Constant Risk

by Janie Crouch

“It’s important that we move quickly, once I start to trace them. If we move too slowly, they may be able to warn one another.”

  “Got it,” Penelope said. “We’ll have to keep this on pretty tight radio silence. If the press gets hold of it they could tip off the killers.”

  Bree winced. “If that happens, the killers will go to ground. They would know better than to get back on the chat room.”

  And that would be it for the victims.

  Everyone dispersed to get ready to go when Bree had a location.

  “Why don’t you take a break?” Tanner said. “Someone else can watch for entry into the chat room. I promise we will wake you up immediately if there’s any activity.”

  “No, I can do this. I’m okay.” She turned to look at him and could see the worry in his eyes. “Honestly. I know my little blackout incident was bad. Probably scary—”

  “Not scary because I think you’re weak. But scary because you shouldn’t be pushing this hard. You were taught to work past your breaking point.”

  She reached up and grabbed his hand. “I haven’t reached my breaking point yet. Having you here makes me stronger. I’m okay, I promise.”

  He studied her for a long moment, looking like he wanted to say more.

  “I’m strong. I want to do this. I can do this.”

  He kissed her tenderly on the lips, just the softest of touches. “Good. Then let’s catch these bastards and go home. We’ve got our own lives to get on with.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Someone’s in the chat room.”

  The command room fell completely silent at Bree’s words. Tanner didn’t move either. He knew the next few minutes were critical in getting the jump on the killers.

  God, he couldn’t be any prouder of Bree and how she’d handled herself and kept it together over the past few hours if... Hell, he just couldn’t be any prouder.

  The sooner he got the ring on this woman’s finger and had them bound to each other for the rest of their lives, the better.

  The grin that spread on her face a few minutes later just confirmed it all for Tanner.

  “I’ve got him,” she whispered. Once again, she rattled off an address.

  “This isn’t like last time,” she said. “He’s logging in live, but it has nothing to do with his transmissions of the victim. That means he might log back out at any moment. And there’s no guarantee he’s logging in at the same place he’s keeping the victim.”

  Tanner turned to her. “You’ve been studying their interactions. Do you think you could fool him into getting him to tell you where he’s holding her?”

  “Maybe. But it might tip the others off. I could invite him into a private chat and see if I could get him to spill some details. I could act like I’m Elliot and I’m concerned about some mechanical or equipment issue.”

  Tanner looked over at Penelope. This was her call. If they spooked this guy and caused him to go to ground, they may not get another chance. And she already didn’t trust Bree completely.

  But Penelope nodded. “Do it. We’re out of time.”

  Bree nodded. “I’ll coax him into a private chat, clone this chat room so he can no longer see the real version and pretend to be him to the other two.”

  “That sounds a bit complicated,” Whitaker said.

  “It is. It’s basically a shell game. We try to keep them distracted and our hands moving too fast for them to see what we’re really doing. It’s risky.”

  “Risky is better than nothing,” Tanner said.

  Bree didn’t waste any more time. She immediately turned back to her computer and started doing what she needed to. Penelope sent Whitaker and Leon out to the address Bree had provided them. Maybe they would get lucky and be able to tail the guy the old-fashioned way.

  Tanner moved to sit down by Bree in a show of silent support.

  “He took the bait,” she said a few minutes later, fingers still moving on the keyboard. “He’s going into a private chat. I can’t ask him questions outright, or he’ll get suspicious. But I can at least clone the other chat so that he’s locked out of that.”

  “Instead of asking him questions about his location, can you ask him if he’s having problems with his water box? He doesn’t have to tell you where he is. Just get him to go to the location and log in from there.”

  “You’re brilliant, Tanner Dempsey. He has no idea I’m tracing him.” She bit her lip. “Of course, if it was me, I’d already have multiple IDs with which I could log on. I’d never use the same one twice.”

  “That’s why you’re the smartest hacker on the planet, and this guy is just a bastard trying to get his jollies by tormenting as many people as possible. He wasn’t expecting you. There’s a difference between thinking you’re the smartest person in the room and actually being the smartest person in the room.”

  She typed rapidly. “I’m telling him that I’m Elliot and that I’ve been offline because I’m having a problem with the water box. That I’ve been manually filling it according to their calculations, but that I think there’s a flaw in the building plans.”

  They waited a few seconds to see if their prey would fall for it.

  He did.

  “Okay, he’s logging out of the main chat room and logging into the private one. I’m cloning the private one so if he goes back in, unless he specifically looks to see if it’s a clone, he won’t realize anything has changed.”

  “So Leon and Whitaker are free to pursue?”

  “Yes, but they need to be careful not to spook him.”

  “They’ll stay back, just keep him in sight. In case this plan doesn’t work, we need a backup.”

  She nodded and began typing again. “Okay, I’m asking him if he’s noticed a problem with the box. Telling him that I almost missed it and that he needs to double-check as soon as possible.”

  She stopped typing and stared at the screen.

