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“Can you describe Sergeant Delgado?”Marcus asked.

"Five-five, one hundred thirty pounds, athletic build."Marcus lifted an eyebrow, and Hostler's flush deepened."She is also the top boxer in the Air Force.I've seen her on the cover of Air Force Magazine."

Marcus lifted his hands halfway to show it was all the same to him.“Hair and eye color?”

“Brown and brown.She was wearing her battle dress uniform and her winter coat and gloves.”

“Wonderful.I’ll put the APB out.”

“Who called it in?”Faith asked.“Are they here?”

“Wayne!”Hostler barked.

A young MP jobbed over to them, stopping ten feet away and saluting crisply.“Yes, Master Sergeant?”

Hostler pointed at Faith.“The lady wants to ask you some questions.”

“Special Agent Faith Bold,” Faith said.“Can you walk me through exactly what happened?”

Wayne nodded.“Yes, ma’am.I was patrolling the exercise field when I saw a flash of light.”

Faith tilted her head.“A flash of light?”

“Yes, ma’am.Like from a flashlight beam.”He moved his own flashlight in a half-circle up and then down.“Like that.”

“I see.So you saw a flash of light.You heard a shout too, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Male or female?”

“I believe male, ma’am.”

Faith shared a look with Marcus, who was on the phone with dispatch.That shout had likely come from their killer.“What did you do then?”

“I radioed in the call and waited for backup.”

Faith frowned, and Hostler said, “It’s our policy that our officers always wait for backup.”

Faith had never been fond of waiting for backup herself, but she couldn’t fault Wayne for following his orders.She could, however, fault the people who gave him those orders.

“Is there a reason you have your officers patrol solo when they can’t do anything about a crime in progress?”

“Would you like to enlist?”Hostler retorted.“We could use more personnel.”

Faith, let it pass."How long did it take backup to arrive?"

“Three minutes.But…”

Wayne looked sideways at Hostler.Faith read between the lines and said, “Walk with me.”

Wayne nodded and followed Faith away from the cluster.Turk trotted ahead of them.He lowered his nose to the ground, then looked at Faith.

“Go ahead, boy,” Faith said.

Turk dipped his head, then started off.Faith turned to Wayne.“You didn’t wait for backup.”

“No, ma’am.Whatever was happening, I thought it was happening right then.I ran for the scene, but I was too late.Whoever was there was gone.I called for backup after I got here.”