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Authors: Colby Marshall

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BOOK: Flash Point
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‘Rewind that one more time,' Jenna said, focusing on the entrance.
Concentrate.

Saleda obliged and rewound to the moment just before the hulky banker rushed Slender UNSUB.

Jenna watched with intent as the UNSUB who would rescue Slender entered the door. Maybe she'd imagined it.

But, no, the second this newest UNSUB appeared on camera, head turned, the direction his body was angled … he was already looking to Slender UNSUB, anticipating her needing him. The light bluish gray of protectiveness flashed in.

‘They could both have personal relationships with Slender, but Cutthroat happened to be facing the direction of Slender's scuffle with the banker. She reacted, but that
could
just be because she's committed to getting the job done and getting the attackers out,' Jenna said, pushing from her mind the thought of how her last statement implied that, on some level, the killers
were
all looking out for each other, trying to get everyone out cleanly. That could be because leaving any behind would leave a trail for police to find them. She could visit that idea later. ‘But the UNSUB who comes to Slender UNSUB's rescue from the doorway is already intent on saving her. See how he comes in already focused on where she is in the fray?'

Jenna hit the rewind and let the video loop through the moment once more.

‘He definitely already had eyes on her the second you see him on camera,' Porter said.

‘And
that
stab,' Saleda said, pausing the footage just after the UNSUB from the door reached Slender, shoved the banker attacking her on to a middle desk on the right side of the bank, and jabbed a large knife into the man's chest right at his rib cage. ‘If I didn't know better I'd say it was the most bizarre attack.'

Chili pepper red flashed in. Organization. The weapon choice was peculiar, but it had obviously been planned because of its efficiency. Jenna had never seen a knife like it or the havoc it wreaked on its victim. If more killers knew about it, scary didn't begin to describe the scenarios the BAU might have to deal with.

‘Do we know what that
was
yet?' Porter asked, looking to Saleda.

‘It was a WASP knife,' Dodd said before Saleda could answer. ‘I noticed him reloading it after he stabbed the banker. Heard about them a while back from a buddy of mine who's a diver. The thing was originally designed for sharks. Can be used like any other diving knife for the typical routine stuff on a dive, but it also has a hole in the tip to deliver the goodies. Insert knife, press button on the top, release enough compressed CO
2
into a shark – or human – to freeze all its internal organs immediately … and, obviously in this case, enough air to cause the body to practically blow like a tire if you forgot to remove the air compressor.'

‘Shit,' Porter mumbled.

‘So the WASP UNSUB could be a diver?' Teva ventured.

‘Or a hunter. Used on land predators like bears, too,' Dodd said with a shrug.

Jenna leaned in to look at the paused image on the screen. Specifically, the way WASP UNSUB stood, how exact his jab was. She imaged the few seconds of video in her head as she'd seen it several times before this. WASP UNSUB had moved so swiftly. Sharp. The banker had landed on the table because when WASP UNSUB went for him, he'd applied a constant, balance-throwing forward pressure.

Denim blue flashed in.
Military.

‘Is it ever used as a tactical knife?' Jenna asked.

‘Looks like it,' Dodd said, now looking at his smart phone. ‘Not shocking. Perfect tool for special ops, I bet.'

Jenna nodded, whipping out her own phone and dialing Irv.

‘To what search that Google alone cannot handle do I owe the pleasure, Dr Ramey?' Irv answered.

‘We need to start compiling a list of military or former-military who purchased a WASP knife in the past years. Possibly crosscheck that with bank clientele and workers, though I kind of doubt you're going to come up with anything there,' she said. Mainly, the military list of WASP knife buyers would come in handy once they had other leads, but this way, they'd have it ready to check when needed.

In the background, Porter's laugh sounded over the others. ‘Now we just need to know what literary role an ex-military man with a crazy-deadly diver's knife would play. I don't think Boo Radley was known for shark-killing.'

‘One very vague, not-usable-at-the-moment-but-maybe-usable-in-the-maybe-near-or-maybe-far-future list coming up. What else can I do for you, my liege?'

