Battle Tested

by Janie Crouch

  Of course. Rosalyn felt a little stupid that she hadn’t thought of that immediately.

  “I’m going to bet you had that done about a year ago?” Brandon asked.

  “Yes.” Rosalyn sat down in one of the conference room chairs. “I don’t like going to the dentist. So I found one who would put me under general anesthesia to do the root canal.”

  She looked at Steve. “Actually, my sister was the one who told me about him. I think he practices all over the Southeast. Gunson was his last name. I don’t remember his first.”

  Steve reached down and kissed her on the forehead. “That’s enough. We’ll get him now.”

  * * *

  CHRISTOPHER GUNSON DIDN’T know it, but his days as a free man were numbered.

  Even without the first name it hadn’t taken long for them to find him. His primary practice was based out of Mobile, but he also did work in New Orleans.

  It said so right there on his website. The website also explained that he understood the fear people had of dentists, that the fear wasn’t unreasonable. That he would rather work with patients by whatever means necessary—including general anesthesia for procedures—than for them not to have dental care at all.

  It was easy to see how he drew patients in. And then, when they were out cold for their procedures, he could easily place a transmitter and tracking device like he had in Rosalyn’s mouth.

  Brandon was on his way to Gunson’s New Orleans office right now. Jon was flying from Tampa to Mobile to investigate the practice there.

  Steve didn’t expect them to find the man at either site, because he was sure Gunson was still here in Colorado. He might not know where Rosalyn was exactly, since he couldn’t track her or listen to her while she was in the Omega building, but Steve had no doubt he would be waiting to make a move as soon as she wasn’t in their protection.

  They hadn’t found a good picture of Gunson on his website. The most recent picture they had was taken of him ten years ago at a dental convention in Las Vegas.

  In the picture he was in his late thirties, already balding and pretty thick around the middle. Steve imagined the ten years since hadn’t been kind. He wondered if that was the reason Gunson stalked women. If it gave him a sense of power he didn’t otherwise have in real life.

  Maybe he wasn’t so different from the average stalker, after all.

  Rosalyn was holding it together, but barely. Every time he looked over at her, she was rubbing her jaw where the transmitter was. She wanted it out and he didn’t blame her. But they couldn’t do it here. And right now it was more important that they make their move on Gunson, before he realized they were onto him.

  Once the transmitter was gone from her mouth, Gunson would know his identity was blown.

  So as long as Rosalyn wasn’t in a panic, they needed to leave it in. At least for a few more hours.

  Steve wished he could distract her. Take her back upstairs to the apartment and let her rest. He knew she hadn’t slept very well last night.

  But he couldn’t. He was coordinating with both the New Orleans and Mobile Police Departments to provide back up when Brandon and Jon arrived. They needed to make sure nobody got a call in to Gunson once they raided the offices. They had to collect as much information as they could without clueing in Gunson.

  A few hours later Steve received the call. Brandon and the New Orleans police had moved in on Gunson’s office. Gunson had surprised everyone by actually being there, in his office, with patients. Definitely not in Colorado. The locals took him into custody and allowed Brandon to use their facilities to interrogate him and were providing Omega with the live feed of the questioning.

  As soon as Steve saw the man through the monitor—and Steve had been right; the ten years hadn’t been kind to him—crying, before Brandon even asked a question, Steve knew this wasn’t the Watcher.

  But still he hoped.

  Rosalyn sat next to him watching the screen too.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “That’s Dr. Gunson. He’s really the Watcher?”

  “Let’s see what Brandon can find out.”

  Gunson had already been read his rights but hadn’t insisted on an attorney. Probably not a smart move on his part.

  Also another clue that he probably wasn’t the killer. Steve grimaced.

  But if anybody had to be in there questioning him, Brandon Han was the perfect person. His ability to get inside the minds of criminals was unparalleled. Brandon might not be able to get a confession, but he would definitely walk out of there with a pretty damn educated guess about Gunson’s involvement.

  Andrea came running into the room. “Brandon’s about to interview Gunson?”

  “Yeah.” Steve gestured to the seat beside Rosalyn. “Join us, please. Give us your opinion.”

  They all tuned in to the screen.

  “Can you tell me why you’re crying, Dr. Gunson?” Brandon’s voice was even, nonthreatening.

  “I didn’t want to do it.”

  Rosalyn strained closer to the screen.

  “Didn’t want to do what, Christopher? Is it okay if I call you that? But I don’t mind calling you Dr. Gunson, if that’s what you prefer. A title of respect.”

  “That’s my man,” Andrea murmured. “He always knows the best route to take.”

  And in this case showing regard to a person feeling dejected was that route.

  “Christopher is fine. Or Chris.”

  “Okay, Chris. Tell me what you didn’t want to do.”

  “I had gotten into financial trouble. Done too much online betting. Lost too much. I was about to lose my house. My practice. Everything.”

  The crimes against Rosalyn hadn’t been of any financial gain, the opposite, in fact. He would probably lose money being away from his practice to follow the women.

