Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
The conference room erupted into chaos.
Ian stood frozen in the doorway, his face a mask of controlled fury. “Her car’s at the coffee shop. The driver’s door is open, and her purse is on the ground. No sign of struggle, but I just received this text.” He held up his phone. “‘You can’t hide from me, Claire.’”
Claire’s stomach dropped. Vivi. Derek had taken Vivi.
“Lynx, pull traffic cams,” Wolf barked. “Hawk, get to high ground, eyes on the town. Grizzly, secure the perimeter here. Everyone else, lock down this location.”
The team moved instantly, years of training overriding shock. Detective Mills was already on the radio, coordinating with his officers. Special Agent Hendricks grabbed her phone.
Claire couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. This was her fault. Derek had taken Vivi because of her. Another person in danger. Another person who might die because the Countdown Killer wanted to kill her.
“Claire.” Wolf’s hand was on her shoulder. “I need you to focus.”
“He has Vivi because of me.”
“He has Vivi because he’s a predator.” His voice was stern. “And we’re going to get her back.”
Ian crossed to Lynx’s laptop, looked over his shoulder at the feeds. “Anything?”
“Traffic cams in Blackridge are sparse,” Lynx said, fingers flying. “But look here.” He pointed to a grainy image. “Black van, no plates, heading north on Mountain Road. Timestamp puts it ten minutes after Vivi would have arrived at the coffee shop.”
“Can you track it?” Ian’s voice was deadly calm. Too calm.
“Trying. But Mountain Road splits into three different routes. If he went off-road...” Lynx trailed off.
They all knew what that meant. Derek could be anywhere.
Claire forced herself to think. To profile. Derek was smart. Methodical. He’d been planning this for months. Maybe years. She’d thrown him a curveball coming to Montana, and he was escalating since he couldn’t get to her. First, by killing Rebecca Martinez, now by taking Vivi.
“He’s going to make contact,” Claire said.
Everyone turned to look at her.
“He took Vivi, rather than killing her on the spot, to draw me out,” she continued. “He wants me to know he has her. He’ll make demands.”
“How soon?” Wolf asked.
The anniversary of Lily’s death was today. “Today,” Claire said. “The longer he waits, the more time we have to find him, and he wants to stick to his original timeline.”
As if on cue, Lynx’s computer chimed. “Incoming message, routed through multiple servers.” He pulled it up on the main screen.
A photo appeared of Vivi, bound to a chair in what looked like a cabin. Her face was pale but defiant. A gag covered her mouth. Behind her was darkness and rough wooden walls. Below the photo was text that read:
Claire comes to me. Alone. Two hours. Coordinates below. Or Dr. Montgomery dies the way Lily did.
Claire’s blood ran cold. The coordinates appeared. “That’s deep in the mountains north of town,” Wolf said. His eyes cut to Lynx. “Trace it,” he ordered.
“Already on it,” Lynx said. “He’s bouncing the signal through... Commander, this is NSA-level encryption. He’s good.”
“He’s a former Navy electronics tech,” Claire said. “He knows how to hide.”
Ian was studying the photo, his jaw working. “That cabin. It’s remote, off-grid.”
“We have two hours,” Detective Mills said. “We can get search teams—”
“It’s my cabin,” Wolf said, and everyone stopped. “He’s making this personal for me, too. He expects me to show up.”
“No.” Claire’s voice was clear. Certain. “He’s expecting me. He wants me, not you. If I don’t go, he kills her.”
“Absolutely not,” Wolf said. His tone left no room for argument.
Claire turned to face him. “This works with your plan, don’t you see? I have to go. We don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice. And the choice is not sending you into a trap alone.”
“I’m an FBI agent. I’ve been trained for exactly this kind of—”
“You’re the target!” Wolf’s voice echoed through the room. “He wants you dead, Claire. That’s the entire point of this. Vivi is bait. And he’s thumbing his nose at me.”
“I know that.” Claire kept her voice level. “Which is why I’m the only one who can do this. He’ll be watching for a tactical team, for you. But me, alone? That’s what he wants. That’s what I’ll give him.”
“And then what?” Wolf demanded. “He kills you like he killed Lily? He’ll kill Vivi, too, just like he killed four other women. That’s your plan?”
Claire stepped closer, lowered her voice so only he could hear. “My plan is to trust you. To trust your team. You’ll be there. But Derek can’t know that. He has to believe I’m following his orders.”
“Claire—”
“Vivi has been nothing but kind to me. Helpful. Now, she’s in danger because of me.” Claire’s voice cracked. “I won’t let another person die because Derek Sullivan is obsessed with me.”
Wolf’s hands clenched into fists. Every line of his body radiated tension, barely contained fury. “There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t, and you know it.”
