“I don’t hear him or Justice.”
“Justice already found what he was looking for. He’s done alerting, and Brady probably couldn’t hear you calling. The cave is a lot deeper than I anticipated.” He sighed. “I’m glad you were with me. I don’t know if your son would have come out otherwise.”
His words took her by surprise. She’d thought him to be a little arrogant, a lot bossy. Not the kind of guy who would admit that he’d been wrong. Not the kind who she would have expected to give other people credit.
Then again, she’d never been the best judge of character. She certainly hadn’t been when it came to Rick.
“Things always work out the way they’re supposed to.” Her mother used to say that to Eva. It had taken a lot of years for her to believe it.
“True, and this time, they worked out the way that we both wanted them to.” He smiled, and it transformed his face, made him approachable in the easy charming way that would have appealed to her if she ever allowed any man to do that.
“Momma? Where are you?” Brady called, his voice muffled and distant.
Her heart jerked, the need to go to him so strong that she took a step deeper into the cave, peered into its shadowy depths.
“I’m right here, buddy. Are you still with Justice?”
“Yes, but it’s dark, and I’m cold. I want to go home.”
“Just keep walking, then. You’ll be out of there before you know it,” she called, hoping the words would comfort him.
“Use this. Brady might be able to see the light once he gets closer.” Austin handed her his headlamp, and she shone it into the cave. The light bounced off gray walls and brown floors. She wanted it to bounce off Brady’s pale blond hair and freckled face.
She watched the narrow opening, her head pounding in time with her frantic heart. Finally, something moved in the darkness, a shifting of shadows that drew closer and closer, until the shadows had color and shape and form and Brady was in her arms. Clutching him close, she felt him shivering, his skin cold to the touch.
“You’re freezing.” Eva took off her coat and wrapped him in it, alarmed at his paleness. Scratches and dried blood scored his cheek and arms, and his feet were so caked with mud that she could barely see his toes. His pajama bottoms were torn at both knees, the skin peeking from beneath the fabric raw and bleeding.
“That’s because I was cold all night. I was shaking I was so cold.”
“Let’s warm you up, okay?” She wrapped her arms around him, rubbing his back and trying to will some of her warmth into his cold little body.
“How are you doing, sport?” Austin wrapped the blanket around both of them, then crouched close, Justice panting contentedly near his feet.
“Okay. Are you the police?” Brady’s eyes were wide, his teeth chattering, his lips so pale they faded into his skin.
“Yes. I’m Detective Austin Black. You already met my partner, Justice.”
“He’s a cool dog. I always wanted a dog, but Momma says that we’re too busy to have one.”
“It’s not fair to have a dog if you don’t have time,” Austin responded diplomatically as he tucked the edges of the blanket around Brady’s head.
“If I had a dog, those bad men would have stayed away from me.”
“What bad men?” Austin pulled a juice box from his pack, popped a straw into it and handed it to Brady.
“They’re not nice. They beat mean old Mr. McNeal and they took Rio.”
“You saw the man who did that?” Eva asked, taking the untouched juice box from his hand and looking into his face. His lip trembled, his eyes swimming with tears.
“Yes,” he whispered, looking away, obviously ashamed of something.
“How? You can’t see Captain McNeal’s house from Mrs. Daphne’s.”
“I walked Fluffy. Mrs. Daphne said that I could, because I was bored and I didn’t want to watch stupid old TV anymore,” he wailed.
Despite herself, Eva couldn’t be upset. She couldn’t even bring herself to remind him of the rule that he’d broken. Not yet. That would come when he was warm and clean and safe again.
“We’ll talk about that later.”
“How many men did you see, Brady?”
“Two. The man with the brown hair and the man with the red hair. The man with the red hair is meanest. He hit me right here, because I started crying when he brought me to the woods.” Brady touched his cheek, tears spilling down his face. “He hit Mr. McNeal, too. With a brick. I even saw him do it. Then he pushed Rio right into a van and saw me.”
