King and Maxwell (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 6)

“I didn’t see Jean’s car here,” Michelle said.

“Just being sure,” replied Sean.

He waited a few more moments then said, “Got your pick tools?”

Sean stood behind Michelle to cover her breaking and entering. Thirty seconds later she swung the door open with one hand. In her other was her pistol.

She entered, followed by Sean. He closed the door behind them. Michelle checked the small attached bathroom while Sean opened the tiny closet and then looked under the bed. There were no other places someone could be concealed.

Michelle was holstering her gun as she came back out of the bathroom. “All clear.”

“She didn’t leave much,” he said as he opened a few drawers, revealing various articles of clothing. “There’re a few hanging things in the closet.”

Michelle flipped up the mattress and then checked the box spring for anything hidden there. Wiping the dust off her hands, she rose. “I doubt she left anything of significance.”

“Yet her having this place is significant in itself,” he replied.

She said, “How hard do you want us to look? We can tear up carpet, peel off wallpaper, and dig the backing off the cheap prints on the wall. Check the toilet, the pipes, and the bath drain. The list goes on and on.”

“Why have a second address at a place like this?”

Michelle perched on the edge of the bed. “As opposed to what?”

“Let’s assume she was a DoD plant. Presumably Wingo would have known that.”

Michelle saw where he was going. “So why a crash pad? If she was brought in from out of the area, the military had to have a better place for her to stay than this dump. I mean, the Pentagon has a lot of facilities up here. You can’t turn around without bumping into space with their prints all over it.”

Sean leaned against the wall. “Based on that, what’s the logical conclusion?”

Michelle flicked her gaze around the room as she thought about this. When the answer dawned on her she said, “If you’re right, this sucker just got really complicated.”

“Because maybe Jean Wingo was playing a two-sided game. Working for DoD and pretending to be Wingo’s wife.”

Michelle picked up this thread. “And also working for the other side. The side that got the billion euros Wingo was supposed to deliver. So she’s a spy?”

“I don’t know what she is. A spy. A criminal. Both.”

“But who would she be spying for?”

“Even our allies spy on us.”

“Granted. But we have to make some progress on that question if we want to get any traction on this case.”

“I’m hoping General Brown will come through for us there. And we might get really lucky and Sam Wingo will email his son back.”

“Do you think Wingo went over to the dark side?”

“For Tyler’s sake I hope not,” replied Sean.

Michelle glanced toward the door. “Did you hear something?”

Sean ran to the window where he could see outside through a gap in the drapes. Whatever he saw made him leap across the room and push Michelle into the bathroom. He grabbed the mattress and threw himself through the doorway into the same bathroom, where Michelle was now lying on the floor.

“What the hell is going on?” she hissed.

In response he pulled her into the bathtub with him and threw the mattress over them both.

She didn’t have time to ask her question again because the bedroom they had just been in disappeared in a vortex of shock waves, choking fire, and flying debris.