Free Cold Blooded III: Sins and Sanctions (Nick McCarty Assassin Series Book 3) by Bernard Lee DeLeo

to ask you how I could know the answer to that question.” Nick’s mind raced wondering how many threads from his acquiring Rachel, Jean, and Deke this cop had already stitched together. He always knew one day the house of cards would fall apart of their own weight.
    Stallings leaned forward, clasping his hands on the desk. “I believe you know exactly what the hell I’m hinting at. Novelist or not, I think you kill people, Nick.”
    “I’ve killed many people in combat, Barry. Delta isn’t an offshoot of the boy scouts. I’m sure you’ve already read the file on me from Pacific Grove when Jamal Kader was killed. I do write novels. What is it you want me to do?”
    “I’m an overly qualified man in my field. I have a master’s degree in criminology. I have the distinct feeling you’re overly qualified for being a novelist.”
    “There’s no such thing if you write fiction. The key ingredients to writing pulp fiction as I write are imagination and experience. You’re hopping all over the place, Barry. Meet me out in front in five minutes, and I’ll be glad to trade theories with you.”
    Nick left without another word. The frosty March night, unpleasant to some, invigorated Nick. He stared up at the star clusters in the clear black night with visceral enjoyment. While circling around in front with a slow steady gait, he saw Stallings exit the station with foul weather coat on. He remained stationary, awaiting Stallings’ approach with the patience of one who knows nothing comes for free – not life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness… or freedom.
    Stallings pointed a finger at Nick. “You’re a killer. I know it. I can feel it. I can see it in your eyes. I don’t know how in hell you acquired the position you’re in, with the credentials you have. You’re a hell of a lot more than a novelist.”
    “Let’s stop dancin’, Barry. Tell me what you really want from me.”
    “The woman police officer who was killed… she was my niece. Her death will probably kill my sister, because Cinny was her only child. I know the guy she was seeing knows who killed her.”
    “Now… tell me how you know Paul.”
    “I… that is…” Stallings threw his hands up in the air, obviously angry with himself. “I vowed to Paul I’d figure a way to ask you to consult without mentioning him. We served together in the Marines. Would it be possible to keep this between us, no matter what you decide?”
    Nick smiled. “Sure, Barry, but unless you plan on never seeing Paul again, or talking to him, my advice would be to tell him the truth. Your powers of deception lack passion. That’s okay though. Tell Paul no blood, no foul. He’ll understand. I’m sure he had his reasons for not bringing this to me directly. Give me the Reader’s Digest version of your niece’s death. If you managed to get Paul involved enough to give me as a referral, there’s something more to it than a tragic death.”
    “You’re right. Paul’s eyes glazed over until I told him the undercover assignment Cinny died on involved the Isis jihadi cult. She spoke Farsi and Arabic. The FBI recruited her to infiltrate a cell operating in Boston. Paul thinks they were linked to another group with a plan to blow up the USS Constitution.”
    Stallings reached into his jacket pocket, and retrieved a plastic encased memory disc, handing it to Nick. “I received this yesterday. Cinny sent it to me hours before she died. It’s an audio recording of a meeting she infiltrated. My guess is that she didn’t trust whoever was handling her with the FBI. Paul guaranteed me he’d find out who when he gave me your name to contact. I don’t know if I can trust anyone in my precinct either. Any paranoid crap I babbled about would land me a suspension, or a direct order to stay out of the case.”
    “Is the boyfriend a suspected member in this Isis cult?”
    “Yes. He was the first contact she attracted while attending services at the Islamic cultural center of