“I can’t say what private companies might be out there scooping up images and data but it would take EG time and effort to figure out. Easier to sit outside our offices in DC and wait for her to leave work. And, yes, we have safeguards against all those kinds of activities at all our premises.”

Yael swallowed. There were pictures of her online but she’d been much younger then. Over the last decade she’d tried hard not to have her face appear in any digital form. She had a few anonymous accounts to monitor the internet but nothing that could lead back to her, or even to her real IP address.

Her Sphinx persona was blown. No going back to that. She’d wiped all trace of that avatar from the web, just in case there were any unconscious clues left behind.

Shane worked a crick out of his neck. He appeared relaxed but Yael could feel the energy pouring off him. Then he said, “I assume you have people from TEDAC looking at the explosive device?” For a split second his southern accent slipped out before the guy reined it back in.

TEDAC was the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center.

“TEDAC scientists immediately traveled to Texas to gather the evidence and took it back to Huntsville to examine.” Ashley pulled up a report. “The explosive was C-4. Blasting caps were military issue but we haven’t been able to trace them. The device was set to blow as soon as the door opened.”

Shane rolled the pen against the empty pad of paper on the table with his right hand. The muscles in his forearm were clearly defined. “I doubt EG learned this stuff off the internet. He either has explosive experience or hired someone to help him. If the latter, that someone is a weak link and we need to find them.”

“I agree. TEDAC is working with forensics to collect any additional evidence.” Sloan stood. “This UNSUB has left behind a stream of wreckage since he started his murder spree. We seem to be chasing around cleaning up his mess but never getting ahead of him. If he’s true to form, we have less than three months to stop him striking again. Let’s meet here again at eight on Wednesday morning and every other workday after that. I want to hear measurable progress from everyone at each meeting.”

That didn’t sound good to Yael. That sounded like Sloan was settling in for the long haul. The longer it took, the more the online trail disappeared. The internet might be forever but it was also ephemeral when someone knew how to erase data.

“What about the stolen credit card that was used to purchase the VPN?” Yael asked.

“Sold on the dark web in a batch of thousands,” Ashley said with a downward twist of her lips.

Damn.