Suddenly, Shaye had an idea. Carefully removing her phone from her coat pocket, she dialed the Phoenix Police Department. Claiming it was urgent, Shaye insisted on speaking to Officer Noys, the policeman who had found her in Chase’s apartment.
“I’m patching you through to his car now,” the dispatcher told her.
A moment later, Shaye heard his voice on the phone. “This
is Noys.”
“Officer Noys, this is Christal Jones,” Shaye began. “I don’t know if you remember me, but I need your help.”
“Is this some kind of joke?” he asked tensely.
“No,” Shaye assured him, barely able to keep her teeth from chattering. “Someone is after me, and Agent Pratt is in the hospital.”
“Where are you?”
“I’d rather not say right now. I’m sure you understand.” Shaye hesitated. “Anyway, the reason I’m calling is to tell you that I know who ordered the hit on Chase. His name is Chris Rush, and he’s a judge in Virginia.”
“How do you know this?” Noys asked.
“I met him at Senator Whitmore’s home in Great Falls, Virginia. Then yesterday, my car blew up.”
“How do you know it was this Rush guy?” Noys insisted.
“Right before Chase died, he said something to me,” Shaye continued. “He said, ‘Chris Rush. Don’t let him find you.’ I didn’t realize until today that Chris Rush was somebody’s name.”
“I thought he was just telling you to hurry and hide.” Noys sounded skeptical.
“Well, he wasn’t,” Shaye insisted. “I need you to make sure the senator and his family are safe. Judge Rush was there looking for me.”
“I’ll contact the FBI and have them pick up Rush,” Noys told her.
“What about the senator?” Shaye asked.
“I’ll call the police out there and have them take care of it.” Noys hesitated a moment. “What about you?”
“Until Rush is arrested, I’m keeping a low profile,” Shaye assured him, not giving him a chance to argue. “I’ll be in touch.”
Shaye placed her phone in her backpack, hoping it would stay dry. Staring up into the branches above her, she debated calling Matt. She wanted desperately to make sure he and his family were all right, but she knew she would just have to wait and call Noys back later.
* * *
When the doorbell rang, Matt jumped to his feet. He was the first to the door, and he opened it to find Doug Valdez on the
other side.
“I thought Shaye understood she couldn’t see you anymore,” Doug said testily as he followed Matt inside.
“She changed her mind after she watched her car blow up,” Matt barked back at him. “I guess that surveillance you did wasn’t quite thorough enough.”
“Don’t give me that.” The muscle in Doug’s jaw twitched at the well-aimed insult. He took a step toward Matt. “She never would have gotten into this mess if you hadn’t brought her home with you. And if you’d told her your dad was a senator, we would have known about your brother’s friend and the trouble he could cause.”
Jim walked up behind Matt and put his hand on his shoulder. “This isn’t getting us anywhere.” He extended his hand to Doug. “You must be Agent Valdez. I’m Jim Whitmore.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Doug said, suddenly reclaiming his manners.
“Of course you can understand that my son is very upset about all of this,” Jim said as he led the way into the living room. “I’m afraid it’s my fault that Shaye has been placed in such danger.”
“Can you bring me up-to-date?” Doug asked, sitting down with Jim.
Jim and Matt explained the events of the past twenty-four hours. Doug sat forward on the couch, his barely veiled frustration apparent in his demeanor. “Do you think that Judge Rush could be involved with the people who are after Shaye?” he asked.
“I believe you may be able to answer that for us, Agent Valdez,” Jim replied.
“How’s that?” Doug asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Judge Rush told us when he arrived at our house earlier that he had contacted the FBI and was here to pick up Shaye to take her to a safe house.” Jim paused for a moment. “If you can verify that his story is untrue, I believe he must be involved in some manner.”
Doug nodded. “With what you’ve told me, I think it’s very possible that the judge is involved.”
“What do we do now?” Matt asked.
“I’ll see if we can get a search warrant for Judge Rush’s home and office.” Doug stood up. “In the meantime, I’d like to have the police watch your house for the next day or so, just in case.”
Doug was dialing the phone when the doorbell rang. Jim and Matt both jumped up to get it as Doug began barking orders over the phone. To their surprise, they found two uniformed police
officers.
“Good evening, Senator,” one officer said politely. “We received a call that your family might be in danger, and we have been sent here to take a look around, if that’s okay.”
“Please come in.” Jim stepped aside.
Doug rushed in and glanced at the officers with a quick smile. “That was fast.”
“Did you hear anything?” Matt demanded.
“My office just got a call from an officer in the Phoenix Police Department asking us to arrest Judge Chris Rush,” Doug told them.
“What?” Jim looked at him in amazement.
Doug smiled before continuing. “Apparently when Shaye couldn’t get in touch with me or Pratt, she called the officer who questioned her in Phoenix after her boyfriend’s murder.”
“Has Chris Rush been arrested?” Jim asked.
Doug shook his head. “We’ve been unable to locate him. Some of my men are on their way to search his house and office now.”
Just then, the front door flew open, attracting everyone’s attention. Jim breathed a sigh of relief when Amy came inside.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
Katherine appeared at the top of the stairs. “Amy, come upstairs please.”
