Читать книгу Tracker - Lenora Worth, Rachel Hauck - Страница 12

THREE

Penny stayed crouched behind the rock, her heartbeat pounding against her temples like a jackhammer. A black van pulled up on one of the trails, and a man wielding a gun got out and scanned the woods. Penny tried to make out his face, but he was too far away and the shifting light was too low. Barely breathing, she watched as Cheetah stayed with her and stood so still she thought the dog had turned to stone. The canine emitted a low growl, the dare in that whisper of aggression telling her she was safe with him.

But the man kept coming, slowly, deliberately, as if he knew exactly where she was hiding. Penny decided she wasn’t going to wait around and find out. Lifting the weighty handgun, she checked the safety and put her sights on the man. She hadn’t fired a gun since Jake had taken her to target practice so long ago. Could she shoot another human being?

Taking another long look at him, she tried to memorize details of his description. He wore dark glasses and had longish, stringy blond hair. He wasn’t very tall but he was brawny and in good shape.

The henchman advanced but Cheetah’s growls grew louder, causing the assailant to glance up in shock and pivot back and forth. He started backing away, a definite fear in his eyes.

Penny used that fear to give her courage. Lifting up, she aimed and shot into the air near where the man stood, hoping Zeke would hear and come back. The man took off running. Cheetah’s barks now turned brutal and loud.

The man hopped back in the van and started it up. Penny raised the gun again and shot toward the moving target. She missed but she thought she heard something else over the sound of the dog’s barks.

The cries of a child.

* * *

Zeke followed the trail of broken bramble and loose rocks along the craggy ridge, stopping to take a photo each time he saw drops of blood on the rocks or dirt. Cheetah had at least injured his brother. Probably not a deep bite since Jake had been wearing heavy leather boots, but enough that a crime scene tech could get a sample to back up whatever Penny could tell them. The K-9 team could gather evidence and get it to Billings. They all wanted Jake.

Deciding he couldn’t keep going along blindly, Zeke stopped at the top of the ridge and glanced down through the woods. It was hard to see with the growing dusk but he stilled and waited. Nothing. Jake had to be hiding down there somewhere but until help arrived, he had no choice but to turn around. He didn’t want to leave Penny alone. Pivoting, he heard a crashing noise down below. Could be an animal or it could be his brother on the move again. He hurried to check it out.

The sound of gunshots in the area where he’d left Penny had him running back in that direction instead. When he heard Cheetah’s fierce bark, he knew she was in trouble. Had Jake set up yet another distraction so he could get to Penny?

* * *

After what seemed like hours but had only been a few minutes, Zeke returned, winded, fatigue coloring his eyes.

Rushing up to where she sat against the tree with the gun held tightly against her, tears streaming down her face, he sank onto the ground by her. “Cheetah, sit.” Then he gently cupped Penny’s arms in his hands. “Are you okay?”

She handed Zeke his gun, thankful that he’d come back so quickly. But she was so scared of what she might have done it took her a while to speak. “A black van, big with no windows. A man got out and searched the area. I decided to scare him away so I shot toward him.” With each word, she began to sob in earnest.

Zeke nodded, concern deepening his frown. “Good, that’s good. Did you get a look at him?”

She swallowed, trying desperately to tamp down the fear that assailed her. “Yes. Not too tall. Long, stringy blond hair and glasses. And a really big rifle.” Then she grabbed his shirt. “Zeke, I can’t be sure since it all happened so fast and Cheetah was barking, but I...I think I heard a cry. Inside the van.” The terror took over and she started shaking. “I think I heard a child crying.” Then she fell against him, the sick fear engulfing her, the reality of her fears paralyzing her. “Zeke, I shot at the man and I missed. But I heard a child’s cry.” Pulling away, she stared up at him. “What if my son’s in that van?”

Zeke’s eyes went wide. Lifting her up, he pulled her closer and looked down at her. “We’re going to the inn. We’ll find Kevin.” Then, still holding her near, he took out his phone and reported everything she’d just told him. “Yes, sir. We’ll be there as soon as we can get back to my vehicle.”

He ended the call and turned to her. “Let’s get you back to the inn.”

She tugged at his arm and pointed toward the road. “We need to go after them. They went that way. I...I have to find Kevin.”

She started to go around him and tried to reach for her backpack.

“I’ll get it.” He snatched up the flower-encased bundle, their gazes locking for a brief moment. “Let’s go.”

Zeke pulled her with him across the rocky terrain at a furious trot. “My SAC—special agent in charge—Max West, and another agent are already headed to the Wild Iris, and the whole team is here and scattered throughout the woods. We’ve put out a BOLO on the van and we’ve got Jake’s face plastered all over the news and social media outlets. Max made sure the locals put out an APB.”

“So you didn’t see him anywhere?”

“No,” Zeke said. “But I did find blood on some of the rocks. I gave Max the locations so the crime scene techs can do a sweep of the area.”

We had him. Penny wished they could have stopped Jake but everything happened so fast. She prayed Kevin was safe, prayed she’d been imagining those wails. She had shot toward that van but thankfully, she’d missed.

