Chapter 2
Zak was flipping through digital pictures on his laptop when she climbed in the news van. He took a lot of shots of the on-scene lieutenant and the uniformed cops running into the building, then coming out with the hostages and the handcuffed bank robbers. He even had some pictures of the SWAT team coming out. But he wouldn’t send those in. Her boss considered it bad policy to print pictures of cops if it tied them to specific crime scenes. He thought it might lead to retribution against them. Mac wasn’t sure if she always agreed with that, but she abided by it.
He glanced at her, his eyes full of amusement behind his wire-rimmed glasses. “I thought I was going to have to bail you out of jail.”
She made a face at him. “Very funny. I’ll have you know I got an invitation to visit the SWAT compound this afternoon.”
His eyes went wide. “Seriously? You think that invite includes me?”
She considered that. Dixon hadn’t specifically said to come alone, but she didn’t want to press her luck by bringing her photographer. Especially since the SWAT commander wasn’t crazy about cameras. “Probably not right away. Let me work my magic on Dixon first.”
Zak looked bummed at that, but nodded as he went back to surfing through his photos. “So, did you enjoy being carried to the operations vehicle like a sack of potatoes?”
Mac’s face heated at the memory. Damn, she should have known Zak wouldn’t have missed that. She gave him her best I’m-offended-by-that-comment look. “I was not carried like a sack of potatoes. Officer Danner simply escorted me to the operations vehicle to meet with the commander of the SWAT team.”
Zak snorted and spun his laptop around so she could see the screen. There was a picture of Officer Danner running across the street with her in his arms, his hand over her mouth. Her color deepened. He kind of was carrying her like a sack of potatoes. God, that looked bad.
“Maybe you could keep that one off the shared drive?” she asked Zak.
He laughed. “Sure thing. But it’s definitely going on the Best of Mac Stone disk.”
Mac stuck her tongue out at him. Zak loved reminding her he had visual evidence of all of her most embarrassing moments—and that she shouldn’t forget it.
He was still flipping through photos when something caught her attention. “Stop. Go back a couple pics.”
Zak didn’t ask why, but just scrolled back a half dozen pictures.
“Stop,” she said. “Go slow from there.”
He clicked one picture at a time, giving her a chance to look at each of them before moving to the next. She studied each SWAT officer’s photo as it filled the screen. Zak had captured them coming out of the brick building. They had their ski masks pulled up, and under their helmets, each man’s handsome face was covered with a light sheen of glistening sweat.
Zak moved from the SWAT guys to random pictures of hostages, EMTs, and bank robbers. When he got to the end, she had him back up and scroll through the same pictures again.
Mac leaned closer, focusing on the photos of Martinez, Delaney, Taylor, and Riggs. She didn’t know what it was, but something was gnawing at her.
Then she had it.
“These were taken the moment the SWAT team first came out of the building, right?”
“Yeah. I was focused on those doors from the moment the cops and EMTs ran in until you came out of the truck. That’s where all the action was.” He frowned at her. “What’s up?”
Mac studied the pictures one more time, just to be sure she hadn’t missed anything. But she hadn’t. None of the men were holding anything other than their weapons. And none of their tactical vests had pouches that could hold what she was looking for.
Zak looked from her to the photo of the four highly trained officers coming out of the warehouse, then back to her. “What is it?”
“They shut down the power to the building before they went in. It was pitch-black in there. I saw it on the monitors in the truck. But the SWAT guys aren’t carrying any night vision goggles.”
Zak glanced at the picture again. “Maybe they left them in the warehouse?”
She shook her head. “No way. Those things cost a fortune.”
“So, what are you saying? That these guys can see in the dark?”
Mac didn’t answer. Thinking the SWAT officers could see in the dark without the aid of night vision goggles would make her sound crazy, especially since she hadn’t told Zak about the drug angle yet. But what if Marvin was right and the SWAT guys were using a performance-enhancing drug that let them see better in the dark? Crap, that was even more outlandish than a drug that made them crazy strong.