“Absolutely,” he admitted, with a wolfish grin. “You go first.”

  She rolled her eyes and walked out to the dining room, where everybody was filling their plates with bacon and eggs and sausage and ham. When she placed the cinnamon buns in the center of the table, everyone grabbed at least one. Before she had a chance to let people know about them, the first tray was gone. She put down the second tray, but two were already missing, which Bojan had snagged and put on his plate. She burst out laughing. “Well, I’m glad to see there’s nothing slow about you, so you won’t starve in this place.”

  “That situation is the same in every place with a crew like this.” Then he quickly found a place to sit down. After everybody was settled in and the sounds of happy munchers filled the room, Bullard looked over at him.

  “You got any idea what the danger is that we’re supposed to be watching out for?” he asked, staring as he spoke. “It’s pretty hard to look for an attacker if we have no idea what’s even happening and why.”

  “I know.” Bojan hesitated for a moment, then shared, “Lacy mentioned it earlier to Leia, but the gifts of the two of us are stronger if we’re together.”

  “So, in that case, I suggest we go over the files and lists of people and cases again, and see what we come up with.”

  “I already pointed out the pertinent one,” Bojan stated, glancing back at Bullard.

  Bullard nodded. “You did, but we didn’t have any specifics to go on. No connections can be made until we do. I understand how the killing doc getting caught would bring Leia in his crosshairs, but he already had his eyes on her for years.”

  “Right. We need to know what else is related to that case. I can do some digging on that. Meanwhile, I understand you’re doing the upgrade on the tech issues with the security system today?” he asked, looking over at Bullard.

  Bullard nodded. “I just purchased the property next door last night,” he declared, with a growl. “We will set up security on that one too.”

  Stunned, Bojan stared at Bullard, wondering at a man who would turn around and purchase acres of property because it bordered his place. But Bullard was all about security and didn’t like the failure that had resulted in Lacy being shot. “That sounds good,” Bojan replied. “You guys work on that, and Lacy and I will take a look at everybody involved in your world in the last little while.” He looked over at Dave. “You have security camera footage available, right?”

  “I do. How far back do you want to go?”

  He hesitated, then he looked over at Lacy, who had just joined them. “I’ll say two weeks. What do you think?”

  Lacy nodded. “That’s probably a good idea.”

  Leia frowned, looking at him. “It never occurred to me to look at the security cameras.”

  “That’s because you’re living here, used to seeing a certain amount of new faces,” he muttered. “I’ve just arrived. The security, the people, the faces, they won’t be ones I know, so I won’t have preconceived notions about them. I can go see what comes up from my energy reading on that.”

  Lacy nodded. “Okay, agreed, we can do that afterward.”

  And, with that, they went back to eating. After a moment, Ryland added, “And if you guys come up with anything that we can do—”

  “Right. There is one other thing.” Bojan hesitated for a moment, then looked down the table and up at Bullard. “I did get an odd feeling with the shooter. This sense of familiarity to him.”

  Bullard put down his fork and stared at him. “What do you mean?”

  “This whole mess, I think, was meant as a warning shot, and I think the message was intended for whoever got it, so not necessarily Leia herself. But it was a warning, so I’m wondering if there isn’t something in the background that you have thought wasn’t a threat but is. I know that’s fairly convoluted, and I’m not trying to be vague, but, because of the familiarity issue, I think it’s probably somebody you know.”

  With that, Bullard reached for a cinnamon bun, his face twisted in fierce concentration, as he thought about it. “The trouble is, I know hundreds if not thousands of people, so I would need that narrowed down,” he shared. “Plus, how does this tie in with the doc killing from so many years ago?”

  “Six degrees of separation,” Ryland muttered.

  “Right,” Bojan concurred. “You go back far enough, and you might find the connection. I will start by taking a look at the recent camera feed to see if anybody could be of concern. Then we can work backward and see what we find.”

  Bullard frowned. “Among the thousands that I know? Good luck with that.”

  Bojan refilled his coffee cup, snagged his plate with the cinnamon buns, then looked over at Lacy.

  She stood up and nodded. “I’m ready.”

  And without the need to converse verbally, the two of them walked out.

  Chapter 8

  Lacy heard the dining room chatter increase as she and Bojan left. She looked over at him and asked, “I wonder how much the conversation behind us will change.”

  He shrugged. “We can expect them to talk.”

  “I know they’re curious and confused, just like the rest of us,” she muttered.

  “Absolutely,” he agreed, with a knowing smile, “but we are a step closer to where we’re supposed to be, so that’s a good thing.”

  She held his comment close, wondering if he really was at the point where he could acknowledge where they were at and could go forward from here. She didn’t want to push it, as she still felt a little raw and on the bruised side.

  As they walked over to the security room, Dave met them there and let them in, setting them up in front of a pair of monitors. “I’ll replay the last two weeks,” he began, “and you can control the speed, as you like.” And, with that, he turned and walked out, leaving them alone.

  Lacy settled back to study the monitors and the faces as they flashed back and forth. Just because she’d been here over those two weeks, that didn’t mean she necessarily knew everybody who had come and gone.

