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She thrashed and struggled, but it was useless. Her strength was fading fast.
Then she felt it. Her free hand found something, and she grabbed it from the top of the dumpster.
It wasn't much of a weapon, but it was all she had. It was her last chance. Her hopes now rode on an empty can of spray paint, clutched in her left hand.
And as she slammed it down onto his head, she felt it hit him. She felt the sharp, mechanical clang as it connected with his skull. He staggered back, falling to one knee.
Now, if she could only get herself free. She lunged for the dumpster, desperate to get purchase on top of it so she could take the killing weight off her throat. But the plastic was damp and slippery and too far away, and she was choking, the wire pulling even tighter. Fighting against it, she knew she had to stay alive for the woman that he was about to kill. She kicked out at him again, needing to keep him down for long enough at least so she could try and get herself out of this wire, but it was cutting into her arm, feeling as sharp as a knife.
She was going to fight, whatever it took, Juliette decided. She was going to try and at least disable this killer, so that the woman's life would be saved. Surely that she could do?
But then, hissing in anger, he dove forward, grabbed her leg, and yanked down.
“We’re finishing this! Now! I need to get going, cop lady! No time for any of your tricks.”
Searing pain scored across her arm and she felt her own forearm mashed into her neck, cutting off the air completely. The wire around her arm and the back of her neck was sheer, raw agony.
She was going to fight, but it was going to kill her. That, she knew.
And then, she heard the stamping of feet and a shout from behind her; arms wrapped around her, lifting her, taking the weight off the wire so that the agony eased.
"I've got you, Juliette! I've got you!" It was Lucien's voice, taut with concern. He was grabbing her around her hips with one hand, holding her firmly, while with the other, he fought to loosen the chokehold of the noose. She gasped, dragging a fresh, cool breath of air into her tortured throat.
And then, with another tackle, Wyatt leaped into the fray, cannoning into the killer, and sending him sprawling backward. His head knocked into the alley's wall with a thud that Juliette knew meant lights out.
Wyatt wasn't pulling his punches, or taking any risks. While she and Lucien were wrestling with the flimsy, biting wire, Wyatt was handcuffing Goldenface's hands firmly behind him.
By the time he woke up from the bang on his head, this man would be in a police van.
Wyatt turned to the woman who was gagged, and gently undid the tight ropes that held it in place. He freed her from the gag at the same time that Juliette and Lucien finally got the noose off her neck.
Lucien lowered her. Juliette stood on legs that were trembling from shock and adrenaline. But she'd survived this, and the last victim had been saved.
Not just the last victim, but future ones, all the innocent women who would have been murdered by him in Greece, Egypt, Brazil, and who knew where else his crazed search for the invisible power meridians would have taken him?
But finally, this deluded man was in custody, and they had done what it took to save these lives. Her arm was raw, her throat was burning, she was battered and bruised.
But inside, she felt a deep relief that Goldenface's days of terrorizing the communities around the world's most famous tourist attractions were over. And their new team had succeeded - not only in capturing him, but also in forming an alliance and a partnership that had allowed their unlikely trio to work together, and to cooperate with Lucien, a man who she’d now come to respect, and even like.
After all, how could you not like a man who’d rescued a starving kitten and named her Mona Lisa?
It had been a good day.
Now, she wondered what tomorrow would bring.
EPILOGUE
Two days later, Juliette walked into the FBI New York headquarters once again. It had been only a few days since she'd last entered this building, but it felt like eons had passed.
The Goldenface capture had been a huge success, and she'd been receiving calls from journalists ever since her airplane had landed. Juliette knew the ropes when it came to those interviews. She'd given credit to her teammates and the FBI, and had referred the journalists to the FBI's media center for more information. She wasn’t authorized to give out more than that.
But privately, she was fascinated by the details that had been uncovered on Goldenface. His real name was Gordon Ehlers; he was twenty five years old, and he'd grown up in a wealthy family and had a trust fund. But after he'd shown signs of psychopathic behavior in his late teens, his family had broken all ties with him. Clearly, his killing instincts had worsened over the years, and Juliette was sure that there were other unsolved murders of women in New York and surrounding areas that might still be linked to him.
Local police were piecing the evidence together, and other charges might be laid for older, colder cases. In the meantime though, he was facing multiple life sentences for what he'd done, and was being assessed to see whether he was a candidate for a psychiatric hospital or a maximum security prison. Either way, he would never see the world as a free man again, and Juliette felt relieved about that.
Reaching her floor, she headed along the corridor and pushed open the door to the boardroom.
There was her boss, Ebury, looking at her in approval, and Juliette also recognized the FBI representative from the director's office who'd attended the meeting a few days ago.
