He was now convinced that Yael was the kind of person who’d pursue these suspects to the end of the cyberworld while he and the rest of HRT were happy to follow through in the physical realm. But he didn’t like the fact that she’d exposed herself to that kind of toxic masculinity or that she could be in physical danger if they found out what she was doing.

“I isolated a little more code and re-ran the searches.” She showed them a list that looked freaking long to Shane.

“It was first developed by a tech company in Silicon Valley five years ago as part of their firmware.”

“I’m not sure how this helps,” Ashley said uncertainly.

Alex watched quietly as Yael explained further. His faith in his employee was obvious.

“I tracked down all the companies that now use the code in their set up. Turns out it’s for corporate security and alarm systems. Expensive top-end gear and software, with a lot of clients.”

Shane crossed his arms.

“I crosschecked the dates and locations of the Evi1Geni-us abductions with when a company installed this security system.”

“Smart.” Shane praised.

Alex smiled.

“I didn’t get a match.”

Except from the way Yael grinned he suspected she’d found something.

“However, when I ah, delved into when client companies requested maintenance or some sort of onsite upgrade of the security system, I found a positive correlation between one individual’s activity, including in Houston where a telecommunications giant insisted on doing an upgrade over the holiday period when their main headquarters was essentially closed.” She pressed a key and pulled up what looked like an HR file and a driver’s license for one Eric Antony Pierce. “This guy.”

Shane stared hard at the man in the photograph, cataloguing the details. Good-looking with a narrow face and sharp features. 5’11. Blue eyes. Black hair.

Based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Was this the motherfucker who’d killed his best friend?

Ashley Chen smiled. “That is good work, Yael.” She stood, her fingers gripping the tablet she carried. “I’ll tell Sloan. Let’s get a team on this guy immediately.”

Much to Alex’s disgust and Yael’s relief, they’d been ordered to sit this one out. They’d headed to Cramer, Parker & Gray’s newly finished satellite office at their Quantico compound and hacked into the surveillance feed of a coffeeshop across the street from Eric Pierce’s place of work.

It was now four forty-five p.m. According to Pierce’s manager he was currently out on a local job and expected back at the office any moment prior to being finished for the day.

FBI agents from the Charlotte Field Office were inside the building, posing as employees and staked out around the complex. The tension was so high Yael felt it choking her despite using her best breathing techniques taken from her online yoga classes to calm herself.