“I don’t know, but we need to figure it out,” Jody said.
The only person he could fathom on the right side of the law who might want to take a shot at him was Jody herself and she had left her post. Why? “Hey, where did you go? When you left the stage?”
Jody’s eyes narrowed. “Why?” The accusatory glare drilled into him. “You think I shot you? If I were going to shoot you, I’d do it at close range so you’d know exactly who it was coming from.”
Evan swallowed hard. Okay, maybe she hadn’t forgiven him if she’d imagined how she’d kill him. “I know you aren’t the shooter. I just want to know why you left your post.”
“You abandoned Mr. Wiseman?” Wilder asked.
“I didn’t abandon anyone.” Jody’s tone was low and cool. “I was following your orders. I thought you wanted to keep the situation with protesters outside contained to CCM. But you weren’t out there. I came back inside when the first shot rang out and hauled it back onstage.”
Wilder frowned. “Jode, I never gave you any orders.”
Jody snatched her phone from her blazer pocket. “Yeah. Ya did.” She tapped her screen and shook her head. Her jaw dropped. “Wilder, you did. I promise...but...it’s not here. All your other texts are, but not the one that told me to get outside to the east entrance.”
“Because I didn’t text you.” He scrolled through his phone and held it up. “Nothing.”
“Can I?” Evan reached for her phone and swiped through her apps. Nothing suspicious or visible to the naked eye. Jody wasn’t a liar. If she said Wilder texted her, then what she saw was a text from Wilder. Or who she thought was Wilder.
He glanced at Wheezer, and the other man nodded and looked at Jody. “Sounds like someone hacked your phone.”
Jody’s face paled. “Why? Why not text Evan to abandon his post and take a shot at him outside? What’s the point of getting me off the stage? Wiseman wasn’t the target.”
Evan wasn’t sure. There wasn’t a good reason other than it was causing turmoil and confusion right now. The insistence in her tone as she’d declared her innocence to Wilder about abandoning her station must have brought up what happened three years ago. Of course, it was never off Evan’s mind. He’d wanted to go to bat for Jody. He’d told her he’d have her back, come clean that it was his fault. In the end, he’d been a coward. His weak justifications—no, excuses—had kept him from revealing the truth. If he’d lost his position with the Secret Service, he’d have nothing left. He’d have ended up like Dad.
Why would someone want to hurt or take an emotional stab at Jody? Why would someone want to kill Evan—someone with intimate knowledge of his whereabouts and maybe even his past with Jody? But no one knew that! She’d taken her dismissal and walked away without looking back. Without throwing Evan under the bus. He’d never known why. But he wanted to. Why protect him when he hadn’t protected her?
He would protect her now. She’d been tossed into this whole fiasco. He’d make sure she got out. As far as knowing why they hadn’t texted him? “I don’t know,” he said.
Wilder huffed. “What are you working on now? Could it be linked to the attack today?”
Evan’s eye twitched. “Actually, I’m leading a relatively new cyber task force, but I trust every agent on the team.” There was no way one of them would betray him and there was no reason any of them should.
Standing, Wilder folded his arms across his chest. “You need to tell us about this new task force, and every agent working on it. We’ll need a list of people who knew you’d be at the convention center today. Colleagues, friends. Family. Because someone knew, Novak. And they tried to kill you.”
Jody needed breathing room. She stepped out onto the porch, welcoming the wintry wind before she had to hear about Evan’s task force. Her emotions were all over the place. Fear of seeing Evan. Irritation that she’d been attracted all over again. Depressed at how things ended the way they had. Bitterness over how he was propelling into her dreams when he didn’t deserve them. The anger from his questioning her performance earlier had dissipated, leaving her with confusion. She’d never compromise her job.
Except the time she had for him. And it had cost her dearly.
Why would someone hack her phone and involve her? Unless she was a target, too. But no shot had been directed at her, so what was that all about?
“Hey.” Beckett Marsh’s wife, Aurora, walked out onto the porch and handed her a to-go cup of coffee—the good stuff from her new coffee shop in the business district downtown, Sufficient Grounds 2.0, named after her original café that had burned down when she lived in Hope, Tennessee. “Amy and I brought coffee and pastries. Of course, I think Amy just wanted to see Wheezer.”
Even their computer analyst had found love.
“I met Evan.” Aurora had become a good friend and Jody had confided in her about him and their past.
“I’m fine.”
“So that’s why you’re out here alone while everyone else is inside.” Aurora grinned and sipped her coffee. “I know his coming here has unearthed a million feelings, but maybe it’s a chance to put the past behind you and move forward.”
Jody didn’t want a deep discussion about moving forward and happily-ever-afters. She didn’t believe in those anymore—didn’t believe in heroes who loved and died sacrificially. She’d learned that in Afghanistan when her best friend had been assaulted by someone she trusted. Someone who was supposed to be an officer and a gentleman. Turned out they were few and far between. The assault was swept under the rug, and Jody had been blacklisted and demoted when she wouldn’t let it go. But it had really become clear when Evan betrayed her and her happily-ever-after died with her dreams.
Enough of this pity party, though. “Let’s go inside. I have to hear about this new task force Evan’s leading.” Hear about how he’d moved on without a care in the world. As if nothing had happened. As if Jody never meant anything to him. If she kept up this thinking, Cosette would notice and demand an hour to process. To talk. She entered the parlor, avoiding eye contact with Evan.
Wilder crossed one leg over his knee. “Okay, Novak. Tell us about this task force because you say it’s relatively new and with the timing of this shooting, I think it could be a link. Not to mention they all knew you’d be at the convention center today.”
“Again, I don’t think anyone on my task force is behind this. But...” Evan cleared his throat. “The operation is called Gunmetal, comprised of ATF, Homeland Security, FBI and Secret Service. We’ve been monitoring a dark web website called the Arsenal for a few months. It’s a virtual marketplace where anyone can sell illegal guns, and it’s practically impossible for law enforcement—or anyone else—to trace buyers and sellers thanks to the N-cog browser and software.”
“What’s that?” Jody asked.
“I use it sometimes,” Wheezer said. He would know about all things dark and secret that lay way beyond the normal internet. Jody wasn’t
