LITMIR.BIZ

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Critical enough that your suspect would kill himself rather than be taken into custody. That’s pretty extreme. Do we know who the guy was?”

      “Lab is running prints. We’ll know in the morning. Local PD should be bringing the body, too.”

      “Yes, I got a report that the body was on its way, should be here within the hour,” Steve told them.

      “Hopefully this guy’s ID should provide some sort of clue,” Liam said, settling himself in a corner that would be out of the way of the cameras. Smart man. “But not as much as having him alive for questioning. Sorry, boss, if I’d had any inclination that he would off himself, I would’ve tackled him. I thought he might shoot at us, but not himself.”

      Steve shrugged. “You did the best you could with the info you had. Don’t beat yourself up.”

      One thing Derek liked about having Drackett as his boss was that Steve hadn’t been out of the field so long that he’d forgotten that sometimes things just went to hell for no particular reason. Steve was probably only ten years older than Derek’s thirty-three years.

      “Was anything recovered from the house before the fire completely burned it down?” Steve asked.

      “We got out a few potential pieces of evidence. One looked particularly promising. Some sort of communication device. Looks like it could hold pictures or other data, if it can be retrieved,” Derek told him, as Steve took notes. “Molly is rush-processing that for us herself tonight.”

      Jon and Liam made eye contact with each other at that, but Derek ignored them.

      “Molly’s got to get more people hired in the lab so she’s not at Omega twenty hours a day.” Steve scribbled something else on his notepad. Derek hoped it was a reminder to talk to Molly so she could get some of the lab workload off her shoulders. She looked tired.

      Pretty, as always, but tired.

      “What I find most interesting,” Derek said, reining in his thoughts, “is that whatever was there, they burnt the building to the ground to get rid of it, definitely using an accelerant. The fire was almost as drastic as the guy killing himself.”

      “Which means you were really close to something,” Steve finished for him. “All right, let’s present this to the committee.”

      “One minute until the call, sir,” the technician told him.

      Steve nodded and looked at Derek. “You ready?”

      “Oh, yeah,” he answered, rolling his eyes. “Getting chewed out by government officials who really have no idea how to do police work is the favorite part of my day.”

      “First caller is connecting now,” the technician announced. Derek and Steve sat down behind the computer that would show all the people on the call, and also make Derek and Steve visible to them.

      And great, it was Congressman Donald Hougland. Always the first person on the video call and the last person off. And always the most vocal about Omega Sector’s lack of results with the bombing.

      “Gentlemen,” Congressman Hougland said. “Hope we have good news today. Or at least not no news at all, as usual.”

      Derek reminded himself not to roll his eyes because that could be seen by the other man.

      “Congressman Hougland.” Steve was a much better diplomat so Derek let him talk. “We’re just waiting for the others, and we’ll provide an update. We’ve had a breakthrough. I believe you’ll be pleased.”

      “I doubt it,” the older man said. “For an organization that’s supposed to be stellar, I’ve yet to see evidence of that. Of course, I’ve yet to see evidence of anything.” He laughed at his own joke.

      Thankfully, the other committee members chose that moment to connect to the conference call so Derek could force himself to swallow his tart retort for Congressman Hougland.

      Derek had been raised on a ranch in Wyoming by his reluctant, confirmed-bachelor uncle when Derek’s parents had died when he was twelve. So cursing had been a prevalent part of his upbringing.

      But telling a US congressman to kiss his ass was probably not going to help any part of this conference call or overall situation. He could see Steve looking over at him cautiously as if preparing to kick him under the table if he opened his mouth. Derek glanced at him and nodded to let him know he wasn’t going to do anything stupid.

      The head of the committee, and much more amiable, Senator Edmundson, opened the conference. “Director Drackett, Agent Waterman, thank you for speaking with us today. We know your time is valuable.”

      “Senator,” Steve responded respectfully. “Ladies and gentlemen.”

      “Let’s cut to the chase, Robert,” Congressman Hougland said, practically cutting off Steve’s greeting to the committee. “Drackett mentioned they have some news. I’d be thrilled to hear that.” Sarcasm dripped from his words.

      Annoyance floated over Senator Edmundson’s face before he reschooled it into its polite mask.

      “All right, then. Director Drackett, please.”

      “Agent Waterman and his colleagues received a tip earlier today while returning from Chicago. They changed route midflight and headed to Philadelphia. Upon their arrival at the location, they were met with gunfire.”

      The men and women were listening attentively from their screens. It made for a nice change from the past two weeks when they’d had nothing of any interest to report.

      “One man gave chase, and unfortunately killed himself rather than be taken into custody,” Steve continued. “The suspects also burned the location to the ground while the team was chasing the running suspect.”

      “So basically, Agent Waterman, you had a more exciting day, but still have nothing to show for it,” Congressman Hougland jumped in. “Is that correct?”

      Derek counted to three before answering. He’d once been thrown from a spooked horse and had to walk the four miles home on a broken ankle. He’d survived that.

      He could survive this.

      “Actually, Congressman, we were able to retrieve a few pieces of evidence from the house before it was totally destroyed. One piece in particular, a communication device of some kind, looks particularly interesting. Although it was damaged by the fire, we’re hopeful the data on it can be retrieved.”

      Most of the committee were nodding, at least accepting that this was progress. Not Hougland.

      “Hopeful,” he scoffed. “Not exactly confidence-inspiring.”

      “All right, Don, let’s stay positive,” Senator Edmundson said.

      “The only thing I’m becoming positive about is that Omega Sector might not be living up to its reputation any longer,” Hougland spat back.

      Derek’s lips thinned. As much as he disliked the congressman, the man wasn’t totally incorrect. He and the team had been pretty inept on this Chicago case. They hadn’t caught a single break until today.

      “We should also have identification of the dead man soon,” Drackett told the committee. “That will also point us in a direction.”

      “The body is there now, at your facility in Colorado?” Senator Edmundson asked.

      Steve nodded. “Yes, our lab is or very soon will be, running the prints. We’ll also have any other helpful evidence from the body.”

      “And the communication device? When will you know if that will provide anything useful?” Hougland asked.

      “By tomorrow morning,” Derek replied. He hoped that would be true. “The lab is working on it tonight.”

      That seemed to placate everyone. Since there weren’t any other questions from the committee and Hougland had evidently gotten tired of poking holes

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