Angel Fire

Chapter Twenty-Six

Andrea laughed good-naturedly as Eric drew her into a hug, kissing her quickly on the mouth. “You’re as beautiful as I remembered,” he said.

“And you’re as charming as I remembered,” she said. She ran a hand playfully through his hair. “You and long hair? It was nearly military short the last time I saw you.”

“Yeah, I wanted a change,” he said as he brushed it away from his face. “Besides, Reynolds hates it. Annoying him is the only fun I have these days.”

Cameron walked over to them. “No kissing,” she said with barely a hint of a smile.

“I’m not scared of you,” he said with a grin. Then he took Cameron’s offered hand, shaking it briskly. “Good to see you again, Agent Ross.”

“Yeah, you too. Where’s Reynolds?”

“Still in his room, I guess. He takes longer to get dressed than me,” he said, motioning to his jeans and T-shirt. “And Rowan had his nose stuck in his computer.” Eric turned to Sam and Tori and gave them an easy smile. “I’m Eric Scales.”

Tori held her hand out first. “Tori Hunter, FBI, Dallas.” She motioned to Sam. “This is Sam Kennedy, Dallas PD.”

Eric nodded. “You were the hostage.”

“Yes.”

“From everything we learned about this guy, you’re damn lucky,” he said bluntly.

Sam simply nodded but didn’t comment.

“So all of you have worked together before?” Tori asked.

“Yes. Serial killer,” Andrea said. “California desert.” She glanced at Eric. “So where did Murdock pull you from?”

“We were in Nevada. Had a kidnapping.” He shook his head. “It didn’t end well.”

“So how is Reynolds?” Cameron asked. “He still doing everything by the book?”

“Oh, he’s loosened up a little. Very little.”

“He still insist on wearing suits and ties? I know when we last saw you, he was dressing down a bit.”

“Yeah, he likes his suits, that’s for sure. But he’s not quite as fanatical about it,” Eric said. “In fact, tonight, I bet he wears only a starched shirt.”

Cameron grinned. “I’ll bet you ten bucks he has on a tie.”

Eric shook his head. “No way. He knows you. He also knows we’re having pizza brought in for dinner.”

“Ten bucks.”

“You’re on.”

Andrea turned to Tori and Sam. “When we were in the desert, Reynolds had on a suit and tie, dress shoes, the works,” she explained. “He and Cameron disagreed on the dress code.”

“Yes, Tori’s had her run-in with the dress code too,” Sam said with a smile.

“Another reason to go back to Homicide,” Tori said.

Cameron glanced at her. “So pizza is ordered, right?”

Andrea nodded. “On its way.”

They were in Tori and Sam’s hotel room and it was already a little crowded. Cameron pulled out the lone chair and sat down, stretching her long legs out. Tori and Sam sat on one of the beds and Eric sat down on the other. A quick knock on the door and Tori got up, opening it. Reynolds stood there, his ebony skin in dark contrast against the white of his starched shirt. A red tie dangled from his neck, and Andrea glanced over at Cameron who was smiling.

“Nice tie, Reynolds,” Cameron said with a smirk, holding out her hand to Eric. He slapped a ten-dollar bill there. “Thank you very much,” Cameron said.

Reynolds stared at Eric disapprovingly as he walked into the room. He was followed closely by Rowan, his laptop tucked under one arm.

“Very Special Agent Ross, so good to see you again,” Reynolds said. He turned toward her. “Andrea, you’re looking well.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you.” She pointed at Tori and Sam. “This is Tori Hunter, she’s from the Dallas office. And Sam Kennedy, Dallas PD,” Andrea introduced. “This is Special Agent Reynolds.”

Reynolds nodded as he shook their hands. “Hell of an ordeal you had.”

“And apparently it’s not over,” Tori said.

Cameron stood, walking over to shake Reynolds’s hand as well. “What’s with the tie? I thought you’d loosened up a little,” she said.

“Well, it’s a business meeting,” he said. “And we have guests.”

“It’s pizza,” Cameron clarified. “And Tori and Sam are no longer guests.” She turned to Rowan. “How the hell are you?”

Rowan gave her a quick smile. “Good. I understand I’m going to get to play with your computers again.”

“So Murdock tells me,” Cameron said. She pointed at him. “We’ll go over some ground rules first.”

“You know, Jason and I are pretty good buds now,” Rowan said.

“Is that right? Have you been stalking him?”

Rowan blushed. “Well, maybe a little.”

Andrea laughed, remembering the near infatuation Rowan had with Jason, Cameron’s computer guru.

Another knock on the door signaled the arrival of the pizza and it was a whirlwind of activity as they all passed around boxes, piling their plates high. All but Sam, Andrea noticed. She took only one piece. Andrea sat down on one of the beds next to Eric. Cameron leaned against the dresser as Reynolds took the chair she’d been in earlier.

“We haven’t eaten since lunch,” Eric said around a bite.

“At least you had lunch,” Cameron said. “Oh, God,” she murmured as she bit into her piece. “That’s so good.”

Reynolds wiped his mouth with a napkin before speaking. “I understand you and Angel served together,” he said. “How well do you know him?”