  “Do you think he bought it?”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure. I dropped my message and left. I figured it looked less suspicious if I wanted to talk even less than him. If the roles were reversed it would reassure me a little.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Smart.”

  “Okay, he’s dropped out of the private chat. This is good. We need to be ready to go. Hopefully he’s going to get back on in a few minutes to say that his box did not have the same problem as mine. And when he does that, we’ll have a location of the victim.”

  Now it was a waiting game.

  Penelope walked over to them a few minutes later. “Bad news. The address was empty by the time Leon and Whitaker got there.”

  “Then this is our only shot,” Bree said.

  Tanner nodded. “It’s going to work.”

  She didn’t have to say anything for him to know she wasn’t so sure about that. But just because it wouldn’t trick her didn’t mean it wouldn’t fool damn near everybody else on the planet.

  “It’s going to work,” he said again. “Let’s be ready to go.”

  Bree nodded. “I’ll come with you, if he gets back in the chat room. Just in case we need to reel him in further. Or if not, I’ll be working remotely on the other two.”

  The silence fell heavy over the room for nearly twenty minutes.

  Bree finally slammed her hand on the desk. “Yes!” she shouted. “He just logged in and said he checked the water box. That should mean he’s at the location.”

  She rattled off an address.

  This time Penelope didn’t look confused. “That’s on the outskirts of town. A lot of abandoned buildings. If I was going to try to keep a kidnapping quiet, that’s where I would do it. Let’s go. We’ll have Leon and Whitaker meet us there.”

  Bree grabbed her laptop and was right behind Tanner as he followed Penelope to the car. As soon as Bree got into the back seat she began ty
ping away again.

  “I’m working on the other two,” she said. “If they are open for the same sort of trick we used with this guy then this could be easier than I thought.”

  Penelope was on the phone with Whitaker, working out details. The building was an abandoned motel and SWAT was meeting them there. It was too big for the four of them to canvass on their own.

  They were reaching the edge of town, only a couple of miles from their location, when Bree spoke again.

  “According to GPS, there’s a coffee shop at the corner of the next block. You should leave me there. You don’t want to have to worry about me as you’re doing your bad-guy stuff, and the coffee shop will have Wi-Fi, which will allow me to work faster.”

  Penelope glanced over at Tanner and he gave a nod. He wanted Bree kept clear of all this.

  “Fine, but we have to keep moving.” Penelope responded.

  Tanner turned and shot Bree a concerned look in the back seat. He’d rather get her settled himself.

  Bree just rolled her eyes. “I’m more than capable of walking myself into a coffeehouse without getting into any trouble. Go do what you need to do.”

  Sure enough, when Penelope stopped the car a block later Bree was out the door with a quick “Good luck.”

  The door had barely shut behind her before Penelope was taking off again.

  “We’re dealing with a much bigger area than we were with Elliot, and we don’t have any details,” she said. “We’ll have SWAT, but the guy may kill the victim outright if he gets spooked.”

  “How do you want this to play?”

  “Room by room search,” she said. “Methodically and orderly.”

  A few seconds later his phone beeped. He looked down at the message and smiled.

  “Bree just sent us the building plans for that address.”

  “I have to admit she is pretty damn useful.”

  Tanner laughed as he studied the plans. “That and a lot more.”

  They parked at the spot where Penelope had told Leon and Whitaker to meet. They were already there. Tanner got out of the car while Penelope answered a call.

  “We just got building plans from Bree,” Whitaker said.

  “Knowing her, the entire SWAT team got it too,” Tanner said.

  Penelope finished her call and turned back to them. “Chief doesn’t want anybody who is not official Dallas PD going into the building, in case things get ugly. Sorry guys.”

  Tanner didn’t like it, but he could understand it.

  “We can still be used strategically. There are a lot of exits to this place.” Tanner pointed to the building schematics on his phone. “I can camp out in the alleyway in case the perp slips past you and runs like Elliot did.”

  Whitaker nodded. “And I can cover the fire exit in the back in case he makes a run for it that way.”

  Penelope nodded. She handed them walkie-talkies. “Yeah. If this guy gets away, the first thing he’ll probably do is warn the others.”

  “Roger that. Priority is to stop him before he makes contact. And hopefully by the time we’re done here, Bree will already have the location of the other two victims,” Tanner said.

  The SWAT team showed up, parking a block away, and they all took their positions. Tanner made his way to the alley he’d be covering. He’d much rather be part of the action inside the building, but knew this case was going to be delicate enough without having unauthorized personnel as part of the takedown. Better to do as much as possible by the books. Unless it came down to truly dire situations, he would stay out of it.

  He was in the alley, finding the best vantage point for the exit that led his way, when his phone buzzed in its holder. He glanced down to see the caller, thinking it might be Bree, but it was Gregory Lightfoot.

  Tanner press the receive button. “Greg. Kind of a bad time. Can I call you back?”

  “Tanner, this is an emergency. I just found out the prison bus transferring Michael Jeter crashed pretty badly a couple of hours ago. It was chaos. Some prisoners killed, others hurt bad.”

  “And Jeter?”

