Alien Hunter (Flynn Carroll) Read Free Page A

images of Abby’s. “I wasn’t.”
    “’Course you were.”
    “Dallas PD and the FBI closed the Boyne case years ago. So I wasn’t interviewing him, as there is no case on the books.”
    “Then let’s say you were pursuing your hobby of refusing to drop closed cases.”
    “Who the hell told her?”
    “Not me. I just sit in my office and wait for the parade to go by. Which it never does.”
    “There was a parade. When the Tomcats won the semi-finals.”
    Eddie looked blank.
    “The Tomcats. Menard High’s football team on which you once served as a wide receiver. Last year they reached the semi-finals and the school decided on a parade. You were there. You rode in the lead pickup. In a uniform with a big cap. Very impressive.”
    “Is that sardonic or sarcastic?”
    “Both. Anyway, where is Agent Glass from, Dallas or San Antonio?”
    “She emailed me for permission to talk to you about disappearance cases in general. Pick your brain, be my guess.”
    “Okay.”
    “Could be a break, Flynn, if the Bureau’s gonna finally do something.” He paused. “Thing is, she’s got a Gmail account.”
    That was odd. “So she’s not the Bureau? Did she name an agency?”
    “She did not.”
    But who else would it be? ATF? No, no interest in missing persons there. Border Patrol? Possibly. “I’ve looked for evidence of border transport for years. So maybe she’s Borders.”
    Eddie Parker said, “You’re gonna find out. Right now.”
    A woman in a suit stood in the doorway of the squad room.
    “My God,” Flynn muttered.
    Her hair was so dark it made her skin look as pale as marble. She wore a black, featureless suit that shimmered like silk. Her eyes moved to Flynn, then to Eddie, then to back to him again. Then the most beautiful woman Flynn had ever seen in his life strode through the dead-silent squad room. She stopped at his desk.
    Eddie had taken off. His office door was already closing.
    “Lieutenant Errol Carroll?”
    He stood up and shook an unexpectedly powerful hand. Her eyes, emerald green, drilled into him. She was all job, this woman. Beauty, yes, but in service to a cause, which was very clear.
    “Lieutenant, we need to talk.”
    He gestured toward his chair.
    “Privately.”
    Silently, he led her toward the conference room. He could see Eddie lurking way back in his office, watching through the blinds, not wanting to get anywhere near this. He didn’t want a single thing to do with this ice sculpture, either. She might as well have “Bad News” tattooed on her forehead in big red letters. Expensive clothes like hers did not go with garden variety FBI personnel, or any ordinary personnel at all. No, this lady came from way up high where the dangerous people lived.
    After they were in the conference room, she shut the door. She turned the lock with a decisive click. He hadn’t ever seen that lock used before.
    “Sit down, please.”
    “What’s this about?”
    She reinforced her statement with a sharp gesture, and he found himself dropping into one of the old wooden chairs that were scattered around the scarred conference table.
    She went into her briefcase and pulled out a tablet computer. She tapped a couple of times and he could see a file appear. Like many a detective, he was good at reading upside down. He saw his own name on it, and his picture.
    She began flipping through the file, touching the screen with a long finger every time she turned a page.
    “Do I need a lawyer?”
    She stopped reading and looked up. “You have investigated twelve of them, starting with your wife. Each time, you’ve put in a request for more investigative support. May I ask you why?”
    “May I see a cred?”
    “You’re suspicious of me?”
    He did not reply.
    She held out an FBI credential that identified her as Special Agent Diana Glass.
    “Satisfied?”
    Not in the least, but that was beside the point. First off, the credential could be rigged. Second, he would never know the truth—at least, not