Dear God, please, please. I couldn’t bear it if my child were kidnapped. She wished this was just a horrible nightmare. Each step seemed like an eternity and each time she glanced back, she expected Jake to be trailing them.

Then she halted and gasped. “I remember something Jake said earlier.”

“What?” Zeke queried, swiping at buzzing bugs.

“He said he had a van waiting. ‘We’ll have Kevin.’ Then he went on talking about how we’d leave together.”

Realization filled Zeke’s eyes. “That does make it sound like Kevin would already be in the van.”

She bobbed her head. “Yes, yes. I think I heard my baby crying.” Putting her hands to her mouth, she tried to take another breath. “Zeke, what if Jake holding me here was all a distraction so that man could get to Kevin? And now...he could be hurt or—”

Zeke let out a frustrated sigh and took her into his arms. “Penny, think. Where did the shot land?”

She closed her eyes. “It hit a few feet in front of the van, thankfully.”

“So if Kevin was in the van, he’d probably be in the back, maybe in a crib or a seat, or you could have heard something else.” Softening his tone, he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Don’t think the worst until we can get to the inn, okay?”

She glanced up at him, wanting to believe him. “Okay. Hurry anyway. We need to find out.”

Zeke started going over things, his voice calm while her heart screamed in agony. “We know someone else was with Jake. I have an eyewitness for that. And they were in a black van. Then you probably saw the same van. The locals and the FBI are searching for it right now.”

“That person could have Kevin already and they could be leaving right now. Can you check? Talk to your person?”

Zeke took out his phone again and made the call. “Yes, sir. Tell them to hurry.” Then he turned to her. “We’ve got people at the inn. We’ll hear soon.”

Penny felt sick, her knees weak. “Hurry, Zeke. Please. We’re wasting time. He went west on the main road.”

He urged her forward. “We can’t get anywhere without my vehicle.”

When they reached a clearing, Zeke scanned the entire area and watched his canine for any signs of a scent. The dog sniffed the air and the ground and looked toward where they’d been before.

“I’ll get you there,” he promised her, his eyes as dark as the tree bark. “I can’t let you out of my sight now.”

She nodded, glad he’d moved quickly. “I need to call Claire.”

He guided her to the SUV and came around to the driver’s side.

Before she could dig for her cell phone, Zeke pulled the official-looking sleek black phone out of his pocket. “Make the call.”

Penny dialed the number to the inn and waited. “She’s not answering. Something’s wrong.”

Zeke took the phone back and pressed on the gas pedal. “We’ll be there in five minutes. In the meantime, we’ve got people already going over the area where I found you with Jake. They’re searching for the van and they might find something we missed.”

Penny nodded and listened while he spoke to someone about the location. She was still shaking and the blast of cold air coming from the vehicle’s air-conditioning made her shiver even more. Interrupting his conversation, she said, “I think we should have tried to find the van. I can identify it. Should we turn around?”

Zeke noticed her discomfort and hit the button to turn down the airflow. After discussing the situation with his superior again, he dropped his cell phone into a cup holder between them. “I have to protect you and Kevin. He’ll keep coming for you. I’m to get you to the inn first. It’s too dangerous to go chasing after that vehicle.”

Frustration roared through Penny. “I was right there! I should have killed that man and looked inside myself.”

Zeke reached over and gripped her arm. “Listen to me, Penny. In situations like this, it’s always best if the parents stay out of the way and let us do our jobs. My team is one of the best. You need to take a breath and trust us.”

“I know,” she said, wondering how she’d ever find her next breath. “I know.” She couldn’t voice the terror ripping her apart. What if it’s too late? What then?

Zeke zoomed the sleek SUV around curves and along dirt roads and watched the rearview mirror. Cheetah stayed in the back in a roomy kennel. She felt safe with these two, but Penny couldn’t relax until she knew Kevin was safe.

When they got to the Wild Iris and saw a local police officer standing with two FBI agents holding canines on leashes, her heart sank. “I have to find my baby,” she cried, hopping out of the vehicle before Zeke could turn off the motor.

She ran toward the big, two-story house, every cell in her body on overload. “Kevin? Kevin, Mommy’s here.”

An officer stopped her at the wide stained glass front door. “Ma’am, you can’t go in there.”

“She’s with me,” Zeke said, showing the officer his ID. “Her two-year-old son could be in danger.”

“He’s gone,” Rex Harmon said when Penny rushed inside, shaking his head. Rex, an avid hiker, had a room across from hers. “That man—he had a gun and he took the little boy.”

“No!” Penny put a hand to her mouth and moaned, a sick feeling pooling inside her stomach. “No...”

“What did he look like?” Zeke asked, pulling out a picture of his half brother. “Is this him?”

“Nah,” the older man said. “This thug was short and muscular with long, greasy blond hair and funky eyeglasses. He got into a beat-up old black van.”