“We were on the same team for a few years,” Cameron said. “He was very good. You could trust him to do his job and not screw it up.” She shrugged. “But personally, I wouldn’t say I knew him well. He kept to himself, didn’t talk a lot. He just did his job.”

“I imagine he’s older than you are.”

Cameron nodded. “Late forties now, I guess.” She glanced over at Sam. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yes.”

Reynolds turned his attention to Sam. “I’m told you met with him in his cell. What was discussed?”

Sam shifted uncomfortably under Reynolds’s stare, Andrea noticed. She also noted that Sam had eaten very little of the one piece of pizza she had claimed. She didn’t know Sam at all, but she sensed a war going on inside of her. Their debriefing of her had been superficial at best. When Murdock had called to say Angel had been apprehended, they’d pretty much stopped with the questions. Angel was in custody and their job was done. That, of course, turned out to be short-lived.

“We really didn’t discuss much of anything,” Sam said to Reynolds.

“He merely requested your presence…for what then?”

“He said he wanted to make sure I’d gotten off the mountain safely,” Sam said quietly. “That’s about it.”

“Look, what does that have to do with anything?” Tori asked. “So he wanted to see her? Maybe he was feeling guilty for having abducted her in the first place.”

“Not his style,” Cameron said. “There is no guilt.”

“Did he ask you any questions? Did he ask for a favor?” Reynolds continued. “Did he mention his plans?”

At that, Sam gave a humorless laugh. “Yeah, he told me he planned to escape. Told me how he was going to do it, too. I just thought I’d keep that to myself, though. No sense in giving anyone a heads-up, right?”

Andrea and Cameron exchanged glances, then Cameron walked between Reynolds and Sam to get another piece of pizza from the table.

“Don’t patronize her, Reynolds,” Cameron mumbled as she stuffed half the piece in her mouth.

“I’m just—”

“Being a dick.” Cameron sat down next to Tori on the bed. “The latest from Murdock is that this is still a joint effort with the locals and the U.S. Marshals Service. They’ve got Angel’s picture posted all over the damn place. We all know the problem with that. They’re getting calls from everywhere. They’ll be chasing shadows all over the state,” she said. “The sheriff’s department has limited resources. I don’t think they’ll get close to finding Angel. The Marshals Service is the best at locating fugitives, or so they keep telling us,” she said with a quick grin. “But they don’t have Rowan.”

Rowan looked up as his name was spoken. His laptop was balanced on one thigh and a plate with pizza on the other.

“What do you want me to do?”

Cameron shrugged. “Simple. Find him.”

Rowan looked nervously at Reynolds. The last time they’d worked together, Cameron had Rowan hacking into systems he had no business being in. It had been a bone of contention between Reynolds and Cameron.

“By the book,” Reynolds stated.

“By whatever means necessary,” Cameron countered. “To quote Murdock,” she added. Cameron glanced back at Rowan. “Angel is not on the run. Not yet.”

“How can you be sure?” Eric asked.

“Because the point of this whole operation of his was to get three million dollars. We find where he stashed the money, we find him.”

“Provided he hasn’t already snatched it up and fled,” Tori said.

“Doubtful,” Cameron said. “There’s law enforcement crawling all over the place.

Reynolds shook his head. “I don’t agree with you,” he said. “At our briefing, we were led to believe that Angel Figueroa was a hit man. He has just killed two of our FBI agents. He killed four federal marshals. He killed two deputies. All in order to escape. No way he hangs around waiting for a chance to claim the money. I think he’s long gone from this area.”

Before Cameron could speak, Sam beat her to it.

“You’re wrong, Agent Reynolds. It was always about the money,” Sam said. “Cameron is right. Find the money, we find him.”

Reynolds narrowed his eyes at her. “So he did share some things with you after all. I suspected as much.”

It was Tori who protested this time. “Why the hell are you treating Sam as a goddamn suspect?” she demanded. “She was the one who was abducted.”

Reynolds raised his hands. “Hey, I’m simply trying to get caught up on everything,” he said. “I’ve worked with Cameron before. She tends to gloss over things if they don’t suit her.”

Cameron laughed. “Oh, now come on, Reynolds. Are you going all the way back to when you were on Collie’s team? I thought we were past that.”

Andrea leaned closer to Eric. “I thought you said he’d mellowed,” she whispered.

He grinned. “Apparently not with Cameron.”

Reynolds put his plate on the table, his gaze still on Cameron. “I hear you never came close to Angel while you were tracking him. Is that true?”

Andrea’s eyebrows rose as did Tori’s. She couldn’t imagine who Reynolds had heard that from. But the outburst she expected from Cameron never came. Instead, it was a rather lazy smile that Cameron gave him.

“I guess it depends on what you consider close,” she said. “He had half a day’s head start on us.” She shrugged. “I thought we did pretty damn good.”

“So did I,” Sam said with a smile.

Cameron stood after a brief nod at Sam. “I don’t think we’re making much progress here. Do you?” she asked Reynolds.

“I’m assuming, just like out in the desert, you want me to hand over Rowan to you,” he said.

