Target on the Mountain by Elizabeth Goddard (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

FBI and ecoterrorists.” Katelyn gestured toward the front part of the house.

“Good.” That meant they wouldn’t lose more time than they’d already lost today. She crept forward, not to eavesdrop, but to let him know she was available to participate if needed.

She saw him standing there, cell to his ear as he peeked through the mini blinds, out the front window. For a few seconds she studied his profile. A strong jaw and well-defined masculine features. A few whiskers had erupted on his cheek where he shaved to form the Vandyke beard. Finally he turned his head to look at her, as though he’d been aware of her presence all along. He didn’t appear disturbed with her for intruding on his call.

“I understand,” he spoke into the cell. “Yep. We’ll be there.”

He ended the call.

“We’ll be there?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

“I just spoke with an FBI agent. He sounded perturbed with us. We’re meeting with him in twenty.”

“What?” Hands fisted on her hips, Katelyn stared at them as she strolled into the room. “And miss my pasta? I was cooking it up special, just for you.”

Ryan chuckled and glanced at his smartphone. “If it’s ready we can eat fast and make it.”

“No way,” she said. “You do your meeting and then we’ll have a nice relaxed meal when you get back. No rushing through a meal I’m taking my time to make.” Katelyn leaned close to Tori and squeezed her arm. “Besides, I want to catch up with Tori.”

Tori and Katelyn had been friendly, but not all that close. Still, Katelyn’s friendliness warmed her. With Sarah gone, Tori’s heart ached with loneliness, and even the smallest of gestures meant so much.

“I’d like that, too,” Tori said.

“That’ll work, then,” Ryan said. “I don’t think we’ll be that long.” Ryan glanced at Tori. “The plan for coming and going will always be the same. You have to duck down in the vehicle before I exit the garage. Wear the cap and the wig, just in case.”

Tori stared at the ceiling and shook her head. “Like that worked so well the last time. Whoever is looking for me is not going to be fooled.”

“We do all we know to do, Tori. Just work with me on this, okay?”

“Okay, fine. Let’s do this.”

Ryan sat in the passenger seat of the special agent’s big black SUV parked under the overpass of a bridge in an abandoned industrial area. The agent remained in the driver’s seat. Tori sat in the back seat. This clandestine meeting was like something from a movie. Ryan didn’t like it.

Why couldn’t they be up front and out in the open?

His cell had buzzed a few times. His captain was calling him.

Special Agent Sanchez remained stoic, but Ryan suspected that beneath the surface he was fuming. “Sarah Peterson’s murder had nothing to do with her involvement in the ecoterrorist group.”

“You can’t know that. I think you’re trying to deflect your responsibility in this.” Tori wasn’t hiding her own frustration.

“Ecoterrorists aren’t profiled as murderers. The extent of their activism typically involves property damage. Sarah’s murder was part of a multiple homicide. Your investigation has taken a wrong turn, Detective.”

“How do you explain Dee James’s murder?” Tori asked. “He was murdered because he knew something about Sarah.”

“I’m sorry, are you investigating, Special Agent Peterson? Because it was my understanding you’re on bereavement leave.” Sanchez’s unemotional features suddenly shifted. He was losing his patience. “What’s going on, Detective Bradley?”

“I’m in charge of this investigation,” Ryan said. “Since Tori has insight into her sister that we wouldn’t otherwise have, I’ve asked her to offer her expertise. Her knowledge of her sister’s life led us to Sarah’s involvement with Dee James, which led us to her email alias, and then finally to you.”

“You were not led to me. I contacted you because you could have cost us months of work. Do you know that?” Now was the moment when the agent would come unhinged.

Instead, he blew out a breath. “We took down the ecoterrorist activists within A Better World at four this morning. We raided the homes of eight people and brought charges against them for planning to bomb a factory.”

“But not murder?”

“No. But if we learn more about Sarah’s death from our perpetrators, you can learn about that on the news. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have someplace to be.”

“Wait, Special Agent Sanchez,” Tori said. “Please tell me that Sarah wasn’t involved in violence. That she wasn’t an ecoterrorist who got caught and had to make a deal.”

He pursed his lips for a couple of breaths, then said, “She was working with us the whole time, Peterson, if that eases your mind. As for her murder, I suggest you get back on track with your investigation, Detective, and focus on a different target and motive. You’ve missed the boat on this one.”

The agent was dismissing them.

Ryan suspected that Tori wanted to argue more. How could the arrogant Agent Sanchez know that someone within A Better World hadn’t found out that Sarah was an informant and decided to take revenge? Did Dee James know what Sarah was up to? Tori made it sound as if the guy liked Sarah and wanted to help. But Sarah had taken his idea of an alias email and used it against him.

He stood with Tori under the bridge and watched Sanchez drive away in his slick black Suburban. Again, just like in the movies.

“Well, that was weird,” Tori said.

Ryan would keep his thoughts to himself for the moment.

Back in his county vehicle, Ryan started the ignition, and let Tori process the meeting, as well. Ryan said nothing as he absorbed the news shared by the agent.

Tori pressed her head against the seat back and released a soft sigh. “It could be over, then. They’ve arrested the main threats in the group and will obviously find out more by questioning them. The FBI will know if there was some reason they could have had to kill Sarah, her friends,