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Before she could finish her sentence, the ground gave way beneath her feet, and she disappeared.

Reeves plummeted out of sight.

Her scream was cut short by a sickening thud as she hit the bottom.

“Reeves!” Logan rushed toward the hole, stopping just short when he saw the jagged edges of the opening.

“I’m here.” Her voice came from below, strained but conscious. “My leg . . . I think it’s broken.”

Logan dropped to his knees at the edge of the pit and looked down. The hole was probably eight feet deep.

Reeves lay crumpled at the bottom, which was lined with sharp wooden stakes that had barely missed her. Her right leg was bent at an unnatural angle.

“Don’t move,” Logan called down. “We’ll get you out.”

He looked at the opening above her—perfectly circular, about six feet across, the edges reinforced with wooden planks.

“This thing was professionally built,” Duke said as he crouched beside Logan. “Reinforced walls, camouflaged top. He’s been planning this for a while. He probably dug it last summer before the tundra froze again.”

“Careful,” Logan warned the others. “He may have built more than one. Check the ground before you move anywhere.”

Above him, he heard the team spreading out, testing each step before putting their full weight down. Smart.

The killer had known they’d rush to the scene and had counted on their urgency making them careless. He’d turned the crime scene into a trap, used their own desperation to find victims against them.

How many more surprises had he planned?

CHAPTER

FIFTY-EIGHT

Twenty minutes later,the team had figured out how to get Reeves out of the pit.

“Rope’s secure,” Duke called to Reeves as they lowered a makeshift harness down to her. “We’re going to lift you out. Try not to move that leg.”

Reeves gritted her teeth as she secured herself into the harness. “I can handle it. Just get me out of here.”

It took all four of them working together to haul her out of the pit without causing further injury to her broken leg. When she finally reached ground level, Andi immediately began examining the break.

“It’s an open compound fracture.” Andi’s hands were gentle but thorough as she studied the injury. “We need to get you to a hospital now.”

“Not yet.” Reeves struggled to sit upright, leaning heavily against Duke. “We need to process this scene first. The killer’s message isn’t just the body—it’s everything. The traps, the positioning, the timing.”

“Reeves, you’re hurt,” Logan said. “And this place is still dangerous.”

Reeves looked at the burned corpse, sweat beading on her forehead from the pain.

The killer had known they’d come here, had prepared for their arrival.

But why? What was the point of slowing them down?

“He’s buying time,” Reeves murmured as if reading his thoughts. “This isn’t just about hurting us—it’s about keeping us busy while he prepares for the finale.”

Yazzie was taking photographs of the pit Reeves had fallen into, documenting the construction. “This pit took days to dig and camouflage. He’s been working on this site for at least a week.”

“Which means he knew we’d figure out this location,” Duke said. “Knew we’d come here.”

“Or he planned multiple sites and was ready for whichever one we discovered first,” Ranger suggested.