Cameron shook her head. “What I want right now is for you and me to talk. How about we go to your room?”

Andrea watched Reynolds’s face, surprised at the hostility there. When they’d parted company in Barstow, Reynolds had been friendly with Cameron. She couldn’t imagine what had happened to change that.

“Very well. Perhaps we can come up with a plan of action.”

The tension in the room was heavy, and Andrea and Eric exchanged glances. Reynolds opened the door and Cameron followed, closing it rather loudly behind her. Tori was the first to speak.

“What the hell was that all about?”

“I have no idea,” Andrea said. She looked at Eric. “You?”

Eric nodded. “Yeah, I think I do. Apparently Cameron’s being blamed for the two agents getting killed.”

Andrea stood up quickly. “What? Why?”

“It’s a bunch of crap, that’s all,” Eric said. “One of the agents killed was friends with Reynolds. Humphrey. They worked together years ago. When we got briefed in Albuquerque, well, they needed to place blame. Seems some think that since Cameron and Angel were on the same team in the military, she’s got a soft spot for him or something. Reynolds went along with it.”

“That’s bullshit,” Andrea said. “Cameron hasn’t seen Angel in years. They weren’t even close when they worked together.” She clenched her fists angrily. “How about blaming the goddamn federal marshals who supposedly had him locked up in a van?”

“I didn’t say I blamed her, Andi,” Eric said. “I’m just telling you what the vibe is in Albuquerque.”

Tori came and stood between them. “Okay, this isn’t helping.” She turned to Eric. “And for the record, we busted our ass out there trying to catch up with him. So, to quote Andrea, it’s bullshit,” she said. “Now, what are we going to do to find Angel?”

“Excuse me,” Rowan said. “But I read through the file they put together on him. It’s rather brief. I understand they didn’t have a whole lot of time to dig.” He glanced at Andrea. “It might be helpful if I tried to go a little deeper. Of course, using Cameron’s supercomputers would be a lot quicker,” he said as he tapped on his laptop. “But I’ve always been pretty good at removing layers to find out more.” He looked up quickly. “Besides, Jason has given me some of his programs.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s a good idea.” She turned to Sam. “And right now, Sam, you’re the only one in this room who knows anything about him.”

Sam nodded. “Yes.” She looked at Rowan. “What do you need?”

* * *

Cameron slammed the door shut and stood facing Reynolds, hands on her hips. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Reynolds took a step closer, pointing his finger at her. “Tell me what I’m hearing is not true,” he said loudly.

“I don’t know, man. What the hell are you hearing?”

“That you and Angel were friends. That you let him slip away on purpose.”

“Jesus Christ, Reynolds. You don’t actually believe that, do you?”

“I know the type of team you were on back then. I know the pressure—the stress—you were under. And I know how tight you become on a team like that. It’s life or death. So if you and Angel were close, if you—”

“Come on, Reynolds.” Cameron ran a hand through her hair. “I can’t believe this,” she murmured. “After all we went through in the Mojave Desert? After you and I chased that fucker Baskin at that goddamn waterpark?” She shook her head with a humorless laugh. “Really? You think I’d let a killer slip away because we were once on a Special Ops team together?”

“They said you—”

“They who?” she asked, interrupting him.

“Albuquerque.”

“Oh. Of course. They lost two men.”

“I lost…a friend,” he said, his voice calmer now.

“And you need someone to blame,” she guessed. “They need someone to blame.”

Reynolds turned his back to her and let out a heavy breath. When he turned back around, she was surprised to see dampness in his eyes.

“Tell me the truth, Cameron. Tell me you did everything you possibly could to get that bastard.”

“You know who the hostage was,” she said. “And she and Agent Hunter…they’re involved…romantically. Agent Hunter was with us as we tracked him. Maybe you should ask her if we did everything possible to catch him.”

Reynolds let his shoulders sag. “I’d known Humphrey long before the FBI linked us. We met when we were nineteen. Hit it off right away. Stayed friends all these years,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He nodded slowly. “Yeah. It was just such a shock.”

“Our line of work,” she said quietly.

“I know.” He rubbed his face. “Hell, I know.” He looked at her then. “I’m sorry, Cameron. You’re right. I needed someone to blame.”

Cameron tilted her head. “Murdock told me you knew Humphrey. So this case is personal for you.”

“Yes.”

She stared at him. “Remember at that bar in Needles? After we’d found Andrea? You told me when it gets personal, it gets dangerous. You said you let your emotions override your training.”

He nodded. “Yes. I did say that. I was speaking of you and Andrea, of course. My relationship with Humphrey was very different than yours is with Andrea.”

“Regardless, you’re letting your emotions dictate your actions now. I know you and I don’t have a lot of history,” she said. “Your first impression of me was when you were with Collie. He was a bastard and he hated me.”

“True.”

“But after Barstow, after all that, I thought you trusted me.” She took a step toward him. “Don’t question my integrity, Reynolds. I don’t always follow protocol, you know that. But I do my goddamn job.” She shoved her hands in her pockets. “And for the record, Angel and I were never friends.”

He met her gaze and didn’t flinch. He only nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “Then let’s do our job now. Let’s find this fucker.”