Allison Brennan - Fear No Evil

If only Patrick were here. He could decipher her damn computer codes. She’d been working on something. Her demeanor, her tone, her body language said it all.

She’d lied to him. Dillon tolerated a lot, but he drew the line at lies.

He called Connor to find out how Patrick was doing.

“He’s still in a coma,” Connor said, his voice sounding surprisingly close. “We’re in San Diego and they’re prepping him for surgery.”

“Surgery?”

“Pressure on his brain. They need to relieve it or there’s no chance he’ll survive.”

Dillon paled. “Peterson didn’t tell me that.”

Connor sounded both angry and helpless. “Tell me you and that Donovan woman know where Lucy is. Tell me where. I’ll be there.”

“We’re working on it.”

“That’s not good enough!”

Dillon let Connor yell at him. Dillon wanted to scream himself. “I know,” he said quietly.

“Is Lucy…is she okay?”

“Yes.”

“Peterson just left to go back to headquarters. He said you had a list of names that this Trevor/Trask character may be.”

“It’s a theory.” Dillon filled Connor in, knowing that the process would comfort him.

“Call me when you find Lucy. Peterson has a plane fueled and ready at Miramar. It’s all ours. I can be flying anywhere in less than thirty minutes.”

“Call me when Patrick is out of surgery. How’re Mom and Dad holding up?”

“Mom’s in shock. Dad’s being steadfast.” Connor’s voice broke. “He cried when he saw Patrick. I haven’t seen him cry since Justin’s funeral.”

“I’m going to find her,” Dillon said.

Connor didn’t say anything.

“I will,” Dillon repeated.

“We have twenty-three hours. Time is running out.”

“Have faith.” Have faith in me .

“When you get the coordinates send them to me. Don’t go after him yourself.”

Dillon tensed, rubbed his eyes. “I’ll send them to you, but I’m going.”

“You were right on the money about Kate Donovan and your profile of the bastard who took Lucy, but he’ll kill you. Fuck, Dil! I don’t know if Patrick is going to survive this surgery, but if they don’t go in he’ll definitely die. We can’t lose Patrick and Lucy and you.”

“I’ll call you. Tell Mom and Dad I love them.”

“Dil, you’re not-”

Dillon hung up. Connor was right. He had no business going after Trask and trying to save Lucy. He could end up dead, and Lucy would still die.

But sometimes brains beat out brawn. Sometimes knowing how the hunter thought, knowing what he felt, meant more than knowing how to kill him.

The more Dillon read of his file, the closer he got to understanding exactly who Trask was.

The man who had Lucy had been unusually bright and industrious from early childhood, quiet, focused, and studious. But because of his above-average intelligence, school bored him-even private school. He turned to challenging himself, probably by hacking into computers. Working with his hands. His parents were not involved with his day-to-day life, and he was an only child. If he had a sibling, that sibling was much older. That fit. Especially if the sibling had achieved a lot, been perfect in his parents’ eyes. He had big shoes to fill, and because he tended toward darkness even as a child, he messed up. He made mistakes and was punished for them. He was curious about his surroundings, so curious that he definitely got into trouble. Not with the law, but with his parents. Strict rules. Image. Wealth.

He thought back to his recent case where privileged teenagers killed for the thrill. Their parents were wealthy, focused on image and not the rules. In fact, the parents of the killing team had been emotionally distant and unconcerned about what their kids did-as long as they didn’t tarnish the family name.

Had Trask tarnished his family name? Had he made an unforgivable mistake in his parents’ eyes? Been disowned, like his friend Roger Morton?

Money was important to him. Hugely important. He thrived on moving money around, laundering it. He got a thrill out of making his fortune through the sex trade. Something that would embarrass his parents.

But he hadn’t used his real name.

Or had he?

Dillon needed to look back at those original files from Trask Enterprises. There was something there, and since Kate had interviewed virtually every employee, the answer was probably trapped in her brain.

As soon as he entered Kate’s room, he knew she was gone. Her essence had disappeared.

Along with her laptop, her backpack, and her PDA.

“Dammit, Kate!”

He picked up a piece of paper with his name on it.

Dillon-

I know you won’t understand, but please try. I can save Lucy, but only alone. You have no reason to trust me, but please, on this, you have to.

I won’t let you bury Lucy. If you have a chance to put flowers on my grave, I’ll know. If you curse me, I’ll understand.

Tell Lucy when she comes home that she’s the bravest woman I’ve ever seen and I wish I could have known her.

– Kate

She knew where Lucy was and was going after her alone. Damn her! Renegade? Maybe idiot was a better word.

Dillon ran from the room. “Jack!” he called, not knowing where his brother had gone, but figuring he’d be invaluable in tracking Kate in the middle of the night on this mountain. “Jack!”

“Over here.”

Jack was in a grove of short, stubby trees, doing what Dillon didn’t know, and at this point didn’t care. “Kate went after Trask. Dammit, I knew she was lying to me. Have you seen her? You’ve been all over this observatory. She has to have some sort of vehicle.”

“Vehicle? You could say that. She’s probably headed for the plane.”

“ Plane ?” Dillon panicked. “We’ll never catch up to her in time.”

Jack pulled a large square device from his backpack. “She’s not going anywhere without this.”

“It looks like a car battery.”

“It goes to that fine little Stationair she has hidden about a mile away. The plane won’t fly without it.”

KATE LOOKED AT HER CONTROLS for the third time. What was wrong? She had fuel, but the plane just wouldn’t start. She had no power.

Damn, damn, damn! She had just checked the battery last week. It couldn’t be dead.

What was wrong with the damn plane?

The door opened. She swallowed when she saw Dillon Kincaid. She hadn’t thought him capable of fury, but his face said it all.

He’d never been as angry in his life.

He held the plane battery in his hands. “Looking for this?”

“Let me go.”

Dillon climbed into the turbocharged Cessna 206. He sat in the copilot seat, his tall frame filling the small cockpit.

“You are going to get Lucy and yourself killed. Maybe you deserve it. You think you do, so who am I to question it? But I will not have you getting Lucy killed in the process.”

“It’s not like that! He’ll kill her if he sees me with anyone-”

“You’ve been talking to him?” The words were quiet, but the fury vibrated in the plane. He dropped the battery at her feet.

“He contacted me. I told him if he pulled Lucy off-camera I would meet him. I’m trading myself for her! Don’t you see that this is the only way? One hint of the feds anywhere and he’ll kill her. I can’t risk it.”

Dillon grabbed her arms and lifted her from her seat. “You’re not stupid, Kate! You think he’s going to let Lucy go just because you walked into his lair? What are you thinking? You’ll both be killed and he’ll walk again! He wants you because you attacked his legitimate business. You embarressed him. He’s not going to give Lucy up. It’s a game to him. It’s fun. He wants to kill her.”