Dangerous in Charge

by Sidney Bristol

  Isaac Cohen might seem like a comedian, but he used that to his advantage. People regularly underestimated him.

  Felix Larson was still considered the team’s new guy, but he’d more than proved his dedication and willingness to take a bullet.

  All three were fresh off medical leave to boot.

  The only face missing was Adam Novak, Kyle’s second. Adam was still in Atlanta with his wife following a harrowing ordeal. Kyle wished Adam was with them, but his wife was still in bad shape.

  The guys ambled toward the Jeep.

  “Who are they?” Faith asked.

  “Our backup.” Kyle wouldn’t be surprised if Zain had asked them to come in and be an extra set of eyes. Or, they could be as work-hungry as Kyle was.

  He got out of the Jeep and opened the rear door for Bethany while Shane got Faith’s door.

  “Well isn’t this the ugliest welcoming committee you’ve ever seen?” Kyle winked at Bethany.

  “Ugly? Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Isaac grinned at Kyle.

  It felt good to have these guys at his side right now. Without them, on his own, Kyle had been lost. But now, with Bethany and the guys, Kyle knew what he had to do.

  “Has a detective shown up yet?” he asked as the group began walking toward the front doors.

  “Maybe?” Felix shrugged.

  “This detective, he wouldn’t give Grant a run for his money in a lemon eating contest, would he?” Isaac asked.

  “That’s him.” Kyle grimaced.

  “He flew in here about ten minutes ago,” Isaac said.

  Great.

  “What’s the job?” Shane asked.

  Kyle glanced at the top of Bethany’s head. She’d left her hair mostly down with only the top part pulled back.

  “We’ll talk about it inside,” Kyle said.

  The group rode up in an elevator to the third floor where the Office Princess Merida was holding court with the two detectives and Elijah Hunt. The three men stood around the front desk like their stature was going to intimidate Merida into caving into their wants. Kyle might have laughed if things weren’t so tense. Merida had years of experience managing far more powerful men without breaking a sweat.

  “There you are.” Elijah Hunt whirled on Kyle. “I thought you said you were going to find my daughter.”

  “I am,” Kyle responded. “Merida, where will the ladies be most comfortable?”

  “Zain is waiting for everyone in the conference room.” Merida stood and smiled though it was a brief expression. “Follow me, please?”

  “Merida, like...Brave Merida?” Faith whispered to Bethany.

  “Ask her that,” Kyle whispered and nodded at Merida, earning an elbow jab from Bethany.

  Everyone crowded into the conference room. Usually they had five to eight people at most in here and the room was only used for briefings. With eleven people, it was a tight fit. Kyle didn’t take a seat, and neither did Zain or Merida.

  For a normal gig, Zain and Kyle had about an hour of prep time, going over details, before they briefed the team. Because they were in a race against the clock, they had to bend the rules.

  “Thanks for being early, everyone,” Kyle said.

  “I want an update,” Elijah said.

  The rest of the Alpha Team glanced at each other. They were used to demanding clients, but not ones with this kind of access.

  “We will, but first, Kyle? Will you bring everyone up to date?” Zain asked.

  “Sure.” Kyle nodded and launched into a bare bones explanation of the details leading up to last night.

  “I know all of that.” Elijah sat back in his chair. His face scrunched up like he smelled something rotten.

  “This morning an unidentified man tried to grab Faith on her way to her car,” Kyle said.

  “We should receive that video any minute,” Merida said, chiming in.

  “The girls and I also went by their house. Bethany, the laptop please?” Kyle took the laptop from her and spent a moment plugging in the cord to the projector. “Once we figured out someone was accessing their home through Megan’s bedroom window, I set Bethany’s laptop up to record. This...is what we saw.”

  Both of the detectives shifted in their chairs.

  Megan’s bedroom window filled the projection screen.

  “Going off the time stamp, this happened maybe an hour or two after we left.” Kyle pointed to the first hint of shadow on the curtains.

