“He made the call!” Mason came barreling into the conference room where Gribbins and I had the case files stretched across the conference table.

“What?” We said simultaneously.

“Joel,” Mason looked at us as if we’d lost our minds, “He called Clover.”

I jumped to my feet and Gribbins sat up straighter.

“Did they get a location?” He quickly asked.

“Yes.”

“Are there agents headed that way?”

My heart was racing as we awaited Mason’s answer to Gribbins' question.

“No, I was told to get with you first.”

Gribbins stood up so quickly that his chair crashed into the wall behind it. “Then what the hell are we waiting for? Gather a task force and lets go. You can fill me in with the rest on the way.”

I wasn’t sure if that included me or not but didn’t want to ask either. Gribbins quickly left the room and my chest deflated from the silent answer. Before my butt could hit the chair Gribbins' head popped back into the doorway.

“What are you waiting for? Come on, Kelley,” he growled and slapped his hand against the doorframe.

There he was, back to using my last name. I smiled widely as I followed him down the hall.

It was officially go time.

Mason had disappeared down a separate hall from the way we’d gone. He was lead over a recovery task force. Meaning, if a takedown was happening that involved the possible recovery of hostages, he was your go-to man.

Gribbins stepped inside what we liked to call the goodie den, which was really a room that housed any and everything an agent would need during a mission. We quickly retrieved what we needed before barreling back into the hall. He tossed my bag at me and I caught it as we hurried to the vehicles.

“You can ride with us.” He motioned for me to get in his SUV so I did.

We weren’t sitting there long before the task force van pulled around and Mason hopped out of the back and slipped into the backseat of Gribbins' SUV.

“Ready to do this?” He slapped the head rests on both of our seats.

If it was any other time I’d probably felt annoyed by his over-enthusiastic manner, but I was more than ready to get Blair back and take Clover’s entire organization down.

“Put your seatbelt on,” Gribbins demanded.

“Seriously?” Mason laughed.

“He’s one hundred percent serious,” I interjected.

“Safety first, remember?” Gribbins grinned at me as Mason buckled his seatbelt before handing Gribbins the location they’d pulled off the call between Joel and Clover.

Gribbins handed me the slip of paper and I quickly typed it in on the GPS. My leg bounced with the anticipation of what was to come. Hopefully in a short amount of time I’d have Blair back in my arms, and a murderer either in custody or dead himself. Whichever way his fate played out was perfectly fine in my eyes. Although, I felt that death would be too easy of a sentence for someone like him. That son of a bitch deserved someone to torture the hell out of him. Unfortunately, torture wasn’t a sanctioned way of getting a confession.

We barreled down the street with sirens blazing. I knew Gribbins would cut them off when we got near the location, but for safety purposes he wanted to make sure everyone moved out of our damn way.

“So, tell us more about this conversation.” Gribbins glanced at Mason in the rearview mirror before focusing back on the road.

“Honestly, it was as if Joel didn’t give a shit about whether or not anyone might triangulate the call. He dialed the number scribbled beneath the address on that slip of paper; it rang a handful of times before someone picked up. Joel asked to speak with Clover. He and the man who picked up argued about him speaking with Clover before he was placed on hold, and a couple minutes later a very pissed off man picked up the line. Joel seemed like a different person when speaking with him. He wasn’t his usual hard ass, I take no shit kinda guy. When Clover told him what his options were, Joel acted as if he was terrified to speak against him. It was odd, made me think that Clover had some kind of mental hold on Joel.”

“It’s possible. I mean, look at past serial killers. There have been a few that had others kill on their behalf or brainwashed their followers in a sense. Could be what’s happened here,” I offered.

“That’s an avenue we need to take into consideration. Good thinking, Gavin. I’m sure you’re right, Mason. Joel could very well be under mind control or brainwashed, whichever you want to call it, by this Clover guy.”

“Given how many people he’s murdered, he’s built quite a name for himself. He could end up being one of the worst serial killers our country has ever seen if he isn’t stopped.”

Mason was right, Clover was on the fast track to being one of the most notorious serial killers of all time. But that would all soon change. “He’s about to be stopped, I’ll put my life on that.”

“I’m sorry to hear about Blair, Gavin.” Mason gave my shoulder a squeeze.

“I appreciate that, but she’s still alive. We’re getting her back.”

Gribbins' quick glance back at Mason didn’t go unnoticed by me, but I didn’t bother commenting. I knew the odds weren’t in our favor, but the fact that her body hadn’t been found spoke volumes. Deep in my heart and soul I had a feeling she was still alive, that she was out there hoping and praying we’d find her. Blair was one of the toughest women I’d ever crossed paths with; she would do anything in her power to survive.

Gribbins killed the lights and sirens, the task force van did the same, which meant we were within a few miles of the location. “Is it the old millhouse?”

“I believe so,” Mason spoke up as the rusty, broken sign came into view.

We turned onto the dirt road that led back to the millhouse and parked a few hundred feet away. Lights were on in the building and faint smoke lifted from the chimney. My heart slammed in my chest as we exited the vehicle. Gribbins went directly into leader mode. He rattled off a play-by-play of how we were going into the building by using the map of the perimeter and layout of the mill that one of the guys from the task force had in tow.

