The loud crack of flesh hitting flesh pulled Kade out of his misery. Viktor squatted beside him, his face grim. “You need to get the fuck up.”
Bailey’s shiny shoes came into view. “Kincaid, you know this case better than I do. Bradford’s not up to speed. Get your ass up and help me find your wife.”
“If you sit here and do nothing, she’s going to die, Kade.” Viktor locked eyes with him. “Is that what you want?”
“No.”
“Then get the fuck up!”
Kade took several deep breaths. They were right. No one knew this case better than he did. He let Viktor pull him up. “Did Watkins find any video footage?”
“No. The restaurant doesn’t have cameras. There are three cameras back there, though. I have uniforms out collecting the tapes from the other stores. If he’s within range, we’ll find him.”
“He’s making mistakes.” Kade took another deep breath. “He’s unraveling. Something happened to make him speed up his timeline.”
“The ME confirmed the girl died of a heart attack. She had a pre-existing condition, and the stress was too much for her. He wasn’t finished. It was too soon for him.” Jeremy stopped beside Kade. “We’re doing everything we can. I have uniforms out canvasing all the surrounding stores and the loading docks back here as well.”
“I shouldn’t have brought her out.” Kade shook his head, his vision clearing of the fog that seemed to have descended upon him. “I should have known better.”
“No, you shouldn’t have been out. It was a fucking stupid move,” Viktor agreed, making Kade feel worse than he already did. “That said, you had three of my best men with you.” Viktor gripped his shoulder. “She should have been safe. No one’s ever gotten the drop on them, but we weren’t counting on neurotoxins.”
“Neurotoxins?”
“Yes, Nik just called. The doctor said they’d been hit with some kind of home-baked neurotoxin. He didn’t give me too many details, only that it was a paralytic. Seeing as how Dimitri and my men are still out cold, I’m betting Angel is too.”
“That could work to our advantage.” His mind was whirling, processing every case he ever worked or studied. “Most serial killers want their victims aware, they want them to feel what’s happening to them.”
“Especially this one.” Jeremy spoke quietly. “These women suffered, and the ME confirmed with me yesterday they would have been awake and aware during all of it. She’s safe for a while, Kade. We have time.”
“Let’s go back to the station where we have more to work with. It’s only a few blocks.” Bailey snapped his notebook shut. “CSU is going over everything, dusting for prints, the whole nine yards. I want to look through the traffic cams to see if we can find him exiting this complex.”
Viktor drove Kade to the police station. He held onto the hope that Angel wasn’t awake, since none of the others were. She would be safe for as long as she couldn’t feel anything. He hoped. It was what he clung to.
The station was a hub of activity. Whenever an officer’s family member was in danger, they pulled out all the stops. People were on the phones, and he saw an entire wall monitor setup scouring traffic cams. Viktor moved off toward the whiteboards where the photos the unsub had sent Angel were posted.
“What do we know?” Bailey barked at one of the detectives who scurried toward them.
“Officer Stone is on his way with the security tapes. One of them should have a clean shot of the restaurant’s back door. Hopefully, we’ll get an image of the suspect’s face.”
“Kade, come here a second.” Viktor waved him over to the images. It was not what he wanted to look at, but he forced his feet to move. “Look here. Is this a sign?”
Kade squinted, trying to ignore the contorted and twisted body of the girl. In the upper right hand corner of the image, there was a small blur. He leaned in closer, squinting. It did look like a sign. So out of focus he couldn’t see it, but Viktor might be right. Only one way to know for sure. He snatched the image and took off running.
“Where you going, Kincaid?” Bailey shouted.
“Tech lab!” He hit the stairs, unwilling to wait for the elevator, and took them two at a time up three flights. He grabbed the first technician he saw. “We need to blow this up and enhance the image.”
“Sir?” The girl looked up from her computer screen, startled.
“This, now.” He shoved the photo at her, and she took it, but she leaned away from him. She gasped when she actually looked at the image.
“Agent Kincaid?”
Kade’s head snapped around, and he saw Ainsely Grisham. He knew the kid. He’d been working on this case for as long as Kade had. He snatched the photo from the girl and handed it to Ainsely. “We think that’s a sign in the upper corner of this image. We need to know what it says.”
“Take a deep breath, Agent. Let me pull up the digital images you forwarded us from the phone. It’ll be easier to enhance.”
Kade followed the young technician back to his workstation and waited impatiently while he logged on and sorted through a folder. When the images popped up, the tech opened the one he held in his hand. “This could just be a simple sign, Agent. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“He has my wife. Let’s hope it’s more than a simple sign.” Please be more than a simple sign.
