The Christmas Bell Tolls Read Free

soon enough, but I want to jump on this immediately.”
    Peter Helm was the
TBI Special Agent Investigator, their boss, and Ivan Goins was hands-down the
best latents technician in the state. If Maddie asked for both of them, it had
to be serious. But how was Maddie at a crime scene already? She was supposed to
be with her sister and sister-in-law doing pre-wedding stuff.
    “Got
it.” Eva pushed the intercom button twice for both Peter and Ivan, the
in-lab signal that they had a call. She stood, slipping out of her blue lab
coat and grabbing the team’s royal blue vest with the yellow TBI AGENT on the
back.
    Eva slipped her
holster housing her gun around her waist, wedging the phone between her
shoulder and chin. “Can you tell me the basics of what’s going on? So I know if
I need to bring anything special to the scene.” She grabbed her badge and secured
it on her hip before donning the blue baseball-style cap. She held the truck
keys still in her hand as she listened to Maddie’s breathing hitch.
    “Abduction.”

Two
     
    The hairs on the
back of his neck stood at attention.
    Darren spun around
in his office chair and found Special Agent in Charge Nick Hagar hovering in
his cubicle opening. “Hey, Boss.”
    “I need to see you
in my office, please. Now.” Nick turned and headed to
his office.
    Darren stood and
straightened his jacket over his holster. Nick wasn’t the type of man to summon
anyone to his office without a legitimate purpose. Darren strode down the hall
behind his boss, his mind racing through potential reasons he’d been called in.
Surely the agency wasn’t cutting jobs again. He loved his job, but he also
needed it for the insurance. With Savannah’s pre-existing medical condition, he
couldn’t afford to have to get new insurance.
    He turned the
corner, nodding to a couple of fellow agents who acknowledged him. Maybe there
was something missing from his report of his last case. He’d concluded all the
paperwork day before yesterday and turned in everything. At least, he thought
he had.
    “Shut the door
behind you.” Nick didn’t sit in his chair behind his desk. He stood to the
side, arms crossed over his chest.
    Darren’s mouth
went dry as his knees locked. “Yes, sir?”
    “I think you’d
better sit down.” Nick sat on the edge of his desk.
    Not really wanting
to sit, but not daring to disobey his boss, Darren dropped into the chair.
“Sir, what’s going on?”
    “First, I want you
to sit there and hear me out. Do you understand? No bolting
out of here without hearing everything first.”
    The muscles in
Darren’s biceps tightened. This had to be personal. He nodded.
    “No, I need you to
respond to me.” No mistaking Nick’s commanding tone.
    “Yes,
sir. I’ll sit here and hear you out.”
    “Good.” Nick let
out a long breath. “There’s a situation over at the community center.”
    Savannah! Sweet,
Jesus. Every muscle in Darren’s body went rigid and he shifted.
    Nick held up his
hand. “I’m not going to lie to you, it’s Savannah.”
    Darren couldn’t
breathe. A rock the size and shape of the Memphis pyramid lodged in the back of
his throat. Good thing he hadn’t stood because he didn’t think his legs could
support his weight right now.
    “She’s missing.”
    Those two words
ripped apart his very soul.
    “Missing?” He
managed to shove the word out past the boulder blocking his ability to breathe.
    “At this point, we
believe she was taken.”
    Taken. Gone. Abducted. A million
scenarios sped through Darren’s mind, not a one of them good. Dear God…not
my Savy!
    He moved to stand.
    Nick gripped
Darren’s shoulder and eased him back into the chair. “Just listen.” He shook
his shoulder. “Listen to me, Darren.”
    He looked up,
focusing on his boss. He needed to concentrate on what Nick said, but all that
filled his mind was his daughter.
    “Here’s what we
know. There were a lot of people at the community center: choir people,
florists,