Games We Play (15 page)

“We do it to save future victims from being created. I know, I know. Pete says it enough. Have you spoken to him since last night?”

“He’s being kept up to date along with the behavioral unit and the marshals. No one has come up with any magical ideas on how to end this any faster.” He took her hand and interlocked their fingers together. “We have to wait until they call us with something new. We never got to finish the conversation we started last night before the guys arrived.” 

“The one where I asked you what you wanted and what was really going on between us?” Sasha hadn’t forgotten for one second what was happening between them last night, every kiss and touch was embedded so deep she couldn’t close her eyes even to blink without feeling his hands.

He sheepishly looked down and grinned at the sight of their hands. “Yeah, that one. I don’t want every time we’re in the same room together to turn awkward with endless questions and no answers. I want us to be comfortable and I want you to trust my intentions.”

“Ok. That sounds like a good idea.” Sasha felt utterly clueless but on one hand that was actually a good thing. She’d rather be confused instead of scared any day. “Go ahead.”

“I was honest on the dance floor when I said I wanted to kiss you and have it mean something. I want all of this to mean something and I don’t mean short term either. I know you better than you might think and I know you’re worried I might be using you to satisfy an urge.”

“It’s crossed my mind.” Sasha confessed with a whisper. “We could make a disastrous couple.”

“That might end up being true but we can’t know until we try. I want to try and now I need to know if you’re willing too?” She wanted them to be on the same page and that’s what he was doing now. His blue eyes were open and honest, he wasn’t shying away from the honesty she had craved to feel from him just last night.

“I want to try too but—”

“No, no buts.” Nick came around the nook and kissed her between each word, “You want to try let’s just leave it at that.”

She gripped his shirt and pulled back. “These aren’t the ideal circumstances to try and build something real on. I still think we need to press pause and press play again when we’re back home in our everyday situation. It’s the only way we’ll know for sure if this could ever work.”

“Do you want it to work?” she wasn’t the only one searching for a confirmation on what the other one was feeling.

“Yes and that’s why I want us to take our time. None of this was planned and I never expected to want any of it.”

“Ok.” Nick agreed. “I can accept pressing pause but I don’t want us to shy away from each other again. We don’t have to go all the way or go anywhere too serious until we’re back home but—”

“You say but a lot.”

“But! I want to reserve the right to still kiss you.” He leaned in closer and whispered the words over her mouth, his eyes boring deep into hers for permission.

This man was pure trouble, Sasha thought.  The look in his eyes, the touch of his lips, and the warmth of his body
,
all so dangerously close to her own made for a dangerous situation when just seconds ago they agreed to go slow. Her eyes dropped from his down to his mouth and that was the only sign he needed to close the small itty bitty space between them.

They both cursed as the landline rung and interrupted the moment. Anyone calling on the house phone would be looking for Maggie and it could be important. Sasha reached across the hook and grabbed the phone from the cradle hung on the wall. There was a recorder and some computer equipment set up right next to it and Nick pressed play. “Hello?”

“Maggie May, you’re trying to make a fool out of me. Did you think it’d work?”

“Who is this?”

“Who do you think? I caught your show in the news and if I find out you’re trying to pull one over on me it won’t be pretty.”

“I don’t know what game you think I’m playing but the only thing I want is to see you locked up for life. I came home thinking the nightmare was over but here you are again.” It was vital to keep him from getting too suspicious and finding out of the FBI’s involvement.

“Yes, here I am and it’s nowhere near over. I have one of your friends Maggie, wanna say hi?” he chuckled, making a sound that sent a cold shiver down her back. She didn’t have to imagine how cruel this killer could be, she had spent hours studying the autopsy photos. None of his threats were made idly. 

“I know Candice is missing. What is it going to take for you to let her go?” The desperation dripping from her voice was all her own. Sasha didn’t want to see another person fall victim to this man.

“I don’t let my toys go until I’m done playing with them.”

“You can’t make an exception this once? We both know it’s me you want. I got away and that must be eating you up inside.”

“Do you feel proud little girl? Do you think you fought better than anyone else and that’s why you’re still breathing? Let me let you in on a little secret, I let you escape that night because I knew this day would come and I could have proper fun with you. I want to fuck you raw as you bleed out from all the fun I had with my knife.”

Sasha bit down on her tongue to keep from saying exactly what she wanted. The unsub had a hostage and anything she said to anger him he’d make sure to take it out on Candice. “Then what are you waiting for? Come and get me.”

“So all your police detail can grab me? I’ve told you already I’m not a fool. I know the local sheriff’s department is nothing to fear but those feds might actually have some brain cells calling their head home. I have this all planned out and I like to stick to my plans. We’ll be seeing each other very soon Maggie May.” He slammed the phone down.

“Could you trace the cal
l?” Sasha watched Nick across f
r
o
m her working on the laptop keyboard. “He slammed the phone down so it couldn’t have been a cell phone.”

“You’re right and you had him talking long enough to get a lock. I’m already sending Gage and the others the address.”

Sasha rushed from her seat and peered at the map across the computer screen. “That’s not far from here.” The blinking single wasn’t more than eight m
iles f
r
o
m their rental.

“It’s crucial that we sit this one out and protect our cover.”

Her shoulders sank as reality overtook the adrenaline of finally getting something on the perpetrator of so much death. “Because he could get away and make good on all his threats.”

