Page 1 of Dark Angel
PROLOGUE
Where am I?Disoriented, Missy Angelo shook her head to dislodge the burlap bag covering her face, and panic gripped her when the cord tightened around her neck. Trying to be brave, she ran her fingers over the lumpy ground beneath her and reached up her tied hands to find a metal box surrounding her. The sounds of an engine and country music drifted toward her.The air around her smelled like gas and the only fresh air came from wind whistling through a rusty patch on the floor. Through the loose weave of the bag, she could make out the blacktop flashing by, and the light flickering through the hole was a comfort. Why was she in the trunk of a vehicle? How long had she been trapped in the dark?
Terrified, confused, and with her face wet with tears, Missy curled into a ball with her mom’s words echoing through her mind. She should never have gone with the janitor.Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t accept candy from dirty old men.
She’d made a terrible mistake and Mommy would be cross with her. Heart pounding, she kicked at the trunk and pounded with her fists. “Let me out. Let me out.”
The music cranked up louder and the vehicle swerved, tossing her from one side of the trunk to the other. Now she’d made him angry. Why was he doing this to her? She tried to think straight. He hadn’t been a stranger or a dirty old man. The janitor worked at the school. The teachers called him Jared and he was nice to everyone. He’d often sweep close to her and smile. Sometimes he’d whisper funny things to her about the teachers, as if it were their little secret. He had a friendly smile and wasn’t dirty. When she’d seen him outside the girls’ bathroom, she’d believed him when he’d said her mom had wrecked the car and her dad had asked him to take her to the hospital. She’d cried and he’d led her to the janitor’s storeroom and given her a can of soda. He’d told her to be brave and not to worry. If her parents died, he promised to take care of her.
Sobbing, she’d drank the small can of soda and didn’t move from the chair when he’d left to get his vehicle. By the time he returned, her legs had gone all wonky and he’d wrapped her in a blanket so tight she couldn’t move her arms. He told her if she made a noise, the cops would take her away and she’d never see her parents again. Suddenly very afraid, she’d believed him. Her head swam and her mouth wouldn’t form words. So tired, she couldn’t keep her eyes open and must have fallen asleep.
She screamed again and again until her voice came out in a croak, and her hands hurt from striking the top of the trunk. The music stopped and the vehicle slowed and turned. As it bumped along, Missy peered through the hood at the hole and could see a dirt track. Dead grass and vegetation clawed at the sides of the sedan like nails on a chalkboard. Bounced around, her head banged on a toolbox and she cried out in pain. She traced a small lump on her scalp with trembling fingers. Her throat was dry from screaming. Why couldn’t anyone hear her? “Let me out!”
The sedan stopped. A car door creaked open and sometime later the trunk lid opened. Jared peered down at her. She could just make him out through the hood. He looked different wearing coveralls and yellow plastic gloves. He gave her a silly smile. His eyes moved over her and he wet his lips. Afraid, Missy shuffled away from him. “I want my mommy.”
“She’s dead and so is your pa.” Jared grabbed her hair. “Be a good girl and do as I say or I’ll drag you along by your hair.”
Missy screamed long and loud, gasping in big breaths and kicking out at him with her feet. “Get away from me. I hate you.”
“Scream all you want, no one will hear you. This is my special place. I bring all my girls here and they really enjoy it. None of them have left me. They’re all here and you’ll meet them real soon.” Jared grabbed her legs and, swinging her out of the trunk, tossed her into the dense dry vegetation.
Winded, Missy scrabbled to her hands and knees and tried to get away. Her tied hands made it difficult to run as she moved through the long grass, tripping over weeds tangling around her legs. Behind her, she could hear him coming. He was laughing. The next second, the weight of Jared’s body crushed her to the ground. Prickles dug into her cheeks as she gasped for breath. “Help me. Somebody help me.”
Pain slammed into the back of her head and she bit her tongue as hands tore at her clothes. A metallic taste spilled into her mouth and she wet herself. She blinked as a shadow fell over them. Someone had come to save her and the sun shone around the shadow like an angel’s halo. A whisper came over the heavy breathing behind her.
“It’s judgment time.”
