Tracker

Hot and exhausted, both he and Cheetah hurried out of the thicket. Cheetah’s low growl and urgent trot told Zeke he’d probably find his brother.

But had Jake been shot?

When they made it out into the open, Zeke sucked in a sharp breath. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.

Jake had a woman held at gunpoint.

A woman who looked familiar based on the pictures he’d seen. And scared. She was bleeding, her left cheekbone bruised and swollen. Her gaze slammed into Zeke’s and he felt a jolt of adrenaline rushing over him.

Penny Potter? It had to be her.

Zeke didn’t hesitate. He needed to end this now.

“Drop the weapon,” he ordered, his assault rifle aimed at Jake and the woman. Penny was the mother of Jake’s young son, Kevin. Her golden-brown hair and slim, athletic figure sure fit the description. Her hair was shorter and heavily streaked with lighter shades of blond, but he remembered her face from some old photos they’d found when they’d searched her last known address in Colorado. The K-9 team had been looking for her since late spring but she’d managed to elude them, too. Zeke never imagined he’d find her here again and with Jake holding her hostage.

“It’s over, Jake,” he called, his gaze trained on his brother. “Don’t make it any harder.”

Jake didn’t even flinch. Shoving the gun closer to the woman’s stomach, he shouted, “Hello there, bro. Long time, no see.” Then he shook his head and chuckled. “They had to send you, right?” Jake’s dark blue gaze slid over Zeke’s tactical uniform with disdain. “All geared up and loaded down to come after me. Poetic justice and so much irony, don’t you think?”

Zeke advanced a little closer. Cheetah was silent but waiting for his command with a controlled tremor. “Jake, Cheetah can take you down but I don’t want to force that. Put the weapon down and let the woman go. We can find a way to help you. Maybe work out a plea bargain or something.”

He almost added a please, but Jake used to tease him about being weak-kneed and impulsive. Zeke couldn’t show any weakness now, and he wasn’t about to make any impulsive decisions. A woman’s life depended on it. And the life of her child, too, if he was guessing right on her identity.

Jake shook his head and jammed the gun against the woman’s ribs so hard, she cried out. But she quickly recovered, a determined grit in her expression. “It’s not over until I have my son safely out of this country,” he informed them. “I need to get Kevin. I’ll be out of everyone’s hair soon.”

“You can’t do that,” Zeke said. “You don’t want to take your son away from his mother.”

Jake’s gaze scanned the woods and trails. “What’s left for me to do except leave? The Dupree family is shattered and their lieutenants are scattered to the wind. I’m on my own and...there’s really no other way. I just want my son, so I’m going to get him. Now.”

He gripped Penny’s arm and pushed her forward.

“I can’t let you go,” Zeke said, wondering if he’d have the courage to shoot his own half brother. Jake’s desperate statement only made things worse. Turning his attention to the frightened woman, he asked, “Penny, are you okay?”

She gasped and nodded, her eyes filling with both relief and dread. Zeke could see the resolve in her gaze, too.

“She’s fine,” Jake gritted out, anger echoing in each word. “Turn around, Zeke. Let me get to my boy. I won’t hurt her, I promise.” Then he added, “And I don’t want to shoot you again.”

“I don’t trust your promises,” Zeke said. “I’m going to ask you one more time to drop your weapon.”

With an angry grunt, Jake pulled Penny closer. “You need to behave, sweetheart. Because if you try anything, I’ll kill him and come for you. Nod if you understand.”

* * *

Penny nodded, her gaze latching onto the other man while she prayed Jake wouldn’t kill either of them.

Jake kissed her on her temple, the heat of his lips burning her damp skin with a desperate heat. “I told you, I’m not leaving without my son.”

He backed up, using her as a shield, and then pushed her a foot away, behind a towering pine. “Don’t move, Penny. I mean it.”

Confused and frightened, she scraped her knuckles against the rough bark while Jake stalked around the tree, giving her a possible means of escape. She could run now. Just leave them to duke this out. She could get Kevin and go as far away from here as possible. She’d done it before.

