Cold Silence Page 9

  “I can get someone in my firm to set up a program to crawl over the data if I can have access to all the law enforcement systems involved,” Alex said.

  Her boss was pouring a lot of company resources into the hunt for this monster. After Texas, Yael understood why.

  Sloan spoke to a woman Yael didn’t recognize. “Get me a list of all the agencies involved and request the information or access credentials from each authority. As they all have an unsolved murder in their jurisdiction, I don’t see them objecting.”

  Quiet settled over the room. They’d had all these questions before Texas and nothing had been resolved since. Frustration welled up inside Yael.

  “Do we have an offender profile?” Sloan asked Frazer.

  Frazer coolly returned her stare. “We’re working on it, but aside from young male, twenty to forty-five years old, who has a driver’s license and is competent with computers—”

  Yael snorted.

  Alex smiled grimly. “He’s way beyond competent.”

  Frazer nodded. “I suspect he would have been considered gifted as a child. He was probably approached by one of the tech giants in high school. And he probably worked for a tech firm at some point.”

  “He might still work for a tech company. It could be why he travels around the country.” Ashley Chen looked thoughtful.

  Yael grimaced. Which might make him potentially even harder to trace because he might be able to disguise or erase his electronic footprint as he went.

  “If he’s working for a firm then how likely is he to be permanently based near Houston?” Shane pointed out. “I mean, how many workers are sent on the road over the Gregorian New Year?”

  Yael’s lips twitched as he qualified the type of New Year. Maybe she’d had a good influence on him after all.

  Frazer sent him a look. “This is why the profile is taking time, although my team are working on it. We don’t have enough starting information. Is he still actively working in the industry and doing this in his spare time, versus being a full-time killer for entertainment purposes? We know little aside from the fact he enjoys ruthlessly torturing people to death and fleecing others while he does it.”

  “Is he doing the crimes for the money or because he enjoys it?” Ashley noted the questions in her list.

  “If he only wanted cash, he could kidnap the victims and demand a ransom,” Shane said.

  “Or perform ransom attacks on various critical entities or search for zero-day vulnerabilities and sell them on the black market,” Alex added. “K&R might be too risky for him. Maybe he’s afraid the victims can identify him.”

  “I suspect he not only enjoys inflicting pain, but he also likes drawing others into the crime too. As voyeurs and making them complicit without losing control of every aspect of the scenario,” said Frazer. “And the fact that he’s deceiving them too as he has already tortured the individuals before the punters vote? This guy is probably a narcissist and a psychopath.”

  Yael looked around. She hated speaking up but it didn’t look like anyone else was going to comment. She cleared her throat.

  “He might not always conduct murders the way he did in Texas.” She froze as the whole room stared at her. “I mean, he might run it in real time under normal circumstances. But he rigged the place with explosives this time. He’s never done that before.”

  Shane went rigid beside her. “This time he knew we were coming.”

  “We don’t have a leak unless someone is feeding the bad guy information in face-to-face conversations,” Alex stated. “Ashley and I checked everyone on the team’s electronic communications after Texas and everyone checked out.”

  Shane shot her a quick look. People in the room appeared shocked they’d been actively investigated. Yael wasn’t. Although there were other ways to communicate online—chat rooms, message boards, game consoles, burner phones, or old-fashioned dead drops. She suspected Alex and Ashley Chen would have pursued those avenues as much as possible. Still, it didn’t jibe with the type of people who worked for the Bureau in general. Why join the FBI only to get in league with a killer? She hoped anyone like that would have been weeded out during the application process. But there were other civilians like her on the task force. She wondered exactly how deep Ashley Chen had dug into her past.

  She exchanged a glance with her boss and he held her gaze, seeming to read her mind. He gave a slight shake of his head that was both disturbing and reassuring. He definitely knew about her past and yet he’d hired her anyway. She swallowed the knot in her throat.

