Page 34 of Legends Luke

Jackson pointed toward the screen. “This one is the leader. The way he commands the crew is different from the others. They don’t make a move or say a word unless they get the okay from him.”

Luke nodded. “I think so, too. From his height and build, I think he was in on all of the bigger crimes. He left things like carjackings and breaking-and-entering jobs to the less experienced crew members. The bank robberies and retail thefts require more planning and precision, so he’s in on those. He’s about six-three to six-five in height, about 200 pounds, so his size makes him stand out too. From what little skin was exposed at his neck and wrist, I can tell he’s Caucasian. Right-handed.”

“He’s not the only one in charge though,” Easton spoke up. “He keeps looking at the other one. The smaller one. He’s bossing everyone around, but then he looks at the other one for…what? Validation? Encouragement? I can’t tell.”

“She’s a female,” Ben deduced. “She’s tried to disguise herself under baggy clothes, but she’s a girl. Back the video up a frame or two.” He waited for Luke to do as he requested, and then he pointed. “There. She has hair slipping out from under her cap. She’s a brunette.”

Luke nodded. “You’re right. She’s also Caucasian. She has a tattoo of a heart on her wrist. Her sleeve rides up at one point, and I could make out the shape of it. She’s also right-handed. She’s only alittle over five feet. She never talks, but she and the leader are connected. They are the only ones who consistently show up in videos. The others are all different. Some show up in one video, some in a couple. But these two are in almost half of the ones the cops have.”

“So how does this help us find them?” Jackson asked the question, but he looked thoughtful, like his mind was already formulating an answer.

“This guy.” Luke pointed to the leader’s image on the screen. “I think he’s military trained. There’s something in the way he orders everyone around and the way he holds his weapon. It reminds me of a CO I had.”

“You think your commanding officer is a thief?” Easton raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

“Hell, no. I’m saying the way he handles himself is something he would only learn during military service. When he’s giving orders to the rest of the crew, it’s almost like a drill instructor. He’s teaching them how to be better criminals. She does too.”

“What do you mean?” Ben asked.

“Well, he only shows up when the score’s big, and she’s always there too. She doesn’t take the lead. It’s like she’s more tactical support. But I identified her in one of the home invasion security videos. He’s not there, so she’s the one in charge. And just like him, she’s giving orders like she’s teaching the others the best way to commit the crime.”

“I think you’re on to something,” Jackson continued. “Those two have done this before, but the guy is the one in charge. He’stoo confident in what he’s doing not to have an extensive record. He’s building his own army to command, but before he can, he has to perfect his strategy. He had to have a second in command to help him keep the others in line.”

“We need to cast a wider net. Research crimes with suspects fitting their description. It’s going to be like finding a needle in a haystack, but there’s not much else to go on. We don’t even know how old they are, so we’re guessing as to how far back to search.” Ben’s brow furrowed.

“But we still think they’re from Fire Creek, right?” Easton asked. “I mean, because they’ve hit all the towns around us but not any place in Fire Creek. So, if this guy is former military, why have we not crossed paths with him before? Why doesn’t he seem familiar to us? Same with her.”

“He’s a transplant maybe,” Jackson suggested. “We’re missing something. He’s good, but he’s not the best we’ve ever seen. He has to have made a mistake somewhere. We need to find it.”

“We will,” Ben said, and Luke nodded.

The Legends had yet to meet a suspect they couldn’t track down and stop.

Chapter Fifteen

Melody covered her mouth to hide the yawn wide enough to crack her jaw. She marched on fatigue-weighted legs to the breakroom, her insulated mug swinging from her other hand. It was once full of coffee, flavored with her favorite creamer. Now it was empty, but the effects of the caffeine failed to wake her system.

She was missing her full eight hours of rest, but she didn’t regret her short night. She might be fighting sleep deprivation at work, but since she’d spent the night talking to Luke, it was worth it. He had not asked her out on a second date, which, after their epic all-night first date, surprised her. But he called her in the evenings, and they talked about nothing and everything. She doubted she could relax enough to sleep at night without first hearing his sexy voice in her ear.

He also texted her at random times during the day. Like the man himself, they contained very few words, but she felt a thrill every time she received one. One day, she’d had a rough morning. Nothing was going right with a case, and Sandra snapped at anyone in her path. Melody wanted to go home and forget the day ever happened. Then she got a text from Luke.

Your eyes remind me of whiskey.

The random message surprised her out of her rotten mood. She stared at the words for a full five minutes, unsure about what to reply. She finally settled withthank you??After she sent it, she worried he would think her use of the question marks was a way to fish for more compliments. His quick response relieved her worry.

The expensive kind. My favorite.

She had smiled and actually giggled. The compliment was the most unusual and sweetest she’d ever received. And she read it at least once each day since, feeling her insides warm as if she’d had a belt of the same whiskey.

She didn’t care if she had to drink all the coffee in the world to stay awake. Talking to Luke at the end of the day was something she enjoyed too much to stop. She hoped her sleepiness didn’t affect her work enough to draw Sandra’s notice. Her boss had been on edge lately. Melody knew the case they were working on was a tough one, requiring lots of hours of preparation, but she had a hunch there was more to Sandra’s lousy mood than work.

The sound of voices reached her ears before she rounded the corner into the breakroom. She faltered just shy of the door, not wanting to interrupt a personal conversation. Standing this close, though, she couldn’t help but hear what was going on.

“You do like to dance, don’t you?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve got moves that’ll leave you begging for more.”

Melody recognized the voice of another paralegal, Brad, as he asked the question, but the female voice responding was unfamiliar to her.

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