Small pieces of cut wires and other varying explosive components littered the countertop running along the back wall. The shelves below the counter were exposed, allowing them to see the boxes and tubs Raegan had witnessed Samer and his men carrying inside weeks before.
In the far corner of the room were two large, white barrels, and on the small table in the center of the room were the plans with step-by-step instructions on how to build the deadly, horrifying weapon.
“Here.” Atwell handed Raegan a sealed evidence bag. “Recognize anyone in that picture?”
When they’d first been allowed inside the house, Raegan and Rocky had made their way through a sea of jacketed FBI agents to where they stood now. Several images that had been taped to the back wall were being removed by the agents to be bagged and tagged as evidence.
The photo in her hand was one such image. There were five men standing in a line. They were dressed in Army green fatigues and black, laced up boots. Their arms were around each other’s shoulders, and smiles graced their bearded lips.
Raegan’s heart flew into her throat when she recognized one of the faces immediately.
“That’s him!” She pointed to the man standing in the center. “That’s Samer!”
Warmth spread throughout as Rocky placed a supportive hand against her lower back. “You did it. You found him.”
“I found where he’s been,” she corrected. “He’s still out there, Rocky. He and his men are out there right now with a dirty fucking bomb, and we have absolutely no idea what target they’ve chosen.”
“My people have already started going through everything with a fine-toothed comb,” Atwell assured them. “If there’s anything here that gives us direction on where the bomb is now, we’ll find it.”
Raegan nodded, but inside she was filled with an unsettling despair. Chicago was huge and its population massive. A bomb like the one in those plans would easily take out an entire city block.
Or more.
And the fallout afterward…
Another attack on U.S. soil may very well send us into the next World War.
“We have to find him.” Her desperation was stronger than ever. “We have to find Samer, and we have to stop him from detonating that bomb.”
“We will.” Rocky made a promise he couldn’t possibly guarantee he’d keep.
“I should have stayed.” She looked up at Rocky. “When we were here earlier. I should have just stayed and faced whoever came through that front door. If I had, we could have caught him. Or if it wasn’t Samer, we could’ve at least had one of his guys to interrogate. But now, because I ran like a coward, all we have are the crumbs they left behind.”
“Those crumbs are a hell of a lot more than we had before.” Atwell looked straight at her when she spoke. “And we wouldn’t even have those if not for you. So thank you.”
“For what? Identifying a man in a photo?” Raegan huffed out a breath as she glanced back down to the bagged picture in her hand. “It’s not like Samer drew a map on the back of this telling us where to—” Her next words were lost with the dropping of her jaw. “Oh, my god.”
Rocky’s entire muscular form stiffened beside her. “What is it?”
This was immediately followed by Atwell’s, “Is something wrong?”
Raegan pointed to the man standing two spots down from Samer’s left. Late teens. Clean cut. Smiling face. Cocky, slightly lifted chin.
“I know him.”
“Youwhat?”
The question had come in stereo as Rocky and Atwell both spoke it in unison.
She studied the picture more closely, needing to be absolutely sure. And she was. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Raegan had seen the kid before.
Earlier that day…inside her bank.
She looked up at Rocky, that feeling of dread compounding with every beat of her heart. “That’s the kid I shot today. The same one who tried robbing my bank.”
The bag was pulled from her grasp as Agent Atwell brought it in for a closer look. “Holy shit. I only saw him for a second today as he was being hauled away from the scene, so I didn’t realize…” Her blue stare shot back up to Raegan’s. “Are yousurethis is him?”
“I’m positive.” Raegan was already nodding before the other woman finished the question.