Page 50 of Dangerous Chaos

“Hold on.” Relay stood, leaning over her keyboard as she went to work. “You see this, Killion?”

“Looking at your screen now,” he said. “What the hell?”

Killion and Relay shared a moment that was hard to read. It wasn’t relief or disappointment. It was nothing. A blank, still and silent wave of something only the two understood.

Relay turned to the group. “The DNA. It isn’t either of theirs.”

“Yeehaw.” Wit turned to high-five a smiling Hen. “Vindication is so sweet.”

“I’ll yeehaw to that, brother.” Hen pumped his fist in the air. “And they said… the truth shall set you free.”

“Don’t toss the confetti yet,” Killion warned. “It isn’t you, but…”

Relay moved behind Killion and watched over his shoulder as he continued to work. “This isn’t right… right? I mean, that’s…”

“I’m re-running it,” Killion said. “We need to be sure. It’ll only take a minute to recalibrate and…”

“What the hell is it, Killion?” Wit grilled. “What did you find?”

“Is it bad?” Hen joined in. “If it isn’t our DNA, then…”

Killion turned his chair and stared Hen down. “Like I said… it’ll only take a minute. We need to be sure.”

“Why do they do this shit?” Ronan asked. “They like to torture us with a cliffhanger.”

“They’re a couple of sadists,” Rip answered. “A couple of tech sadists.”

Killion smiled at the remark, which was something he seldom did. “This will be quick. Just double-checking a few things for the third time.”

Relay stood tall and rested her fists on her hips and let out a deep breath like she’d been holding it for hours. “Talk about a fucking plot twist, Killion. Make sure the integrity hasn’t been compromised, and this is real.”

“Oh, c’mon.” Wit flicked the pen he’d been playing with across the table. “Checking what?”

“Your DNA,” Relay admonished.

Hen tossed his hands in the air. “You said…”

“Said it wasn’t yours on the murders,” Relay reiterated in a scolding manner for their impatience. “But we didn’t say you weren’t a match to anything else.”

“What else could it be linked to?” Wit questioned. “Other Safe Haven cases? I mean, I’m sure we leave plenty of DNA at every case.”

“Here it comes,” Killion warned and immediately looked at Relay to confirm the results were the same the second time.

She let out a breathy guffaw. “This is…”

“Like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Killion finished. “This complicates everything.”

“It sure answers a lot too, though, now that it’s right in front of us.” Relay rested her palm to her forehead with a weary grin.

“Landry, you’re going to need to navigate this.” Killion nodded to the wall of screens where he was loading the information he and Relay had just unveiled. “It wasn’t their DNA at either scene, but both are first-generation relations to whoever those samples belong to.”

“The DNA at both scenes match, so we have a single unsub. One killer,” Relay followed with. “Both of these guys are related to the unsub.”

“What?” Wit shot up. “How? We have someone in common?”

Rumblings around the room told a story of confusion and surprise as each tried to wrap their mind around the information they’d all just received.

“What does this mean?” Hen looked as though he was still resting in disbelief. “Whoever is feeding us info –– feeding Ash and Aye info — is the killer? Or is the killer the one who sent both teams to the same shoot-out? Or are they both the same person? And no matter which answer is the affirmative, Wit and I are related to a killer?”

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