Page 76 of Stalked

Donny nodded.

“Can you tell me anything about the man who put you up to this? What he looked like?”

“No. He broke into our house this morning while we were having breakfast. He was wearing a mask.”

Damn it. The Watcher had been smarter than they thought. He’d been making sure this wasn’t a setup, and if he was anywhere in the vicinity, he would know that Steve was much more deeply entrenched in law enforcement than just some sort of beat cop.

Taking him by surprise was no longer an option.

“Steve.” Jon’s voice was more somber than he’d ever heard it.

“Go, Jon.” He pressed the earpiece farther in his ear so he could hear over the chaos going on around him.

“I just got word from HQ. Travis Loveridge and Rosalyn never checked in. They found the car about a half mile from HQ. Loveridge is dead. Rosalyn is missing.”

* * *

ROSALYNHADAGENTLoveridge’s blood all over her. Her arms, her neck, her hands. She couldn’t get it off.

Of course, dried blood was the least of her problems.

She stared at the man driving the car. “I remember you. You’re Lindsey’s psychologist from when she was a teenager. Dr. Zinger.”

“Zenger.” He turned and smiled at her. Like they were old friends or something. Like he hadn’t walked up to the car while they were stopped at a red light and shot the agent driving. Like he hadn’t been stalking and terrorizing her for the better part of a year.

Rosalyn shrank back against the car door. He hadn’t touched her at all, except to catch her when he drugged her and tied her hands, but she didn’t want to take a chance.

She was barely holding it together. If he touched her, she might start screaming and never stop.

“Lindsey liked you,” she whispered. “Thought you were so handsome.”

Rosalyn remembered. They’d been eighteen. Lindsey had been in trouble again and sent to group counseling this time. When Rosalyn had come home from college for a semester break, she’d asked her sister how things were going.

Rosalyn hadn’t been encouraged when all her sister would talk about was how hot the counselor was rather than showing any interest in truly kicking her drug habit.

He was handsome, if Rosalyn could distance herself enough from the terror. Clean-cut, short brown hair. Good physique. But all Rosalyn saw was the monster.

“You killed her,” Rosalyn whispered.

He shrugged, not looking at her. “If it helps, she never knew it was me.”

It didn’t help at all.

Rosalyn’s hands were tied with some sort of zip tie. “Where are you taking me?”

“We have to get out of Colorado, of course. Your boyfriend is already dead—I sent a friend of mine in to shoot him. Since Steve didn’t know who I was, I’m sure he won’t care that it wasn’t me who actually killed him.”

Rosalyn stared and could hear her breath sawing in and out of her nose and mouth. Was he telling the truth? Was Steve really dead?

“I wasn’t exactly sure how the whole café scenario was going to play out. But when I saw you leave out the back door, I knew it had been some sort of setup. How did you know I would be there?”

Rosalyn tried to get her panic under control. She had to keep the fact that Omega Sector was onto him a secret. “We didn’t. I guess Steve was doing stuff just in case. I was hitching a ride from that guy to the bus station. You didn’t have to kill him.”

Zenger’s eyes were narrowed as he turned to look at her. She wasn’t sure if he was buying her story. “Hitchhiking is dangerous.”

She bit back a hysterical laugh. “Ended up being much more dangerous for him.”

She looked out the window again. They were on the interstate. There was no way she could jump out of the car now and survive.

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