Page 9 of Deadly Alliance

Chapter Four

It wasdifficult for Shane to refrain from sneering with annoyance. When he’d discussed the different options with his team and came up with that one, he had hoped for a different partner or lover. The candidate, Emme Wallace, appeared too young, too inexperienced, too fragile, too beautiful. Dismissing the intrusive thought, he saw a vague resemblance with Misty, and that twisted his gut more than he cared to admit.

Shane assessed all the people in the room. Some he knew by reputation, others he merely had a gut instinct about their capabilities. It was the way they moved—the way they analysed each other, even the words they spoke, that settled his doubts about them. All except for one.

Again, he looked at the girl, and his jaw clenched. Her eyes were on him, and she didn’t seem to agree with the plan either. Maybe that could be used to find a more experienced partner. He was here to catch a killer, not play babysitter.

Beatrice turned to him and Shane knew he couldn’t delay much longer. The entire team was waiting for his explanation. “We’ve analysed the files on every one of the victims. All the American victims were killed while on duty on base, more precisely, Bagram Air Base, which makes any operation there impossible.”

Zack pitched in. “Will and I dug some more on our side. The British servicewomen were all killed off duty, all in the UK. All just after attending military family events.”

Lucy spoke then. “Apart from their looks and being in the military, does anything else stand out? Maybe something in their background?”

Shane shook his head. “So far, nothing.”

“That’s impossible, they all look alike. There must be something more that triggered this fucker,” Zin sneered. “How are we supposed to protect anybody?”

Shane frowned and looked at the members of Fortis before turning to Beatrice. “I thought you had informed them.”

Jace crossed his arms, looking both at his boss and Beatrice. “Informed us of what?”

Zack’s face was undecipherable. “It wasn’t for me to tell.”

Shane watched as Lance and Owen slowly moved their chairs closer to Beatrice as she lifted her shirt, and everybody saw the x mark.

Emme’s sharp inhale drew his attention. The girl’s wide eyes were on the scar. “He’s after you.”

Beatrice’s mouth twitched, as if particularly proud of a bright student. “I had hair similar to yours when I was younger. So, it was easy to add up when the reports started to fly in.”

Dee put her laptop on the table. Owen got up and moved behind her as Will moved to sit in Owen’s vacant chair by her side. “I’ve started digging into every possible weirdo from Bea’s past, but as there’s an entire careers worth, there’s a lot to look at.”

Will brightened up. “I can help with that.”

Dee nodded her head. “Another thing we need to do is check if anybody breached the US Defence database or the British one to look for possible targets.”

The Fortis man gave her a dubious look. “You want me to hack two of the most dangerous organisations in the world? If I get caught, I won’t ever see the light of day again!”

Dee angled her head. “And here I thought you were good at what you did!”

Will scrunched his nose and frowned. “And why aren’t you doing it?”

“Because I’m deep into ghost servers with cybercops up my ass. You want to trade places?”

Will grumbled and rubbed his face.

“That means you are looking higher up in the hierarchy.” Emme leaned forward, ignoring the geeks’ spat. Shane, surprised, appreciated the observation.

“The more we thought about it, the less it made sense that someone from maintenance or a simple soldier is involved. I don’t believe in luck in this case. The similarities are too obvious. It’s not like Bundy targeting young students with dark hair, or Gacy killing young teenage boys. The description is on point and it’s not a vague resemblance.”

“It’s a message.” Emme’s affirmation was dead on as she watched Lucy and Zack who nodded. “Or a call for you to come out.”

Owen agreed with her theory. “And that’s the nightmare.”

“You mean for the sorry SOB who tries to catch Bea?” Lance smiled, puffing out his chest.

Zin shook his head. “And what about using Beatrice as bait?”

Lance’s brother from another mother caused the temperature to drop a thousand degrees.