She jerked out her earphones just in time to feel her phone vibrating in her pocket. She looked at the screen, and her heart skipped a beat. Yes!

“We got it!” She yelled across the street to Griffin. “It’s 620 San Miguel Avenue.”

He tensed and repeated the address. “Is that right?”

She nodded. “Go get him.”

Griffin smiled and whirled to his team. “We’re gone.”

*   *   *

SAM LEANED BACK IN THE leather desk chair, limp, and dripping with sweat.

“You did it,” Beth said.

He glanced at the video feed of Stokes on Kendra’s laptop. “I haven’t done it yet. He only has a few minutes left.”

“They’re already in the neighborhood. They’ll make it.”

Sam looked down at his phone, where Kendra had just confirmed her receipt of his text. She added, THE TEAM IS EN ROUTE. WILL KEEP YOU POSTED.

“What now,” Beth asked.

He shrugged. “We wait.”

“To hell with that. We’ll meet her there.”

He sat up straight. “Seriously?”

“I couldn’t be more serious.” She turned toward the door. “Let’s go.”

San Miguel Avenue

San Diego

KENDRA STOOD NEXT TO GRIFFIN AT the south end of San Miguel Avenue, just half a block from the house that Sam had located. It was a street of modest one-story homes, and the entire block was now swarming with uniformed officers and tactical teams.

Kendra looked down at her tablet. “Shit. It’s Colby. He’s coming back to finish the job.” She looked frantically between her tablet and the house.

Colby had glided into position behind the table, brandishing his knife. He smiled. “Time’s almost up. Tell me I’ve been more than fair, Kendra.”

She looked frantically back up at the house. “What are they waiting for? Why don’t they go in?”

“Any second now,” Griffin said.

“We don’t have any seconds. Didn’t you hear him? Time’s almost up.”

“I’ve got a SWAT team at the window in the back. We’ll be able to—”

“No!” Kendra was suddenly ice-cold. “Oh, God.”

Griffin’s eyes flew to her face. “What is it?”

Kendra felt her heart pounding out of her chest. “Colby and Stokes aren’t in here.”

“What are you talking about? You told me yourself—”

“I don’t care what I told you. I know they’re not here.”

“How do you know?”

“Stop and listen to the video feed. Before I could hear faint traffic noise in the background, and that would be okay. But now you can hear a beeping noise like a delivery truck backing up. There’s nothing like that sound anywhere around here.” She felt as if she was going to throw up. “Dear God, we’re in the wrong place.”

The officers rammed the door open and swarmed the house.

Colby smiled on the video feed. “Say good-bye to Detective Stokes … He really should have believed you, Kendra.”

Griffin’s radio blared. “The residence is empty. I repeat, the residence is empty.”

“Are you watching, Kendra?” Colby asked softly. “Have you figured it out yet?”

And he sliced his blade across Stokes’s throat and stepped back to watch as the blood spurted over his face and chest.

*   *   *

“OH, MY GOD.” KENDRA STOOD in the doorway, gazing at the huge computer monitor on the wall of the room the agents had just entered. She slumped back against the wall. “No.”

“Yes.” Griffin moved forward into the room, his hands balled into fists. “Shit. I thought we had him.”

“Wrong.” She closed her eyes to escape the sight of that lifeless body on the screen. “We were all wrong. He wasn’t here. The Stokes feed was probably just a recording on this laptop.”

“Kendra!”

She opened her eyes to see Beth coming toward her. She instinctively straightened and tried to block Beth’s view of Stokes. “Don’t look, Beth. It’s too late. We’re too late. He dangled the bait, then destroyed it before we could take it.”

“Dead?” Beth whispered. She went into Kendra’s arms and held her close. “I’m so sorry. I know how you must feel. But none of it was your fault.”

“It’s my fault for just being alive. Ask Colby.” She had been trying to protect Beth, and here was Beth, comforting her. “We were wrong on so many counts. We both thought it might be Sam who was the target. But it was Stokes all the time. And Colby led us up this blind alley.” She saw Detective Ketchum standing before that screen and looking up at his dead partner. His face was pale, and he looked sick.

She wondered if she looked the same way. Probably. She felt ghastly.

“It’s my fault.” Sam had come to stand beside her, his gaze on Stokes. “I don’t know why. I swear I did everything right, Kendra. But I should have known it was a red herring. It’s got to be my fault.”

“We don’t know that,” she said gently. “You did everything you could.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“We’ll have to go into it later.” She pushed him out the door and away from that monitor. “Come on, let’s get out of this place. We’re no good here. Griffin will come and tell us what’s happening with that screen in there.”

“Yeah, by all means, let’s avoid facing our mistakes,” Sam said bitterly. “But it’s hard not to stare Stokes in the eye about this one.”

“Be quiet, Sam,” Beth said curtly. “You heard Kendra, we can’t know. I saw how hard you worked, how certain you were. I bet that you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I hope you don’t lose that bet,” Sam said. “It’s terrible. I’ve never seen a man who might have died because of me. He was just lying there, helpless. So helpless. He wasn’t allowed to struggle or fight. There’s no dignity.”

“Colby likes it like that,” Kendra said shakily. “Destroys the body, destroys dignity, tries to destroy the soul.” They had reached the car, and she leaned against it. “So now you know what you’ve been fighting.”

“I knew before. I just hadn’t seen it face-to-face.”

“I was looking for you, Kendra.” Griffin was coming toward them. “I need to know how this happened. How you could let it happen.” He frowned. “You look a little peaked. You okay?”

“Just fine, Griffin.” She said, “Why not? It’s not as if I have any sensitivity or compassion. It’s not as if that man wasn’t killed just because Colby thought I had some connection with him. Yes, I’m peaked. Yes, I’m sick.” She took a deep breath. “Now tell me what was going on in there.”

“You saw it all. It was just the monitor and a small laptop computer behind it. We won’t know for sure, but it appears that the room has been wiped clean.”

“And we don’t even know where Stokes was killed. We probably won’t know until we stumble across the body. Or perhaps if Colby deigns to send a message to tell us. Everything at Colby’s pleasure.”

“That appears to be the way it’s going to go.”

“No, it’s not,” she said through set teeth. “We’re not going to wait for him to manipulate us. I can’t take it any longer. We have to go after him.”

“And how do you intend to do that? Please, by all means, tell me,” he said sarcastically. “Because I thought this was what was going on. I believe there’s a roomful of officers in that room who think it is.”

“We’ve got to do more. I’ve got to do more.”

“Come on,” Beth took her arm. “Let’s go home, Kendra. There’s nothing you can do right now. We’ll think about it and find some way to—” She broke off and turned to Griffin. “And you’re not being either helpful or kind. I know you’re frustrated and upset, but do you think she isn’t? Stay away from her until you can behave like a decent human being or serve Colby up to her the way he did that detective in there.”

Griffin’s eyes widened. “I beg your pardon.”

“Beg Kendra’s pardon. It’s what you should do. She’s been in this alone and having to beg and plead for help from you.” She opened the passenger door and pushed Kendra into the car. “I thought maybe you might be something besides a swellheaded bureaucrat, but now I’m thinking I’m dead wrong. Get in the car, Sam. Let’s go.”