Page 60 of Jina

“I see it.” The single-story building was similar in size and structure to his smaller department in Peabody. The difference was that the officers here covered only part of the sprawling city of Milwaukee. There were seven different districts here.

There was only one police department in Peabody.

Five minutes later, she parked Grayson’s SUV in a small lot behind the building. He followed her to the side door, waiting as she punched in a keycode to gain access.

He recognized the tactical team’s captain as he strode toward them. Rhy nodded at him, then turned to Jina. “Fill me in.”

She did so with a brief yet comprehensive detailing of how they’d found the bomb, then neutralized it.

Rhy glanced at him. “The scent of gasoline tipped you off?”

“Yes, sir.” Rhy wasn’t his boss, but he had a commanding presence just the same. “He’d already started a fire at Jina’s duplex using turpentine, so I searched for a possible incendiary device.”

“Good call.” Rhy scowled. “I don’t like how he’s changing his MO. Gunfire, arson, now a bomb? Who is this guy?”

“That’s what we’d all like to know,” Jina said. “Ex-cop or military.”

Rhy nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve secured a conference room for us to use. Unfortunately, the rest of the team is tied up. Joe has them out at the scene of a large drug bust because there are multiple armed perps suspected to be in the area. So it’s just you, Grayson, Cassidy, Zeke, and Flynn.”

“And me,” Cole spoke up. “I’m sticking with Jina until we have this guy behind bars.”

“And you,” Rhy agreed, then turned to lead the way to the conference room.

It didn’t take long for the others to join them. Cassidy brought bottles of water and passed them out among the group. Zeke and Flynn had both his and Jina’s bags. He reached for his, anxious to access his computer.

Going back to the gym where this all started made sense. It was the first attack against Jina, albeit a rather pathetic one. But maybe the perp hadn’t anticipated Cole showing up to help her.

In hindsight, it seemed clear the assailant had planned to confront Jina at her place. And maybe Cole’s arrival had thrown a monkey wrench into that attempt too.

While they waited for Grayson to arrive, he went back to the list of gym members with law enforcement background that Mike had provided. While Jina hadn’t recognized any of the names aside from the two Timberland Falls cops, Oliver and Evan, it could easily be that one of the club members knew her.

And resented her for . . . what?

“Tell me about the team.” He eyed Rhy who was seated at one end of the table. “Do cops go through a vetting process to become members?”

Rhy nodded, clearly following his train of thought. “Not a tryout or anything, but I tend to be selective when adding members to the team.”

“Except for Roscoe, we’ve all been cops here in Milwaukee, prior to being transferred here,” Jina added.

“Yeah, Roscoe was highly recommended by his cousin Cameron who was also an MPD cop. Speaking for myself, I was a little surprised Rhy took him on,” Zeke said. “Why do you ask?”

“I was curious if Jina had gotten the job over someone else,” Cole said to clarify his thought process. “Some guys can’t stand being beaten out by a woman.”

“There was only one candidate I didn’t hire,” Rhy said. “But Jina was already a member of the team. If Jeff Klapper has anyone to be upset with, it’s Roscoe.”

“I see.” He shrugged. “I was hoping for another lead to follow up on.” Then he glanced down at the list of gym members on his screen and almost choked. “Wait a minute, are you sure about that? Because Jeff Klapper is on the list.” He lifted his head to scan the faces seated at the table around him. “Klapper belongs to Mike’s MMA gym.”

“He does?” Jina appeared surprised. “That’s strange. I don’t remember ever seeing him there.”

“You go late in the evening, though, right?” He flushed a little as she arched a brow at how closely he’d watched her prior to the night of the shooting. “Maybe Klapper is an early bird.”

“If he hasn’t seen me there, why try to shoot me?” She shook her head. “Not sure we can pin this on him.”

“Hold on, Jina,” Rhy said. “We need all possible suspects on the table.”

“Okay, but I had nothing to do with his not landing a spot on the team. That was all Roscoe.”

The conference room door opened, revealing Grayson and another guy who was tall and lean, with brown hair and thick glasses. Cole noticed the guy looked at Cassidy first, then turned to Jina.

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