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what are you talking about? Get back to me
now
.”
    It was a bad moment. Dana stared at his analysts with a look that said,
Didn’t anyone brief this guy?
    Then he looked back at me, not impolitely. “I think I understand your urgency, Detect —”
    “I don’t think you do,” I cut in. I looked over at Al Tunney, who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Al, is this a joint decision?”
    Tunney’s eyes played tennis between me and Dana. “No one’s decided anything, Alex. We just can’t turn over information that quickly,” he finally said. “That’s not how we work. You knew that when you came here.”
    “You can’t or you won’t?” I asked, looking at Tunney first, then at Dana.
    “We won’t,” Dana said. “And it’s my decision, no one else’s. You have no idea what kind of damage this man and his team are responsible for.”
    I leaned across the table. “All the more reason to drop any turf wars, don’t you think? We’re here for the same reason,” I said.
    Dana stood at the table. “We’ll get back to you.” Then he left the room.
How very CIA of him
.

Chapter 14
    BUT I COULDN’T let it go like that, and I didn’t.
    In the wide, mostly empty corridor outside the conference room, I called to Al Tunney before he could get away. “Hey, Al! I meant to ask you how Trish and the kids are doing.” I held up a hand to my building escort. “I’ll just be a second.”
    Al was giving me a disgusted look as I walked over to him. I knew he had a wife, but unless I was psychic, her name probably wasn’t Trish.
    I started right in with him. “You know something, or you wouldn’t be at that meeting. Neither would Dana. Your guys were at the murder scene. Help me out here. Anything,
something,
Al.”
    “Alex, I can’t. This case is even hotter than you think it is. You heard my boss in there. It goes right to the top of our group. Steven Millard is involved. Trust me, there
is
an investigation going on. We’re taking it very seriously.”
    “Eric Dana doesn’t know me, and neither does Steven Millard, but you do. You know what I can get done. I don’t have to prove that to you, do I?” A large department seal loomed over us in the hall. I took a step to the side so Tunney wouldn’t be looking up at it.
    “Very funny,” he said.
    “Come on, Al. Two families have died already. Doesn’t that mean anything?”
    Then Tunney said a really odd thing. “Not as much as you might think. There are other monsters.”
    My escort called over from the intersection in the corridor. “Detective Cross? This way?”
    “One second.” I turned back to Tunney again. “Ellie Cox was a dear friend. Nicole Cox was thirteen. Clara was six. James ten. The four Ahmed kids? All younger than twelve. They didn’t just die, Al.
Their heads were cut off
. Whoever did it is on a par with Hannibal Lecter. Only this is
real
.”
    “I know the case by heart,” he said. “I’ve got it.”
    “You have kids, right? I’ve got three. Damon, Jannie, and Ali. What about you?”
    “Jesus.” Tunney shook his head at me. “You got mean somewhere along the way.”
    “Not mean, Al. I’m trying to solve some horrific murders. Something tells me the trail might go to Africa. Is that true?”
    I could tell he was close to giving me something. I put a hand on his shoulder and ratcheted down my tone a little. “I’m not asking for any deep agency secrets. I’m talking about existing police business. In my own jurisdiction. At least for now.”
    Tunney looked down at the floor tile for a few seconds, then over at my escort, then back at the floor. Without looking up, he said, “There’s been some talk about a deal going down. We got this from the FBI. Service Plaza in Virginia. Chantilly, Virginia. Might be your guy. You’d be within your rights to intercept.”
    “What kind of deal?”
    Tunney didn’t answer. He put out his hand, with a smile broad enough for the escort to see. His voice rose just a notch.