Yael’s mouth went dry watching the visceral fear in their eyes that said as loud as words that they knew they were about to die.

They both had a pair of nylons tied around their open mouths. The victims could scream and make noise but the words were not discernible to someone who knew how to read lips. The FBI were now paying extra special attention to the victims who were gagged this way but it could have been another method of obfuscating targets who could identify him.

Yael felt sick from watching the violence and cruelty Ethan Grice inflicted on people.

Grice had been incarcerated for two years for hacking into the Defense Intelligence Agency and then trying to sell secrets on the dark web. It was before Cramer, Parker & Gray, Security Consultants had been hired to conduct pen tests on government agencies and identify possible threats in order to figure out how to fix them. It was possible EG held a grudge against people with the same skills he had who were profiting from something that had sent him to prison.

“Dammit.” Alex’s expression was tense.

She’d never seen her boss rattled before and it worried her.

“EG just posted. The next online auction starts tomorrow at 9 a.m. EST.”

“He’s never had that small a gap between abductions and murders before,” Yael protested. She put her hands on her head. That didn’t give them enough time to track him down.

Alex met Yael’s gaze and she had to blink away tears. This wasn’t some unknown victim, which would have been bad enough. This was Laura. Their friend and colleague.

Evi1Geni-us had had twenty hours since shooting up her house to get wherever he was planning to go. It was also possible he hadn’t left the area at all and that he’d follow his usual pattern of killing near the abduction site. The guy had money. He could hire a jet and be out of the country. He could be anywhere in the world by now.

All fifty-six FBI divisions had been put on high alert. Ethan Grice’s image had been circulated to law enforcement and the media and he’d claimed an official spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

They’d found the hotel room where Ethan Grice had stayed but a search had turned up nothing more exciting than the brand of shampoo he preferred. Evidence techs were collecting DNA samples in the hopes of coming up with something tangible.

The task force office was relatively quiet. Most people had headed over to the Academy building to grab something to eat before the canteen closed for the night but Yael couldn’t bear to leave her terminal. She couldn’t stop searching for some clue as to where this guy or Laura might be.