Hunting (35 page)

But she’d only get one
chance to get it right.

So she’d better make it
count.

The drive from the hospital
to Nathanial Collins’ house took too long. Malachi road with
Lorcan, Hell, and Fin—men he trusted with his life...and with
Jules’. His sister road in the backseat, saying nothing.

“
What do you know about
this Collins?” Hell asked as Lorcan approached the Chesterfield
neighborhood.

“
We’ve been friends
practically my whole life,” Al said. “I’m not even sure when he
first came around.”

“
We were in some of the
same classes in elementary school, when we were living in San
Francisco the first time. His mother and ours were close friends,
who’d met at a garden club the year Al was born. Nate and I were
the same age, so were expected to play together.”

“
And did you?” Fin
asked.

“
Sometimes. We were
friendly, but not close. He was different, more studious, and
definitely more of a sore loser. But he was a middle child with
large gaps between him and his half siblings. And lonely.” Malachi
tried to remember the little boy he’d known—the one who was always
on the fringe of everything, but never really a part of it. Had he
contributed to this? Should he have made more of an effort to
involve Nate?

Nate was in their lives,
still. They’d moved when Mal was eleven to England. His mother had
gotten a teaching fellowship and his father was in a place with his
career to relocate. They’d stayed in England for four years, long
enough for Mal to enter high school, and Mick middle school. Al had
just been in early elementary when they’d moved back to the San
Francisco area. Nate’s family had relocated by that point, too.
“They moved back to San Francisco about the time I was graduating
from high school. We were never really close after that. He stayed
in the area for a while. I’m not sure when that
changed.”

“
We went out a few times.”
Al said the words low and Malachi could feel her disgust. “Nothing
came of it, then about the time I entered the Academy, he was in
New York. Transferred there a few months after you did,
Mal.”

“
So why did he come to St.
Louis?” Lorcan asked as he pulled onto the street that Carrie had
told them Nate lived on. Mal had never been to the man’s house. Now
he wondered at that. “Did he follow you?”

“
I think he may have
followed Malachi. Or my mother. He’s always been close to our
mother. Closer than to his own, I think. Mom said he showed up at
the house about a year or so ago, and reintroduced himself. Said
he’d transferred to the area, and his mother had mentioned most of
our family lived here.”

“
But he most likely already
knew that, didn’t he?” Fin said. “Question is, why did he focus on
Malachi so strongly?”

“
Because of
his
mother, clichéd as it sounds. She was always asking him ‘why can’t
you be more like Malachi’? I heard her many times. It would crush
him. Finally, I heard our mother point it out to her.” Al leaned up
between the seats. “He’s a very competitive person.”

“
And whenever we’d play, he
would lose. Almost every time. Except in chess. He was a much
better chess player. Until I started beating him at that, too.”
Malachi remembered those childhood incidents so vaguely. But did
Nate? Or had they had that much of an impact on the other
man?

“
So you took even that from
him. At least in his mind. What are the chances he took them to his
home? Would he be that arrogant?” Hell asked.

Malachi thought for a
moment. “Yes. He would. He’s been killing for years, and we’ve been
able to attribute at least thirty victims to him. And I’ve not
stopped him—found him—before, why would now be any different?”
Malachi fought the disgust he felt. The anger at himself. He should
have seen it, long before now. “But he won’t keep them there. Not
for long. He’ll have someplace else set up for them. At least for
Paige. I’m not so sure he intended to take Julia. I didn’t even
know she’d be at my house this afternoon. She wasn’t scheduled to
leave until six. She must have taken off early. I don’t know why.”
Him. Because of him. She was running from him; that was why she’d
left early.

But why would she have put
her rings, those precious bands of gold and diamond, on his
grandmother’s equally precious necklace
before
Nate took
her?

What did that
mean?

And why had she been at his
house, if she was running
away
?

So many questions...he just
prayed he’d get the chance to get the answers. “We need to hurry.
He might not be at his house for long. If he’s even still
there.”

Malachi ordered a silent
approach. He didn’t want Nate suspecting they were on their way.
“When we get there, Lorcan and I will go in first. Hell, take the
back. Fin, you check for side entrances. Al, you’re in charge of
everyone else, including locals. This bastard has killed in forty
different ways, there is no way to predict what or how he’s doing
things inside.”

Or what he was doing to the
women Malachi loved.

***

The house was so similar to
Malachi’s he cursed himself again. Had he ever been to Nate’s he
would have been struck by the parallels. Would he have put it
together in time to save the latest rash of victims, to save his
friend Allan?

There was no way for him to
know. That would sit on his soul for the rest of his
life.

He pushed the console
button that would connect him to the other PAVAD vehicle traveling
a few car lengths behind them. “J.T., get me a floor plan for this
place.”

“
Coming to your tablets
now.” his team’s computer specialist said. “Looks just like yours,
boss.”

“
He wants to become you,”
Fin said. “And that’s why he’s taken Julia. I’m not sure why he
took Paige, though.”

“
Because before Julia,
Paige was the woman I was closest to, who was not an actual member
of the family or involved with anyone, like Georgia or Ana. Until
Julia...”

Hell put a hand on
Malachi’s shoulder, a silent testament of support. Hell had been
there; Georgia had been the victim of a madman, too.

Julia had been that same
madman’s victim.

And now she was one
again.

He’d done a piss poor job
of protecting her, hadn’t he?

He looked at the men who
were his closest friends, men he knew would understand. “I’m going
to find him, and if he’s touched her, or hurt her, in any way, I’m
going to kill him. Just so you all know.”

