Cold Silence Read online

  Cold Silence

  Toni Anderson

  Contents

  COLD SILENCE

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Epilogue

  Cold Justice World Overview

  Also by Toni Anderson

  About the Author

  Useful Acronym Definitions For Toni’s Books

  Acknowledgments

  For Gary.

  COLD SILENCE

  Cold Justice – Most Wanted (Book 1)

  FBI Hostage Rescue Team member Shane Livingstone is frustrated when an injury sidelines him during an operation to catch a sadistic killer. A killer who auctions off vicious ways to torture his victims and screens the events for money on the dark web. When a teammate dies during the op, a devastated Shane vows to track down the monster responsible—but to do so he’ll need access to specialized skills he doesn’t possess.

  * * *

  A bloody game of cat and mouse…

  * * *

  As a white-hat hacker at Alex Parker’s security firm, Yael Brooks knows how to track predators through the darkest recesses of cyberspace. She can’t say no to Shane’s request…even though she fears her own secrets may put her at risk.

  * * *

  With a serial killer who makes it personal…

  * * *

  Shane and Yael must work together as a team if they hope to stop this psychopath. As they begin to grow closer, Shane demands Yael’s complete trust, but trust is the one thing Yael is reluctant to give. As the chase intensifies and more people die, it becomes obvious that the killer knows exactly who Yael is and plans to make both her and Shane pay the ultimate price for getting in his way.

  * * *

  Content Advisory: this book contains sex scenes and swear words (commensurate with most Romantic Suspense novels). For more detailed potential trigger information:

  www.toniandersonauthor.com/content-advisory

  Sign up for Toni Anderson’s newsletter to receive new release alerts, bonus scenes, and a free copy of The Killing Game:

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  Prologue

  December 15

  FBI Special Agent Shane Livingstone calmly straddled the metal bench on the outside of the MD530 Little Bird helicopter as the pilot buzzed so close to the ocean Shane swore he could see his own reflection in the surface of the ebony water. One of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team’s K9 members lay on the floor behind him, leaning out of the open door near enough that his drool dripped onto Shane’s exposed neck.

  At least it was warm, unlike the sea spray that felt like bullets of pure ice piercing his flesh.

  Good times.

  Adrenaline buzzed his system and he grinned. This method of transportation was a thousand times preferable to that of the last training mission when Gold team had accessed a remote coastal installation using Rigid-hull Inflatable Boats. They’d been dropped into crashing surf that had been nut-cracking cold and rough as the wildest rollercoaster, especially fun when carrying sixty pounds of gear that seemed to weigh ten times as much when wet.

  This current infil was positively first-class luxury by comparison. Shane’s fellow Gold team Echo assaulters were all revved up and ready to go. These men were more than his colleagues. They were his friends, his brothers. And, unlike last time, this wasn’t a training mission.

  According to the tactical operation briefing, five white nationalist terrorists, who were vocal online supporters of long-dead cult-leader David Hines, had taken over a courtroom and were threatening to kill everyone inside the courthouse if they and the defendant weren’t allowed to walk free.

  Never gonna happen.

  Three of the attackers had military training, as did the defendant. The other two were self-proclaimed “militia.” Wannabes with dicks the size of Shane’s little finger and brains to match.

  These particular whackos had already shot dead the court reporter and were threatening to shoot another hostage every hour until their demands were met. So, even though the Crisis Negotiation Unit was on scene and negotiators were attempting to talk the bad guys into coming out, everyone inside the FBI knew that Judgment Day was coming.

  But probably not in the way the tangos envisioned with their corrupt version of Christian values and morals Satan would get a kick out of.

  The signal to “get ready” came through his earpiece. The pilot pulled up the nose of the machine and the terrain beneath Shane switched from inky sea to dense shadowy trees then houses, before morphing into taller buildings in the downtown area that the pilots navigated around with apparent ease.

  They were close now. The pilot climbed in altitude before descending rapidly and hovering over what must be the roof of the courthouse. HRT’s second helicopter was barely visible in the darkness.

  These machines were quiet compared to most but, even so, the FBI were trying to deflect the hostage takers’ attention away from what might be happening on the roof. Shane recognized one of the FBI negotiators who was helping disguise HRT’s arrival by talking non-stop on the bullhorn. A police cruiser chose that exact moment to turn on the siren and speed away from the courthouse as another distraction.

  “Go,” came the order over the comms.

  Shane unclipped his safety strap and threw down a chem light as heavy ropes were deployed onto the roof.

