Murph nodded and returned to his comm.

“Be advised, suspect is B.C. He may be disguised as a woman. I need thirty-second check-ins from the ground team members,” he said, then turned back to Jessie and Dolan. “How’s she doing?”

“Yeah, how is she doing?” Jessie repeated.

“Little cut above the right temple,” Dolan said. “Probably doesn’t even need stitches. A small bandage should do it. He could have done far worse.”

“He wasn’t really trying to hurt me. He wanted to warn me.”

“About what?” Dolan asked.

“The safe house. He said it wasn’t safe.”

Murph looked crestfallen for a moment before his attention returned to the voice in his ear. After listening, he looked even more deflated.

“All teams have checked in,” he told them. “They didn’t find anything. He’s gone.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

They decided Jessie should stay at the station for the night.

She would have protested but under the circumstances, it was out of her hands. Besides, she didn’t have any better ideas. Of course, when they said “station,” she didn’t realize they meant a cot in an unoccupied cell.

“Am I being punished?” she asked Captain Decker.

“No,” he told her as they all walked down the deserted hall to the lockup area. “This is actually the safest possible place for you, at least in the short term. This holding cell is isolated from the others so we can keep your presence a secret from most folks. It’s secure and monitored 24/7. For tonight, the security team includes two of my most trusted officers. Dolan is going to sleep in the other cot in the room. And four fresh US marshals will be here in twenty minutes to relieve Murphy’s team for the night. You can’t do much better than this, unless you’re in a fallout bunker.”

“So, not punishment then,” she said, more to lighten the mood than to be combative. Before he could come back at her she turned to Murph. “Is everyone at the safe house okay?”

“All good so far,” he said. “We’ve increased the tactical team contingent in the hopes that your father shows up but they’re mostly off-site. We’re using additional surveillance, including drones. We want to draw him in, actually. We’ve even got a female marshal walking around in your clothes with her hair done up in a ponytail like yours. She’s armed to the teeth, so even if he gets in, he’s in for a surprise.”

“Don’t get cocky, Murph,” Jessie advised. “Xander Thurman is devious, patient, and brilliant. Underestimating him usually gets people killed.”

“We’ve got it covered, Ms. Hunt,” he assured her firmly.

“Whatever you say,” she said, then turned her attention back to Decker. “By the way, am I allowed any more ibuprofen or is that against jail rules? My head is still killing me.”

“The doctor said you could have two more at eleven p.m. but not before.”

“And she really didn’t think I had a concussion?” Jessie recalled incredulously. “You buying that?”