No one said a word. Because
each and every one of them had been in his shoes before.

Malachi gave the signal,
and Lorcan took a crowbar to the front door knob. They had their
warrants—exigent circumstances—and everyone knew what to do. They’d
get inside as quietly as possible. Once inside they’d search the
house for Nate and for Paige or Julia.

Malachi seriously doubted
he was keeping them in the same room. Together, they would be too
difficult for the man to control.

Unless they were
injured.

But he wouldn’t let himself
think of that.

The house was big enough
that someone could easily come in the back or garage doors, or even
the front door, without someone on the third floor knowing. Just
like Malachi’s home. That’s what they were counting on.

There were a few lights on
in the house, in what Malachi suspected were the study on the first
floor and the master bedroom suite on the third.

He nodded to Lorcan, then
pointed up. They would take the master bedroom, and send Fin and
Hell toward the den area. Hopefully, they’d find the women. Or
Nate.

Julia waited behind the
door, her makeshift weapon in her hand. She was forcing herself to
count in Greek, a trick she’d learned in med school to keep herself
calm in stressful situations. If this wasn’t one of those stressful
situations, she didn’t know what would be.

Paige had stopped screaming
and yelling at least two minutes ago. Jules wouldn’t allow herself
to think about what he’d done to her friend to silence
her.

Nathanial was coming for
her and she knew it. Once he returned she suspected what he would
try to do.

She’d kill him
first.

She heard his footsteps
just outside the door, then the knob turned.

She knew the exact moment
he realized she wasn’t in the bed where he’d left her. He laughed.
“Yes, you are a spirited little one, aren’t you? Come, I have wine
and a bit of dinner for you.” His speech pattern was different than
from the times she’d spoken with him before. Now it was more
formal, more contrived, than when he’d been at Meredith’s dinner
table. Did he realize that? What did it mean? Was it an act? Him
possibly trying to emulate Malachi’s tone? Malachi’s accent and
slight turn of phrase that told of the Brockman family’s time in
England?

“
What did you do to Paige?”
She held the wrapped shard behind her back, hoping he couldn’t see
it. She’d hidden a second one under the foot of his bed. If he
knocked her down and took the first one hopefully she could get to
the second.

“
Nothing to concern
yourself with. Paige is merely drugged again. I didn’t want to do
it, you understand, but I needed her cooperation while I spend this
first evening with you. The first time between lovers is always
rather special, isn’t it?” He turned to face her, a maddening
expression on his face. The fact that she could fight him didn’t
concern him at all. He really thought she was no real
threat.

“
I’ll never be your lover,
you sick son of a bitch!” She yelled at him. Jules took her chance,
knocking the plate he carried to the floor when she jumped. She
rammed the ceramic shard deep into his left shoulder; he screamed
and grabbed her arm with one hand and her hair with the
other.

He threw her off of him
like she weighed no more than Ruthie. Jules held on to her weapon,
knowing that she’d have to fight even harder now. She’d been aiming
for his heart, but had obviously misjudged. She’d have been better
off aiming for his lungs. Or his throat. She pulled it free. She’d
have to do it again, and again if necessary.

He was on her then, and she
yelled again—right into his ear. She swung with the silk handled
shank, stabbing toward him repeatedly.

Some of her blows reached
home; she knew they did. His almost inhuman scream told her
that.

He had his hands around her
throat, cutting off her air. But she wouldn’t give up.

She kicked him, straight in
the stomach.

It was enough to get him
off of her for only a second. “You bitch!”

“
Did you think I’d make it
easy for you? You are nothing like him. Nothing! And you will never
touch me. Never!”

He rolled to his back, then
stood up, the shard in his hand. When had he found it? Why had she
put it where
he
could see it?

His laugh chilled her. He
tucked it in his pocket. “I’ll have you, seven ways until Sunday.
And I’ll send the tape to your precious Malachi so he can watch me
fuck you the way I’ve watched you fuck him!”

He pulled his gun from his
waistband and pointed it directly at her heart. Less than six
inches separated her from the barrel of the silencer.

Jules froze.

Malachi heard the screaming
and yelling and every vessel in his body turned to ice. Julia; that
was his Julia yelling. But where did the bastard have her? And was
it her that had screamed?

He ran as quietly as he
could, conscious of Lorcan a few steps behind him.

He wanted to yell, to call
for her, let her know he was there, but he didn’t.

The element of surprise
would only work in their favor.

He knew where the master
bedroom was because the floor plan of the bastard’s house was
exactly like his. Probably purchased the house because it was
designed—and most likely—built by the same firm that had done his
home, and the others in his subdivision.

It took stalking to a whole
new level.

The master bedroom door was
wide open, and Mal held his gun at the ready. He stepped into the
frame, casting a large shadow from the hallway light. The top of
the shadow rested just over Nate’s shoes.

Both the people in the room
froze, and stared at him.

Malachi would never forget
the expression on Julia’s face when she first saw him. Nate’s gun
was aimed directly at Julia. Close enough to touch her.

They were both covered with
blood.

Lorcan hadn’t revealed
himself, yet. He was Malachi’s ace-in-the-hole.

“
Well. This is unexpected.”
Nate grinned, and Malachi saw the madness for the first time. And
that madness was too damned close to Julia. “Of course, the perfect
Malachi Brockman would show up to play the hero, even suffering
from a gunshot wound. Tell me, my old friend, how did you know to
come here?”