  Brandon had to know that, but he didn’t let it show. Instead he nodded. “So you did something you shouldn’t.”

  “The transmitters. I knew they were wrong.”

  Steve heard Rosalyn’s soft gasp at Gunson’s admission.

  Gunson sat back in his seat, defeated. At least he wasn’t crying anymore. “I really don’t know much. I didn’t want to know what he was studying. I didn’t want to know how it worked or anything about the transmitters themselves.”

  “Someone paid you to put transmitters in dental work.”

  “He’s not the Watcher,” Rosalyn murmured.

  Steve squeezed her shoulder, keeping his frustration at bay. He’d wanted this to be over. Wanted Rosalyn to be able to walk out of here completely free of the Watcher.

  That wasn’t going to happen today unless Gunson had a lot more info than he was letting on.

  “Who paid you, Chris?” Brandon leaned in toward the other man.

  “I don’t know. I never met him face-to-face. About six years ago I was really in deep with some loan sharks. They were going to break my fingers.”

  Gunson looked at Brandon as if that explained everything. Brandon gestured for him to continue.

  “So when a man approached me and said he was doing some unorthodox experimentation and needed me to put some transmitters into crowns, I finally broke down and did it.”

  “How many transmitters have you put in in those six years, Chris?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “He’s lying about that,” Andrea said. “Everything else he’s been telling the truth about. But about this he’s lying.”

  “How do you know he’s lying?” Rosalyn asked.

  “The way he looked down and to the left.”

  “I didn’t even see him look anywhere.” Rosalyn leaned closer to the screen.

  “Andrea is very good at what she does, sweetheart. Don’t feel bad—I didn’t see it either.”

  “Brandon
did,” Andrea murmured. “I can tell.”

  Brandon leaned in toward Gunson. “Chris, this is only going to work if we’re honest with each other. I think you know how many transmitters you put in patients’ mouths. That’s not something you would forget.”

  “Twenty-nine,” Gunson finally responded. “All women. Over six years. He paid me $10,000 for each one.”

  Rosalyn sat ramrod straight and Steve sucked a breath through his teeth. Twenty-nine women had transmitters in their teeth. So far, including Rosalyn, they knew of five. And four of them were dead.

  They watched as Brandon showed the pictures of the dead women. Gunson remembered each. Brandon didn’t tell him the women were dead, a good call since the dentist seemed to be holding on by a thin thread anyway.

  Brandon confirmed that Gunson had been in town the last forty-eight hours. The man gave a detailed report of what he’d done and with whom. Brandon would follow up, of course, but there was no doubt in Steve’s mind.

  Christopher Gunson wasn’t the Watcher. He was pathetic and would be going to jail, but he wasn’t the Watcher.

  He could tell Rosalyn knew it too. When she looked back at him, devastation was clearly written across her face.

  The worst news hit them at the very end. Brandon asked for information about the other patients. These women, even if they had never been contacted by the Watcher, even if their transmitters weren’t live, needed to know what had happened to them.

  Gunson looked ashamed as he explained that once the procedure had been done, he had given the patient records over to the man in order to receive payments. Although Gunson recognized the pictures of the women Brandon had shown him, he could not provide the names or any information about the other women he’d performed the procedure on.

  They still had no idea who the Watcher was. All they knew was that he had two dozen other victims to whom he could turn his attention at any time.

  If he hadn’t already.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Rosalyn dreamed of the Watcher again that night.

  He was still waiting outside the fence of Omega, tossing something small up in the air and then catching it as it came back down. Rosalyn didn’t have to be able to see it to know it was a transmitter.

  All the Omega agents lay dead around him again. Rosalyn tried not to look at them, knowing she’d never make it if she did.

  Make it where? Away from the Watcher? She could go now. He wouldn’t be able to follow her.

  But now not only did the Watcher have all the Omega agents, he had twenty-eight women tied up in chairs. Blindfolded. Helpless.

  Four were obviously dead.

  He walked up and down the line of the other women as if he was trying to decide who to choose next.

  Rosalyn woke up sobbing again.

  “Hey, it’s okay.”

  Steve. He was here, holding her again like he had last night.

  “He’s going to kill those women. There are twenty-four other women and he’s going to kill them. Or get them to kill themselves.”

  Steve pulled her closer. “We’ll stop him.”

  “How? Dr. Gunson doesn’t have any idea who he is.”

  “We know his pattern now. His MO. We’ll catch him, Rosalyn. This is what we do.”

  “But more women will die first.”

  Steve was silent for a moment. “Not necessarily. We’ll do whatever it takes to keep that from happening.”

  Rosalyn twisted around, forcing Steve onto his back so she could see his face in the dim light of the moon through the small window. “I’m your best shot at keeping that from happening.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “If we leave the transmitter in my mouth, we can use it to catch him.”

  “No. I know how much that thing bothers you. It bothers me too. I don’t want him having the means of finding you.” He pulled her closer to his side and put his lips against her forehead. “The dentist is coming in the morning. The transmitter comes out. We’ll see if it can be salvaged and still used, but your part ends there.”

