Love Inspired Suspense June 2015 - Box Set 2 of 2: Exit StrategyPaybackCovert Justice

by Shirlee McCoy

  “I’ve got a location,” Nate said to his team. “But I want to clarify that if he’s armed, you guys stay behind me.” He looked at Spike. “All of you. Got me?”

  “I brought a firearm,” Spike said.

  “And if you discharge that firearm I will not put in a good word for you with Echo Mountain PD or the sheriff’s department. This is a search-and-rescue mission, not a Dirty Harry movie.” Nate took a step closer to the kid. “Are you reading me?”

  “Loud and clear, sir.”

  “Good.”

  Harvey bit back a smile.

  They continued hiking for twenty minutes and took a sharp turn back down. “Where is he going?” Nate muttered.

  “At least we know he’s okay,” Harvey offered, glancing at Aiden. Harvey knew Nia pretty well and no doubt worried if they found her brother’s dead body, she’d be devastated.

  They hiked another half mile in silence. Suddenly Spike pointed to a trail below. “Check it out, sir.”

  The four men glanced over the edge of the trail. A motionless body lay a few hundred feet below. But was it Danny?

  “Let’s set up,” Nate said. “Aiden and I will head down with the litter. Harvey and Spike, keep an eye out, and help lift him up once he’s secure.”

  “And if I see someone?” Spike said.

  Nate narrowed his eyes at him.

  “Do not discharge my firearm,” Spike said.

  Nate glanced at Aiden. “Ready?”

  “Yep.”

  The men secured their lines to a sturdy tree and lowered themselves to the area below. It wasn’t going to be easy securing the victim to the litter, considering the uneven ground.

  Aiden touched down first, adjusting his footing against the damp earth. Nate landed on the other side of the body.

  “Nia’s going to be crushed,” Aiden said.

  “Let’s turn him over.”

  Nate knelt and slowly turned over the body. It wasn’t Danny. Aiden breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Looks like a gunshot wound to the chest.” Nate pressed his fingers against the man’s throat, glanced up at Aiden and shook his head.

  Nate radioed in. “This is Deputy Nate Walsh, over.”

  “Go ahead, over.”

  “This is now a recovery mission—male, Caucasian, forties with brown hair and a beard.”

  “Copy that, over.”

  Nate clipped the radio onto his belt and they got started securing the deceased onto the litter.

  Nate’s phone vibrated with a text. He glanced at it and frowned.

  “What’s wrong?” Aiden questioned.

  “Danny’s phone signal. It’s moving again.”

  This motivated the team to pick up the pace. They set up a pulley system and carefully raised the body to the trail above. Aiden and Nate pulled themselves back up and the team headed to base camp.

  “Harvey and I can follow the signal,” Aiden said, figuring Nate had to stay with the deceased.

  “No need. We’re headed in that direction anyway.”

  “He’s headed back down?” Aiden said.

  “Looks like it,” Nate said.

  Which meant what? Danny had killed this man and fled the area?

  “He looks like he’s been dead for a few days,” Nate offered, as if he knew where Aiden’s brain was headed. “We’ll follow the signal as long as it leads us in the direction of base camp.”

  It wasn’t easy bringing a body down the trail, so the men took turns carrying the litter. They were within half a mile of the command post when Nate put up his hand. “The signal is headed this way.” He glanced at Aiden then at Spike. “Spike, I’m putting you in charge of the body. You and Harvey take him to Command. Have them call the ME’s office for pickup, and stay with the deceased until you sign it over.”

  Spike straightened. “Yes, sir.”

  “Aiden and I will follow the signal.”

  They split up, Aiden appreciating that Nate allowed him to continue the search for Danny.

  “Thanks for letting me tag along,” Aiden said.

  “Don’t make me regret it.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Don’t go ballistic on me when we find him.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because you’re angry with him for putting his sister’s life in danger.” Nate glanced back at Aiden. “The signal stopped moving. It looks close to your sister’s cottage.”

  Aiden wouldn’t lose it; he couldn’t lose it. Nate was trusting him to maintain control, and Aiden would be useless if fear and worry distracted him from their mission: find Danny and bring him in.

