I’d known I was getting to him, digging under his skin as often as possible by use of the media. He’d finally taken the bait. Twelve girls had been taken and I’d reached the end of my rope. Twelve young souls kidnapped while walking to school or with their friends at a movie theater.

  “I don’t have long to talk, Agent, but I did want you to know I have my eye on another girl. She’s beautiful. Absolutely perfect. And all because of you. You remind me of myself. We could have been good friends in another life.”

  “We’re nothing alike.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve seen you in action. You’re very methodical. I admire both your dedication and your organizational skills. When you found the first few girls, you barely reacted. While everyone else was crying or getting sick, you remained stoic. You were admiring my work. Admit it.”

  “Admiring your work?” The fucking press had been allowed to get too close to the case. Goddamn it. I glanced at my former partner who was standing in the doorway. Word had already gotten around, half the office standing in wait. No one had been able to get a scrap of evidence on the killer.

  Not a hair follicle. No saliva. No skin cells under fingernails. The recovered body parts had been subjected to extreme elements including excessive heat and submersion in the Everglades swamps and had been feasted on by various predators.

  One had even been recovered from inside a python, hence the nickname of the killer.

  I’d gotten the closest, determined to bring him down.

  “Keep him on the line, Mav,” my former partner Carrie whispered. The case had been too much for her. Nodding, I peered down at Max, my canine companion. His ears were perked up, the pup already sensitive to my change in behavior.

  “It’s alright to admit it, Agent. I won’t hold it against you.” The killer burst into laughter, the sound echoing in my eardrums.

  I gripped the edge of my desk, my body swaying as I stared at the bulletin board covering an entire wall. Faces of the victims. Information. Last sightings. Notes on why they’d been taken. Points of interest.

  Sticky notes.

  Scraps of paper.

  All written hurriedly.

  Smiles.

  Laughter.

  Light in their eyes.

  Death.

  Death…

  Something snapped inside.

  Another girl. I was losing. He was winning. While I’d worked very hard to keep my emotions in check, rage erupted, the bastard pushing every button. “Listen, you motherfucking piece of trash. I will find you and when I do, there won’t be enough of you left to stand trial. Do you hear me?”

  “Tsk. Tsk. Proof of how much we’re alike. I’ll be in touch.”

  Jerking up, I took gasping breaths as his voice slowly faded.

  “Fuck. Fuck…” I ran my fingers through my hair as images slowly began to fade. A dream. A goddamn dream. That’s all it had been.

  What the fuck? After blinking, I cocked my head. What the hell was that sound? My fucking phone. With a hard exhale, I leaned over, snagging it in my fingers.

  In the pitch black of the room, my screen was lit up with the words that immediately boiled my blood.

  Unknown caller.

  Had the damn dream been a premonition? Why not fuck with whoever was on the other end of the line. “Agent Maverick Callahan.” Immediately, I hit record.

  “You thought you could get under my skin.”

  “Evidently, I did.” I turned on the light and almost immediately, Alexia was awake. When her eyes opened wide, I placed my finger across my lips. “What’s wrong, Samuel? Oh, wait. Samuel is behind bars awaiting execution. Tsk. Tsk. You truly sank to a new low convincing your own brother to take the fall for you.”

  Throwing back the covers, the last thing I wanted was to be lying in bed while talking to a fucking monster. I reached for my weapon by instinct. It felt as if the motherfucker was in the room beside me. The exact same sensations I’d had all those years ago.

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  The same hint of fissures in his armor as in his brother’s.

  “I think I do. In fact, whatever you promised your brother didn’t include his death. He was shocked to learn of the upcoming execution date. I would have thought with all those visits you had with him you would have been decent enough, man enough to tell him the truth.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “That you sacrificed him to kill again. What happens next time? Or are you planning on staying a model citizen?”

  He sighed. “You have no understanding of my family. None. I suggest you spend the time you’re using to spin out of control to try to find the new missing girls.”

  Girls. As in plural.

  Alexia’s phone buzzed, which caught both our attention. She shifted across the bed to grab it.

  “I think I understand completely. You believe you’re the superior brother and deserve to enjoy living your life. I am curious. What did your brother ever do to you?”

  “Do you remember the woman you stalked, Agent Callahan? Come to think of it. Wasn’t she your partner? That’s right. She was. I take it she wasn’t very happy about using her as a scapegoat.”

  My blood turned to ice. He was all chirpy laughter when I didn’t respond right away. “Fuck off.” Great. Now he knew he’d gotten to me. Yes, I’d used Carrie to try to follow in his footsteps. She’d been furious when she’d found out, accusing me of assorted terrible things. She’d even tried to have me kicked off the case.

  “Yes, I knew exactly what you were doing. You were pretending to be me, playing a role to try and flush me out. But you failed. Didn’t you? And why? Because you hungered to carry it through. You longed to wrap the chloroform-soaked cloth around her mouth. You stood outside her door and considered it. Didn’t you?”

  My skin began to crawl.

