Page 56 of Cold Case Discovery

Jen’s attention turned from Jack to Chloe. “Didn’t I always tell you to listen to your brother?”

“Yes, because you shared all his worst impulses,” Chloe returned, her voice cool, calm and collected even as fury shone in her eyes.

But Jack was relieved she looked more mad than emotionally hurt, more determined than scared. They could get out of this if they kept their wits about them.

Or so he’d keep telling himself.

“Mom, make them let me go,” Ry groused from where he sat on the ground, still handcuffed. “This hurts.”

Jen looked at Ry sitting on the ground, eyes narrowed. “Do you think I’mbrainless?”

Ry didn’t meet his mother’s gaze. He looked down at the ground. “No, ma’am.”

“Get up, then. Your feet aren’t cuffed, and your legs aren’t broken. And stop whining.”

Ry struggled to get up on his own. Jack didn’t feel the need to help him, though Chloe was clearly fighting the impulse.

Jack considered the interaction between Ry and his mother. What Ry had said before Jen had shown up made him rethink...everything. Ry had clearly been working with these women, not with Mark Brink. But what did that mean for the murder? For the scrapbook that connected to theBrinkfamily, not Jen Rogers? Why would she have hurt Hart, taken the scrapbook? Was it really all disparate parts that didn’t connect? Or was there something bigger he couldn’t fathom?

Jack wasn’t sure which would be worse.

“Why’d you try to kidnap a cop, Mom?” Chloe asked, sounding bored.

“I didn’ttry. I succeeded,” Jen snapped.

Jack wasn’t sure it was smart to rile Jen up, considering she was clearly a violent criminal, but Chloe probably had a good sense of her own mother no matter how little they’d communicated recently. So he followed Chloe’s lead.

“Why didn’t you kill him, then?” he asked, keeping his voice and demeanor conversational. “Because we found him, and he’ll survive. Probably ID you pretty quick, and then what?”

Jen barked out a laugh. “They’d have tofindme. What do I care if they ID me? I could have killed him. Don’t for a second think I couldn’t have—or that I won’t kill you.” She waved the firearm in the air like she was swatting at an irritating gnat. “We didn’t need a missing cop. That always makes your kind crawl out of your holes. Can’t have one of your own disappearing, can you? Honestly, we would have left him bleeding in the parking lot, but we needed a little bit more time to create confusion.”

She sighed heavily, surveying Jack and Chloe. “Cops. Always causing problems.” She shook her head, then looked at the two women she was with. “We’ll have to do this one special, girls.”

The two women with her nodded like they knew what that meant. Jack did not thinkspecialwas going to be good.

“What about him?” Courtney asked, gesturing her gun at Ry.

“Good question. Not sure yet. Let’s get everyone home and go from there. Courtney, you take the lead. You three will follow. Sarah and I will handle the rear.”

“Where are we going?” Chloe asked.

“On a fun little hike, sweetie. You just used tolovethose, didn’t you? Anything to escape me, right?” Jen demanded, bitterness and something akin to hysteria tinging her tone.

Courtney started off down where Ry had initially run. There was no clear trail, but it was easy enough to follow the woman. Chloe walked stiffly at Jack’s side, and Ry stumbled behind them. Unnecessarily, in Jack’s estimation.

But Ry was in handcuffs. Chloe and he were free. They didn’t have their weapons anymore, but they had training. Jack still had his pack on. Play their cards right, they could take down all three women without anyone getting too hurt, set off a flare, and end this here and now.

But the guns made it riskier than he liked. He’d have to bide his time.

Jack considered it his good fortune that he’d been over every last yard of the forest preserve, especially this area around the campground. Wherever the women took them, he’d have a general idea of where they were and where they’d need to go to get out.

He thought about the flare in his pack. The women hadn’t searched it yet—clearly not quite the thorough criminals they fancied themselves. Not that he could currently use the flare, so maybe he shouldn’t pat himself on the back just yet.

“Have they found him yet?” Jen asked. When the question was met with silence, she reached forward and tugged Chloe’s ponytail. Hard.

Before he thought the move through, Jack reached forward and grabbed Jen’s wrist to stop her from hurting Chloe. Which earned him a gun shoved into his chest.

He dropped Jen’s wrist immediately, then held up his arms slowly. “Let’s everyone keep their hands to themselves.”

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