They were back on the trail now, and it wasn’t long before they reached the truck. At least, they could see it.
He pulled the horse to a stop before they’d even emerged from the trees. “Hop off.”
Ellie slid to the ground and locked her knees to keep from crumpling.
“Hopefully the fire department can put the fire out quickly. I wouldn’t want it to spread and cause problems.”
There was no wind, and it was cold tonight. The risk of wildfire was low. Plus, he probably had safeguards around his house to keep low hanging trees close by from being reached by embers. Nothing was perfect but measures could be taken. And knowing Drew, he probably kept up with that stuff.
“Do you see anyone?”
Ellie drew her weapon. The last thing she wanted was to be caught unawares. She scanned the area. No other vehicles. No flashlight beams. She couldn’t hear talking or even the crack of branches that might indicate someone walking around.
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
He took the saddle off his horse and removed all the tack. Then he rubbed all the way down both her sides. He stepped back and yelled, “Yah!” With a loud slap on her rump. The horse darted forward, to the trail. In a couple of steps she slowed, then looked back.
Drew threw the saddle over his shoulder with a grunt and headed for his truck. Ellie picked up what was left and followed him. “You’re just going to leave her out here?”
“Spring knows the way home, though she might not want to stick around with the smoke smell. She can keep herself safe until I can find her. Or until Craig does.”
“That’s it?”
He hauled the saddle into the bed of his truck. “What do you want me to say? I don’t particularly want to leave her out here, but I have no choice.”
“You’re abandoning her.”
“Do you have a horse trailer in your pocket? Because I don’t.”
“You could call that neighbor kid.”
“It’s the middle of the night, Ellie. I’m not waking Craig up.”
“He wouldn’t understand because your house is on fire?”
“Why are we arguing about this?” He waved to the door. “Get in the truck. We’re exposed standing out here.”
She set her hands on her hips. “I’m the one with a badge.”
He walked toward her, not stopping. His momentum forced her back to the passenger door. “Get in.” Teeth flashed in the moonlight, and he pulled the door open.
Ellie got in. Drew rounded the front of the truck and got in the driver’s side. He pushed out a breath, turning the key in the ignition. “The person you’re mad at is Laney. Not me.”
The radio came on.
“…for the following counties.”
“Emergency alert.” Ellie turned it down so it wasn’t as loud.
The electronic voice listed a number of counties, then said, “All residents are instructed to remain in their homes until further notice. Do not approach any unknown persons. The fugitive at large is armed and extremely dangerous. Law enforcement personnel are attempting to apprehend him. Please remain in your homes.”
The message repeated from there. A hastily assembled emergency alert designed to clear the streets of anyone who shouldn’t be there. Which was why the highway was practically empty.
“They’re looking for us.”
“I think they’re probably looking for me.” Drew’s voice was strained when he added, “They’re going to find us.”
But he didn’t sound scared. He sounded determined.
“You want them to.”
“It’s the only way to end this. They know I’m not going to join up with them now.”
Ellie stared at the outline of his features in the dark cab of the truck. Strong jaw, set with that determination she’d heard in his voice. Doubt crept in, but Ellie wanted to believe he’d come into her life again now for a reason. For God to do something she hadn’t allowed Him to do before. “So what’s the plan?”
. . .
As much as he pretended otherwise, he didn’t like leaving his horse. Ellie didn’t need to add to that emotion though. Too much stress would split their focus. Right now he needed to put aside the concern as to what would happen to Spring and fix the problem he could handle.
Afterward, he’d go out and find her.
Then he’d have to figure out what he was going to do about his burned-out house. Eric and Alma would tell him that the important thing was he wasn’t hurt. The rent money he paid them was next to nothing. They probably wouldn’t want to rebuild, considering they’d never made money on the house. And wouldn’t, if he kept living there.
They could pocket the insurance money instead. Sell off the land—but not to these people who’d put an emergency alert out on the airwaves. All to try and lessen the number of residents outside tonight. Did they want a showdown? Drew was going to give them one.
He appreciated that they didn’t want the uninvolved caught in the crossfire, but he didn’t think that was it. He figured they probably just wanted it to be easier to find him and Ellie. Everyone out on the streets tonight was either one of them or the enemy.
Drew stopped at the light to turn onto Main Street. “The sheriff’s office. We still need supplies.” Protective vests. Ammo. Contact with the state police might help but could they run the risk of these people not having the state police in their pocket? Calling about a fire was one thing. This was entirely different.
Mark was on his way. That help was what Drew was counting on. He needed to round up Mark—and Alvarez, who was protecting Ellie’s father. Then they could get the help of the former sheriff, if he was able, and Sheriff Burgess.
That had to be enough because it was all they had.
He eased off the brake and they rolled through the intersection. But Drew didn’t turn down Main Street. Instead, he headed for the street behind the sheriff’s office. If anyone was on or around the grassy area in the middle of Main, keeping watch for them, then they needed to steer clear of it. Take the back entrance. Raid the sheriff’s department for what they needed.
