had prevented him from accompanying his brother on the hike, but Mark had taken these solo treks before. “I get some of my best ideas out there with no one else around,” he’d said. Far from being depressed, he’d been in good spirits that morning. In the early hours, the sky showing the first faint hint of light, only one other car had been at the trailhead. Luke had scarcely glanced at the two dark figures inside. He wasn’t working, and he didn’t need to clutter his mind with more strangers’ faces.
But what if he had taken the time to memorize those men? Were they the key to finding his brother and he’d missed his chance? He closed his eyes and tried again to picture the scene, but his mind came up blank. All he saw was Mark’s face, smiling, eager to set out. Not the face of a man who was walking to his death.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING, aided by a sleeping pill and a half hour of yoga, Morgan was feeling calmer. She headed down to the hotel’s free breakfast buffet, her mind on her plans for the day. In addition to writing several articles for Road Bike Magazine, she’d been hired to blog about each day’s race stage for the popular Cycling Pro website. Today she had an interview with an Italian rider who was one of the top contenders to win the race, then a Skype meeting with one of the UCI officials to get his views on the race. The Union Cycliste Internationale oversaw every aspect of sanctioned modern bicycle road races. In the wake of the bombings that had rocked other races, they had a lot riding on the success of this Colorado event.
Thoughts of the bombings brought her back to Agent Luke Renfro. He obviously knew more about the attacks than he was telling her. Maybe she needed to find him and pump him for more information. He’d said he was going to be around for the race. Maybe she’d spot him tonight, at the banquet to kick off the race festivities, before the racers headed out to the starting point in Aspen tomorrow. Under the guise of making small talk, she could question him, and maybe get a better feel for whether or not he was as dangerous to her peace of mind as he’d felt last night.
She found a table at the back of the breakfast room and was slathering strawberry jam onto a piece of wheat toast when Luke Renfro pulled out the chair across from her and sat down.
Her initial pleasure at seeing him again quickly gave way to nervousness. Her heart fluttered and she had to set aside the knife before she dropped it. “What are you doing here?” she asked, avoiding meeting his gaze.
He was dressed more casually today, in a blue pinstriped oxford shirt open at the collar, the sleeves rolled up to reveal tanned forearms lightly dusted with brown hair. He smelled of shaving cream—a clean, masculine scent that made her stomach flutter in rhythm with her racing heart.
“I had some more questions for you.” He unfolded a napkin across his lap, then picked up the mug of coffee he’d brought with him.
“You won’t tell me anything, so why should I share anything wit
h you?”
“After I got back to the hotel last night, I went online and read some of your work. You’re very good. I’m curious why you’re a freelancer, and not on staff with one of the top cycling publications.”
She told herself it wasn’t creepy that he’d looked her up online. Everyone did it these days, whether they were checking out potential job applicants or prospective dates. So why did it make her so nervous that this particular man had been checking out her background? “Those staff jobs aren’t necessarily easy to come by,” she said. She sipped her coffee, her hands steady enough to drink it without spilling. “Anyway, I prefer the flexibility of freelancing.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you yesterday,” he said. “What, exactly, did I say that made you so afraid?”
“I wasn’t afraid.” Her voice squeaked on the last word and she looked away.
“You may be an excellent writer, but you’re a lousy liar.”
When she dared to look at him again he was smiling. His lack of hostility soothed her a little, and in that moment she made a decision. She pulled out her phone and thumbed to the picture library. She turned the screen toward him. “Is this the man you’re looking for?” Her voice quavered, and her heart pounded painfully, drowning out the clatter of cutlery and chatter of the diners around them.
She’d taken the photograph of Scott almost a year ago, on a hike in the Texas hill country, near their home in Austin. He stood with his slender frame leaning against a bent pine tree, a breeze blowing his blond hair across his face. He’d refused to smile for the camera or even to look directly at her. At the time, she’d thought he was merely being stubborn and moody; now she recognized the first signs that he wasn’t himself, that what he always referred to as “his demons” were getting the best of him.