  I’d talked to the son of a bitch twice before. It had turned the tide for a case that had haunted me for months. He’d shown signs of cracking by making the phone call. I’d almost kept him on the line long enough to secure his location. He’d tried his best to hide his lair, rerouting the signal from one country to another.

  He was without a doubt the most intelligent, cunning criminal I’d ever encountered. The man had all but managed to sign his death warrant. Had it not been for his twisted hunger and dangerous proclivities, his brother’s execution would allow him to continue with his killing spree.

  I’d all but had him in the crosshairs all those years ago. Then I’d lost my cool. And why? Because in a way he’d been right. I’d been fascinated by his methods and his abilities to go undetected. I’d been so in tune to the madman that I’d lost my sense of perspective.

  I’d written down the steps that he’d taken, the lack of sleep and substance creating a perfect storm where my desire to get inside the mind of a madman had almost catapulted me into destroying both my career and my life. If Carrie had told my boss about the stalking, my actions would have been grounds for termination.

  Now he was repaying the favor, trying to rattle me.

  “I think you’re feeling guilty for dragging your brother into your nightmare.”

  “He is none of your concern. He’s very happy to be protecting his family. But you were a naughty boy going to see him. I will give you credit. I did not expect that you’d do that.”

  “He is very much my concern since you allowed him to become a sacrifice. You have me curious as to the number of other women you’ve tortured.”

  His heavy breathing was an indication I was correct. “I do enjoy my work.”

  Alexia slapped her hand across her mouth, her eyes wild with terror. With her entire body shaking, she moved around the end of the bed toward me.

  “Yes, and I do as well. You know what I think? Now, I’m beginning to think you’re nothing like Samuel. Here’s the thing. You allowed him to take all the glory. I can’t believe you did that. You were so eager for me to hunt you down. You craved your fifteen minutes of fame and I was prepared to give it to you. What happened? Did you chicken out? Bwak. Bwak. Bwak.”

  When I squawked like a chicken, I could tell I’d gotten under his skin. If there was one thing most serial killers craved, it was notoriety.

  “You’re learning to play the game, Agent, but too little too late.” He’d regained complete control, his voice almost soothing in the cadence. “But you’ll see. If you haven’t already. Take care, Agent Callahan. I’m certain I’ll read about myself in the pages of one of your upcoming books. What a shame we won’t have an opportunity to meet.”

  The line went dead and as soon as the echo of his voice faded from my mind, Alexia’s soft moan pulled at the ugliness of yet what I believed to be another failure. She held out her phone, the text she’d received including art.

  “Maverick,” she whispered as she gripped my arm.

  “Fuck.”

  “Another woman was taken. What are we going to do? What are we going to do?”

  The room was filled with a quiet that I hadn’t known existed.

  Cold and bleak, ripping at what was left of my soul. I stood staring out at the ocean, hoping for some insight or at least a way of calming the anger that had finally leveled out after seeing the photographs of the two women.

  One had been taken prior to the girl’s kidnapping, a woman being stalked. The killer was fucking with my mind on purpose.

  I’d gotten to him and he was repaying me with like kindness.

  I shuddered from the thought and brought the glass to my lips. While I needed to keep a clear head, at this point I doubted a shot or two of scotch was going to have any effect on me.

  With Alexia suffering after learning of another disappearance, I had no intention of leaving her alone.

  We’d connected even more than before. Not only because of the intense passion we’d shared, which had continued for several hours, but also just being able to enjoy the time spent together. She’d trusted me enough to talk about her diary, thoughts that she’d had over the years.

  Nightmares.

  Bouts of anger.

  Periods of barely being able to function. Where I’d seen a strong woman, she’d fought to keep from falling apart.

  On the flipside, where I’d projected a tough guy who couldn’t care less about anyone else, a playboy with luxurious tastes, I’d been reliving what I’d considered my failures several times over.

  The incredible woman with a heart of gold and a need for justice for everyone around her had shown me what I was missing.

  I’d be damned if I wasn’t falling hard for the girl. I had no business doing so, not really, although I’d begun to believe that karma had put us together thirteen years ago to save both our lives. She’d done so again for the very same reason. We needed each other.

  I’d just replayed the audio of my conversation and my buddies were staring at me.

  I hadn’t realized I’d laughed out loud until I noticed Chase staring at me. “What?”

  “You stalked your own partner?”

  “It’s my greatest regret. I felt I had to do something to see inside his mind. The killer was winning at every turn.” Which had been true.

  Hudson shook his head. “He’s just getting started. You’ve obviously egged him on.”

  “We need to find out if another girl was taken.” Kendrick was right.

  “Yeah, I know. Alexia is not taking this very well.” I was more worried than I’d been earlier.

  Chase’s grin widened. “Do we get to meet her?”

  “She’s resting. It’s not every day you’re sent pictures about a woman who’s about to be abducted.”

  “While there’s very little to go on, the police are on high alert for anyone resembling the woman in the picture.” Gabriel had strong ties to members of the Miami-Dade police department. Sadly, I doubted there was anything they could fucking do. The fucker had been smart, taking the picture as a stalker would. From a distance. And from behind. Yes, you could tell the girl had long, dark, curly hair, just like the first victim who’d gone missing a week before.

