Seeking

by Calle J. Brookes

  Max motioned to the first. “This is one the newscast ran of her after you were abducted. Cam took it off his phone to give to the media outlets. That’s where the shooter got this one.”

  “And the rest? He stalked her.” Ezra had his phone out. Shannon wasn’t answering texts or calls. “And she’s not answering. Where the hell is she?”

  Max paused. “She’s not back at PAVAD?”

  Chalmers had his own phone at his ear. When he turned around, Ezra knew it wasn’t going to be good. “Where is she?”

  Chalmers hesitated. “We don’t know. She’d left before the security unit was able to put a detail on her. But there’s been a shooting—at her apartment complex. Kyra and Cam are on their way there now.”

  Ezra was already running toward the SUV.

  ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO

  SHANNON’S NEIGHBOR met them at the entry to her parking lot. The man was at least a million years old and most likely wouldn’t be much help. Ezra took a look at the man’s eyes and revised his initial opinion. Mr. McClanahan might be in his nineties, but the man was far sharper than a man a third his age.

  “I was watching her from the window. I always watch the young ones, the ones who don’t cause too much trouble, make sure they’re in their houses, nice and safe at night, the way it should be. We ain’t going to have any of what we had here before when my Kyra was hurt. I keep it safe around here. I take my duties as chief of the watch very seriously.”

  The old man was trembling. Afraid and worried. And he had blood on his clothes. It wasn’t his. Mr. McClanahan had done his best to render aid to Agent Ward. Ezra just wanted the man to get to the point. Tell them what had happened to Shannon.

  “Miss Shannon was minding her own business when this little fellow stopped her. Before I knew it, he was walking away. Then Miss Shannon hit the ground, she did. That little guy turned and ran back to her. Then that other fellow goes down, all covered with blood. That’s when I saw the gun. He had one of those long ones with that thing screwed onto the end. The little guy scooped her up and carried her away. She wasn’t fighting like she should have been. Miss Shannon’s a real fighter. She’d have been fighting and yelling if she could have been. I think he drugged her somehow. He had her up and at a big gray truck in that parking spot there before I could get the damned walker outside to her. By the time I got to that young fellow to see if he was dead or not, that bastard had taken Miss Shannon away. I got a picture of him, though. Little shit. Not much bigger than Miss Shannon, cute little girl that she is. Truck, too. Cell phones are the greatest things since the television was invented.”

  Ezra seized on the one thing he said. “You got a photo of her abductor.”

  The older man handed over his cell phone without question. “You’re the new boyfriend, aren’t you? Thought I recognized you as the one who stayed the night this week. A tall one, aren’t you?”

  McClanahan wasn’t any more than five-nine or so. “We’re involved.”

  The old man looked at him, his worry in his faded brown eyes. “You find her. You find her and bring her right back here. And then you keep her safe from here on out.”

  Ezra looked down at the phone.

  McClanahan had captured the unsub, all right. The sonofabitch had an obviously unconscious Shannon in his arms. She almost looked too big for him to hold.

  Chas Sefton always had been a small man. He’d always struggled to keep up with the rest of them.

  It made sense. Sefton did have the skills to pull off these hits. Because Ezra and Geoff had taught the bastard how to do it.

  He looked at Chalmers. “Charles Sefton. From my unit. Guy was a damned translator for my unit. We taught him how to really shoot just to have something to do over there.”

  “Why would he be targeting your unit? And why in the hell did he take Shannon?” Chalmers asked.

  “Forget all that mumbo jumbo, boys. What you should be askin’ is where did he take our girl!” The old man smacked his walker on the ground once for emphasis. “Go find her and bring her back!”

  ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE

  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-p
laying 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.”

  ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR

  SHANNON OPENED HER eyes and tried to lift her hand to her head. For a moment, she was convinced she was back in that Arkansas cabin. Her first thought was for Ezra.

  She forced her head to turn, to fight of the fuzz of whatever sedative she’d been given.

  Ezra wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

  But another man was. “Who are you?”

  She sat up. He’d only tied one of her hands. Why that?

  The man turned toward her. She knew who he was—the man on the video. This was the man responsible for Geoff Morten and all the rest.

  This was the man who had hurt far too many people she cared about. Especially the man she loved.

  She ruthlessly pulled herself back together. “I don’t know your name.” Or why he’d taken her.

  Unless she was the bait.

  And that meant Ezra.

  “You need to untie my hand. It’s hurting me.” He turned, and she got her first real good look at him. He had a camera next to him and a computer in front of him.

  And a rifle on the table between them.

  Shannon was on a couch near the front window.

  Anyone looking in could see her. Why hadn’t he concealed their position more than he had?

  Because she was the bait.

  And Ezra was the fish.

  He was going to use her to get Ezra here, then he would shoot her in front of Ezra so that he could experience the same pain that Geoff Morten and Nils Schneider and Jaynice’s fiancé had. To cause maximum pain to those men.

  To hurt.

  No. She was not going to let it happen that way.

