“The details are still classified, but,” she held up a hand when I opened my
mouth to argue, “his last operation went sideways. According to the official after-action report, their initial target, a small band of rebels, turned out to be a bigger force than anticipated. All but four of the men made it back. After repeated failed recovery efforts, command declared the four missing men,
including Ellery, killed in action.” Her impassive expression hid her thoughts.
“That was nine months before your team was attacked.”
“Our team had been working the case for four months.” I worked through the
timeline. “So he was missing for five months before the investigation started?”
She gave me a short nod.
“Which meant there was no reason to link a dead man to the theft and
possible sale of classified information.” I looked to Tag. “Do you have copies of
our initial assessments?”
He did his mojo with the scattered piles and handed me a set of reports.
Kayden came and read over my shoulder.
I worried my bottom lip with my teeth as I reviewed the documented
information. Our leads on that last assignment had been slim, our interviews fruitless. Yet something had to connect Ellery to our investigation. I just couldn’t see it. “What am I missing?”
“Not what,” Delacourt corrected and handed me another piece of paper.
“Who.”
I took it and examined the list of names. One of them rang a bell. “Ramirez.”
Going back to the initial reports, I found what I was looking for, an interview
done with one Tito Ramirez, Private. The attached picture brought back my initial impressions. Ramirez was a twitchy little Hispanic guy who served as a clerk at the base depot. At the time, his disciplinary record with its minor infractions pinged on my radar, but nothing had panned out.
I looked at Delacourt and something in her expression had me asking,
“What’s his connection to Ellery?”
“Shortly after his interview, Ramirez came under investigation by the MCID.
Some prescription painkillers went missing from an incoming delivery. Nothing
could be proven, but he was discharged under a cloud of suspicion.”
I set the report aside. “Which means he was already gone when Ellery went
to trial.”
Behind me, Kayden stilled, then reached around me, and snatched the report.
“This Ramirez?”
“Yeah.”
“I saw him,” he murmured, studying the image carefully.
“When?”
“At the cabin.”
Startled, my brain came to a full stop. “My cabin?”
He nodded.
“No way was he in my house,” I argued. “He wasn’t in any of the scenes, Kayden. I know what I saw and trust me, he wasn’t anywhere around.” Only after the words left my mouth did his earlier words about catching glimpses of
Ellery’s thoughts resurface. “Wait, you mean it worked?”
He nodded. “Yeah, this face,” he tapped the photo, “was there for just a moment, and then gone.”
“It worked?” Delacourt snapped, setting tension alight. “What exactly did you do, Shaw?”
Uh-oh. Looking between Kayden’s chagrined expression and Delacourt’s
cold command face, I leaned out of the line of fire. Even Tag pushed back from