“It’s okay, buddy.” Eva pressed his head to her shoulder.
“What happened next, sport?” Austin asked gently.
“The man with the red hair yelled for the other man to get me. Me and Fluffy ran really fast, though, and he didn’t catch us.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this, Brady? We could have called the police and made sure you were safe.” Eva brushed Brady’s hair from his forehead and looked into his denim-blue eyes. Rick’s eyes, but so much softer and sweeter than his had been.
“Because you told me not ever to go walking by myself, and I didn’t want to get into trouble.” He started crying in earnest, his face scrunched up and so full of misery that Eva’s heart broke.
“It’s okay.” She patted his back, and met Austin’s eyes, anxious to get her shivering, sobbing son out of the cave and to safety. “How long until the rescue team arrives?”
“Ten or fifteen minutes. It might be best if we bring him out into the sun while we wait. He’s hypothermic, and the sooner we get him warmed up, the better.” He hooked Justice to his lead. “Ready to get out of here, Brady?”
“Yes.” Brady didn’t even lift his head. Exhausted, bruised and terrified, but he was alive. That was all that mattered.
Thank You, God.
Thank You, thank You, thank You.
Dawn peeked through the thick trees and dappled the ground with yellow-gold light as they walked out of the cave. Eva hadn’t noticed the beauty of the forest while they were searching for Brady. Now she couldn’t stop noticing. The tall pines stretching toward the blue sky. The red-brown earth beneath their feet. The soft sound of birds greeting the day.
Justice growled deep in his throat, the fur on his scruff standing on end, his nose pointed toward the rise above the cave.
“Go back into the cave,” Austin shouted.
She didn’t ask why. Didn’t stop to think about who might be coming. She ran, feet slipping on slick ground, Brady in her arms, all the beauty of the morning fading into cold, stark terror.
FIVE
She set Brady down at the mouth of the cave, shielding him with her body as she shooed him away from the opening.
“Are they back, Momma? Are the bad men back?” Brady cried, his eyes wide in his stark white face.
“I don’t—”
A shot rang out, the sound reverberating through the cave.
Close.
Too close.
“Let’s go farther in, buddy.” She nudged Brady in front of her, urging him deeper into the cave until the walls narrowed and Eva couldn’t move forward any farther. She could hear nothing but her heartbeat and the soft rasping of Brady’s breath. If Brady’s bad men were following, they’d have easy targets, cave walls to either side, no room for Eva to move forward. Brady could, though.
“I want you to do what you did before, Brady. Run deeper into the cave, okay? Not too far. Keep your hand on the wall and count twenty steps. As soon as you’re done, turn right around this way so you know how to get out.”
“No, Momma!”
“Yes. I’ll have the detective send Justice in for you as soon as it’s safe.” She gave him a gentle shove, listening as his feet padded in the darkness. She counted his steps. Only ten, but she didn’t want to call for him to keep going. She didn’t want him any farther away than he needed to be.
She eased back the way she’d come, silently picking her way through the darkness,
her hand sliding along the rough rock wall. She didn’t know where Austin had gone, didn’t know if the gunshot she’d heard had been from his gun or someone else’s. The thought of him crumbling to the ground, blood flowing from a bullet wound, made her stomach ache and her pulse pound harder. He and Justice had saved Brady’s life. Without them, her son would still be lost and shivering in the cave.
She shuddered at the thought, stepping out into the coolness of the cave’s mouth. Thick foliage blocked her view of the shallow pool beyond it, but the morning had gone silent as death. Not a bird singing. No small animals rustling in the woods. Nothing, and that petrified her almost as much as the gunshot had. She searched the ground, grabbing a fist-size rock and creeping to the cave entrance. She peered through the overgrowth of shrubs and weeds, searching the landscape beyond.
Nothing.
No one.
Wait!
Her heart jumped as something moved in the forest. A man. Narrow build. Slim shoulders. Tall and thin, his red hair gleaming in the morning sun.
One of Brady’s bad men. Where was the other?