  This little weasel was not going to hurt Ezra that way. Not if she could stop it.

  ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE

  SHE WAS GORGEOUS. Chas had long known that. He’d watched her sleep for the last two hours. Shannon was definitely a restless sleeper. He’d have to be aware of that. Maybe push the bed up next to the wall to keep her from falling out and hurting herself.

  He wanted to keep her safe. Like he hadn’t Amelia and their baby. But Shannon... Shannon would be different. He’d make certain of it. She be safe and happy, no matter what he had to do. “Hi, honey. How are you feeling? I’m sorry about the headache.”

  “I need to sit up. I don’t understand why I am here or what you hope to accomplish with all of this.” She looked around, bewildered. Frightened. Something softened in him. He hated seeing her so vulnerable. He would fix that soon.

  “This is the way it needs to be. I couldn’t let you be with Ezra.” The mere idea of it sickened him.

  “Why? I don’t even know your name.” She sat up on the couch, pulling at the tape he’d used to keep her secure while he’d done what he’d had to do to make this place a safe zone for them.

  It was the smallest house on the street. Not his first choice, but the others were just too exposed. But at least this one was furnished. It had a nice dining room table, and the master bedroom was beautiful—soft yellow and white. She’d look perfect in there. He’d almost put her in the bed.

  But that was rushing things a bit, and he knew it.

  It was about making her comfortable with him now. Nothing more.

  And removing Ezra from the picture so she could see...

  He would take care of that, then he and Shannon would head out on the next stage of their journey.

  After how hard they’d both worked lately, they were due a nice vacation somewhere. The tropics might be a bit warm right now, but they’d adjust.

  Wear less clothes.

  He’d like to see her in less clothes, that was for sure.

  “Here. If you promise not to run, and we can just talk, I’ll take off the tape.”

  He was careful. He didn’t want anything to mar her skin. After he removed the duct tape, he rubbed that soft skin for a long moment. “I’m Chas, by the way.”

  “You’re my neighbor. I’ve seen you on the bus. So how do you know Ezra? Tell me why me. Why am I here?”

  Chas frowned. There was anger and fear in her eyes, her words. He didn’t want her afraid of him like this. Amelia had looked at him like this when she had died in his arms. She had been so afraid.

  “Shannon, don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. I will never hurt you. I promise. Everything I’ve done has been for the two of us.”

  “Killing all of those people, shooting at my friends and people that have never hurt you, has been for me? How? Explain it to me. Now.”

  ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIX

  SHANNON KNEW PUSHING the man in front of her was a real gamble. But she wanted those answers, and she needed to figure out how to play this guy to buy herself the best chance of survival.

  She’d spent three days with four armed bastards and survived, after all. She could do this.

  This unarmed, little weasel wasn’t going to stop her from seeing the people she loved again. And he for damned sure wasn’t going to hurt Ezra ever again.

  “Tell me why I am here.” He was a few inches taller and maybe thirty or forty pounds heavier. A few years older, maybe.

  He looked...awkward. She couldn’t think of any other way to describe him. His hair was neatly combed, like it had been every time she’d seen him around, and it was dull brown. The eyes were a washed-out blue. His skin was pale, like he’d spent most of his life inside. And meticulously shaven.

  Or maybe he just hadn’t ever grown much facial hair.

  He half looked like he hadn’t even hit puberty yet.

  He did not look lik
e a hired killer. Like he was capable of causing mass casualties. But she knew he was.

  Now how she was supposed to use that knowledge, she didn’t have a clue. “Chas? Why did you take me today? Why did you shoot my friend Ian? He was just giving me a ride to get my bag. He never hurt you.”

  “He was worth another twenty grand. That can’t be overlooked. We’ll need that money.”

  “We?”

  “We are leaving. As soon as those bastards aren’t right there, blocking the road.” She took a gamble and leaned toward the window. “Who?”

  Hard hands wrapped around her arms and yanked her closer. “No! You can’t look out there. They’ll see you. And they’ll take you away from me again. Just like before.”

  He crushed her against his chest and trembled. Shannon fought biting the son of a bitch. If she did, he’d either kill her or tighten his hold.

  Not exactly optimal for escape.

  Ok. Maybe she wasn’t just the bait here. Shannon pulled in a deep breath and let her body relax slightly into his hold. “Who? Who will take me away from you?”

  “They will. Ezra Damned Hahn and the rest of his friends. They took Amelia away and they’ll take you, too. If I let them.”

  “Is this why you’re in St. Louis? Because of someone named Amelia?”

  “No. Because of the FBI. I had a job to do.” A look of contrition went over his face. “I’m sorry. I never intended to tell you, to expose you to the darker side of what I do. I was just going to work and use the money to take care of you. To give you the kind of life you deserve.”

  Ok. This guy definitely had lost a few marbles. Shannon didn’t know if that gave her hope or terrified her more. It made it hard to predict exactly how this situation was going to end up, that was for certain. “How did Ezra take her away? Help me understand why you would do this?”

  She needed that computer. Or that phone. Either one would get her the help she needed.