Seeking (PAVAD: FBI Romantic Suspense, #15)

by Calle J. Brookes

  Ezra protested. “I can do it.”

  Ken shook his head. “Unfortunately, I can’t let you. But you’ll be the first one to know what Shannon learns. I need you finding the rest of the men in your unit. We need to make certain they’re protected.”

  ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN

  BEN GOT HER the videos as clean as he could make them. Shannon appreciated it. It was more than tedious to do what the man had no doubt done. She could have done it, but Ken was sending her in a million other directions. But first...she was going to go over that video.

  The note attached to the disk stated that Ben had done the best he could, but the video they had to go on—security cameras for Colby’s—was very grainy. The killer had known exactly where to stand and where to walk to be as invisible as possible.

  The best she could do was a white man around five-and-a-half feet or so tall. He was thin, maybe thirty or forty pounds heavier than Shannon.

  He carried what looked like a laptop bag.

  The potential unsub had blended in with the rest of the crowd so easily. It was a long shot.

  A man matching a similar description had been seen getting into a white sedan near two other crime scenes. Unfortunately, the video was extremely grainy in those clips, as well.

  She was going to have to see the final video for herself. After she picked it up.

  First, she was going to run over to the hospital. Check on Jaynice for herself. And talk to Nils Schneider. See if Ezra’s friend could shed any light on what was going on at all.

  ONE HUNDRED TWELVE

  JAYNICE’S TEAMMATE, Ian, was flat-out adorable. He was tall—not as tall as Ezra, but well over six feet—and strong. He had big blue eyes in a deeply tanned face and a smile that could knock a woman’s socks off at a hundred yards.

  Those eyes showed his worry. He didn’t say much when she was introduced to him. She’d been wrong. She’d thought she’d met him before, but she actually hadn’t. He was a recent addition to Jaynice’s team.

  He asked her where to drive her and he drove. He was very much the strong, silent type, apparently.

  Ian headed toward Jaynice’s room. Shannon turned in the opposite direction. Nils’s room was one floor down.

  She knocked on the door lightly and the nurse looked up. Shannon smiled. “Hello, I’m Agent Shannon Toliver with the FBI. PAVAD’s Complex Crimes Unit.”

  “Come in,” a pretty blond woman said from next to the bed. “I’m Evony, Nils’s sister. How can we help you?”

  “I’m here with some questions for Nils.”

  “Where’s Ezra?” the other blond asked. “I thought he was working the case. Maybe we should wait for him.”

  “He is. Ezra’s with our team leader right now. But he’s not allowed to be the one to officially take Mr. Schneider’s statement because of our policies. I’m here to do that.”

  She saw the woman’s mistrust, but the man in the bed held up a hand. “The day I can’t talk to a beautiful woman is going to be the end of the world. Come closer, Agent Shannon.”

  She stepped closer and took her first good look at Ezra’s friend. “How are you feeling, Mr. Schneider?”

  “Nils. Call me Nils. I know who you are.” He gave a weak grin. “You’re Ez’s Shannon. Saw you on the TV with him a few months back. He’s talked about you. Practically non-stop. You give him fits, don’t you?”

  “Every chance I can. He’s talked about you, too.” Shannon settled into the empty chair next to him. “He wanted to be here, but we have extremely strict protocols with PAVAD. And he wants to direct his energy toward finding the person responsible for what happened to you and Geoff.”

  “He will. Ez is nothing if not determined.” He grinned again, but it was weak. The guy was exhausted—but stubborn. “You’re prettier in person. I see why Ez can’t shut up about you.”

  “You’re embarrassing her, Nils,” one of his sisters said. “Let her do her job so she can leave.”

  “Gee, Ev, rude much?” the other sister asked. “You’ll have to forgive her. My sister has had a crush on Ez for a million years.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, I’m sure you have more important things to do than listen to my brother flirt.”

