Part 13 (1/2)
Kas pulls her into a quick hug before following her upstairs to find Erik.
They print off the information on all three Evans as Kas calls his team and Derrick, asking them to meet in twenty minutes.
Everyone goes over the information, deciding how to proceed. One of the possibilities lives in New York, and the other two live right there in Was.h.i.+ngton D.C. The information is slim, only linking the whereabouts to the general vicinity of some of the sub-groups suspected hang-out's in Prizrak's trafficking ring. The sophisticated system Raina inst.i.tuted has monitored pings set up in the pre-programmed areas when anything a.s.sociated with the desired name popped up. It was difficult to establish, having to carefully follow all the laws, being sure not to violate any privacy act, but it looks like it may have finally paid off.
Kas and Derrick decide to focus on all three, paying particular attention to the one who has the most connections, as vague as they may be. Kas calls Michael, giving him the address of the Parker who lives in New York, knowing his New Jersey team has worked closely with the agents in The Big Apple on a couple of the raids. He calls Chase, asking if he can update Prizrak's profile, hoping something in there will help to narrow their focus on the elusive Ghost.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
Finals are a couple of weeks away, and Kas is paying close attention to Raina, making sure she isn't pus.h.i.+ng herself too hard again, leaving her exhausted. These are her last finals before receiving her doctorate, and Kas can almost feel the mixture of excitement, stress, and relief radiating off of her. He picks up her text book while she is in the shower, and his brain spins just flipping through the pages. He shakes his head, smiling, as he flips through her books on Arabic, her soon-to-be sixth fluent language. He is exhausted just watching her, between college, the FBI, her extra language studies, and martial arts, he's ready to bury his head and hibernate.
Relieved she is close to leaving one of her most taxing responsibilities behind, he relaxes a little, knowing that will remove a lot of the tension she acts like she doesn't have. Kas hears the shower water shut off, and he fixes her a cup of iced hazelnut coffee, knowing she will be rus.h.i.+ng out the door to get to the computer lab at the university.
Raina dries her hair, not hearing the soft buzz of her cell phone as it vibrates from a missed call. Grabbing her books, she tosses them in her bag and smiles gratefully when Kas hands her the much needed caffeine as she walks into the living room.
”I'll see you at 1:00,” he tells her, kissing her forehead when she leans in for a hug.
”Love you,” she calls over her shoulder as she heads out the door.
The cold spell has continued, and Raina wraps her jacket around her, wis.h.i.+ng the pleasant weather of spring would return. She jumps into her heated car, sending Kas a quick text, thanking him for starting it, and heat warms her lower belly as she promises to warm parts of him later that night. Her cell vibrates as she is about to throw it in her purse. She sees she missed a call from the same unknown caller a few minutes ago as she answers the phone. Silence greets her, and she hangs up, not thinking much about it as she pulls out of the drive, her mind on everything she has to do at the computer lab.
Raina parks in the parking deck, grabbing her laptop as she steps out of her car. She jumps when her cell phone buzzes in her hand. Knowing she won't get service in the elevator, she ignores it. Kas is on the phone as she enters his office. He's not looking happy about whatever he's being told by whoever's on the other end. He motions her to sit down as he finishes the call.
”Change of plans, darlin',” Kas tells her, stress edging his words.
Raina sees the tension in the tight lines around his dark brown eyes, ”What's wrong?”
”I have to go out of town for a few days,” he begins, witnessing the disappointment on her lovely face. ”I'll be back on Friday.”
Raina waits a few seconds, waiting for him to expand, but he doesn't offer any further explanation. ”Where are you going?”
”Boston.”
Starting to get a little irritated with his lack of forthcoming information, she stands up, stepping in front of him, trying to get his distracted attention. ”And you would be going to Boston because...?”
Kas puts down the files he grabbed and pulls her into his arms. He isn't about to tell her the details of why he's going, not wanting to fill her head with the gruesome reason, so he skirts around it. ”We have a lead on traffickers linked to Prizrak.”
He feels Raina tense, knowing she worries about him, especially when he's away, ”Sweetheart, I'll be back soon, no worries, okay?”
She gives him a long kiss. ”Stay safe.”
”Always, baby.” Kas grabs his jacket, giving her one last kiss before heading towards the door. ”You owe me a rain check on what you promised me in your text message this morning,” he winks before turning serious, ”I want you out of here by 6:00 each night, Rain. I mean it, I don't want you staying here late, then staying up past midnight studying.”