But the man who’d come to her rescue caused her to stay. She couldn’t leave him here with Jake. He’d called her by her real name so he obviously recognized her, which could only mean they’d been digging into her past, too. Then Jake had called the man Zeke and bro. What did that mean? He’d never wanted to talk about himself or his family because of the classified nature of his job. None of this made any sense.

But if this man was a friend or a true brother, he hadn’t come here for a family reunion. He was dressed in a bulletproof vest and wore a black cap over his crisp, dark hair that clearly read FBI. His partner was a sleek, fierce warrior. She’d always had a heart for dogs. This one was also marked as FBI.

“Hey, Penny. If you run, I’ll kill him and his loyal partner, okay?” Jake said again, glancing at her with a threatening look. “But since we’re all here together, I guess it would be rude of me not to make the proper introductions.” He held his gun toward where the man called Zeke stood with feet braced apart and his deadly-looking rifle raised.

Before Jake could tell her who he was, the agent said, “Jake, man, don’t do this. We all want to hear your side of the story. Your unit is worried about you.”

This man was from Jake’s unit!

“Who is he?” she asked Jake.

Keeping his eyes on the other man, Jake said, “Well, you always badgered me about my family, and now you get to meet my little brother, Zeke. Not the best of circumstances, but that can’t be helped.”

“You have a brother?” Penny asked, watching the man at the other end of this standoff. Hoping he could figure something out that would save both of them. He certainly looked capable. Muscular and confident, he stood ready for Jake’s next move. But he also held a hint of hope that Jake would give up.

That should reassure her but...she was afraid none of them would get out of this alive.

Jake shook his head, his eyes wild, his gaze darting between her and Zeke. But he kept his pistol trained on the man and the canine. “Actually, he’s only my half brother. We shared the same father but that’s about it. My old man left my mother and me for his new family.”

He said that with such disgust, Zeke flinched but recovered before Jake even noticed. But Penny noticed. Her heart went out to the man standing there, his rifle aimed at Jake. What must he be going through right now?

Two brothers, one good and one bad.

She couldn’t walk away from this. Jake would keep coming. She had to do something now. But which one did she trust?

Jake’s next words confirmed that decision and told her what she had to do. “Now you know Kevin has an uncle, but he’ll never get to meet Uncle Zeke.” Raising the handgun at the same time he grabbed Penny and pinned her in front of him, he said with regret in each word, “I’m going to have to kill you, bro. You know too much.” His grip tightened on Penny. “You both know too much.”

Zeke inched forward, the canine following. “Jake, think about this. Don’t make things worse for yourself. Let her go and you and I can talk.”

“No more talking,” Jake said. Then he held the gun closer and moved it up to Penny’s heart. “Back off or I’ll kill her right now. I’m not playing. I have to get out of here. With Kevin.”

Penny’s gaze slammed into Zeke’s shocked expression. She’d dropped her backpack when Jake had shoved her at the tree, and she couldn’t reach it now. Panic-stricken, she looked around for a weapon. Anything would suffice. Glancing back at Zeke, she tried to send him a silent message. She made a big deal about looking past him as if she saw someone else. Straining forward, she shouted, “Jake, did you see that? I think someone’s in the woods.”

It was enough to cause her ex to lift his head and glance around. He shifted, his hard-edged gaze sweeping the area.

Penny slumped against him again, causing him to shift. She slipped down and grabbed a jagged piece of rock and managed to twist toward Jake, her arm raised as she lifted the stone toward him while his arms went up in the air. She’d been a softball pitcher in high school so she could pretty much aim for any sweet spot far away. But up close, it was too hard. Thinking quickly, she aimed for the weapon in his outstretched hand. The heavy rock made contact enough against the gun for Jake to lose his grip. His gun flipped out into the air and fell a few feet away.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Penny,” he snapped as he shoved her onto her back and slid toward the weapon.

Zeke shouted at her, “Run. Go. Get out of here!”

The canine started barking and snarling.

Then the FBI agent shouted again, “Run!”

Penny grabbed her backpack as she headed into the woods. Her cell phone was inside. She could call the inn and warn Claire.