  There were workers; there were delivery people; there were friends; there were the clinic patients. A lot of people lived here on a regular basis, but still Lacy hadn’t come in contact with all of Bullard’s crew. Working in the clinic kept her busy most days. Plus everybody else had a life here, and Lacy was a guest in that odd position of belonging but not quite belonging. She was doing a practicum here, which made her more of an employee than anything else. Yet, at the same time, it didn’t feel anything like that kind of relationship.

  She and Bojan quickly went through the video, but, on day four, he leaned forward, hit the Stop button, backed it up, and took a look at a man who was coming forward, dropping off a parcel, and talking to whoever received it, with a seemingly cheerful note. Then he walked away, everything completely normal. However, as he got to his vehicle, he stopped and turned back around and gave the one-finger salute to the house.

  “Interesting,” Lacy murmured. “Is that just somebody pissed off at someone having all this or is it more than that?”

  “What do you think?” he asked, glancing over at her.

  “I vote for more than that,” she said instantly. “I’m just not exactly sure what we’re looking at here.”

  Bojan went forward on the tape again, and they watched to see if anything else came on strong enough to point them anywhere else. Bojan noted, “That delivery driver didn’t come back either, in the next ten days.”

  She frowned, as Bojan rewound the tape to the spot where the delivery driver was, and they went through the tape again. “Do you think Bullard knows him?” Lacy asked.

  “It’s possible,” Bojan replied. “I’ll run that face through facial recognition and see if we get anything.”

  “It still blows me away that facial recognition is even something we have access to here,” she murmured.

  “Nothing is common about Bullard and his team, or the other teams he’s connected to, and I think that, for the most part, many governments are happy to keep them in technology, as they keep them safe as well.”

  “I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” she murmured, leaning forward, studying the delivery guy. “It’s a regular delivery vehicle. It’s got plates. I’m sure it will check out. We know he was here. He was probably doing rounds or at least filled in for somebody for the day or just even for that moment,” she suggested. “So the question is, was that finger salute something he expected people to see and to recognize as being a threat, or was something else going on?”

  “Hmm. I would say something else is going on,” Bojan declared, as he showed her the screen on his laptop and the facial recognition program that came up almost immediately. “He’s wanted by Interpol.”

  Startled, she turned and glanced at him. “Seriously?”

  He tapped the monitor again, redirecting her gaze to the mug shot on the screen.

  She looked from one image to the other and then slowly nodded. “Okay, so this guy is obviously somebody we need to sort out, but who is he? And what’s his problem here? Why is it that nobody here sensed there was an issue?”

  “Because nobody saw him, nobody recognized him as anything more than a delivery guy. It’s not as if you can run facial recognition software from your front door,” he muttered.

  “Yet obviously they should be,” she muttered right back at him.

  He laughed. “Wouldn’t that be nice, however, but impractical. It would be way too cumbersome and, in most cases, never an issue. Obviously, in this case, something is going on here that Bullard needs to see.” At that, he got up with his laptop in his hands and headed out the door to where everybody was gathered.

  She followed behind, wondering at the lack of psychic communication. Then she heard a pounding in her mind. She headed toward the next door to the adjoining room.

  Bojan sighed and said out loud, “Maybe let’s try that again.”

  She looked over at him. “What?”

  “Open the damn door.”

  She looked at the physical door nearby, turning to frown at him, and then thought about the mental door between them, finally popping it open.

  Much better, he murmured in her head. Now at least we’re on the same wavelength.

  “Have you been trying to talk to me telepathically the whole time?” she asked with amusement, as she headed behind him to the kitchen.

  “Yes, and you haven’t been answering. I figured it was stubbornness, but now I realize the door was closed.”

  “Well, just because you opened the door on your side,” she stated, “doesn’t mean I opened the door on mine.”

  He stopped and stared at her. Then, with a nod, he replied, “Good point, so, if you want to shut it again, you’ll let me know, huh?”

  At that, she turned, realizing several people still stood around, looking at the two of them talking among themselves, wondering what was going on.

  She smiled at them and shook her head. “Don’t worry, just a communication glitch.”

  “Yeah, like telepathic or what?” Ryland asked in fascination. “Can you guys do that?”

  “Yes, as long as she opens the damn door in her mind,” Bojan muttered.

  At that, she laughed. “And maybe that’s something that she has to get around to doing.”

  “Yeah, and, as long as she does it fast, we’ll be fine,” he muttered.

  She snorted. “The door is open, but I’ll feel free to close it when I want to.”

  “Good,” Bojan declared. “Ditto on both sides.”

  Fascinated, everybody was looking from one to the other, until Bullard walked in, staring at the laptop in front of them, and asked, “What’s going on?”

  Bojan pointed, then asked, “Do you know this man?”

  Bullard looked at the mug shot photo and nodded. “Yeah, I sure do. I worked with him in the military many, many years ago. At one point in time, I even tried hiring him, but ended up firing him.”

  “Yeah, and why didn’t it work out?” Bojan asked.

