Page 78 of One Final Target

CHAPTER43

“YOU’RE AWFULLY QUIET.If you want to sleep, I’ll stay quiet as well.”

Jodie looked across at Sam. “I’m not tired. I’m trying to figure out who could have put the tracker in my backpack.”

They’d gotten coffee from a convenience store and were now on the freeway. Jodie needed to talk as another close call settled into her consciousness. This attempt hit home even more than the shooting in the mountains because she had felt so safe with Greto.

“Where did you have it?”

“I just threw it on the couch at Estella’s.”

“So anyone who was in her house had access?”

Jodie’s coffee cup stopped halfway to her mouth. “Yeah, and it scares me.”

“Well. We knew this was personal. Someone in your department has it in for you. Maybe someone in your life.”

“Not everyone would have recognized my backpack...”

Sam stayed quiet.

“Wait. You don’t think my own uncle is trying to kill me, do you?” Anger flared. Mike was a solid man and a good cop. He’d been her father for all intents and purposes. How could anyone think he might be trying to kill her?

“I don’t know what to think.” He turned to look her way for a couple of seconds. Jodie held his gaze, seeing concern and care in his eyes, and the anger fled. Sam was not the enemy. And he was making her look in a lot of places she would never consider looking. He returned his full concentration to his driving.

“What I know is,” he continued, “I’m glad you called me and I’m glad you’re safe.”

She considered everything he was saying and realized she had to be open to the most distasteful theory. Though, in complete honesty, she couldn’t conceive of Mike being the one after her.

After a few silent miles Jodie cleared her throat. “He didn’t kill Greto, which seems out of character. He’s been a wrecking ball where law enforcement is concerned. Why do you suppose he showed mercy there?”

“I don’t know. Maybe to knock us off-balance. Tasing and drugging the agent took time. If he wanted you so badly, he could have simply gone in guns blazing, killed the agent, and killed you.”

“But he didn’t. It’s almost as if...”

“He wanted you alive.”

Jodie sighed, then sipped her coffee, knowing it wasn’t the caffeine causing her heart to race. “I so want to catch this guy. I remember him boasting in the interview about his computer skills.It seemed to me like he wanted to go straight from the interview to being a detective in computer crimes.” Normalcy returned as she focused on chasing Collins, not him chasing her.

Sam told her about the interview with Martin and the different repair tickets he’d investigated.

“None of those repair tickets bother me, not even Bass.”

“Maybe he didn’t need to hack so much. We do know he used trackers. I’ve been wondering about the three scenes: the IED, the shooting in the mountains, and Collins’s house. Something came to mind.”

“What?”

“With the IED, he might not have known the exact day. Someone, maybe Collins, might have been living there, anticipating your arrival. As I recall, the FBI thought someone was living there as well and never walked it back.”

“Yes, they did.”

“Well, the same is true of the mountains. He’d been there for a while, maybe anticipating your arrival, but not sure when you’d be there exactly.”

“But he stole a car and everything.”

“Yeah, but I still think he was guessing. Maybe an educated guess. He knew at some point you’d head up there.”

“Because of the help he’s getting?”

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