“Or perform ransom attacks on various critical entities or search for zero-day vulnerabilities and sell them on the black market,” Alex added. “K&R might be too risky for him. Maybe he’s afraid the victims can identify him.”

“I suspect he not only enjoys inflicting pain, but he also likes drawing others into the crime too. As voyeurs and making them complicit without losing control of every aspect of the scenario,” said Frazer. “And the fact that he’s deceiving them too as he has already tortured the individuals before the punters vote? This guy is probably a narcissist and a psychopath.”

Yael looked around. She hated speaking up but it didn’t look like anyone else was going to comment. She cleared her throat.

“He might not always conduct murders the way he did in Texas.” She froze as the whole room stared at her. “I mean, he might run it in real time under normal circumstances. But he rigged the place with explosives this time. He’s never done that before.”

Shane went rigid beside her. “This time he knew we were coming.”

“We don’t have a leak unless someone is feeding the bad guy information in face-to-face conversations,” Alex stated. “Ashley and I checked everyone on the team’s electronic communications after Texas and everyone checked out.”

Shane shot her a quick look. People in the room appeared shocked they’d been actively investigated. Yael wasn’t. Although there were other ways to communicate online—chat rooms, message boards, game consoles, burner phones, or old-fashioned dead drops. She suspected Alex and Ashley Chen would have pursued those avenues as much as possible. Still, it didn’t jibe with the type of people who worked for the Bureau in general. Why join the FBI only to get in league with a killer? She hoped anyone like that would have been weeded out during the application process. But there were other civilians like her on the task force. She wondered exactly how deep Ashley Chen had dug into her past.

She exchanged a glance with her boss and he held her gaze, seeming to read her mind. He gave a slight shake of his head that was both disturbing and reassuring. He definitely knew about her past and yet he’d hired her anyway. She swallowed the knot in her throat.

“Do we think he knew specifically that a task force had been formed to investigate his crimes or was he targeting law enforcement in general?” Sloan asked.

“I’m speculating that he somehow knew a special joint task force was commissioned.” Frazer leaned forward. “Which is probably why he chose that particular victim. Anya Baker interned for the FBI last summer and was planning to apply for the Bureau after college. She didn’t hide the fact either. Wrote and published an online article about her experiences.”