This, of course, isn’t the first time I’ve considered that the slayer might be obsessed with me. It’s been in the back of my mind, nagging at me since the beginning. It’s simply the first time that I’ve known that he’s capable of murder. Which means that I can choose to run and hide, or I can face this thing. I choose to face it. I choose to end it.
“He’s obviously a member of law enforcement,” I say. “He knows how to cover his tracks and that’s the connection between myself, Rodriquez, and my uncle.”
“Not necessarily,” Royce argues. “Gerome has been connected to an ex-FBI hacker named Darius Long. He’s good. Really damn good. He knows law enforcement and he damn sure knows how to turn off a camera.”
“Are you suggesting Gerome was the slayer?” Jacob asks.
“I’m suggesting,” Royce replies, “that they all have a connection, and a role in what has, and is, taking place.”
“How do those people connect to my uncle?” I ask. “Because the first note references one of his common sayings and I got it the day of my uncle’s funeral. It said I wasn’t ready. The last note says it’s time.”
“Like he was obsessed with your uncle, playing cat and mouse with him,” Sierra says. “And wants you to be the mouse.”
“Yes,” I confirm. “Exactly where my mind is on this.”
“But he didn’t think you were ready,” she adds. “He told you that in the note.”
“Darius is ex-law enforcement,” Jacob says, jumping in and looking for answers. “Have we looked for his connection to her uncle?”
“We didn’t even know about Gerome until tonight to tie him back to Darius,” Royce replies. “His FBI service is far from honorable. We need time to look into him with concentrated attention.”
“Royce is right,” Blake says. “He and Kara have FBI contacts that could be useful, but they take time to work. And there are places Asher and I can hack for information related to Darius, but that will take more skill than a five-minute search and retrieve, even for me.”
“I get it,” I say. “I know what working leads means and how much work it can be.” I look at Sierra. “I know you aren’t a profiler, but I assume you do some degree of profiling on anyone you study. Do you have input you can offer?”
“At this point,” she says, “I can only offer vague assumptions, based on what I’ve been told now and before this meeting. That said, statistically he’s mid-thirties to mid-forties. White. Highly intelligent, but I wouldn’t call that an indication of a higher education, though most likely, he has one. It would be easy for him. For some people, intelligence is natural, higher level, and school is data feeding the machine. I believe that is this man. He gets bored easily. He likes, and needs, a challenge that stimulates his mind.”
“Which could support my theory that he was playing a game with my uncle,” I say. “And now me.”
“The answers we need have to be in your uncle’s case files,” Jacob says, looking at Blake who takes the silent prompt.
“We’ve pulled reports,” he says. “But we’ll dig deeper.”
“Have you reviewed Darius’s history?” I ask, pulling Sierra back into the conversation. “Does Darius fit the slayer’s profile as you see it?”
“I have reviewed his file,” she says. “And no. He doesn’t fit the profile of the slayer. Not in my opinion.”
“Based on what?” Jacob asks.
“He worked for Gerome rather than himself,” she says. “In my opinion, your slayer, as you call him, is a control freak. He needs power. He needs to be right in all things. Darius is challenged by his hacking. He doesn’t look beyond that.”
“We aren’t ready to rule him out,” Royce intervenes quickly. “Not until we know more about his troubles at the FBI. And if he’s not the slayer, he was clearly plucked from Gerome’s grip and turned into a slayer operative.”
The idea that the slayer has an army of help does not sit well, and a key question drives my attention back to Sierra. “How will the slayer react to be me being here, well-guarded, and untouchable?”
“He needs that challenge I mentioned. You become more of a challenge when you’re well-insulated. Getting to you as he did at the police station will bring him pride. And defeating the Walker clan to get to you will simply feed his ego.”
“Wait,” Jacob says. “Stop there. Are we talking about him trying to get past us to kill her?”
“I don’t think he wants to kill her,” she says. “That would end the game that he wants to play, but I can’t be sure. I can’t know that I’m right about any of this.”
I inhale and let it out, concerned not for myself, but for the other people the slayer’s attention on me might cause to get hurt. “Assume you’re right, Sierra. He won’t kill me, but what about my father?”
Her expression tightens. “I can only make vague—”
“That’s a yes,” I say. “He’ll kill my father.” I look between Jacob and Royce. “Savage needs to get back to my father.”
“Not yet,” Royce says. “This is where we pool our expertise, and we all talk through how to protect him.”
Adam leans forward, suddenly more engaged in the discussion. Actually, it’s not just Adam. The entire table, I realize, has leaned in, as if huddling for a play. That’s how much of a team they are together. That’s how different they are from any group I’ve ever worked around or with.
“Your father just got back from Paris,” Asher says, taking the ball first. “One of our men, Kyle, is there now. We have allies in Europe. Get him out of here, for now.”
“He has a merger going on,” I say. “He’s not going to leave.”
“Guess again,” Blake says, shaking his hands out over his keyboard, as if warming them up. “Watch and learn.” He starts keying and we all stare at him for a good three minutes before he shuts his computer. “By tomorrow morning there will be a lump sum of product missing in the European plant. Your father will be forced to do damage control and there’s a requirement to report the financial loss to the involved parties.”
I reject that idea. “No. We can’t ruin his merger. That’s not an option.”
“Of course, we can’t,” Blake says. “That’s why a miraculous recovery will follow the crisis, and make your father look like a hero. With my help, of course.”
“How?” I ask. “I need details.”
“The error will be found to be a hacker’s attempt to steal from the company. We’ll help your father catch the bastard’s hacking fingerprint, and because he hired us, your father will be the hero. Leave it to me. It’ll work.”
“I’m not ready to leave it to you yet,” I say. “Who’s the hacker that goes down?”
“I can pick from hundreds of assholes that deserve to go down,” Blake says. “I’ll make sure it’s a dirty one that needs to be done and over, anyway.”
“But this doesn’t ensure he’s safe,” I say. “We don’t know how far the slayer can reach.”
“We have resources in Europe,” Royce says, “that reach well beyond our team.”
“What resources?” I press. “This is my father’s life. I have to know.”
Jacob squeezes my leg again. “He’s safer there than here. I promise.”
His promise is what matters, I realize. It matters more than anything else anyone has said to me on this matter. And what option do I have here, but to go with this? “Then do it,” I say. “Get him out of here.”
“Pack a bag, Savage,” Royce orders. “You’re going with him.” He eyes Adam. “Go or stay?”
“The slayer’s a chameleon,” he says. “I’m the most like him in that way. You need me here on this.”
Royce gives him a nod, laces his fingers together on the table and looks at me. “What else do you need to hear from us?”
“I still need Savage to be with my father right now.”
Royce motions to Savage and Savage starts to get up, but pauses, to look at me. “Take comfort, detective. There really is a savage killer protecting your father.” With that, he stands and exits the room, and I’ve never reveled in a killer’s confession as much as I do with his.
“We’re going upstairs to my apartment,” Jacob, says, taking my hand and guiding me to my feet, and in the process pretty much answering any question in the room about our relationship.
And I don’t care. We are together. We start walking, heading to the door and about to exit, when Royce calls out, “We’ll get him.”
That stops me in my footsteps and I turn to face him, suddenly not sure he understands the magnitude of the challenge. “With all due respect, my uncle didn’t get him. And my uncle was one of the best detectives who ever lived.” I say nothing more. I ask for nothing more. I don’t want lame guarantees. I don’t want impossible promises. I just want to catch the slayer before he kills again. And before he catches me by catching someone I care about.