  “Do we think he knew specifically that a task force had been formed to investigate his crimes or was he targeting law enforcement in general?” Sloan asked.

  “I’m speculating that he somehow knew a special joint task force was commissioned.” Frazer leaned forward. “Which is probably why he chose that particular victim. Anya Baker interned for the FBI last summer and was planning to apply for the Bureau after college. She didn’t hide the fact either. Wrote and published an online article about her experiences.”

  “He knew or assumed we were onto him and used this specific victim as bait to lure us into traps both online and in the real world,” Shane said bitterly. “How much danger do you think Yael is in now he knows what she looks like?”

  Yael squirmed in her seat at once again being the focus of attention. “I have an alarm system.”

  “You need better security. You ride an electric scooter for Christ’s sake.”

  She flashed him a surprised glance. She obviously wasn’t the only one who’d been doing a little snooping over the weekend. “Okay, Shannon,” she murmured.

  “Ouch.”

  “The security in Yael’s new home is excellent—I installed it,” Alex stated. “And Yael’s more than capable of keeping herself safe online, especially after what happened in Houston.”

  Yael relaxed a little at her boss’s support. It meant a lot to her. But Shane didn’t look convinced.

  “I agree on the issue of transportation. I was planning on raising the concern after this meeting. We can lend you a company vehicle from the compound,” Alex offered.

  Yael bit her lip, not feeling as if she had any choice. She hated giving up her autonomy but she’d known she’d probably need to buy some sort of car for winter. A scooter was fantastic in the summer but icy roads were not Myrtle’s friend.

  Although, it wasn’t like she ever went anywhere except work or home. Bumping into Shane in a bar was a one-in-a-million-chance encounter.

  “Any possibility the UNSUB could hack into the DMV database and discover Ms. Brooks’s real identity using facial recognition?” Ashley asked with concern.

  Alex shifted in his seat. “It’s an outside scenario we’ve considered and planned for. We altered Yael’s photo in the DMV database enough to make his comparison image useless should he be able to access the system.”

  Yael’s mouth went dry as everyone stared at her. It wasn’t strictly legal but officially Alex had done it to test the system against potential future security breaches, which was what the government paid their company to do.

  If Cramer, Parker & Gray, Security Consultants could do this, then maybe so could others. The government needed to have a system in place to monitor for this type of manipulation. Not to mention, the CIA would be very interested in their findings and how it might be used to help shield its officers’ identities. In the meantime, Yael had a little more peace of mind.

  “Any other databases that might have Yael’s face?” Sloan asked.

  Yael stiffened. She felt Shane’s gaze on her profile but refused to look at him.

  After a long moment Alex spoke for her. “Yael doesn’t have a passport or any criminal convictions, nor is she active on social media with her own identity.”

  That was true.

  “I can’t say what private companies might be out there scooping up images and data but it would take EG time and effort to figure out. Easier to sit outside our offices in DC and wait
for her to leave work. And, yes, we have safeguards against all those kinds of activities at all our premises.”

  Yael swallowed. There were pictures of her online but she’d been much younger then. Over the last decade she’d tried hard not to have her face appear in any digital form. She had a few anonymous accounts to monitor the internet but nothing that could lead back to her, or even to her real IP address.

  Her Sphinx persona was blown. No going back to that. She’d wiped all trace of that avatar from the web, just in case there were any unconscious clues left behind.

  Shane worked a crick out of his neck. He appeared relaxed but Yael could feel the energy pouring off him. Then he said, “I assume you have people from TEDAC looking at the explosive device?” For a split second his southern accent slipped out before the guy reined it back in.

  TEDAC was the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center.

  “TEDAC scientists immediately traveled to Texas to gather the evidence and took it back to Huntsville to examine.” Ashley pulled up a report. “The explosive was C-4. Blasting caps were military issue but we haven’t been able to trace them. The device was set to blow as soon as the door opened.”