Assuming someone else hadn’t done that before them.
He parked and they sat for a second, both looking around. “It’s weird not seeing anyone.”
Ellie nodded. “So weird. The place is completely deserted.”
The parking lot where sheriff’s department vehicles were parked contained only one right now. The boss’s SUV was here. “Does that mean the sheriff is inside?”
Ellie said, “Maybe. But not definitely.”
“I guess we’ll find out.” He grabbed the door handle. “I want to find out.”
Movement caught his attention. He climbed out and spotted a shadowy figure dart out of an alley beside the sheriff’s office. Drew’s leg throbbed as he headed for the shadows up against the building. He saw the figure pull out a phone and put it to his ear. “It’s done.”
The figure hung up, then started to run faster away from the sheriff’s office. What was done?
Drew changed direction. It grated on him to let the guy get away, but he had to know what had been “done” inside. Ellie was out of the car. “What is it?”
He didn’t like this. Didn’t even want to voice his fears aloud. “We need to get in there.”
They quickly made their way to the back door. It was locked. Drew lifted his foot and kicked the door open. Ellie made her way up the stairs first.
The main office was dark. She crept in, gun drawn. Neither of them had more than a couple of bullets left. It had been a really long day.
She glanced back, then made some hand motions. Drew nodded. She headed left. He checked to the right. “Clear.”
“In here.”
He met her at the door. Her body had gone stiff. Then she seemed to snap out of it.
The lamp on the sheriff’s desk was on. He was tied to his chair, and it was obvious he’d suffered before they shot him in the stomach. Drew sighed. A long and painful death wasn’t ho
w he’d choose to put someone out of their misery, but he supposed that made sense for these people.
And Laney was tied up in this? He would guess she had a good explanation, but whether Ellie would want to hear it was another question.
The sheriff’s body shifted. His lips parted and his chest rattled with the intake of breath.
Ellie hesitated, her fingers stretched out, ready to take his pulse. “He’s alive.” She touched the sheriff’s shoulders. “Hank, can you hear me?”
No answer came, just that rattling inhale. Not good.
Drew said, “I’m going to raid the gun cage.” Either way they would need supplies.
She nodded but didn’t turn back from the sheriff. She heard him run to the door on the far side of the sheriff’s office. When he returned, it was with arms full of weapons. Ammo in every pocket. Two vests slung over one shoulder. Ellie had a towel pressed against the sheriff’s stomach. His desk phone was between her ear and shoulder.
“Yes. Everyone.” She paused. “I don’t care. Things are out of control here. We’re getting ready to go to war, and we need backup.” She hung up the phone and glanced at him. “Whether they’re going to send anyone, I don’t know. And I can’t waste the time trying to decipher whether or not they’ve been compromised.”
“You’re right.” He handed her a vest. “Not when the mayor or someone else could have called them, or any of these other people we know now are involved.” He looked at the sheriff. “Can they get an ambulance in? Can we?”
“The state police Lieutenant said he’ll alert Life Flight. They’ll send a chopper in to get the sheriff.” She paused. “I don’t like leaving him.”
“Me either.”
“He’s barely hanging on,” she said, tears in her voice. “What they did to him…” Her words trailed off and her voice hitched.
“Ellie.”
The name came from the sheriff’s lips.
“Sheriff.” She turned to him. “Help is on the way.”
He tried to shake his head.
“No. Stay still. The state police are sending Life Flight.” She spoke as though she were attempting to reassure herself. “I hope.”
“I’m praying.” Drew squeezed her shoulder then looked over the sheriff. He knew next to nothing about how to stabilize someone. Why hadn’t he taken that medical training course the feds had offered to send him on? It certainly could have come in handy right now.
“Ellie.”
“Don’t try to speak,” she told him.
He took another inhale, then coughed, his body wracked with spasms.
“Who did this to you?”
“Call…”
Drew said, “Where’s your phone?”
“Took…it.”
“Who do you need to call?”
“Will.” The sheriff said, “Warn…him.”
“Ellie’s father is a target?” Drew asked. The man had a US Marshal with him, and Alvarez wasn’t about to allow either of them to get hurt. Drew was more worried about him and Ellie right now.
The sheriff said, “All. Are.”
“Okay. Don’t worry.” Drew said it even though they should all be very worried. “We’re going to finish this.”
“Safe.”
Ellie said, “We’re not done until the town is safe. You stay with us, we’re getting help.”
His eyes shut, as though the last of his strength was gone now. Overhead the low drone of a helicopter could be heard. Drew looked out the window. “Life Flight.”
He wanted to ask the sheriff if he’d been pressured by the group into ruling Natalie Benson’s death a suicide. But there would be time for that later.
Once they had the EMTs in, taking care of the sheriff. Getting him ready to transport. Drew snagged Ellie’s elbow. “We’ve gotta go.”
She nodded, not taking her eyes from her boss. “If they have his phone, then they have the photos that I sent him. The ones that were on mine that you threw out the window. All of our evidence.”
They didn’t have time for a debate or an argument. “You have online backup, right?”
