Page 5 of Fear for Her Life

“Hungry?” Kane went back to the stove.

Jenna added the fixings to her coffee. “Starving.” She liked that Kane wanted to cook all the meals, mainly because her specialty was burned toast. “I feel kinda useless, sleeping so late. By the time I wake up, all the chores are done.”

“The horses maybe. I turned them out to the corral this morning and they’re rolling around in the long grass.” Kane removed a pile of pancakes from the oven, piled them on plates, and then added crispy strips of bacon from a pan on the stove. “You’re always doing chores. You haven’t stopped cleaning the house. Every time I turn around, you’re polishing something or wiping down counters. Please don’t try to wash the windows again. If you fall from the stepladder, you might hurt yourself.”

Shaking her head, Jenna took the plate, buttered her pancakes and then Tauri’s, before adding maple syrup. “I’m sorry, I was speaking to Nanny Raya and she told me it’s called nesting. Many women in their third trimester suddenly get the urge to clean.” She smiled. “So I’m just cleaning my nest.”

“You don’t have a nest, Mommy.” Tauri giggled. “Birds have nests.”

“Mommy’s just being silly.” Kane grinned and looked at Jenna. “Just don’t start collecting twigs from the yard and putting them in our bed.”

Jenna laughed. “I promise.”

As she took a sip of her coffee her phone chimed. Jenna frowned. In the last week, she’d diverted calls to Chief Deputy Rio. He was more than capable of handling any situation and would notify her if needs be. “Sheriff Alton.”

“This is the warden of the state pen. We had a fire yesterday in the maximum security wing. Due to our current overload of prisoners, it was necessary to transfer four of them to Black Rock Falls County.”The warden sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly.“Reports I’ve received tell me the prison bus made it to just outside Blackwater. The local sheriff found a wreck. The driver was dead, and the prisoners and one prison guard are missing.”

Jenna muted the phone. “Okay, can you give me a second?” She exchanged a meaningful glance with Kane. She never discussed cases in front of her son. As her little boy popped the last piece of pancake into his mouth and drained his glass of milk, she looked at him. “Daddy is going to help you wash up and get ready for kindergarten. Would you like Nanny Raya to take you today?”

“Yes, she’s teaching me a song. We could sing all the way to town.” He slipped from the chair and headed toward the bathroom with Kane on his heels.

Moving her attention back to the call, Jenna stood and took a notepad and pen from the counter. “Do you have any reason to believe that this was a prison break?”

“Initially no. We didn’t have any suspicions until the body of the driver was examined by paramedics. They found a gunshot wound to the head. There’s no blood inside the back of the prison bus, so we’re assuming the prisoners and the other prison guard got out of the wreck without serious injury. The problem I have, Sheriff”—the warden paused for a beat—“is that after finding four sets of footprints leading into the forest, the Blackwater Sheriff’s Department has been combing the area. They were able to follow the tracks, and the group have moved across the county line. They’re heading toward Black Rock Falls, which is your jurisdiction.”

Pushing her hair from her eyes and tucking it behind her ear, Jenna frowned. “You said there were four prisoners in the bus, and a prison guard and yet there are only four sets of footprints. Did you find the body of the other prison guard?”

“No, there were no other bodies and one set of the footprints is small. The others were made by typical footwear we use at the prison. One of the prisoners is unaccounted for and we assume this person was responsible for the breakout. We have no idea who it is or why they didn’t take the others with them. I can only imagine it was agreed to prior to the escape. Lately, because of staff shortages, I’ve been transferring prisoners to Black Rock Falls County. I figure when they planned the escape, they assumed I’d be sending them there.”

Stanton Forest was massive, covering her entire county from the mountains to the lowlands. It spread out all over and there were parts of it in the west so dense that no one ventured inside. Anyone who didn’t want to be found would be extremely difficult to locate, even with her resources. “Do you have the coordinates of where they were last seen?”

“I do and I will message them to you.”The warden cleared his throat.“Unfortunately, these aren’t just general population prisoners. These are maximum security, and the warden who is missing is a young woman by the name of Amy Clark. This is an exemplary young woman. She has never been in contact with any of these men before and we can find no reason why she would collaborate with them in any way. We can only assume they’re holding her as a hostage. My hope is that she is of value to them. It might just save her life.”

