Kelly looked at him warily and then said, “I’ll get them. Don’t go away.”
As soon as he moved off, Jamison said, “This is the building where Robie brought us to meet his boss.”
“I’m well aware of that.”
“Do you think Robie—?”
“That’s why I want to see the photos.”
Jamison gazed around. “It looks like a war zone.”
Decker nodded. “Kelly and his team have searched the building and it’s empty, but there are signs out back of another gunfight and a rope dangling from a balcony.”
“Have you tried to call Robie on that phone he left you?”
“To tell the truth, I’m afraid to try.”
“You’ll know soon enough. Here comes Kelly.”
Kelly rejoined them and handed over an iPad on which were loaded photos of all the dead men. It took about a minute to go through them. Decker and Jamison exchanged a relieved glance when they saw that Robie was not among the pictures.
“I don’t recognize any of these guys, but like you said, most of them seem foreign. Eastern Europe, the Middle East. A couple of Asians.”
Kelly took the iPad back. “It’s a hodgepodge all right.”
“Have you spoken with Mark Sumter?” asked Decker.
“Sumter, why?”
“Well, he heads up the military presence here. This might be something the Pentagon wants to know about.”
“Okay. But it’s not like the people under Sumter came here and had a pitched battle and left all these dead guys.”
“Well, you won’t know for sure till you ask him,” retorted Decker. “The government likes its secrets.”
Kelly shook his head. “It’ll take us weeks to process this scene. You think the Bureau will send up more agents now?”
“Maybe,” said Decker. “If we can show there’s a terrorist angle to this.”
“Terrorists!” exclaimed Kelly. “What would they be doing in North Dakota?”
“Well, that’s our job to figure out.”
They left Kelly and walked back to their SUV.
“You going to call Robie? I mean, hehasto be involved in this.”
“The probabilities lie there.”
“But do you think he killed all those men? I mean, that seems impossible.”
“Nothing about that guy seems impossible to me.”
As they reached their vehicle Decker’s phone buzzed.
“It’s Harper Brown,” he said, checking the screen.
“Hopefully, she has some news for us.”