“No.” He clenched the hand of his broken arm into a fist. “We lost another team member.” He cleared his throat. “Overseas.”

“I am so sorry.” She stopped what she was doing and looked at him. “Are you all right?”

His lips pressed together. “Not really but I’ll deal with that in my own time and catching this motherfucker will make me feel a whole lot better about a whole lot of things.”

The silence crackled between them.

He didn’t want comfort. He wanted results. She turned back to the screen because he obviously didn’t want to talk about it and she understood that. “Zenko’s parents retired to near Jacksonville.”

Yael was hyperaware of the brush of his knee against her thigh as he leaned forward.

“Hey, check that out. Maternal grandparents own a cabin on the edge of Shenandoah National Park. Looks like Zenko’s mother still owns it.” Shane pointed at her screen. “That’s only an hour west of here.” He checked his watch.

“What are you thinking?”

Green eyes flashed, his expression suggesting he was carefully considering his words. “We could go for a drive and see if anyone is there?”

Yael frowned at her screen. “I thought he was in Fayetteville.”

Shane dipped his chin. “He’s probably in Fayetteville. But if the family have owned that place for a long time, then maybe the neighbors will have a few stories to tell us about little Lloyd. And if he isn’t in Fayetteville,” he tapped the screen, “that is exactly the sort of place where he’ll be holed up.”

Yael frowned. She’d love nothing more than to redeem herself by helping to catch this freak. And she didn’t think Shane would take her with him if he thought it was actually going to be dangerous.

“Are you going to tell Sloan?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Er. Yeah.” Yael pulled up the address on a map. It wasn’t far at all. “I don’t want to get thrown off this task force.”

Shane nodded. “Me neither. I’ll go speak to her.”

Yael packed up her stuff and when she got to the doorway Shane pointed her way and Sloan nodded and immediately went back talking to Ashley Chen. They seemed to be busy creating a section on the wall dedicated to Lloyd Zenko.

“What did she say?”

“Strictly surveillance only. Told us to pose as tourists going for a hike and not to raise any red flags by asking too many questions.” He stared at her feet. “You have hiking boots?”

She liked hiking just fine, but walking alone on quiet trails creeped her out, so she didn’t do it. She didn’t want to admit her fear to this guy though. She hooked her bag over her head and across her chest. “Do I look like I spend a lot of time hiking in the woods?”