  The room watched in silence as first the man in green entered the home, and then the two detectives.

  “He was there?” Roger sat forward.

  “Yes.” Kyle fast forwarded the footage. “Because of how we hid the laptop, we didn’t get any audio, but we now know that this was not random. This same man tried to grab Faith this morning. Same green jacket.”

  “Where the hell was he? We went all over that house.” Roger wasn’t even trying to defend the intrusion.

  “In the hall coat closet.” Kyle tapped his phone and projected his gallery onto the wall. “At a glance, there’s not much there but when we moved the boxes, we found his...nest.”

  “Oh my God,” Elijah whispered.

  “What’s in the box?” Zain asked.

  “I was hoping you might know what it is.” Kyle swiped to the images of the box’s contents.

  “That’s a micro transceiver. There are microphones in that house somewhere,” Zain said without any hesitation. “So he’d enter the house, hide here, and listen. That’s how he knew Megan was going to the movies and what Faith’s schedule would be.”

  Kyle glanced at Bethany’s wide eyes.

  “Where is that now?” Roger asked.

  “We left it at the house,” Kyle said. He wanted to bring the whole thing in, but Zain had told him to leave it. They had to play ball according to the cop’s rules.

  “Video was just received,” Merida said.

  “Let’s see it,” Zain said.

  A grainy, black and white security video took over the screen. Kyle turned to face the wall and prayed they got something good off it. They watched the video in silence. Merida sped it up a tick. They watched the next shift come in, groups of people make the trek from the garage toward the hospital. A momentary lull might as well have been a still image until a dark van pulled across the screen to park at the curb barely in view and out of focus.

  “Pause that,” Zain said. “What’s the license plate?”

  Kyle rattled off the numbers and letters while Zain plugged them into his tablet.

  A slight figure emerged from the van and put his back to the wall.

  The video wasn’t good quality. His features were near impossible to make out.

  Another person strode into the frame.

  “That’s enough,” Kyle said before Faith had to relive those moments.

  “We got a hit, but it might not do us much good,” Zain said.

  “Why?” Roger asked.

  “It’s a rental that was reported stolen about two weeks ago. Low jack and navigation were disabled.” Zain grimaced and laid the tablet down.

  “We need to take all of this and release it to the media. This Triple Threat Killer has had us dancing to his tune for long enough,” Elijah said.

  “That—no.” Kyle shook his head.

  “Elijah might be right.” Roger swiveled to look at the other man. “Nothing’s worked for the last twenty years with this guy.”

  “I would advise against that,” Zain said with more measured calm.

  “I didn’t hire you for your advice. I hired you to find my daughter and you haven’t done that.” Elijah pushed to his feet. “Do you have some real progress to show me?”

  “No. No, that’s it,” Zain said.

  Kyle glanced sideways at his boss. There were a dozen more things they could do, which meant Zain knew twice as many. They weren’t out of options, the question was—what path did they take? And were they ready to commit to the theory that this was the Triple Threat Killer and no
t a stalker or enemy of the Hunt family?

  “Detectives? Faith hit the attacker with her keys. There might be DNA on these.” Kyle pulled the plastic bag containing the keys out of the laptop bag and handed them to Roger.

  “You’ll turn over all these videos and pictures. We’ll also need both women to come to the station to make official statements.” Roger and his partner got up, following Elijah’s lead.

  “We’ll see that it happens.” Zain nodded.

  “Good.” Roger tilted his chin up and darted a look Kyle’s way.

  This wasn’t how this should go. They should work together, but the detective had pissed all over this case and wasn’t going to share it with anyone for any reason. Kyle wished he’d have taken the surveillance equipment at the house out of spite, but that wasn’t going to help get Megan back or put Bethany’s mind at ease.

  “I’m done here.” Elijah stood and buttoned his coat. “We’ll turn this over to the public and have him by lunch. Just watch.”

  Both detectives stood and followed Elijah out of the conference room, led by Merida.

  Bethany leaned forward.

