Prologue #6
“Give him his money back. Hey, I know. Ask to meet with him personally so I can sneak up on him or ask what account you can deposit it in.”
Gabe laughed.
Yeah, if only it was that simple. Only, the man was all over the news already. He wasn’t an idiot. He wasn’t falling for that.
“Honey, be careful. You look tired.”
Yeah, she was already, but that was neither here nor there, apparently.
“See you when I see you,” she said, killing the call. As soon as she did, MATE chimed in.
She had been waiting to speak to her.
“Boss, do you want Doctor Blackhawk copied on all of this?” she asked.
Elizabeth had no choice.
“Yeah, do that. Make sure. Also, Contact Chris, and tell him to lean on the techs and city ME in Corpus Christi. I’m going to need forensics in under eight hours—not that I’m expecting anything.
By the time I land and get a burger from that joint on the Capitol beltway, I’d better have forensics in my inbox. ”
MATE did what she asked.
And Elizabeth closed her eyes.
The chase began.
And at this rate, anything could be next. This was already going off of the rails.
Now, all that was left was for it to blow up.
* * * The Blackhawks * * *
Somewhere
Same Time
Waiting…
He was more than excited about the prospect of playing this game with Elizabeth Blackhawk.
From the very beginning, as far back as he could remember, his father had told him about her. See, he was fascinated with her.
A woman investigator making the news, and waves in Washington D.C?
That was something that didn’t happen all of the time. He’d talked about how one day she’d be at the top, and that was when he was to take her down.
For prestige.
For fame.
For the crown.
Also, it was mostly to show Elizabeth her place, and that there were men out there who wouldn’t tolerate her insubordination, her ego, or her ridiculous love of justice.
The world wasn’t black and white, but instead gray, and she lived with firm rules that made her…undesirable.
In his world, men ruled.
When he watched and learned more about her, and how she slept with as many men as she did, calling them ‘husband’…it drove him, and his father to the point of rage.
She was an aberration of the rule.
Women needed to know their place, and he’d not lied to her when he met her at his office.
It was a pleasure to meet her.
And now, it would be a pleasure to break her.
All of the bodies that she was being left were just a trail of clues. If she was smart enough to find them and use them, it would give her a roadmap to him.
If she missed even one…
KABOOM.
Her career and her world would blow up.
What he knew about her was she would always follow the rules, she would always fight for the underdog, and she would always do the right thing.
He was betting that was the case.
At some point, he was going to get one of her husbands. It was only a matter of time. His gut told him to go for the weakest link in the group.
Not the man who had been the head of the FBI.
Not the man who had been a reservation police chief.
Not the man who had been an agent.
He was going to go for the medical examiner. What he knew was that the man was sick.
Yes, with a little money, some careful observation, and a little craftiness, one could find all the secrets in the world. Oh, and he knew Doctor Christopher Leonards.
The man was a powerful man, in his own right, and he respected that. Ultimately, he wouldn’t kill him, if Elizabeth gave herself over to him so he could destroy her piece by piece.
Only, he knew the truth.
Her husband wouldn’t. If he loved her, like he believed, he’d take the torture to spare her. In that case, he’d make sure she found him taken apart.
He’d destroy him.
Devon knew that she’d get to his remains, and that would break her more than anything.
Her kids were MIA, and that was okay. Honestly, he didn’t find killing children all that tasteful. What he preferred was making women pay.
His mother was one of those women. Dutiful on the outside, but behind closed doors, she was a bossy, hateful hag. It made him hate women, and with good reason.
They had no place in his world other than serving a purpose.
Like the women he surrounded himself with, he knew when they had been used up, they were discarded.
So, Doctor Leonard was his target, but to make it more fun, for him, he’d added a little spice to the mix. There seemed to be two Russian spies floating around, and he had power and money, so he opted to get them in on the game.
All it took was putting some words out on the Dark Web of the whereabouts of the Deputy Director, and that was all it would take.
Call it a hunch.
There was no doubt in his mind that would make this spicy and fun to watch.
So now, as he’d left his present in Corpus Christi, it was a matter of time to see if Elizabeth Blackhawk was truly the best opponent in this game, or if his father had miscalculated.
The apprentice was now the master.
And the game had already begun.
May the winner take the title and crown.
And the loser sink deeper into all The Darkest Spaces.
For eternity.