  “I don’t remember,” Bullard said, looking at him. “It just didn’t work out.”

  “Well, you will need to give it some thought and jog your memory a little,” Bojan declared, switching screens, “because this guy was at your front door, delivering a parcel eight days ago.”

  Bullard’s gaze widened in shock, and he said, “What?” He quickly came closer to look down at the screen, as Bojan played the clip and showed him the delivery as well as the one-finger salute.

  “Holy crap.” Bullard stared at it. He pulled the laptop closer, then went back and forth between the two images several times. “That’s definitely Charlie, but I don’t know why he’s pissed off at me. What the hell did he deliver?”

  “That is the next question we have to find the answer to. Who would have received the delivery? Who would have brought in something from somebody like that? Does anybody check out your parcels or do any screening?”

  Bullard frowned at him. “No, and no,” he muttered. “Thanks for reminding me once again how lax everything’s gotten.”

  “It’s only lax until there’s a problem, and right now you have a problem.”

  “Do we? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, we’re really sure, and it’s related to this guy. We just don’t know what his endgame is. If we knew what he delivered, it might help. We also need to find out whether this guy works for a delivery company or took over the job for the day, and, if so, where is the regular driver? We’d want to have a conversation with him too.”

  “Well, shit,” Bullard muttered.

  Ryland hopped up and offered, “You don’t have to handle that. You need to look after surgeries today in the clinic and stay close to Leia. So Dave and I will jump in on this with Bojan.”

  When Bullard looked over at him, Bojan nodded. “Absolutely,” Bojan replied. “We need to track down this guy and have a talk with him as soon as possible.”

  Ryland agreed. “I’m on it.” And, with that, he walked out of the room.

  Bojan added, “And you need to jog your brain for what was going on with this guy all those years ago.”

  Bullard looked over at Bojan. “Shit.”

  “Listen. It doesn’t matter who does what at this point,” Bojan noted. “We just need to get down to the basics, put protocols in place, and get set up in case something more is happening that we don’t know about. We’ve got to implement some sort of security plan for anybody coming on or around the property.”

  “We’ve got a start on that,” Bullard stated. “We’ve closed the doors and gates, and nobody is allowed in until they pass the security clearance. That used to be our standard procedure, but, after I came back from the island and that whole thing was resolved, we relaxed the level of security. We have so many people living here and others coming to access the clinic that it was easier. … Obviously right now it’s not so fine.”

  “No, not so fine, and all that definitely needs to be reinstated,” Bojan muttered.

  Nodding, Bullard looked a bit frazzled.

  “No worries,” Dave said. “I’ll ensure that’s made clear to everyone and that we get the infrastructure in place today.”

  At that, Dave and Bojan both disappeared, leaving Lacy standing here in the middle of the room. She turned to Bullard. “How’s Leia?”

  “Leia’s fine,” he said. “I just spoke to her, and she’s had a nap. She’s coming down to get a bit more food. Are you okay to help in the clinic today?”

  Lacy nodded. “Sure, I can do that.”

  “Good,” Bullard replied. “That’s where I’m heading now.”

  And, with that, she turned and followed him into the clinic, checking the schedule—everything from a minor thing, like removing stitches, to somebody who had called in first thing this morning after splitting their knee in a bike accident, plus a mixed bag of other procedures. She sighed and quickly started prepping the room.

  “Are you okay?” Bullard asked, from behind her.

  “I’m fine,” she replied. “It’s just one of those heavy thoughts days, you know?”

  “Yeah, I do know, and believe me. I’m not at all sure I should even be in here.”

  “No, you definitely should be,” she countered. “This is the best way to put Leia at ease about not being here herself. Let your team have a chance to do what they do best, and we’ll keep things going here.”

  He nodded but didn’t say anything more about it.

  It was an uneasy two hours later before she turned around and checked the schedule, realizing they were finished for a while.

  “You’ve done great today,” Bullard noted.

  “I don’t know,” she murmured, starting to straighten things up. “I was afraid I would be too distracted, after all that’s happened.”

  “If anything, you seem to be more, … I don’t know, smoother, really stable. More focused even.”

  She laughed. “It sounds as if you’re trying to say I was a mess before?”

  Chuckling, he shook his head. “No, I was not trying to say anything along those lines, but you do seem to be calmer and more settled in a way that you weren’t before.”

  “Well, it’s likely that I’ll be more settled each day, as I get more distance from all that’s happened. It’ll just take some time to adjust. Probably by next week, things will be working just fine.”

  “Well, if today is an example, you are working just fine right now. So, if you will improve even more, that’s awesome. I was considering having you stay on full-time, but, according to Leia, you feel the need to go to Terk’s place in England.”

  “I do,” she confirmed, “or at least split my time somehow. I strongly feel the need to go help them out.” Then she stopped and looked off into the distance, frowning.

  “What?”

  “Something about a pediatrician, but I’m not sure what that means either.” She shrugged. “A pediatrician is coming into play over there at Terk’s compound as well, but I don’t know any more than that.”

  “Sounds like they need one,” Bullard quipped, with a big grin.