Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) - Karen Rose Page 0,151

have you found any leads?”

“No sir, but it doesn’t appear that Belmont’s left the area. Kowalski either.”

“Good.” Raeburn’s face had lines that hadn’t been there that morning. “I talked to Agent Reynolds personally this afternoon. He was all right, but still in a bit of shock.”

“Getting shot does that to a person,” one of the other agents muttered. He was one of the SWAT members who’d survived Belmont’s assault on the team the month before in Dunsmuir.

Raeburn gave the man a rueful glance. “True. Agent Reynolds seemed surprised that he’d been shot, though. He’d assumed that Belmont was trying to get to Mercy.”

“I was surprised, too,” Tom offered. “I figured he’d use Gideon to get to Mercy and kill them both at the same time.”

“Reynolds said the same,” Raeburn confirmed. “He also said that in the second he glimpsed Belmont’s face, he thought Belmont was also shocked.”

“Like Belmont hadn’t planned to shoot him?” Molina asked.

Raeburn nodded. “And I’m not sure what to make of it. I’m happy to entertain suggestions.”

Tom thought he might have an idea. He shared a long glance with Molina, who gave him a slight nod, seemingly thinking along the same lines.

Raeburn caught the look they’d shared. “Speak,” he suggested with a slight edge to his tone.

Tom sighed. “It’s not anything definite. But when Agent Reynolds was remembering Belmont from his own childhood, he said they were friends—until Belmont turned thirteen and was apprenticed to Edward McPhearson.”

“The pedophile who tried to rape Gideon, but failed,” Croft explained. “Gideon got away.”

“Right,” Tom said, noting a few shocked stares. Apparently, some of the team hadn’t read the full brief he’d prepared weeks ago. “When Agent Reynolds fought back, McPhearson fell and hit his head on an anvil and died. The ensuing beating that Reynolds received was what prompted his mother to smuggle him out of Eden seventeen years ago.”

“Gideon escaped,” Raeburn said quietly. “He escaped, but Belmont did not. That might have made Belmont very angry indeed.”

“But why didn’t Belmont shoot Reynolds when he saw him in Dunsmuir a month ago?” one of the other agents asked.

Tom wanted to snarl, Read the damn brief! “Belmont was in the process of shooting Mercy Callahan when Amos Terrill threw himself over Mercy to protect her. Belmont’s bullet hit Amos instead. Then Agent Reynolds’s girlfriend shot Belmont. He was on the run after that. Who knows who else he would have shot that day had he not been stopped?”

“Everyone, I would assume,” Molina said dryly.

Agent Collins, the SWAT survivor, grimaced. “Daisy Dawson took him out,” he said with no small amount of self-disgust. “He almost took out a whole team and a civilian shot him.”

“A civilian who is every bit as good a sharpshooter as I’ve ever met,” Molina said. “But Belmont is as good as she is. Which is how he got the drop on us.”

“It was fast,” Collins remembered. “We were searching for Ephraim Burton and then all of a sudden, we were dropping like flies. He didn’t need time to set up his next shot.”

“Agent Reynolds said Belmont’s left arm was in a sling,” Raeburn noted. “He might not be as fast now.”

Molina looked concerned. “But he’s still accurate, because Agent Reynolds was standing across the street from him when he fired.”

“A hundred feet away,” Raeburn confirmed. “At least.”

“We have to assume he’s still as good a shot as he was before,” Molina said. “He hit Agent Reynolds in his heart. If Gideon hadn’t been wearing the vest, he wouldn’t be here anymore.”

Tom felt a shiver prickle his skin. “But Belmont’s not as fast as he was before. Especially with a rifle. He used a tripod on the roof of that office building on Wednesday morning. If he uses the rifle, he’s going to need that tripod as a crutch. That limits his range, his speed, and his choice of places from where he can shoot. Not a huge amount, but some.”

“Some might be enough when it comes down to it,” Raeburn said. “Belmont will return to Sunnyside Oaks sooner or later, because Pastor is still there. Correct?”

“I assume he’ll return to Sunnyside Oaks, sir,” Tom answered. “But Belmont has been hard to predict. Pastor is still there, though. There have been no changes to the patient roster.”

“So worst case,” Raeburn went on, “we wait him out while providing protection to Agent Reynolds and Mercy Callahan. How close are you to getting a virus into Sunnyside’s network?”

“I have access to the HR manager’s computer.” Tom had had that as