She was used to being unpopular.
A headache was starting to grow, gnawing at her energy reserves but if she didn’t do this now, she’d lose momentum, not to mention her nerve. She approached the group, doing her best to be inconspicuous, but these people were all high-level FBI personnel. They stopped talking as soon as she came within earshot and waited as SSA Sheridan introduced her.
“This is Agent Kanas.” His voice was soft and dark and caressed her skin like a velvet fingertip.
Get a grip, Ava.
“She spotted the shooter’s firing position and created a distraction at great risk to herself while I tried to…hmm.” Sheridan’s voice cracked. “…tried to move Calvin to safety.”
He’d braved the line of fire while others had hidden in fear.
“Good work,” said the man standing closest to her right.
“Thank you.” She looked up and her eyes widened. “Sir.” She was standing a few inches from the Director of the FBI. “I-I was just doing what I’d been trained to do, sir. I wish we’d caught the guy.” She glanced at Sheridan. If he’d let her take the elevator, they might have cornered the shooter on the roof.
Sheridan calmly held her gaze as if he could read her mind. It wasn’t a feeling she appreciated.
“He won’t get far,” the director assured her. “We have the full weight of the FBI behind this. Teams of agents are scouring the area for evidence and canvassing the neighborhood. Hopefully traffic cams can help us identify all the vehicles in the vicinity and we can get a name.”
Ava braced her hands on her waist. “Could the shooter have anything to do with Van Stamos’s death, sir?” She eyed the coffin sitting in the sunshine. Van would have been amused by his front row seat at the proceedings. One final case in his illustrious career.
The director frowned and Ray Aldrich jumped in. “Stamos’s death was deemed accidental.”
The headache pressed against Ava’s forehead, but she ignored the pain. No one believed it was “accidental.”
A third man Ava didn’t recognize mused. “Maybe the shooter saw Stamos’s obituary and figured it was a prime opportunity to take aim at the FBI, knowing other agents would be in attendance?”
“Or maybe Calvin Mortimer was targeted specifically,” said another man.
Ava clenched her hands into fists, holding back emotions that wanted to leak.
One of the men standing there, a classically handsome, chisel-jawed superior, watched her with a keen, icy blue gaze. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him. From the academy maybe? A heavily pregnant brunette stood beside him, resting a palm on her swollen abdomen. She was armed.
Ava wished she knew who these people were but could hardly demand they identify themselves. Technically, for the next few weeks, she was still a rookie, while these guys probably had over a hundred years’ service between them.
The director nodded. “We can’t afford to rule anything out at this stage.”
To Ava, that sounded like a brush off. She opened her mouth to share her theory about Van’s death when a sharp tug on her jacket sleeve stopped her.
It was Sheridan. She glanced at his face, but he wasn’t looking at her. The guy was subtly trying to tell her to stay quiet. Dammit, this might be her only opportunity. She didn’t have a direct line to the director and doubted she’d ever again be this close to him in the flesh. She wasn’t going to waste this chance because someone she barely knew thought she should shut up.
“Does that include a scenario in which this shooter deliberately staged Van Stamos’s murder as a suicide so they could target mourners at his funeral? And the Bureau missed it?”
Sheridan coughed, dropping his hand away, cutting himself loose from any association.
“Kanas,” Aldrich warned.
She sent him a mutinous glare. Aldrich was an okay guy, but Van had been worth ten of him as an investigator.
“You think someone is actively targeting federal agents?” the man she thought she recognized from the academy asked.
“Any evidence of this?” This from the director.
She shook her head. All the evidence suggested Van had blown his own brains out, but she knew that wasn’t true. “No, but as you said, sir, we can’t afford to rule anything out.” She parroted the director’s own words back at him, hoping for a positive reaction. “We should definitely investigate every avenue.”
The expressions were all skeptical, except for the pregnant woman and the icy blond. Sheridan wore a slight smile. He could afford to, his career wasn’t on the line. The others looked annoyed. She’d broken protocol and upset the patriarchy.
The director gave her a look that told her how close to the line she was getting, but his words also gave her hope.
“It is a possibility we can’t afford to ignore,” he agreed. “Aldrich, go back over the files regarding Van Stamos’s death and look for anything suspicious. Submit your report directly to me. I will coordinate with the task force being set up to investigate this shooting.”
Ava doubted Aldrich would do more than a cursory investigation whereas she’d turn the world inside out and upside down looking for answers.
“I’d like to be the one reviewing the case, sir.” Ava winced, knowing it was a mistake as soon as the words left her mouth.
“That will be up to your supervisor, Agent Kanas,” the director said sharply, taking a step away from her. The FBI was all about procedure. He checked his watch. “I need to brief the president.” He stared hard at her then. “I do not want to hear your theory on any media channel or Twitter account. Am I clear, Agent Kanas?”
“Of course, sir.” She stood stiffly. Pissed. She was no more likely to leak the suggestion than anyone else here. Less, considering even the thought of Twitter made her gag. She was too antisocial for social media, not to mention too busy actively working cases.