Page 48 of Night Fall (The Quantico Files 1)

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Alex couldn’t believe her ears. “By whom?”

“We don’t know, but we’re wondering if it was the Circle.”

“I have to say I’m surprised,” Alex said. “People keep telling me the Circle is bigger than I thought it was. That’s hard to believe if it’s true that very few copies of The Book exist, but I’m beginning to think they’re right.” She shook her head. “Everyone has to use a pseudonym. They’re not allowed to use their real names. How could such a huge group come from that?”

“I don’t know,” Harrison said. “But somehow they’ve managed it. The way they’ve organized this thing has made it almost impossible for us to track them down. That’s why Jimmy Gedrose is important to us. He’s the only known member of the Circle left alive we can talk to.”

“What about Marcus Pannell?”

“Dead end. Really dead end. The guy died a few months ago. Nothing sinister. Kidney disease.”

Alex looked at Logan. “I wonder if Jimmy knew that. Maybe that’s why he gave us that name.”

“Maybe,” Logan said. “At this point, we can’t be sure.”

“If the Circle is so deadly, why is Jimmy still alive?” Alex asked. “I have a hard time understanding that. He says he told the group he was ill and could no longer attend the meetings, and it seems they’ve left him alone even though he’s actually recovered. But he presents a hole in their secrecy. Even though I tend to believe him,we need to be careful. He could be a plant.”

“Noted,” Harrison said. “I’ll contact the Wichita office and suggest they proceed with caution. Hopefully he’s who he seems to be.”

“I think that’s wise,” Alex said. “If he is for real and the Circle finds out he’s helping us...”

“I’ve distributed your assessment and recommendations,” Harrison said, “but I want you to go over it with our team. You know the drill.”

Alex nodded. “We’ll do that here?”

“Yes. I’ll gather the troops.”

A few minutes later the agents assigned to the case and several of the detectives assigned from the Kansas City field office were gathered around the table. Karen was with them. Alex recognized some of them, but others were strangers to her. The group also included crisis-management agents and an attorney should they need warrants or legal advice. Alex was pretty sure she’d spotted the attorney when she came in. Black suit, shiny shoes, manicured nails, and carefully coifed hair all said lawyer to her.

Monty slid into the chair next to her. “Glad you guys made it back,” he said. He lowered his voice. “Between you and me, we’ve hit a wall. Hopefully, your friend in Wichita will help us.”

“I hope so. They’re picking him up today.”

“Good idea to keep him safe. People are dropping like flies.” He shook his head. “I’ve never been involved in a case like this. It’s crazy. It really is.”

“I understand,” Alex whispered back. “But we’ll get him.”

“As long as we’re in time.”

Monty hadn’t needed to mention time. Alex was certain everyone was thinking the same thing. She could almost hear the tick-tick-tickof an internal clock that wouldn’t shut up. When someone put a hand on her shoulder, she jumped, then looked up to find Mike smiling down at her.

“Mike,” she said. “Good to see you.”

“I asked to be assigned to the CP. Since I lived down the street from your aunt for years, I’m hoping I can help identify people coming in and out of her house. I’ll be working with a sketch artist.”

“That’s smart. You had a better chance of seeing them than I did when I lived there. I was busy hiding in my room.”

Mike sat down next to Logan and opened his notebook. Everyone around the table had either paper notebooks or electronic tablets.

Stephen Barstow came up to the table and sat down across from Alex. He smiled at her. “Good to see you again, SSA Donovan.”

“Good to see you too.” The detective’s dark hair and deep blue eyes made quite an impression. She noticed a female agent sitting a few chairs away from him reach her hand up to check her hair. Then she wiped the sides of her mouth with her finger, no doubt trying to remove any clumped-up lipstick. Alex was pretty sure the woman would have grabbed her purse and checked herself out a little more if she’d seen Stephen before he sat down.

Harrison moved to the end of the table and stood there flipping through some pages in a large notebook. Finally, he sat down, still looking at the information in front of him. The sound of fingers on keyboards created a steady hum from the other room as analysts searched for anything that would help them with the case.

Harrison cleared his throat. “Some of you know SSA Logan Hart and SSA Alex Donovan. We’ve given you all copies of their assessment, but I want us to go through it with them in case you have any questions. Also, I need to tell you that we’ve heard from the Train Man again.” He picked up another pile of papers and passed it to his left. “This is a letter the Kansas City Journal received early this morning. Read it, please, before we start.”

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