Duty Bound Guardian. Terri Reed

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СКАЧАТЬ tied her long dark hair back in a low ponytail, which gave him a clear view of her straight nose, high cheekbones and the proud jut of her chin.

      From this vantage, he couldn’t see the bandage but the bloodstains on the collar of her white blouse reminded him of the trauma she’d suffered.

      He parked at an angle next to a patrol cruiser outside the entrance to the museum. After releasing Ace from the back, he escorted Lana inside. Ace walked between them.

      A dozen or so uniformed patrol officers nodded in acknowledgement of a fellow law enforcement officer and gave Lana curious stares as she, Adam and Ace walked into the main lobby.

      Adam had never visited this particular museum. He was immediately struck with the interesting way the wall art and the display cases were arranged, allowing a flowing progression through history. Solid white marble walls and matching floor provided a nondescript backdrop, which emphasized the colors of the artwork.

      “Nice,” he said.

      Lana caught his gaze. The beaming smile on her face full of pride made his heart jerk like the muscle had taken a direct hit from the business end of a Taser.

      “We’ve worked really hard to make this a premier museum to rival the others in the city.” She touched his arm, the contact setting off a firestorm shooting up his arm beneath the thick cotton material of his uniform. She jerked her hand away as if she, too, had felt the current of electricity. Must be the static in the air from the spring storm.

      She laced her fingers together in front of her. “If it were not for the Carroll family, this museum wouldn’t be here.”

      “Carroll family?” he murmured more to keep her talking than from real interest. In his experience when people got on a verbal roll they tended to divulge aspects of themselves they wouldn’t normally share.

      “Really?” Her eyes lit up. “Daniel Carroll was one of three commissioners appointed by General George Washington to survey and define the District of Columbia. The Carrolls owned land in Maryland, and Daniel strongly advocated locating the nation’s capital on the banks of the Potomac.”

      Her face glowed with animation as she went on to tell him about the Carrolls’ descendants buying the building and forming a nonprofit foundation to start the museum. The joy in her voice squeezed Adam’s lungs, wringing out all the air as though he’d run a twenty-block foot chase.

      Maybe getting her to open up on a subject she was so passionate about wasn’t the best idea since he got too easily wrapped up in her voice and could forget his purpose.

      Out of the corner of his eye Adam spotted Detective David Delvecchio of the DC Police Department coming toward them.

      Lana’s monologue tapered off for a moment before she breathed out, “It’s gone.”

      Adam followed her gaze to an empty display case where a bed of red velvet sparkled with splinters of glass. Little plastic yellow markers were set in a circle around the case. As he led Lana closer, Adam noted bright red blood sprinkled on the floor amongst shards of glass. Lana’s blood.

      “What do you have?” Adam asked as the detective halted in front of them.

      David’s mouth lifted at one corner. “Former Special Agent Adam Donovan. Didn’t realize we’d invited the K-9 unit to the party.”

      Adam flinched at the reminder of his past. He could feel Lana’s curious gaze on his face like an itch, but he refused to scratch. “This break-in may be related to an active investigation of ours.”

      After giving Lana an interested once-over, David bounced his gaze back to Adam, a question in his eyes.

      “Where’s the arrow?” Lana asked, drawing David’s attention back to her.

      Knowing he had to tread lightly to ensure cooperation, Adam said, “This is Lana Gomez.”

      David’s eyes widened then narrowed. “I see. The artifact is with the crime scene technicians.” He turned his sharp-eyed gaze on Adam. “You poaching the case, Donovan?”

      “More like hoping we can work together.” Adam kept his voice neutral. “As I said, part of an open investigation.”

      If push came to shove, Adam knew Captain McCord would involve the woman who’d formed the K-9 unit, the president’s special in-house security chief, General Margaret Meyer. The former four-star general would have no problem taking the case away from the local PD if necessary. Adam, however, preferred to keep interagency relations on good terms.

      David cocked an eyebrow. “Ah, you show me yours, I’ll show you mine?”

      Adam’s lips twitched. “Something like that.”

      David’s attention transferred back to Lana. “I’m sure you’ve already filled my friend, here, in, but we like to conduct our own interviews. Are you up to giving your statement to an officer?”

      Lana nodded. “Yes, sir.”

      “Garrison,” David called to a young uniformed officer. “Take Miss Gomez’s statement.”

      Once Lana was out of earshot, David said, “Spill.”

      “There’s a connection between Miss Gomez and the Jeffries case,” Adam went on to explain.

      David grimaced. “Nasty business.”

      Motioning for Adam and Ace to follow him to the back of the museum, the detective pointed to a spot on the gleaming white marble floor beneath an oil painting of the Capitol building. Black scuff marks showed in stark contrast, clearly indicating a struggle.

      “The intruder came up behind the security guard and placed him in a choke hold,” David continued. “Guard passed out and dropped like a bag of stones in the Potomac.”

      Adam frowned as he surveyed the area. The guard would have seen the intruder coming. Did that mean he knew his attacker? But for a choke hold to work, the guard would have had his back turned on the intruder. More pieces of the puzzle that weren’t fitting together. “Has the guard been released from the hospital?”

      “Yes, he was released last night. He suffered no ill effects from the attack. Right now he’s in the security office with my officers.”

      “I’d like a moment with him. How did the intruder enter?”

      “The perp bypassed the security system by jerry-rigging a bladeRF radio device to the system’s keypad and jamming the signal while providing a phony rogue cell network for the keypad to latch on to. So when the intruder entered and the alarm sent a signal, it didn’t really go anywhere, which allowed the intruder to enter undetected.”

      Keeping Ace at his heels, Adam headed for the smashed display case where a short man wearing the blue coveralls of the crime scene unit was placing the artifact back on its velvet bed. “This is where the intruder attacked Miss Gomez.”

      “Our best guess is she interrupted the unidentified suspect before he could take the arrow.” David pointed to the red spots on the floor. “He hit her over the head and knocked her out. The intruder didn’t get what he was after because the security guard came to and managed to pull the fire alarm.”

      Adam СКАЧАТЬ