“He always seems one step ahead of us…” Her voice sounded small and she felt a surge of fury that this one man was able to affect her this way. As if he had a right to run roughshod over everyone else and use them like pawns. It wasn’t the first time she’d felt this way and the resentment burned a hole through her chest. She hadn’t hated like this in a long, long time. It felt good.

It was love that destroyed.

“We’re catching up with him.” Alex’s smile was determined. “He’s starting to make mistakes.”

Yael thought about Wayne Stockwell, Dave Monteith, and Anya Baker. All the others who’d come before them. All the innocents who’d been murdered to feed one man’s greed and corruption. “Let’s get there faster, Alex. Let’s catch this bastard before he hurts anyone else.”

17

A few hours later, Shane pulled up outside the task force building near the FBI’s National Academy. Lights were on inside. “I need to go over to the HRT compound. I’ll be back in an hour. Will you pass that message on to Sloan for me?”

Yael nodded. She’d been quiet on the drive back. Her cheeks were pale, mouth drawn, eyes tired.

He was thankful she hadn’t gotten a look at the dead night clerk. That wasn’t an image anyone needed in their brains. He shoved the memory aside and concentrated on his target. Evi1Geni-us. The fucker was going down. It was simply a matter of when and where.

Yael put her hand on the door lever and he caught her arm.

“You did good work again today.” She looked like she needed something to believe in and he wished he had more to give her.

“Two murders in two days, not to mention what he did in Houston. It’s a lot.” She tried to smile but it fell away before she left the cab.

He watched her enter the building. He wasn’t worried about her safety here, not really. But Evi1Geni-us was audacious and conceited. Shane wouldn’t put anything past the guy. EG could attempt to sneak onto the grounds by impersonating a Marine or an FBI agent. It was important never to drop your guard although, as all the FBI agents were armed, he doubted EG would have the balls to confront them head-on on their home turf. If he did, he wouldn’t last long.