Coming Home
“We need you and Shadow in Montana now. I’ll have a plane waiting for you at the airport.” The tension in FBI Special Agent in Charge Marcus Kane’s voice stopped Agent Ava Blake dead in her tracks. His typically intense tone was now laced with something she rarely heard. Dread.
In the year Ava had worked for Marcus, he was always rock-solid. She’d never seen a crack in his armor...until now.
Ava forgot all about her morning jog. Shadow, her K-9 partner on the Redeemed K-9 Team, stared up at her with those deep, heartfelt eyes that appeared to look into her soul and understand all the darkness lingering there.
The timing of Marcus’s call seemed to confirm what her gut had been screaming for days.
He was back.
The jogging trail in Clearwater Park was empty of other joggers at this time of the morning. Usually, Ava enjoyed her run without the interruption of others. Since survivinghim, solitude was something she craved.
Today was different. She almost wished there were others around. An uneasy feeling crawled its way down Ava’s spine. Terror rose its ugly head, reminding her she’d barely survived him once. Was she strong enough to take Wax on again?
Shadow pressed closer, breath puffing white in the frigid Denver air. The five-year-old, dark sable, Belgian Malinois had been her partner for a year now, since Marcus urged her to join his experimental Redeemed K-9 Unit. The team’s mission was to pair battle-weary law officers with damaged dogs, giving them both a second chance to serve.
“It’s him, isn’t it?” Ava finished what Marcus couldn’t. A cold sweat spread over her body despite the freezing weather.
Wax Saint had killed again.
All sorts of nightmarish images flashed before her eyes. Her stomach turned. In an instant, she was back in that dark basement, the air thick with the stench of vanilla and melted wax...and her own terror. Praying for rescue that never came. Out of sheer willpower alone, she’d saved herself.
Her fingers holding the phone shook to the point of almost dropping it while the memories of her captivity pressed in like fresh chains.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Ava. We’re not sure it’s him yet.” Marcus finally spoke, his voice acting as a beacon pulling her from the darkness. “But there are similarities.”
She sank to her knees, not caring that her yoga pants were quickly covered in the dirty snow piled up along the trail. With her heart thrashing in her ears, Ava drew in deep breaths while the frightened woman she’d been back then screamed she couldn’t go back there. Not for redemption. Not for vengeance. Not to finally put the nightmares to rest.
She’d barely survived her encounter with the Wax Saint.
Back then, she’d been with the FBI for a few years when she and her partner were called out to the Glacier National Parkarea to investigate the deaths of two victims with similar MOs. James Maddox, her partner, leaned hard into the differences in the two cases, refusing to believe they were chasing the same killer. In Ava’s mind, there was no doubt. They had a serial killer working near the park.
The night of her abduction, locals had reported seeing lights near an abandoned church up in the wilderness surrounding the park. Ava and James split up to search the grounds. He circled behind the structure while she went inside the church.
Ava shuddered at the memory of the scents of vanilla and candle wax mingling to make an unforgettable nightmare. She’d whispered into her radio to get James’s attention, not knowing Wax had already killed him. A faint sound like muffled sobbing drew her toward a side chamber. She thought she’d found a living victim only it was an ambush. Wax grabbed her from behind. Using a needle filled with some type of ketamine cocktail he rendered her unconscious. She’d woken restrained at a different location and held prisoner of a mad man dressed in a grotesque mask for five days.
On the fifth night, Wax forced her to watch his ritual preparation for another abducted woman. His intent was for Ava to join his “work.” The thought sickened her. She’d had no idea why he had selected her to carry on his nightmare.
He’d lit candles, beginning the ritual. The victim was terrified. Wax enjoyed her fear.
Wax had poured a large vat of melted wax over his victim. Stood back and enjoyed her pain. Once she went silent, he’d placed her hands to resemble a praying position.
Ava had been terrified he’d kill her in the same fashion. She’d deliberately provoked him, quoting scripture but twisting it to challenge his delusion. Wax had lost control and leaned into silence her. She smashed the hot candleholder into his face, burning him and rendering him unconscious.
She’d gotten away. Her captor had fled by the time her people arrived.
Ava suffered from severe PTSD and flashbacks of the nightmare. The inability to trust her instincts had paired with survivor’s guilt.
She’d taken a leave of absence that lasted almost two years. Just when she’d been ready to resign, Marcus came to her with the idea for the Redeemed K-9 Unit, offering a chance to feel useful again. Until now, she’d never regretted the decision.
Shadow licked her cheek as if sensing her spiral. She smiled faintly and stroked his scarred side. “I’m okay, buddy.” She struggled to free herself from the bondage of those memories.
“Ava, are you there?” Marcus’s voice came through the phone, a reminder that he was counting on her to bring down Wax.
“Yes. Yes, I’m here.”
“Can you handle this if it is Wax?” For the first time, there was doubt in Marcus’s voice.