And where were Austin and Justice?
She clutched the rock as the red-haired man made his descent. He glanced to his left and called to someone. Another man, picking his way into the ravine from the opposite slope. The only way out of the cave and into the woods was a straight path through the two of them.
The red-haired man stumbled the last few feet into the muck and dead leaves, his mud-brown eyes seeming to burn straight into Eva’s.
She stumbled back and pressed close to the side wall of the cave. She didn’t stand a chance against a bullet, but as long as Brady stayed deep in the cave, he’d be fine.
Please, God, let him be fine.
“Momma? Are they gone?” Brady called out, his words bouncing off the granite walls and ringing through the unnatural silence.
That was all it took.
An explosion of sound, and a bullet whizzed past Eva’s head, slammed into the cave wall, bits of granite showering her hair and face. She dove to the ground, scrambling away on her hands and knees, screaming for Brady to stay where he was.
Someone shouted, but Eva didn’t hear the words past the echoing sound of gunfire.
Austin shouted another warning as he stepped from behind an outcrop of rocks and fired. His first shot hit home, dropping the redheaded perp who was closest to the cave. The other man retreated, racing back up the ravine and dodging behind a thick oak. Austin fired again, his bullet slamming into the tree’s trunk. No way could he chase the man through the forest while Eva and Brady were alone in the cave. He called for backup and warned the approaching rescue team of the presence of the armed man as he ran to the cave.
He’d seen Eva behind the foliage, her pale face peering out, and he’d wanted to shout for her to take cover. He hadn’t wanted to warn his targets, though. He hoped that he’d made the right choice. Hoped that she wasn’t lying in a pool of blood on the other side of the winter-dry brush.
He paused at the fallen man’s side, checked for a pulse, knowing that he wouldn’t find one. He’d done what he had to, but there was no joy in it.
“Is he dead?” Eva peered out of from the cave entrance, her hair a tangled mess around her shoulders, her eyes dull and tired.
“Yes.” He shifted to block her view. “Are you and Brady okay?”
“Yes.” An engine rumbled in the distance, and she glanced up the slope. “I guess that’s our ride out of here. I’ll tell Brady he can come out of hiding.”
“Keep him in the cave, okay? I don’t think it would be good for him to see this.”
She glanced at the body, nodded and slipped back into the cave.
Austin patted the deceased’s pockets, searching for ID. Nothing. They’d have to ID him by fingerprints or dental records.
He walked into the cave and unleashed Justice.
“Stay,” he commanded, and the bloodhound dropped onto his haunches, his tongue lolling out, what looked like a contented smile on his hang-dog face. He’d found the prize, discovered the missing, and he’d probably spend the rest of the day lying on the couch back at Austin’s place.
“Can I pet your dog, Mr. Detective?” Brady asked as he walked from the deepest part of the cave, his white-blond hair dirty and spiking up around his head, the scratches on his face and arms livid. He’d lost his blanket and Eva’s coat somewhere and shook violently. Austin pulled out another blanket and tucked it around his shoulders, concerned with his pallid complexion, his colorless lips, the vague look in his bright blue eyes.
“If it’s okay with your mom.” Austin glanced at Eva, who was clutching Brady’s shoulder as if she were afraid that letting go would mean losing him again.
She nodded, and Austin called Justice to Brady’s side.
“You can pet him, but only if you call me Austin and stay in the cave until I come tell you it’s okay to come out. You also have to stay wrapped up real tight in this blanket, okay?”
“Okay.”
Austin waited while Brady settled in beside Justice, smiling a little as the boy wrapped his arms around the dog’s solid back and pulled the blanket over both of them. He’d soak in some of Justice’s warmth. A good thing while they waited for rescue.
“I’ll be right back.” Austin stepped out of the cave and into the cold, sunny day. A few clouds edged across the horizon, the hint of moisture he’d felt earlier coalescing into a brewing storm.
