Page 68 of Israel

Chapter 26

Israel stood in Ashley’s devastated hotel room, rage rising up in him. He’d never wanted to tear someone apart worse than he did right now—not even that prick Larik.

This motherfucker wasn’t just trying to hurt Ashley. He was trying to annihilate her soul.

He’d put Ashley to bed in his room, still clutching the broken pieces of her guitar, tears running down her cheeks. Now Harrison, Mike, and Trevor were pacing her room, going through everything piece by piece.

And as usual, there were no clues, beyond what that bastard wanted them to find.

Israel wanted to smash something.

A transmission came over their headsets, and they all stopped what they were doing. “We got someone on the hotel security footage. The only one near Ashley’s room at the right time. Roger Kazinski.”

Damn it! Israel had been right about him. He’d just covered his damned tracks too well.

“Find him,” Harrison said. “Put his description out to all personnel, ours and the hotel’s.”

“Copy that.”

They waited, all of them pacing, their animals anxious to go off on the hunt. A few minutes later they got a call. “He’s been spotted in the east stairwell. Go. Go. Go.”

The others took off while Israel waited, listening on the headset. He wasn’t leaving Ashley alone until they said they had him.

“East stairwell, tenth floor, clear,” he heard over the radio.

“Ninth floor, clear.”

They counted down the floors in the stairwell and the adjacent hallways. “Third floor, we have movement—no, just the janitor.”

“He’s not in his room.”

“Second floor, clear.”

They cleared down to the basement.

“Where the hell is he?” demanded Harrison.

“Got him at the front door!” That was Trevor. “Main lobby.”

Israel locked the connecting door between his room and Ashley’s, and then took off down to the lobby. He got there in time to see Roger staring around at a circle of security guards, all bristling with weapons.

“I—I don’t know what you mean,” he said. “I didn’t do anything to Ashley’s room. I just got back.”

“From where?” Harrison demanded.

Roger shrank back. “Um, picking up the rental car from the state park?” he said. “We got a call about an hour ago that one got left there. I rode out with Danny, and then I drove the other car back and we stopped at IHOP on the way.”

At that moment Danny walked in the door, and all the weapons shifted to him. “Hey, dudes,” he said. “It was just a little pot. Everybody does it.”

Israel left them questioning Roger and walked to the other side of the lobby, dialing Kane. “I’m missing something here,” he said when he got him on the line. “We did deep background on Roger and came up with nothing. And the kid’s only eighteen or nineteen. I don’t think he’s old enough for this level of sophistication.”

“I agree,” Kane said. “This can’t be the fucker’s first rodeo—although Ashley may be his first high-profile target. He’s too organized, too careful. He has to have done it before. But there’s no way someone as sick as this could have a clean enough record to pass the background check.”

“I know,” Israel said. “Even if he’s never done anything this elaborate before, he’d have some kind of record. Peeping Tom, animal killings, attempted assaults, minor instances of stalking—something.”

“Changed his name, maybe?” That was Jace. “How far back did these background checks go?”

“Good question,” Israel said. “Can you guys check that out for me?”