And she came to a full stop.
“No!” Terror gripped her in blinding waves. “You lied to me.”
He was hit. She watched as Elizabeth tried to staunch the blood running in rivulets down his arm. Seth’s head jerked up, and she realized he had been listening to the reports coming through another link. He held a weapon in his hand, one of the heavy handguns Dash carried that were equipped with laser bursts.
She moved to him quickly, ignoring the silent, warning look he was giving her. As though she had no right to be angry with him.
“We have bigger problems.” His jaw clenched furiously.
“Bigger problems than you bleeding to death in front of me?” she snapped.
“Much bigger.” He rose to his feet as Elizabeth tied off the bandage. “It wasn’t just my blood you
smelled in there. We have a body. One of my board members, and one of the few who supported me.”
CHAPTER 9
Dawn crouched by the body and lifted her gaze to watch Dash’s expression as he surveyed the dead board member as well.
“Seth has contacted the authorities on the mainland,” she murmured. “They’re on their way in.”
Dash nodded slowly, his amber eyes narrowed as he stared at the blood that stained the carpet and the expression of blank shock on the dead man’s eyes.
His name was Andrew Breyer. He had a wife and two children who were currently being comforted by Elizabeth and Cassie in another room. He was fifty-two years old, robust and in good health, and he had three holes made by a high-powered, silenced rifle buried in his chest, dead center to his heart.
“He’s close to Seth’s height, though wider, a bit thicker in the middle,” Dash murmured. “There’s no doubt the shooter was after Seth.”
Dawn swallowed tightly. That shooter had managed to lay a gouge along Seth’s shoulder before he had thrown them both to the floor.
She stared around the sitting room, feeling the bile gather in her stomach and in her throat. The shades were drawn across the balcony doors now, the windows closed tight, but Dawn knew that if an assassin could get his hands on a silenced high-powered rifle then one with penetrating night vision could have easily picked Seth out through something so paltry as shades.
“There are storm shutters at the side of all the windows and doors.” She rubbed her hand over her face and stared around the room again. “He won’t leave his suite; we can secure it. That would ensure his safety here.”
“Did your team find the shooter’s nest?” He lifted his head, his gaze penetrating, icy. Dawn shook her head tightly. “It couldn’t have come from the island, Dash. My team has checked everywhere. The angle of the gunfire, the complete stealth. I suspect one of the tour ships that leave the mainland and pass by. The shooter had to be there. There’s just no way to achieve the same angle in a smaller craft.”
“There are plenty of trees, plenty of cover around the house,” he pointed out. Dawn nodded. “That’s true, but neither Styx nor Noble can find a hint of the scent. And you can silence a weapon, but you can’t cover its scent, especially once it’s fired. It would have been there, somewhere. The entire team has canvassed the area and there’s nothing. I’ve called Callan and asked for reinforcements. We’re going to have to have another team out here. We don’t have enough agents.”
He stared at her silently for long moments. She was only second command, but she was in charge under his supervision. Calling in more agents was her prerogative, but she knew if he felt they weren’t needed, they would be called back.
Finally, he nodded. “You’re right. We need two full teams to cover this. Amazingly, none of the other board members or their families are requesting transportation off the island. Rabid curiosity.” He shook
his head. “God save me from it.”
Dawn shook her head and moved back from the corpse to get a better look at the middle-aged board member. She had met him the night before, wandering the gardens alone. And now he was here, dead. Lowering herself, body flat, she ignored Dash’s curious gaze as she inhaled the scents closer to the floor. Thankfully Seth was in the hall with the other board members. If he had been closer, her senses would have been so swamped with him that she could have never sifted through the scents here. She wanted to turn the body over, wanted to do her own investigation. She was hampered by the authorities, who had demanded preservation of the scene. As though Breeds didn’t know how to conduct an investigation. Prints had already been dusted for; ultraviolet had already swept the room, and a collection of fibers, hairs and other assorted evidentiary items had been collected. Her eyes narrowed as her gaze was caught by something lying close beside the hand that was tucked partially beneath the victim’s body. She could barely make out the tiniest hint of a piece of paper.
“I have something here, Dash. Paper. It’s under the body.”
Dash growled at the inconvenience of the position. They couldn’t touch the body in any way and risk the authorities’ ire in this matter. The situation was too tricky. Dawn adjusted the latex gloves on her hands and waited until Dash could move in beside her. He flattened himself to the floor and peered at the area Dawn was pointing to.
“Merc, get the forceps from my bag,” Dash murmured.
A second later the surgical steel forceps were in his hand and Dash flashed her a smile. “Never know when you might have to extract something in our line of work.”
Then he was wedging the forceps beneath the body and slowly pulling the paper free. They were lucky; the dead man wasn’t gripping the paper. It had fallen from his hand as he fell, and it was marred by only a spot or two of blood, sheltered as it had been between the arm and the body.
“Here we go,” he muttered, taking it from the metal grips and slowly unfolding it. Dawn read it, then looked back at Dash in concern.
Tell Seth now!the note read.