Dreaming Death (Krewe of Hunters #32) - Heather Graham Page 0,5
“Oh, sometimes, I believe, he’s very much still with me.”
It took three nights. Then it happened. Kevin and Elaine slipped into the cemetery. The drug dealer was there. He listened to Kevin; he drew his gun to kill him. Kevin screamed and begged for his life and a shot went off...
But Kevin hadn’t been shot.
One of the agents had fired first, with amazing aim. He shot the gun right out of the drug dealer’s hand.
It turned out to be the first domino to fall in a major chain of busts. The dealer had been selling across several states and in DC. He had many connections, and eventually a whole network was brought down.
Because many deaths could be linked to him, the dealer had gone for a plea deal to avert the federal death penalty. He had, as she had heard said, sung like a canary.
Adam Harrison was careful to keep any mention of Stacey from the news. According to all sources, the FBI had received an anonymous tip.
Stacey had to go to the Miller Cemetery, not in a dream but in person. She went the next day when it wasn’t spooky, just derelict and sad. Crime-scene tape remained in the one section, drooping with the night’s rain and as sad as the rest of the cemetery. But the crime-scene investigators were gone.
As she walked, she felt a touch on her shoulder. She turned, and Chastity Miller was standing there. It wasn’t a dream.
Stacey would have been terrified, except she felt a strange sense that was both chilling and warming as the young woman hugged her.
“I knew you could do it,” the ghost said.
“I—I was so afraid! I don’t know, I can’t—”
“You could and you did. Fear is something important; you need to know fear. It will help you behave intelligently, keep you from being rash. We have all known fear. The thing of it is to learn how to deal with that fear and meet it so you are stronger than it, and stronger than those who would create it in others.”
“But you—”
“I made mistakes. I know. But I wouldn’t have changed what I could do for my country. And I will do my best, always, to see the dream of our country remains strong.” She smiled. “Whatever the challenge, we fight. We fight for what is right, whenever there is a right that must be upheld. You can do it!”
Her last words were spoken softly. She smiled and dissolved into the sunlit air.
Adam Harrison was still in Harpers Ferry, but he was leaving shortly.
This time when they said goodbye, Stacey told him she’d see him soon. “I’ll be working for you next,” she assured him.
“I don’t doubt it. Just be sure it’s what you want,” he told her.
She passionately assured him, “I owe you—for believing in me!”
“College,” he told her.
“Oh, you bet. The University of Maryland. They offer great courses. I’ll do it, all right, Adam. But there’s nothing else I want to do. Please... I won’t be able to stand my life without...without coming to work for you.”
“You’ll need to apply to the FBI Academy.”
“Oh, I will,” she promised. Her smile deepened. “And I will kick ass! I promise you.”
Her parents weren’t happy with her choice. “We’ve spent our lives trying to shield you from danger!” her mother told her.
She adored her parents. But she knew what she was doing.
“I need to learn how to use what I have,” she told them.
They let her choose her way.
Soon after her twenty-fourth birthday, she graduated from the FBI Academy at Quantico.
And walked straight into the offices of Adam Harrison and his Krewe of Hunters.
One
Keenan Wallace’s phone rang at 5:00 a.m.; it wasn’t the alarm, it was a call. Before he looked at the caller ID, he knew who it was.
Not many people would call this early.
“Jackson?” he said, after he’d groped around on his nightstand to find the phone.
“We’re going to be assigned.”
“The mutilation murders?”
“Yep. You’ll need to get to the Lafayette Square area.”
“All right. Is there another victim?”
“I don’t know. If you can get there around six thirty, that would be perfect.”
“I can be there sooner.”
“No.”
“No?”
“The body hasn’t been discovered yet. It will be, just after six. I’m sure they’ll have Fred Crandall on the case for DC local law enforcement. He called me after the second victim was found in Alexandria. But give him a few minutes to get there once the police have received the 9-1-1.”
For a moment, Keenan pulled the phone away from his ear to