“My storage is full. Nothing is uploading right now.”
He sighed. “We have to go.”
The EMTs carried the sheriff out the door, upstairs to the roof where the chopper had landed. Drew handed over his phone to her. “Call your dad.”
She did. He heard it ring against her ear.
“No answer?”
She nodded.
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
Chapter 17
Ellie banged on the glass of the hospital’s main entrance. “Let us in.”
The security guard shook his head. “Can’t, Miss. I’m sorry. Dangerous fugitive on the loose, and we’re on lockdown.”
She pulled the badge from her back pocket. She slammed it so hard it cracked against the glass. “Let us in.”
His gaze shifted to the gold star badge. “How do I know he ain’t the fugitive, and you’re letting him in because he’s forcing you?” He motioned to Drew, over her shoulder.
“I’m not under duress.” She took a breath even though she wanted to scream. “Let. Us. In.”
He took a step back and scratched at his jaw. “I dunno—”
Ellie pulled her weapon and pointed it at the glass of the door but aimed at the carpet inside. “Back up. I’m going to shoot the glass out.”
“Okay. Okay.” He moved to the door handle, but not before she lowered her weapon. Then he reached for it, and let them in.
Ellie barreled past him. She wasn’t going to explain, and she wasn’t going to justify herself. She was going to do her job. This security guy would have to like it or not.
“Wanna show me some ID?”
She looked back to see he’d asked this of Drew.
Her partner shook his head. “No.” Then moved past the security guard to stand at her side.
Ellie turned back to the wide-eyed lady at the front desk. Her face was the same salmon color as her floral sweater. She looked like a Sunday school teacher.
“Sorry about all that.” Ellie flashed her badge again and tried not to look as stressed out as she was. “I need some help. Can you look someone up on that thing?” She motioned to the computer.
“Sure, but if you’re asking about your father, Deputy Maxwell, there’s…” She swallowed. “Well, there’s something the nice security guard needs to tell you.”
“I woulda gotten there.” He rocked back on his heels. “If you’d let me.”
She turned back to the lady. “Maybe you could tell me.”
Now. Or Ellie’s head was liable to explode.
“He was checked out of the hospital. Though, not exactly checked out. They didn’t fill out any paperwork. The doctors tried to stop the men, and—”
“Someone kidnapped my father?”
“Well…” Her gaze darted about, then came back to meet Ellie’s. “That is… Yes.”
Drew said, “And the man who was with him. Plain clothes. He’s a federal marshal.”
“Oh.” Her eyebrows drew together. “There was a man left in the room. Could that be him?”
“Probably.”
She sent a polite smile in Drew’s direction. “He sustained a pretty significant head injury. He’s being assessed right now.”
Drew pulled out his phone and stepped away.
The receptionist shifted to face Ellie. “We called the state police. They said they’d send someone over, but its been half an hour.”
“So he was taken out of here before the lockdown order came in?”
Sunday school teacher lady nodded. “Its part of the reason we didn’t question it. Something’s going on in town, and we have all these people to keep safe. But then we found that other man still in the room.”
“You’d have questioned it normally?”
“The hospital’s doors should always be open.” She lifted her chin. Ellie wondered what had happened in her life to make her spine shore up like t
hat. A judgment about the world, born of adversity.
Ellie said, “Keep the front door and the emergency bay open. Life Flight should be bringing in the sheriff.”
“He was rerouted out of town. They said he was stable enough they could take the extra couple of minutes for the journey.”
And if he hadn’t been? Ellie didn’t want to know what would have happened if the sheriff didn’t make it. She could hardly do this by herself.
She had Drew. For now, that would be enough.
Ellie took a step back, away from the desk and the three people who stood around it. She needed a moment to clear her head.
Could they talk to the injured man and see what he could tell them? Maybe he was too hurt. She prayed he wasn’t permanently damaged by a battle that had nothing to do with him. And if they could get the IDs of the people who had taken her father, would that help find him?
She needed contact. Like a ransom call.
Ellie motioned to Drew with her fingers. He was done with his call now. She said, “I need your phone.”
He studied her with a questioning gaze, but said nothing as he handed it over.
She dialed Laney’s cell phone number from memory. Her friend had gotten the phone number long ago. Back when phone numbers still needed to be memorized, a fact Ellie thanked God for now. She’d called her friend regularly from their landline at home back in those days.
She dialed it now, knowing this conversation would be nothing like their past conversations. Everything about their relationship had changed. Laney was part of a group destroying this town. A group who had forced Brad and Sheila from their homes…and how many others?
They were responsible for the receptionist’s death.
Laney had stood there, along with Deputy Coughlan. Neither of them had done anything while Alan Franz shot Simon Mills in cold blood.
No, Simon may not have been a good person. But no one deserved to be murdered. That’s why the law didn’t have clarifications for a victim’s moral character. No one had the right to take a life unless it was to protect themselves or someone else. The way Drew had protected her, shooting the gunman dressed as a security guard. Maybe he’d been a real security guard, she didn’t know.
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