Zeke’s eyes flared with awareness, his gaze hitting on Penny. She grabbed onto a chair, her worst nightmares coming to the surface. The same man she’d seen in the woods. Kevin had been right there, inside that van. She could have saved him.

“Do you know that man?” she asked Zeke, each word a struggle, each beat of her pulse a condemnation.

He nodded. “Possibly. But we’ll figure that out later.”

“Was this man in the van?” Penny demanded, her finger jabbing at the picture of Jake.

“No,” Rex said, sympathy in his eyes. “He was alone but he overpowered Miss Claire and hit her on the head. I heard her scream and I saw him with the boy. Miss Claire was hurt but she got to her shotgun. Only he had a gun, too, and he pointed it at the kid when we both ordered him to stop. Miss Claire dropped her gun and the man got in the van with your son and left.” He glanced from the officers to Penny. “I tried to get a license plate but it was all rusted out.” He gave Penny an apologetic look and waved a hand at all the officers swarming around. “I was about to call you when they showed up.”

Penny’s stomach twisted and recoiled. A cold sweat crept up and down her spine. She sank down on the stairs and pushed at her hair. “Is Miss Claire okay?”

“She’s fine,” Rex said. “She’s in her room with a female officer. The EMTs looked her over but she won’t go to the hospital.”

Penny stood, dizziness overcoming her. Zeke reached out to her and guided her to a chair. “I’ll find him. I promise. You stay here while I go and check on your babysitter.”

He asked Rex to bring her some water. The front door swung open and another man wearing an FBI vest entered, along with another canine. She’d seen them outside and heard Zeke introduce him as Special Agent in Charge Max West. He had short, spiked blond hair and blue eyes that seemed to stare everyone down, but like Zeke, he seemed confident and born to be in charge. She also noticed a jagged scar on his left cheek.

That only reminded her of how dangerous this situation had become. Jake had sent someone to kidnap her son and now he was at their mercy. That man could have killed Claire and Rex, too.

She watched, impatient and numb, while FBI agents and K-9 dogs filled the inn, their presence a sharp contrast to the dainty furnishings and heirloom antiques placed all around the Victorian-style mansion turned boardinghouse.

Max West gathered all of them around and explained what would transpire next. Roadblocks, an Amber Alert, all train and bus stations made aware, all flights out of nearby airports monitored. And all agents out on the hunt.

Penny put her head in her hands and prayed. Helplessness weighed her down, a sense of doom and despair causing her to catch her breath. Why, oh, why, had she come back to Montana?

Law enforcement set up electronic equipment on every available spot and stomped over the braided rugs and slammed the stained glass doors, moving, while she sat there, frozen in a nightmare. She had to do something, anything, to find her little boy.

Agent West came over to her and asked her several rapid-fire questions about Jake. Did he say where he was headed? What did he look like? What kind of weapons was he carrying? Did he mention an accomplice?

He explained to her that they were aware she’d been on the run and why. They knew she’d been in a chalet in Colorado earlier in the summer. Had Jake come after her there?

Penny nodded and answered all the questions, anger warring with fear and regret. “I came back here because...I wanted my son to be here, close to where I grew up. I thought I was safe.”

“Did you come here hoping Jake would find you? Did he arrange to meet you out in the Basin area?”

“No.”

Fury roiled through her. Did they actually think she’d wanted this? That she wanted to be sitting here, paralyzed with fear, wondering if her son was alive or dead?

Finally, Penny lifted her head and said, “He planned to go live on a tropical island, and he said he has a lot of money stashed somewhere but I don’t know where. He wants my son, not me. I didn’t want him around Kevin, and I sure don’t want him taking my son away from me. The man tried to kill me. Why are you questioning me when you should be out there searching for Kevin?”

Max West gave her a stern but sympathetic stare. “We’re doing everything we can to help us find your son, Penny. We’ve taken prints on everyone who works here or is staying here, and we have officers going door-to-door around this area to see if we can find any leads or get any eyewitnesses. Don’t go anywhere.”

“I know who took my son,” she said, her voice rising. “Why aren’t you listening to me? I was an eyewitness. Up close. So close, I feared for my life. Go and find my son before it’s too late.”

Zeke pulled Max aside and said something into his ear. The other man shot a frown at her. Did he know what she was afraid of, what was tearing through her racing mind?

Zeke came over and bent down in front of her. “It’s highly unlikely that they’d hurt Kevin, Penny. You have to keep telling yourself that. Jake wants him, so he would order them not to harm him.”

Closing her eyes to the shattering nerves breaking apart piece by piece throughout her core, she said, “Sure. And while I’m at it, I’ll keep telling myself that Jake doesn’t have him in that van headed to another getaway car or to the airport.”

Zeke stared at her for a brief moment but one of the other agents called him. “I’ll be right back.” Then he whirled around. “And, Penny, don’t go anywhere, understand? That would only make this worse.”

Penny didn’t believe it could get much worse but if they didn’t do something soon, she would sneak out to her Jeep and do whatever she had to do to find Kevin. And she’d take Claire’s shotgun with her.