Max had been trained to stop and allow me time to follow, a command he usually obeyed with no question, but not tonight. Tonight he was determined to perform a rescue, exactly what he’d been trained to do.
So I did my best to keep up. Although there were seventy-eight hundred miles in the Everglades, I’d traveled what felt like half. The truth was I lived, slept, and ate the case, so much so I’d lost twenty pounds, but had gained a hell of a lot of muscle.
I was now a lean, mean, fighting machine. Or so some of the guys had started to call me.
They should start calling me a killing machine because I was at that point.
I rushed after Max, fighting the elements as the night creatures slithered and hissed throughout the dense landscape. The humidity was even thicker than normal after the tropical storm, the leaves dense with moisture. With every step I sank deeper into the mulch, but the thick mud didn’t stop my progression.
At this point, nothing would.
My senses were on as high an alert as Max’s. I could swear I sensed her all around me. The only one believed to be alive. I’d memorized every feature on Maria Rivera’s face. Her wispy smile and the slight difference in the plumpness from one side of her upper lip to the other. The luminous appearance of her eyes, so happy. So alive.
I pushed forward, fighting the dense underbrush yet nothing would stop me. My instincts were never wrong. The bastard had made a mistake. I’d bet a million bucks I was right. If I had the cash.
Maybe ten minutes into the hunt, I stopped long enough to listen for sounds. Hearing nothing at first, I remained on edge.
Jason suddenly appeared beside me.
“Shush,” I hissed when he opened his mouth to stay something.
When all was quiet again, I took my time scanning the perimeter, putting sounds together with the terrain.
Then all three of us heard a sound.
Max’s woof.
Before the full sound had left his mouth, I’d lunged forward, fighting tree limbs smashing into my face while jumping over fallen logs and debris.
This was close to the area where the first girl had been found. The others had been found in different locations, but I’d concluded that he’d followed a clock. One kill a month, a strange pattern formed. No one else had seen it.
No one else believed I was right.
Whatever the case, I wasn’t taking a single chance.
A loud howl almost dropped me to my knees. Max had found something.
“What the fuck?” Randy tossed out.
“Keep me in your sights,” I told them as I yanked my weapon into my hands. “And shoot to kill.” I didn’t give a fuck about the justice system. I’d learned the hard way that the bad guys could get off far too easily. All he or she needed was decent money, a damn good attorney, and a few palms greased.
I refused to allow that to happen with this case.
Less than ten seconds later, another sound captured my attention, only this time Max wasn’t the origin.
Plus, the noise was a little moan, soft enough I needed to ensure what I was hearing.
The moment the sound was louder and full of terror, I took careful long strides in the direction. The last thing I wanted to do was to spook the girl. As soon as I moved through a group of trees, Max knew I’d arrived and let off a sound prepped by his training.
To let me know he’d found the source of the smell.
And there she was.
“Holy fuck,” Jason whispered as he pointed his flashlight toward her.
“Get the light out of her eyes.” Damn it.
Max was right there, barely inches away from the trembling girl. What few pieces of clothing she wore were ripped, covered in mud and other substances. Her long hair was nothing but matted strings. She was shielding her face from the bright light, so I couldn’t tell if the girl was the same one as in the photograph, but my instincts were churning, working in mysterious ways.
