Page 16 of Fear for Her Life

Rolling his eyes, Carter stared at Rio. “Yeah, I’m here. Can we dispense with the ‘copy’ and ‘over and out’ shit?”

“Sure.”Styles sounded amused.“Beth will send the drone. She’ll get the job done. You can rely on her.”

Straightening and sweeping his gaze over the forest again, Carter cleared his throat. “You okay with that, Dave?”

“Copy. There’s a cabin one mile south from your position. We’ll meet you there. If we run into the prisoners, you’ll hear us coming. Over.”

Carter rubbed Zorro’s ears. “I’ll never get the military out of that man.”

SEVENTEEN

Kane led the group into a thicker part of the forest and quickly gave everyone a rundown of their theories. He looked at Raven. “Have you seen combat? I know you were flying a chopper and in the medical corps.”

“Unfortunately, yes, I have.” Raven touched his sidearm and shrugged. “Killing is against my Hippocratic oath, but I’m sure that it doesn’t cover psychopathic serial killers trying to kill me.” He shot a glance at Wolfe. “I’m sure you’ve been in similar situations since moving to Black Rock Falls.”

“Yeah, it’s the difference between right and wrong.” Wolfe gave him a long steady stare. “No normal person wants to kill, but no one is expected to come under attack and not defend themselves. They have laws in this state for just that, which I’m sure you’re aware.”

Desperately wanting to contact Jenna but needing to get his team all on the same page, Kane looked from one to the other. “I figure we’re coming up against a very well-planned ambush. We don’t know for sure what resources they have up their sleeves. The drones these days could easily pass as birds flying overhead. Some of the sophisticated ones don’t make a sound. We have no idea how long we’ve been under observation, so we’ll need to make things difficult for them. Now we know what’s going on, we can easily turn the tables. My main concern is for the women. They must have guessed we left them to guard Jenna. When you think about it, it was the most logical thing to do. It would be difficult for her to join us in the forest in her condition, and stubborn as she is, they’d know she’d use common sense.” He pulled out his satellite phone. “I need to call Jenna.” He made the call and gave her a rundown.

“Yeah, I can send a drone at first light. It will take a time to get to you. Send me the coordinates.”Jenna’s footsteps sounded on the polished floor.“Okay, I’m in our bedroom. What’s really going on?”

Kane waved the others forward and urged Warrior into the shadows. “It doesn’t feel right. For serial killers, these guys are acting like they’re on a mission. I’m not sure if it’s to get to me or if it’s to split us up. They must know we have reinforcements on the way. These men are usually loners. Knowing they’re working together is freaky.” A chopper flew overhead and began to do sweeping circles. “I figure the Two Bear Air Rescue has just arrived, but they won’t be here long. It’s getting dark.”

“I’ve heard from the DOC. They’ve pulled in teams from all over the state to assist in the search. They’ll be setting up a command station at the forest warden’s office at Bear Peak. It has the biggest parking lot, so once people arrive they’ll be used to relieve others out searching. I gather the general consensus is that they believe the prisoners will die of starvation or be eaten by a grizzly. I did explain that they’ve already killed someone and ransacked their home, but they’re not listening to me.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Kane peered through the trees. The night mist was already rising and rolling through the lengthening shadows. “They’re not taking in the big picture. They figure this is all about Souza escaping from jail and the other guys just came along for the ride. In fact, it was well planned and there are things going on we don’t know about. You will need to keep on your guard at all times.”

“After seeing the chopper flying over the house, it was pretty obvious. It’s fortunate we had Beth here with us. She was able to hack the helicopter’s computer and send it all the wrong messages. I don’t figure they’ll be trying to get in that way again. I had some idea that Beth Katz was high up in her field, but she makes Kalo look like a novice.”

Kane reached for a bottle of water from his saddlebag and took a sip. “Yeah, from what Styles said, she’s completely fearless and a little bit eccentric. I’ve heard a lot about her from Wolfe. No personal information, but that she has a different way of looking at things than most people. She has the unique ability of being able to imagine what a serial killer is going to do next. He puts it down to her father being the notorious serial killer Cutthroat Jack. She lived with him for many years not knowing he was out murdering people until he murdered her mother. Apparently, she didn’t witness her death and insists she has no memory of that night. Likely, she’s blocked out the horror of what happened. Maybe that’s why she’s one step ahead of a serial killer. She might have the same mindset.”

“If she’s carrying the gene.”Jenna cleared her throat.“If she does, it doesn’t mean she’ll become a serial killer. She’s worked many murder cases and nothing’s happened yet, so I think I’m safe.”

“She hasn’t tried to kill Styles yet either. I’m sure he would have told us by now.” Kane grinned into the darkness. “We’re heading to a cabin now to meet the others. We’ll sleep over and wait until the other teams arrive and then decide what to do. As these prisoners are in our county, we should really have representatives chasing them down.”

“We’ll be taking turns keeping watch overnight. Please don’t worry about us. If anything happens, I’ll lock everyone into the safe room and call you right away.”Jenna’s footsteps came again.“Tauri would like to talk to you.”

Warmth crawled around Kane’s heart as his son’s voice came through the earpiece. “Hey, have you been helping Nanny Raya make cookies today?”

“No, we made pasta and I got to turn the handle on the machine.”Tauri giggled.“Now Auntie Jo is making sauce out of tomatoes and she touched that pot of basil you have growing on the window ledge. She said you wouldn’t mind.”

Smiling into the darkness, Kane sighed. The basil had been a pet project of theirs, along with other herbs they’d grown from seed. Every leaf on every plant was precious to Tauri. “That’s okay. We grew that to make really good sauce for our pasta. You be a good boy now and help Mommy. I’ll speak to you again soon.”

“Okay.”The phone was dropped onto a table before Jenna’s voice came back.“He’s enjoying having Jo here. He likes to cook, just the same as you. I’d better go. It must be dark there. I’ll see you soon. Love you.”

Missing her swamped him. “Love you more.” He disconnected and urged Warrior back along the trail, moving swiftly to catch up to the others. As he reined in beside Wolfe, his friend turned to greet him.”

“It will be dark soon. What’s the plan?” Wolfe scanned the forest. “There’s no sign of anyone in the vicinity, no smell of a fire. They must have moved in another direction. If we hole up in a cabin overnight, the teams from Helena should arrive by morning. I know the DOC has a plan to catch these guys. Do we go or do we stay and take down these men?”

Kane removed his Stetson and ran a hand through his hair, thinking. He’d never walked away from a fight or left a criminal running loose. Yet Jenna was unprotected. Sure, she had Beth and Jo with Nanny Raya as backup, but they hadn’t faced the evil Souza was capable of delivering. “I figure we should discuss our options when Carter and Rio arrive. I’m torn between staying and capturing three violent criminals and protecting my family. Maybe my judgment isn’t as sound as it should be right now.”

“It’s sound.” Wolfe urged his horse down the trail. “You’ve made the right decisions all along. If it had been as simple as just finding the felons, it would be straightforward. We’ve been thrown an unexpected curveball.”

“If you want my opinion”—Raven followed close behind—“with you and Souza, it’s personal. I find it difficult to believe he doesn’t want to be in on your murder. Using Jenna and Tauri as bait would be sensible, but by now, he’d know that just isn’t going to happen so long as she is on the ranch. I figure his plan is about to change.”

EIGHTEEN

Stumbling over tree roots as darkness fell all around them, fear gripped Amy Clark. The last thing she wanted to do was spend a night alone with Margos. As the smell of woodsmoke drifted through the forest toward them, he poked her in the back. Terrified he would murder her at any moment, she glanced over one shoulder to see him smiling.

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