with menace and a dare. A challenge to Dylan to feel the thrill of the kill, Turnbull seemed to say silently.
Dylan clenched his jaw. He wanted to see fear in Turnbull’s eyes. Wanted to hear him scream as his victims had. Hear him beg for his life.
Instead Turnbull laughed, a hideous deep growl that punctured the night like a wild animal just before it tore into a smaller one’s carcass.
“You’re just like me,” Turnbull mumbled. “I can see the evil in your eyes.”
Dylan’s fingers tightened on the knife handle. At that moment he did crave the kill. But his need was driven by revenge and justice, not depraved indifference.
“Dylan, don’t…”
His brother Miguel’s voice rumbled from behind him. Miguel, who was a saint compared to him. He’d been an altar boy while Dylan had been the troublemaker.
They hadn’t always gotten along, but as adults they’d forged a bond and developed a healthy respect for one another’s differences. Miguel was a forensic scientist, and they often worked together on cases, relying on each other’s expertise.
Miguel’s footfalls echoed on the ground as he approached. “Come on, Dylan. We’ve got him. Let’s take him in and make him pay for what he did. Make him face the families of the victims.”
Dylan’s hand trembled as his gaze once again locked with the monster. Then he saw the fear in the man’s eyes. Turnbull wanted him to kill him.
Because he didn’t want to face the families.
Miguel was right. Having to look into the pain-filled eyes of the parents of the women he’d hurt would be his worst punishment.
His hand slipped, caught the skin just enough to cause a flesh wound, then he gestured for Miguel to cuff the bastard.
HOURS LATER, after their debriefing and a press conference to announce they’d finally arrested the ruthless Ute killer, Dylan walked into the Vegas bar. All he wanted was to purge his rage, and drown out the images of the girls he hadn’t been able to save.
Just like he hadn’t saved his fifteen-year-old sister, Teresa, when she’d been gunned down in a gangrelated drive-by.
Suddenly, the most exotic creature he’d ever seen approached him. Long black hair that hung down to her waist swayed seductively as she walked, her dark chocolate eyes raking over him appreciatively.
She was Ute, fit the profile of the victims he’d fought so hard to obtain justice for. Could have become number eleven on Turnbull’s kill card. Yet here she was, alive and smiling at him.
“Agent Acevedo,” she said in a purrlike voice with the faint accent of her heritage. “I saw you on the news. Thank you for arresting that killer.”
He shrugged. “I only wish we’d caught him sooner.”
Wise, sympathetic eyes met his, along with a sultriness that made his body go rock hard and achy.
He was mesmerized by her beauty, wanted her naked and in his bed, soothing the heat and rage in his soul.
When she finished her shift, they talked for hours. Her name was Aspen Meadows. She was working as a cocktail waitress while earning a teaching degree.
Finally he escorted her to her apartment. Before he closed the door, she was in his arms and he was tearing off her clothes. He took her on the floor, against the wall, on the bed and in the shower.
A week of lovemaking couldn’t assuage the pain or guilt in his chest. He didn’t deserve her. Didn’t deserve to be loved or soothed when he’d failed so many.
But he stole the hours and days anyway, desperate for a slice of heaven to ease the hell he lived with daily.
He knew it wouldn’t last, couldn’t last, though. A phone call the following Friday night reminded him too well.
Another murder. An undercover assignment.
He had to go.
He kissed her goodbye and left while she was sleeping. He wouldn’t see her again. He couldn’t.
His work put anyone he cared about in danger.
And he had enough dead girls haunting him to last him forever.
A year later
Aspen Meadows had been missing for nine weeks now. Nine weeks of wondering if she was dead or alive.
Nine weeks of wondering if he could have done something to save her.
Dylan stared at Aspen’s cousin, Emma Richardson, fearing the worst. He’d left Aspen last year to keep her safe, yet now she might be dead.
Possibly murdered by the same hit man who’d killed his fellow agent, Julie Granger. The FBI’s theory—Aspen had witnessed Boyd Perkins and Sherman Watts disposing of Julie’s body.
The case that had brought them to the Southern Ute reservation.
Emma pressed a hand to her head as if to clear her vision. “Aspen is alive.”
His chest tightened as hope speared him. He didn’t often trust a psychic, but Emma’s visions had proven right before, and his brother, Miguel, who’d obviously fallen for the woman, believed her wholeheartedly.
And he trusted his twin brother more than anyone in the world.
Still, he had to swallow to make his voice work. He’d prayed for this news ever since he’d heard Aspen’s car had been found crashed into a tree near the San Juan River.
But something about the tortured look on Emma’s face disturbed him. “Are you sure she’s alive?”
Emma nodded, although she swayed, her face pale, her eyes gaunt. Miguel rushed to help her to the sofa. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes with a shudder.
“What did you see?” Sweat beaded on the nape of Dylan’s neck. He was terrified that Aspen had died and that he’d lost her forever.
Just as he’d lost almost every woman he’d ever cared about. His little sister, Teresa. Then his friend Julie.
Miguel rubbed Emma’s arms, his voice low and worried, “Emma?”
“I…don’t know. The vision…I just know she’s alive, but she’s scared.” She opened her eyes and looked up at Dylan, cold terror streaking her expression. “And she’s in danger.”
Dylan paced across the room, his heart pounding as Aspen’s son, Jack, cried out. The sound shattered the air as if he’d heard Emma and understood that his mother might be in trouble. Emma started to rise to go to the baby, but Dylan waved her off. She looked as if she might faint if she tried to stand.
He