  Shannon smiled. The woman looked beyond embarrassed. She understood—she had four siblings of her own, after all. “Not at all. Ez really did want to be here. I’m the second-best choice. The main question I have is if this was deliberate, was there anything you can tell me about who or why it could have happened? Something that connects you and Geoff Morten?”

  “Geoff and I are—were—good friends. But it all came from when we served together. I’d see Ez more. And Geoff would see Ez. So, we’d see each other when all our paths would cross. Geoff was in and out of the city almost as much as I am. And add in Ez’s schedule... It could be months at a time between contact. And Geoff wasn’t big on email or cell phones. Most of my contact with him was through Ez. What does he say?”

  “We’re not sure if this is connected, or if you and Geoff were just both in the wrong places at the wrong time. Ez is hunting down the rest of the men in your unit. Have you heard from any of them lately?”

  “Not really. I did get a call from one of the men in our unit a day or so before this happened. Chuckie Sefton. We weren’t close, but he was in town and wanted to meet up. He mentioned something about Geoff, as well. I had to cancel. Adri doesn’t have many days off, and I wanted it to be special.” A flash of pain went through his blue eyes. “And not like this.”

  “As soon as she’s upgraded, they’re moving her in here. My brother’s been a bit insistent.”

  “Hey, the woman is my life. I’m not going to rest easy until she’s right here where I can see her.” He looked at Shannon again. “So, tell me... Ez is crazy over you. You feel the same?”

  Shannon laughed and stood. She liked this man. A lot. She could see why Ezra did, too. “I am. I can say that I am. He drives me crazy, but I care a great deal about him.”

  “Good. He needs a pretty woman to keep him on the straight and narrow. When he gets a chance, send his ass over here. I am past the point of being bored. And I need to talk to another man. All these women are driving me nuts.”

  “I’ll do that. I hope you and your girlfriend—”

  “Fiancée. She said yes.”

  “Fiancée feel better soon. And congratulations on the yes.”

  “See you later, Pretty Agent Shannon. Tell Ez he’s a lucky man. If I didn’t have my Adrienne, I’d be fighting him for you.” He gave her another charming grin.

  “I’ll do that.”

  She finished with Nils then returned to the waiting room to find Agent Ward. He was reading a magazine and trying to look like he wasn’t worried.

  She liked him. He was around her age, quiet, and seemed to really care about his teammate. They discussed Jaynice for a few moments, then her phone buzzed.

  It was time for her to get back out there. Ken had more for her to do, but first, he wanted her to personally take possession of the videos they needed.

  Those videos were their current only hope.

  The local police were stalling her again. Shannon was sure of it. She grabbed a cab back to the PAVAD building. Ian was sticking near the hospital with Jaynice. The older woman was going in for another surgery to correct damaged tissue. He was going to wait until the two-hour surgery was finished.

  It gave Shannon time to swing by the local station and grab the files herself. She made it clear to the detective in charge that it was a time sensitive piece of evidence in a multiple victim shooting spree.

  He wasn’t all that impressed.

  Until she threatened to go straight to Fin McLaughlin himself. The assistant director of PAVAD was a real badass when the situation warranted it.

  She made it back to the hospital in time to meet Ian. Jaynice had done well. The latest surgery had revealed a great deal of improvement. He was sticking around the hospital to wait unt
il she came out of recovery, in case her daughter needed anything, but he gave Shannon keys to his car.

  She’d drive back and pick him up after she finished with the videos from the local precinct.

  Ken, Ezra, and the rest of the team were waiting when she made it back. Ezra was leaning against her desk. He looked up when she sank into the chair. “Anything?”

  “Nils is awake and doing much better. He says you need to stop by and keep him company. His sisters are driving him crazy. As for the investigation, the only thing he could say was that he would see Geoff occasionally, but there was nothing he could think of that would make him and Geoff a target. Other than a connection to you, the two men didn’t interact all that often. Mostly because of erratic work schedules.”

  “We tried, but all three of us traveled frequently. We’re not exactly homebodies.”

  “So, if this guy targeted them deliberately, there’s a good chance it’s because of something that happened when you served together?” Shannon asked. “But why now? It’s been how many years?”

