19 Headed for Trouble by Suzanne Brockmann

the body, even though the murder had occurred six months earlier. She’d taken it personally—so Sam had started getting regular updates on the case from Jules, her friend and former partner from her FBI days.
    It was obvious to Sam that after seeing that dead girl, Lys wanted to kick the Dentist’s ass straight to hell where he belonged. She was afraid—and rightly so—that it was just a matter of time before the killer targeted his next victim.
    After months of no progress, a man had recently surfaced in a resort town in Colorado who fit Hathaway’s description. Sam was hoping the FBI agents working the case would locate the Dentist’s grisly souvenirs from his victims and have enough evidence to take him into custody before Alyssa returned.
    Giving her that news would be a wonderful welcome-home present—a thought that made him smile. Forget about flowers and chocolate. His wife wanted a psycho-killer behind bars.
    She was different from most other women, no doubt about that. Which was not to say she didn’t love chocolate.…
    Ah yes, Sam missed her very much.
    The line clicked, and Jules finally came on. “Sam.”
    “Hey,” Sam greeted him, genuinely glad to hear Jules’s voice. Five years ago, if someone had told him that he’d be happily married to his old nemesis Alyssa Locke, and best friends with
her
best friend—an openly gay man—Sam would’ve laughed his ass off. But obviously a lot could happen in five years. “Thanks for calling me back,
Mister
Cassidy.”
    There was the briefest pause, then Jules said, “I guess you’re not watching TV.”
    “What? No. I’ve got Haley for the week and anything besides
Sesame Street
is too intense for her,” Sam said as he now began searching for the remote control beneath the Spider-Man and Powerpuff Girls coloring books that covered his coffee table. Haley got nightmares. It was Big Bird or a Disney DVD. Although it was possible that too much Big Bird was now giving Sam nightmares.
    When he actually slept, that is.
    “Sam, hang on a sec.” Jules put his hand over the receiver as he spoke to someone else on his end. Usually irreverent and upbeat, he sounded serious. Hell, he was calling Sam
Sam
instead of SpongeBob or Pollyanna or one of those other humiliating nicknames that he usually used.
    “What happened?” Sam asked as Jules came back on the phone. He answered his own question. “Another dead woman without teeth in Colorado.”
    “This isn’t about the Dentist,” Jules told him as Sam found the remote and aimed it at the TV. “Listen, do yourself a favor and don’t turn on the news.”
    Too late. Sam had already flipped to CNN where …
    “Oh, shit,” he breathed, sitting down heavily on the sofa.
    Peacekeeper Attacked
was the headline that hung over the anchor’s right shoulder, along with a picture of Eugene Ryan. “… in northern Kazbekistan, where the former senator’s helicopter was believed to have been shot down.”
    Oh, God, no.
    “We just received confirmation,” Jules told him, “that one of Eugene Ryan’s helicopters was hit by a shoulder-fired missile, just north of Ikrimah, which is a city in the northern province of—”
    “I know where Ikrimah is,” Sam interrupted him. “
One
of …?” How many helos were transporting Ryan’s delegation? Jesus, he couldn’t breathe.
    On the TV, the news anchor was now delivering a fluff piece on a pie-eating contest, a big smile on his face.
    “One of two,” Jules delivered the grim news as Sam hit the mute. Which meant there was a fifty/fifty chance Lys was on the helicopter that went down.
    In flames.
    “Before we lost radio contact,” Jules continued, “the second chopper reported that there were definitely casualties, but we don’t know how many and we don’t know who.”
    “Before,” Sam repeated, “you
lost radio contact …
?”
    “I am
so
sorry,” Jules started, but Sam cut him off.
    “Fuck
sorry
!” Sam winced, looking toward the room where Haley