Page 4 of Serial Love

“It appears, like with most serial killers, he stepped up his operation. There have been reports of missing girls for several years, but with no bodies or evidence of foul play, they were not considered linked. Eight months ago, the body of Helena Rorton was found dumped on the outskirts of Rasland College. She had been raped and mutilated. Evidence supported that a long knife had been used to cut patterns into her skin. It was also determined she had been alive when the torture began.”

As the image of the murdered young woman flashedon the screen, each man cursed at the damage and pain inflicted.

“At the time, there was no reason to think the murder was anything but an isolated event and the local Rasland police handled the case. And there’s one other thing,” Jack said, gaining the attention of the group. “She was missing her right index finger.”

The men absorbed that information before Monty prodded, “Others?”

“Four months ago, Sheila Carlson, a freshman at Richmond Community College was missing for eight days before her body was found. Also naked, sexually assaulted, and tortured with a long knife. That was the first time the state police linked the two murders, but there was no other evidence to be found and there were such dissimilarities between the two. Different age, race, body types, and even the knife marks were not alike. But she, like Helena, was missing her right index finger.”

“No forensic evidence?” asked Blaise, his eyes scanning the report on his tablet.

“Practically nothing. No DNA left. It was surmised the knife was the same. The bastard’s careful, I’ll give him that,” Jack answered. “Now, two weeks ago, Tonya Perkins, of Montwood College, was also found. She had gone missing three days prior, and her body turned up in the woods near the edge of the campus.”

“I’ll assume her finger was missing as well?” Cam growled.

Jack nodded, sighing heavily. “Yeah. Since specific, detailed information was never made public, the FBI isassuming it’s a serial killer. And because there have been multiple reports of missing girls from college campuses all over the state, they’re now digging into those cold cases.”

“The director has agreed for us to take the case and work with them,” Monty added. The former FBI agent smiled, knowing it had been hard for the director to agree with the governor. Monty’s political undercover operation had been compromised and instead of staying with the agency, he had been lured away to the enticement of continuing his career in an unfettered environment, where carte blanche was the name of the game. Sure, the successes they had would be claimed by the various agencies, but in the end, the goal would have been met. A successful mission.

The other men had similar tales. Marc, who was skilled in interrogation, had been a pilot for both Homeland Security and CIA. Luke, another former CIA employee, was a software engineer genius. Bart, trained as a SEAL, had left the Navy and been employed by Border Patrol. Cam, a former undercover detective with the Richmond Police Department, came to work for Jack after meeting him through Tony Alvarez when his gang cover was compromised. Chad was a former ATF explosive expert, who had served on the bomb squad. Blaise was a veterinarian, one of many who worked for various government agencies, had left the DEA, tired of the red tape and ready to learn more investigative skills. Until he met Blaise, Jack did not even realize that the government hired so many veterinarians, but hismedical knowledge and extra training as a medic had been invaluable.

Jack continued, “On your tablets are the files of all the known possible cases. I need you to familiarize yourself with them and then we’ll meet back here in two days to plan.”

As he expected, the men did not move, each already immersed in the files. Smiling to himself, he looked back over the information although it had been committed to memory.

Suddenly the perimeter alarms sounded, causing each man to jump to alert. Luke immediately turned to the security computers and pulled up the location and visual onto the large screen. “South quadrant, no visual yet.”

“You know what to do,” Jack stated, grabbing his weapon as he rushed up the stairs. Closely following, the other six men did the same, leaving Luke to coordinate from the secure room.

Monty, Chad, and Cam raced toward the barn, jumping onto all-terrain vehicles and heading toward the north, separating to cover more ground as they ascertained the security of the entire area. Jack, Bart, Blaise, and Marc ran south toward the area of penetration. The landscape was dense with trees and underbrush, many with thorny protrusions just for the purpose of slowing the progress of an intruder. The men knew where they were heading and exactly how to maneuver through the property.

“No visual yet; appears to have breached the fencenear the stream,” Luke said, the others hearing through their earpieces.

The six men were narrowing their focus when Blaise saw a movement to their right. Jack circled around quickly, shouting, “Stop! You’re on private property.” Out from the tangled bushes stumbled an elderly woman.

She stared at the men in front of her, confusion in her eyes. Her short gray hair framed a face that had several bleeding scratches, her thin arms abused by the thorns. She was wearing blue jeans and a short-sleeved blouse, certainly providing no protection for her arms from the brambles.

Stunned, Jack growled his warning once more, starting toward the woman, when the other three on ATVs came careening to a halt in the area. Bart quickly lowered his gun but stayed on high alert, not willing to take any chances considering he was trained to be ready for any contingency.

The men stopped, all watching the woman carefully, noting her confusion. Cam stepped forward, his hand up in front of him in a conciliatory gesture. “Ma’am?”

Blaise moved up beside Cam. “Can we help you? Are you lost?”

The woman twisted to gaze behind her at Jack and said, “When did you grow that beard, Charlie? Mama’s not going to like it.”

Jack’s gaze cut over to Blaise, who was closest, the look of confusion now in his eyes.

“Ma’am,” Blaise tried again, moving one step closer. “We need to?—”

The sound of someone else crashing through the underbrush from behind the elderly woman had the men once more on alert as a scream pierced the air.

“Gram! Gram!”

Bursting into the group of startled, armed men circling around, a young woman came flying into the clearing. Immediately she flung herself at the woman, screaming, “Get away from her!”

Being the closest, Jack snagged her around the middle, effectively halting her progress as he lifted her feet off the ground. She struggled, kicking and clawing, as he held her effortlessly. “Don’t hurt her,” she pleaded.

“Settle,” he barked into her ear, giving her a little shake. “No one’s going to hurt her. But if you don’t stop trying to kick me, I can’t guarantee the same for you.”

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