With Ties That Bind: Book 2 (The Broken Bonds 5)

She nods slowly. “Rules are very important to you,” she continues as she stands and walks to the glass chessboard. “You’ve constructed your life, and your company, around certain rules you deem essential, and a threat to that structure would be quite a stressor.”

Sadie touches a piece on the board, looks over her shoulder at Larkin. Some tentative battle of wills arcs between them. I can see it in the way Larkin’s lips thin. His gaze steady on the chess piece. A pawn.

Finally, Larkin meets Sadie’s eyes and smiles. “I’m not one of your subjects to analyze. You can profile me all you want, but you’re wasting your time. That won’t get you any closer to your goal, Agent Bonds.”

Sadie slides the pawn forward on the board and then faces Larkin. “And we’re not going to become pawns in your game, Mister Larkin. If the Alpha is a threat to you, you’d simply have him eliminated. Game over. But you’ve welcomed us in to do your dirty work.” She crosses her arms and moves closer to his desk. “Either you know who the Alpha is and you realize that you, yourself, can’t touch him. Or you don’t know his identity at all, and you want us to flush him out for you.”

Larkin’s smile is brilliant and practiced. “Touché, agent. You are quite good.”

Sadie cocks her head. “So which is it, and how do you plan to slither away from this unscathed?”

He straightens his back. All facade erased from his serious demeanor. “Ferreting out the Alpha serves to help me as much as it does you.” He inclines his head, letting us know Sadie was right in her deduction. “Why else would I suggest it if it didn’t benefit me? Every single person on this planet is self-involved. We all orchestrate games and have agendas to benefit ourselves.”

“All right.” I jump in. “I’m tired of being on this merry-go-round. Do you have anything useful for us, or is this just a ruse to garner information for yourself? I’m one minute away from having my partner take you in for impeding our investigation.”

He shoots me a glare. Doesn’t like being threatened; Sadie nailed that one dead-on. “What if I told you I might have knowledge as to where the Alpha will be tomorrow night?”

This forces me off the sofa. I approach him with locked fists. “I’d say you have less than a minute now.”

Sadie touches my arm, and I stop. But if whatever he does know can remove Avery as a target…then I’ll get that information. One way or another.

Larkin shares a look with Alexis, and she nods, encouraging him. I don’t understand the dynamic between him and his assistant, but I’m mentally storing her sway over him for later use.

“I do know where the Alpha will be tomorrow night,” Larkin says, squaring his shoulders. “We have one small window of opportunity for all of us to get what we want. And we will do it my way—” he glances between Sadie and me “—because I won’t have the FBI or your clumsy task force fucking it up.”

It’s the first bit of true backbone I’ve seen from Larkin so far. Smug fucker. I smile. I can work with that.

8

Rabbit Hole

Avery

The crime lab has become something akin to Alcatraz. Chief security measures have been enforced, assuring that no one outside the lab techs and law enforcement gain entry. Officers stand guard at the entrance, requiring all technicians and interns to sign in, then they’re checked against the databases.

Not just safeguarding; this lab is under surveillance.

This level of invasiveness is more than unnerving. I feel trapped. Like a rat spinning a wheel, round and round, just waiting for one of my monitors to toss in a stick to trip me up. And then the whole charade comes crashing down.

Honestly, I’m almost relieved it could be over. Exhaustion has started to toy with my mind. Paranoia has crept into my work. I question every look, every statement from my techs. I’m slipping.

And granted, even though the added security ensures the safety of my lab, it also affects my staff. Since the occurrence yesterday… No, scratch that. Since the first time I was taken by Wells, there’s been a lingering thread of fear running through this place.

Although everyone is too considerate to call it out for what it is, it’s there. Hovering just below their forced, kind smiles. They either hate the censoring as much as I do, or they want out, transferred altogether.

They were working alongside a sadistic killer for months…I can’t fault them for wanting to get far away from this madhouse.

Besides, with the FBI introducing—not too subtly—their special medical examiner team, we’ve been sidelined. We’ve become their helpers. I’m not sure why I was even called to the first crime scene today other than they wanted to test me. Analyze my reaction to the vic draped in my lab coat.

Or that could just be my paranoia.

The lab coat has been identified as mine now. Special forensic medical examiner in charge, Aubrey Paulsen, pointed it out only moments ago. He then proceeded to admonish me in front of my own lab, requesting in a not-so-requesting manner for me to take the rest of the evening off.

I’m not going anywhere until the other two victims are brought in. I have to know if there’s another warning against me on their person. I have to know if this will all circle back to me, and my role in the disposal of Wells.

The masked man knew what I’d done, and he threatened to make it known. By escaping and thwarting his plans—whatever horrible fate he had intended for me—I’ve set this in motion.

How will he reveal my secret?