The sound of approaching vehicles grew louder as he covered the perp’s face with the blanket, said a silent prayer for the family of the man. The deceased might have chosen a dark path, but his family would still mourn his loss.
A four-wheeler roared into view, splashing through the small pool and stopping a few feet from the cave. A dark-haired woman jumped off. Austin knew her. Laurel Stanley worked as an emergency-room nurse and volunteered with San Antonio Search and Rescue. They’d dated a few times, but they both had busy lives and lived in cities they loved. Neither planned to move, and that, as much as anything, had kept the relationship from blooming.
“Hey, Austin! You’ve found the boy?”
“In the cave. Hypothermic. Shaky, but conscious.”
“The sooner we get him out of here, the better, then.” She hurried into the cave as a four-wheeler driven by a uniformed police officer arrived. Austin briefed him quickly, watching as he took off again, heading in the direction that the second perp had disappeared. More than likely, the guy was long gone by now, but they’d keep looking, keep hunting until he was in custody.
Two more four-wheelers roared toward Austin, the forest alive with sound and movement. The teams would need to take photos, collect evidence. Protocol always dictated, but when it came to lethal force, it was even more important that it be followed precisely.
He walked to the mouth of the cave, stepping back as Eva carried Brady out, Laurel right behind them.
“I’m transporting now, Austin. We’ll bring them to Sagebrush General. I’ve already called ahead to let them know we’re coming,” she said.
“I’ll make sure we have a man there.” He wanted twenty-four-hour protection for Brady until they had the second perp in custody. Whatever Brady had witnessed, whoever he’d seen, it had been enough to put him in the sights of some very dangerous men.
“Thanks for everything, Austin,” Eva said as she climbed onto the four-wheeler, Brady leaning against her shoulder, his eyes closed. Maybe she thought that this was the end, that they were done now that her son was safe. They were far from it, but he wouldn’t tell her that. Not when she looked so relieved to be leaving the Lost Woods.
He stepped away from the four-wheeler, watching as Laurel drove away. He should be feeling relief, elation. The normal high that came from a successful mission. Instead, he felt worried, anxiety gnawing at him as he turned to the evidence team that was working the scene.
“Funny seeing her here,” a short, wiry police officer said, his gaze on the retreati
ng vehicle.
“Who?”
“Eva Billows. Last time I saw her, we were working her parents’ murders. Shame that she’s had so much trouble. Her father might have been a weasel, but she seems like a good kid.
“She mentioned her parents’ murders.”
“A bad scene. The bodies had been there for a couple of days before she found them.”
The words sparked a memory—the murder of a couple in their double-wide trailer. The husband had been beaten and then shot execution-style. The wife had been shot in the chest. Their daughter had discovered the bodies when her mother hadn’t shown up to babysit. The story had made local news because of the brutal nature of the crime and the horror of the young woman walking in on the scene. Austin hadn’t worked the case, but he remembered the police station buzzing during the investigation.
“What were her folks’ names?” He couldn’t remember, but he thought there’d been some connection to a small-time drug ring. Some reason to believe that the crime had been retribution.
“Ernie and Tonya Billows,” the officer said.
No wonder Eva’s name had sounded familiar.
“Any leads on the case?”
“A few fingerprints that we couldn’t match to anyone who didn’t have an alibi. One or two sets that weren’t in the system. No murder weapon. No suspects. The trail has gone cold, but that doesn’t mean we’re not still actively working it. Why?”
“I think what happened to Eva’s son is connected to the attack on Captain McNeal’s father and the theft of Rio, but if there are other avenues I need to check out, it would be good to know now.”
“I don’t think there is. Ernie was a small-time criminal. Not someone who would be remembered this long.”
“What about his wife?” Austin queried.
“Just one of those sad women who got caught up with the wrong guy and couldn’t ever quite disentangle herself from him. The way I see things, if you want to figure out who kidnapped the Billows boy, you just need to find out who this guy was working with.” He gestured to the body.
Tracking Justice (Texas K-9 Unit) Page 5