Page 14 of Shadow of the Moon

“There are oaks and maples and tulip poplar in these pictures, so it has to be the eastern part of the country.”

Amberly rolled her eyes. She’d come to the same conclusion.

“Look at the printed papers. What do you see?”

Devlin flipped through the pics till he found the ones she meant. He looked at them for a long time, turning the picture this way and that. “I’m not sure. I think I see a scribbled name on this one because it looks capitalized, but I can’t make it out. This one looks like a spider with seven arms. I do see ‘we’ll lose the window’ on this one, but it’s too blurry on top. This one,” he said, holding one of the pictures up at eye line, “makes me think bad vacation photo in a museum or something.”

Amberly looked at the picture again. She hated to admit it, but she saw that as well. “A Washington museum?”

He made a face. “Not sure. Maybe it’s the lighting or something.”

After scanning the pictures again, Devlin put them back into the envelope, then set it with the operation folder on the back seat.

“We know Regent has an axe to grind against authority,” he said thoughtfully.

“And the government.”

Devlin looked out the window thoughtfully. “How was he apprehended the first time?”

Amberly snorted. “Well, he blew himself up. The package detonated before he had a chance to get it into position.”

Devlin turned to look at her. “And what was he trying to blow up at the time?”

“A church, across the river from D.C. in Arlington, Virginia. His group had already killed thirteen people, mostly women and a few children, at an assault weapon protest the day before with a remotely triggered device.”

He sat back in the seat, elbow resting near the window and hand propped against the upper door. For a moment, Amberly couldn’t draw her gaze away from the picture he presented. Devlin Kreed had meant everything to her once upon a time, and it was a shock to have him in her life again so suddenly.

They’d been each other’s sounding boards. They’d met years ago at a military function. Usually the CIA and Navy didn’t cross paths much, but they were being recognized for a joint operation. It had been the brass’s way of showing off their toys, and it was tedious in the extreme listening to bureaucrat after bureaucrat claim great accomplishments like they had actually been on the field. Devlin had been at the bar and supposedly he’d seen her walk in. Within about a minute, she had a drink in her hand and a cute Navy SEAL was smiling at her across the room.

They’d been inseparable ever since. Yes, there were some organizational issues they had to overcome. Each had secrets they couldn’t share, but they’d worked it out and managed to dance around those subjects.

She hadn’t known that Devlin was going to be escorting Regent that night, or that he was going to try to take him out. In the bigger scheme of things, yes, Regent was a piece of homicidal shit that needed to die, but she couldn’t sanction his death in cold blood. It had shocked her when she’d learned what had happened.

And when she’d confronted Devlin, he hadn’t tried to defend himself. He’d just taken the charge on the chin and accepted everything that had rolled at him.

Why hadn’t he defended himself?

That had always nagged at her, and she wasn’t sure why she was so centered on it right now. Yes, Devlin was a sniper, but he had a code that he lived by. He didn’t shoot at everyone, willy nilly. There was a method to his madness, and he always followed orders.

So, why would he not follow orders?

If his team was in trouble, he would not take the shot. Or if he thought it would cause more problems. Or if he thought she was in danger.

Her mind focused on that last one. That felt right. Had someone threatened her, or her job, to get him to submit?

Fuck…

Amberly looked at her former husband and wondered if she’d royally screwed up. Had she been the one that had ruined their relationship?

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