  “May I call my sister to make sure she’s okay?” Aiden asked.

  “Of course.”

  Aiden calmly pulled out his phone and called Bree.

  “Hello, dear brother.”

  “Where are you?” he asked.

  “Where are you?” she teased.

  “Please, Bree, tell me where you are.”

  “On my way to deliver food to Nia. Why?”

  “Where, exactly, are you?”

  “About ten feet, four inches away from the coffee station in the lobby, which is twenty feet, seventeen inches from the front desk and—”

  “Thank you for taking care of Nia,” he interrupted. “Stay with her. Do not go back to your cottage until I say it’s okay.”

  “Look, Mr. Bossy Pants—”

  “Bree, please…” He took a breath. “Can you do this for me?”

  She must have heard something in his voice. “Okay, sure.”

  “I’ll check in later.”

  He ended the phone call, afraid he’d snap at his sister if she kept needling him. He didn’t want to explain what was going on, not until they had the situation under control.

  “You and your sister enjoy that whole sparring thing?” Nate said.

  “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?”

  “I’m glad she’s safe.”

  “I’m surprised you chose me to come with you instead of Spike or Harvey.”

  “I have a sister. I’d want to be there if I thought she was in trouble.”

  They continued in the direction of the cottage and Aiden wondered what they’d find. Was Danny hanging around the cottage because he thought Nia was there? Why couldn’t he leave her alone?

  Nate eyed his phone. “The signal is coming from the back of the house on the west side. I’m going to call it in.”

  “Shouldn’t we—”

  “No, we shouldn’t. With any luck, sheriff’s deputies will beat us there.” Nate pulled his radio off his belt. “Dispatch, this is Deputy Walsh. I need backup at Echo Mountain Resort, cottage on the north end of the property, behind the lodge. We suspect Danny Sharpe is hiding out there, over.”

  “Help is on the way, over.”

  Nate and Aiden approached the trailhead leading to the resort. “We’ll see if we can locate him, but keep out of sight,” Nate ordered.

  He motioned them off trail. Using the trees as cover, they made their way directly behind Bree’s cottage.

  “I don’t see anyone,” Aiden said. “Are you still getting a signal?”

  “Yep, by the cottage. Hasn’t moved since we called it in.”

  The blare of the resort’s alarm echoed across the property.

  “Did you have a drill scheduled?” Nate asked.

  “Not that I know of.” Although Aiden’s head had been elsewhere these past few days, he wouldn’t have forgotten a full resort evacuation. Panic coursed through him. What if this was a way to get Nia out in the open?

  “Nia.” Aiden took off running.

  ELEVEN

  Aiden sprinted across the lawn, slowing down only when he approached guests who were evacuating the building. He didn’t want them to be freaked out by a crazy man bolting toward them.

  “Excuse me,” he repeated a few times as he slipped between guests gathering outside. They looked understandably distressed.

  Join the club.

&nb
sp; Nia had promised to stay in the apartment, but even Aiden couldn’t fault her for leaving the building if she thought it had caught fire, which it obviously hadn’t. At least, it didn’t look like it from this vantage point.

  He whipped open the door to the north end of the building and rushed to Quinn’s apartment. With a closed fist he pounded on the door.

  “Nia!” But she wouldn’t be able to hear him over the high-pitched squeal of the alarm. He realized he had his master key, so he stuck it in the lock and opened the door. “Nia!”

  He rushed through the main living area and then checked the two bedrooms. The place was empty. No Zack, no Bree and no Nia.

  They couldn’t have all been kidnapped during the fire-alarm chaos. It hadn’t gone off more than a few minutes ago.

  To calm himself, he assumed they had left the building, along with everyone else, for their own safety. He had to keep thinking that way or he’d go nuts.

  He passed through the lobby to do a quick check on employees. Tripp was still manning the front desk.

  “What triggered the alarm?” Aiden shouted.

  “Not sure!”

  The wail of sirens echoed out front.