  Kyle held up his hand and shook his head.

  The acoustics in the suite were good, which meant they had to be careful about what they said. They listened for a few moments to the three men leaving. No one so much as breathed until the metal clang of the front door signaled the exit of the other men.

  “Okay, let’s really talk now,” Zain said.

  The room collectively exhaled.

  “What’s really going on?” Bethany asked.

  “The first question we should be asking is, are we ready to commit to the idea that this is the work of...this guy? The serial killer?” Kyle turned toward Zain. “Or, are we still thinking it’s unrelated?”

  “There’s nothing to say for sure one way or another,” Zain said slowly. “I’ve gone back through homicide reports and talked to one of our PI’s friends who used to be a homicide detective. He had some enlightening things to say about Detective Blew. There has never been an eyewitness or a security camera catch the guy they think is the Triple Threat. We can’t rule out that this is someone else, but we also have to investigate as if that’s who we’re looking for.”

  “This isn’t a normal gig. What do you want us to do?” Isaac asked.

  Zain didn’t hesitate in answering. “Right now I need every man, and you ladies if you’re up for it, to sift through data. I have a few programs I can run these images through. They’ll map the way this guy moves, his body type, and return possible matches. It’s going to take a real person to sort them into possible suspects.”

  “What about other security cameras?” Shane asked.

  “That’s your job,” Zain said. “I need you to find me another shot of that van. Figure out where it went.”

  “From the sound of it, the FBI owes us a favor. I’d like to give them a call,” Kyle said.

  “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover. Let’s head over to the surveillance suite and I can get everyone up and going.” Zain gestured at the door.

  Kyle hoped they hit on a lead soon. He was worried that when the video went public, Megan’s kidnapper was going to react. And not in a way they wanted.

  BETHANY CROSSED TO the coffee pot and poured herself another cup. Faith was glued to her monitor, clicking through images faster than Bethany could process them. The room was eerily quiet with everyone focused on their task, all aimed at the same goal.

  Still, it didn’t feel like enough.

  Elijah’s way wasn’t the answer, but were they doing anything better here? What were they even doing? She didn’t fully understand how a few seconds of video from the laptop and hospital were enough to track someone down. Maybe she didn’t want to know how that worked.

  She felt Kyle’s presence before she saw him. It was this strange awareness of him. Her shoulders tensed. Her stomach did a little flip-flop. And she knew it was her imagination, but she could feel his mouth on her inner thigh.

  Faith hadn’t remarked further about the hickey, but it was coming. And with it, the guilt.

  Instead of looking for Megan, Bethany had screwed her crush.

  Kyle and his boss entered the room with their heads together and grim looks on their faces. Bethany blew out a breath. What now? Zain said something. Kyle nodded then glanced at her.

  She swallowed down the too hot coffee. The liquid burned her tongue and throat. She still didn’t know how to process last night then this morning. They’d gone from sleeping together to high alert. It left her reeling and unsteady, which was a terrible way to begin the day what with all the shocking surprises they’d had from Faith’s attack to the discoveries at her house.

  “You okay?” Kyle asked closing the distance between them.

  “Yeah.” She coughed and covered her mouth with her hand.

  “Coffee hot?”

  “Yeah.” She cleared her throat and pasted on a smile.

  “You busy? Or can you give me a hand?” he asked.

  “I can help.” She glanced at Faith. “I’m just taking up space over there.”

  “Great. Let’s go to the conference room.” Kyle nodded at the door.

  He led the way out of the surveillance suite.

  “How’s Faith doing?” he asked.

  “She keeps saying she’s fine, but... If she could crawl into that computer she would. I’ve never seen her so shaken up.”

  “And you? How are you doing?”

  “Okay, I guess. Still pretty creeped out. I don’t think I’ll be able to live in that house after this.” She shuddered.

  “I don’t blame you. A violation of your privacy like that... If there’s anything I can do, let me know, okay? Even if it’s just helping you move.” Kyle placed his hand on the small of her back and ushered her into the conference room.

