“You think Joel made the faulty armor?” Theresa asked, her face going deathly pale. “Why?”
“Money,” Leila answered simply. Part of her still couldn’t believe her uncle would ever betray his own family to such a degree. Another part of her, the part that remembered how her uncle had been before he stepped up when her mom died, said it was possible.
A sob ripped its way up her throat and Leila swallowed it, her eyes tearing with the effort. Now wasn’t the time to grieve all she was about to lose if she was right. She needed to focus on making sure Davis didn’t get tricked like her father.
“Theresa, I need you to go to my uncle’s house,” Leila said, her voice strong and clear now that she was thinking only about next steps and not emotions. “See if he’s there. If he is, make up whatever excuse you need, but text me right away.” She turned to face Eric. “I need you to go to Davis’s house and see if he’s home. If not, I need you to call the FBI.”
“What about you?” Eric asked.
“I’m going to the remote testing facility.” They’d closed it down a year ago. Long-term, the plan had been to convert it into another armor testing location, but they didn’t need it right now. The ones inside the main office were enough. It made no sense for her uncle to be at the remote location.
But he’d loved to go to there. She’d find him there randomly when she’d stop by to do checks, back when they still sold weapons. He’d be shooting one of their pistols or even just hanging around. In response to her surprise, he’d always joke, “We make guns, Leila. We should at least get a little shooting in.”
“Maybe we should all stick together,” Eric argued. “Check each place out in order and—”
“No,” Leila cut him off. “Look, I’m probably overreacting here, but I need to be sure. And I need to know now. Can you do this?”
Theresa stood, her face still paler than usual, but with two deep red spots high on her cheeks. “Yes.” Then she reached across the desk and squeezed Leila’s hand. “Be careful. I know you love your uncle, but he’s got a dark side. If you find him, don’t let him realize what you suspect.”
Theresa headed out of the office, and Eric gripped Leila’s arms, turning her to face him. “Leila, this seems risky. I still think—”
She pulled free. “Eric, I don’t care what Theresa says. My uncle loves me. He’d never hurt me. You’re the one who needs to be careful. If my uncle is with Davis, just leave and call the FBI, okay?”
He nodded, his lips pursed in an expression she recognized. He didn’t like it, but he knew he wasn’t talking her out of this.
Then he was gone. Leila stayed in her office, trying to text Davis. She stared at the screen for another thirty seconds, hoping a response would pop up. When it didn’t, she took off at a run.
The remote testing facility wasn’t that far from the office by car, but while the area around their main building had continued to be built up year after year, the spot where they’d put this facility had stayed mostly deserted. The perfect place to murder someone.
The unbidden thought made Leila shiver and she punched on the gas, taking the back roads way too fast. As she pulled into the lot, her heart seemed to slam down toward her stomach.
Two cars were there—her uncle’s and Davis’s.
There had to be some innocent explanation. Maybe her uncle had offered to give Davis a tour of the place. She’d never mentioned it to him, so Davis had probably jumped at the chance. It hadn’t even occurred to her, since they hadn’t used it in almost a year. Frustration nipped at her because it was the perfect location to put together inferior armor.
Uncle Joel would never kill Davis. He’d never kill her father.
No matter how many times she repeated those things to herself, the fear remained.
Climbing out of her car, Leila glanced around. The place really was in the middle of nowhere, with woods on one side and a huge, overgrown field on the other. The fence around the lot was still intact, but the guard gate had been up when she’d arrived, some kind of malfunction. She had no idea how long it had been that way. It had been months since she’d made a personal check of this place.
Locking her car, Leila took her phone out of her purse as she ran for the door. With shaking hands, she pulled up the internet, looking for the number of the local FBI. But when she dialed, she got a recording with a list of options and hung up, not willing to wait.
Whatever her uncle was planning to do to Davis, whatever he might have done to her father, he’d never hurt her. If there was one thing she believed without question, it was that. As long as she could get there in time, she could stop him from hurting Davis.
She slid her access card into the reader and yanked open the door, stepping inside.
The lights were on, but the front area with its handful of desks and storage cabinets was empty. Beyond the entry was the testing area. Leila couldn’t hear a thing, but if her uncle and Davis were back there, she wouldn’t. Since they’d been used for shooting, they were all soundproofed.
Leila used her security card again to enter the shooting area, and her heart gave a painful thump. The testing space at the very back had a green light glowing over the door that meant it was in use.
With every step toward the active lane, Leila’s breath became faster, more uneven. When she pulled open the heavy steel door, in
