Pursued

by Lisa Harris

  Nikki looked up at him. “You shot Russell?”

  Mr. Pope nodded. “Got him in the shoulder. It wasn’t enough to stop him, but maybe it will slow him down. Those roads can be rough out there, and if he’s bleeding, he’s going to be hurting pretty bad about now.”

  “And that’s what got you shot,” his wife countered.

  “What did you want me to do, woman? They busted in here before we could even react. If I was twenty years younger, I’m telling you, those men wouldn’t see the light of another day.”

  “Stop talking, Frank. You need medical help before you bleed to death.”

  “Mrs. Pope, your husband’s going to be okay,” Jack said. “We’ve got paramedics on the way right now, as well as extra backup. We’re going to find Lily.”

  “Looks as if we’ve got the bleeding stopped for now,” Nikki said. “Okay, ma’am, we’re going to get both of you the help you need right away. Do you think you can tell me exactly what happened? Anything that might help us figure out where they were going.”

  Mrs. Pope’s hands were still shaking as she leaned back on the couch holding the bag of ice against her forehead.

  “How many men?” Brinkley asked.

  “There were two besides Russell.”

  “Do you know where they were going?”

  Mrs. Pope shook her head at the FBI agent’s question. “He didn’t tell us anything. Came in here with his men and swooped up Lily before we could do anything. She calls us Pappy and Nana. We consider her our granddaughter.”

  “He took the car keys,” Mr. Pope said. “From on top of the mantel. I think theirs had a flat tire.”

  “But there’s one thing you haven’t mentioned yet,” Mrs. Pope said, leaning forward. “If you’re here looking for Lily, you must know where Erika is. Have you found her?”

  Nikki hesitated.

  “She’s dead, isn’t she?” Mrs. Pope asked.

  “I’m so sorry,” Nikki said. “She was killed in a car accident earlier this afternoon.”

  “No. She can’t be dead.” Mrs. Pope turned to her husband, his anger evident on his face.

  “It was his fault, wasn’t it?” the older man said. “Brian found out she was going to testify against him and put him in prison.”

  “We believe her car was pushed over the edge of a ravine,” Nikki said. “I really am sorry.”

  Tears welled in Mrs. Pope’s eyes. “I told Frank there was a reason we didn’t hear from her. I kept trying to convince myself that she couldn’t get through to us, but I think I always knew. Always knew this wasn’t going to turn out good for her.”

  “What are the roads out of here?” Jack asked.

  “There’s only one main road out of here,” Mr. Pope said, “but there are also miles and miles of dirt roads and trails with deer stands, lakes.”

  “The sheriff and his men have been watching the airstrip,” Jack said, “but so far there hasn’t been any sign of Russell.”

  “That’s not the only way out. There’s a second airstrip on the property.” Mr. Pope moved off the couch and pulled out a map from a drawer next to the dining room table.

  “Frank, you shouldn’t be up.”

  “Forget about me right now.”

  “Wait a minute,” Nikki said. “There was only one airstrip on the map.”

  “Doesn’t surprise me,” Mr. Pope said, showing her on the map. “This one isn’t used very often because it’s a bit remote and not kept up well. In fact, I’d guess most people don’t even know about it. But those of us who are always looking for the best spots to hunt … we know this place.”

  “The sheriff thinks Russell hired a local guy to help,” the deputy said. “If their plane wasn’t at the main airstrip, it makes sense they’d head to the one most people don’t know about.”

  Jack put a call in to the sheriff, then turned on the speaker. “We just found out about a second airstrip. Looks like we can be there in about five minutes.”

  “You need to wait for backup,” the sheriff said. “We’re no more than ten minutes behind you.”

  “No way,” Nikki said. “Russell could be gone in ten minutes. We’ll be careful.”

  “He’s going to be expecting you—”

  “Then we’ll make sure we’re as ready as he is.”

  With no moon out, the cloudy sky was black. The only light was the beam of the headlights from the deputy’s car as he drove down the dirt road flanked by rows of thick trees.