  “Lock up and help the fire crew!” Aiden ordered the twentysomething desk clerk.

  Tripp nodded and rushed outside. Aiden made sure the registers and computers were locked and took off in search of Nia. He wanted to help the fire department locate the source of the alarm but needed to find Nia more.

  As he made his way through to the other end of the lobby, he noticed a small figure huddled in the corner—a child.

  He crouched down beside a little blond boy, who couldn’t have been more than seven years old. The child looked up at Aiden with tears in his eyes, and Aiden offered his hand. Surprisingly, the boy took it. Aiden picked him up and carried him outside.

  “Where’s your mom?” Aiden asked.

  “I dunno.”

  “Bobby!” a woman cried, running over to them. “I thought he was at the pool with his sisters.”

  Aiden passed the boy to his mom.

  “Bobby, my sweet boy,” she said, squeezing her son in her arms.

  “You didn’t happen to see a young woman in her twenties with brown hair, hobbling around on crutches, did you?” Aiden asked.

  “No, sorry,” the mother said.

  He turned to leave and she touched his arm.

  “Thank you for saving my little boy.”

  With a nod, Aiden took off, deciding to do a perimeter check of the guests gathered out back. The resort wasn’t anywhere near capacity, but there were still between fifty and sixty people that had evacuated the building.

  Suddenly the alarm clicked off, blanketing the group in silence. That was when he heard it, the sound of Nia’s voice echoing across the property.

  “We still need to wait for the fire department to give the A-OK,” she said.

  He could hear her but couldn’t yet see her past the group ahead of him.

  “It’s important that we conduct these drills every few months to make sure the system is in working order,” she continued. “When the lodge is at full capacity, we’re responsible for the safety of more than five hundred guests.”

  “All clear!” Scott called from the building, motioning guests back inside.

  As the group cleared, Aiden’s eyes locked onto Nia’s sweet face. She seemed happy to see him at first. Then her smile faded into a frown. She no doubt expected answers about her brother, and Aiden didn’t have any.

  A guest approached her with a question, forcing Nia to break eye contact with Aiden.

  “That was freaky,” Bree said, walking up to Aiden.

  “The alarm?”

  “Yeah, just random like that. Everyone was outside by the time Zack figured out there weren’t any real fires.”

  “Where is Zack now?”

  “Behind me.”

  Aiden spotted Zack leaning against a totem pole about ten feet away. A laptop bag strapped across his body, his eyes scanned the area, as if he was looking for danger.

  “Don’t rip into him,” Bree said. “He did good.”

  “Yeah, I can see that.”

  Aiden appreciated that the IT tech was keeping a close watch on Nia.

  A car pulled up behind Zack. Agents Nevins and Parker got out of the sedan and headed for Nia.

  “Stay here,” Aiden said and walked over to Nia.

  Zack tried blocking the men, but Parker whipped Zack’s arm behind his back and pinned him to the totem pole. Nevins closed the distance between himself and Nia.

  “Hello, Agent Nevins,” Aiden said with as much charm as he could manage.

  “Aiden, we thought you were on the rescue mission,” Agent Nevins said.

  “I was.”

  “Excuse me,” Nia said to the guest. The fiftyish woman smiled and walked away. Nia looked at Aiden, expectant.

  “Agent Parker, please release my IT tech,” Aiden said. “He needs to get back to work.”

  “He assaulted me,” Parker said.

  “He was protecting Nia, which is what I’d asked him to do. In case you haven’t heard, I can be a pretty nasty boss when my employees don’t follow my orders.”

  “Let him go,” Nevins said.

  Parker released Zack, who glared at him.

  “Zack, back to work,” Aiden ordered.

  Begrudgingly, Zack stormed off, muttering “bullies” under his breath.

  “So, Danny?” Nia asked Aiden with hope in her eyes.

  “They might have found him by now. I’m not sure,” Aiden said.

  “Might have found him?” Nevins said.

  “We were tracking his cell signal. It led to the cottage.” Aiden pointed. Two squad cars, lights flashing, pulled into the front driveway. “Looks like backup is here.”

