Free The Circle of Eight by J Robert Kennedy Page B

not even five minutes ago.”
    “Murder!”
Dawson sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. “Detective, I can
assure you those men were not FBI. They were imposters.”
    “I can
assure you , Sergeant Major, that they were. I checked their credentials
myself.”
    “Detective
Lewis, you said those men were at my sister’s house at my request?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well I
never contacted the FBI. I didn’t even contact you until after my sister
was attacked.”
    There
was a pause, and Dawson could only pray it was because something was finally
getting through to the detective.
    “Oh
shit.”
    “When
did she leave?” asked Dawson.
    “Maybe
five minutes,” replied a more subdued and less dismissive Lewis.
    “Details.”
    “Front
steps of the building. There was a black SUV there. She and her daughter left
with the two agents.”
    Dawson
turned to the tech.
    “Front
steps, black SUV, about five minutes ago. Can you pull footage?”
    “Not
from any police cameras without hacking the system. What direction did they
head?”
    “Detective,
what direction did they leave in?”
    “East.
I’m going to put an APB out on the vehicle and I’ll get back to you.”
    “There!”
    The tech
was pointing at the screen. It was the same intersection they had been
watching, the time code rolled back. A large black SUV passed through the
intersection.
    “Sergeants,
please come with me.”
    Dawson
looked at the Colonel.
    “Yes,
sir.” He turned to the tech. “Find out where that vehicle went.”
    He and
Red followed the Colonel out of the Ops Center then to his office in silence.
Dawson’s mind was racing and suddenly realized that Sylvia’s husband George
didn’t even know what was going on. And that he didn’t even have his
brother-in-law’s number.
    They entered
the Colonel’s office, Red closing the door as Clancy sat down behind his desk,
tossing his chewed pencil where the humidor used to be. He motioned to the
seats.
    “Report.”
    Dawson
let out the breath he had been holding.
    “This
morning just after our meeting Stucco called me and said he needed help.”
Dawson then gave the Colonel a full rundown on what had happened. “After the
residence was destroyed, we found a secondary device attached to a piece of
paper stuck to a telephone pole. It had a symbol on it that was the same symbol
I saw in Lacroix’s hotel room in Geneva.”
    “So it
definitely ties back to him.”
    “Most
likely. I don’t believe in coincidences.”
    “Well,
how’s this for coincidence,” said Clancy, leaning forward and opening a file on
his desk. “We just received word that your hotel night manager is dead. Stepped
in front of a bus.”
    Dawson’s
eyes closed as he shook his head, images of the happy young girl pushed away
and replaced by the severely beaten girl he had seen lying in the hallway.
    “And
that’s not all.”
    “What
the hell else could go wrong?” asked Red. “They killed Stucco and his family!
They’ve kidnapped BD’s sister and niece!”
    “They
slaughtered Inspector Laviolette’s family.”
    Dawson
gripped the arms of his chair, his knuckles turning white.
    “They
need to pay.”
    “Who is
they?” asked Clancy.
    “This
isn’t one man. And this isn’t about a rape. This is about anyone who might have
seen what was on that table.”
    “The
files with the symbol embossed on them?”
    Dawson
nodded.
    “Unfortunately
the State Department has made it crystal clear they don’t want us involved in
this case, so there’s nothing Delta can do,” said Clancy.
    Dawson
was about to protest, when Clancy held up a finger.
    “But, I
think you and your team are due for some vacation. You’re not scheduled for any
op, so I suggest you all go somewhere nice. I hear Switzerland is beautiful
this time of year.”
    Dawson
shot to his feet.
    “That
sounds like a fantastic idea, sir.”
    “And if
you happen to need anything for training purposes, or should you decide to go
hunting, you know how