Night Fall (The Quantico Files #1) - Nancy Mehl Page 0,78

that Walker had clearly been forced out of his comfort zone.

The maintenance supervisor hadn’t tried to contact Gregg when he didn’t show up for work. He was a single man that no one might miss for days. That was sad.

Alex realized she had a lot in common with him. She had no family. Well, a father somewhere who wanted nothing to do with her. And no real friends. She didn’t really care. She had her work, and she had Krypto. She missed him so much. She wondered if he was missing her too. He loved the Stewarts, the neighbors who cared for him when she had to leave town. The FBI would let her take him on assignment when possible, but this time she knew she would have to be in both Wichita and Kansas City. Bringing him along would have been too difficult. She’d been certain he would be much happier staying with the Stewarts.

It was important to her that Krypto felt safe. He’d been badly abused by his previous owner, and when he was dumped at the animal shelter, his chances of being adopted were small. He was timid and afraid, and he sat in the back of his pen, refusing to look at anyone. Being a pit bull made finding a home for him even less likely. But when Alex went to the pound to find a dog, she was drawn to him. She returned several days in a row, sitting in his pen with him, talking to him. Eventually, he moved out of the corner and put his head in her lap. The first time she looked into his sad eyes, that was it. He was hers. She took him home the next day and named him Krypto, determined to ensure he’d never be hurt again.

After some time of healing and learning to trust, he’d turned into one of the sweetest dogs Alex had ever known. He won over the Stewarts when one of their house cats got out. When they realized Maizie was gone, they looked all over the neighborhood. They finally found her in Alex’s backyard, curled up with Krypto, both of them sound asleep. Maizie and Krypto were now great friends, and the Stewarts treated Krypto like their own.

Mike had answered every question he could before heading back to Wichita. He wasn’t scheduled to come back to Kansas City unless he remembered something important and they needed him there. Frankly, she felt useless. Harrison had told her, Logan, and Monty to stay at the hotel Sunday and rest. They were all exhausted, so they were relieved to have some time to recharge. But they were also frustrated. They’d pulled the information they had apart and put it back together so many times it didn’t make sense anymore.

They’d read through most of The Book too. That had been disappointing. Most of it was nonsense about how the world was formed by the Master, who planned to reign after the angels and demons fought in that final war. They found several mentions of the God worshiped on the earth that was considered false. The writer of The Book clearly hated other religions. They also scanned the pages Walker had referred to in his letters. Nothing new there either.

Alex recognized several sections Willow had quoted to her. Frankly, it bothered her to read them. It was as if she could hear Willow’s voice speaking the words.

She woke up around ten Sunday morning. The nightmare had tried to come back again. She’d fought it, waking up several times with tears streaming down her face. Finally, about four in the morning, she’d fallen asleep, passing out from sheer exhaustion. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there a moment, getting her bearings. Then she got up and went into the bathroom to shower.

She’d picked up some milk and cereal on the way back to the hotel last night. The three of them weren’t meeting until lunch because they all wanted to sleep late. She’d stuck all the dishes on the kitchen shelves in the dishwasher and washed them as soon as she had a chance. They might have been clean, but who could tell? She dumped some cereal into one of the bowls, then grabbed the milk out of the fridge.

A few minutes later she was sitting on the couch in the living area, watching TV. She’d also made coffee, but she wouldn’t drink much because she hoped to catch another nap. She’d