Amy glanced at Matt, torn between her own natural curiosity and the obvious concern in her mother’s voice. Her mother’s command won, and she hurried up the stairs.
Doug turned to the police officers. “You two search the grounds. Make sure that Rush doesn’t have any ‘friends’ hiding in the bushes.”
The officers nodded and returned outside to their car to radio in before beginning their search.
“What about Shaye?” Matt asked eagerly. “Can you call her and find out where she is?”
“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple,” Doug told him. “I tried calling her on my way over here, and she didn’t answer.”
“Great,” Matt muttered sarcastically. “What do we do now?”
“We’ll keep trying to call her.” Doug glanced down at his watch. “I’ll have the police search a three-mile radius of the house. On foot she couldn’t have gotten much farther than that.”
“She’s on horseback.” Matt stood and paced over to the window. “A horse is missing, along with a feed bag and a couple of horse
blankets.”
“Then she could be anywhere by now.” Doug shook his head in frustration. “We’ve already lost the light. We’ll have to wait until morning to begin a real search.”
Dumbfounded, Matt turned from the window. “You’re going to just leave her out there to freeze tonight?”
“I wish there were more we could do, but we can’t. If she were on foot, we’d have a reasonable search area, but if she’s on horseback there’s no way to tell how far she’s gotten.” Doug tried to hide his own discouragement. “Because of the rain, dogs won’t do us any good, and we don’t have any tracks to follow.”
“So you just go home now and come back when the sun comes up?” Matt asked sarcastically.
“Not exactly.” Doug ignored the tone of Matt’s voice and turned to Jim. “Sir, I suggest we have the police stay here tonight to ens
ure your family’s safety.”
Jim nodded in agreement.
“If you’ll permit us to use your home as our base of operations for our search tomorrow, we would certainly appreciate it,” Doug continued.
“What can we do to help?” Jim asked.
“Here’s my phone number.” Doug handed Jim a business card. “Call me immediately if Shaye calls or if you hear from Judge Rush.”
“Of course,” Jim agreed.
“I’ll be back by first light,” Doug told them before he left the house.
Within five minutes the Whitmores were alone with the two policemen who had taken positions outside. Matt looked out the window at the darkness. Shaye was somewhere out there, and he knew all he could do now was wait and pray.
Chapter Twenty
The eastern sky was turning from black to deep blue, and Shaye knew that the first rays of sunlight would appear soon. The rain clouds were gone, leaving behind a chilly, damp fog. She stood slowly, her breath rising in front of her. She had dozed off a few times during the night, but had never really slept. Nugget pulled at her tether, trying to get her head down so she could eat the wild grass nearby.
Shaye pulled her phone out of her coat pocket only to see the battery was dead. Now she truly was on her own. Even if Doug or Pratt tried to contact her, they could no longer get through.
She saddled Nugget and packed up her things. After eating a granola bar, she slipped her arms through the backpack straps and untied her horse. Nugget pranced nervously as the wind rustled through the branches of the trees. Shaye put her foot in one stirrup and began to swing herself into the saddle.
Suddenly, Nugget reared up, and Shaye went crashing to the ground. Shaking her head, she could only watch as the horse galloped away through the trees. She stood up, wincing in pain when she put her weight on her left foot. Her ankle throbbed, and she leaned against a tree to steady herself.
Bowing her head, Shaye turned to the one person she knew was still with her. After she prayed for the safety of Matt and his family, she asked for guidance in finding safety for herself.
The wind grew colder, forcing her to move just to keep her blood circulating. She headed away from the river, toward what she expected would be civilization. Moving slowly because of her injury, Shaye walked for more than an hour before she finally heard cars driving by. She brushed herself off, hoping she looked somewhat presentable.
When she exited the woods, she knew her prayers had been answered. There in front of her was an LDS church, the same building where she had attended services with Matt’s family a few weeks before. Two cars were parked in the parking lot, but when Shaye approached the building, she found that the doors were locked. Just then, a UPS van drove up, and Shaye waited on the side of the building as the delivery man rang the buzzer at the back door.
He disappeared inside for a few moments, and when he emerged outside again, Shaye hobbled toward him.
“Can you hold that for me please?” she asked, approaching the door. “I hate to make her get the door again.”
The delivery man held the door, nodding at her as she walked through.
“Thanks so much.” Shaye smiled sweetly and slipped inside.
Not sure of who was in the building, she walked down the far hallway to what she hoped would be the last place anyone would look for her—the chapel.
Still cold from sleeping outdoors, Shaye lay down on a cushioned pew, using her backpack for a pillow and her coat as a blanket. The thought crossed her mind that it might be sacrilegious to sleep in the chapel, but she reminded herself that the Lord had led her here. Besides, she was sure an occasional member of the congregation had dozed off in this room at one time or another. Within minutes, Shaye’s exhaustion overtook her, and she fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
The living room was a whirlwind of activity when Matt came downstairs early the next morning. Sleep had evaded him during the night, and the guilt for bringing Shaye into harm’s way had not diminished. Their only indication that she was still okay was the phone call she had made to Phoenix.
