Fear No Evil by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online Page A

without backup and in direct violation of their orders. Instead, Kate went underground to find her partner. She resurfaced only to ask for backup, but when teams were sent to two false locations and she claimed she’d finally isolated the feed, it was the case of crying wolf. No one believed her, and after the death of one agent and Henshaw still missing, the powers that be refused to act on unsubstantiated data. After Paige Henshaw died, Kate disappeared. She was right that last time, but the FBI had acted too late.”
    Dillon stared at the documents in front of him, pages of reports about the activities of “Trask.” The films, rapes, murders. Suspected and proven. His extensive pornography network.
    “Trask thinks of himself as playing a role like an actor. But he considers himself superior to Hollywood types,” Dillon said slowly. “He’s smart, probably a genius-level IQ, but for him I think this is more a game, a sense of grandstanding, showing off his intelligence. But why not fraud? Theft? Hacking into banks? Something about this manner of gamesmanship, this online show, fuels his fantasy. There’s something very personal in his choice of murder.”
    “Yeah, he gets his thrills from killing women,” Connor spat out. “Talking about this bastard isn’t getting us any closer to finding Lucy.”
    Dillon stared at Connor, wishing he could release his own rage and frustration, but he would leave that to his more volatile brother. “If we don’t understand him, we’ll never find him.”
    “Fuck that! We’re sitting around doing nothing while Lucy is…is—” Connor couldn’t finish. He stared at the computer screen, drawing all their eyes to a half-naked Lucy. Scared and vulnerable. Tears coated Connor’s eyes and he ran a hand over his face. Carina squeezed his arm.
    “I’m sorry, Dil.” Connor’s voice was thick with emotion.
    Dillon caught his brother’s eye, nodded. “I want to talk to Kate Donovan,” Dillon said to Peterson. “Do you have any way to reach her?”
    Peterson looked uncomfortable. Garcia spoke. “I need to take a leak. Can I get anyone coffee?”
    “Thanks, Joe.” Peterson watched him leave. “He knows I’ve been talking to Kate. He wants plausible deniability, and I don’t blame him. Her former boss wants her head on a platter.”
    “Why does she trust you?” Dillon asked.
    “We were in the same class at the Academy. And I wasn’t working the case five years ago when Paige Henshaw died. She considers me neutral.”
    “And are you?”
    “Hell, no. I’m on Kate’s side. Always have been. But I can’t give her the one thing she needs.”
    “Which is?” asked Dillon.
    “Immunity.”
    The complexity and sensitivity of the situation was becoming clear to Dillon. But Lucy’s life was at stake, and if Kate Donovan could help save her, Dillon would find a way to convince her to help.
    “Kate Donovan’s been tracking this killer for over five years,” Dillon said. “She has the answers. I just need to ask the right questions.”
    “You should know that some of the information she’s turned up was false. No doubt a setup by Trask, but the Bureau doesn’t like wasting resources setting up rescues or stings when there’s no one to rescue. Two years ago we almost lost a team of agents in a trap. Kate warned us it might be, but, well, it was just the case of crying wolf all over again. We had her analysis and methodology, but didn’t have time to run the scenarios ourselves. The FBI won’t do that again, but being methodical takes time.”
    “Time that Lucy doesn’t have,” Dillon said quietly.
    Peterson stood, walked over to where Patrick was sitting at the computer station in the corner. Five screens had been set up, two for the FBI, Lucy’s computer, and Patrick’s laptop. The fifth screen showed Lucy via the webcam.
    There’d been little movement for the last twenty minutes. Every few moments Lucy tried in vain to break free from her chains. Her jaw was