Page 18 of CJ

“I’m not a doctor, but those cuts and bruises weren’t at the time of death,” he frowned. “They’re at least a few days old.”

“Says the cause of death was a bullet to the temporal lobe,” frowned Moose. “How many friendly-fire incidents have you ever seen where the bullet hit gangland-style at the temple?”

“None,” said Georgie and Brix together.

“Fuck, I do not like this at all,” said Moose. “They were in Cyprus offering security services to American civilians. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“No one else was injured. No one was shot. No explosions. No kidnappings. No one taking credit for the kill,” said Georgie. “This wasn’t friendly fire. This was an assassination. The question is, why?”

“Where was Tim when Adam was killed?” asked Moose.

“It doesn’t say,” said Georgie, shoving the documents toward him.

“It should. When they investigate a death, they want to know where everyone was located in order to account for all scenarios,” said Moose. He took the documents, reading each line carefully. Shaking his head, he looked up at the group. “They’re claiming this could have been a random shooting, not friendly fire. They were leading an American delegation from a large meeting at the capitol and walking to their car. Someone walked close to the lines and fired.”

“Hitting him in the temple? Only an experienced sharpshooter or trained assassin could do that,” said Brix. “The question is why an assassin would kill one Ranger who was only guarding an American contingent. If they were out in the open, they all could have been killed.”

“Look at this,” said Brix. “They took the statements of the Americans they were guarding. According to a woman by the name of Leslie Winthrop, they were simply discussing new contracts for shipping purposes. They didn’t request the security, but it was sent, nevertheless. She said that they’d been going in and out for days without issue, and then on this day, they stepped outside, someone yelled ‘Yarrow.’ He turned, and someone fired a weapon.”

“Did they find the person who yelled his name?” asked Moose.

“No, but look at the diagram. According to Ms. Winthrop, Adam Yarrow was the furthest from the group.”

“The Y is Yarrow, W is Weathers. The other G, S, T, and R, are for their teammates. Gordon, Stratafos, Thompson, and Ross. Why was Yarrow so far away from the others?”

“Maybe he heard or saw something that he was trying to check out. He’s standing close to the street. The circles represent the American group. Six people, six Rangers.”

“Is that odd?” asked Georgie.

“Yes. It seems like too many people for just a group working on contracts for shipping,” said Brix. “What the fuck were they shipping? Gold?”

“He could have easily called Adam’s name, distracting him.”

“But why?” frowned Georgie. “There are a million ways he could have killed Adam. Doing it in front of his teammates was extremely risky. I’m not seeing any ballistic projections. Surely, they would have looked at that.”

“I’m not seeing it either,” said Brix.

“I think we need to get an answer to that question and a whole lot more. The last mission for Weathers was similar. Guarding an American contingent in Türkiye. Is that all this unit did?” asked Moose.

“I think it’s time we asked for some Ranger help,” said Georgie.

“I’ll see what I can dig up about their team,” said Brix. “Where are we staying while in D.C.? Does CJ and Jill’s places have enough room for everyone?”

“No, definitely not. Besides, Jill’s is still marked off as a crime scene. We’ll have the team back home find us a hotel.”

“On it,”said the voice of Hiro. Georgie laughed, shaking her head.

“Thank you, Hiro. Try to make sure we’re all on the same floor. I’d like to stay close to one another. I have the feeling that someone isn’t going to like the fact that we’re digging into this.”

“Let’s take some photos of all the documents,” said Brix. “Anything online we’ll get to one way or another.”

“This is what I love about being out here with you boys. Your creativity is off the charts.”

CHAPTER TEN

“How are you doing?” asked CJ.

Jill busied herself hanging her clothes in the closet of their room, dropping her makeup in the bathroom before meeting the others downstairs.

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