  “You didn’t find anything during your search in the mountains?” Nevins pushed.

  “We recovered a body.” He heard Nia gasp and he turned to her. “Not your brother.”

  She sighed and closed her eyes.

  “Who was it?” Nevins asked.

  “I didn’t recognize him.”

  Agent Nevins glanced at the cottage, then back at Nia. “We need to question Miss Sharpe about her encounter last night with Agent Brown.”

  “We tried contacting her immediately after it happened, but she seemed to have disappeared,” Parker added.

  “She was traumatized and needed to rest,” Aiden said.

  “She looks well rested now,” Parker snapped.

  “She is worried about her brother,” Nia said calmly. She glanced at Aiden. “I’d like to see if he’s at the cottage.”

  “Let’s give them a few minutes to secure the area, and then I’ll check with Nate. Why don’t you sit down.” He motioned her to a wooden bench by the building. From there they could clearly keep an eye on the cottage.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding answering our questions, Miss Sharpe,” Agent Nevins said.

  “Pardon my candor, sir, but you don’t know me at all. I have nothing to hide. Ask whatever you’d like.”

  The agents accompanied Nia and Aiden to the bench.

  “What did Agent Brown say to you last night?” Nevins said.

  “He was asking about Danny, where he kept the two hundred thousand dollars, if we shared a bank account, stuff like that.”

  “Did Agent Brown say anything about his partner?” Nevins asked.

  “No.”

  “Who shot Agent Brown?” Parker asked.

  “I have no idea. Why don’t you ask him?”

  “We can’t. He’s dead.”

  Aiden studied the federal agent. “When?”

  “A few hours ago. They couldn’t stop the internal bleeding from his stomach wound.”

  “His stomach,” Nia hushed. “I hit him in the stomach with my crutch.”

  “Hey, hey.” Aiden grabbed her arm and gently sat her on the bench. “It’s not your fault.”

&n
bsp; Aiden positioned himself next to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Instinct warned him to be careful about public displays of affection in front of the federal agents.

  “Why was he trying to kidnap you?” Agent Parker asked.

  “To lure my brother out of hiding.”

  “And he didn’t say anything about what happened to Agent McIntyre?”

  “She already said he didn’t,” Aiden snapped. His phone buzzed with a text. He grabbed it with his free hand. It was from Nate: Come to the cottage. Bring Nia.

  That couldn’t be good.

  “What is it?” Agent Nevins said.

  “They’ve secured the area around my sister’s cottage.”

  Nia glanced into his eyes, hopeful.

  “I don’t know,” Aiden said, reading her thoughts. “Nate didn’t give me specifics, only that he wants us over there. Let’s get a cart.”

  She nodded, seemingly distracted by the possibility of what she might find at the cottage. He led her to a nearby golf cart that staff routinely used to get from one end of the property to the other.

  “We’ll follow you,” Agent Nevins said.

  Aiden ignored him, solely focused on Nia. He helped her into the cart and she placed her crutches between them. He pulled away, casting a quick glance at Nia.

  Touching her hand that rested on her thigh, he said, “It will be okay.” He wasn’t sure why he said it, or how he could make such a bold statement, but he sensed it would ease her tension.

  She glanced at him and nodded her thanks.

  Moments later, they pulled up to the cottage. Squad cars blocked the main driveway. Officer Carrington from Echo Mountain PD recognized Aiden and waved him through.

  Aiden pulled up to the cottage and parked. Nia practically sprang out of the cart.

  “Nia, wait.”

  But she was headed for the steps without her crutches before Aiden could catch up.

  “Nia,” Nate said from the side yard. “Over here.”

  She hesitated and looked at him. “My brother is…dead?”

  “No, ma’am. We did not find him. Back here, please.”

  As Aiden and Nia followed Nate to the back of the house, Aiden spotted Agents Nevins and Parker being held back by Officer Carrington.

  “We found a few things that might belong to your brother,” Nate said. “A phone and this jacket.” Nate hesitated beside the steps. A Detroit Lions jacket lay across the back porch, a smudge of red staining the front.