Valdez stood in the middle of a dozen men, issuing orders. A large easel was set up in the corner of the room, displaying a map of the immediate area. Matt stepped closer, studying the terrain.
Doug dispatched the search teams before joining Matt by the map. “Assuming she’s still on horseback, I think she’ll stay close to the river.”
Matt nodded in agreement. “She rode with us down by Great Falls over Thanksgiving weekend.”
“I already have a team searching the park.” Doug patted his back. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”
“I want to help,” Matt insisted, turning to face Doug.
Doug opened his mouth to object, but the sincerity on Matt’s face stopped him. He pulled a pad of paper and a pen from his jacket pocket and scribbled down a number. “Do you have a cell phone?”
“I can borrow my mom’s.” Matt took the paper from Doug.
“I’ve already got people in the wooded areas.” Doug pointed at the red push pins that dotted the map. “I want you to check out places you’ve been with her.”
Matt nodded, stuffing Doug’s phone number into the pocket of his jeans.
“Check in with me on the half hour, and if you notice anyone following you, come right back to the house,” Doug instructed.
Relieved to finally be allowed to do something, Matt retrieved his mom’s cell phone and his keys. He drove to the rec center first, disappointed but not surprised to find no sign of Shaye or Nugget. Methodically he made his way to the few restaurants they had frequented during her visit. He even went to the movie theater but found nothing.
Each time he checked in with Doug, Matt held his breath in anticipation of any news, but each time he received the same answer: there had been no sign of her. After retracing the route they had run together, Matt returned to the house discouraged.
“No luck either, huh?” Doug asked when Matt walked in.
Matt shook his head, exhausted.
“Come on, I’ll fill you in on what we have so far.” Doug motioned to the map, then reviewed with Matt the areas they had already searched and explained where they planned to search next.
“Have you found Judge Rush yet?” Matt asked, hoping for the answer that would help ensure Shaye’s safety.
“I’m afraid not,” Doug admitted. “We searched his house and office, but he never returned home last night. Apparently, his wife didn’t have a clue about her husband’s activities. She thought he was the upstanding citizen everyone believed him to be.”
“Does she have any idea where he might be?”
“She might have been clueless about what he was doing, but after we showed her some of the documentation we found in his office, she’s been very helpful in giving us ideas as to his whereabouts.”
Matt nodded in absent agreement, turning his attention back to the map and studying the areas that had been searched. After a moment, he grabbed his coat. “I’m going to go up and check the barn again. Maybe I missed something yesterday.”
Doug nodded as his phone rang. Matt went out the back door and made his way up the muddy trail. He was almost to the stable when he saw the golden mare by the fence. Still fully saddled, she sidestepped when Matt approached. Slowly, he opened the gate, and the mare trotted over to him.
Shaye was nowhere in sight, and Matt quickly concluded that the horse had returned on her own. He had seen Shaye care for horses enough to know that she wouldn’t leave her mount unattended.
Matt led Nugget into the barn and tied her up before calling Doug. He had barely told the man of the horse’s return before Doug and two other men came running up to the stables.
Doug followed Nugget’s tracks halfway across the field before returning to the barn. “We should be able to follow the fresh tracks to where she lost the horse.”
A few minutes later, more men arrived with dogs. As the search party departed, Doug and Matt searched the horse a
nd saddle for clues.
Matt pulled the feed bag from one of the saddle bags as Doug held up a horse blanket covered in leaves. “Looks like she used this to keep warm last night.”
“The feed bag is empty, too.” Matt reached down to inspect Nugget’s hoof, using a pick to scrape out the caked mud and leaves.
“From the looks of it, I’d say the horse ran off after she broke camp this morning.” Doug continued to inspect the saddle but found only the wrapper to a granola bar.
Matt looked at the wrapper and smiled despite his fatigue. “At least she has some food with her.”
Doug looked at him questioningly.
“I bought some granola bars and muffins before we left the hotel yesterday. She must have taken them with her.”
“Knowing her, she could stay hidden for a week.” Doug shook his head. “She’s definitely a survivor.”
* * *
Shaye awoke disoriented. She sat up quickly, her eyes adjusting to the light streaming in through the doors at the front of the chapel. Memories of the last two days flooded back to her—the car explosion, Matt, Chris Rush, the horse. She glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was already four o’clock in the afternoon.
She heard a door close in the hallway, and a moment later a car drove away. Wincing in pain, Shaye stood up, trying to ignore the throbbing in her ankle. Cautiously, she opened the door and looked down the hall. From what she could see, all of the lights were out. She circled the inside of the building, looking out windows to check for cars in the parking lot. When she was finally assured that she was alone, Shaye retrieved her backpack from the chapel and went in search of the bathroom.
Flipping on the bathroom light, Shaye found only the standard stalls and sinks. She sighed with relief when she turned the knob of a door at the far end of the bathroom and found the shower area off of the font room.
Setting her backpack on a bench, she locked the door and pulled her shampoo, soap, and swim towel from her bag. Gingerly, she pulled her shoes and socks off to reveal her swollen left ankle. The skin was discolored, already a deep purple.
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