Jonah’s phone rang. “Yes?” He listened to whoever it was while Hailey tried to ascertain if the news was good or bad. “Understood, sir.”
He had to be talking to their boss, Marshal Turner. Hailey had no idea where the task force’s most senior agent was, given they were in the middle of both a manhunt and a flood. She hoped for his sake the man was pitching in.
“Yes, sir.” Jonah hung up and hit the lever for his blinker.
He turned off the road onto a hill that curved up to a warehouse. “Turner said the team caught up with Deirdre and Farrell. They ditched the car and cut across a field to the highway. The team pursued on foot, but someone in a van picked them up. No plates.”
Hailey looked out the window. “Helicopter can’t fly in this weather.”
Jonah slammed his palm down on the steering wheel. “How is it they manage to escape at every turn?”
Hailey kept quiet. They needed to find out who was aiding Farrell. If something bigger was going on they needed to get to the bottom of it. Because bringing Farrell in wouldn’t solve the problem, just one of the symptoms.
If Farrell really was after jewels, then they needed to look at cold cases. There had to be at least one in which the jewels that were stolen had never been recovered. Maybe it was still unsolved, even.
Why couldn’t Charles have simply told Jonah the whole of what he knew?
Hailey loved looking into town history, especially old newspaper articles about the first marshals. Being part of an organization that had been around for more than a hundred years made her feel a deep connection with justice. Her great-great-grandfather had been a marshal himself, a decorated hero.
Hailey wanted that kind of recognition. If she found the person who’d helped Farrell escape, then people outside the team and her family would know she had done something important. Maybe, just maybe, this case might give her what she wanted.
Jonah pulled up in front of the warehouse where the law enforcement base had been set up.
Hailey realized she didn’t even know if he was married. Jonah didn’t wear a wedding ring, but that didn’t always mean a man wasn’t married. Charles never had, which wasn’t surprising now. By the end of their marriage he’d stopped even bothering to hide his infidelity, almost like he’d been goading her into divorcing him. Not that Jonah seemed like the same kind of guy.
Hailey’s door opened. She got out, and Jonah turned away to head into the warehouse. Eric got out of his side, lifting Kerry in his arms.
Hailey’s heart hitched seeing a strong, good man holding her daughter. The scene arrested her so much that she could barely move. It hit her deep, where she had long ago buried the need to have a man help her care for Kerry.
Hailey had learned to cope without anyone but her dad to help. The cold, hard reality was that men didn’t want strong, career-oriented women who carried guns and took down bad guys for a living. There was nothing nurturing or kind-hearted about that. Eventually she’d given up the dream of finding a man who understood her. Now she relied on herself, because no one could care for Kerry better than she could.
A bolt of lightning lit the sky, jerking her from her thoughts. Hailey raced to the door to get out of the rain. If anyone wanted to get to Kerry, they were going to have to go through her first.
*
Eric set Kerry down on a cot. How she could sleep when there was this much noise was a mystery, but she was resting at least. He, on the other hand, wanted to punch something. But he couldn’t let the anger out, because that meant his emotions had won. The police station on the south end of town had flooded, so the local sheriff declared all the detainees should be moved to the county jail two towns over.
Police, sheriff’s deputies and emergency response personnel all trudged in and out of the warehouse. It was approaching two in the morning, but the coffeemaker someone had set up in the corner was operating at maximum capacity, so the whole place smelled like roasted beans. There were papers everywhere, half of them pictures of Farrell.
Deputy Marshal Turner held court in the corner, wearing his massive blue marshal’s jacket. His chest was puffed out with the knowledge he was the top federal dog in the room. He spotted Eric and narrowed his eyes. “Hanning!”
Eric strode over. Hailey broke off from her conversation with Jonah and came to stand beside him, giving him a conciliatory smile. He smiled back even though he didn’t feel it. This whole manhunt was playing out like a big joke, and he didn’t like being in the middle of it one bit. It was like they’d been taken for a ride this whole time.
