No Mercy by John Gilstrap Page A

inside the building, this one was both sophisticated and successful.
    "Shit!" he spat. Heart racing, Felix slapped the panic button to take the entire system offline and stanch the flow of data. Christ Almighty, this was exactly the kind of stuff that pushed Mr. Warren over the edge--the kind of thing that ended careers in a heartbeat. Hands trembling, he started right into his forensic work.
    It would only be a few minutes before Mr. Warren responded to the identical alert he would have received on his pager. When he called, Felix's only chance of continued employment would lie in his ability to trace down the origin of the attempt.
    It took him two minutes to trace the hit back to the National Archives in Washington, DC. His heart sank. Using public facilities like that made it living would need to keep the fact of a kidnapping secret."
    The phone rang for a third time, and she picked it up. "Sheriff Bonneville, hold on a second, please." She put the call on hold. To Jesse, she continued, "If word leaked out that someone had been nabbed, somebody would call the police, and then the contractor would lose control of his operation."
    Jesse's defenses started to fall as he saw it, too. "And the real reason to use an independent contractor in the first place would be because the kidnappers warned not to involve the police."
    Gail smiled and winked. "Bingo." She pushed the hold button again and brought the phone to her ear. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting. This is Sheriff Bonneville."
    "Medina." The special agent in charge of the Chicago Field Office announced his name as if it were an accusation, but the sound of his voice brought pleasant memories to Gail's mind. "You ready to have your world rocked?"
    "I'm going to put you on speaker," Gail said as she pressed the button. "I'm here with Jesse Collier."
    "Hey, Jess," Medina said. "This kid you're looking for, Thomas Hughes? Son of Stephenson and Julie Hughes?"
    Gail glanced, and Jesse nodded. "That's him," she said.
    "Well, when you find him, hold him, will you? His folks are murderers."
    Gail startled visibly. " What? "
    "Yep, how's that for a kick in the head? Looks like they murdered a woman, her two children, and their nanny in Muncie. Ugly scene, too. Early reports say torture."
    "Oh, my God," she breathed. "What the hell is going on, Vince?"
    "Soon as I know, you'll know. Just thought I'd share. It came up on ICIS if you want to track it. Gotta go."
    With the line silent, she felt pale.
    "Love to hear a hypothesis on this one, Boss," Jesse said.

Chapter Twenty-two
    The security breach while surfing through the Carlyle site had shaken Venice. She'd wasted no time getting out of the Archives and back to the safety of Fisherman's Cove. Safely back in her office now, she held her breath as she logged into the Interstate Crime Information System for an update on the Indiana investigation. Her stomach fell. By far the most critical investigation in the country--the one that was garnering the most bulletins and alerts--was Jonathan's triple shooting in Samson, Indiana. Since the last time she'd signed in, authorities had figured out that the incident had involved a kidnapping, but it wasn't obvious whether they thought the shooter was a rescuer or a kidnapper.
    Even more startling was the fact that Indiana investigators had tied the name Thomas Hughes to the location of the shootings. They had him identified as a twenty-two-year-old college student from Ball State University, and he was currently being sought as a "person of interest," which Venice knew from past experience was a label that spanned everything from potential witness to primary suspect. Whatever it meant in this case, it was not good news.
    Thomas Hughes's name on the screen was highlighted as a hyperlink, which usually foretold involvement in a second or related criminal investigation. When Venice clicked it, she gasped and brought her hand to her mouth after reading only the first two sentencepossible.
    With her