  Thick gloves stopped his flesh from being ripped off his hands as he wrapped his lower legs around the cable and threw himself off the side of the chopper before fast-roping twenty feet to the flat roof. He took up a defensive position with his H&K 416 D10RS carbine while Cowboy, also now on the roof, released the dog from his harness. The pilot held steady in the darkness as the rest of Shane’s seven-man team, plus kit, descended with rapid efficiency.

  In a matter of seconds, the helicopters were flying away, someone inside gathering up the ropes.

  Shane grabbed his breaching ram as the assaulters stacked up at the door. Shane stepped forward to take care of that obstacle after Cowboy checked to make sure the door was, in fact, locked. Shane much preferred explosives or his modified Remington M870 loaded with breaching rounds but today they were using the ram on this door because that’s what acting Gold team leader Payne Novak had ordered. The closer they could get before the hostiles knew for sure they were coming, the more chance they had of saving innocent lives.

  Shane didn’t think knocking a door off its hinges with a breacher was much quieter than blowing one off its hinges with a slap shot but, having served in the Green Berets prior to becoming an FBI agent, Shane knew when to follow orders and when to beg for forgiveness later.

  Gold team’s other assaulter unit, Charlie, had been dropped on the opposite side of the roof and were preparing to abseil down the outside of the building and enter the courtroom via the windows. HRT snipers had the building
surrounded, ready to take out any visible cultists as soon as the signal was given. Shane’s Echo assaulters were to work their way down the building, floor by floor, and neutralize any bad guys who’d fled the courtroom in a last desperate bid to make a stand or attempt a daring escape.

  Shane took a deep breath in, held it, then released it. Repeating the process as his eyes scanned for possible danger. Deliberately calming his body, settling the adrenaline that wanted to ramp up his heart rate and influence his physiology. This natural response was why they trained all the time. A firefight was less shocking when you walked into one every single day.

  Cowboy waited for Charlie unit to get into position to begin their rappel. As soon as Charlie unit reported they were ready, everything changed. Tension snapped through the air like static.

  Game time.

  They communicated using hand signals. Sound carried and they didn’t speak on an op unless they absolutely had to.

  As planned, it went completely dark as the City cut the power to the block. HRT immediately activated their night-vision goggles. Cowboy counted down with his fingers and, with a single precision strike, Shane slammed the metal ram into the door beside the deadbolt. The wood around the lock shattered.

  He stepped back, swapping his ram for his carbine as he followed his team inside and down the stairwell.

  Intel had all the hostage takers in a second-floor courtroom, but things changed fast in a dynamic situation and it wasn’t always easy to tell the bad guys from the good guys using thermal imaging or radar. Quickly reaching the fourth floor, the team swept into the main office area with a blast of flash bangs and godawful noise and overwhelming firepower that should make any sane individual shove their empty hands high in the air while simultaneously pissing their pants.

  Holiday decorations looked garishly out of place under the circumstances and the inflatable Santa in the corner almost earned himself a double tap when he floated back-and-forth.

  Thankfully no one shot it.

  The press loved nothing better than to crucify law enforcement and while Shane agreed with some of what was said, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park figuring out good guys from bad in these kinds of conditions.

  They didn’t find anyone, which suggested the tangos had rounded up everyone in the building earlier. Like all the operators, Shane moved in a smooth, slightly crouched gait. It kept his aim steady while allowing him to cover ground quickly and silently.

  Off the main office area was a series of rooms down a long narrow corridor. Shane was at the front now and Echo assaulters swiftly cleared three rooms before finding another locked door. He swapped the carbine for the ram again as the team lined up either side of the barrier. Suddenly, Shane paused, shook his head and pointed to the wall instead. Something didn’t feel right and the need for silence had long been replaced by the use of speed and overwhelming force. Doorways and elevators were always the most dangerous places in a building, followed closely by stairwells and corridors. His sixth sense was telling him this doorway was either a storage room no one ever used, or a deathtrap.

  He never ignored his instincts and Cowboy respected them, too. They all trusted one another with their lives. They had to. The team reassembled and Shane set the explosive charges on the wall.

  Once again Cowboy counted down. They all momentarily closed their eyes to avoid getting blinded by the flash in their night vision goggles as Shane blew the charges. Scotty tossed in a flash bang and the assaulters were through the opening, kicking out jagged sheetrock as they went.

  Shane heard a shot before his team returned fire.

  “I got one,” Scotty said quietly into the comms.

  Shane nodded to himself. He’d made the right choice.

  “Gold Echo assaulters to TOC,” Cowboy spoke calmly. “We have one dead subject.”

  The team filed out and Shane quickly continued down the corridor. Flash bang powder burned his eyes, but he ignored it.