The kid’s face hardened. “If there’s something here, we’ll find it.”
Kade watched as he worked to enlarge and still maintain integrity. It was a process, but ten minutes later, a blinking Harvey’s Wrecker sign was clearly visible. His heart nearly stopped. A real live lead. The first one they’d ever had.
“There’s a Harvey’s Wrecker forty miles outside of town.” Ainsely was on Google search, and he pulled up the map image. “It looks deserted, nothing around it for miles.”
“Print that out.” Kade fidgeted nervously while both images printed. The unsub already had a good hour and a half on them. “Grisham, I owe you, big time.”
“Here you go, Agent. I hope you can get there in time.”
“Me too.” Kade took the photos and headed back down to command. As long as she was out, she was safe.
Bailey and Jeremy were clustered around one of the computer monitors, Viktor behind them, when he burst back into the room. They all looked up, excitement on their faces.
“We got the bastard on camera.” Viktor’s smile was evil enough to make the devil take notice. “And his fucking car and license plate. It’s registered to Wes Donovan. He’s from Texas, and his DMV photo matches Angel’s sketch.”
Kade came around and stared at the DMV photo they had up on screen. His girl had nailed the bastard’s image. “Let me see the footage.”
Bailey pursed his lips, but nodded. Jeremy clicked a few times, and the back of the restaurant came into view. A sleek, silver Lexus waited. It only took a moment for the back door to burst open, and they saw him. He’d changed his appearance.
The unsub pulled Angel along like a good friend helping another friend who’d had one too many drinks. She ended up in the back seat, and he walked to the driver’s side door, got in, and drove off.
He hadn’t checked for cameras. Or he didn’t care.
He was unraveling and making mistake after mistake. Losing the other girl must have pushed him over the edge. The fact that he was using his own car testified to how unstable he was becoming.
“The tech lab was able to recover the image. A place called Harvey’s Wrecker. Forty minutes outside the city.” He placed both the blown up image and the Google map photo on the desk in front of them.
“This is how we catch him.” Jeremey rubbed his hands together. “Mistakes, gentlemen. Mistakes are the life’s blood of police work.”
“Let’s go get your girl, Kade.” Viktor slapped him on the back.
Kade closed his eyes and said a prayer of thanks.
He would get there in time.
***
Sensation started to return a few minutes after the madman left her alone. First in her fingertips, then other areas. Little by little, she began to regain control of her muscles. When she could turn her head, she studied the room she was in.
The furniture in here was stark. A white dresser stood against one wall, a basin its only adornment. A door was beside the dresser. Had to be a bathroom. Nightstands took up the space on both sides of the bed. The floor length mirror directly across from her captured her attention. As she’d suspected, he’d handcuffed her feet to the bottom rail of the bed. Bruises were forming on her hip. He must have hit her. It was going to hurt like a bitch when the feeling came back.
The image of his fingers inside her rose up, and she forced it back. She had to get out of here, and dwelling on that wasn’t going to help. It took a while for her to regain control of her hands, but as soon as she could, she yanked at her bonds. The harsh steel of the handcuffs bit into her flesh when she pulled against the rail with all her might, but it didn’t budge.
She heard a door open and close. Shit. Was he back? Had he ever left? Maybe he’d taken a nap in the other room. What was he doing? She strained her ears, trying to pick up on the smallest sound.
Minutes passed. Footsteps walked back and forth across the floor in the other room. She twisted and turned, trying to break the handcuffs. What the hell was he doing?
The bedroom door opened, and he walked in carrying a kettle, the kind you used to boil water to make tea. Steam rose from the spout. What was he going to do with that? Her eyes followed him as he walked over to the closet and took out an iDock. He plugged it in then settled his phone in it. A moment later, the slow, sultry sound of Twenty One Pilots’ “Heathens” filled the air. It was a song she’d listened to on repeat many times. She’d found it soothing before, but now a sense of dread settled over her.
“Hello, my angel.”
His voice was deep, cultured. Upper class. He was only wearing a pair of light denim jeans, faded and worn in places. His muscles rippled as he moved. The man worked out. He didn’t have the same stealthy grace Kade did, but it was close. Each movement was calculated, unnerving. She found it sexy as hell when Kade did it, but in this man, it terrified her.
Setting the kettle on the empty bedside table, he sat next to her. His eyes were blue again. Contacts. He’d been wearing contacts. Their icy depths were calmer than before. The anger was gone. Only anticipation remained.
