Page 44 of No More Lies
“He only asked about deployments. He seemed surprised Steve was home, and I told him he was between deployments. He told me to go home and find out if Steve knew anything. Steve spotting the car at Megan’s school rattled him. I told him Steve was probably just concerned about a strange man watching kids, but Volkov wanted to be sure that’s all it was. He told me to go about our business as normal, and that he’d be in contact.”
“To do what?”
“Final preparations about the hearing, I presume.”
“So as far as you know, everything is as it was.”
“Yes.”
“What about a phone number?”
“He calls me. It’s always anonymous. If I need to reach him, I call his main company switchboard and they have him call me.”
The doorbell rang and the three men jumped, drawing weapons. Donnie appeared from downstairs.
“It’s OK, guys. Megan was hungry. I ordered pizza.”
“Jesus, Donnie, maybe give us a heads-up next time,” Sam said, tucking away his gun.
“I’ll get it.” Steve walked to the door, paid the delivery guy, and brought the pizza inside.
“The sedan still out there?” Dex asked.
“Yeah.” He handed the pizza to Donnie. “Megan tell you anything?’
“Working on it.” Donnie took the box and went back to the den.
Sam’s phone rang, and he motioned to Dex. The two went to the kitchen.
Steve looked at his wife. Her head was down, but he could hear her crying softly. His heart squeezed seeing her like this. He sat down beside her, taking her hand.
“You sent Donnie to talk to Megan?” she asked quietly.
“We need to know exactly what happened at school, and Donnie is a little calmer than either of us right now.”
She nodded, staring at their joined hands.
“We’ll sort this out, Diane. I promise.”
Sad eyes met his as she raised her head. “I know you will. But what about us? Will we sort that out, too?”
He wanted to say yes, wanted to reassure her, but the words wouldn’t come out. He couldn’t promise something he wasn’t sure he could deliver on. It was too soon, and his stubborn brain was not ready to let it go.
“Let’s deal with Volkov first, and then we’ll talk.”
She let go of his hand and stood up abruptly. “I’m going to wash my face and go see Megan. If you need me again, let me know.”
As she walked away, his heart felt heavier.
Sam and Dex returned just as Donnie came up the stairs.
“I got a brief description. Tanned skin, dark hair, black jacket, sunglasses, and an accent. She also recalled seeing a dark colored car by the fence.”
“Sounds like the same guy I saw in the black Ford,” Steve said.
“I’ve quietly looped in Dale. Asked him to put out an APB. Steve let’s connect you with a sketch artist. You can do it via video. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a hit on facial recognition,” Sam said. “We need to get back. I’ll call Dale, get some plain-clothes FBI stationed close by, so they can be here in minutes if you need them. They’ll watch the sedan, follow it if it moves, and get the plate number to run it. Dale will keep the whole thing under the wire.”
Steve nodded. Special agent Dale Sanchez was with the FBI and a close friend of Sam’s. The teams had worked together many times before. Sam was taking a chance bringing him in on this, as the sarin was a need-to-know op, but they all trusted Dale.