The only good thing was that it actually felt like maybe he and Hailey were finding the partnership he’d offered her in the beginning.
Eric faced his boss. “The flood is throwing a wrench in the works of this whole operation. It’s like Farrell’s been one step ahead of us since he escaped. Deputy Marshal Shelder’s daughter was almost abducted. All this talk about a stash of jewels, or whatever it is, like it’s just floating around town—”
Eric gritted his teeth and tried to get some control. This was his job now, and he was supposed to be able to just do it and then go home. The job was not meant to have become a personal attack on Hailey’s family.
Why couldn’t he have been assigned to warrants instead of the task force? Picking up wanted criminals was a whole lot simpler than this. At least then he could have some kind of emotional distance from it.
“Deirdre Phelps was instrumental in Farrell’s escape. Again.”
Turner nodded. “We’ll be on the lookout for her, too.”
“And he mentioned a man who was shot the night of the escape.” Eric paused for a beat. “I want to know what happened. Deirdre’s supposed to be under house arrest, right?”
Eric’s boss studied him, then clapped and rubbed his hands together. “Let’s pay Thomas Phelps a visit. Find out why his daughter is helping an escaped fugitive when she should be packing up and evacuating like all the good citizens.” He glanced at Hailey. “Bring me a cup of coffee to go, would you, darling?”
Turner strode away. Now the man suddenly wanted to be a real marshal again, instead of the desk-jockey he usually was?
“Hanning!” Turner waited at the door. “Get a move on!”
Eric strode over, ignoring the stares of every other law enforcement officer in the room. Hailey balanced a lidded paper cup on another and rested her chin on the top to hold them steady. Then she grabbed a third with her other hand. Eric waited until she’d caught up before taking the stack of two so that he was the one who gave Turner his cup.
They walked outside, and he held the front passenger door open for Hailey. “Marshal.”
She grinned and climbed in, giving him a nod. “Marshal.”
Turner shot Eric a baffled look and climbed in the backseat of the SUV.
Eric trudged around to the driver’s door. “All righty, then. Evidently I’m the chauffeur.” He climbed in the front.
Talking with Deirdre’s father—who probably wasn’t even in town anymore—was the last thing he wanted to do. Instead of Hailey, it was Jonah back at the warehouse with Kerry. All because Turner decided to go question a witness, and she didn’t want to miss out on the action. Eric couldn’t exactly have said no to either of them. Just for entirely different reasons.
They would have to keep a lookout. Farrell was determined to get revenge. Not that Jonah would allow Kerry to be put in harm’s way. But Eric hadn’t been able to help. Hailey had been the one who talked Deirdre down.
And why did that bother him? He’d been trying to keep her safe instead of making a wrong move and the worst happening.
Turner barked out directions that took them over waterlogged roads to a car dealership. Thankfully it was halfway up an incline, since most of the town was under a foot of muddy water. The rain was still pounding down on every surface. Eric was so tired he didn’t remember the last time he’d slept. Friday morning felt like days ago.
“The dealership?”
T
urner smirked. “The captain always goes down with his ship.”
Eric frowned, pulling right up to the overhang in front of the doors. He could see a light on inside. Turner jumped out first. Hailey opened her door at the same time as Eric, shooting him a grin.
“I’ll take the back.” Hailey peeled off to walk around the building.
Turner drew his weapon as they entered the building, so Eric did the same. He’d had his weapon out what felt like a hundred times today, while he hadn’t pulled it out in a month of working WITSEC. Did Turner think Farrell was here? Maybe Deirdre’s father had something to do with her helping Farrell escape custody yet again.
Eric and Turner worked their way through the showroom to the office. Eric didn’t want any surprises. He was done with that for today. Or forever, actually. He yelled, “Thomas Phelps, this is the US Marshals!”
Turner flung open the door.
