A Marriage of True Minds: A Sasha McCandless Novella Read Online Free Page B

that Florence ADMAX—the supermaximum-security institution in Colorado
that Mafia boss Nicodemo Scarfo, John Walker Lindh, Timothy McVeigh, and
countless Al-Quaeda operatives, Libyan bombers, and homegrown white
supremacists called home—was just about perfect. But the federal agencies had
claimed that a high-profile trial and incarceration would only serve to
strengthen the prepper network, which had been in some disarray after Sasha and
Leo spent their holidays bringing down Bricker.
    What the feds
didn’t say, but Leo knew was part of the calculus, was that they also didn’t
want to admit to the American public just how close they’d come to a global
pandemic of truly apocalyptic proportions. They were in a hurry to sweep
Jeffrey Bricker and everything he meant under the nearest rug.
    So, in the end,
over the objections of the people who truly understood Bricker’s cold-blooded
zealotry and megalomania, the Bureau of Prisons been processed him into a
medium-security penitentiary located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. A man who
had executed a former sheriff’s deputy in furtherance of his plans to release a
killer flu was housed with white-collar criminals who’d been running small-time
financial frauds, wise guys with loose ties to organized crime, and the
occasional small-time drug dealer.
    And, now, almost
exactly one year later, Bricker had managed to escape, apparently with the help
of one of his local followers. Shocker.
    “How?” Leo said
simply.
    Hank rubbed his
temple. “We’re not sure.”
    Hank’s hand
moved from his temple to his collar, and he scratched his neck awkwardly. He
looked uncomfortable and ill at ease—and that chilled Leo’s blood. He’d never
seen his former colleague display anything other than a command presence.
    “What?” Leo
demanded, his heart racing.
    “What do you
mean?”
    “There’s
something else, Hank. I can tell. What aren’t you telling me?” He would never
tell a fellow law enforcement officer something so flaky-sounding, but he felt a threat—to Sasha, to the wedding, to their future—he felt it deep in his
bones.
    Hank cleared his
throat, stalling. “I don’t know the details, but the Criminal Division believes
he has specific plans for further violence. I have Aroostine checking in with
her office. She’ll be able to get the specifics faster than I can—”
    “Spill it.”
    He exhaled
loudly. “During the search of Bricker’s cell, the Bureau of Prisons found some
materials of concern—”
    Leo’s patience
was near its end. “Hank,” he said, injecting a warning into the name.
    “The Bureau of
Prisons wouldn’t tell me what they found; but they think he may be planning to
come after you and Sasha.”
    No.
    Hank put up a
cautioning hand. “Now, don’t go jumping to any conclusions until we have the
full picture, Leo. Aroostine’ll be here in a minute and she call fill—”
    Leo charged out
of the kitchen before Hank finished the sentence. He had to find Sasha. Now.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    Sasha told herself not to panic. She
took a deep cleansing breath—or tried to—but the newly taken-in bodice of her
dress gave her room to expand her lungs to half-capacity, if that.
    She searched
Aroostine’s face. “What reason do they have to believe that?”
    The younger
woman was pale but otherwise looked calm. She didn’t bother to sugarcoat the
news. “They found a stack of newspaper clippings about the incident with the
preppers last winter. Also included in the stack was your engagement
announcement, the announcement that Will was joining your firm, and all of the
press coverage about you during the Champion Fuel scandal over the summer,
including a picture that was taken of you in the hospital after you’d been
stabbed. That didn’t come from a media report, by the way. We don’t yet know
how he obtained it, but it appeared to be an official photograph from the
investigating