For a long moment, they glared at each other. Claire could see the war in his eyes—the commander who knew she was right versus the man who’d just spent the night making love to her.
Finally, Ian spoke. “She’s right, Commander.”
Wolf turned to him. “Ian—”
“She’s right,” Ian repeated. His voice was steady despite the fact that his wife was the hostage. “Sullivan won’t move until he sees Claire, but that doesn’t mean she goes in unprotected.”
Wolf blew out a heavy breath. He looked at Claire. “You’ll wear a wire and a tracker. We’ll fit you with a vest under your shirt.”
“He’ll search me,” Claire said.
“Then we make sure it’s good enough that he won’t find it,” Lynx said. He was already pulling equipment from cases. “I’ve got a tracker that goes under the skin. It’s temporary and bioabsorbable. It will dissolve in seventy-two hours, but it’ll work for today.”
“And the wire?” Wolf asked. His voice was tight.
“Embedded in her bra.” Lynx held up a device no bigger than a button. “Audio only, but it’ll transmit everything within a fifty-foot radius.”
Wolf studied the equipment, then glanced at Claire. “And if he finds the tracker? When he knows we’re coming?”
“I’ll hold him off until you get there,” Claire said.
The next hour was a blur of preparation.
Lynx injected the tracker into Claire’s left shoulder blade.
It stung, but she barely felt it through the adrenaline.
The wire was sewn into her bra. The FBI team coordinated with Mills to establish a perimeter around the area in case Derek Sullivan tried to escape.
Wolf stood in the corner of the small office they’d commandeered, watching. His expression was unreadable, but Claire could feel the tension radiating off him.
“Vest,” Ian said, holding out tactical body armor.
Claire shook her head. “Too obvious. He’ll search me and find it. He’ll know you’re setting him up.”
Wolf took the vest and pressed it to her chest. “He expects us to do exactly that. We play into his game, remember?”
She hesitated. “It’s risky.”
“If Vivi were here, she’d go with reverse psychology like the Commander is suggesting,” Ian said.
“Serial killers get cocky after so many successful kills. I’ve heard her say it dozens of times.
He’ll expect you to wear a vest and have a wire.
When he finds them, all you have to do is seem surprised that he’s so damn smart.
Make him feel more intelligent than you. ”
“The cabin is forty minutes north,” Hawk said, studying a topographical map.
“Remote. Heavy tree cover. Limited approach vectors. I can get a shot from here.” He pointed to a ridge about fifty yards from the cabin location.
“But you’ll have to get him near a front window or outside. It’ll be tight.”
“Take it,” Wolf ordered. “Ian, Grizzly—you’re ground support. Stay concealed, move in when Claire makes contact.”
“And you?” Claire asked.
His eyes met hers. “I’ll be close. Always.”
They drove in separate vehicles: Claire in a Bureau sedan, alone. Hawk and Grizzly in one tactical vehicle, taking a different route to approach from the east. Garrett, Ian, and Lynx in another, circling west.
The communications system crackled to life in Claire’s ear. Lynx had given her the tiniest receiver she’d ever seen. It was nearly invisible.
“Radio check,” Lynx’s voice said. “Paperclip?”
God, she hated that call sign. “It’s Fury,” she corrected. Her hands were steady on the wheel, but her heart was racing. “I’m twenty minutes out.”
“Copy….Fury.” Was that a smile she heard in his tone? “Hawk is in position on the ridge and has a visual on the cabin. One vehicle outside, which confirms our target’s location.”
“Any sign of Derek?” Claire asked.
“Just the van, but there’s no movement in the surrounding area. He’s no doubt inside.”
Claire’s throat was tight. She was driving toward a man who wanted to kill her. Who’d spent years planning it. Who’d murdered at least four women—maybe five, if Vivi didn’t survive. Who’d possibly been there the night Lily died.
Her hands tightened on the wheel. Focus on the anger, not the fear. Wolf’s voice in her head. Get angry.
She was angry. Furious. Derek Sullivan had destroyed her sense of safety. Had invaded her privacy for months. Had taken Vivi—a woman who’d done nothing but try to help.
Her cell phone rang. The ID read Wolf. He was staying off the comms so the others wouldn’t hear.
“Claire.” His voice instantly calmed her. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“I can’t lose you.” His voice cracked slightly. “Not after last night. Not after...”
“You won’t lose me.” Her voice was steady. “I’m coming back. We both are.”
A pause. “I’m holding you to that.”
“I know.”
The cabin appeared through the trees. Small, weathered, isolated. No other structures for miles. The black van sat outside, empty.
Claire parked fifty yards away, as instructed in Derek’s message. She breathed in for four counts, held it, breathed out. Killed the engine. “In position,” she said quietly.