Page 76 of Chasing Justice

“Maya,” Josh said, stopping for a moment. “Why don’t you let me look first? You know, just in case...”

“No, I’m fine. I need to know. Now.”

She and Josh stepped over to the boulder and peered behind it.

Maya stared down, and shock registered through her body.

It was Bobbi.

The wordPIGwas smeared across her chest in blood. She was definitely dead, and by the looks of it had been here overnight, since it appeared some animals had come and chewed on her.

Maya sat back on her heels, relieved.Thank God this isn’t Pops.

“Damn it,” she muttered.

Her breathing became quick and she shut her eyes, trying to keep the flashback from happening. For a moment she remembered combat boots that were blown off the body they belonged to and had landed across the road. When she opened her eyes, the forest was gone and there was the desert, sand blowing in her face, shouts all around her, Zinger whining.

Maya shut her eyes again. When she reopened her them and saw tall pine trees, her whole body shook, and it felt like someone was standing on her chest. She fought to control her shaking and breathing.

“Maya, what’s wrong?”

Josh. It was Josh. Josh hadn’t been in Afghanistan.Control yourself, Maya.

She closed her eyes one more time. She heard footsteps, and when she opened her eyes, Josh was standing closer, a look of concern across his face.

She was in Colorado. She wasn’t deployed. Juniper was in the Tahoe. Not Zinger.

“Sorry,” she said. “I just need a moment.”

“Dude, and I thought I was messed up about the body,” the young man said.

“I’m fine,” Maya said, coming back to reality. “First, tell us your name.”

“Dustin.”

“You have a last name, Dustin?” Maya asked.

“Flynn. Dustin Flynn.”

“I need your phone number too, please,” she said, glad to focus on something that kept her out of her flashback.

Dustin gave her the information she needed. “Do I have to stay here like much longer? That dead body is totally creeping me out, dude.”

Maya and Josh gave each other a look. If they’d thought Dustin was a suspect Maya would have detained him, but there was nothing that pointed to him killing the person. He seemed to be telling the truth.

“Stay here for now in case we have any questions,” Maya said.

“You can sit in the back of my vehicle,” Josh said to Dustin. He went over to open the back door and then said to Maya, “I’ll get crime scene techs up here.”

“Not yours,” she said. “Did you see the badge lying next to her? This has to go federal. She was working for the DEA.”

“What?” Josh peered over at Bobbi again. “Shit. She must have been working undercover. No wonder she bailed out so quick. I’ll start marking off the area then and we’ll wait for hours for the feds to grace us with their presence.”

“I know it’ll take a while, although maybe once they know it’s one of their agents, they’ll get here faster. You get a deputy up here to secure the scene. That way we can continue investigating. Bobbi’s death ties into the Rays, their drug business and the kidnapping of my grandfather. Her cover was probably blown, maybe even by me when I arrested her,” Maya said. “I’ll get Juniper out and see if we can do an evidence search or track again.”

“We can’t use that evidence since she’s not certified.”

“No,” Maya sighed. “And that’s a good point, because if I mess up the feds nailing someone for killing one of their own, they’ll fire me.”