  “Thanks.” She glanced at him, warmth emanating through her body from his touch.

  A large map was spread out on the table and a laptop was at the ready.

  “Have a seat?” He pulled out the chair in front of the laptop for her. “I am, um, sorry about this morning.”

  “Oh.” She sat down hard and stared at the wood grain, heat crawling up her neck.

  Kyle reached over and placed his hand on her forearm, giving it a little squeeze. He always seemed to know when she needed a steadying hand when she was about to wobble.

  “I feel guilty. I mean, Megan is missing and we...”

  His hand relaxed, and he sat there. She could feel him staring at her.

  “I never meant... I’m sorry,” Kyle stammered.

  “I’m not. Sorry, I mean. I think that’s why I feel so guilty, you know? Part of me feels guilty and part of me doesn’t.” Bethany shook her head. “What are we doing?”

  “Beth—Bethany? If you want to talk about this—”

  “Talking about last night isn’t going to help us find Megan.” She turned toward him and braced herself. She met his anguished gaze. He’d just lost his dad and now she was putting her sex guilt on him. Great. “Let’s find Megan.”

  “Okay. Let’s do it.”

  “And Beth is okay.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. It’s...different when you say it. Yesterday, it was just that moment.”

  “Okay.” He braced his hands on the table. “We’re doing two things. First, we’re looking for vacant buildings around where the van was stolen. Then we’re also going to look at any theaters, bars, concert venues that have shut down in the last few years.”

  “Because the Triple Threat Killer...” Her throat closed up and she couldn’t finish her question.

  “Yes. Because those were the kind of locations he favored, but we’re keeping our search wide so we’re looking at all our options to help us find Megan.”

  “You keep saying that...” But he never mentioned if they’d find her alive or dead.

  Kyle’s voice softened. He wasn’t talking to her as Kyle the Rescue Man. This w
as the Kyle she’d seen care for a sick old man. “I’d be lying if I told you we’d bring her back alive no matter what. There’s always a risk that someone could die. The asset. A client. Us. It’s what we go into every job knowing. I hate that I can’t tell you that, but...I can’t lie to you like that.”

  “I don’t think I wanted to know that. Any of that.” She pushed her hand through her hair. She’d never guessed that his job was that dangerous. It made sense, but she’d never really thought about it.

  “Bethany, the only things I can promise you is we’ll do everything in our power to keep you and Faith safe, and we will find Megan. In this situation that means we aren’t sharing all our information with our client—or the cops. Our goal is to bring Megan home.”

  She blew out a breath. This whole time she’d wondered if they would tell Megan’s dad everything. What if they discovered something, told Elijah, and he ruined their chance to get Megan back?

  “Let’s get started. What am I doing?” she asked.

  “You are going to scroll through these property listings, read the addresses out loud to me and I’m going to see if they fall in our zones.” He gestured to the map.

  Bethany didn’t truly understand, but if this would help she’d do her best.

  She started at the top of the list. The first three were for office suites and inaccessible to someone off the street. The next few were open shops in strip malls. The list kept going. Most of the addresses were within the zones Kyle had mapped out.

  “Couldn’t we do this on a computer?” she asked.

  “Sort of. These real estate sites will only sort the data a few ways. We need to look at it with a different perspective.” Kyle tapped the marker against his chin.

  “Oh...” Bethany’s skin went cold.

  “What?” Kyle leaned over her shoulder.

  “This is another one over by that cluster of vacant buildings. This used to be a theater of some kind. Candlelight Theater?” She opened the listing in a new tab and scrolled down. “Former famous dinner theater turned... Shit. Kyle?”

  “I’m going to get Zain.” He pushed to his feet and strode out of the conference room.

  Bethany continued to read the listing.

  Candlelight Theater is your chance to own a piece of history! This world famous dinner theater was transformed into one of the first, luxury movie theaters of its day. Since then it has hosted a number of world class acts as a concert venue before being restored into a performance hall.