Read Online Black Flagged (The Black Flagged Technothriller Series) by Steven Konkoly - Free Book Online

up.
    "Please continue. Sorry," he said.
    "Mr. Ghani's body was discovered last night at about ten thirty by a private security guard, who had been dispatched by a technician at the security company's centralized headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska," she said.
    "Anything out of the ordinary with the security guard or the company?"
    "Everything checks out so far. The company is one of the largest in the country, and the guard has been an employee of the company for twelve years. We still have him down at the Cape Elizabeth police station. The company dispatched him at the request of Mr. Ghani's wife, who hadn't heard from her husband that night."
    "She's obviously not here?"
    "No. She's been in Pakistan for the past few weeks, scheduled to return in early June. Apparently, he always takes her calls, and she got worried when he didn't answer last night," she said.
    "No security camera?"
    "Wishful thinking," she added.
    He squatted down near the body, which was covered with a gray tarp, stenciled in black with "CE Police Dept." The covered body lay several feet from the driver's side of a previously sparkling white Mercedes convertible sedan. The convertible's tan ragtop was down, and the side of the white sedan was covered with thick, dark maroon stains, indicating a strong arterial spray pattern. Edwards could see similar dark splotches on the light tan driver's headrest and could imagine that the rest of the light-colored interior had been ruined by Mr. Ghani's blood.
    A large pool of dried blood extended around the body in an oval shape, stretching toward the end of the small driveway that joined the circular drive. This small section of asphalt serviced the four-bay garage, and the Mercedes was in a position where it had either been purposely parked outside of the garage or had been stopped before making the turn into one of the bays. Edwards saw that the far garage bay door was open, and he looked back at the circular driveway, which was crammed with police vans, squad cars and SUVs. He saw a few of the ever-present SWAT officers standing near one of the oversized SUVs, cradling assault rifles. They were always looking for an excuse to dress up and parade around in their gear. At least they had their helmets off, though he could think of no conceivable reason why they would need to be carrying military-style weaponry on this estate.
    He returned his attention to the garage bay door. "Anything out of order inside?"
    "Not that anyone could tell. So far, the crime scene techs haven't found anything useful. Right now, they're focusing on the outside, looking for anything the killer might have left us while breaching the perimeter," said D'Angelo.
    "Have they checked the seaside approach? You heard about Rhode Island, right?"
    "Just that the guy there had been shot from a distance. Did they find a boat or something?" she said.
    She obviously hadn't been brought into the circle on this one, and that was fine with Edwards. Sharpe didn't want to alert the rest of the terrorist network responsible for last night's murderfest and had imposed a media blackout. So far, only one internet article had been written about the suspect in custody, posted by a local Newport publication, and they had graciously agreed to remove it while the investigation proceeded. Edwards hadn't realized that the same information blackout applied to the rest of the FBI. This was exactly why he would never accept a posting like D'Angelo's. He couldn't stomach the concept of being an outsider.
    "They need to give the seaside approaches the same attention as the perimeter fence. That's all I can say for now. What about the body and the car? Do they need to process this?" he said.
    "No, they're finished here and in the house unless we get specific information regarding the residence," she said.
    "Do you trust them? I have a team showing up in an hour."
    "I have a close working relationship with the lead investigator and his team. They're competent, thorough, and I've