The Naturals, #2
Killer Instinct
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Contents
Chapter 7
Overview
The team learns Veronica Sterling is Briggs’s ex-wife, sparking ethical concerns and power struggles as she enforces GED demands. When a Colonial University student is found bound and displayed on a car, leaked footage suggests Dean’s father’s ritualistic MO. Briggs and Sterling take the case, and Dean confirms a probable copycat.
Summary
Cassie processes that Veronica Sterling is Briggs’s ex-wife and questions the ethics of her assignment. Lia counters with the FBI’s broader hypocrisies and reveals she was coerced into the program, hinting at a juvie past. Dean describes Briggs as strategic and competitive and Sterling as impulsive and gut-driven from their days hunting Dean’s father.
Briggs receives a new case call. Sterling asserts authority, threatening to ground the Naturals for GED practice. Lia challenges her leverage, and Sterling warns that any of them could be deemed liabilities. Dean diffuses the standoff by noting Lia already aced the test and telling Sterling to focus on the case.
After Briggs and Sterling depart, the team turns to the news. A report from Colonial University reveals a student’s body bound, tortured, and strangled with her car antenna, displayed on the university president’s lawn. A leaked student video shows bindings and a black rope noose through the sunroof; Professor George Fogle, who teaches a serial-murder course, is named a person of interest.
The footage triggers Dean; he dissociates, repeating, “Bind them. Brand them. Cut them. Hang them.” Lia and Cassie steady him, and Dean recovers, apologizing and sharing context: Fogle likely lectures on his father, and Briggs and Sterling were the original agents on that case.
Dean concludes that the murder mirrors his father’s ritual, strongly suggesting a copycat. The team understands why Briggs and Sterling were called in and what stakes the case holds for Dean.
Who Appears
- CassieNarrator; questions Sterling’s ethics, observes team dynamics, comforts Dean during his dissociative episode.
- Dean ReddingTriggered by the case; recognizes his father’s MO and explains why Briggs and Sterling were called in.
- Veronica SterlingNew supervisor and Briggs’s ex-wife; enforces GED rules, warns about liabilities, departs to work the new case.
- Agent BriggsReceives the Colonial University case and leaves with Sterling; history as strategist on Dean’s father’s case.
- Lia ZhangDefies Sterling’s authority, reveals coerced recruitment, supports and anchors Dean during his episode.
- SloaneProvides FBI policy facts, finds and plays leaked crime-scene video for the team.
- MichaelWatches the footage, questions FBI involvement, reacts protectively when Dean grabs Cassie.
- Professor George FogleColonial University professor and person of interest; teaches a class on serial murder.