Free From Sanctum With Love (Masters and Mercenaries Book 10) by Lexi Blake Page B

he sat back and tried to think about the situation professionally, would he change his mind?
    Fuck, no. Jared wasn’t a killer. He wasn’t capable of it. No way. No how.
    “Thank you all for allowing me the access you have. I assure you the FBI is going to share any information we can on Hope McDonald,” Rush said, passing out folders to the group. “We’re working with Langley and a couple of foreign agencies to try to find her. She managed to get away with enough money that she can hide for a while, but I’m certain we’ll find her. According to our profile, she has a deep need for credit, and I think that will eventually lead to her downfall.”
    That answered one question. Big Tag wouldn’t put his club in danger if he wasn’t desperate to find the woman he blamed for Theo’s death. Hope McDonald hadn’t pulled the trigger, but she’d been there and she’d backed her father. Finding Hope McDonald would likely lead to new information on the shadowy group known as The Collective. Big Tag would get his revenge. The feds would get information.
    Quid pro quo.
    Wasn’t that what Jared was offering him? Information on Kori in exchange for Kai listening to him whine about how hard it was to be an international movie star?
    Had Kori lied to him? How did she know Jared? She’d pretended she didn’t know him at all, but Jared had known her name. Naturally Kai knew she’d lived in LA for years. Had she been one in a long line of women to grace his brother’s bed? She was his type. It was a shame that he and Jared had always been attracted to the same women. They both liked them curvy and pretty and feminine and healthy.
    Rather like this serial killer.
    He forced himself to focus. This was serious business. “Have you filled in the rest of the group?”
    “Mr. Taggart and Mr. McKay understand the situation, but I was asked to explain it to the rest of the group,” Rush said, nodding toward Eve, Charlotte, and Case. “Approximately six months ago, an analyst came to me with a theory about a cluster of murders occurring over a three-year period of time.”
    “A serial working over long periods of time isn’t unusual,” Eve said. “I take it this killer is a drifter or someone who travels. Obviously, since this has something to do with the movie that’s about to start filming here in Dallas, I would suspect you think the killer is involved in the film industry. They move around a lot if they’re working on location.”
    Charlotte frowned, her eyes narrowing on her husband. “You didn’t say anything about this to me. I thought you were allowing the film crew in because Serena asked you to.”
    Big Tag sat back. “I didn’t tell you because you would have talked to Serena. I need you to understand that this has to look good. I know the club runs on gossip, but I can’t have anyone talking about this. I love Serena like a sister, but she can’t keep her mouth shut. You can. You kept it shut for five years when you could have called me and said, ‘hey, I’m alive, baby.’ I’m calling that in here and now and you know why.”
    Charlotte softened, her hand moving to cover his. “I do and I won’t breathe a word. I promise. You know I want this to work as much as you do.”
    Kai looked over and saw Case’s jaw tighten. There was an underlying current he didn’t quite understand. Every line and expression on Case’s face told Kai that he wanted to say something, but couldn’t.
    The question was why.
    Charlotte looked back to Special Agent Rush. “All right, so you’ve been tracking a serial killer. What exactly makes you think he’s involved with this particular film crew?”
    It was Kai’s turn to lean in. “He doesn’t actually think it’s a film crew member. If you’ll look in the information folders, you’ll see that there’s only one true pattern. The murders have taken place over the course of three years. We have victims in Vancouver, Los Angeles, New Mexico, Australia, London,