Jenna glanced at the other team members, noting the macaroni and cheese orange-yellow of prudence that flashed in. They hadn't put together a hard and fast profile of the whole group yet, but she felt confident that it wouldn't hurt anything for Irv to be on the lookout for a few things she was sure were going to come into play.

‘Maybe one more minor task, oh, hack-savvy-one,' Jenna said. She really should run this by Saleda before she did it, but that would mean risking the chance of her saying no. It wouldn't be good to get caught up in looking for things that weren't pertinent, but the literature details
were
pertinent. They had to be. ‘Do some looking around for any subversive groups with some kind of tie to classic literature. The group we're looking for will be well-educated and intellectuals. Because of the type of literary references it's likely they're either college students or people who have some college education. They're a hodgepodge of personality types, so they won't all be the same sex, race, or socio-economic background, another factor that lends to the college theme since it's possibly an ideal place where a group of all walks of life might meet. They may call each other by character names or use character names for Internet handles. The group or its members will also be active on blogs and websites of newspapers and other media, probably often commenting on controversial news items or writing letters to the editor. So far, the literature references we have to go on are
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde,
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee – the character Scout in particular – and the character of Cardinal Richelieu, who is from …'

Shit. Where the hell was Grey Hechinger when you needed her?

‘A bunch of shit,' Irv said. ‘Got it. I'm on it, though no promises. That's a really vague request until there's more to go on.'

‘Thanks, Irv. By the way, any more news on—'

‘No word from the Wordplay Wonder yet, if that's what you were about to ask. I'm working on it, but right now it seems like she's trying as hard to stay out of touch with you as you were with her before now,' Irv replied.

Damn it, Grey. Off your meds again, are you?

Then again, if Grey
was
going to be of use to them, she'd probably
need
to be off her meds.

‘OK. Keep me posted,' Jenna said, then hung up.

She looked to Saleda, ready to take whatever lashing her leader had in store for her after giving a profile they hadn't agreed to yet. She wouldn't blame Saleda. It was blatantly seditious behavior if she'd made the call behind closed doors, but in front of the whole team
with
their leader present went beyond rebellious.

Saleda stared back at her, eyes reproachful and cold.

Then, a very long second later, Saleda rolled her eyes, smirked. ‘OK, moving on. What else on this video do we have that's of use in individual profiles? If Jenna's going to get a jump on the rest of us here, we'll have this end covered so we get a participation trophy when the thing is solved.'

Thirteen

Jenna blinked, unable to believe Saleda was willing to let it go so easily. What the heck kind of leader would be OK with looking the way she'd just made Saleda look?
Quick. Engage the team with something else.

‘Slender and WASP aren't the only pair visibly working together,' Porter said before Jenna's brain had a chance to think of something to shift the topic to. ‘Rewind it to right near when WASP guy enters and keep it playing.'

Saleda obliged. This time, when WASP UNSUB entered, though, Porter pointed to the door. ‘Keep watching here. The kill is hard to see on the footage.'

Another black figure entered the bank, headed directly toward one of the bank managers' desks on the left side. Specifically, the farthest one from the door, passing a few other attackers actively in fights with their victims, but unconcerned by potential victims save the one who would become his target.

When the figure reached the third desk, he produced a weapon swiftly from his clothing, then stepped to the side, where his next movements were blocked by another fight going on almost directly in front of the desk as Slender UNSUB and WASP UNSUB took on another victim.

‘This is one of the two victims who had blunt force trauma pre-mortem. Those blunt force wounds didn't kill him, though. One clean, deliberate severing of his carotid did, and it was the only stab wound on his body,' Porter explained. He traced his finger in the air away from where whatever Blunt Force UNSUB was doing was now blocked by the action of WASP UNSUB and the banker at the desk in front of him and back toward the bank entrance. ‘But watch – the next one in the door
also
heads straight for the third desk.'

Saleda nodded, keeping her eyes on the screen as Blunt Force UNSUB walked away, and the figure who had followed Blunt Force to where Blunt Force's victim had collapsed after a severe beating stepped in, bent down behind the third desk.

