“Very official.”
“It’s an unfortunate side effect of our training,” Travis said.
“Are you two headed to Aspen for the first stage of the race tomorrow?” she asked.
Was she making conversation or asking for another reason? Luke hedged his answer. “I’m not sure. What about you? Do you follow the racers around the state?”
She shook her head. “I wish I could, but it’s not in my budget. As the racers get closer, I’ll make a few day trips, maybe get in a few interviews with the top athletes. But most of the time I can stay in Denver and follow the race on television. At the end of the week, I’ll be in a good position to report on the final stage of the race and the results.”
Luke liked this answer. Unless his superiors changed their minds, the plan was for him and a few others to stay in Denver all week, as well, while the rest of the team followed the racers. Previously, the bomber had waited until the last day of the races to make his move, when the biggest crowd and the most media coverage were in place. But there was no guarantee he’d stick to that pattern. Meanwhile, maybe Luke and Morgan would have the chance to get to know each other better.
The crowd began to move toward the ballroom doors. “I guess it’s time to go in,” Travis said.
“May I?” Luke offered Morgan his arm. “That is, if you haven’t already arranged to sit with someone else.”
“No, um, that would be nice.” She laid her hand on his arm, a touch as light as a butterfly, yet he felt it all the way up to his chest. He was definitely in trouble, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to get out of it. At least not yet.
By the time they made it inside, most of the tables near the front were already full. Travis steered them toward an empty table at the back, near the kitchen. “Not most people’s idea of choice seating,” he said, “but it works better for our purposes.”
“I get it,” she said, as she took the chair Luke held for her. “It’s a good place to watch the rest of the crowd.”
“She’s a fast learner.” Travis took the chair on one side of her, while Luke sat on the other side. “How did you two meet?” Travis asked.
“Um...” She glanced at Luke.
“I recognized her from the surveillance video and started following her,” Luke admitted. “She caught me and demanded to know what I was doing.”
“She caught you?” Travis grinned. “Didn’t we teach you better than that?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our mayor.” The introduction saved Luke from having to come up with a reply. As they ate their salads, a parade of local dignitaries made speeches praising the athletes, the sponsors, the spectators—pretty much everyone, up to and including the sanitation workers.
“Notice how no one’s mentioning the bombings,” Travis said.
“I’m sure it’s in the back of everyone’s mind,” Morgan said. “No sense putting more of a damper on the evening by bringing it up.”
“Where were you when the bombs went off in London and Paris?” Luke asked.
“You were at those races, too?” Travis was immediately more alert, focused on her. Luke sent him a quelling look.
Morgan didn’t appear to notice the exchange. “I was stuck on a shuttle in Paris,” she said. “Furious because I was missing the arrival of the winners at the finish line. By the time I got there, the ambulances were carrying away the injured. I realized how lucky I’d been.”
“And in London?” Travis asked.
“I was at the finish line, interviewing the leading American racer. We’d moved into the doorway of a building across the street to get out of the sun.” Her eyes met Luke’s, beautiful and troubled. “The explosion was so loud. It stunned us. We stared at each other and for the longest moment we didn’t hear anything else. Then someone screamed, and we knew it had happened again.”
He took her hand under the table and squeezed it. “I’m glad you were okay.”
“I knew the two racers who died that day,” she said. “I had interviewed both of them for an article before the race. They were nice guys, funny and easy to talk to.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand why anyone would do something like that. Why resort to violence for the sake of violence?”
“Terrorists act to induce fear, and to draw attention to themselves,” Travis said.
“But why bicycle races?” she asked.
“It’s an international sport,” Luke said. “It’s popular and draws big crowds. Or maybe this person has a grudge against the sport or the athletes.”
“A former racer,” she murmured, and he knew she was thinking of her brother.
“It could be anyone.” He squeezed her hand. “First we find them, then we worry about their motives.”
An army of servers arrived to clear the tables and deliver the entrées—some kind of chicken over rice, in a maroon-colored sauce. Luke leaned over and whispered to Morgan. “Any idea what this is?”
“Not a clue.”
Luke ate without tasting the food, one eye on the crowd, the rest of his attention focused on the woman beside him. She was definitely more relaxed now, though with an underlying sadness he understood. Which didn’t mean she wasn’t involved with the bombings, he reminded himself. But his instincts told him no. She was exactly what she appeared to be: a journalist covering the races, and a sister looking for her missing brother. The two of them had more in common than she knew.
A commotion near the front of the room drew his attention. At the table directly in front of the podium, people were standing. “Someone call an ambulance!” a man shouted.
Luke and Travis rose as one, shoving back their chairs. “What’s going on?” Morgan asked, her fork paused, halfway to her mouth.
“We’re going to find out,” Luke said. He pushed his way toward the front table, Travis on his heels. “Security,” he said, flashing his badge when a man tried to block his way.
“What happened?” Travis asked when they reached the table.
“The president has had some kind of attack.” The thin-faced man spoke with a French accent.
“I fear he is dead,” an older woman in a black evening gown said.
“The ambulance is on its way,” the first man said.
Union Cycliste Internationale President Alec Demetrie was a familiar figure to Luke, and to anyone in the professional cycling world. But the inert, ashen-faced man slumped in his chair was almost unrecognizable. Luke felt for a pulse but couldn’t find even a flutter. He met Travis’s gaze and shook his head.
“What happened?” Luke asked the woman, who he recalled was the president’s wife.
She took a deep breath, visibly pulling herself together. “He had a few bites of the entrée and complained of it tasting off. I told him he should send it back to the kitchen, but by then he was already unwell. I tried to get the attention of one of the waiters, then Alec slumped in his chair and...and...” She stared at her husband, unable to say more.
“Paramedics, let us through!”
Luke stepped back to allow two uniformed EMTs to reach the president. He motioned for Travis to follow him some distance away from the table and was surprised when Morgan joined them. “Is he dead?” she asked, keeping her voice low.
Luke nodded. “What do you think?” he asked Travis.
“Maybe he had a heart attack,” Travis said. “But I think we’d better make sure someone takes that plate as evidence.”