Page 3 of Deadly Alliance

“There must be a link between all of them beyond looks.” Owen aligned each picture on the table.

The beauty, the shining eyes, the light and hope stolen from them too soon. Shane’s fists clenched. He felt so powerless and it wasn’t something he was used to or liked. He was best with a purpose, with a plan, with an action. And that’s what he desperately needed right now. What was bugging him? It was then he realised that only the men were looking at the files; Dee and Beatrice were looking at each other.

“What?”

Dee shook her head and Beatrice sighed. He knew it was going to be bad news.

“There are two more bits of information Beatrice wanted me to check and…”

At her hesitation, Shane’s adrenaline spiked. “What?”

“When I said five women, I was only referring to American women.”

More people. More women killed. It was a punch in the gut. “And can we be sure they are all victims of the same killer?”

“Yeah, same look. Chopped off hair, an X-shaped wound on their hip. Strangled. This time, four of them, all servicewomen in the British Army. No specifics.”

Owen scratched his beard. “Were they killed in the same way as the Americans? During active duty?”

“Yeah. Right on the base.”

Shane looked at Beatrice whose eyes were glued to the pictures, her expression closed off, but her eyes were blazing.

“There’s something you’re not telling us.” At Shane’s words, Beatrice closed her eyes and pulled at her shirt. There, on her hip was the same x scar found on all the victims.

“Whoa.” Owen’s low-toned reaction was an exact mirror of his own.

Lance rounded the desk to check it out more closely. The easy-go-lucky man turned feral as he approached her. “You were one of his victims? That bastard touched you?”

The boss lady shook her head and offered him a reassuring smile. “No, Lance. This scar was done during a mission. An accident.”

Shane noticed the way the victim’s hair was chopped to look like how Beatrice wore hers. It took a moment for all the details to take their rightful places in Shane’s mind. “You’re who the killer is searching for?”

Lance shook his head. “You have the freckles, the slim figure, but apart from that…”

“Don’t let the different hair colour put you off. When I founded Purgatory, I looked exactly like that. Like them. But not everybody knows about the scar. I came upon the report of the second murder by this potential serial killer, and that detail ticked immediately. I checked around and found out about the others. I talked to my husband, so he could bring this up at the Pentagon.”

If Admiral James Feander was aware of this situation that meant it was more severe than Shane thought.

“As it affects many different branches of the US military, Purgatory was asked to lead the investigation. Being independent was the only way to get this going without provoking some sort of internal power struggle. The assignment was decided two days ago.”

Two days. Misty had been killed fourteen days ago. “You knew about Misty, the link with me, and you didn’t reach out to me? Why did you withhold the information?” The pain returned full force.

“Shane, you had enough to deal with.”

Ever so slowly, trying to get a grip on his volatile emotions, he rounded the desk to stand before his boss. “And what if I hadn’t come to see you, to seek your help, would you have told me?”

Her hesitation was like treason and he acted on pure reaction. However, his move to shake some sense into her turned against him. His world spun so fast he wondered how he ended up on the floor, his face plastered to the cold concrete and his arm in the most painful lock he had ever experienced. And most of all, when he realised it was Beatrice who’d taken him down, some sense quickly came back to him. However, she didn’t release him straight away.

“Shane, I didn’t contact you right away because you had just come back from a difficult mission, and you not only had to absorb the shock of learning of a dear friend’s death but also had to inform your best friend of his sister’s death. I know you took care of everything and everyone, including the funeral and that you are worried sick about your friend. Emotions are running high right now, and you may not accept that I’ve waited, but I did. And maybe not long enough it seems. Too bad we don’t have that luxury right now. I need you to calm down, to think. I didn’t hire you because you are an exceptional warrior and leader. That is all a bonus. I hired you because of your exceptional mind and your capacity for keeping your cool in the line of fire. You understand beyond what most people only see. You’re a strategist, thinking of all possible options and the safety of all concerned. That’s what I need from you right now. Do we have an understanding?”

Beatrice’s voice, so calm and matter of fact, managed to ground him. Something he hadn’t thought was possible since Misty’s death. Shane nodded, and Beatrice released her hold, but instead of walking away, she knelt by his side as he sat on the ground.

“I know that pain. I know how it is to lose important people in your life. I could have kept you in the dark, locked you up until everything was done, but I need you. We will get the killer, as a team. You have my word.”

There and then, Shane knew she spoke the truth, and everything righted in him. The pain, the sorrow was still there, but he could finally manage it if he were satisfied that all this would come to an end and that Misty’s killer would die. He would keep it together for Nick and Misty.

As if seeing in him what she was looking for, Beatrice nodded and got to her feet, offering a hand that he took. The others remained silent, and he was surprised there was no accusation in their faces for attacking their boss and obvious friend like he had. The blinding pain must have shown more than he realised, and he felt shame for taking it out on Bea.

Bea turned around and leaned on the desk once more. “Now that everything is back under control there is another bit of information I need to share with you all. Because Dee discovered that not only US but also British female service personnel were under threat, I talked to a few contacts in the UK to see if we could garner more information. No surprise, they didn’t want to leave this investigation only to us. So, I requested a specialised security firm to represent them. They accepted, even better, they had already approached the founder and he’s aware of the situation.”

Owen shifted on his feet, crossing his arms. “I’m surprised to see you smile at that, Beatrice. You normally don’t like joint missions.”

“You’re right, but this time, I know the man and the reputation of his team. Zack Cunningham, the leader of Fortis, is someone to reckon with, straight as an arrow and lethal to boot. Same for his team. We’ve crossed paths in the past, and I know he’s one of the few we can trust in this. I already contacted him and he’s waiting for us.”