Off to the side of the truck that was the subject of the photo, just barely in frame, was a face in the background. It was a man on the passenger side of the truck behind.
He was sticking his head out the window to try to see what was going on ahead of the truck he was in.
Dvora clicked a key several times, enlarging and centering the face on her screen.
“Shit.”
Ehud leaned in. “What is it?”
Jack pointed at the blocky face of a man with short black hair and beard. “Him. I recognize the trim of his beard above his jawline. It’s not quite cut square. I didn’t see his face at the time, but I’m almost positive that’s the guy who killed Uziel a few weeks back.”
“I wish we had a name,” Dvora said with a sigh.
“We do,” Jack told her. “Cassiel Aykhan Corekan.”
Dvora looked back over her shoulder. “You know who he is?”
Jack straightened as he ran his fingers back through his hair. “Cassiel Aykhan Corekan is one of the super-predators I’ve been trying to find for years. He’s a proficient killer. Like other men I track, he’s a serial killer. Killers like that are wolves. They don’t like being seen by sheepdogs, so he also hunts down and kills people like Uziel—people who have the ability to recognize killers for who they are.
“That rare ability to recognize killers is genetic and usually runs in families, so once Cassiel recognizes one of these people for their ability he will often slaughter their entire family. He has murdered people in several family lines that I’m aware of. I’m sure there must be others.”
“Well, it appears he has taken up a new interest,” Dvora said. “He must be working with this terrorist group that wanted Uziel dead, and who also attacked the Oeste Mesa border crossing.”
“A man named Cassiel a terrorist?” Ehud made a face. “Cassiel is an old Hebrew name. It seems unlikely that Islamic terrorists would trust a man with a Hebrew name.”
“Old Hebrew is its primary origin,” Jack said. “But the name has other meanings, especially in certain countries.”
“Like where?” Dvora asked.
“Like Azerbaijan, where he was born. Azerbaijan is a mix of cultures, but they are a people for whom names hold great meaning. Children are not named because the parents like the sound of a name. Names are given because they are meant to impart a certain nature upon a person. Bravery, health, strength, tenderness, beauty. Babies are expected to grow into their name.”
“So … what do you think is the meaning of his name, if it is not a Hebrew name?” Dvora asked.
“A few old texts sometimes describe ‘Cassiel’ as the angel of tears. He is sometimes regarded as the ruler of the moon.”
“Well,” Ehud said, “he certainly has brought tears to many people.”
Dvora didn’t look convinced. “If it’s typically an old Hebrew name, what makes you think the obscure, alternate meaning ‘ruler of the moon’ applies in this case?”
“Because of his middle name, Aykhan,” Jack said. “ ‘Aykhan’ means ‘king of the moon.’ I think his parents used Aykhan for his middle name to indicate the intended meaning of ‘Cassiel.’ ”
“Okay, so let’s say we believe all that,” Dvora said. “What do you think this business about ruler of the moon means? What did his parents mean him to grow into?”
“I wish I knew.” Jack pulled over an empty chair. “Here, let me use your console so I can get into my files and see what I have on him.”
Jack had a number of super-predators he was trying to locate. He gathered intelligence on them whenever possible and added it to their file. Eliminating any of these killers would save countless lives. But, by their very nature they were difficult to track, and each case was time consuming.
So, he did his best to instead find people with the kind of vision those predators hunted. Sometimes he could help them stay alive. Kate had been like that. Sometimes, though, even when he did his best, he couldn’t help them. Some people didn’t want to face the truth of what would be coming for them.
“Wait—” Dvora said as she started typing. “Let me send the name to some of the other stations, first. The more people looking for information, the more we’ll be able to dig up.”
Ehud snapped his fingers to get the attention of nearby operators. “Dvora is sending you a name. Find out everything you can about this man. We believe he was involved in the terror attacks in America.”
People at nearby monitors nodded as they looked at the name before beginning searches.
“He was born in Azerbaijan,” a man to the right said.
They already knew that, but Jack let the operators search as they would, rather than try to direct them.
“Interpol suspects him in murders in several countries,” another operator said. “He has been questioned on several occasions by authorities in those countries, but there was never enough evidence to charge him in connection with any of the murders.”
Again, Jack was aware of that. He had a few photos of the man from those interviews, and it was clear it was the same man he was staring at on the monitor. After Dvora finished, he typed in his credentials and opened his cloud account.
“He is believed to have killed several members of the Al-Saleem family in Jordan,” a woman two stations over to the left said, “and—get this—eleven members of the Maarouf family in Egypt.”
“The Italian authorities believe he murdered several members of the Constantine family,” another operator said.
Jack paused in his search through files. He looked up. “Constantine … That name rings a bell for some reason.”
He went back to his own search as other agents called out a few names of victims associated with Cassiel.
“Here it is,” Jack murmured to himself as he sat back, staring at the screen. “There was an older couple in New York State who were shot execution style. Twenty-two-caliber bullet in the backs of their heads. My cross-reference tools had pulled up the name of that murdered couple because they had the same last name as the family in Italy that was thought to have been murdered by Cassiel. Last I checked, the police in New York had no clues or leads. The murders are unsolved. That’s why you don’t have a link to them for Cassiel.”
But Jack had a photo in his physical files of Cassiel that the Italian authorities had taken when they questioned him before letting him go. It was a real photo printed on photo paper from an actual negative. Those were like gold for Jack’s particular calling.
“Another one of those troubling coincidences?” Dvora asked. “Cassiel murdered Constantine family members in Italy, and a couple by the same name was murdered in New York State?”
“It’s more than a coincidence,” Jack said, “it’s a connection.”
Ehud rubbed his chin as he frowned off in thought. “But why would this serial killer, Cassiel, be right there as a terrorist attack is about to take place?”
“Beats me. Find out what you can about the Constantine couple in New York State,” Jack said to Dvora as he rolled back out of the way to give her room to get at her monitor again.
“Cassiel is a hunter,” Jack said, “a wolf. He likes to go after families to eliminate anyone with the ability to recognize killers. See if there are any more Constantine family members of the murdered couple in New York.”
THIRTY-EIGHT
“I’ve got a pair of hits,” Dvora said. “Sally Constantine is the daughter of the murdered couple. Then there’s an Angela Constantine, granddaughter of the murdered couple and daughter of Sally. Birth dates for both. No death certificates. Both must still be alive. Angela would have been young at the time her grandparents were murdered.”
“That’s certainly a close family connection,” Ehud said. “I wonder why Cassiel didn’t also kill the mother and daughter when he was there and killed the older couple?”