Prisoners placed in maximum security posed a risk to others, and now she had three of them roaming Stanton Forest. “Who exactly are we talking about?” She placed the phone on the table and fished her earbuds out of her pocket. “Do you have a list at hand?”

“Eduardo Souza; ‘Ice Pick’ Mason Margos; the Silent Strangler, Sebastian Callahan; and the Blue Man, Carl Romero.”He sighed.“The odd one out in that group is Eduardo Souza, a cartel kingpin. The other three are serial killers.”

A shiver ran down Jenna’s spine at Eduardo Souza’s name. The cartel boss had kidnapped Kane and Tauri, and wanted them both dead to prevent Kane testifying against him in court. Left chained to a wall, Kane and Tauri barely escaped an explosion, but Souza and some of his men were spending time in prison… or had been until now. As she wrote down the names, her fingers trembled at the memory. “Yeah, I know him and I’ve read about the others in Special Agent Jo Wells’ book about psychopathic behavior. I believe she’s the best behavioral analyst in the country. We’re very lucky to have access to her. I believe she interviewed them in prison at one time.”

“She did indeed and we spoke about rehabilitation. Although, I can’t imagine anyone rehabilitating these men. Some of them have murdered more than twenty people we know about. Once they get that far gone, there’s no coming back.”The warden sighed.“I’ve notified the governor and, as I can’t spare any staff to assist with the search, he offered to supply you with resources until we can organize a group of guards from other prisoners to join the search. All you need to do is call. There’s the FBI, as well, and state troopers who’ll be able to assist. If you locate the prisoners, get County to collect them. Don’t put them inside a patrol vehicle. They’re too dangerous.”

He was speaking to her as if she had no experience with serial killers, or maybe he believed being a woman sheriff was a disadvantage. She lifted her chin. “Trust me, Warden, I’m fully aware of what a psychopath can do. They seem to flock to Black Rock Falls. Our town is known locally as Serial Killer Central.”

“Well then, I’m sure you’ll have everything under control. I’ll have a Department of Corrections command post set up ASAP. The forest warden has suggested the check-in point at Bear Peak, so I’m looking into that now. Keep in touch with them.”He disconnected.

Concerned how Kane would react to hearing that Eduardo Souza had escaped, Jenna waited until Nanny Raya collected Tauri to take him to kindergarten before explaining the seriousness of the situation to him. “Four escaped, three apparently took the female prison guard with them. The driver’s weapon is missing. The warden figures the fourth prisoner organized the breakout and went with his friends. The others are all serial killers.”

“Well, the organizer will be in the wind. My bet he’s got the resources to plan something like this.” Kane narrowed his gaze. “What about the others? Anyone we put away?”

Jenna’s heart missed a beat. She needed time to think. “Only one, I believe.” She flicked him a glance. “The warden is sending their files. He mentioned Jo has interviewed them. I’ll call her and Agent Carter to help us, and we’ll have a better idea of who we’re dealing with.” She gathered up her things. “If the governor will supply resources, another chopper would be a good idea. We could call in Agents Katz and Styles from Rattlesnake Creek. They all have choppers, so does Wolfe. If we can get another one for Raven, we can have four in the air at one time.”

“I agree with calling in the FBI agents, and utilizing the choppers for initial sweeps might be beneficial, but the forest is dense and I doubt they’d be able to distinguish prisoners from hikers or hunters from above.” Kane collected the dirty dishes from the table and put them in the dishwasher. “Think about it. If you were trying to escape in the forest and you heard a chopper, what would you do?”

Horrific memories of being lost in the forest flooded Jenna’s mind and a shudder went through her. “At this time of the year, with all the lush vegetation, I guess hiding from a chopper would be easy enough. So we’re gonna need boots on the ground.” Knowing her husband was an expert in tactical maneuvers, she moved to his side. “What do you suggest?”

“We’ll need to go in as one unit and track them. Then it depends if they split up or stay together. Either way, the best way forward is in teams.” Kane’s mouth twitched up at the edges. “Think about it. We have our bloodhound, Duke, and Raven’s K9, Ben. Then there’s Carter’s Zorro and Styles’ Bear. I figure all you’ll need is a few extra deputies for them to use as backup. They’d be able to move through the forest silently and have a better chance of surrounding the prisoners.”

Nodding, Jenna went on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. “Thank you. I’ll call everyone on the way to the office. We’ll work out the teams when we get there.” She took a cloth to wipe the table. “You can organize the search.”

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