by Marie Harte
“Delta three, go ahead.”
“This is Special Agent Grant. I just received a distress call from inside the house. What the hell’s going on?”
Static whined over the air before the officer’s voice spoke again. “Everything looks good from here, Agent Grant. And the other two officers are still inside as you requested. But if you’d like, we’ll head on in and check things out.”
“Yes, I’d like,” he sneered, checking his watch. “It’s been three minutes. Stay together and check every door and window in the place. And whatever you do, don’t kill anyone before you’re sure they’re on the other side.”
The officer rumbled a big ten-four and Gil listened to the line go dead. “Fuck!”
“We’re almost there, Gil. He couldn’t have gotten far, not with Fallon either fighting him or unconscious. We’ll get her back.”
“I’ll kill him.” Gil felt his partner nod in his direction, neither needing to say what was on both their minds.
* * * *
Ten more minutes had dragged by before Wade screeched to a halt in front of Fallon’s house. Gil didn’t even wait for the truck to stop rolling before jumping out and racing up to the door. An officer was standing on the porch, his hands stuffed in his pockets as Gil skidded to a halt. “Well?”
The man shook his head, pushing the door open. “We’ve checked the entire premise, sir. The two officers are still unconscious.” He pointed over towards the couch. “One in the living room, the other in the bathroom at the end of the hallway. Paramedics are on the way.”
“Where’s Fallon.”
The man’s face paled. “I’m sorry, Agent Grant. She’s gone.”
Gil felt the room sway as he ran into the kitchen and stared at the phone lying discarded on the floor. “Did you touch or move anything?”
“Nothing, sir. We only ensured both men were still alive before calling it in.”
He nodded, but the words barely registered. She’d been here, standing in the kitchen, when the bastard had taken her. And he’d done nothing to stop him.
“Gil?”
He looked up. Wade was standing in front of him, his cell cradled in his hand. “I’ve got an ABP out on Fallon, and Trevor’s sending more units this way. We’ll canvass the neighbourhood. Someone must have seen something. If we can get a licence plate or a better description of the vehicle, we might be able to track him. Trevor said he’ll send out the helicopter if it’ll help.”
“What fucking good will the chopper do when we don’t even know which way the bastard went!”
Wade cringed at the tone of his voice, but he didn’t care. Fallon was gone. And he didn’t have a clue where to start looking. He cursed and headed back outside, needing some air to clear his thoughts.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” Wade’s voice trailed off into a sigh.
Gil turned to his friend, giving the man a pat on the back. “I know you’re just trying to help. I just hate feeling so damn helpless. I should’ve known the chapel was a set-up. He just wanted us out of the way so he could come after Fallon. She was his target all along.”
“Did Fallon say anything on the phone before it went dead that might suggest she knew where he was taking her.”
Gil ran a shaky hand through his hair, trying to remember Fallon’s last words. “She was confused. Something about the chapel. How she didn’t think he was planning on meeting us there. That she’d been somewhere else in her vision.”
Wade stepped closer. “Did she know where? A street? A building? Anything?”
Gil sifted through the words tumbling around in his head. But all he could think about was how they really might be her last words.
“Gil?”
He looked up at his partner, wondering why the man was still bothering him. “What?” he snapped.
“We’ll get her back. But right now you need to tell me what she said on the phone before The Priest arrived.”
Gil turned to look at his truck parked in her driveway. He remembered carrying her into the bedroom, holding her like he never wanted to let go. She’d felt so fragile in his arms, but she’d never stopped trying to help the women she saw. And now she was one of them.
“Gil.”
“She didn’t know,” he bit out, spinning to face Wade. “She just said it wasn’t the chapel and that she felt like she’d been there before, but not really. I didn’t understand what she meant. She was trying to describe it to me when she got drawn into another vision.” He lowered his face so Wade wouldn’t see the shame in his eyes. “She saw him stalking her, but couldn’t do anything to stop him.”
Anger punched through his chest and kicked at the railing on the side of Fallon’s porch. The wood cracked and heaved and it was all he could do not to rip the damn thing apart and toss it across the lawn.
“Easy, buddy. It’s only been fifteen minutes. She’s still okay.”
“But for how long?” he sighed, the anger quickly replaced by fear. “How long before that bastard carves a cross into her chest. Before he rapes her?”
Wade took a deep breath, his lips pulled tight. “We’re not going to let that happen.” He stepped forward and placed a hand on Gil’s shoulder. “I’ve been thinking about this whole vision thing with Fallon. You told me she only has them with people she’s connected with.”
Gil nodded, not sure what else to say.
“So, that means The Priest must be someone she knows, or has had contact with. What we need to do is figure out that connection.”
Gil cursed and was just about to tell Wade he’d been doing that for the past fucking day, when the answer slammed into his head. “Charlie!”
Wade dropped his hand and took a step back. “What?”
Gil ran to Wade’s truck. “Come on,” he yelled, jumping in the passenger seat.
Wade slid in beside him, revving the engine as he looked over at Gil. “Where to?”
“The office. I think I know where to start looking.”
* * * *
“Care to tell me what we’re looking for? Or is it only on a need to know basis.”
