Allison Brennan - Fear No Evil

Her voice trailed off and she stared at the screen, where a woman was silently being beaten. Across the bottom of the screen flashed a disclaimer.

Role-playing fantasy rape. No one was hurt in the creation of this film.

She snapped back, her voice harsher. “Paige and I became certain April had been killed. We started investigating the company that housed the digital file that the PI had downloaded, Trask Enterprises. At first we had the support of the Violent Crimes unit-we couldn’t locate April anywhere, dead or alive. For all I know, she could have been at the bottom of the Atlantic or chopped to pieces and fed to pigs in up-state New York. With no body, no evidence, no witnesses, we were stuck. Internal support waned. We were getting pressure to back off from upstairs. Other cases were more pressing. The Bureau even used my boyfriend, also an agent, to get me to drop it.

“But I couldn’t get April’s eyes out of my mind. She was dead. I knew it.”

“What happened?”

“Denise contacted Paige, set up a meeting. Told us she knew that April had been killed, but she was too scared to talk about it. Gave us some information that alleged that Trask was bringing in girls from Russia to star in future productions.”

Kate sat on the edge of her cot, squeezed her eyes shut, and rubbed her temples. Dillon resisted the urge to rub the tension from her shoulders. Kate wouldn’t appreciate it, and right now he didn’t want to do anything to upset her. She was already on edge. “Denise didn’t make it to our next meeting. I used my computer skills and the Bureau’s extensive network to hack into a secure server at Trask.” She looked at him, put up her hand. “I know-don’t say it. I could have jeopardized a conviction. But I was scared to death that Denise had been killed because she’d come to us. I couldn’t do nothing .

“That’s when I found her strapped to a chair. Naked. Live on the Internet, and damn, I was determined to connect this to Trask Enterprises and raid their company. But it wasn’t them. Not on the surface. Someone was using their site, but it was obvious they were piggybacking on it.

“Paige and I had to find Denise. We told our boss what we learned and he said we didn’t have enough to go on. But Paige talked to him, told him we had the warehouse under surveillance where Trask was supposedly going to be bringing in these Russian girls. We were supposed to have backup. But it never came. It…” Her voice trailed off. Dillon suspected that there was more to the story, but Kate jumped ahead. “We were essentially ambushed. Trask killed Evan and kidnapped Paige. Suddenly Paige was in the chair instead of Denise. I watched as my partner, my best friend, was raped, online where every pervert could see.”

Kate stood and paced again, agitated, her hands moving constantly.

“And Evan was your boyfriend,” Dillon said quietly.

She nodded.

“Why did you think Denise was dead?”

“NYPD found a body in the Hudson River. She matched Denise’s description, but her face had been so brutalized, it wasn’t recognizable. I was certain it was her. I had seen her beaten on the Internet. Why would Trask let Denise go? She could identify him.”

Kate slammed both hands against the metal door. “But the bitch was working with him all along! I felt so damn guilty over Denise’s murder. I believed her, believed everything she told us. She had bruises and worse. I honestly thought she was trying to do the right thing and we had gotten her killed. But she set Paige up!”

Dillon mulled the information over. “What kind of bruises?”

“When I thought she was dead? They were all over her face.”

“No, the bruise you saw when she first approached you with information.”

“Her throat. He’d attempted to strangle her.”

“Is that why her voice is hoarse like that? On the feed?”

“Yeah.”

“But her vocal cords should have healed by now. There would have to have been extensive damage. Or ongoing trauma.” Dillon frowned. Remembered another case he had worked on where women self-mutilated, or allowed others to do it, out of self-hate, and numerous other reasons, unique and personal: low self-esteem, the need to feel in control, the need to give to others something no one else would.

Dillon pictured the way Denise had treated Lucy on the screen. It wasn’t an act. “Denise Arno hates women,” he said. “Hates that Trask wants other women. I’m sure you’ve heard of autoeroticism.”

“Where partners or solos bring themselves to the brink of death while engaging in sex.” She spoke like a textbook.

“Denise would give herself, her life, to Trask except that it would end in her death. She despises the fact that Trask wants-needs-other women to fulfill his fantasy, because his fantasies always end in death.”

Dillon pushed away the horrific image of Lucy dying while Trask raped her. If he thought about Lucy, he wouldn’t be able to think like Trask. And that wouldn’t do his sister any good.

“Denise is just as sick as Trask is,” Kate said. “I don’t really care why he does it. I just want to stop him.”

“But we can’t stop him if we can’t walk in his shoes. He’s smart. Logical, methodical, cunning. He’s not going to slip up. We have to be smarter, shrewder. If we can’t get into his head, we can’t save Lucy. And I refuse to let my little sister die. This Roger Morton-he was in Peterson’s file. He’s been with Trask since the beginning, right?”

Kate nodded. “He’s definitely wanted. He was at the ambush. And he’s on tape raping Paige…” Her voice trailed off. She was looking at Lucy on the computer, but not seeing her.

Dillon walked over to her, turned her face to look at him. “Does the FBI have a file on Roger? Can Quinn Peterson get it?”

“Absolutely. And I have all my early research.”

“I need to see it. Now.”

The computer beeped. Dillon and Kate walked over and he sat down.

Peterson here.

Dillon typed.

What’s going on with the coordinates?

I’m working on it. We have a team mobilized, but it’s going to take time.

How much time?

Two to three hours. We have to go in covertly because it’s in Mexican waters. We don’t have the time to go through official channels on this.

My brothers are heading there now. You’ll probably beat them. You can contact Patrick through IMP@kincaid.com.

Call them back. We don’t need civilians all over the place.

I couldn’t have stopped them. K. thinks it’s a trap.

I know. She told me. Kate needs to worry about her own ass. Is she there?

Yes.

Tell her I’m working on immunity. I’m doing everything I can to get her back. But Trask knows where she is.

She knows.

Dillon glanced at Kate. The hard expression on her face proved it.

“I wish Trask would come for me,” she whispered.

“He knows where you are. He must have a reason for not coming after you.”

“I don’t think he knows exactly where I am. He knows how to talk to my computer, and he’s probably narrowed down the region. But if he knew where I was, he would have taken me instead of Lucy.”

“Why?” Dillon asked.

She said quietly, “Because he wanted me first. Paige saved my life. He grabbed her when our backup finally arrived.” Kate looked at Dillon. “Paige and I dealt Trask a major blow. His freedom, his finances, his company. Payback.”

“But why did he want you originally? You said he tried to kidnap you first?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he planned on taking both of us. Like you said, he hates authority. I’ll bet he really hates women in authority.”

Dillon thought about that. “I think you’re right, but there’s another reason, maybe one we won’t know until we talk to him.”