Page 14 of A Dark Place

“He’ll come after you if he thinks you’re helping us,” Lizzy told him. “Please be careful. I don’t want you risking your job or worse on us.”

“This fella, Holden, is working for the people who are coming after you, make no mistake. And I don’t plan to let him get away with bullying innocent people for his own gain.”

Lizzy smiled at the sheriff’s answer. “Thank you.”

“How are you holding up? Anything I can do?”

Though the sheriff knew little about what had happened, for his own good, he’d been one of their strongest advocates right from the start. As they’d prepared to leave their Northwest compound, the sheriff had done everything he could to assist. He had no idea about the recent attack on them, and she prayed the men responsible for it wouldn’t be able to trace her or the rest of Strike Force to their current location. If that happened, she had no idea where they could go from here to escape them.

“You have been wonderful. Thank you. If you hear anything on the case, will you get in touch?” Lizzy asked. She wanted to stay connected as long as possible because the man who had tried to kill her was always there in her head, taunting her with his words.You made me do this.

He’d made it clear he held her responsible for taking his mentor, and he would do everything in his power to find her, even in her mountain hideaway.

Lizzy ended the call. Best to keep any communication with the sheriff as short as possible. She handed the phone back to Will who powered it down. As a rule, they all kept their phones off whenever they weren’t in use.

“I hope they catch him soon,” she whispered. “I can’t imagine what Sylvia went through.” The sheriff had told them the killer was quickly changing his MO. Taking out his rage on his victim. His main focus on Lizzy. The photos he’d sent from the compound in Idaho had been chilling. How had he found them?

“This man is becoming brazen. He believes he’s invincible. He’s making mistakes. The team will catch a break soon. I believe it,” Will told her, and she smiled at his positive thinking. He’d been her rock since she’d recovered the memories of what Edward Buckley and his apprentice had put her through.

“I sure hope so. I can’t imagine another person going through this. The killer is becoming more enraged with time. He’s coming unglued.” She’d given Sheriff Callahan a list of people she knew from her college days. Lizzy had a bad feeling it was only a matter of time before the next victim was taken.

Chapter Six

Rage was like fuel for his body. His lips peeled away from bared teeth. He would not allow them to defeat him. She wasn’t the next in line, but she would work. He watched from the shadows as she carried her trash to the curb. His hand circled around the stun gun. Slowly he stepped from the side of the house.

Something caught her attention, and it wasn’t him. She watched down the road. A vehicle was approaching with its light on bright. He stepped back into the shadows as the vehicle rolled to a stop beside the woman.

The passenger door opened. He recognized the agent from earlier. Without a doubt, they’d spoken to Lizzy, which meant she would have given them a list of her friends They would reach out to every single one of her former contacts and put them into protective custody.

He continued around the side of the house. They thought they were winning. Keeping information secret to try and catch him. Well, he’d change the game. Make it his completely. Force them to do what he wished.

Nearby a dog barked. He froze. Listened. The two agents were coming. They’d heard the dog as well. He quickly jumped the fence separating her place from the empty lot behind. Luckily, he was in his best physical condition. His body worked like a finely tuned machine. Sprinting across the empty lot, he melted into the woods at the back of the neighborhood, then stopped to listen. The two agents were talking to each other. They’d seen his footprints. They’d call in backup. Soon the entire area would be saturated with law enforcement.

He kept up a fast pace until he reached the car he’d boosted. It was risky to use his own because he couldn’t afford to have it traced back to him. He started the car and sped away while slamming his fist against the dash.

You are such a failure. . .He could almost hear his mentor laughing at his incompetence.I should have killed you when I had the chance.

“No. You are the incompetent one. Because of you, we were exposed. Because of you and father, I became a killer.” He kept a careful watch on the rearview mirror while speeding down the streets, turning frequently, keeping to the less traveled paths.

The family home in the woods was there waiting for his next victim, but there wouldn’t be one tonight. Still, he kept driving until he reached it. He needed its peace. Needed to remember his kills there. Needed to forget the past.

But the house was a reminder of how it all began.

He pulled up to the barbed wire gate and got out. The air was thick with snow. Winter still had the area in a chokehold.

With the gate secured once more, he drove to the house. Opening the car door, he slammed it shut without dispersing his rage. Inside the cabin he stared at the simple interior of the house where he’d grown up, and he screamed at the top of his voice. Threw the coffee table across the room, then swiped the magazines off the small desk he sometimes used.

They had interfered for the last time. From here on out, they would play his game. He dropped to the threadbare sofa when his cell phone buzzed again.

His wife. This was the fourth message she’d sent him. She expected him home soon. But he couldn’t go home to her like this. If he did, she’d become his next victim.

Hopping to his feet, he paced the small space, his attention going to the room he’d once shared with his brothers. Every time he thought about Kevin his heart broke. His death had been horrific at the hands of their father. If it hadn’t been for Kevin stepping in to take his punishment, he would have died instead of Kevin.

He walked out the back of the house and stared past the dilapidated garage to the spot he’d buried both mother and older brother Kevin where no one else would ever find them. And then later. . .

The last death had been the most rewarding, but it had come at the cost of his soul.

His mentor had made him give his father all the violence that he deserved. They’d burned the body and scattered his ashes around the property. At the time, he’d thought Edward Buckley was a savior until he’d learned the truth about their connection. By then it was too late.

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