Everyone turned at his serious voice.
“Special Agent Samantha Wright was just shot and killed. Agent Lin wasn’t hurt as badly, but he is still injured.”
“What?” Talon said incredulously and rose to his feet. “Where?”
Daniel glanced at the clock. They had been here barely forty minutes ago.
“They stopped at a store to buy chips and water before they got on the freeway. The gunman opened fire as they stepped back outside to their car.”
“That’s some coincidence,” Gael said.
Gregory nodded. “Which is how I feel. Agent Lin was two feet behind Wright and caught one in the shoulder. He’s being rushed to Tampa General. There was no attempt by the shooter to go inside and steal anything. According to witnesses, the black SUV pulled up a few seconds behind them and just waited while they went inside.”
“Are you saying they were deliberately targeted?” Finn asked.
Gregory nodded. “The SUV idled for a good three or four minutes, and there was a man who came out just before both agents. He was ignored. The gunman opened fire the second both agents appeared.”
“Do you think they were followed from here?” Eli asked.
“That would seem plausible,” Gregory agreed. “There is CCTV which I need you to recover.
“We also need to check ours,” Talon said.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Gregory agreed. “This may not have anything to do with this case—”
“Or it might have everything to do with it,” Daniel suggested grimly.
“Finn, get yourself to the hospital, and when you can, see if Lin saw anything.” Talon started issuing instructions. “Gael and Jake, I want you to check all available cameras. Sawyer, Adam, there is still an enhanced witness to get to court this afternoon.”
“A witness?” Daniel queried.
“Favor for district three. A hostile enhanced that can manipulate electricity. We need enhanced to transport him. I am going to talk to Cabrera and see what else—if anything—they were working on. Daniel? You and Eli go down to the store and interview any witnesses. I’ll make sure TPD keeps them there until we get there.”
Eli drove a beat-up sedan that Daniel wasn’t a hundred percent sure would get them there, but he followed Eli toward it without a word. Complaining about his partner’s ride wouldn’t do him any favors. “How do you want to play the Caffrey thing?”
Eli looked surprised Daniel had bitten the bullet. “Do we get a choice?”
“I think,” Daniel said cautiously. “Talon will make sure we run things. I don’t know if anyone else will take over the case in Orlando or they will just hand it over. It will depend on how long Lin is out of commission.”
Daniel’s phone bleeped, and he saw a message from Gael. “Gael says the CCTV isn’t Wi-Fi enabled. It has to be checked on the premises.”
“I guess we should be lucky they have it,” Eli commented.
“He also says they are checking the local traffic cams for the SUV, but we don’t have even a make yet.”
The cops had the entire area taped off when Daniel and Eli pulled up. Daniel froze for a second just as he was about to climb out and couldn’t help the grunt of disgust as he looked at the cops. Eli glanced back just as he was about to open the door. “What?”
Daniel tipped his chin toward one of the cops making the public stand behind a hurriedly erected taped-off area. Fucking Carmichael. Michael “Mac” Carmichael in a Tampa PD uniform hadn’t seen them yet.
“I thought they were fired?” Eli said quietly.
“I wish,” Daniel muttered. “They got official warnings, and when ENu was disbanded, they were all given regular jobs. They can’t just get fired, and someone with Carmichael’s experience—on paper—would be an asset.” Because of how ENu had deliberately targeted Vance when they had broken in to arrest him and fired on him unprovoked with their sedation rifles, Daniel had hit the roof with the powers that be, but it was Tampa’s own cops—the guys on the street—who were all disgusted with how Vance had been treated that led to their units being disbanded because they simply refused to refer any cases to them. He was surprised that Carmichael had stayed to be honest. There weren’t many cops that would be happy about it.
Eli got out first, and Daniel saw the look of contempt that slid over Carmichael’s face. He slammed his door closed with a little more force than necessary to get Carmichael’s focus. He couldn’t help answering the glower with a delighted smile. He might not have wanted his partner, and he couldn’t honestly say if Gregory gave him the chance he wouldn’t switch, but for the time being they were together.
For a moment Daniel remembered what his grandad had said—he’d been a beat cop all his life, and the day his partner had gotten shot, Grandad had been devastated. He’d told him it was like losing one of his family. In fact, a lot of cops acknowledged they probably spent more time with their partners than their spouses.
Maybe he should see what Eli was doing for supper one night this week after all.
“Connelly,” Carmichael ground out as if having to acknowledge the name was downright painful. Daniel really hoped it was.
“Sergeant,” Daniel responded mildly, ignoring the fact Carmichael had left off his designation. “Do you have somewhere inside we can interview people?”
Carmichael nodded suspiciously, but he gestured inside. “There’s an office. We kept the customers that were here inside.” He nodded to the reporters.
“Thank you,” Daniel responded, keeping his tone even, and headed for the store. He didn’t recognize either of the cops inside, but he’d been in Washington for eight years, so unless they worked with his dad or brothers, it wasn’t surprising. He opened his ID for the first cop and quickly got the interviews arranged. There were four people. The man who had left and seen the SUV before Lin and Wright had come in. The young man who worked in the store, his father who had been stocking the freezers at the back after the delivery they had an hour ago, and Mrs. Raquel Perez, who had been unlucky enough to call in on her way home.
“I just wanted a scratch card,” she whispered. “For the lotto. I always get one for Bernard on the way home, but I won’t ever again. Such bad luck.” And she crossed herself and invoked the Virgin Mary.
“Well, sure,” Daniel soothed. “But you could say that her protection worked. You didn’t get shot.”
She looked aghast for a moment, then nodded sagely. She hadn’t seen anything though. She was already in the store trying to choose the $5 one or to go for two $2 ones. Apparently, it was a hard decision, and when the gun firing had started, she’d hidden behind the large display for discount bleach and closed her eyes.
Kevin Temple barely remembered the SVU as he was on the phone to his girlfriend and currently breaking up with her. He remembered it was there but nothing else, and he was already driving away when the gunfire started and he’d pulled around the corner quickly, only coming back when the cops had arrived. Raymond O’Dare hadn’t seen anything either. The chilled displays were stocked from the back, and he was filling the shelves from behind in the storeroom. He’d run out as he had heard the shooting, heard the squeal of tires, and dialed 911. Then he’d tried to help staunch the bleeding.