Angel Fire

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sam stood back, feeling in the way as everyone jostled around her. Andrea was talking to two federal marshals and Tori and Cameron were walking outside the perimeter of the crime scene tape, looking for tracks, Tori had said. She turned away, heading back to Cameron’s truck. Cameron had emailed her a file that Murdock had put together on Angel. Cameron wanted her to see if there was anything she could add to it, based on the conversations she’d had with him.

She shook her head. She couldn’t believe that he had escaped, that he had killed eight men in doing so. Eight law enforcement personnel. They didn’t know the details yet, didn’t know how he managed that. But she knew without Cameron having to tell her that if Angel was spotted, he wouldn’t be taken into custody. No. Not this time. Unspoken orders, but orders nonetheless—shoot to kill. Angel would not walk out of this one alive.

Cameron had said that Angel was good. That he was very, very good. Had they let their guard down with him? Did they underestimate him? Something that he’d said to her that very morning stuck out. He said he’d been in worse jams than this one. Had he been planning his escape all along? But why would he get caught in the first place? Why drive into a checkpoint? It had to be intentional, which made no sense at all. Unless it was as he’d said, he wanted to make sure Sam had made it out okay. Was that it? Had he simply been worried about her enough to get caught, knowing he could escape at will?

No. No one could possibly be that confident.

She looked around, past the activity, into the forest that bordered the dirt road they were on. Was he out there somewhere? Had he taken to the woods again? Or was he on the road, running? He’d left all eight bodies inside the van and had taken the car. He’d removed his shackles and changed clothes, leaving the orange jumpsuit behind and taking the clothes from one of the FBI agents, right down to the shoes. Shoes and credentials and his service weapon.

She got in the front seat on the passenger’s side but left the door open. She and Tori were taking the truck. Cameron and Andrea’s motorhome was parked up on the highway. They would be heading back to Taos as soon as they were through here. She and Tori would stay in a hotel, the same one where Cameron’s new team was going to stay. Murdock had already arranged that, and Andrea had secured a campground only a few miles away. The shadows were long with the sun nearly gone from the sky. She sighed and got out her phone, pulling up Cameron’s email. She wasn’t sure how much help she could be, but she would read through the report.

It was in a timeline format which was easy to follow, but it wasn’t very detailed. They knew he had lived in the Taos area as a kid, she saw. The report made note of his mother’s death in California but no mention that his father had been drinking at the time of the accident. It covered his military years and when he got out, nearly six years ago now. She noticed there was a break in time, right after he got out. Two years were missing before it picked back up, with Angel back in the Middle East. But even then, there were gaps in the timeline. According to this, he got back in the States just six months ago. Nothing after that.

“Well?”

She looked up, startled to find Cameron standing beside the truck watching her. She shook her head. “There’s not much here.”

“No. They didn’t have a whole lot of time to put this together. Bare bones,” she said. “But he’s kept a low profile. When we were on assignment, we had to learn to disappear from time to time. Go under the radar. He’s good at it.”

“He told me his father was a drinker, that he was drunk when he had the accident that killed his mother.” Sam shrugged. “I know, it doesn’t help any with all of this.”

“Did you know he’d lived here?”

Sam nodded. “Yes. He said they moved to California when he was twelve. The route that he took us on through the mountains was planned through research though. Not from what he remembered as a child.” She looked past Cameron to where Tori and Andrea were chatting. It was nearly dark now, and she couldn’t make out their expressions. “There are gaps. I guess like you said, when he was under the radar. But two years are missing,” she said.

“Yeah. After he got out of the military. He disappeared,” Cameron said. “Murdock said there were no hits on him anywhere during that time.”

“What do you think?” she asked.

Cameron shrugged. “He could have still been working. Using an alias,” she said.

“Then he resurfaced using his own name? Why?”

Cameron shrugged again. “I’m only guessing, Sam, nothing more.”

Sam shook her head quickly. “He didn’t seem the type to use an alias,” she said. “He seemed almost proud of his accomplishments, both in the military and beyond. That type of person would want the recognition, not be anonymous.”

“True. But what other explanation could there be?”

Sam pictured Angel’s face, seeing the smile, the relaxed look he’d sported when they’d been fishing. He wasn’t a killer then. He was…he was almost a friend. She looked at Cameron. “Maybe he wasn’t working then. Maybe for those two years, he was just a normal guy.”

“Where? Murdock said they could find nothing on him. His military pension’s been going into an account he set up, but it hasn’t been touched at all.”

“You were in his unit, on his team. I imagine the assignments you had, it must have taken its toll on you. When you got out, what did you do?”

Cameron stared at her for the longest time, and she thought perhaps she wasn’t going to answer her. Cameron finally sighed.

“I didn’t exactly retire, Sam. Not like Angel. I was too young for that. But I was burned out. I couldn’t do it anymore. You’re right. It took its toll and I was ready to walk away, leave it behind. We reached a compromise,” she said.

“With Murdock?”

“Not at first, no. I was on a team of four. But I was told I didn’t play nice with others,” Cameron said with a quick smile. “The motorhome, that was an experimental assignment only. I traveled alone. It suited me.”

“Until you met Andrea?”

Cameron nodded but said nothing else.

“So…it’s not experimental any longer?” Sam knew the question could apply to either the motorhome or Andrea. Cameron’s quick smile told her she understood the double question.

“No. It’s not experimental any longer.”

Sam would have asked more questions, but Tori and Andrea walked over.

“Ready to head out?” Andrea asked. “I got a text from Eric. They flew in to Albuquerque earlier,” she said. “Got briefed there. They’re on the road now, heading this way. About forty-five minutes out.”

“Okay. I guess we need to get back to Taos and set up camp,” Cameron said. “Meet for a working dinner? Don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.”

“There’ll be seven of us?” Tori asked. “Kinda hard to have a working dinner, isn’t it?”

“Not if we order pizza and eat it in your hotel room,” Cameron said with a wink at Andrea.

“How did I know that would be your suggestion?” Andrea glanced at Sam. “Did I mention she’s obsessed with pizza?”