A rush of hot fluid splashed over her as Jared’s weight crushed her. She turned her head as a playing card landed on the ground just in front of her eyes and floated in a sea of crimson. The soft voice came again and drifted to her as if on the breeze.
“Don’t move, little one. Help is coming. Don’t look behind you. He can’t hurt you now. I’m close by, watching over you. Be strong.”
Calmed by the soft voice, Missy closed her eyes. A miracle had saved her. “Thank you.”
ONE
Special Agent Beth Katz backtracked to her vehicle. She had spatter from the kill and needed an excuse to cover the stains. Blood from slicing a throat gushes in all forward directions, so grabbing the hair and cutting from behind usually avoids splash back, but she had drops on her sleeve. She tossed her examination gloves and the bloody razor in a container of Lab Clean and swirled it around. The solution would remove all traces of blood and DNA in seconds. After pulling on clean examination gloves, she dried the razor and dropped it back into her pocket. She had seconds to create an alibi. Moving fast, she closed the trunk and ran to open the door to her Crown Victoria. She reached for the radio and called her boss. “I still have eyes on the suspect. His vehicle has left the highway and is heading along a dirt road toward the Clawsfoot Mine. I’ll park some ways in and head in on foot. I don’t want to spook him into killing the girl.”
“I’m coming in hot.”The engine of Mac’s SUV roared.“ETA five minutes. Don’t do anything stupid. I want this guy alive.”
Feeling an overwhelming glow of satisfaction, Beth smiled. “Copy.”
After tossing the radio back inside the vehicle, she took off at a run. The roar of Mac’s engine echoed in the distance. She bounded through the long grass toward the slaughtered man and stared at him in disgust. She fell to her knees beside him. Trapped under him in a pool of blood, lay a young girl face down. Right now, Beth needed her charming, charismatic psychopath’s persona to calm the child. It was, after all, her true nature but one she needed to keep hidden to avoid the scrutiny of FBI profilers, should they ever discover her in the wrong place at the right time. Being nice was easy, natural, and having to act the abrasive co-worker was tough but it kept her safe. Her acting skills had worked so far but every day as a hardheaded FBI agent was a challenge.
With gentle care, she untied the hood and pulled it away from her face. Wide-eyed and past crying now, the girl was almost catatonic. Beth stroked the child’s hair and kept her body between the girl and the dead man, blocking her view. “Hang on, sweetheart. We’ll have you out of here real soon. Keep looking over there at those wildflowers. They’re so pretty, sitting there all on their lonesome. Don’t look back here, okay?”
The girl’s head moved in a slight nod and her lips moved but no words came out. Jared Small’s head rested above the waist on the girl’s back, his thick torso pinning her under him. Footsteps came thumping along the dirt road, and Beth pressed the gaping hole in Small’s throat, in what she hoped appeared to be a futile attempt to stem the bleeding. She turned and sat on the ground as Mac came into view, weapon drawn. Shaking her head, she looked at him. “He’s gone. I’ll need help to get the girl from under him.”
“Dead?” Mac holstered his weapon and stared down at the inert body. “Did you shoot him? Dammit, I wanted him alive.” He pulled on gloves and snorted in disgust.
Meeting his gaze, with her best shocked expression, Beth shook her head. “No, I didn’t shoot him. I found him like this, Mac. His throat’s been cut.”
“What?” Mac pulled his weapon again and peered around. “Did you see anyone?”
Trying to look confused, Beth stared at her blood-soaked gloves and sleeves. “No. I saw this animal on the girl, that’s all.”
“Okay.” Mac holstered his weapon. “I’ll turn him over, and you pull out the kid.”
Concerned, why Mac hadn’t shown one ounce of compassion for the little girl, Beth crawled on her knees toward her and as Mac turned Small onto his back, she lifted the little girl free and carried her some distance away. Making soothing sounds, she examined the little girl and, finding nothing life-threatening, then turned her away from the carnage. From the way Missy stared blankly into space, she was going into shock. Beth wished she had something to cover her, but if she used her jacket, she’d contaminate the evidence on the child. Instead, she gently pulled her clothing around her and sat her on a boulder. “Just sit there, sweetheart. I’ll be right here. Look at those pretty flowers while I speak to Mac.”