Gil glanced over at Wade. The man was pacing the floor, trying to look over Gil’s shoulder at the computer screen. They’d made the drive back to the office in a little over ten minutes, and it’d taken Gil another ten to pull up the information on the screen. Now he was stuck going line by line through the information in the hopes of finding what he needed.
“Sorry. The truth is, I’m not really sure what I’m looking for. I just remembered what Fallon’s kept saying these past few days. How this creep reminds her of Charlie. And then just before I left this morning, she said his name again before she passed out. I think Charlie’s the connection. I just don’t know how.”
“Maybe it’s someone you guys pissed off?”
“Maybe,” said Gil, scrolling down the page. “But I think it’s closer to home than that. It got me thinking about Charlie’s family. He never mentioned having a brother, but then Fallon never told me she had a sister either. Maybe…” His voice keened into a growl as a new page flicked onto the screen. “Damn it!”
He pushed the chair back, cursing as Wade read the screen. “I don’t get it. All it says is that Charlie’s only surviving relative is a father.”
“Keep reading. It gets better,” he snarled pacing the floor. He had to figure out where The Priest—James—had taken Fallon.
“Holly, Shit. The guy’s a Colonel! Looks like he spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Gil heard Wade click down a few screens. “It doesn’t say what his current status is?”
Gil growled and pounded a fist on the desk. “He was still active as of seven months ago. He missed Charlie’s funeral because he was overseas.” He looked Wade in the eyes. “The guy’s a field medic.”
“Damn. He’s more than got the expertise to pull off these murders. But why the hell would he do it? It doesn’t make sense. From what it says here, he’s a fucking war hero.”
“Yeah, in a war t
hat’s divided the country. Besides, I think his time in the military only planted his psychological unbalance. I have a feeling it was Charlie’s death that pushed him over.”
Wade raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve read the report on the incident. There’s nothing in there regarding Charlie’s death that seems suspect.”
“That’s because there were a few details left out.” He looked down at the floor, wondering why he hadn’t seen it before. “What the report doesn’t say is that everything was going smoothly until our informant ratted us out. Ratted Charlie out actually. He’d been sleeping with her as part of their cover. Charlie only saw it as necessary, but I guess she’d taken it as a long-term relationship. Seems she followed us home the night before the meeting, hoping to spend more time with Charlie. When things didn’t go the way she planned, she lost it.”
“By why would she kill him just because he went to your house? Surely he’d gone there before.”
Gil shook his head. Why did it always come back to that night? He looked up at Wade, meeting the man’s stare. “Because Charlie stayed the night.”
“So?”
“No. I mean, he spent the night.” He waved his hand in the air. “With Fallon and me.”
Wade’s eyes bulged for a moment before he settled his expression. “Ooohhh.” A boyish grin crept into the lines of his mouth. “So you think she saw the…” It was his turn to wave his hand in the air. “The three of you. Together.”
“Oh, she more than saw it. She yelled it back at him during the meeting. Then she added in the part about him being a Fed, and all hell broke loose.”
“So why didn’t that go into the report?” Wade cleared his throat when Gil glared at him. “I mean the part about her telling everyone he was a Fed?”
Gil sighed. “Because she was a daughter of a Senator. And the powers-that-be felt that dragging their family name through the ringer wasn’t going to change anything. She died in the fire fight too.”
Wade nodded and looked back at the picture of James Cutter on the screen. “But you told Charlie’s dad.”
“He called one night about a month later. He wanted to know the truth. Said his boy would never blow his cover. I wasn’t exactly thinking straight, so I told him everything with the assurance he’d keep it off the record. I never heard from him again, so I figured he’d gotten the closure he needed.”
“Or just the right amount of stress to finish pushing him over the edge. I assume this lady was young, similar to our victims?”
“I think it’s more that he’s going for women he thinks are betraying the men in their lives. Look at our last victim. She was dating a married man. In his eyes, that’s a sin.”
Wade nodded. “Okay, so if James is The Priest, where would he take Fallon? Another church?”
Gil looked over at the screen. The man looked so much like Charlie, he felt as if he were staring at a ghost. “Fallon’s different. He doesn’t see her as just a soul he needs to purify. To him, she’s an angel sent to save him. I don’t think he’ll follow the usual pattern.”
“That makes things more difficult. Without a starting place, we’ve got nothing to narrow down the search.”
Gil paced across the room, running over what Fallon had said.
I went to a large room. I felt like I’d been there before, but not really been there.
“How can you be somewhere, but not really be there?” He hadn’t realised he’d said the words aloud until Wade answered him.
“I’m not sure. Maybe you could dream you’d been there. Or seen it on TV.”
He spun around nodding at Wade. “Or maybe you went there in a vision.”
Wade stood up, already reaching for his coat. “One of the other crime scenes?” he asked, following Gil out the door and down the stairs.
“Not a church. The warehouse.”
Wade paused as Gil ran across the parking lot and jumped in his truck before racing after him. “What are you talking about? What warehouse?”
