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Lowering herself, body flat, she ignored Dash’s curious gaze as she inhaled the scents closer to the floor.
Thankfully Seth was in the hall with the other board members. If he had been closer, her senses would have been so swamped with him that she could have never sifted through the scents here.
She wanted to turn the body over, wanted to do her own investigation. She was hampered by the authorities, who had demanded preservation of the scene. As though Breeds didn’t know how to conduct an investigation. Prints had already been dusted for; ultraviolet had already swept the room, and a collection of fibers, hairs and other assorted evidentiary items had been collected.
Her eyes narrowed as her gaze was caught by something lying close beside the hand that was tucked partially beneath the victim’s body. She could barely make out the tiniest hint of a piece of paper.
“I have something here, Dash. Paper. It’s under the body.”
Dash growled at the inconvenience of the position. They couldn’t touch the body in any way and risk the authorities’ ire in this matter. The situation was too tricky.
Dawn adjusted the latex gloves on her hands and waited until Dash could move in beside her. He flattened himself to the floor and peered at the area Dawn was pointing to.
“Merc, get the forceps from my bag,” Dash murmured.
A second later the surgical steel forceps were in his hand and Dash flashed her a smile. “Never know when you might have to extract something in our line of work.”
Then he was wedging the forceps beneath the body and slowly pulling the paper free. They were lucky; the dead man wasn’t gripping the paper. It had fallen from his hand as he fell, and it was marred by only a spot or two of blood, sheltered as it had been between the arm and the body.
“Here we go,” he muttered, taking it from the metal grips and slowly unfolding it.
Dawn read it, then looked back at Dash in concern.
Tell Seth now! the note read.
“Someone is paranoid,” Dash said softly. “Hard copy rather than e-message. I’d suspect Breyer found this note in his room rather than having it passed to him.”
Tell Seth now. Tell Seth what? Dawn rose to her feet beside Dash as he had the note stored in an evidence bag, then tucked it easily into the inside, hidden pocket of his military-style shirt.
“Dash, Callan just contacted. He’ll have four additional agents flying in within the hour.” Merc’s leonine features were harsh, the dark, gold brown eyes flat and cold. “Satellite also pinpoints a large vessel anchored within line of sight of this room, for four hours prior to the shooting. It pulled anchor and moved out just after the shots fired at Seth and Dawn. We have no reports of the vessel docking at any of the nearby harbors, and all indications are it was stealth equipped. It wasn’t on our radar.”
“Not a tour ship but close to it,” Dawn snapped, furious. “Son of a bitch, how were they able to stealth equip such a large vessel?”
“They couldn’t, unless it was military,” Mercury rasped. “We almost missed it with the satellites, and identification of it is going to be impossible.”
“Council.” Dawn pushed her fingers roughly through her hair as fear began to brew in her stomach. The Genetics Council still had ties to the military in every section of the world.
“Why would the Council target Seth?” she growled, looking back at Dash. “He isn’t the only one funding Sanctuary. Why him and not others?”
Dash’s eyes were narrowed as he stared around the room.
“Merc, Dane Vanderale is in residence. See if you can convince him to get his people to loan us one of the Vanderale sats. If we combine it with the Lawrence sat we’re using, then we can possibly keep this from happening again.”
“They’ll find a way onto the island next,” Dawn muttered. “This didn’t work, so they’ll be pissed. They’ll come in closer.”
“And when they do, we’ll have them.” Dash’s smile was cold. Hard. “I want this suite secured, doors and windows shielded at all times. And you’re off the team now.” He turned to Dawn as she blinked back at him, shock and anger slicing through her.
“Not because of performance, Dawn,” he snarled quietly. “I want you close to Seth at all times. I want your attention on him, your focus on him. Besides the fact you’re now in full heat and that compromises your focus, I know if you’re with him his chances of surviving this increase. You’re at his back, watching every breath he takes. Is that understood?”
She swallowed tightly. He was right. Her focus was compromised and she knew it. Already she could feel her insides shaking, her need for Seth’s touch, his smel
l beginning to undermine her strength.
She nodded tightly before she sighed in agreement and looked around the room again, searching for Seth. She was furious with him. He had not only lied to her about being hit, but once dressed and armed he had joined the team to search for the shooter. And he had ignored her objections, only staring at her with those cold, steel gray eyes before turning away and doing as he pleased.
“Civilian authorities are flying in,” Moira reported through the comm link. “We have two official helis with six heat contacts inside.”
“Direct them to the private heli-pads,” Dash ordered through the link. “Sanctuary is due in approximately eight hours. Contain and secure until reinforcements arrive.”
