Page 58 of Fatal Vision
Shelby’s report to her superiors had sited ‘possible personal requital’.
Requital, what a stupid word. Vengeance, retribution…he liked those words better. Even revenge.
And yeah, he’d sure as hell considered taking revenge for Connor on Quan. No doubt about it.
But Shelby had gotten in his way.
She’d wanted to work counterterrorism since 9/11. Twelve years old and she’d known then that she wanted to hunt terrorists. He couldn’t blame her; he’d felt the same.
Jack and Martha had thought differently, continuing to force Shelby into the warped Southern belle role.
Colton had scoffed at the idea when she’d finally admitted to him that she’d been stalking the federal government—the FBI, CIA, and Homeland. During her high school years she’d contacted them all, asking for a job. There was no way those agencies cared about a teenage beauty queen with no experience doing undercover work for them.
And then Shelby had attended Oklahoma University and ended up on the path to Miss Okie. Before he knew it, she was acting strange. Quieter than usual. Unexplained meetings and absences.
He’d thought it was because they were apart so much with his missions overseas. When it all came out, he discovered his girlfriend was secretly gathering information on a homegrown terrorist group that was recruiting members on campus. Shelby had infiltrated them, uncovered an operation that employed college kids to run a cyber attack, and helped the Feds shut it down.
While never missing one class or runway appearance.
He’d been more than a little impressed.
Not that he’d ever been able to stop her from anything she set her mind to. Okie women were a breed apart. They could hogtie you and bake you a cake at the same time.
Salisbury came loping back and together they climbed the back stairs to the door. Connor waited just inside. “We good?”
“Yeah. Thanks for keeping Fed boy out earlier. Shelby still sleeping?”
They’d had a light lunch, Shelby filling Connor in on the serial killer investigation—which surprised Colton since she’d been so careful to keep it from Jaya. But that was Shel for you—you never knew how her mind worked when it came to some things.
Only, he did know. She was hoping, after her call to Lori Evers, that Connor could help clear Colton’s name if it came down to it. Therefore, Connor had to know the details.
“She’s awake and working on her therapy again,” Connor said, keeping his voice low and leaning against the paneled hallway wall. “She’s a beast. Sabrina’s flight will be in at three. Beatrice has a ‘friend’ with a pseudo lab Red can use to analyze that wrapper, and if we get our hands on any of the trace evidence from Shelby’s shooting, Red can analyze that as well.”
Connor called his girlfriend Red because of her hair. The nickname had caught on at the office, which irritated Sabrina since her Rock Star code name was 21 Pilots and she was darn proud of her ability to fly helicopters. The only person she didn’t mind calling her Red was Connor.
Beatrice had many contacts in the espionage world. Some more comfortable in the black market underworld than the legal side of things. “This friend of Beatrice’s nearby?”
“A few miles northeast of here. Runs a wind turbine farm and supposedly has a full, on-site lab. Red’s eager to get to work.”
“What are you two whispering about back there?” Shelby’s voice filtered to them.
Connor winked at Colton and dropped his voice another notch. “She’s got the hearing of a hawk.”
“I heard that,” she called.
Connor went to get a soda from the fridge. Colton found Shelby cruising around a chair in the center of the living room and doing a nice job of not catching the walker’s wheels on anything. Salisbury had made himself comfortable on said chair, enjoying a pet on the head every time Shelby made a lap.
“Nice job, speedy,” he teased, flopping down on the couch. “You’re better today.”
She blew air out her bottom lip, flipping the bangs off her forehead as she went for another lap. “I have cases to solve and you’re on a deadline. I need to make the most of our time together.”
“I told you, I’m not leaving until I catch the asshole who shot you.”
Shelby maneuvered over and dropped onto the sofa next to him. “What is this wrapper Connor mentioned? Why is your boss flying Sabrina here to run lab tests?”
Until he had something solid, there was no reason to get her hopes up. He reached for her feet and brought them to his lap. “Let’s talk about getting the file the FBI has on your shooting.”
Salisbury jumped up and landed on Shelby’s stomach, forcing an “oof,” out of her, but she didn’t make the dog get down. “You really think you can change the subject that easily? You used to have more finesse.”