Raina rolls her eyes at his bossiness, biting her lip at the stern look he gives her in response.
”Please, Raina. I don't want to have to be worrying about you driving exhausted while I'm gone.”
She mocks a salute, ”Yes, sir,” she teases.
Kas represses a smile, making sure to give her one last warning look before winking at her on his way out, ”I love you.”
”Love you, too.”
”EAT!” he calls over his shoulder, not able to bite back his grin this time as he steps into the elevator.
The house is too quiet without Kas there, and Raina turns on the music, needing some form of company as she picks at her Greek salad while she studies the newest information on neural networks. Her cell phone vibrates, and she grabs it, her heart fluttering when she thinks it's Kas. The flutter is replaced by a quickening in her pulse as she is once again met with chilling silence.
She glances at the screen showing it's the unknown caller again. Her heart almost stops when today's date hits her. Snapping the phone closed, she tries to ignore the chill seeping through her veins as she reactivates the state of the art alarm system Kas had installed after she moved in with him.
Wis.h.i.+ng Kas was home, she pushes the rampant thoughts out of her head. She can't be sure it's Mr. Sutton, although she would bet her small fortune it is. She's tempted to call Chase, but quickly decides against that, knowing he will tell Kas, and she doesn't want him to worry when he's miles away. She wants to make sure it's him first, then she'll tell Kas about the calls. The furious look in Mr. Sutton's eyes flashes through her mind involuntarily as she remembers his heated words, calling her a s.l.u.t and blaming her for his son going to prison a year ago today.
Her cell phone buzzes, shaking on the table again, and she picks it up with slightly trembling fingers, relief flooding through her when she sees it's Kas. She takes a second to regain her composure before answering.
”Thank you for appeasing me, darlin',” Kas' soothing voice calms her.
Raina knows he's referring to her being at home, realizing he would've seen the text message they get every time the security system is armed and disarmed. ”I arrived at exactly 6:22, and just re-set it, so I guess you don't have to ground me,” she jabs, happy to be able to banter with him, giving her mind a reprieve from the earlier calls.
Kas' laugh fills her ears, making her heart ache for him. ”I'd like to see how well that would go over if I tried,” he teases, continuing the playful banter. ”I miss you.”
”I miss you, too,” she whispers.
”Is everything alright?”
She hears the worry in his tone and berates herself, knowing his freakishly astute ability to read and hear emotions. ”My head's buried in dendrites, axons, and autonomous robots,” she quickly offers, feeling a little guilty at the partial truth.
”You lost me at 'dendrites', darlin',” Kas laughs. ”Get to bed at a decent hour. I love you.”
”I love you, too,” she answers, being sure to keep her voice upbeat this time.
Three hours later, Raina slips into bed, fulfilling her promise to Kas, but doubting she will get much sleep.
The coffee burns his tongue, and Kas grimaces as he places the steaming cup on top of the squad car of the officer who called him at 5:15 a.m. ”Where's the girl?”
The officer throws his thumb over his shoulder, keeping his eyes straight ahead, ”Over there. Sorry about the timing, but Sergeant Jackson told me to call you as soon as I told him. He was notified about you arriving to work on the case of the dead girls.”
”No, problem, I'm glad you called,” Kas a.s.sures the young officer, noticing the stark paleness of his face and his avoidance to turn towards the grisly crime scene again.
”Will you call Agent Stephens for me while I take a look?” he requests, giving the rookie a break from having to show him the scene and having to witness the mutilated body again.
The officer nods, thankful to do anything other than return to the broken, b.l.o.o.d.y girl.
Kas is glad he hasn't eaten breakfast yet as he kneels down next to the poor victim. The stench is overwhelming as he carefully inspects every wound. His anger flares as he sees the contusions around her wrists from where she was tied. Seeing the bruises covering her body and her throat slit so viciously that her head is almost severed from the rest of her, putrid disgust swirls through him as the evidence indicates that the trafficker likely made an example out of the dead young lady who appears to have been around twenty. He sees her raw knuckles, proof she was a fighter, and he closes his eyes. The sad realization that her resistance is probably what landed her body next to the filthy dumpster, callously discarded like yesterday's trash, gnaws at him.
Kas calls Dexter, informing him they now have a fourth victim. He painstakingly gathers all the evidence, looking for a connection between her and the others that will lead him back to Prizrak's ring.