  “Are you sure we’re headed in the right direction?” Brinkley asked, holding up the map Pope had given him. “I’m not convinced this map is accurate—”

  The sound of a gunshot ripped through the darkness. The windshield of the car shattered and the vehicle veered toward the side of the road.

  “They’ve got snipers out there,” Jack said.

  “I think our boy here’s been shot.” Brinkley tried to grab the wheel from the deputy, but the front tires hit a stump, jerking the wheel from the agent’s hands.

  Nikki fought to catch her breath as the car flipped, yanking her seat belt tight against her chest. Seconds later the vehicle skidded to a stop. A shooting pain ripped through Nikki’s shoulder as she fought to orient herself. Someone groaned. She glanced outside at the beam of headlights that shot out into the darkness as she hung upside down, dangling from her seat belt.

  27

  12:13 a.m., Thursday

  R&J Game Preserve

  Nikki pushed the release button of her seat belt, then used her arms and legs to brace herself as she fell against the roof of the car. Her elbow smashed against something hard, bringing out a sharp cry of pain.

  “Nikki?”

  “I’m okay,” she said, rubbing her elbow where she hit it. She looked up at Jack in the darkness, where she could just barely see him hanging from his seat belt. “What about you?”

  “I’ll be okay once I get this contraption undone.”

  A second later he slammed against the roof of the car next to her.

  “Brinkley?” Nikki called up to the front seat. “What about you?”

  “I’m pretty sure my leg’s broken. Which is going to make it hard for me to get out of here.”

  She let out a low groan. If the shooter decided to come back and finish the job, Brinkley was going to be a sitting duck.

  “What about you, Deputy Banks? Are you okay?”

  There was no answer.

  Nikki looked at the driver. “Brinkley … you’re sure Banks was shot?”

  “Yeah, and he’s not moving.”

  She felt for the door handle in the dark. She needed to get out and check on the young deputy.

  “Stay low,” Jack said, shoving against the door with his shoulder. “We’ve got a sniper out there.”

  “Which means if they decide to finish the job, we need to be ready.”

  Nikki tried the handle of her door, but it wouldn’t budge. If Russell’s men were out there, they were going to arrive before any backup made it to the rescue. They needed to get out of the car, inform the sheriff what had just happened, and make a plan.

  “Turn your head,” Jack said, brushing up against her as he turned toward his door. “I’m going to kick out the window.”

  His third attempt shattered the window.

  “Come on,” he said, after he’d crawled out through the open space. “But be careful of the glass.”

  “Wait a minute. We need the radio.”

  Nikki pulled her phone from her back pocket, surprised the screen wasn’t shattered, then turned on the flashlight app in order to search for the radio. She found it wedged next to her door and snatched it up before letting Jack grab her hand and help her out of the car.

  She clicked on the call button. “Sheriff Adamson, this is Agent Boyd.” The signal was filled with static. “Can you hear me?”

  “I hear you. Go ahead.”

  “A sniper hit our vehicle. We need backup immediately. Repeat. We need immediate backup.”

  “Copy t
hat. I’m sending everyone we’ve got your way. Can you give us an exact location?”

  “Give me a second, but I think I can,” Brinkley said from the front seat. His breathing was heavy, but he’d managed to find his phone and was studying the map Pope had given him.

  “Is anyone hurt?” the sheriff asked.

  Nikki watched Jack in the darkness as he tried to open the deputy’s door.

  “Agent Brinkley’s leg is broken,” she said. “And we’re trying to get to your deputy now, but he’s been hit.”

  “I’ve got our location,” Brinkley said.

  “I’m handing the radio to Agent Brinkley,” Nikki said. “He’ll tell you where we are.”

  She hurried to the driver’s side where Jack had managed to partially open the door, hoping Brinkley’s assessment was off.

  Jack stood up and shook his head. “He’s gone.”

  She leaned in and caught Banks’s blank expression. A single bullet hole to the head had taken him. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his face, pooling on the collar of his uniform. He wouldn’t have even known what struck him. She stepped away, wondering if he had a wife and kids. A girlfriend. She grabbed the keys out of the ignition. Someone was going to be hurting tonight.

