Chapter 9
Maverick
“Are you fucking sure about this, cause if you aren’t, we won’t have a job this time tomorrow.” Jason was agitated, likely worried about losing his damn job. At this point, I just didn’t give a fuck.
I was finished with playing bullshit games.
In my mind I’d finally gotten a break or what could also be called ‘a hit.’ The first real connection made to the horrific crimes plaguing Miami and the most destitute areas of the Everglades. The only inhabitants of this part of Florida were alligators, panthers, and pythons.
Hence the name of the piece of shit who’d captured, tortured, and killed twelve young women. The Python Killer had eluded police and the FBI for months. It was time to drag his ass to prison, although I’d prefer to use some Southern justice on the son of a bitch. Sadly, that would be frowned upon.
“You and Randy can head back to the office if you’d prefer.” I’d worked with Randy and Jason for years, back when I’d had a female partner instead of Max, the best canine I’d ever met. The Malinois had ceased being my partner almost from day one, now my best buddy. I trusted his senses implicitly.
This was a longshot, something my boss wouldn’t like, but I was at the point where nothing had led to anything substantial.
With the mayor breathing down the FBI director’s neck, I was about to get pulled off the case.
That couldn’t happen. I could feel the bastard.
He’d crawled under my skin months before, now festering like a maggot-infested wound. The bastard had even taunted me.
There was a chance one victim was still alive. At this point, I’d burn down the entire Everglades if it meant saving even one life.
“Hell, no,” Randy huffed. “And miss all the fun? I haven’t seen what Max can do.”
Max was already pulling at the chain, which meant he remembered the various scents from before. I’d had him out in three different locations in the Glades to no avail. But I’d caught a break. Or so I hoped. A piece of material ripped off an item of clothing.
“Nah, I’m in too,” Jason added.
“We let him do the work,” I told them as I pulled an evidence bag from my jeans pocket.
If I was wrong, there was a chance I’d lose my job, but at this point, there really was nothing else to go on.
I was betting my entire career that the piece of a shirt I’d found belonged to one of the girls.
A picture of her had been taken the day she’d disappeared. It was the same.
“You took that from the evidence room?” Jason asked.
“Don’t give him crap,” Randy admonished. “No one else has anything substantial. That fucker can’t keep getting away with this shit.”
“Alright, Max,” I said as I knelt next to him.
We’d worked together long enough I knew exactly what to expect.
My K-9 had a killer instinct. “I need you to find her. Okay? I know she’s out here.
I can feel it.” And I did. I’d become so damn in tune to the bastard I could almost read his mind.
Worse, I could feel the jolt of current every time he’d kidnapped a young girl.
The sheer joy. The repulsive desire. Hunger unlike anything I’d ever witnessed.
Some agents couldn’t handle the horrific details of the case. Finding the dead girls would forever affect anyone involved, especially after what the pythons had done to them.
And the wild animals.
As soon as I shifted the evidence under his nose, he responded, ready to bolt.
“Okay, boy. Go find her.” The moment I let go of the leash, he was off. Whether or not Jason and Randy were able to keep up in the rough terrain wasn’t anything I’d worry about. They were big boys. They’d worked the case long enough. With the flashlight in one hand, I took off running.
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.
At least that’s what the director of the FBI would say.
This rare moment was the reason I bothered doing my job any longer.
“It’s okay. You’re safe.” I kept my tone soft, hopefully comforting, the volume low. She was shaking like a fucking leaf and I wasn’t certain if she could respond or was too traumatized.
Then she lifted her head, her eyes locking with mine.
And I knew in my heart and in my soul that nothing would ever be the same.
What the fuck?
I let out a long, slow, and highly agitated breath after reaching for my weapon. Feeling nothing, I was jerked fully from the dream, enough my entire mind was fuzzy and every muscle tense.
And no fucking gun.
A more annoyed sound left my lips, but I reminded myself to keep quiet. I’d enjoyed a guest for the evening. The thought scintillating as fuck, I raked my hands through my hair just as I turned my head toward the sleeping woman.
Only she wasn’t there.
The single swipe of my hand on the pillow indicated Alexia had been gone for at least a couple of hours.
While I’d awakened in my own house, I scanned the room to ensure I was alone. Why all of a sudden was I concerned about some asshole breaking through my excellent security system? Two reasons.
What Alexia had told me and the damn nightmare.
The dream I’d had before, only with alternate endings that had almost no truth to them.
Except for last night. The details had been completely accurate.
It was obvious why I’d experienced the return of the night I’d rescued her, but my instincts were also working overtime in that karma wanted me to remember details entirely different than those I’d experienced before.
That would need to wait. Was she just snooping in my house or had she left completely? I yanked my boxers from the floor, sliding into them before heading from the bedroom.
As expected, she was nowhere to be found, but she’d left a note on the counter, her words unexpected.
Maverick,