Evidence of Passion (Shadow Agents #7)(42)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Dylan leaned forward and stared into the bedroom. Rachel was sleeping so peacefully. “At 0700,” he said, voice clipped. “But I stay at her side, every second.” He didn’t trust Jack. He’d be happy when the guy was locked away in a maximum-security prison. The sooner, the better.

“I’ll be waiting,” Mercer said.

Dylan ended the call and headed back into the bedroom. He slipped into the bed. He pulled Rachel toward him, cradling her against his chest.

His fingers slid over her back, over the old, carving scar that marked her. Jack had sliced her with his knife three years ago. The man had almost killed her hours before.

She whispered Dylan’s name in her sleep.

He stiffened. Rachel.

Dylan knew it was wrong, but he didn’t care about the other lives on the line. Or at least, he didn’t care as much.

The life that mattered to him? It was her life. And he’d fight to the death in order to keep her safe.

* * *

RACHEL TOOK A deep breath and stared through the observation glass. Jack was on the other side of that glass. Handcuffed and with his ankles also secured in restraints. An armed guard stood behind him.

“He’s been like that all night,” Noelle said. “And the man shows no signs of any fatigue.”

“If he was a ranger,” Rachel said, turning to glance at her, “he wouldn’t, would he?”

She’d been briefed on Kenneth Cross just a few moments before. Mercer didn’t want her going into that interrogation room without as much intel as she could possibly get.

Her monster had a real name now. A real history.

Kenneth Cross. Thirty-five. He’d grown up on a ranch in Montana. His mother had died when he was seven, and his father had passed away in an accident on Kenneth’s eighteenth birthday.

Kenneth had joined the army after that, risen quickly through the ranks.

He’d been a ranger when he died, under the command of William Harris. He’d supposedly been killed in a bombing while serving in the Middle East.

Only he sure didn’t look like a ghost to Rachel.

“He’ll try and control you when you enter that room,” Noelle warned her. Noelle’s eyes were worried. “You should be prepared for him to say anything. He obviously has some sort of plan in mind, or he wouldn’t have insisted on you coming in there.”

It wouldn’t be the first time a prisoner had tried to manipulate the EOD. Just months before, they’d faced a dangerous terrorist, Anton Devast. Devast had thought that he could manipulate the EOD.

He’d been wrong. He’d died.

Noelle’s gaze darted to Dylan. “You have to stay in control.”

“Dylan won’t have a problem with control,” Rachel said, her voice coming out sharp.

Noelle bit her lower lip. “I’m not so sure about that.”

Rachel took a moment to study Dylan. His face was completely expressionless and his eyes showed no emotion. “I’m sure of him,” Rachel said.

She was. If she hadn’t been, then Rachel never would’ve walked back into the EOD.

Tension drew her shoulders tight. Rachel exhaled slowly and said, “So what’s the plan? I just go in there? Question him?” She knew how to handle a normal prisoner interrogation, but this wasn’t exactly a normal situation.

“I think he’ll do the talking.” Noelle’s focus appeared to be on Jack. “At first, anyway. You need to break through the facade he has. Get to the real man underneath.”

“You mean the killer inside.”

Noelle nodded. “I’d…I’d ask about his father.”

Rachel’s brows climbed even as her stomach knotted. She had a feeling about where this might be headed.

“An accidental death on the guy’s birthday.” Noelle rocked back on her heels. “That could be quite a present to a psychopath.”

“Is that what you think he is?” Dylan asked, a bite to his words. “You’re going to give him a label so that what he’s done makes more sense?”

Noelle’s eyelids flickered. “Kenneth Cross is very unusual. I haven’t come across another killer like him before.”

“Well, then I guess this will be a learning experience for us all,” Rachel said. Time to do this. She wasn’t going to cower in the room any longer. And—and Kenneth was staring straight through the glass, a faint smile tipping up the corners of his lips. As if he knew that she was there.

The door opened behind Noelle. Mercer stepped inside. “Are we ready?”

As ready as Rachel could get. She headed out first, brushing by Mercer. Two other guards were outside Kenneth’s interrogation room. She would’ve thought that was overkill, but she knew how the guy worked.

One of the guards opened the door for her. Rachel took a steadying breath, tried to wipe the emotion from her face, then entered that small room.

He stood, or at least Kenneth stood as much as the restraints would allow him to do so. “Ah, Rachel…I knew you’d come to me.”

Dylan shut the door behind them. “We’re both here.”

Kenneth’s face tightened. “You, I could have done without.” His eyes stayed on Rachel’s face. “Do you feel better today? I’m sorry for what I had to do, but you deserved it, you know. You shouldn’t have pushed us into the water.”

There were two chairs across from Kenneth. Rachel didn’t sit, not yet.

Neither did Dylan. Dylan did walk to the side, though, and he propped his back up against the wall as he stared at Kenneth.

“What you had to do?” Rachel let her brows climb. “You mean drugging me, kidnapping me—”

“Oh, no.” Kenneth shook his head. “I mean when I had to wrap the rope around your feet to keep you under the water.”

Her skin iced.

“We hit the water together, don’t you remember?” Kenneth asked her, a faint frown pulling his brows low. “I was angry at you, sweetheart, so angry, so when I felt the rope, I had to use it. I pulled on it, and when it didn’t give, I knew it had to be twisted beneath some old pilings or even an anchor.”

“And you tied it around me.” She could almost see the image—memory?—now.

He shrugged. “I was going to come back for you, but Agent Foxx over there delayed me.”

Her gaze jumped to Dylan. His face still held no expression, but his eyes blazed.

“She nearly died,” Dylan snapped.

“Actually…” Kenneth eased back into his seat. “I think she did die for a minute there. I mean, that’s why you had to do the whole mouth-to-mouth scene, wasn’t it?” His head tilted as he regarded Rachel with curiosity. “What was that like? Did you see the big, white light that people talk about?”