  Brinkley handed her the radio. “So what’s our plan?”

  “Give us a second,” Nikki said.

  She stepped away from the car to where Jack stood. “What do you think the odds are that they’ll come back for us?”

  “I don’t know, but neither do I think we should sit around and wait,” Jack said. “More than likely, Russell’s already heading for the plane and his men are with him. He just needed a distraction.”

  “I think you’re right, but if we go after Russell, Brinkley’s going to be in trouble if one of them comes back.”

  Jack glanced back at the car. “Then we need to get him out of the car and hide him until backup gets here.”

  “And then what? Go take down our sniper?”

  “Yes, but Russell and Lily have to be our first priority. We need to locate that plane.”

  Nikki frowned. How in the world were they supposed to stop a plane from taking off, on foot, in the dark, with a sniper after them? Of course, considering how the last couple days had gone, how hard could that be?

  They stepped around the car to Brinkley’s side where, between the two of them, they managed to open the door. “We need to get you out.”

  “I can’t move my leg.”

  Jack motioned to Deputy Banks. “That’s better than a bullet through your head.”

  Brinkley groaned. “Then get me out of here.”

  “This is going to hurt.”

  Nikki’s shoulder throbbed as they carried Brinkley out of the car and into a small thicket of trees.

  “Not that you’re going anywhere,” Jack said, “but wait for us here.”

  “Funny. You’re both leaving?”

  “We’ll be back for you, Brinkley,” Nikki said. “I promise.”

  “You’ll need this map,” Brinkley said, pulling the folded-up paper from his pocket. “Pope circled the landing strip, and if I’m not mistaken”—he pointed to one of the marks on the map—“I believe these markings are the deer blinds.”

  Nikki quickly oriented herself to where they were and the nearest blind. “That has to be where our sniper took his shot.”

  “From there, it wouldn’t have been that hard to hit a moving car if the shooter knew his business,” Jack said. “I guess killing Banks was a bonus.”

  “Knowing the kind of people Russell associates with, I doubt it was an accident.” The thought made her gut ache. “How far away do you think that is?”

  “Two, three hundred yards maybe. And if the map is accurate, it’s another half a mile or so beyond that to the second airstrip.”

  “Which means if they were going to come after us, they’d already be here.” She quickly switched her cell phone to vibrate only, then stared into the darkness. The cloudy skies might help hide them from the Russell’s men, but it was also going to make navigating harder.

  “You ready to go?”

  “Give me a second.” Nikki popped the trunk of the deputy’s car with the keys she’d snatched from the ignition.

  She pulled out a flashlight, a pair of binoculars, and a first-aid kit, and shoved them into a backpack, along with a couple bottles of water. Hesitating for a brief second, she grabbed a twelve-gauge shotgun for Jack along with some extra shells, then took the AR-15 for herself. They both knew they were going into battle. The extra firepower could quickly become essential, knowing how far Brian Russell was willing to go to get what he wanted.

  Taking one last look at the deputy’s lifeless body, she gave Brinkley one of the waters and a couple Tylenol, then slung the backpack over her shoulder.

  Heading out to catch a sniper on the loose seemed almost as crazy as staying with the vehicle and waiting for him to come to them. She shivered in the darkness, despite the warm humidity in the air. Her thoughts shifted to her mom and dad … her brothers … to Tyler …

  He was worrying about her tonight. And probably wishing she’d said no to this assignment. All she knew was that no matter what might happen between them in the future, she wanted a chance to work things out with him. Wanted a chance to see if they could make a relationship work no matter what life threw at them.

  Darkness closed in around them. Trees creaked and groaned, while the sounds of insects vibrated in the night air. She reached up to touch her shoulder where it ached as the fatigue of the day threatened to take over.

  God, I’ve beaten the odds too many times lately, and today … I don’t want this one to be my last.

  She mentally shook off the heaviness of despair. Now wasn’t the time. She needed to call Gwen. And then they needed to find Lily.

