Page 85 of Critical Doubt

"You don't know that the shooter was one of your teammates. Or that one of them set the explosive."

"But Paul was in on it. He knew enough to come to Chesapeake Beach, and he said he thought they were just going to scare me. Maybe he didn't come to kill me, but he knows who did. He's involved with that person in some way, and the other guys are, too. That makes them just as guilty." His eyes filled with anger. "If we'd gotten in that car, Savannah…"

She didn't need him to finish that statement. "Your instincts saved us once again."

"I don't know how many more times we can get lucky."

"It wasn't luck. It was you. I knew I could count on you, Ryker. I told you that when it counted, you'd be there, and you were."

"You took a big risk. I don't even know what made me look under the car."

"You didn't hear anything?"

"No. Nothing. The bells were quiet. But I just felt like something was off."

"Your gut was right."

"It was too close. You could be dead right now."

"So could you. But we're not. That's what we need to hold on to."

Their gazes met and held. She had so many other things she wanted to say to him. And she thought he had things he wanted to say to her, but where did they even start?

"I'm glad we had this afternoon," he said.

"Me, too. I wish we'd never left that cove. It was so pretty there, so peaceful."

"Peace rarely lasts long. That's why you have to enjoy it when you have it."

"I did enjoy it."

"I could tell."

His words eased some of the tension between them. "Well, I could tell, too."

"I wasn't trying to hide my pleasure," he said with a smile.

"Neither was I." She paused as a nurse walked into the room, but the woman made her way to an elderly man in the corner. "I thought she was coming to tell us something."

"I think it will be a long time, Savannah. Do you want some coffee? I saw a machine down the hall."

"That would probably be a good idea. I need to call Flynn. I took charge of the case without asking anyone if I could do that. But I wanted to avoid having to go down to the station and listen to a lot of questions we couldn't answer."

"I thought it was a good move. Whatever we're dealing with is big."

"Too big for just us. Now that we suspect that the guys are alive, that there's a plan to do something, we need to get help."

"While you make your call, I'll get us some coffee. Cream or sugar?"

"Just black." As he left, she picked up her phone and called Flynn. It was only four on the West Coast, so hopefully he was still in the office. She felt an enormous relief when he answered. She gave him a quick but thorough update on recent events, and finished by saying, "I don't want to put you or our task force in a difficult position, but I need us to handle this case. We have to move fast, and I don't have time to cut through layers of red tape."

"Based on what you've told me, I would agree. We have a group of former Army Rangers, who have faked their deaths in order to do something. It has to be big. They wouldn't go to this much trouble for something small."

"No, they wouldn't. Ryker said that Todd Davis ranted about how the army owed them, how the country owed them. They deserved more than they got. A lot of them were released because of their injuries in an ambush that also seems to have taken place under suspicious circumstances."

"I'm going to bring Beck in on this. He's former military. He might have some insights. And I'll talk to the local police," he added. "I'll confirm that we're handling the case and set up security for the man in surgery. I'll also call Jax. He's in DC, getting an expensive thank-you dinner from Senator Wickham. He can get to you in an hour."

"I don't need him to break away from that." Jax had saved Senator Wickham's college-age daughter from a trafficking operation that had been targeting young women at his daughter's private school.

---