Page 27 of So Insane

“Keep an eye on Turk. I’m going to go after him.”

“Are you insane? Faith, let it go. We followed him this far, let the Marshals handle it. They can get a helicopter to look for him.”

“Through a dense forest and rocky terrain?” Faith said, rolling up her sleeves. “I don’t think so. Unless he sleeps in the treetops, they’re not finding him.”

“Well, we aren’t either,” Michael said. “It’s going to be dark in twenty minutes.”

“I’ll hurry,” she said.

“Faith, dammit!” Michael called.

But Faith had already started up the steep slope.

As she climbed, she saw the path Tooley must have taken. The boulders appeared at first glance to be inconveniently placed, but when viewed from the right angle, they formed a natural ladder leading from the bottom of the hill up to the top. She carefully made her way up that natural ladder, and when she reached the top, she saw that the footpath continued.

She called Michael, who answered immediately and said, “What the hell are you doing? Get down here!”

“I found the footpath again.” She said. “it continues west for another three hundred yards or so before veering north. I’m going to follow it and keep you updated.”

“Faith, this is a bad idea.”

“If he’s close, this could be our chance,” Faith said.

“Do I really need to tell you why this is a bad idea?” Michael insisted.

He didn’t. Faith looked around at the terrain, which remained very rough. Boulders and bristlecones were strewn across the landscape, ample cover for an armed and dangerous fugitive to use to protect himself from an ambitious FBI agent.

But she had him. She could sense him just as clearly as Turk could smell him.

“Keep your phone on,” she said before hanging up. And this time answer, she didn’t say aloud.

She continued along the path as the sun dipped below the horizon. The sky rapidly darkened, and Faith pulled her flashlight from her belt and switched it on. The FBI-issue torch shone a bright, concentrated beam of light ahead of her, but the moon would be completely gone tonight, and the light was of little use other than to illuminate the ground immediately ahead of Faith.

She moved cautiously, sweeping her light in front of her, checking behind each boulder and tree for sign of Tooley. After a half mile or so, the plateau once more became a narrow footpath with the slope of the next mountain rising sharply to her right and descending just as sharply to her left.

She followed this for another half mile or so when she found the cave. It looked to be a shallow, hollowed-out cavern in the side of the mountain. From where Faith stood, she couldn’t see any tunnels or shafts. This cave, it seemed, wasn’t connected to the network outside of Granger.

What she could see was a very surprised, stocky man about six inches shorter and six inches wider than she was. How he had managed to make his way through this terrain was beyond Faith.

But she could deal with that when she interrogated him. “Ferris Tooley,” she began. “You’re under—”

She didn't get a chance to finish arrest. With a snarl of rage, Tooley rushed at her. She swore and swung the handle of her solid aluminum light toward him. He ducked under the blow and rammed his shoulder under her armpit, sending her sprawling backward.

She landed right on the edge of the slope. Her light skittered downward, its beam arcing in a spiral as it tumbled thousands of feet below.

Tooley seemed particularly set on causing Faith to follow her flashlight. He kicked at her, and when that only succeeded in pushing her a half inch toward the edge, he dropped to his knees and put his hands underneath her waist, trying to roll her.

She brought her knee up. It collected solidly with Tooley’s temple, and the fugitive grunted and fell over, bringing his hand to the side of his face.

Faith rolled to her knees and drove her shoulder into Tooley, trying to roll him onto his stomach where she could control him. The stocky man’s lower center of gravity allowed him to avoid being rolled over, and with a grunt of effort, he wrapped Faith in a body lock and twisted her back onto the ground.

He lifted his hands and interlaced his fingers. Faith looked up, and in the dim light of the stars, she saw Franklin West's haughty smile. She blinked and saw Trammell's crazed grin.

I’m going to break you, Faith.

Let’s see you bleed, little girl.

Tooley brought his fists down hard. Faith jerked her head out of the way, and his hands collided with the bedrock. He cried out, and Faith drove an uppercut right into his jaw.

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