Chapter Twenty-Seven

The cold Washington state night turned hauntingly quiet as the sound of the sirens faded into the distance. No one wanted to break the heavy silence. The flashing lights of the cars bathed the scene in eerie red and blue.
The men and women moving silently around the scene were veteran FBI and CSI agents, but none of them had ever seen anything like this before. More than one agent had been forced to their knees as their stomach heaved up all of its contents. The smell of vomit now mingled in the air with the scent of blood.

The blood was everywhere. The once quaint flower shop had become the perfect setting for a horror movie.
The knowledge that the man in the back of the speeding ambulance and the lifeless body on the ground were both one of them haunted the agents and filled them with doubt.
As they moved around the crime scene, the agents cast furtive glances at one another. No one willing to voice the thoughts filling their minds. Every time there was news of a rogue agent they couldn't help but wonder if it would be them or their partner that snapped next. Everyone liked to think that they would never do such a thing and that those they worked with were incapable of such violence.
But they all knew that that wasn't true. Their jobs drove them to it. And the fear of losing their minds or being betrayed by a partner was a constant companion.

"Do you think he'll make it?" A soft female voice broke the silence.
An FBI agent looked up from where he stood leaning against his SUV to see a CSI agent standing in front of him holding a camera. He closed his eyes, remembering the blood that had covered nearly every inch of the shop. His shoulders slumped. "I don't know."

U.S Marshal Brandon Richardson groaned as the ringing of his cell phone pulled him out of sleep. Usually his night owl partner handled the middle-of-the-night calls. Squinting at the offending object, Brandon became instantly wide-awake when he saw the secure number for FBI headquarters flashing from the display. He sat up in bed; his heart pounding.
"Hello?"
"Brandon, it's over. Tony is dead."
"Leland?"
A heavy silence filled his ear and Brandon closed his eyes as his body slumped with defeat.