“Kelley, you’re with me.”

I nodded, “Yes, sir.”

The task force was split into two sectors. One to storm the front, while the other stormed the back. We were set to go in as secondary agents in the back. I knew he was playing it safe because of the situation with Blair, but I didn’t like it one bit. It wasn’t the time or place to argue it out, so I left his decision as it was and slipped my vest on. I loaded my rifle and attached two more sets of ammo to the strap around my thigh where my Glock was holstered.

“Everyone ready?” Gribbins looked around the group and quickly rolled the blueprints up and tossed them in the vehicle.

He motioned for us to go, and a split second later each section of the task force was barreling toward the millhouse. I followed closely beside Gribbins as we hurried through the tall grass and rounded the side of the mill toward the back. There were two double doors made of thick wood and no windows. There was no way for anyone trying to escape to see us outside, which was good. But we couldn’t see them coming either, which was bad.

Loud booms sounded as the front task force stormed into the building. Gunfire and ruckus grew louder and louder before the back doors flung open and numerous men came barreling out into the mist of the second task force group. The handful of men held their hands up in surrender and lowered their guns once they realized they were severely out numbered.

“In here!” Mason called out from inside the building.

“Go!” Gribbins nodded his head toward the back entrance and I took off like a bat out of hell. He’d stayed back to help round up the men outside.

I located Mason standing in a doorway that led into a dark room just left of the back entrance. “What do you have, Mason?” I stepped beside him, gun still ready to fire.

“You can put your weapon down. There’s no one else here.” He motioned his hand for me to lower my long arm.

I did as he asked and stepped into the dark room with him. The smell of death was thick in the air. It’s an aroma you never forget once you’ve become acquainted with it. It was different than road kill, or some rotting food you’d left in the trashcan for too long during a hot summer. It was an unexplainable smell unless you’d experienced it for yourself. A smell the average person prayed they’d never endure.

Mason turned the corner into a cell with its door wide open and stopped dead in his tracks. He quickly faced me holding up his hand, fear wide in his eyes, “Don’t come any closer, Gavin.” My heart dropped from my chest.

Something wasn’t right.

“What is it, Mason?” I asked through gritted teeth, not sure if I wanted to hear his answer or not. He just shook his head and kept his hand up.

I took another step and he came out of the cell to block the door, “You don’t need to see this.”

“Is it her?” I grabbed the edges of his vest, my gun tumbling to the ground. “Is it Blair?” I shook him as tears welled in my eyes.

Mason pulled me into a hug. My eyes diverted over his shoulder and focused on the bloated body lying in the floor with those same linen clothes on that Jamie Mulberry had been found in. Her wavy dark hair was masking half of her face. Her legs twisted to the side and one of her arms outstretched toward where we were standing.

“Oh, God…” My knees buckled and Mason did his best to keep me upright before handing me off to someone else.

“I’ve got you, Gavin,” Gribbins' voice was at my ear, but everything around me had become a blur. The concrete floor turned to dirt, and then grass as he led me from the millhouse.

Blair was dead.

My sweet Blair looked like she’d been gone for quite some time. I couldn’t stomach the thought of her lying there alone, with all those men going about business as usual while her body rotted away. My stomach churned and bile rose up my throat. I tumbled forward as Gribbins lost his hold on me and I slammed to the ground as the contents of my stomach made an appearance. My body heaved as everything inside me came up. After a few minutes passed my hands rested on my thighs as the harsh reality of what I’d seen smacked me hard in the face. I’d failed the one person I truly loved. She was gone, and there was not a damn thing I could do about it.

Uncontrollable sobs ripped from deep within my chest and Gribbins knelt beside me. “I’m sorry, son,” he offered, pulling me into an embrace. We sat there for quite some time as I poured my pain out against his shoulder. I knew the hollow feeling deep in my gut wasn’t just from expelling everything I’d ate. No, it was from the loss of Blair.

“I can’t believe she’s gone.” My voice sounded foreign to my ears.

“Let me get you to the vehicle and away from this.” Gribbins pulled me to my feet and locked an arm around my midriff.

We walked in silence to the SUV, and once we reached it he opened the passenger’s door and I flopped into the seat. Staring off into the field behind the millhouse, the image of Blair lying there haunted me. I was thankful I didn’t have to watch the coroner arrive and the body—her body—be taken out. The thought of seeing her like that wasn’t a memory I wanted to hold onto. Blair was always the smiling, lighthearted, goofy, beautiful woman that brightened any room when she entered. Not broken and abused. I shook the thoughts of her lifeless body from my head and did my best at replacing them with happy memories.

They were all I had left.

Gribbins stood outside the vehicle talking on his cell phone. His words were too muffled for me to hear, but I knew it was about Blair. Reporting that the body we located was most likely hers. It wouldn’t be official until Bradley made the report. Like a ton of bricks, it hit me. I would wake up morning after morning, reaching for her in our bed, only to come up empty handed. Blair, who had become my entire world, was gone.

Clover had taken from me the one person I lived and breathed for, so there was nothing to lose when it came to taking him down. Making that piece of shit suffer for what he’d done was top priority, and I no longer gave a fuck about how that would happen, as long as it indeed happened.