Next to last in the FBI Agent Jade Monroe Live or Die Series by C.M. Sutter is Book 11: Blood Betrayal. Chilling similarities between recent murders in Wichita and Kansas City set FBI Special Agent Jade Monroe on a dangerous and deadly path. And after pressing her supervisor for the go-ahead, she and her partner, Lorenzo DeLeon, delve into a possible connection between the cases.
In Wichita, KS, Eric catches his wife, Rita, kissing another man, Chuck. She’s been cheating on him. And now he needs to die. Eric had no problem taking care of that and disposing of his body in a ditch. How many others will he have to kill?
In Oklahoma, Gary and Tara were also having marriage trouble. Gary finds out Tara had signed up for a Mistakenly Marries website with thousands of cheating subscribers. Angered, he picked his newspaper back up which featured an article about 2 men beaten to death in Wichita, KS. He follows his wife and confirms his suspicions. She’s cheating on him with a guy named Harry. He plans to take Harry out and make it look like the Kansas Killer did it.
At home, Jade sees the news that says there are 2 more murders similar to those in Wichita. This time, in Kansas City, MO. She and Renz are off for their planned two days, so she called the other FBI agents who has been working the case, Mike and Carl.
Eric, responsible for the four murders in Witchita and Kansas City had quit his job and is now a murderer for hire. And now cheating women were on his list too. And this time, he’s in Joplin.
Love how Jade goes with her gut. She believes the Kansas and Missouri cases are related. I also love that Taft lets her do some digging before being handed a case. Jade has to prove they’re related first. And Renz feels the same way. She’s on her own for now until she can come up with some evidence.
What appeals to me with this book is Jades determination and how she’s working through the 4 cases now. But also, seeing it from the killers’ perspective and how he’s covering up the new murders. How will the FBI catch these guys?
Gary confirms his wife Tara has a new lover. She moves on quick. This time it’s Peter of OKC.
Eric finished his contract in Joplin and saw a few in Tulsa and OKC. He could do that before heading home to Wichita. So he settles down in a hotel in Tulsa for his next contract. Meanwhile, it’s confirmed that the other cases are related and Jade and Renz need to leave immediately. Interestingly, Jade sees info on the murders woman in Joplin and bookmarks it. She thinks it could be related given the route.
In Tulsa, Eric’s contract is for $30k for killing the clients elderly parents. Pure evil. He not only kills them but robs them of their jewelry too. Again, pure evil. Now he’s off to OKC. But, the Tulsa Pd have blood evidence that the same killer there was in Kansas City. He’s not as careful and he seems.
Well, here’s the twist. Eric has two contracts in OKC. One was for killing a woman as she slept. Another for killing a man. Turns out is was Tara and Gary. Gary put a hit out on Tara and she did the same. Eric made quick work of Tara. Gary was still in the house, happy the job was done. Until Eric went for him, slicing through his neck. Eric took the computer and both phones. They were his last hits for a while.
In the meantime, Jade and Renz spot the Tiguan at one of the gas stations off the Turner Turnpike. They’re getting closer. Plus, they now know his name and where he’s from. They approach his house and meet his wife Rita. They inform her that Eric is a murderer who killed two of her lovers. And when Eric arrives home, Jade and Renz get their man. But will he talk?
Yes. He tells them everything. He even tells them that one of the husband and wife victims son hired him to kill his parents. And when the OKC PD tell the agents about Gary and Tara’s murder, Eric confesses to them too. Though Eric may get his dream of moving to Tennessee – to a maximum security prison with likeminded criminals. And now the Kansas Bureau of Investigation was tasked with going through the dark web courtesy of Eric’s computer. Their plan was to take down everyone involved in contract killing.
Jade finally gets home and decides to rest for her required two days off. But for some reason, I feel she’ll have a hard time doing that!