  “What’s going on?” Gwen asked as soon as she picked up.

  “They just hit our vehicle with a sniper shot.”

  “What?”

  Nikki caught the panic in Gwen’s voice. And the matter-of-fact report in her own. “The deputy who was driving us is dead, and Brinkley’s got a broken leg. Jack and I are heading by foot to a second airstrip.”

  “Hold on. You need to wait for backup—”

  “We don’t have time to wait for backup. If the sniper decides to come finish the job, they’ll be here before backup can get here. We’re on our own.”

  “Okay, what can I do?”

  “I need you to find that plane and get on the radio with the pilot.”

  “I don’t know … Even if I can find him, he’s in Russell’s pocket, Nikki. He’s not going to listen to me.”

  “Then do whatever it takes. The guy might not know that he’s about to go down for conspiracy to commit murder. I need you to find a way to stop that plane from taking off. Once it’s gone, we’ll have no way of stopping him. This is our last chance.”

  There was a short pause on the line while Gwen weighed Nikki’s request. But if anyone could do what she’d just asked, Gwen could.

  “I’ll call you as soon as I’ve got something.”

  Nikki hung up the call and picked up her pace. If they were going to have any chance of getting to Lily before the plane took off, they were going to have to hurry. But in order to avoid being picked off by the sniper, they also had to stay on the edges of the open field, where the ground was uneven and made moving ahead quickly difficult. Brambles scraped against her legs and arms, but despite the hedge of surrounding trees and brush, she still felt vulnerable.

  “There’s the blind,” Jack said. “It’s up ahead and to your left.”

  Nikki spotted the structure, then turned back to where the car was parked, ensuring she was hidden by the tree cover. There was a perfect line of sight, just visible in the moonlight.

  She picked up a rock and threw it at the blind, expecting a reaction if someone was there.

  Nothing.

  She quickly scaled the wooden ladder behind Jack.

&
nbsp; “No one’s here, but this is definitely where they made the shot.” He picked up a bullet casing. “And we would have seen them if they’d headed to our vehicle.”

  “Which means they’re headed for the plane,” Nikki said.

  She stepped back down onto the ground, searching for movement in the still night. The breeze had dropped off, while the moon had risen halfway up from the horizon as it played cat and mouse with the overhead clouds. Insects buzzed in the woods next to them. But there was no sign of the man who’d killed Deputy Banks.

  Nikki hurried back into the relative safety along the edge of the woods, then stopped a hundred yards from the blind. The low rumble of an engine competed with the night sounds.

  “It’s Russell’s plane,” she said.

  “Looks like Pope’s map was correct,” Jack said. “They’re just northeast of us.”

  “But if they’ve started the engine …” Nikki felt a burst of renewed energy sweep through her as she picked up the pace to a slow jog, maneuvering carefully through the wooded terrain. Her radio buzzed as she was avoiding a tree limb that had fallen across the path.

  “Where are you?” Sheriff Adamson asked.

  “We’re headed to the location of the second airstrip by foot. We can hear the sound of an engine. They’re getting ready to take off.”

  “I’ve got three cars headed to your location now.”

  “How far are you behind us?” she asked.

  “Four … maybe five minutes.”

  “Roger that, but we don’t have time to wait. We’re going in.”

  Because unless Gwen had been able to find a way to stall the pilot, there was a good chance they’d be gone by then.

  The sound of the plane grew louder as they neared the edge of the open space where the airstrip sat. Above them, the clouds had begun to disperse, leaving a trail of moonlight to partially illuminate the night sky.

  It’s still going to take a miracle, Jesus, but we’ve almost got him.

  She glanced at Jack as he ducked under the low branches of a tree. They didn’t have a plan, just a goal. Stop the plane, take down Russell, and save Lily.

  She slowed down as they stepped into the edge of the clearing, all her senses alert. They didn’t have to guess whether or not Russell had brought his own personal army. They’d already attacked twice. And while he might be in over his head, he was going to want to guarantee he was able to walk out of this situation with Lily.