Way of the Shadows (Shadow Agents 8)

Lights flooded on from the interior of the house.

“I’m gonna be in so much trouble,” Hodges muttered.

The man needed to grow a backbone.

Eyes narrowed, Noelle focused on the door. When it swung open a few minutes later, a disheveled Paula Quill stood in the doorway.

“Agents?” Paula shoved back her hair. “What are you doing here?”

Noelle advanced and Paula fell back. Noelle figured that counted as an invitation to enter the place. “We’re here to see the senator, now.”

“But it’s the middle of the night!” Paula’s hands tightly gripped the front of her robe. “You can’t just barge in here—”

That was exactly what they’d just done. Noelle glanced to the left and saw a light was on in the senator’s study, and its door was slightly open. Just like the gate. The senator should really watch that tendency to keep inviting folks in.

“The senator is sleeping,” Paula snapped as she moved to stand directly in front of Noelle. “You’ll have to come back in the morning if you want another appointment with him.”

Noelle simply walked around the other woman and headed for the study.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Thomas murmured to Paula, “but this appointment can’t wait.”

Noelle’s steps quickened as she approached that study door. Thomas was close. She could hear him following her. “Senator Duncan,” Noelle called, raising her voice, “I hope you—” She fully pushed open the door, and her words broke off.

Noelle didn’t see the senator in the office. He wasn’t at his desk.

“I told you,” Paula said, voice tight. “He’s asleep. He’s upstairs! Now, leave.”

But...Noelle could smell something in that room. A familiar, gut-tightening scent. Instead of leaving, she advanced. Every muscle in her body tightened.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Thomas’s eyes were narrowed and currently sweeping over the room.

She looked behind the desk. Looked behind the leather couch...

And saw the body.

“That’s not sleeping,” Thomas said flatly as he peered down at the senator. “That’s dead.”

Paula ran toward the sofa. When she saw Duncan, Paula screamed.

* * *

“OUR CHIEF SUSPECT is dead.”

Noelle glanced over when Thomas made this grim announcement. They were at the sheriff’s station in Camden, in fresh clothes, and the two of them were currently heading the investigation into the senator’s death. When they’d found the body, Sheriff Hodges had pretty much gone into shock.

“Things like this just don’t happen in Camden...” Those had been the sheriff’s hushed words once Paula Quill finally stopped screaming. It had taken at least fifteen minutes to calm down that woman.

To Noelle, it appeared as if the quiet town of Camden was having one hell of a night.

“Yeah, Mercer, I’m sure the guy in the truck wanted us dead. It was no mere hit-and-run. We were targeted.” Thomas turned toward Noelle as he kept the phone to his ear. “My money was on the senator being behind that attack, but with him dead...” Thomas exhaled. “I’m not sure what’s going on now.”

Neither was Noelle.

“Right,” Thomas said into the phone as his shoulders straightened. “We’ll keep the FBI cover, and we’ll report back on everything we find.” He ended the call and tossed his phone onto the nearby desk.

They’d taken over one of the empty offices at the sheriff’s station so they could have some privacy—and a base for their operations.