Page 13 of Storm Surge

“Thanks, Victor.”

“What do we know about this accident she mentioned?”

Will had tried to get more information out of her, but even after so many years, Jamie was traumatized by it. “Not much. She doesn’t remember anything about it, and Betty only knows what Collins told her, which amounted to Jamie’s car went off the road and she almost died.” Will could tell both Jamie and Betty had been duped by Collins. “Betty believes her brother is a good man who left the CIA to work for an international oil business. She said no one from the CIA ever came to speak to her about his death.”

“Unbelievable. She thought he was living abroad for ten years?” Victor asked.

“That’s just it. Collins came here quite often, according to Betty. About every six months or so.”

“You’re kidding? A former CIA agent who faked his death and went into hiding has been coming and going into the US for years?”

Will couldn’t believe it either.

“What do we know about Jamie’s mother? Is she still in the picture?”

When Will had asked Betty about the mother, she clammed up. “Collins’s sister said she hadn’t been around in years. Said her name was Sofia, and she’d left Jamie and Martin long ago. That’s what he wanted her to believe anyway.”

“I’ll get James to try and locate a Sofia Collins, if that’s indeed her name.”

“Knowing Collins, it might be another lie. I wonder if his family even knows who the real Martin Collins is?”

Victor blew out a breath. “I’d say no. I heard we were able to ID Edward Buckley as the man on the rocks.”

Will was still in shock. The man who had killed his own wife, escaped from prison for years, and had been on the run, had died at the hands of his son.

“I don’t understand why Collins took his father’s life. He helped him escape. Kept him hidden for all these years and then killed him out of the blue?” Will shook his head. “There’s more to the story than what we know.” He heard enough about Collins and his father to last him a lifetime and chose to change the subject. “Are the nuclear weapons still secure?”

Three Strike Force agents were abroad in Afghanistan guarding the nuclear weapons that Legion had at one time hidden out at David Kincaid’s Texas ranch.

“The ones we found are, but the number of nukes that we’ve confiscated and what we believe were stored in Texas don’t match. Which means, there are more out there somewhere.”

The disturbing news settled over Will. This was the last thing they needed to worry about. “And Collins is still missing.”

The team had tracked the weapons to a cave in Afghanistan on a property owned by Ahmad Hassanzai. Hassanzai and his people must have realized Strike Force was closing in because they’d abandoned the weapons.

Victor’s sigh spoke volumes. “Exactly. And we all know what he’s capable of. We need to find him and soon.”

The weariness in his friend’s tone had Will asking, “How are things going there?”

“We’re still trying to ferret out the people Legion had integrated into positions of power here at the capital. So far, we’ve found members in all branches of government. Military. Judicial. Law enforcement. It could take months to uncover the depth of their betrayal. I’ve asked Emily Pearson along with Joe Allison and Nick Doyle to head up the recruiting of new members for Strike Force. We’ll need a strong team set up here in D.C., and I thought it might be a good idea to have some fresh blood without any preconceived notions in mind to work through this mess here. I want to get everyone on the team connected via video soon, so we can discuss what’s happening.” Victor paused for a moment. “I’ll have Lincoln fly me out your way soon. The team here has everything under control, and I can’t help but believe you’re at the hotspot when it comes to Legion’s next move.”

Would Collins attack the compound to get his daughter and sister back? It was a chilling scenario, but one Will could easily see happening.

“We’ll be glad to have you, and you’re right. Something’s coming.” Will glanced around. “I’ll see you when you arrive.”

“Take care of yourself. You have something Collins wants bad. The daughter and sister. And we’ve already proven he’s a sociopath. Wherever he’s hiding, he’ll want to get them back, if for no other reason than to keep them from telling you about him. Get the DNA from Collins’s daughter and send it to the lab as soon as you can.”

“I will.” He ended the call and noticed the sheriff heading his way. The dismay on his face had Will hurrying out to meet him. “Has something happened?”

Callahan’s expression was grim. “Yes, we’ve discovered a body buried in a grave in the woods. It appears to be a female, but she’s been there for a while.”

Will followed the man into the woods where a gravesite had been dug up. Several law enforcement people stood around.

Once he reached the open hole, Will spotted at the skeletal remains of a woman staring up at him. The only way he could tell she’d once been female was the tuffs of long dark hair attached to the skull, and she appeared to have on a tattered dress.

“Get the crime scene unit out here right away and call the medical examiner,” Will told the sheriff. “We need to find out who this woman is.” But he had a feeling he knew. Betty had told him Collins’s wife had disappeared years earlier. She’d run off in the middle of the night, abandoning Jamie and Martin. Was it all lies?

The sheriff turned away and made the call. Crime scene had been onsite since soon after Will arrived. The ME had taken Edward Buckley’s body to the morgue to do an autopsy. Not that there was any real doubt the trauma from his fall wasn’t the cause of death. At this point, they had to be certain of everything.

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