THEY DIDN’T HAVE much to go on. Just the bastard’s name. But it was all Ezra needed. He’d find Chas. And then he’d rip the sonofabitch to shreds.

“Tell me about him,” Chalmers ordered. “And why he would come after Geoff or Nils. And why did he fixate on Shannon?”

“He was the translator assigned to our unit. There were nine of us, Chas, and a woman assigned to be the bridge between our unit and any female citizens we may run into. We weren’t a well-matched group.”

“How do you mean?”

“Hollace pushed everyone around. Or he tried. Most of us wouldn’t take it. Geoff was always joking. Sefton was into video games, and I don’t think he had separated out that what we were doing was real. At least, I thought that at first. Then I realized it was his way of coping with what we had to do. What he’d seen. Hell, he was that one that we knew wasn’t strong enough to be over there. Half of us tried to make it less of a shock to him. The rest of us just wished he’d go home. We didn’t trust him to have our backs out there. He was nervous with a rifle, and his language skills were more theoretical than practical. He was a danger, especially at first. And he was younger than the rest of us. Inexperienced. He was transferred in after we lost our first translator. Him and Amelia. She shook things up a bit too much for my liking.”

“How so?” Max asked.

“It was tense over there. Emotions ran high. And we were stuck with two inexperienced privates, both with lackluster skill sets. She was a back-up translator, and the two of them bonded over their jobs, but her first position was to liaison with the villagers if needed. Neither were prepared for what we faced. None of us really were, but they were exceptionally unready. In a warzone. She handled things by finding a stress reliever. With Hollace. They had a not-so-secret thing. Until she was killed.”

“How was she killed?” Chalmers asked.

“Ambush. I was too damned far away to help. We were spread out, and there was a weak spot. Chas was that weak spot.” Just like with Kyra all those weeks ago. Ezra hadn’t forgotten the parallels between what had happened overseas and what had happened to Shannon’s friend in Texas. “We got someone on the license plate?”

“Running it now,” Djorn said harshly. “We just need to know more about this sonofabitch.”

“Amelia died, and we were discharged less than a month later. If the ambush had just held off for three weeks, she never would have been there. After discharge, we went our separate ways. I thought Sefton went into the video game industry.”

“Apparently, he didn’t.” Jac said, disconnecting her own call. “He’s wanted in three states, Ez. In connection with six other professional hits. He’s a killer-for-hire.”

“So why in the hell did he take Shannon?” Ezra bit out. “I never did a damned thing to him. She sure as hell didn’t, either.”

“Maybe in his mind you all did. It could explain why he targeted your friends,” Chalmers stepped over toward the board, where all of their evidence was pinned. “We just need to connect why.”

“Where. We need to figure out where. And get her back now. Before it’s too late.” Visions of what could be happening to her right now flooded his head.

Maria Angel ran over from her own desk nearby. “The rental truck has been spotted. It’s back in the same neighborhood as this morning. Abandoned, less than a mile from Agent Lorcan’s parents’ homes.”

Chalmers shifted, right into Ezra’s line of sight. “You need to think back. Why would this guy take Shannon? And take all these photos. Tell me about how the guy thinks. If we can outthink him, we can get to her somehow. Before he hurts her. Because right now, we’re flying blind.”

“You think I don’t know that? I didn’t interact with him much. I worked with Kessinger, he worked more with Hollace and Amelia. He and Amelia were almost always together—when she wasn’t with Hollace. In our down time he played computer role-playing games. It wasn’t my thing, but he’d get so involved he’d be on the computer for hours. I think he wrote them. He was always talking about these damned games he was writing. Fantasies, mostly. He’d get so lost inside his own head we were sure he’d crack when he had to face reality.”

“How did he feel about this Amelia?”

“Friends. Mostly. Stuck together. Younger, smaller, less experienced then the rest of us. He did take it hard when she died. Blamed himself. Mostly because it was his own damned fault. He made a mistake, betrayed their position. Amelia was shot three times. She died on the field. By the time we were all in the hospital, mending and being debriefed, my enlistment was up. Geoff’s and Nils’s, too. The rest of the unit was a few weeks after. I think Chas had a few more years. We went our separate ways. That’s all.”

“His photos held a sexualized tone,” Jac said quietly. “Obsession. And he cut and pasted the last few ones onto different backgrounds. A house. We need to find that house. Did he see her with you and then become obsessed? Or was it the news that did it? Was he already targeting you? Why Jaynice and the rest? It doesn’t make sense.”

“We need to assume he’s become a hired killer. Money. So, it brought him to St. Louis,” Ezra said. He forced the fear away. His fear wouldn’t bring her back. But his skills just might. “He strikes Jaynice, then suddenly goes after Geoff?”

“Shannon has copies of every contact Geoff Morten and Nils Schneider received in the weeks before the attacks,” Jac pulled it up on the digital display in the center of where they worked. “Charles Sefton emailed both of them. Hey Geoff, Am going to be in town for a few days. We need to meet. I have questions about Amelia. A very similar message for Nils Schneider. A few more back and forth, then both victims cancel for various reasons.”

“Would that be enough to trigger him to kill?” Chalmers asked. “That’s a long shot. Most hired killers don’t attack those they know. Too easy to ruin everything they’ve set up.”

“Unless they were already in the midst of a break.” Ezra said. “Jac, can you run all the rest of his emails?”

“Already started. If we can isolate him to an IP address, or if he used his phone in a geographic area, we may be able to narrow his location down. I can try to backtrack. If he’s used his phone, I may be able to find out exactly where it’s at right now.”

“Do it, Jac,” Max said.

“Whatever you have to do. Just get us a location.”