The guy had already checked her out and cleared her. Eban could kiss him for that.

“She doesn’t fit the profile we’ve constructed either. She’s a high achiever who is devoted to her career, and, up until last summer she’d never caused even a blip on the radar. We believe the killer is also smart, but not as smart as they’d like to think.”

And yet, they hadn’t been caught. Eban let Frazer talk.

“My major concern is that if Darby disappears, the killer won’t have any reason to stick around Fairbanks. Or they’ll realize we are onto them, vanish or lay low for a while, or adapt their killing style so we don’t immediately link any new homicides. I mean, who knows how many people this UNSUB has actually murdered.”

Dammit. Getting Darby out of here might be good in the short term, but what about long term? She already had an international terrorist to worry about. Now this killer, who was able to blend in and hide in plain sight without an FBI “Most Wanted” poster hanging in every police station across the country.

Frazer sounded as if he was pacing. “I looked at your investigative record. You were a very successful field agent.”

“Uh huh?” Eban wasn’t about to succumb to flattery when Darby’s life might be at stake. What did this man want?

“You might be our best chance of catching this killer.”

His grip tightened on the phone. “I’m not taking over this investigation. I work for CNU now. I need to get Darby somewhere safe.”

“Safe?” Frazer scoffed.

“Quantico is pretty damn safe.”

Eban could hear the irritation seeping into Frazer’s tone. “This killer is focused on her. Do you think he won’t follow her? She studies volcanoes, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then she can’t hide at Quantico forever. How hard do you think it will be to track her down once she leaves? It might take a year or two but eventually… Unless she doesn’t mind changing her career path and giving up her dreams? Maybe changing her identity?”

Eban dragged his fingers through his hair. Darby loved studying volcanoes as much as he enjoyed resolving situations without bloodshed. Asking her to give it up would be like asking her to cut off a limb.

“Maybe we will have done our jobs by then and caught the sonofabitch,” he said bitterly.

“Catching them will be a lot easier if we control the bait he’s fixated on right now.”

“Bait?” Fucking bait?

“I am not suggesting we leave Miss O’Roarke unprotected. I am not even suggesting we put her in danger. I’m suggesting that the UNSUB doesn’t realize she’s well protected or that we have created a decoy in her image until after we have them in cuffs.”

Eban’s blood pressure eased a little. A decoy? That might work.

“Why do you want me to take over this investigation? The locals are not going to go for that.” Neither was he.

“Fairbanks PD is not equipped for this scale of an investigation. Once we inform the Chief of Police of our suspicions, he will be more than happy to have the FBI assist fully in the investigation. It won’t be for long. I have a team of agents getting ready to fly in from Anchorage and I’ll fly up there tomorrow with an associate. The BAU admin will book a suite of rooms at a hotel where we will set up shop, away from the local cops. After that I’ll need you to act as liaison between them and us so we can stay out of sight.”