It would havebeen too risky to join the group himself. But thankfully, his time atuniversity had connected him with all sorts. One particularly smart fellow, whowasn’t as interested in following the law as most, was willing to hack into anysite for a certain fee.
That had beenthe rest of the man’s savings for medical school. But it was worth it. It washow he had found the last three volunteers. This fourth one wasn’t going towork out, though. There had to be someone else. Someone else, who…
The man paused,reading the messages through the wall of black and green text which his hackerfriend had supplied. He leaned in. Just this morning, someone had posted somethingabout a party at their house. They were only newly arrived in France. Theywould be having the party tomorrow.
“Hello there,”he murmured quietly. The man began to hum, murmuring to himself like a motherswaddling a child and putting it to sleep.
“Oh dear, wouldyou like to help my father?” he asked beneath his breath.
He clicked onthe woman’s information and went to her profile. Thirty-three, golden hair. Shegave her name as Adele Vermeal.
She had apleasant face. Younger women had smaller bodies. This meant less strain ontheir organs. They would save his father.
“Thank you,” hewhispered at the computer screen. He reached out a trembling finger and touchedthe face of Adele Vermeal. His finger trailed along her chin, and he found thathe was starting to cry. “Thank you,” he said with a sob.
He looked backto his father.
A flash of painshot through the son’s abdomen. He blinked, and, for the barest of moments,instead of his father, a ghoulish, skeletal face stared out from the couch. Heblinked again. And the horrible visage was gone just as quickly as it had come.The faded, wrinkled, shriveled flesh was replaced by healthy, smooth skin. Thesunken, empty, milky eyes reformed again, replaced by his father’s tender gaze.The crushed, broken fingers returned to their soft, trembling fleshy form,gripping the remote to the TV.
The young manshook his head. He winced as another flash of pain jolted through his rightside, and he reached down, clasping it with his hand.
“This will allbe over soon,” he murmured. He started humming again, whistling. She said theparty would be tomorrow. But she had posted her address already.
Perfect. The manwould just have to prepare his tools.
He lovedvolunteers.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Adele sat in thedark upstairs room of the safe house. Her eyes glazed over as she reclined bythe window, staring out into the street. No traffic. Earlier, she’d seen a redjalopy with strangely tinted windows trundle by. But it hadn’t parked, andinstead had continued around the block.
She’d beenavoiding sleep for days, but now it seemed intent on collecting its due. Shecould barely keep her eyes open.
John was in theother room, hidden, waiting. He still thought this venture foolish. She wasstarting to think maybe he was right. She had posted on the message board hoursago. But nothing since—no surprise visits, no messages in return, no one seemedto care save a few likes on her post.
“Just a few morehours,” she said, trying to talk herself awake.
And yet, still,sleep drifted on her shoulders, weighing her down where she sat by the silentwindow. Her head lolled…
…her eyes closed…
…A sound joltedher awake.
Adele’s eyessnapped open. From the direction of the side room where John was hiding, shecould hear snoring. So much for attentiveness. They’d both fallen asleep.
She immediatelypushed out of the chair by the window and stood in the small, cloisteredbedroom, glancing around. Vaguely, she wondered who had lived here before.There were small drawings on the wall, against the paint itself. The DGSI hadn’ttaken the time to cover the sketches. They looked like the drawings of a child.A lot of blue, and monsters with fangs.
Adele smiled atthe etchings. She glanced around the darkened room, then paused. She thoughtshe heard a quiet engine, a rattling sound and a red streak moved up thestreet, visible through the window. She peered out at the car, but itdisappeared around the block.
She stood stillfor a passing moment, but then shook her head, reaching up to wipe sleep fromher eyes. She turned toward the window again, looking out into the streets oncemore.
No one. Not asoul moving along the smooth asphalt or segmented sidewalk divided by benches,bus stops, and natural ornamentation. She glanced at her smart watch: 3 AM. Thedead of night.
She could stillhear John snoring and made a mental note to tease him about it later.
She inhaled thestill room’s air, her nose twitching. Whoever had used the safe house beforehad worn a powerful cologne. The lingering odor of a far too sweet citrusysmell clung to the walls and circulated the vents. Adele thought she detectedmothballs as well.
She winced,scratched at her nose, moving away from the chair toward the door. She needed abreath of fresh air. Night was safe. The killer only struck during the day,posing as a maintenance man. His victims had died in the afternoon.
Convincingherself, Adele moved out of the room, and with quiet steps took the stairs,then turned down the short hall to the front door.
She checked thelocks and the security camera array set up by the door. Four screens watchedall four directions. No movement. On the camera facing the backyard, shethought she glimpsed the edge of a bumper behind the garage. A red bumper?Adele leaned in, peering closer, but shook her head. The car wasn’t moving. Itwas hard to tell anything. Probably just one of the neighbors. The killerstruck in the afternoon. He wouldn’t change his MO.
He washarvesting organs. People in the business of greed and murder for profit wereoften reliable. They were scared of being caught. And they would remainpredictable, because they thought their routine made them invincible.
She pushed outthe front door and found her first step onto the patio sent a jolt of tremblingup her spine.
Adele reachedup, placing a hand against her cheek, half preparing to slap herself out of it.She was not a fearful woman. So why was she acting so scared all of a sudden?
Adele loweredher hand and rubbed her arms in quick, jerking motions to get the blood flowingonce