‘So … the other victim who had pre-mortem blunt force wounds. What was his cause of death?' Teva asked.

‘What can I say?' Porter said. ‘There must've been a two-for-one coupon for the relentless beating, severed carotid special.'

Puce flashed in. Synchronicity.

‘Well, fast-forward it to the other victim that matched that MO. Maybe from another angle, we can make out what Blunt Force's blunt object is,' Dodd said.

‘And what the hell his creepy Wing Man did to the victim behind that desk after Blunt Force got bored with him,' Teva said.

Saleda pressed play, and the footage started right where they'd left off. While Wing Man UNSUB was apparently finishing off the guy behind the desk, Blunt Force UNSUB rushed in the opposite direction and, in seconds, attacked a graying man in camouflage pants and a rebel flag T-shirt. This time, even though Blunt Force UNSUB's back was to the camera as he savagely beat the man until he crumpled to the ground in front of the teller counter, unable to move, it was easy to tell Blunt Force UNSUB's weapon wasn't anything you'd expect.

‘Is that a whip?' Teva asked, leaning closer to the screen as if that inch would make the granulated video suddenly crystal clear.

‘No lashes on the victim,' Jenna muttered, both in answer to Teva as well as to herself.
What is he using?

‘It's … it looks like a cane or something. Size-wise. But not the way it bends,' Teva said.

Jenna flinched. ‘It's a riding crop, I think.'

Dodd looked skeptical. ‘Riding crop? Causing blunt trauma? Doubt it.'

‘You're telling me in a room full of investigators not one of you is a Sherlock Holmes fan?'

Every head turned toward the door – toward the new voice – but Jenna already knew who it was. She wasn't sure
how
she'd gotten inside Quantico and made it to the door to ridicule them, nor how she was now here when Irv had already said he hadn't found her. And yet, the creamy vanilla color Jenna associated with her flashed in at the first hint of her voice, and she was sure of the face she'd see when she turned toward the doorway.

Sure enough, Grey Hechinger stood framed there, her pasty-pale white skin practically glowing in the fluorescent lights, the cascade of frizzy curls so blonde they were colorless pulled in a messy ponytail at the base of her neck.

But Grey didn't give Jenna the opportunity to introduce her, because as always, normal rules of social interaction didn't occur to Grey. They wouldn't. Ever. What would occur to her would be whatever she found most interesting. It was one of many reasons she had such trouble in social settings and appearing normal in any way.

The other reason being she was schizotypal.

Grey laughed, her head lolling back with a cheery, amused expression crossing her face. ‘You already know they're calling themselves by book character names, and that this guy works with a partner. Surely you must have realized when you saw the riding crop that the guy holding it has to be Sherlock Holmes, and his surgically precise companion, very obviously, would be Mr Watson.'

Fourteen

‘Everyone, meet Grey Hechinger,' Jenna said, ‘my literature and linguistics contact.'

Saleda turned to Jenna, her face incredulous. Jenna simply smiled. It wasn't like she was freaking excited about this, either. But what the heck was she supposed to do? Grey was already presenting herself as the right person for this job, despite the many things that should immediately disqualify her.

Irv stepped in behind Grey. ‘Sorry. She showed up at the gate asking for me, and … well, we were kind of—'

‘Hunting me like a feral animal that wouldn't be smart enough to find its hunter first?' Grey cut in, looking at no one in particular as she glanced absentmindedly around the room like she was on a tour. Her voice was soft and amused. Almost sing-songy.

Irv's chin dipped, and his shoulders curled forward. He caught Jenna's eye. Shrugged.

Jenna waved off the nervous questions written on Irv's face. They didn't have to worry about Grey getting mad. She didn't seem it, and anger wasn't one of her go-to emotions, anyway. She was just awkward and, as usual, oblivious to rules of common courtesy. Jenna watched the woman wander around the conference room she hadn't been invited into, taking long, anything-but-furtive peeks at notes, pictures, and other case materials lying out on the table. It would never have occurred to Grey that the hunted becoming the hunter statement might've drawn a response ranging from pissed as hell at best and menacing and dangerous at worst.

BOOK: Flash Point
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