Gil motioned to the ignition and Wade shoved the key in and turned it over. “The warehouse where we met the weapons dealers. The warehouse where Charlie died.”
* * * *
“Wake up, Angel. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Fallon heard the voice muttering in the distance, but couldn’t seem to open her eyes. Her body was cold and sore, the hard feel of concrete beneath her. She tried to turn, but her arms were locked behind her back. She froze, shaking some of the fogginess away as the memory of what had happened returned.
“I know you’re there, Angel. Open your eyes.”
A set of strong hands wrapped around her shoulders, giving her a firm shake. She winced at the sudden burst of pain through her head and forced her eyes open, staring into the face of her captor. His eyes were hazel, his lips smooth and pink, and his hair a dappled mixture of blonde and grey. He looked down at her, a smile tugging at his lips as he cupped her chin in one hand. She stared at him, unable to believe who was standing before her.
“Charlie?”
She hadn’t meant to say the name out loud and winced when The Priest tensed, squeezing her jaw between his fingers. “Not quite, my dear. But close.”
He released his hold and she fell back, groaning as her head grazed the floor. Lights dazzled across her vision, blurring his face. When they finally faded she looked back up at him, seeing him more clearly this time. While he still looked like Charlie, she could tell he was much older than the other man would’ve been. Lines feathered out from his eyes and his forehead was creased from years of hard work and worry. She scooted backwards when he bent down closer to her, pushing her back against a wall. “Who are you?”
“Forgotten me already, Angel?”
“Your real name,” she whispered.
His eyes narrowed and, for a moment, she thought he might strike her. “I no longer go by that name. That man is dead.”
He stood up and stepped back, his eyes distant, haunted. She chanced a quick glance around. She was back in the room she’d seen in her vision. “Where are we?” she asked, the overwhelming sense of déjà vu returning.
He looked around the room, sadness flickering in his eyes. “Back where it all started.” He looked back at her. “Where it all will end.”
* * * *
Wade pulled in front of the warehouse, steering the truck into the shadows. Gil shifted in his seat as the truck rolled to a halt. He didn’t need to see the black Mercedes parked by a dumpster to know Fallon was inside. He could feel her.
“Should I call for backup?” asked Wade.
Gil stared at the Mercedes for a moment, then turned to face Wade. “He works alone. Besides, the last thing we need is to make him panic with the sound of sirens.” He stepped out and closed the door, drawing his Glock. “I’ll go in here. You circle around the building and see if you can flank me. I’ll try to keep his attention. With any luck, you might get a clean shot at him.”
Wade shifted uneasily as he looked at the large building. “Are you sure you should go in first? Maybe I should take the main entrance, just in case…”
Wade didn’t finish his sentence, but Gil knew what the man was thinking. Just in case Fallon was already dead. Just in case he was walking into another crime scene with her on centre stage. “No. She’s still alive.”
“We both know…”
“I’m not going to let her down,” he interrupted, clenching his fists to still the sudden trembling. “I can’t lose her.” He waved his hand when Wade moved to speak. “I know. But no matter what’s waiting for me in there, I owe it to Fallon to be the one to confront him.”
Wade lifted half his mouth into a cocky grin. “Then I guess I’ve got your back, partner.”
Wade took off, disappearing behind the building’s far wall. Gil turned back to the hinged doors off to his right. He hadn’t been through those doors since that fateful day with Charlie. He’d lost his best friend that day, and he’d be damned if he’d lose Fallon too.
He mo
ved to the door, careful to open it slowly. The first area was cold and dark. There were several rows of stacked pallets off to his left, their presence nothing more than shadowy ghosts in the shifting light. Another doorway wavered to his right, the pale light of the next room glowing beneath the steel slab.
Gil stared at the door, unable to move. That’s where it’d all fallen apart. Where the blood of his partner still stained the floor. He’d managed to carry him several rooms over, away from the spray of bullets, but it hadn’t been enough. Charlie had died. And then he’d lost Fallon to his own foolish pride.
The faint whisper of voices crept through the stillness, shattering the memories. Gil crept to the threshold, his back pressed into the wall. He could hear the mumble of a man’s voice. The Priest was in there, but he couldn’t tell if Fallon was alive or dead. He took a deep breath, clenched his jaw and opened the door.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Priest moved back towards a small pack. He kept his eyes locked on hers, his lips pulled tight. She knew he was waiting for her to make a move, but she knew better than to try and run. With her arms bound behind her back and her head still spinning, she’d be an easy target. Better to wait until he was close. One strong knee to the groin followed by a few strategic kicks might be enough to give her the time she needed to make an escape.
He smiled at her, as if he could read her thoughts. She looked away, trying not to think about what would happen if she never got the chance.
“Don’t worry, Angel. I’m not going to treat you like all the others. You’re special.”
He rummaged through his bag, removing a large knife. It was longer and thicker than the small, precision instrument she’d seen him use on the other woman, but much more intimidating. There was only one purpose for a blade that big.
“I thought you were going to tell me everything?” she parried, hoping to keep him distracted.
“Why tell you, my dear, when you already know.” He flicked his thumb across the edge of the knife. “There’s a reason you called me Charlie.”
