Undercover Hunter(121)

                “Thought I’d check in,” he said. “The cases you had me search for? We sent out an information request to law enforcement for similar cases. I hate to tell you, but he’s killed more than I originally told you. Over the last year, this guy appears to have been striking with increasing frequency, sometimes only a few days apart. I can’t say for sure, because we have missing persons, too. No bodies. But when I sent out a composite of his victim type, the missing-persons cases started rolling in, as well. You don’t have a whole lot of time.”

                “We just learned that here.” DeeJay told him about the call to the crisis line. “He may be stalking a kid right now. The sheriff has the mother taking the boy out of town in the morning.”

                “Good. And you?”

                “I’m going in as bait.”

                She listened to silence from Lew. Then, he continued. “DeeJay, be careful. I got tox reports on several of the victims, three boys and one woman. He used a medical paralytic, vecuronium. No side effects, other than paralysis, and it’s long acting. I don’t know how the hell he got it. I do know it has to be mixed and injected, so don’t let him get close.”

                “I won’t.”

                She barely had time to fill Cade in on what Lew had reported before the phone rang again. This time it was Gage.

                “Micah’s about ready to roll. Here’s how it’s going to play out, okay?”

                “I’m listening.”

                “Calvin gets off duty tonight at ten. I’m going to have someone undercover follow him home to make sure he gets there and doesn’t divert. We’ll call you as soon as he’s heading out of town. Then both of you get over here so we can fill you in.”

                “We’ll be there.”

                When she hung up and told Cade, she asked a question. “Is there any antidote for that paralytic? Can we get it?”

                “I suppose there must be, but I don’t know.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m going to call our forensic pathologist.”

                Ten minutes later, he had the answer. “The antidote has to be administered by IV. So let’s keep our distance.”

                * * *

                Shortly after ten, they got the call and hopped into the car to drive over to the sheriff’s office. From the street, it looked almost deserted. A different dispatcher manned the desk, and only one deputy was visible through the window. A quiet night in Conard County.

                In the very back everything changed. A large room had been turned over to a team. Gage was there, as was Micah. Cade and DeeJay were introduced to five other men, but only one name stuck: Seth Hardin, probably because Micah had mentioned him earlier.

                All the team members were dressed in black, but winter camouflage was heaped on nearby chairs. Sniper rifles with scopes lined the wall on a rack. Radios had been laid out on a long table to one side, along with various other implements from knives to garrotes. This was a team preparing for anything.

                A map lay spread out on the big central table.

                “All right,” Micah said. “We’re ready. We’ll be in place by 4:00 a.m. but we’re not going until we’re sure that the subject has turned in for the night. Here’s the deal. I surveyed as much as I could today. You need to try to draw him toward the woods if you can, assuming you find any evidence, because that’s the safest place for us to hide out. But I’m still going to have a couple of guys near the house. There’s a gully that runs along here, and we can use it to approach. Still, the woods aren’t that far from the house, so we won’t be out of reach. Given the lay of the land, though, we’ll be at least ten minutes away. Maybe fifteen depending on the snow depth out there. And we can’t do a damn thing unless something goes down. You know that. So you’ll have to let us know.”