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to be reckoned with in the FBI. He’d steadily climbed the ranks and now held the position of assistant executive director.
    “I almost didn’t recognize you without the Stetson. What are you doing here?”
    “I had business at the Florida office when the call came in about the trouble on the ship. I recognized the name and insisted on tagging along.”
    Dakota introduced them to the other two and then they followed Ponder to the security office on the lower deck.
    Just as they entered the office, Dakota’s cell phone buzzed. Connor watched his face pale and his own heartbeat picked up a bit.
    Dakota hung up, jaw tight. “Fingerprints came back. Our dead guy is Norman Reese. A fellow agent. He was carrying some sensitive information.” He looked at Connor and Samantha. “You guys search him?”
    “I did,” Samantha said. “Nothing but a bullet hole.”
    Dakota looked at the other two agents. “Let’s get Special Agent Reese loaded onto the chopper.” Back at Ponder, he said, “I want you to email me a list of every person involved in the security of this ship.” He gave him the address.
    The man nodded and walked over to the computer. A few clicks and he turned back. “You have it.”
    “Good.” Dakota dialed a number. “Jazz, I’m sending you a list of names I need you to run ASAP. We’re looking for financial information. Debts, large deposits made recently, anything that jumps out at you. And I want pictures matching the names. Thanks.” He hung up, pressed a few buttons on his phone, and said, “We should have that info soon.”
    “So, Special Agent Reese was carrying important information,” Connor mused. “And someone wants that information.”
    “They think I have it,” Samantha said.
    “You were the one who saw the body first. You were alone in the bathroom with him before running out. Could he have slipped something in your pocket?” His gaze met hers. “Or something on Andy?”
    She paled. “I don’t know. I doubt it. I certainly didn’t see—or feel—him do anything like that.”
    “We need to go through your clothing and Andy’s from yesterday.”
    “Let’s get back to the cabin and check.”
    Dakota’s phone dinged and he glanced at the screen. “Okay, I think we have a few answers here.”
    Samantha frowned. “What?”
    He looked at Officer Ponder and said, “We’ve got two officers that don’t match their pictures.”
    The man snapped his gaze to Dakota. “Who?”
    “Simon Ellis and Francis Harkum.”
    Connor slammed his gaze into Ponder. “Didn’t you notice when the wrong men showed up for work?”
    The man’s eyes went wide. “No, we get new staff all the time. Their paperwork checked out fine as far as I knew. They were hired by the company and assigned to this ship. I’d have no way of knowing.”
    A gasp escaped Sam. “Simon Ellis. Isn’t he one of the officers assigned to Jenna and Andy?”
    Before she had an answer, she’d spun on her heel and flew from the office. Connor raced after her, yelling over his shoulder, “Call for backup on that hall, now!”

    Jenna stared at the man with the gun. The man who was supposed to be protecting her, not scaring the daylights out of her. She glanced into the bedroom where Andy slept. He’d been cranky and ill and she’d offered to lie down with him. The fact that he hadn’t put up a fuss told her everything she needed to know.
    When the knock came, she’d taken all precautions, looked through the peephole, asked for ID. And now she stared at a gun once more.
    “What do you want?” She did her best to keep her terror at bay and her voice low. Waking Andy right now would not be a good thing.
    “Where is it? He gave it to that woman.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nobody gave anything to Samantha.”
    Simon Ellis’s eyes cut toward Andy. “Then he put it on her.”
    “If he did, she doesn’t know about it.”
    “Start searching.”
    “What?” She blinked.
    “Start looking for