Chapter 20

The sun started to make its s
l
ow way down into the horizon, traffic was slow on the streets as the afternoon traffic thinned out an hour earlier, and another body lay victim at the hands of the merciless killer continuing to evade capture.  

He had allowed his call to be traced and waiting for the deputies was Candice’s lifeless body. The stab wounds across her body expressed more overkill than the others. The news conference had pissed him off and he let the cops know it by the state of Candice’s body. He was breaking routine by showing anger and killing her much quicker than the others. In a twisted way the FBI’s plan was working, they were altering the unsub’s routine but at what cost? Sasha wondered. The plan hadn’t been for him to grab another woman and kill her brutally like this. He was supposed to come after Maggie. She was his real target.

“What else are we supposed to do?” Sasha asked Nick and Noah as they stood off to the side inside the police station. Sheriff Howard and Wayne were meeting with Candice’s family and breaking the painful news.

Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her tight to his side. “There’s nothing else we can do or else we’d be doing it right now. There isn’t a way to force his hand one direction or another. The blood of the victims is on his hands not ours.”

Sasha thought it was a nice theory but it wasn’t correct. The state of Candice’s body was on them, they had antagonized the unsub and he didn’t hesitate to take it out on a mother of two little children. Who was next?

“Nick’s right.” Noah said. “There’s nothing else we can do here. Why don’t you head back to the house?” he and Wayne were staying again at their hotel for the night and taking Gage with them. It didn’t help Sasha’s cover as Maggie to have FBI agents camping in the living room.  

“That’s a good idea.” Nicholas wholeheartedly agreed and didn’t waste a second to start for the exit with Sasha snug at his side.

Inside the car she spoke up. “This is never going to work if you want to baby me now that we’re not at each other’s throats. I’m a trained agent just like you.”

“This isn’t about training or experience. Right now you’re in your home town facing one of the most sadistic killers we’ve come across and his anger is aimed toward you. They didn’t have training sessions about this at Quantico. None of this is easy for any of us but it must be worse for you.”

“I’m fine.”

“I know but when you’re not I’m willing to listen.”

Sasha kept her stare outside through the window. There was a crazy killer hiding out but for the most part the Maple Oaks residents were continuing on in ignorant bliss with their daily routines. “Is it better to be in the dark and happy or scared but fully aware?” she asked.

“I think our career choice answers that question. I prefer knowing when the threat is near and being able to do something about it. There comes a day when the fairy tales fade away and the real world shows it’s self for everyone.”

“I never believed in fairy tales. My parents were killed when I was ten and I knew from then on how the real world looked.” Sasha agreed with Nick, it was better to see the threat as it came for you. The reality was rough but it felt smarter not to look at the world with rose colored glasses.

“Was your dad a cop? Your sister mentioned his inquisitive gene.” 

“He was a lawyer working for the state attorney. Why?”

“I was just curious since she mentioned it. I have a few lawyers in my family.”

“A family that big you probably have a few everything.”

“Very true.”

At the house Nick went to the kitchen to reheat the steak they hadn’t gotten around to eating earlier while Sasha went up to her room to change from her jeans into more comfortable sweats. Her hand stilled reaching for the light switch.

Something didn’t feel right and her hand instead went behind her back for her gun. After the call from 7Xs earlier and Candice’s death she needed to feel the weight of a gun close and thankfully Gage had one he was willing to lend out. She held the gun low at her side and turned on the light to appear like she hadn’t noticed something might be hinky in the room. First her eyes moved to the window and it was indeed closed leaving him with no exit.

“If you’re in here I’m going to fucking kill you.”

A low chuckled echoed throughout the room. “I’d ask if you kissed your mother with that mouth but we both
know I gutted the bitch open.”

“Why would you make such a stupid risk with the cops lurking close?” he was somewhere in the bedroom out of sight and the only place worthy of hiding was the closets. Sasha inched closer and closer to the doors.

“They will never catch me. What’s a school teacher doing with a gun?”

“Dealing with monsters like you taught me how to be safe. I have this gun and my husband is downstairs. What’s your move?”

“How about I kill you and leave before he could make it up the stairs?” he spoke with humor in his words.

“You told me it was too soon for any of this.”

“Yes but I feel inclined to break my own rules.” He struck as her feet passed the front of the bed, the front of where he was hiding and watching her every movement. He grabbed her ankles and pulled her off her feet before she could get a shot off.

Sasha yelled out for help as her body hit the floor with heavy force. She tried kicking out but her legs were pinned as he climbed out from under the bed and on top of her. She was faster to move her hands before he could pin those as well. The unsub was covered in dark clothes and a black ski mask. She fought his hands away from her own and tried to reach for the mask to finally put a face to the bastard. She clawed into his neck before he twisted her wrist away from his face.

“I’m going to have to teach you how to play nice, Maggie May.” He backhanded her with enough force to bang her head back down on the floor. As she
l
ay stunned from the hit he was quick on his feet and out of the window.

Nick was fast on his heels, rushing into the door just as the unsub slipped free. “Fuck! He’s half down the street.”

“It’s ok.” Sasha groaned and after two attempts to sit up she decided to stay down. “I dug my nails pretty deep and we have his DNA now.” She stared at the light shades of red crescent under her nails.

Nick kneeled beside her and winced at her appearance. “You’re bleeding. I’m assuming he did this?”

“He has a heavy hand but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“I can’t believe he was in here waiting.”

“Me either. He’s gusty I can say that.”