“Positive.”
“He’s in Portland, near the University of Southern Maine. He’s renting a house close to campus. He works alone, so you can bring a small crew for this job.”
“Send me his file. We’ll take care of it.”
Dakota hung up, then went in search of his new partner. All he had to do was follow Sammy’s giggles. He found her and Providence in the family room. Providence was showing Sammy a yoga pose. Sammy was mimicking her, but couldn’t stop laughing.
He loved watching them interact and his hardened heart softened, just a little more.
“This is called the Yogi squat or Garland pose,” Providence explained. “You’re doing a great job, Sammy.”
“It’s the pooping pose,” Sammy said.Pffffft. “’Cuse me. I tooted.”
Providence laughed. “You’re excused.”
Dakota caught Providence’s eye. “You two look like you’re having fun.”
“Daddy, Provi is teaching me yoga.”
“I can see that.” Dakota pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of them both. “Have you shown Providence your karate stances?”
Providence ended the pose and sat cross-legged on the floor. “You study karate?”
Sammy grinned. “Uh-huh. With Uncle Crockett. He’s the best sensei!” She went into a basic defense stance.
“That’s fantastic.” Providence slid her gaze to Dakota. “You have a wonderful daddy to put you in karate class.” She stood. “If you want, we can do more yoga and karate tonight.”
“Okay.” Sammy went back to playing with her dolls.
As he and Providence returned to his office, he said, “Thanks for going out of your way to spend time with her.”
“It’s my pleasure. She’s a sweetheart.”
They entered his office and he shut the door. “I’m going out of town tomorrow, returning on Thursday afternoon.”
“You’re taking a huge risk, Dakota. If you’re caught, you’re going to prison for a long, long time.”
“My target is the Midnight Raper. Familiar with him?”
“No.”
Dakota told her what he’d learned from Luther. “I’ll know more once I read his profile, but I wouldn’t be doing this if his DNA hadn’t been found on dozens of victims. He’s a vicious predator who’s got to be stopped.”
“Do you want me to leave while you’re gone?”
“What? Hell, no. You better not leave. When I’m on a job, I go dark.”
She opened her laptop. “Where are you headed?”
“Portland, Maine. I’ve got to line up a crew.”
“Before you do that, did you pinpoint any enemies while in ALPHA?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have any.”
“Then, I’ll move on. Let’s circle back to the night of your banquet. Show me how to access the surveillance system at the convention center.”
Sitting side-by-side, he hacked into the database. She plugged in the date and they located the files from the cameras in the ballroom and the atrium. They fast forwarded to the event and watched as attendees filtered in and out of the ballroom.