  “Six since we were discharged.”

  “Tell us about your team,” Ken said.

  “Nothing really to tell. Our time over there was just as you’d expect. And we did everything we could to do things by the book. Leghari, our unit leader, was a stickler for that. And it saved our asses a time or two.”

  “So, if it wasn’t mission related, is it possible it was something personal?” Shannon asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m still tracking a few of them down, but I’m stalled out.”

  “Then Shannon will find them,” Ken said. “We’ll go from there.”

  “If it has anything to do with that at all. We could be grasping at shadows here,” Shannon said. What they had was more than a bit sketchy, and she knew it. All they did was keep going in circles. If this had nothing to do with Ezra and was just random coincidence, they were just wasting time. And falling farther and farther behind.

  ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN

  EZRA LEFT HER at her desk with Chalmers and the rest. He needed a few moments to breathe and was using the message from Sam in Ballistics as the excuse.

  There had been a lot he’d left unsaid about his time in the military. But everyone had already known that. It was par for the course.

  There were things he’d done that he would never talk about, never could talk about, even if they would stop a damned serial killer.

  Sam was waiting for him, a report in her hands. “It’s not good.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The rifle was stolen. Striations match one registered to the US Army.” She handed him the report. “I’m still running down the actual location. I have a contact with CID, who promised to call me back. But it’s already been a lot of calling in circles, Agent Hahn. I wish I had the answers quicker.”

  He nodded. He knew the type of rifle it was, intimately. He’d carried one exactly like it every day for years.

  It was still his preferred choice for long-distance, though he’d honestly hoped he’d given that task up when he’d signed with REY. “If your contact can’t get with you soon, let me know. I have people I can call.” Jarvis, one of his former teammates, was pretty high up in the CID command. He’d already called him once that morning, just to have the man watch his own back. And to tell him about Geoff. “I may be able to get that rushed through.”

  “Give me an hour. Then I’ll let you know.”

  He took the report. There wasn’t much else he could do.

  When he returned to the bullpen, Shannon was at her desk, phone at her ear and laptop spread open before her.

  Chalmers was waiting near the whiteboard. Ezra headed there first. Chalmers looked up. “Anything probative?”

  “Military. Same kind I used.” He went on to name the rifle and explain what Sam had said. “I’m waiting on word about where it was last used. But this may take a day or two.”

  “So, let’s figure out who would have access to a military weapon of this type. It most likely has to be stolen for it be used like this.”

  Ezra agreed. Those weapons were highly regulated. For one to just walk out like that was extremely rare. Not unheard of, but rare. “Yes. I’ll make a call. I have contacts with CID. See if they can get us any list of missing weapons.”

  “Another question. Who do you think would have access to that type of weapon and possibly be targeting men you served with? And be in St. Louis right now?”

  “Just the men I served with. But we turned in our weapons on discharge. Everyone did.” Standard procedure. He’d been thrilled to get rid of it at the time. He’d taken two months just to sit on the beach and think about what he’d wanted to do with his life from that point on. He’d been twenty-eight and almost lost. He’d had several options and just hadn’t been sure of which direction to go.

  Until his mother had smacked him upside the head, and his father had told him to make a damned decision already.

  He needed to take Shannon to meet them. She’d probably get along great with them.

  “See if your CID contact can check on that? We may be able to get a name that way,” Ken said, jerking Ezra’s focus back where it needed to be.

  “There’s one more guy from my unit in this area. Rupert Hollace. Guy was a real jerk, but he’d have the skills to do this, as well. Not all of us in the unit can. Only me, Hollace, Sefton, and Leghari. And I question whether Sefton could do it. He wasn’t as skilled as the rest of us, but he was always after us to teach him.”

  “Run down your team. See what pops.”

  ONE HUNDRED FOURTEEN

  RUBERT HOLLACE WAS an asshole, and he had always been. Of the dozen or so men Ezra had worked closely with in his time overseas, Hollace was the nastiest of the lot. Not just in attitude, but in personal hygiene. That hadn’t changed much since discharge.

