“Christa, hurry up!” Dale shouted. “I got people waitin’ on those drinks.”
Christa’s face flushed with embarrassment. “S-sorry!” She immediately hurried to obey.
Cadence glanced around. No one else was paying attention to the news.
They were too busy dancing. Drinking.
Making out.
So much for the warnings reaching their target audience.
She saw Kyle’s gaze. Realized he was thinking the exact same thing.
“No wonder he has such easy prey,” Kyle muttered. “No one here even knows to be cautious. That’s damn well changing.” A band was playing in the corner. Blasting out lyrics that rolled with a twang. Kyle jumped up on the stage. Grabbed the microphone from the singer. “I want your attention!”
His voice echoed through the room.
“Who the f**k are you?” one man shouted out as he weaved toward Kyle.
Kyle lifted his ID. “I’m the f**king FBI, and I want you to listen!”
More curses. Obviously, the crowd wasn’t impressed with his badge.
“There’s a killer hunting, possibly in this area.” He pointed toward the TV. “We believe he abducted a woman from Maverick before, a woman who left this bar, and he might do it again.”
She saw some of the women glance nervously at each other.
“If you’re a female, and you’re traveling alone, do not open your car to any strangers. He disables vehicles, isolates his prey, and then he comes in to help them.” Kyle’s gaze took in the women surrounding him. “We think he pretends to be law enforcement so his victims feel secure. It lets him get close enough to take them.”
“Then what?” a man called out, holding tight to a redhead.
“Then they vanish.” His voice was flat. “So pay attention. Stay on your guard—and you might just stay alive.”
The sonofabitch agent had gone to Maverick. He’s tracking me. Following in my footsteps.
He eased back into the corner. He’d picked the most shadowed place in the room. A deliberate choice. He always chose the spot that would let him watch others—even while the location helped to keep him concealed.
The agents hadn’t spotted him yet. In the dim interior of that bar, even if they looked his way, they’d just see a man with baseball cap pulled too low over his brow. They wouldn’t get closer to him.
He wouldn’t give them the chance to get closer.
Time to act.
McKenzie had just jumped down from the stage. The guy was stalking toward Cadence, his face grim.
He caught her arm. Pulled her close.
A little too close for a partner’s hold. A little too intimate. Too possessive.
Interesting.
Kyle led Cadence to the back of the bar and pushed her inside the staff room.
The agents never glanced his way. But then, the bar was packed. Bodies pressing tightly together. Finding him would have been like finding a damn needle in a haystack.
That’s why I picked this place. It was always easier to hide in a crowd.
People started talking again, mumbling. Some of the women looked nervous. Hell. But some of them…
Some of them were already heading back onto the dance floor. Already laughing and flirting once more.
That was the thing about fear. Unless the experience had happened to you, it was often easy to gloss over it. To think it never would happen.
How wrong they were.
“Another drink?” He glanced up and saw the dark-haired waitress, Christa, standing over him. Her smile was hesitant.
She knew he was a good tipper.
“Nah, I think I’ll cut out soon.” He pulled the brim of his hat down a bit lower. “Got to be safe while I’m driving.”
Her smile widened a bit more. Christa didn’t like the drunks. She was just working there to help pay off her mom’s hospital bills.
Christa was good to her mother.
Good.
When she went to move his empty bottle, his hand slid out and his fingers caught hers. “I want you to be careful tonight, Christa.” He’d been coming to this bar for a long time.
Off and on for ten years.
He liked to visit the places that offered him fond memories.
“I will be.”
“Is your car out back?” He injected a note of concern into his voice. His voice had always been a gift. He could adopt any accent, any pitch, any time he wanted. He’d played around in the drama club back in high school. The girls had loved it when he ditched his twang and used an English accent on them.
He’d always had an easy time with the girls.
“It’s across the street. I have to leave a little early, and I didn’t want to get penned in by the customers.”
He rubbed his thumb over her wrist. So delicate. So perfect for his ropes. “Then I guess I’ll see you next time.”
A little nod. She pulled away from him. Christa never liked to touch the customers too long. She didn’t get too friendly with anyone. She was like Lily in so many ways.
Christa hurried away.
His gaze slid back to the staff door. Just what was Kyle doing in there with his partner?
Maybe he should take a look. If Kyle was following in his steps…then how about I follow in yours?
He tossed a generous tip down on the table and rose. Kyle had come after him. Now it was his turn to go after the agent.
“They’re making it too easy for him,” Kyle snapped as he paced the small confines of the storage room. Boxes. Booze. “Did you see them? They didn’t even care about what was happening.”
“Some of them did. I noticed one of the waitresses—Christa—she stopped to watch the news. She was listening.” Cadence’s voice was cool. Easy. Always the voice of reason.
He didn’t want her so reasonable.
He didn’t want to be the only one who was so screwed up.
He whirled toward her. “This is one bar. One. He could be in any of a hundred other places just like this. Only we’re not there, telling those people to be on guard.”
She caught his hands. Held them tightly. “You have to let it go.”
His back teeth ground together. She sees too much.
“You weren’t there when Maria was taken. You couldn’t tell her to be on guard, I get it. But Kyle, this is destroying you. Let the past go.”
“That’s easy for you to say.” The words were an angry growl that he hated, but couldn’t stop. “You never lost someone you cared about, you never saw—”
Her eyelids flickered. She dropped her hold on him and stepped back. “I’ve seen plenty.”