“How are we coming along? Feeling back yet?” His hand ran up and down her back. She forced herself to stay still, to not react in any way.
“No? You wouldn’t be playing possum, now, would you, my angel?” She watched in horror as he opened the drawer on the nightstand and took out a knife. It reminded her of a hunting knife, but the hilt was different. It looked like some elaborate dagger. The tip of the blade ghosted down her arm and back up, along her shoulders.
She swallowed. He pressed the tip in deeper when it met the soft flesh between her shoulder blades. Angel clenched her teeth together, fighting the cry that wanted to escape. He scooted farther down the bed, the knife tracing along her hip, over her ass cheeks, down her legs to the backs of her thighs.
“Nothing yet?” he murmured.
Searing pain jolted through her, and she screamed. Her head twisted to see he’d pushed the blade straight through her foot. He twisted it, making her cry out. More pain arched up her leg when he slide the blade out.
“That’s what I thought.” He gave her a satisfied nod. “You see, my angel, when you play along like a good girl, it won’t hurt as much. I like to hear your screams. When you don’t give it all to me, you only cause me to inflict more pain than necessary.”
Crazy bastard. She wanted to spit at him, but fear held her still. Don’t antagonize him.
“Such beautiful, pale, alabaster skin.” He leaned down and placed tiny kisses along the backs of her legs. He sat up and ran his hands along her thighs, cupping her ass when he reached it. He pulled them away, and a hard slap hit first one cheek, then the other. She whimpered at the pain. “Ah, there you go, my angel. Let me hear you.” He rained down several more slaps against her ass, each one harder than the last, and she cried out with each one.
She sobbed, tears and snot mingling.
“Look at how pretty your skin is, all pink and just waiting to be touched.” His fingers slid between her butt cheeks, fingering her anus, before dipping down farther, parting her folds. He found her clit and rubbed it. “So warm, my angel. Soon my cock is going to be buried inside you. Do you want that? Won’t it feel good when I take you?”
She whimpered and buried her head in her pillow. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked it, bringing her head up. “No. You will watch what I do to you, do you understand?”
Angel nodded, and he released her hair. “Lay your head down, turn it to face the mirror, and if I see your eyes closed, I will remove your eyelids so you can’t look away. Am I clear?”
Her eyes widened and she whispered, “Yes.”
When she complied, he resumed rubbing slow circles around her clit and reached for the kettle. “There is such joy in pleasure and pain. Your skin is going to make the perfect canvas for my art.”
She couldn’t pull her eyes away from the mirror. She watched as he tipped the kettle toward her, watched as a slow stream of boiling water fell. When the first drops hit her back, she froze, but as more fell, she arched, trying to get away from the searing pain. He continued to pour the water over her back, her shoulders, her ass, her legs. All the while he fingered her.
When the kettle was empty, he set it back down and removed his hand. “Look at that.” He traced all the red burn marks on her back. “It’s about patterns, my angel. The water never takes the same path twice. The chaos theory. It never lets me down.” He slapped her ass again. “I think you’re ready to be fucked, my angel. Your skin is all pink, a perfect canvas.”
He stood and unbuckled his belt then undid the fly on his pants. She watched as the pants hit the floor and he kicked them to the side.
No. No. No.
The bed dipped, and he positioned himself behind her. “Eyes open!”
She blinked them open and tried to look anywhere but at the man behind her. She felt the tip of him against her. “Ready, my angel?”
A siren wailed, just loud enough for them to hear it, and he stilled. When it didn’t stop, he jumped up, cursing, and stalked toward the other room. A wave of relief washed over her. Thank you, God.
He was back a moment later, the siren’s low wail gone, and rage flashed like a lighthouse beacon in his eyes. “We have company. Fuckers set off the motion alarm.” He opened the nightstand and pulled out some kind of gag and proceeded to stuff the ball into her mouth and tie it behind her head. “To keep you quiet, love. Can’t have you alerting the cavalry.”
It had to be Kade. He found her.
But how? He hadn’t been able to find any of the other girls.
Maybe it wasn’t him?
Maybe it was some random person looking around, or maybe they had car trouble.
But if it was Kade, he didn’t know the crazy bastard was aware of his presence.
He picked up his knife and stood behind the door. Whoever it was, they were coming inside. He put a finger to his lips and winked. If it was Kade, there was no way the serial killer was getting away. He had to know that. Maybe he did, and just didn’t give a fuck. He’d hurt whoever came through the door first.
And there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it.