“Keep him talking. Try to distract him by getting under his skin.”
“Five…”
“Chase is coming around to try and get a clear line of sight on Vonn. As soon as you hear the first shot fired, you drop to the ground, Doc will cover you.” Under normal circumstances, Adam wouldn’t send a medic out first, but with his lung on vacation, he wouldn’t be able to get to Eve fast enough. Neither would Grant with his fucked-up ribs, or Cody with his limp. “Doc?”
“On it.”
“Four…”
Adam palmed the back of her neck, pulled her to him, and kissed her hard and fast. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Trust me?”
She nodded again as Cody cracked the door and started to swing it open.
“Three…”
“Remember,” Adam whispered in her ear. “Walk slow.” Forcing his hands to release his grip, he turned on the tactical light attached to her vest as Doc got into position.
“Two…”
“Stop!” Eve shouted as she stepped across the threshold, and Adam had to lock down every muscle in his body to keep from following the woman he loved out into the open.
CHAPTERFORTY-TWO
“I’m here,”Eve said, her voice surprisingly steady despite her full-body quake.
“Well, let’s go, Jellybean. I don’t have all night.”
“Don’t call me that,” she spat, her stomach flipping in disgust as she pivoted to face the main gate. “My name is Eve.”
“Shit, you are feisty, aren’t you? I mean, I knew you were tough. Watching you get a hold of the knife and nearly offing your brother was impressive. Not that killing Bryan would have changed things. You still have to die. It’s just the rules of the game. Nothing personal. But man. I think you’re going to be so much fun to play with first.”
“It’s not a game.” She moved slowly while straining to see beyond the beam of the light attached to her vest. A few steps and she began to make out body shapes. One more, and she could see Zander on his knees in front of the pedestrian entrance. Hands tied behind his back, a gag around his mouth, and a pistol pointed at the back of his head, he looked angry as opposed to scared, and she took some comfort from the fierce glare in his eyes. “You murder people. Why?”
“Simple. I enjoy it. I’m good at it. And itisa game. One I win. Every time. Women are fun to kill. Easy to take and easy to break. Do you know what it is to end a life, Eve?”
She shuddered and stopped. “No.”
“It makes you a god. You turn your head left or right. Choose this one or that. And one person lives while another dies. Fate held in the palm of your hand. It’s intoxicating.” He gestured with his gun. “Keep moving.”
“That doesn’t make you a god, Detective Vonn. It makes you a monster.” Hand clenched around the briefcase handle, her nails bit into her palm as she took a small step forward.
“Well, aren’t all gods monsters in the end?”
“Just the ones who are cowards.”
“I’m not a coward,” Vonn shouted. “Cowards don’t do what I do. They don’t embrace their true selves. They don’t follow their callings. They don’t create their masterpieces.”
Fury exploded inside her. “Youarea coward! The worst kind. You abduct and murder women so you can feel like a bigger man. Then you tell yourself lies to avoid the ugly truth. I think you liked watching Bryan masturbate. You liked how his victim’s fear lit you up and turned you on. But you couldn’t get it up for them yourself, could you?”
“Shut up, bitch!”
“That’s why you brought the women here before you killed them. You wanted to watch. Maybe come in your pants a couple of times before you came back thinking she’d be the one who’d fix your problem. And when you still couldn’t—”
“Shut the fuck up!”
“That’s it isn’t it? You killed them because—no matter how hard you tried—you couldn’t have sex with them. Women intimidate you. They scare you. And because you’re a coward, you kill them for it. You’re sad and pathetic.”
“Enough,” Von said, grabbing the back of Zander’s vest and pressing the muzzle of the gun to his shaved head. “You think I don’t know when someone’s trying to manipulate me? I kill women because I like it. Because it gives me a rush. I get high just thinking about what I’m going to do to them. And I’ve been thinking about you for a while, Jellybean. So, if you don’t run your ass over here in the next three seconds, I’ll be shooting your friend before I go. But make no mistake. No matter how long it takes, I will find you. I will take you. And I will enjoy cutting pieces off you one inch at a time.”
