Page 36 of Lethal Danger

“Okay. Could be random or could be connected.” Sof tapped the arms of her chair with her fingers, clearly not as impressed as Bris. Compared to what the former CIA agent had done in her past, Jazz supposed her performance was child’s play. “Did you see either of the shooters last night well enough to ID them?”

“No. Too dark.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.” Nev’s hurt tone pinged a little against Jazz’s heart.

“Sorry.” Maybe Jazz should’ve called her that first night. But she couldn’t rely on sharing everything with Nev anymore. Nev had other priorities now. A more important relationship than their friendship. And maybe Nev needed to see Jazz supported that relationship and was okay on her own. “It wasn’t a big deal. I handled it.”

“With flying colors, apparently.” Cora sent Jazz and Nev a smile probably meant to soothe their tension. “Phoenix would be pleased.”

Jazz doubted that. The boss never seemed pleased with Jazz or her work.

“I told her about the shooting when I spoke with her this morning.”

Jazz watched Cora, her stomach tightening. Would the boss care that Jazz was in trouble?

“She said Sofia should decide how the team will respond to the threat.”

Disappointment sank in Jazz’s belly. Figured. It was stupid of her to think Phoenix would care enough to cut her mystery trip short and come herself to oversee the protection of Jazz. Never mind that Phoenix was always quick to order security measures for the other team members anytime they were in danger. More evidence Jazz wasn’t really one of them, even though she’d been there nearly two years. She was getting the feeling she could be there for ten years and still not be one of them. Story of her life.

“Let’s start by looking for motive.” Sof’s take-charge tone drew the attention of the team. “Do you have any enemies that you know of?”

Jazz shrugged. She’d thought about that last night after the shooters tried to take her out. “Maybe terrorists Flash and I caught in Afghanistan. Or the family of anybody I had to kill over there.”

“It seems unlikely they would or could follow you here for a war-related action.”

Jazz nodded at Bristol’s observation. “Agreed.”

“What about your fellow soldiers?” Cora hit a more likely nail on the head probably without meaning to, given her innocent expression.

“They weren’t my biggest fans.” Not for lack of trying to fit in and get along on Jazz’s part. “I don’t know of anything they should have against me that would make them want to kill me. But some of them were really letting the war get to them. And a few didn’t exactly have what I’d call strong morals.”

“Go ahead and check into them, Cora.” Sof gave the direction like she was already used to being their boss. “See if any are in Minnesota or this area specifically.”

“What about someone connected to us?” Nev glanced at Jazz before looking at the others. “Like from a security job.”

“Always a possibility, but why target only Jazz?” Sof stood as if she couldn’t contain her energy any longer.

“Good point.” Bris’s gaze followed Sof as she paced behind her chair.

“What are we going to do to protect Jazz?” Nev asked the question Jazz had thought they’d get to much sooner. Or hoped. Would’ve been nice if someone else besides Nev cared enough to want to keep Jazz safe.

Sof halted and stared at Nev. Had she not thought about giving Jazz protection? Probably not. “That’s a must.” She shifted her gaze to Jazz. “You’re staying with Nevaeh?”

Jazz glanced at Nev. “Only last night.”

“Let’s make that a longer stay. We wouldn’t need to do patrols at your place then. That’ll be best since we’re already spread thin covering the fairgrounds.”

Of course, they wouldn’t want to patrol by Jazz’s apartment. Forget that Phoenix did that for everyone else on the team the moment they were in danger. What was it Phoenix had said when Nev had been threatened? Something about not tolerating any threat against the PK-9 agency. That apparently only applied to the accepted members of the team. To everyone but Jazz.

“With Nev, you, and your two protection K-9s, the risk should be far too high for anyone to consider attacking you there.” Sof continued her justification for not giving Jazz more security.

Nev snorted. “And if they do try, they deserve what they get just for being stupid.” She tossed Jazz a grin she didn’t return. Nev must not have noticed how differently they were treating Jazz than everyone else.

“Got that right.” Bris chuckled along with Nev, though Jazz’s bestie gave her a confused sideways glance.

Nev’s smile faded as she spoke again. “What about the fair?” She aimed her gaze at Sof. “Should Jazz avoid doing that because of the danger?”

Jazz opened her mouth to put the kibosh on that idea, but Sof answered first.

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