Read Kill Zone: A Lucy Guardino FBI Thriller for Free Online

balanced its intricately carved hilt across her fingers.
    “The neighbors never see her except when she’s coming or going. Doesn’t drive, uses a car service when she goes out. They’re not sure if she speaks English or not.”
    “Isolated.” She thought about that. Stared at the computer monitor hooked into the security system. Tons of bells and whistles yet no help since it hadn’t been on during the attack. The setup was pretty fancy and expensive for the neighborhood or a modest, unassuming house like this. More paradoxes. “Cultural? Or because Raziq is afraid of someone?”
    He shrugged, studying an antique map hanging on the wall.  “We working this with Burroughs? How about the DEA, stepping on their toes?” His voice held a tone of caution. With good reason. Walden knew a clusterfuck waiting to happen when he saw one.
    Lucy didn’t answer him. Instead she propped herself up on Raziq’s desk, the dagger still in her hand. “No pictures of his family. Out in the public area they’re arranged like trophies. But here, in his inner sanctum,” she gestured with the dagger, “nothing of them. He’s surrounded himself with items that prop up his ego and his family isn’t part of that.”
    Walden shrugged. “Different culture.”
    Maybe. But she’d gotten the same vibe when inside the homes of serial killers and child predators. Living a lie with a public facade very different than who they were in private. She pushed off the desk, returned the dagger to where she’d found it. “I want to talk to Raziq, and before I do I need to learn as much about him as possible. What exactly he did back in the old country, why he came to Pittsburgh, is he working for the DEA, who his enemies are, who his friends are.”
    “Only one place to find all that.”
    She sighed. “I know. The DEA.”
    “What about the girl?”
    “Burroughs’ guys will handle that.” Homicide 101, learn everything you could about the victim’s life. “The locals can do a better job of tracing Mina’s footsteps than we can. But this doesn’t feel like a crime targeting a fifteen-year-old girl. This feels like a message. A big, neon light, horse head in the bed kind of message.”
    “Speaking of messages,” he said. “There was one from Jenna Galloway on Raziq’s machine. And I found this on the refrigerator.” He handed Lucy a card bearing Jenna’s contact info.  
    Jenna Galloway was a postal inspector who had been temporarily assigned to Lucy’s SAFE team and worked a case with Lucy last month. Morgan Ames, the teenaged daughter of a serial killer, had captured Jenna, almost burning Jenna alive before escaping arrest.  
    Lucy had never told anyone of those last moments before Morgan disappeared when Jenna had her weapon aimed at the unarmed girl’s back, ready to pull the trigger until Lucy stopped her.  
    Turned out Lucy didn’t need to address the issue of Jenna potentially shooting an unarmed juvenile. Jenna had been transferred off Lucy’s squad after failing her psych eval. As far as Lucy knew, Jenna was back working Nigerian mail fraud.
    “Why would the DEA be working with the USPIS?” Lucy didn’t wait for an answer.  Instead, she dialed Jenna’s number. It was a good excuse to check in with Jenna, see how she was dealing with being back to work after what she’d suffered at the hands of Morgan Ames.  
    She’d tried to reach out to Jenna a few times since Morgan’s escape, but Jenna had rebuffed her. Lucy had a feeling Jenna resented the fact that Lucy had seen her so vulnerable: first outwitted by a teenager, then almost burned alive before Lucy rescued her. Or maybe she just didn’t like it that Lucy stopped her from shooting Morgan in the back.
    “Galloway.”
    “Jenna, it’s Lucy Guardino. I’m at a homicide scene. Family name is Raziq. We found one of your cards. The father, Rashid, was flagged by an Agent David Haddad of the DEA. Want to fill me in?”
    “Shit. Did you say