  She snuggled into his side. It felt good to have someone care about her. To have someone she could lean on literally and figuratively.

  “Go back to sleep,” he whispered.

  Rosalyn’s eyes drifted closed but she knew she would still see the Watcher’s other victims when sleep claimed her.

  * * *

  THEY HAD DEEMED it safer to bring a dentist in rather than have Rosalyn go out where she could be tracked. Once they had the transmitter out of her mouth, Steve hoped to be able to use it to trick the Watcher in some way. To trap him.

  Molly had offered one of the rooms in her lab for the dentist to do his work. Rosalyn was less than thrilled with dentists in general—thus how she’d gotten into this mess in the first place—and the thought of one working on her while she sat in a reclinable office chair did not reassure her.

  But she wanted the transmitter out. Wanted to know for sure her baby was safe.

  She took one look in the room where the dentist was setting up and knew she couldn’t do it. But not because of her fear of the dentist.

  Because she knew if she had this transmitter taken out of her tooth now, she wouldn’t be able to help stop the Watcher.

  “Everything okay?” Molly stepped up to her as Rosalyn stood paralyzed in the door. “I know this looks a little rough. But you won’t be able to feel anything once he gets you numb.”

  “I can’t do it.”

  She felt Molly’s hand rubbing her back. “Dr. Mitchell is an excellent dentist, I promise you. It won’t hurt.”

  “No, it’s not because of the dentist. Believe me, I want this thing out of me enough to probably let him go at me with no numbing at all. It’s the Watcher. This is our best link to him. To stopping him.”

  Molly nodded. “That’s another reason we chose Dr. Mitchell. He’s one of the most likely people to be able to get the transmitter out intact.”

  “The Watcher listens to me with the transmitter, right? I mean, it tells him where I am, but he also physically hears my voice.”

  “Yes, from what I can tell from the X-ray.”

  “So if we take it out of my mouth, he’s going to know something’s different, right? He’s going to be able to tell.”

  “Rosalyn...”

  “If I get this removed, I’m making myself safe, but we’ll lose our best chance of catching him.”

  Molly shook her head. “We’ll find another way of catching him. You don’t need to risk your life. Risk your mental health.”

  But Rosalyn had already made up her mind. “I’m not going to let another woman go through what I’ve gone through. Not if it’s in my power to stop him.”

  Molly spent a few more minutes making sure that was what Rosalyn really wanted, but Rosalyn knew it was. She couldn’t live with herself if more women got hurt.

  She wanted to take this bastard down.

  Molly escorted Rosalyn back to the conference room. Steve was there. Jon and Brandon had made their way back from the interviews in Mobile and New Orleans. Derek and Ashton Fitzgerald from SWAT were there also.

  They were coming up with a plan. Everyone stopped talking when she and Molly entered.

  Steve rushed to her. “Hey, are you done already? That took a lot less time than I th—”

  “I decided not to do it,” she told him.

  Steve grabbed her arm gently and backed her up so they could have a more private conversation in the hall. “Last night we agreed for you to get the transmitter out.”

  Rosalyn looked down at his arm where it gripped her shoulder. He’d rolled up his sleeves as he was working and she could see the bruises from when the Watcher had hit him at the gas station.

  “I can’t let him h
urt someone else.”

  “We will stop him. That’s our job, Rosalyn. Not yours.”

  “No.” She gently kissed his wrist, then ducked under his arm and into the conference room.

  She crossed to the head of the table. “The best shot we have of catching him is if the transmitter is still in my mouth and we use me to set him up.”

  Steve wasn’t willing to let it go. He came and stood beside her. “We already have a plan. We’ll use an agent of your general build and coloring—probably Lillian here—” he pointed to a woman at the table “—to impersonate you. We’ll give the transmitter to her and put her somewhere, he’ll follow it and we’ll catch him.”

  Derek nodded, supporting Steve. “Using a trained agent rather than you is a better tactical position for us.”

  Rosalyn shook her head. “That’s assuming the dentist can get the transmitter out unharmed, which is no guarantee.”

  “Dr. Mitchell is one of the best oral surgeons in the state,” Steve said.

  Rosalyn rolled her eyes. “And I’m sure he’s had lots of practice taking transmitters out of crowns, because that happens so often. No matter how good he is at normal dental stuff, he’s never done anything like this before. You can’t deny it’s a huge risk.”

  Steve crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s an acceptable one.”

  Everyone was looking at her now. “Even if we get the transmitter out safely, the Watcher is still going to know something is different. He can hear my voice. Has months of practice listening. He’ll know if my voice is different.”

  Derek looked at Molly, “Can anything be done after the removal of the transmitter to make it sound like it’s still in?”

  “I can manipulate it somewhat, but it would just be a guess. I agree with Rosalyn about the sound. After all the time he’s spent listening to her, he would notice a difference.”

  “I agree,” Jon said. “Part of the thrill for the Watcher is probably listening in to the women. He wants to think of it all as just a science experiment that he’s controlling, but listening probably gives him some measure of sexual thrill.”