  Shane rolled the pen against the empty pad of paper on the table with his right hand. The muscles in his forearm were clearly defined. “I doubt EG learned this stuff off the internet. He either has explosive experience or hired someone to help him. If the latter, that someone is a weak link and we need to find them.”

  “I agree. TEDAC is working with forensics to collect any additional evidence.” Sloan stood. “This UNSUB has left behind a stream of wreckage since he started his murder spree. We seem to be chasing around cleaning up his mess but never getting ahead of him. If he’s true to form, we have less than three months to stop him striking again. Let’s meet here again at eight on Wednesday morning and every other workday after that. I want to hear measurable progress from everyone at each meeting.”

  That didn’t sound good to Yael. That sounded like Sloan was settling in for the long haul. The longer it took, the more the online trail disappeared. The internet might be forever but it was also ephemeral when someone knew how to erase data.

  “What about the stolen credit card that was used to purchase the VPN?” Yael asked.

  “Sold on the dark web in a batch of thousands,” Ashley said with a downward twist of her lips.

  Damn.

  Everyone started packing up as Ashley made sure they all had a specific lead to follow up.

  Yael turned off her laptop and packed it away. This meeting had been a waste of her time. She hadn’t learned anything. She could have been working on the code and seeing if there were any clues in it that might have turned up in other places online. She jumped when Shane’s arm brushed hers. As much as she generally didn’t like to be touched that wasn’t why her body reacted so strongly to Shane. It was some weird hyperawareness that made the hair on her nape tingle.

  “Want a ride to Alex Parker’s compound to pick up that vehicle?”

  “I’ve got it.” A part of her wished she could accept his help but it went against her nature. She couldn’t depend on anyone else. She’d learned that the hard way.

  Alex came over. “I can drive you over there now.”

  “What about Myrtle?” she asked.

  “Who?” Shane asked, frowning.

  “My scooter.” Thankfully her boss knew she’d named the Vespa.

  Shane held out his hand. “Give me the keys and I’ll drop Myrtle off after work.”

  Yael stared at him. Alex looked between them both and then turned to speak with Ashley who’d approached him with a question.

  Yael found herself staring into Shane’s deep green eyes that were flecked with white like the surface of a choppy ocean.

  “What’s the problem?” he asked quietly.

  Yael shook off the unsettled feeling he gave her. “Why would you do that for me? We’re not friends.”

  He pulled a face. “Because it’s a reasonable thing to do for a colleague? And why aren’t we friends? We’ve had a drink together and shared a meal.”

  Did chicken wings count as a meal?

  He climbed to his feet. “Anyway, it’s your choice but it is zero trouble as I drive past your place on my way home. And I know I’ll feel better—personally and professionally—if you have transportation that some asshole in a smart car couldn’t wipe out with a side swipe.” His expression grew somber. “We both saw what this guy does to other human beings. What I’m suggesting might be a worst-case scenario, but it is not a stretch and unlike the rest of us, he knows what you look like.”

  Her fingers curled into fists. She hated that he was right. She blew out a frustrated sigh and dropped the keys into his palm. “She’s up in the main parking lot near the Academy. Don’t strain your arm putting her in your truck.”

  “Yes, Mom.”

  “I mean it.” She slid the rest of her belongings into her computer bag. “Get one of your built friends to help you.”

  He tossed the keys in the air. “Ha. Sassy. I like sassy.”

  She rolled her eyes. She was definitely not sassy. She headed off after her boss, wishing she wasn’t so excited by the prospect of seeing the HRT operator again. And soon.

  It was a mistake to get more involved, but then again, they were going to be working together until they caught this bastard or Shane’s arm healed. Yael really hoped it was the former. The idea that this freak was out there somewhere, hunting his next victim, probably hunting her, made her queasy.

  But she wasn’t about to stand still and let this predator catch her. She was the one doing the hunting now. She was done with being a victim.

  8

  It was dark by the time Shane drove up to Yael’s townhouse even though it was only a little after five.

