He shook his head.
“Son of a bitch. She was run down with a car? Do we know the time frame?” he asked. “Because this feels like he was planning for this. He was thinking ahead.”
MATE chirped from her vest.
“She was killed two years ago.”
Well, there it was.
Ask and they had received.
Ethan was profiling on the run, and he wasn’t done.
“He has been laying the trap, Elizabeth. This isn’t going to be about him craving these women, or liking the corpse sex. This is going to be about you. They are all brunettes, and he’s killing them to set a stage for a game.”
Gene didn’t like this.
Her security didn’t either.
“How do we stay ahead of this?” Gene asked.
Ethan was to the point.
“We have to find him, and we have to figure this out as quickly as possible. If we let him get too far ahead, and he runs…it won’t be a regular case. It’ll be a hunt, and you know what kind I’m talking about,” he said, going there.
Oh, she knew.
Gene wasn’t playing with his family.
“I’ll suit back up. I’ll play Hunter to protect my family, and the people I love,” he said. “And I know a few Marines who would be ready to jump in for you.”
She hoped it didn’t come to that.
It was risky. Keeping the Hunters secret was a full-time job in itself. With Axelle stepping down, and a new Director coming in, she was going to have to sell it to the new boss. That was always a risk.
On top of that, she didn’t know who she was playing against, and until she did, she couldn’t put the carriage before the horse on this one.
“I’ll be okay.”
Ethan glanced at his watch.
It was heading toward noon.
“We should go to Jeffrey’s house. If he knows we’re here, and we’re pulling up the bodies, he’s going to be ready to make this as difficult as possible.”
Well, shit.
Callen was over by Chris, watching his back. When he turned his head, she motioned toward him.
He jogged over.
“We have a problem.”
They updated him, and he whistled.
“What’s the plan?” he asked. “Since we know he’s fucked this whole case, and there is no way we can figure this out without getting lucky, how do you want to handle it?”
She knew what they needed to do.
