Page 3 of Night Fall (The Quantico Files 1)

2

Logan had listened closely to the detective from Kansas City, but he’d had to fight to stay focused. What was that scent Alex Donovan wore? It was a mixture of lilacs and ... something else. His mind kept trying to figure it out, which was infuriating. He wasn’t interested in Alex. He was a Christian, and he had no plans to get involved with a woman who didn’t share his faith.

So why did his eyes drift her way whenever she was in the room? And why did he keep wondering what she would look like if she released her thick, wavy black hair from the band that held it in a ponytail? Alex wasn’t classically beautiful. Her bangs were no doubt an attempt to hide a high forehead. Her nose was a little long, and her mouth was too wide. But those slight imperfections faded when you looked into her eyes—gray-blue irises framed by black lashes. The way she outlined them made them seem even larger than they were.

She was also crazy smart, and when she looked at him, he felt as if she knew what he was thinking.

He felt his face flush.

“Grab your gear and get ready to go,” Jeff said. “Any questions?”

Logan shook his head and glanced at Alex. Her face had gone white, and her eyes were wide. “Is something wrong?” he asked her.

She was quiet for several seconds before saying, “I ... I need to speak to you, Jeff.” She stared down at the table. “Alone, please.”

Her request bothered Logan. “We’re a team,” he said. “Whatever you have to say, you should say it in front of all of us.” His tone was sharper than it should have been.

“Hey,” Monty said. “If she wants to speak to the chief alone, that’s okay. If it applies to the case, we’ll get an update.”

“Does what you want to tell me have something to do with this case?” Jeff asked Alex.

She looked up at him. After another few seconds, she nodded.

“Then these agents stay, Alex. If it’s something personal, that’s different.”

“Do you have some idea who our UNSUB is?” Logan asked.

Alex shook her head slowly. She’d hung her suit jacket on the back of her chair, and now, because she wore a short-sleeved blouse, Logan could see the muscles in her arms working as she clenched and unclenched her hands on top of the table.

“No. But I ... I know what the tags on the boxcars mean.”

Jeff’s eyebrows shot up. “You understand them?”

“Yes.”

“For now, don’t tell me how you know. Just tell me what they mean.”

“Go back to the first photo,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Jeff clicked on the images until he found the images he wanted. “This is from the first murder,” he said. “Just outside Kansas City.” Then he read, “‘Angels walked on the earth. M 4:7.’”

“Stephen’s right,” Monty said. “That almost sounds like something from the Bible.”

Alex stared at it, then her eyes narrowed and her face flushed. Logan could almost hear the wheels in her mind turning.

“No. It’s not from the Bible,” she said. “Show me the next one, please.”

Jeff brought it up. Alex stared at this one for only a few seconds, then read, “‘And the angels made war. N 1:21.’”

Jeff shook his head. “So what are those notations? Like you said, these references aren’t biblical, but they seem like it, with chapters and verses.”

The red in Alex’s cheeks deepened. “They’re exactly that. Chapters and verses from a book. For example, M 4:7 is Marduk, chapter four, verse seven. It actually says something like ‘Angels walked on the earth, but the world regarded them not.’ N 1:21 is the book of Nergal, chapter one, verse twenty-one. ‘And the angels made war with the evil ones.’”

Jeff brought up the third photo and read, “‘He arises. T 7:12.’”

Alex squinted at the image. She was again silent for a few moments before saying, “I can’t remember which book T is. Sorry.”

Her eyes darted toward Logan and Monty, then back to Jeff. After hesitating a moment, she said, “From the time I was twelve, I was raised by an aunt who believed the teachings in a book that theorized the world is populated by beings from another world. Some good. Some malevolent. Everyone on earth is classified as either a demon or an angel. This is how the people who believe in this book explain the concept of evil. Supposedly, if a person is born with demon blood, all their descendants will be demons. If they’re born with angel blood, they’re angels forever. The same applies to their descendants. Demons are destined to cause pain and destruction. Angels are called to fight the darkness.”

---