Thomas Phelps was in a chair behind his desk. The only light was dim and overhead. Eric could barely see anything. Thomas sat up when they entered, gasped and reached for something. When he lifted his hand, there was something dark in it.
“Gun!” Turner lifted his weapon.
Thomas James Phelps the Third dropped what was in his hand.
Marshal Turner fired his weapon three times. The noise deafened Eric, like a firework had been lit off right by his ear.
Phelps slumped in his chair as blood from the wounds soaked his shirt.
“Sir—” Eric didn’t know what to say. He made his way around the desk and picked up what had fallen from Phelps’s hand. “He had a cell phone.”
Turner’s eyes were hard. “It was a gun. It must have fallen under the desk.”
Eric studied his boss. “Sir—”
“He had a gun, Hanning. That’s all there is to this.”
Turner didn’t look guilty. He didn’t seem to want to own up to what was a simple, tragic mistake. “Sir, I don’t think—”
Marshal Turner lifted his weapon and pointed it at Eric. “He had a gun.”
THIRTEEN
Eric stared down the barrel of Turner’s gun, but his life didn’t flash before his eyes. What struck him instead was that he was going to die here of all places. No one would know what had happened. Turner would walk and in the confusion of the flood all the evidence would be lost.
Turner would be able to write this up any way he wanted. While the reality was he’d likely brought Eric here for the sole purpose of pinning Phelps’s death on him.
It really stunk being the new guy.
Don’t come in, Hailey. Please tell me you did not hear the shot.
“Drop your gun on the floor.”
Eric shifted, but he didn’t set the gun down. Yet. “So you can shoot an unarmed man?”
He’d put his wet bulletproof vest on under the shirt he had borrowed from Alan, since the shirt was so big. Turner had to assume he was wearing one. Eric was surprised it hadn’t soaked through, given how wet it was. But if he knew, that just meant Turner would shoot him in the head.
Not the way Eric wanted to go.
“I said, drop it!”
Eric turned the gun in his hand so it was horizontal, and lowered to a crouch. It galled him, but he set the gun on the floor, which was now covered with two inches of water.
“You won’t get away with this.”
It was a cliché, and Turner probably would get away with murdering Phelps and Eric, but Eric had to say something. After weeks of living in survival mode, he didn’t want it to end like this. He wanted to know Hailey was safe and to make sure Kerry was okay. The thought jarred him, since he’d assumed his brother, Aaron, and Aaron’s wife, Mackenzie, would be first on his mind. But it was his partner he didn’t want to miss saying goodbye to, and there was no time to figure out why.
Turner’s lips twitched. “There’s no way I won’t get away with this. You think I got where I am without planning, or taking steps to protect myself?”
That didn’t sound good at all. “What have you done?”
“Only what anyone in my situation would do to make sure their retirement wasn’t jeopardized.” Turner sneered. “And now it’s time for you to say goodbye, Hanning.”
Eric shifted, ready to move. Running was futile, as was trying to sidestep a bullet travelling at eleven hundred feet per second. But he had to try. If he moved too early, Turner would adjust his aim and Eric would be a goner.
Hailey stepped in the room, her gun pointed at Turner. “I don’t think so.”
Turner swung his gun toward Hailey. Eric dived, slamming into her body just as the weapon discharged. Fire ripped through the outside of his left arm.
The roar of water, like a mighty wave breaking on a beach, swept the outside of the huge building. Above the sound of the rain pouring down, something crashed into the glass-fronted windows of the showroom. Eric hauled Hailey to her feet and they ran from Phelps’s office across the forecourt.
Water surged through the showroom toward them, bringing with it a midsize cherry-red car.
Turner fired his gun again.
Eric looked back and saw their boss in the office doorway, his face angry. Eric pushed Hailey on and they sprinted for the exit with the car closing in on them. Eric pumped his arms and legs, not willing to admit defeat.