  “Right now no one is exactly sure where he is.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Tanner let out a vile curse. “What exactly are you saying? That Jeter escaped?”

  Because two hours was definitely more than enough time for Jeter to have gotten to where Bree was right now alone.

  “I’ve already made some calls.” Greg’s voice was rapid and hoarse. “I’ve explained the situation and the prison warden on-site at the crash assures me that no prisoners are missing. The issue was, with the multiple injuries, some of them severe, they had to send prisoners to multiple hospitals. But all of them went in handcuffs and all the hospitals are aware of their criminal status.”

  That made Tanner feel marginally better, but not enough to be willing to leave Bree alone. Not until he knew for sure that Jeter wasn’t out in the open.

  “Why weren’t we notified right away?”

  “I was in court, and my assistant couldn’t get ahold of me. The moment she did, I called you. I’m staying on top of it as much as possible and will report back to you as soon as I have any more details.”

  “Do.” It wasn’t a request. When it came to Bree’s safety Tanner was not going to worry about being polite. “Immediately, Greg. No matter how big or small.”

  “I will.”

  Tanner disconnected the call without another word.

  He immediately called Bree and tried not to panic when the call went to voice mail. She never answered her phone if she had an option.

  He texted her instead.

  Problem with Jeter. Stay inside the coffeehouse until I or an officer comes for you. Call me.

  He waited a few seconds for a response, fighting back a little more panic when there was none. She was focused. Might be in a situation talking to the other kidnappers online where every second counted and couldn’t answer him.

  Tanner tried to focus on the facts. The prison warden had assured Greg no prisoners had escaped. There was no reason to think that wasn’t true. And even if Jeter had managed to escape unnoticed, how would he even know where Bree was? Until thirty minutes ago they didn’t even know where Bree would be, so there was no way Jeter could’ve set a trap for her.

  Somehow none of this reassured him.

  He placed a call to Whitaker. He couldn’t leave here, since he didn’t have a car anyway, but he needed to get eyes on Bree immediately.

  Whitaker picked up on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”

  Whitaker knew Tanner well enough to know that he would not be calling in the middle of an important operation if it wasn’t important.

  “I just got word that Michael Jeter is currently MIA. There was a prison transfer bus accident with multiple injuries and right now we’re not exactly sure where he is, although there is no report of any escapees.”

  “What do you need?”

  “I can’t get to Bree myself, but I’d feel much better knowing we have eyes on her. I know there’s no reason to think Jeter is anywhere nearby, but...”

  “I’ll get a couple of uniformed officers over to the coffeehouse right away. Better safe than sorry.”

  “Thanks, man. I didn’t want to leave my post, but Bree didn’t answer my text and everything about Jeter makes me uncomfortable.”

  “No need to explain,” Whitaker said. “Not to mention, we need Bree more now than ever. I’ll have somebody on her in less than five minutes.”

  Tanner disconnected and immediately tried Bree’s cell again, biting back a curse when the call went straight to voice mail again and his text still went unread.

  He was about to try again when the walkie-talkie in his hand clicked on.

  “The perp is on the run,” Penelope announced. “Repeat, perp is on the run. He sneaked out some back do
or and is probably headed in your direction, Tanner.”

  “Roger that. I’m ready.”

  “No weapons unless you perceive a direct threat to you.”

  “Got it.” Definitely didn’t make things easier, but it wasn’t Tanner’s policy to shoot a fleeing suspect in the back unless he was a direct threat to those around him.

  Less than thirty seconds later Tanner heard the door open in front of him. He immediately brought up his weapon. He wasn’t going to shoot the guy, but the guy didn’t need to know that.

  And, damn, this one was definitely much bigger than Elliot Webster. Guy looked like a linebacker.

  “Police,” Tanner shouted. The perp didn’t need to know that Tanner wasn’t Dallas police. “Stay where you are and put your hands where I can see them.”

  The guy didn’t even slow down. He was running at Tanner at full speed.

  Damn it, Tanner did not have time for this. He didn’t want to chase this guy down the block and waste valuable time that could be used making sure Bree was safe. He didn’t care if the guy looked like he was going to run over Tanner. Tanner had played some football in his time too.

  He knew how to take a hit. And he definitely knew how to keep an opponent from reaching his objective. In high school that had been keeping a running back from scoring a touchdown.

  Now it was keeping this guy from escaping the alley.

  Tanner bent his knees and braced himself for the impact as the guy paid no heed to the warning of the gun and continued to barrel toward him. At the last moment Tanner dropped even lower in his stance and flew toward the guy, tackling him low in the legs.

  The guy wasn’t expecting the move from Tanner, obviously betting on the fact that Tanner wouldn’t shoot and never considering Tanner wouldn’t just get out of the way.

  The bigger they are the harder they fall was a saying for a reason, and this guy hitting the ground hard just further proved it.

  Penelope had asked him not to shoot the perp, and Tanner didn’t. But that didn’t stop him from clocking the guy in the jaw with his elbow when he tried to stand back up and get away again.