“Agents tracked the scent down to the creek and then to a field on the other side. K9 unit lost the scent near the road so we are assuming he left a vehicle there. Evidence Recovery Teams are checking the area looking for tire tracks.”

“How deep was the water?” Alex asked.

“Less than six inches. It’s been a dry year.” Shane shifted and his seat creaked. “The agents isolated and photographed some shoe prints so we have an impression. Size tens. No brand yet.”

“If he had any sense, he’d dump the rifle and the shoes in the nearest river,” Alex stated.

“Or ocean,” Frazer added.

“Any eye witnesses?”

The guy with dark hair introduced himself. “I’m SSA Sheridan with CNU. Special Agent Kanas and I were at the bar last night to raise a toast to Kurt Montana.” His lips pressed into a thin line before he continued. “We made ourselves useful by questioning Ms. Brooks’s neighbors. Thankfully no one else was injured although some bullets did penetrate the house directly opposite. The owner was visiting DC for the weekend so he wasn’t hurt. No one saw anything before the attack but several of Ms. Brooks’s neighbors reported seeing a man in dark clothing running into the woods after the shooting stopped. They called the cops at four minutes past ten. A patrol unit arrived in under ten minutes and the first FBI agents shortly thereafter.” He closed his notebook and looked straight at Yael. “Sorry we didn’t find out more.”

She nodded gratefully. It had been nice of them to help out last night and now sacrifice their Saturday to the case. She understood though. This UNSUB threatened everyone’s safety even though he seemed to have settled on her for now.

She thrust the thought aside. She had more protection than most.

“We need to find the shooter and contain him,” Sloan said. “We need to figure out where the shooter obtained the weapon—highest priority is finding the ex-con, Borisky. Then continue to determine how Evi1Geni-us grabs his victims and how he found Ms. Brooks’s home address. And, finally, we need to know whether or not we messed up in our identification of Pierce as Evi1Geni-us. Time to get to work, people.”

“Sounds like a piece of cake,” Shane muttered irritably.

Yael shivered.

“Seems like we’re in luck with one of those items,” Ashley spoke up quickly. “Traffic cop outside Fredericksburg pulled over our ex-con Ronald Borisky for having a broken taillight a couple of hours ago. Driver’s license came back flagged with the warrants.”

Sloan smiled. “Who wants to go get this guy?”

26

Shane walked into the county jailhouse to a lot of dubious looks from the local cops. He guessed he didn’t much look like a G-man in his green tactical pants, black t-shirt and boots. The gold shield he wore was proof enough though.