They tore across the slick tile floor and Hailey shoved open the glass doors.
Eric cut through the doorway half a second before the car sideswiped it.
Water bounced off the front windows, back across the lobby toward Turner. Eric pressed Hailey out into the angry night where the water was two feet deep. It was dank and full of the debris that had been washed through town.
His shins hit something solid and he stumbled over a wall of sandbags around the entrance. Visibility was horrible, but Eric pushed on using the few feet he could actually see as a guide. The SUV was on its side against the building, swept over like it weighed nothing.
He waded around to the rear. It took some heaving, but he got the back door open. The inside compartment, now above his head, was still closed. He flipped the latches on the storage space and caught the supplies when they fell out. The umbrella was useless, but he flipped on the Maglite. The beam cut through the dark night, though a flood light would have been better.
He pulled out his phone, but there was no signal. If Turner was still alive, Eric needed to get them both out of there.
He looked at Hailey. “We’re going to have to walk across town.”
*
Hailey waded beside him through the water. “What in the world just happened?”
Eric told her of Turner shooting Phelps and then turning the gun on him.
“He tried to kill you?” This was unbelievable. “I thought we were trying to find out how Deirdre managed to shake her house arrest.”
“I know.”
The weird thing was, Eric didn’t look confused or angry. Not like she was. The corners of his lips were curled up. “What?”
He chuckled, wading beside her through the knee-high water. “We survived.”
“We’ve been doing that a lot lately.” A fact that didn’t make her feel any better. “And I’m sort of sick of simply surviving. Not that I’d rather be dead. But when are we going to get the upper hand for once?”
Eric pulled out his phone. “Good question.”
Water had roared from the west side of town, where the dam was, to the east end. Unable to see much because of the low clouds and heavy rain, Hailey’s imagination filled in the gaps of the devastation that was surely impacting the whole town.
Eric tucked his phone away. “No signal. Maybe the dam had to be let out more. Or it could be that some equipment failed.”
“So long as it holds. If it doesn’t, the town will be washed away completely.”
Eric was silent. Hailey looked over, confused at the dark look on his face. It seemed like so much more than the threat of destruction.
Eyes on the cloudy night sky, he said, “Why does
everything end like that?”
“Badly?”
He nodded and then looked at her. “Happy endings aren’t real.”
Hailey sucked in a breath at the sadness on his face. “I don’t believe that. I can’t.”
“Why not?” Something nasty flashed across Eric’s face. She didn’t think it was about her so much as it was his dislike of what he probably saw as naïveté and not hopeful strength. He looked away again. “There’s no point in hoping. It doesn’t do any good.”
Hailey wanted to hug him, but she didn’t think her coworker would accept comfort right now. “I will never give up hoping, maybe not for me but definitely for Kerry. Anything is possible for her. And I want all the good and right and true in the world to be part of her future.”
Eric stopped beside a brick building. “Just don’t be disappointed when it doesn’t happen.”
Hailey let him have the last word on it. She leaned against the wall next to him as the heaviness of exhaustion weighed down her limbs, like the water which seemed to have soaked every part of her.
She checked her phone, trying not to get it any wetter than it was already. “The rain must be affecting the tower. It’s probably intermittent, unless the whole tower is down. We should keep checking it.”
There wasn’t any reason to worry about Kerry, given she was both dry and in the place with the biggest law enforcement presence in the whole county.
He glanced up and down the street. “Where are we?”
“West end of town. When the phone signal comes back we should be able to call Jonah and get someone to come pick us up.”
“You know what? I think we might be close to my place.”
“Yeah?” Why was she oddly curious at the prospect of seeing where Eric lived?
“My apartment might be a good pit stop for a hot drink, some food and a bandage.”
“A bandage?”
He shifted, and she saw the ragged tear in his sleeve, now matted with blood.
“You’re shot? Why didn’t you say something?” She tried to see it, but he swatted her hands away.
Manhunt Page 8