some personal connection for the offender to have included one at each scene. But Risa had moved on to a more pressing question. “How did you get to me so quickly?” She’d lost track of time after talking to him on the phone the night before. And he’d been in no mood for answering questions at the crime scene.
And with the medical personnel efficiently bustling around her, there hadn’t been much opportunity to ask then.
“Police helicopters,” he said tersely. “I’ll give him credit, when I called Morales, he had the commissioner on the line in minutes. And from there things moved fairly quickly.”
She recalled now the noise that had filled the air. The shouts she’d heard. But her vision had been hampered by the smoke. Her focus on keeping Eggers and her alive.
“Jett rounded up some fire blankets and gear and sent that with the first two teams. Fire trucks were dispatched.” And it would have been hard to miss the flicker of lingering fear in his eyes.
Raiker was silent for a few moments. His dark hair and eye patch contrasted starkly with the white sheets beneath his head. His condition didn’t detract from the fierce intelligence blazing from his single bright blue eye. But he was tiring rapidly. Risa caught Nate’s attention. Jerked her head slightly toward the door.
But before either of them could move, Raiker said abruptly, “I want to talk to Risa alone.”
She recognized the stubborn expression on Nate’s face. So she gave him a slight shove to get him moving toward the hallway. He’d been hovering like a guardian angel since she’d regained consciousness.
Catching a glimpse of a determined-looking nurse through the door before it closed, she looked at her boss and advised, “Better talk fast. The cavalry is getting restless.”
“How did you follow Baltes with his last victim?”
Adam needed no urging to get quickly to the point. “I saw it.”
He nodded, accepting what she didn’t say. The way he’d always accepted the dreams as the source of her instincts. Always, at least, since she’d apparently passed the battery of tests he’d thrown her way during the prehiring phase.
“Didn’t see the helicopters in the dreams, did you? Or the rescue. Probably not your own danger there.”
“They don’t work that way, you know that. I get snippets, not the whole. I have to make sense of the pieces.”
“I do know that.” He nodded. “Just wanted to make sure you finally recalled it yourself. Dreams, instincts . . . whatever the hell it is that drives your knowledge, are tempered by what you know. What you can deduce. The dreams mean nothing without the innate ability to connect the pieces.” His gaze dropped to her hand. Traveled upward again. “You shot Baltes.”
Surprised, she met his gaze. He smiled wryly. “Think I don’t have outside sources? You drew your weapon. Fired it. Hit your target.”
“Do you need to pronounce it when you’re right?”
“No. I need to pronounce you cured. Now get out of here. Tell Paulie to put you back on the active list.” His voice was growing weaker. Which just seemed to make him more irritable.
Her throat grew full. But there was no objection on her lips. Not anymore. “Thank you, Adam.”
Giving up what appeared to be a losing battle, his eye closed. “For what?” he muttered. “Not accepting your resignation? There’s a little matter of you saving my life. Call it even.”
She gave a laugh that was dangerously close to a sob. And eased out of the room before he could call her on it.
Nate sprang away from his stance against the wall at her appearance. She noted with some pleasure that a number of her colleagues were gathered in the waiting room. But when she would have headed to join them, he guided her past the waiting-room door.
She had a moment to recognize Shepherd, the fed sent from DC to evaluate the failed operation resulting in Adam’s shooting. Then they were past the windows in a more isolated area of the hallway. “I want to get a chance to talk to Special Agent Shepherd.”
“I can tell you everything Dev repeated.” He held up a cup of coffee. “He’s as good with information as he is at dispensing caffeine. He said Ramsey told him that Shepherd had been all through Jennings’s financials. Had found his bankbook for the overseas account, where I guess the payment for potential hits would go. There were no deposits over the last six months. He’s guessing at this point that Jennings was