  He was the adult version of the school-yard bully, using his massive strength and size and bad attitude to force people to do what he wanted them to.

  Hollace had tried that with Ezra and been shot down quick. Hollace might have outweighed him by about sixty pounds, but Ezra was equally as tall. And not easily pushed around.

  They’d battled daily until they’d settled into an uneasy truce.

  He had been the number one person in their unit Ezra had not wanted to keep in touch with. Yet there he sat, across from Ezra.

  “What’s this about?” Hollace demanded.

  “You hear about Geoff and Nils, Holl?” Ezra asked quietly.

  Chalmers was at his left, not saying much. They’d agreed Ezra would handle this interview, but Chalmers would sign off on it.

  “No. Can’t say I’ve kept in touch. What about them?”

  “Geoff’s dead, Nils is in the hospital. You see anything on the news about the long-distance serial killer we’ve had here in town?”

  “It’s all over everywhere. How many people dead now?”

  “Nine. Twenty-two wounded. Geoff was killed instantly, and Nils got lucky he moved. Their girlfriends were also wounded—one pretty badly—as were an FBI agent and her companion. We don’t know if they’ll pull through.”

  Hollace’s face tightened for a moment. It was the only outward sign that Ezra’s words had struck home at all. “That’s sick shit, man. Thought we’d seen the end of that over there. Ambushed and never knowing what in the hell was about to happen.”

  “I know. We suspect the killer was targeting Geoff and Nils, and possibly used everyone else as a forensic countermeasure.” Pure speculation at this point, but it was a lead. The only one they currently had.

  Unless Shannon could find something on the videos.

  Hollace stared at him for a moment. “Why the hell would this guy do that? Sounds damned stupid. Risky. Why am I here, Hahn?”

  Ezra had two directions he could go in. “We are contacting everyone from our unit. See if they know why this could have happened. It’s thin, and we know it. Chances are good it was something else between Geoff and N
ils that led to this. It’s been six years, after all. And to give you a heads-up to watch your back. If this guy has targeted our unit for whatever reason, you need to be careful. There’s no way to get out of this guy’s range. We both know that. You got some place you can go out of town for a while?”

  “Hell, Hahn, I haven’t spoken to Geoff since our flight landed stateside that day. I ran into Nils in Kansas City two—maybe three—years back. Enough to say hi. That was about it. We didn’t even follow each other on Facebook. I can take the wife and kids to the in-laws, but it’ll take me a while to get things arranged. My oldest has a band competition she’s at right now.” Hollace paled and visibly tensed. “This guy isn’t going to go after my kids, is he?”

  “Not that we can tell. But you and your wife may be targets. We’ll have a protective detail on you. Or, if you prefer, we can set your family up in a safe house.” They’d get Hollace out of the way in a contained area, then could evaluate what happened next. See if they could connect him somehow. Or rule him out. But Ezra’s gut was telling him it wasn’t the man in front of him. Hollace was just a middle-aged, slightly chubby family man now. He’d see what Shannon could find to support that—while the bureau kept Hollace’s family safe. “What about Sefton, Leghari, and the rest? You ever talk to them?”

  Hollace shook his head. “Put all that behind me. Listen, I just wanted to forget it all and move on. I get an email now and then from Sefton, but we were never really friends. That was all in his head. But from what I can remember, he was more than happy to turn his rifle over. Doubt he’s ever touched a weapon since. Unless it was controlled by a game controller.”

  “You know we have to check into the paperwork. But we’re also checking every communication Nils and Geoff shared.” They had nothing to hold Hollace on. Ezra had known that before they’d brought him in. But if his instinct was right, having the man in a safe location could keep Hollace alive. “We aren’t even certain this goes back to the entire team. It may be random or something they’ve gotten into recently. Watch your back, Hollace. I’m going to get you with Agent Djorn. He’ll get the details of the safe house for your family. It’s just a precaution. If you hear from anyone else on the team, let me know.”