  “Charlie unit has three dead subjects.”

  That left two tangos unaccounted for, including the defendant.

  Echo unit continued to spread out and search the area. There was a second set of stairs leading down to the third floor on the north side of the building.

  Shane saw movement but recognized a civilian running for cover. Her hands were empty, and she was sobbing in fear. He let her go and watched her cower into a corner as the K9 unit took up protective stance beside them. Scotty went over and put wrist restraints on the woman and told her to hold position until someone came to rescue her.

  They couldn’t risk she was in league with the cultists. It might seem harsh to treat terrified people this way, but better than accidentally putting a bullet in someone they mistakenly assumed was a threat. That would be a bad day for everyone.

  Shane looked through the small glass window of the fire door. On the other side a marshal lay in a pool of his own blood. Shane checked as much of the area as he could through the glass, but the range was limited.

  “Charlie unit heading up the main stairwell to the third floor.”

  Cowboy checked through the window also and replied to TOC. “Echo unit entering the north stairwell heading down to three. One dead marshal in stairwell and one female civilian secured on the fourth floor.”

  Shane opened the door and covered the others as they moved into position. When he headed down the stairs to the next switchback, a bullet hit the wall above his head. He didn’t pause, didn’t flinch. He locked onto the target and kept moving forward to engage. He didn’t have a clear shot but with the large windows to the north he didn’t need one.

  The sound of a high-power bullet traversing glass before lodging in the attacker hiding behind a frightened hostage had them all moving forward toward the danger. The sniper had done his job. The tango wasn’t going to hurt anyone else ever again.

  Cowboy reported into the TOC. “Tango down in north stairwell. Hostage secure.”

  They kept moving and held a defensive position as Scotty stopped beside the woman who Shane belatedly recognized was the judge. Luckily, he hadn’t already slapped restraints on her.

  Cowboy reported, “We have Judge King. Repeat, Judge King is in our possession. Echo unit bringing her out via the north exit.”

  Cowboy signaled for the group to split up. Shane was with the group who were to get the judge to safety while the others helped Charlie team clear the third floor.

  “Roger that.” Shane nodded. He led the way while Scotty and Keeme supported the judge between them. Cadell and the dog watched their six.

  The earlier noise of bullets and explosions had quieted down, although he could hear HRT and SWAT moving through the building.

  A sudden shiver of apprehension rolled down his spine. A reaction to the operation, or something else? He raised his hand to signal the others to stop. Then he edged forward and poked his head quickly over the banister. It was pitch black, but the night vision revealed a flat green world that appeared empty.

  Shane wasn’t sure what had bothered him. In all likelihood the tangos had gone to ground in one of the offices.

  He gave the hand signal to move forward. At the bottom of the next switchback the dog growled and Shane felt the hairs on his neck rise.

  He knew what he was going to find before he even saw him. The defendant. Del Renfro. An asshole who’d driven from Idaho to DC with a trunk full of explosives, prepared to carry out an attack on a federal building. He hadn’t cared which one.

  A flat tire on I-95 and a sharp-eyed traffic cop had ended the man’s evil intentions before they’d come to fruition, but not without a bullet hole in the brave law enforcement officer. Now the asshole held a young Black woman in front of him, the marshal’s 9mm sidearm pressed to her cheek.

  Shane put a bullet in the guy’s fat skull, calculating and praying the ricochet off the wall didn’t hit the hostage.

  Del slid to the floor and the young woman stood there, screaming, her hands covering her face. Shane put another bulle
t into the man on the ground to make sure he was dead.

  He touched the woman’s arm so she knew where he was because he doubted she could see anything and must be terrified.

  “FBI. You’re safe now, miss.”

  He nudged the bad guy’s weapon away from the body and Cadell picked it up.

  “Gold Echo unit to TOC. Dead tango on lower north stairwell. We have a second hostage we are bringing out the side door.”

  He held the young woman by the arm and looked up to scan the area as they approached street level. Everything happened in slo-mo as she stumbled in her high heels, holding onto his left arm with the strength of the Rock on steroids and he knew he was going down, too. He tried to roll so her fall was cushioned by his body as they crashed headfirst down the stairs.

  Panicked, she twisted and somehow landed with all her weight on the midpoint between his wrist and his elbow. He heard the double snap at the same time she let out a scream that could shatter glass.

  Or maybe that was him.

  The others held their position and he didn’t tell them his arm was fucked. They’d heard the bones break. They knew. He carefully pushed himself to his feet using his right arm and then pulled the woman upright with the same hand, steadying her.