Her breath caught. “Kylie Archer.”

“From what we can tell, she was the first non–EOD agent.” His face hardened. “The agents you don’t know about yet were Jessica Flintwood and Frank Malone. They were partners, a team.”

Just like she’d been partners with Cooper.

“He killed Jessica first. He slit her throat, just like with the others. Then he took out Frank a few weeks later.”

Her eyelids flickered. “He kills a woman, then a man.” But...with Kylie and Lockwood, they’d been a couple. So had Melanie and Van. Her gaze widened. “Were Jessica and—ah, Frank, were they involved?”

He frowned at her. “What?”

“Were they involved?” She could see the pattern, it was right there. “A couple. Just like the others.”

“I don’t know...” His head cocked to the right. “They worked together closely. Agents aren’t supposed to cross that line, so if they were, they would’ve kept it quiet.”

“But he found out.” It made sense to her, but Cooper was still frowning. “He’s targeting the women first, then going after their men.” She didn’t know why, but the killer had a pattern, a routine that he was following.”

“Right now,” his voice roughened, “I’m worried he’s going after you.” A grim pause, then Cooper said, “He’s calling you, breaking into your house, targeting you.”

His words made her afraid, but she wasn’t about to give into fear then.

“But it’s not going to happen,” he promised her. “Because I am not going to let anyone hurt you.”

Before she could say anything else, his head lowered, and his mouth pressed to hers.

* * *

NOELLE EVERS JOLTED. “That’s it. That’s why he does it!”

Deuce Porter glanced at her. “Ma’am, that’s a kiss.” His smile was wide. “Maybe we should step out of observation and give those two some privacy.”

Mercer had sent her down to watch the interaction between Cooper and Gabrielle, because he’d thought Gabrielle might speak more freely to that agent.

Mercer had been right.

But what she’d learned, the profile that was developing before her, it wasn’t what she’d expected. “I have to see Mercer.”

Deuce’s brows climbed. “I thought you’d be talking to all of us. You know...figuring out which one of us has snapped and gone crazy.” He shrugged. “Though you’ll no doubt have a hard time picking just one candidate. I think we’re all a little crazy.”

“I know what he’s doing,” she said, excitement growing within her. “Why he’s doing it.” The why was the most important part. Once you understood a killer’s motivation, that made the perp vulnerable. You could manipulate him then.

Trap him.

She hurried for the door.

“Why?” Deuce asked, the question a growl. “I’d like to know why he killed my friend. Lockwood and I—we worked plenty of missions together. He was a good man. He didn’t deserve to go down like that.”

She couldn’t tell the agent why. She was only supposed to talk with Mercer. Just him.

Noelle opened the door and hurried into the hallway. She was in such a hurry to get to Mercer that she slammed straight into the man standing there.

Big, strong, with midnight-black hair and dark, golden eyes, the fellow caught her in an instant and held her in a steady grip.

“Dragon, you don’t want to be getting too close to her...” Deuce warned from behind her. “She’s Mercer’s profiler. She’s here to find out which one of us has gone psychotic.”

Dragon?

The man before her slowly released his hold on her.

Tags: Cynthia Eden Shadow Agents Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net