  Yael had called down to the guardhouse for security to let him in. The gated community backed onto a forest and a small creek which probably gave the people who lived here a false sense of safety. While most petty thieves would avoid a complex like this and look for easier pickings, this UNSUB was not a simple burglar. He liked playing games and he liked messing with law enforcement.

  Shane reversed his truck into Yael’s driveway and jumped out, letting down the tailgate as she opened the double garage door from the inside. She wore the same tight jeans from earlier but had lost the hoodie and boots, her feet bare now. A pale blue, long-sleeved henley hugged her figure and made his mouth go dry in a way he hadn’t anticipated.

  He lifted Myrtle one-handed and Yael was there to help him lower the electric scooter gently to the ground.

  “If you’re trying to show off your manly strength it won’t work on me.” She caressed the handlebars like the Vespa was a pet.

  Like most of the operators on the Hostage Rescue Team, Shane found anyone throwing down a challenge, no matter how flippantly, hard to resist.

  “If you’re not impressed by ‘manly strength,’ what are you impressed by?” he asked, closing the back of the truck.

  “People who can go for long periods without speaking.” She gave him a fat, fake smile.

  “Oh, definitely sassy.” He suppressed a grin because he could tell she hated being called that.

  She wheeled the oversized bicycle into the garage beside a large black SUV with tinted windows he suspected were probably bullet-resistant. Cramer, Parker & Gray protected some important celebs and politicians. That Alex Parker considered the safety of his employee to be equally as valuable made him go up another notch in Shane’s estimation. Not to mention the fact he was dedicating his own time and company resources to tracking down this motherfucker alongside the FBI.

  Yael came back out onto the driveway and stood with her arms crossed. Despite her disparaging words about his ‘manly strength’ he hadn’t missed the way she’d checked him out in the meeting earlier. She liked his muscles just fine. She simply didn’t want to like him.

  He could work with that.

  Not to get
into her pants, although maybe he was lying to himself about that. He’d found himself thinking about her dark eyes and lush lips on and off all weekend. More importantly, she was interesting, and, ugh, smart—and smart was his personal kryptonite. So, he wouldn’t say no if she offered more than a working relationship, but what he really wanted was to get closer to her to get answers. Answers about her, about EG, about Scotty’s death.

  And, aside from a little html, computer code was gibberish to him.

  Across the cul de sac a man came outside and dumped a neatly stacked pile of cardboard into the recycling receptacle. The stranger waved at them and Yael waved back.

  A For Sale sign in the stranger’s yard swung in the breeze. Yael didn’t have a sign. The perks of a private transaction.

  Late twenties, five nine and slightly built with dark hair and thick black glasses, the man walked toward them wearing a goofy grin.

  “Hey, I just moved in across the street. Kevin Karvo. I wanted to introduce myself to my new neighbors.”

  Shane eyed him narrowly as the guy took Yael’s hand and shook vigorously.

  Yael pulled quickly away and crossed her arms, hunching her shoulders against the chill. She opened her mouth to speak but Shane held out his good hand and interrupted. “Welcome to the neighborhood, Kevin.” Shane squeezed the other man’s hand firmly before letting go. “Betty loves it here, don’t you, honey?”

  Yael raised her dark brows and looked at him as if he’d lost his ever-loving mind.

  She caught on quickly though. “Yes, Billy. It’s a great community. I’m sure you’re going to love it here, Kevin. The people are real nice.”

  Shane wrapped his right arm around Yael’s shoulders and tugged her to his side. He didn’t bother hiding his grin as she fell stiffly against him.

  “Nice meeting you. Good luck settling in. Have a great evening now.” Then Shane steered Yael toward the garage and locked his truck remotely with the fob. They headed inside as Kevin took the hint and jogged back across the street to his own home.

  Shane let go of Yael to walk down the side of the borrowed SUV toward the interior door. He pressed the garage door button so it rumbled shut.