Five Days in Summer

high-tech connections, and he had to admit, it got the job done a whole lot faster. Time made the difference between life and death, and the deaths were never pretty.
    Right there next to the state ViCAP guy was Tom Delay from VICAP, the FBI’s master program, the umbrella operation staked on a capital I that Geary had had his hand in starting back in 1985. Tom was one of VICAP’s know-it-alls who usually had to keep his chair warm and work the phone. Geary was surprised to see him out of his cage.
    “Out for good behavior?” Geary came around the table and shook Tom’s hand. Tom laughed and his stomach bounced mightily.
    “They heard you were on the case and no one else was willing to come,” Tom said.
    “Yeah, sure.” Geary grinned.
    Kaminer saved the BSU special agents for last, eitherbecause they were at the other end of the table or to make them suffer before getting introduced to the great John Geary, who had founded the unit that trained them. The Behavioral Science Unit was his baby and everyone at the bureau knew it. The other thing everyone knew was his history with a certain female agent at Quantico. So they’d sent him two girls fresh from training; one last test to see if he could live up to the defense that saved his career.
    Geary marched right up to them with his hand out like a soldier’s. “Special Agents,” he said, and shook their hands briskly.
    “Dr. Geary,” the small blond one said. “Tamara Jones. I’m honored to be working with you.”
    “Ava Ingram,” said the tall brunette, pumping his hand like he might spout water.
    Geary liked being a living legend and he wasn’t going to screw this up. There was an empty chair at the foot of the table, next to where Jones and Ingram were parked. As soon as Geary glanced at it, both girls jumped to pull it out for him. He squelched the chuckle that was bubbling up his throat, nodded once in appreciation, and sat down.
    “Thank you, Special Agents Ingram and Jones.” His tone sounded so professional even he was impressed with himself. Amy cut him her sharpest look. He slumped an inch in his chair at the foot of the table. It was like in a family; regardless of your rank, once they knew you, you lost half your credibility.
    Kaminer stalked behind Geary, who turned around to watch the local boss fight for the scepter. The blond curls bounced with each step. It would never work. Sorensen, with his silver helmet and mean eyes, would clip Kaminer down in one stroke.
    “Update!” Kaminer said, nodding his chin at Amy.
    Amy stepped forward and began, but before she got into her second sentence, Sorensen was on his feet.
    “Thank you, Detective, but we’re up to date on all the details. We’re all copied on your report, so unless you have something new to add—”
    “It’s all in the report, sir,” Amy said.
    Kaminer glowered.
    Sorensen’s face was hard but his smooth voice was a smile that got everyone else looking in his direction. Nice.
    “We’ve found that the most efficient way to work is to keep the information flow fluid in every direction” — he glanced around the table, receiving nods from the team — “and to avoid repetition. Minutes add up to hours, and that’s probably all we’ve got left to catch the man we’ll call Mr. White, for the sake of expediency, before he apprehends one of the children.”
    “Bobby Robertson,” Kaminer said.
    Sorensen’s eyes slid in his direction; his face didn’t change. It was hard like an arrow and pointed at Kaminer’s curls. “Unless he was in Fall River at the same time he was observed to be locked inside his house on Cape Cod, that would be doubtful.”
    Kaminer forced a dismal smile. “No, I meant Robertson was Mr. White. We don’t know who the second guy is.”
    “We use a code name to avoid discussions just like this one. They waste our time.” Sorensen glanced at his watch. “That was forty-five seconds, gone.”
    “Jesus, Sorensen —” Kaminer blushed and did his monobrow, not a winning combination.
    Sorensen’s eyes slid around the room, stopping on every face except Kaminer’s.
    Geary had seen this before: the locals getting excitedto have a high-profile case draw the state and feds into their arms, thinking it was going to be their chance to prove their mettle, then the top fed squashes them like a troop of busy ants clogging the path. Listen and learn, that was the way; but Geary wasn’t about to point that out to his new boss. Amy, on the other