as the sexual outlet for hundreds of perverted men. They’d been tortured into compliance, shot up with drugs and locked in cages, their hopes and spirits crushed. And knowing that her baby sister had been subjected to such vile acts had to be hard to bear.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should go see the shrink,” Cass admitted.
Lara walked back into the office and took her seat. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do. Everyone’s different. It helped me to talk to him, but you have to do what’s best for you.”
“I will.”
Remembering Victoria’s advice, she cleared her throat. “So what are you working on?”
Cass motioned toward her desk. “I finished my statement for Victoria and now I’m going through the military sniper lists.”
“Any progress?”
“Not really. We’ve been tracking the people down, having our local offices verify their whereabouts for the past few weeks. So far, everyone has checked out.”
“I guess it was a long shot.” She forced a smile. “No pun intended.”
“Yeah.”
“So where’s Xander? I haven’t seen him yet today.”
“He’s helping interview potential witnesses around my apartment in case someone saw something. He’ll be back any minute now.”
“Have you remembered anything else about the attack?”
“No, nothing. It happened too fast.”
Lara sighed. She had to hand it to Moretti’s people. They excelled at covering their tracks. “Well, I’d better get back to work.”
Cass nodded, but her mind was clearly somewhere else. Lara rose again and started out the door. But then she hesitated and glanced back. Cass was gazing into space.
“Cass?”
She looked up.
“We are going to get this guy.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely. I promise.” And that was one vow she wouldn’t renege on, no matter what the cost.
What a difference a day made, Lara thought as the team assembled for a meeting in the conference room later that morning. Their optimism was gone. A somber air permeated the room. Instead of feeling victorious after arresting the kidnappers, the team was silent, grim and unusually subdued. Cass’s stabbing had wrenched them back to reality with a vengeance, reminding them that they weren’t done. Moretti had attacked again.
And it was past time to take him down.
“Our focus right now is threefold,” Victoria began, her voice reflecting the same tight-lipped determination Lara felt. “First off, we need to identify and arrest Cass’s attacker. That’s number one. We also need to figure out how Moretti is communicating from prison and find The Ghost. So I’d like to get an update on where we all stand. Xander?”
Sitting across from Lara, he cleared his throat. “I helped the NYPD interview residents around Cass’s apartment this morning, but no one saw anything. I left business cards for those not answering, asking them to call when they get home.”
“Good,” Victoria said.
“In the meantime, I’ve got a meeting at the prison this afternoon. They’ve promised to get me a copy of all the surveillance tapes from the past few months.”
Victoria jotted something on her notepad. “It’ll take time to study all those. I’ll get you some extra help.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m still waiting to hear from the cryptologist about Moretti’s picture,” Mei volunteered.
Victoria made another note. “Keep on that. If we can make some headway there, we might be able to anticipate his next move.”
“All right.”
Their boss looked up. “So where are we on the hunt for The Ghost?”
“I’m still checking the military lists,” Cass said. The sunlight streaming through the windows highlighted the purple bruise around her eye. “I’m looking at army vets who served in Afghanistan first, but we’re checking everyone out, active duty and retired. There are quite a few names, so I haven’t made much progress yet.”
“I’ll get you some more help, too. Lara and Nick can pitch in until I do.” She glanced around. “Anything else?”
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