The futuristic Grogan and Dove Federal Building was named after the two agents killed in the 1986 shoot-out, a fact Terri Morrow never forgot, even as she changed from her sweaty clothes and got into fresh pants, shirt and a new jacket, then washed her face in the bathroom sink.

Now, as she completed her report on her part of the operation and finished her coffee, she contemplated getting more before catching up on her other cases. One of the ASACs voices boomed from where he stood across the floor.

“Listen up, everybody,” said Scott Wood, one of the FBI’s Assistant Special Agents in Charge of Miami. “Outstanding work on this morning’s takedown at First SkyNational Trust—five arrests, a major case cleared. The director called with congratulations. Superb performance.”

Isn’t that sweet. Morrow shrugged it off as she got fresh coffee and settled in to check her emails and the system for updates. She had a court case to work on. Her squad was preparing for an upcoming surveillance job concerning subjects linked to an armored-car heist. She checked her subsequent texts from Addison and thought that the surveillance timing might work out with Addison being at Dakota’s sleepover party.

Morrow resumed working. All was quiet for her at the moment, until she caught sight of the small yellow note she’d posted to her monitor as a reminder.

Right.

Morrow was the FBI’s South Florida agent on a national task force investigating a series of unsolved homicides committed by one killer.

So far, the task force confirmed that over a span of six years, at least five women had been murdered and one had been attacked and had survived. Half of the cases were in Midwestern states. The others were in Pennsylvania, New York and Kentucky. The bureau had assigned agents in every state to the task force to scrutinize details that might arise in their jurisdictions. Morrow monitored the case regularly, checking with analysts and reviewing updates on all databases.

She entered her password to access the encrypted file, bracing herself as she started to review the first case. Her monitor filled with color photographs of the corpse of a naked white woman under a pile of branches. Her hands were bound behind her back with a cord stretching to wrap around her neck. Connie Ware, age twenty-five. A dog walker had found her August 4, 2012, in a wooded area of suburban Pittsburgh. Autopsy showed she had been sexually assaulted and stabbed nearly fifty times with a serrated blade. Her attacker had used a condom. She was last seen leaving her waitressing job at Super Ray & Dave’s Family Eatery. Her wallet, including cash, bank and credit cards, was found at the crime scene. Her driver’s license and phone were missing.