  Long, dark, curly hair. Just like Alexia.

  Unfortunately, the suit the girl was wearing was nondescript. So was the briefcase she was carrying. She could be anyone heading to work on a bright sunny day.

  Another dead end because that was part of the sick game.

  “As if it will matter.” I scrubbed my jaw, easily able to tell everyone was eager to meet my lovely house guest. I’d all but forbidden her from going to work.

  Hudson glanced back and forth from one to the other of us. “So let me get this straight. The man wasting away in prison is Samuel Wells.”

  “Yes, his fingerprints would prove that.” At least that was the summation I’d come to. “The checks and balances were in place thirteen years ago. What we didn’t count on was like DNA. A brother wasn’t even considered. The man fit the description given by the witness. He was found in a house listed in his name. There was DNA at the cabin and on the last victim since she’d only been dead for a few hours. There was no reason to believe Samuel wasn’t the killer.”

  “But his brother actually handled the murders.” Kendrick had a pensive look on his face.

  “What if Samuel assisted his brother? Perhaps by luring the women to being taken. That would affirm the reason his DNA was found in the cabin.” Gabriel shrugged after the suggestion. “If the killer is as highly intelligent as you’ve alluded to, he likely wore gloves.”

  “Not when he was around the women, at least not with Alexia.”

  “She was special,” Gabriel offered.

  Yeah, special enough she’d remained on his mind. I nodded and took another sip, making a face since the taste was suddenly bitter.

  “He’s a cocky son of a bitch too.”

  I chuckled and took a swallow of my drink, laughing at Hudson’s description. “Why do you say that?”

  “He didn’t wait to start killing again until his own brother was six feet under.”

  Shifting away from the window, I mulled over his comment. “Alexia mentioned the killer was gone for days at a time, which could indicate he traveled for work or that his work was important enough he couldn’t leave at a moment’s notice. Maybe he moved. But…” I thought about what the fucker had told me. “He knew how I reacted when forced to deal with a crime scene.”

  “You think he was there.” Hudson whistled.

  “Maybe I’m just reaching for straws. What I do know is that he’s on the hunt again and he won’t stop with two women.” Another nagging moment hit me. The killer had known every step I’d taken in trying to track him down. That’s why I’d felt so behind the eight ball.

  Chase had jumped on the computer the moment he’d set foot in my house. He looked up from the screen, his face pensive. “The bastard is a sick fuck to do that to his own brother.”

  “You didn’t see him,” I said quietly. “I honestly don’t think Samuel was coerced. But I also don’t think he completely understood what he’d confessed to doing either.”

  “Just so you know. I’ve yet to find any signs of gifts coming into the prison.” Chase eyed me carefully.

  “Check the warden and his personal accounts. I also need to know who the fuck went to see Samuel so damn often.”

  “Maybe his attorney,” Kendrick suggested.

  “That was easy to check. No.” I’d called the man myself and he’d laughed at me.

  “You think Warden Abbott Baker is on the take?” Kendrick asked, genuinely surprised.

  “Don’t act so surprised,” Hudson told him. “Rumors have been flying around about the man for years. Including when he worked with the police department. I’ve always believed the man was dirty. He was involved with some shady cases.”

  “So Samuel was treated well in prison. Abbott can’t stop the execution. In fact, he’s eager for it to be over with.” Now I was just talking out loud.

  “No, which could mean Abbott is covering up for some people.”

  “Who know Samuel was railroaded,” I spit out.

  “Very possibly. And I don’t think the thought of losing his own brother meant anything to Samuel’s brother,” Chase threw out. “Was Samuel so enthralled by his own brother he allowed himself to be the scapegoat?”

  I shook my head. The thought had been bothering me for hours. “I think there’s a chance Samuel is easily manipulated.”

  “Meaning he has some mental faculty issues,” Hudson filled in.

  “Yeah.” Which was even more disgusting than that he’d been used for something so heinous.

  “Why don’t we start from the beginning. With another victim, I have a feeling whatever plans the bastard has in motion will be expedited.” I was more agitated than I’d been when awakened in the middle of the night. I couldn’t get the dream or the phone call from my mind. There’d been no sleep after that.

  With Alexia’s help, we’d pulled out various notes, creating new thoughts and pinning them to a bulletin board. With her memories and mine, we’d once again relived the horror. And once again, I’d seen her strength.

  We’d spent hours going over the same details that had nearly driven me to madness thirteen years before. What bothered me was that it appeared the fucker was a chameleon. I continued to tick off the years since in my mind one by one, trying to ascertain why his accusation had gotten the better of me.

  Maybe because the riddle as to why I’d so easily crossed the line with Raven Intel had been solved.

  Hours later, the team was all together. Maybe at this point we were throwing spitballs against the wall as I’d done so many times before with this case, but there were a few differences that needed to be ironed out.

  All the beliefs I’d had about serial killers didn’t seem to apply to this man. It was entirely possible he’d been behind dozens of other murders because he’d switched styles.