Gunshots went off. The FBI agent commanded, “Attack!”

Glancing back, she saw Jake roll and then hop up, the gun now aimed at the dog as he ran ahead of the barking canine, shooting to keep him away. But the dog was quick. He nipped at Jake’s booted foot, his teeth sinking deep.

Her ex grunted and let out a string of curses, all the while fighting to get free of Cheetah. But his efforts failed. His pants ripped and he managed to get up and stumble forward, the dog still on his heels.

Penny couldn’t stop to watch.

The whiz of a bullet hit a tree near her. She heard the shots and realized Jake was making good on his word to try to kill her.

She heard more shots and pivoted around. Her crazy ex was now shooting toward the dog.

Zeke began returning fire. The medium-sized dog was becoming more and more aggressive, barking angrily and dancing away from the continuous shots. The animal would gain on Jake again any second now. Penny turned and ducked behind a tree just as the dog leaped into the air and headed toward her assailant.

But Jake took one more shot and disappeared into the woods.

Zeke came hurrying by. “Stay there,” he told her on a rushed breath.

Then Jake shouted from somewhere above her on some rocks, “Call off your partner, Zeke. I have Penny in my sights and I will take out her and the dog. You know I’m a good shot.”

The words echoed out over the woods like an eerie wail. As if to prove he could do it, Jake shot above Penny’s head. She ducked and held her breath.

Then she saw Jake running through the rough terrain in a zigzag pattern. Heard him shout, “I’m taking him, Penny. None of you can stop me.”

He fired another round of shots, causing Zeke to rush toward Penny and push her down, his big body shielding hers.

“Halt,” Zeke called to the canine barking loudly at the rock formation.

Cheetah whirled and stopped.

“Come,” Zeke called again, the reluctance and frustration obvious in his tone.

The obedient dog returned and stood watch, his beautiful heavy fur quivering with awareness.

“Why did you let him go?” Penny shrieked at Zeke while she struggled to get up. But he was still blocking her, protecting her. Then she stared into his chocolate-brown eyes. The anguish she saw there only mirrored what she’d been feeling for the last few months.

Something swift and sizzling arced between them in a flash of emotion.

“I had to for now,” Zeke replied softly as he placed his hands on either side of her shoulders and got up. Helping her to her feet, he added, “I know my brother. He’d shoot you and Cheetah, or he’d ambush us later. He wants you dead so he can take my nephew.”

“Your nephew?”

“Yes,” he replied, defiance in his eyes. “Kevin is my nephew. I have to get to him before Jake does.”

She agreed with him there but wasn’t so ready to accept him as Kevin’s uncle. That sounded way too personal right now.

They’d discuss the rest of this later. “You’re going after him even though you just let him slip through your fingers?” she asked, still in shock and worried about her son, still reeling from Zeke’s touch and the way his dark eyes had probed her.

He placed a gentle hand on her elbow and steered her through the woods and underneath the shelter of a giant rock near a pine tree. “Right now, I’m going after Jake.” Then he turned to the canine. “Cheetah, guard.”

Penny looked from the dog now standing in front of her back at Zeke. “Oh, no. I’m not sitting here while my son is in danger.” She tried to move past him.

Zeke held her back down. “Listen, I’m going up ahead to look for my brother, but we’ve got backup in the area. You need to stay here and wait for one of them to arrive, understand? Now, tell me where your son is right now so I can send someone to check on him.”

Penny didn’t hesitate on that. Holding her hand to her sweat-dampened hair, she said, “The Wild Iris Inn on Elk Rock Road. Just inside the town limits. Claire is the owner and she babysits for me. He’s with her. I need to—”

“Stay here,” Zeke commanded. “Cheetah won’t let anyone come near you.”

“And if your partner here gets shot?”

He pulled a handgun out of his shoulder holster. “Do you know how to use a weapon?”

She nodded. “My grandfather taught me.”

“Good. Then you know what to do with this one. You’ve got seventeen rounds. One already in the chamber, safety off. When the magazine is empty, run as fast as you can to the main road.”

With that, he took off. “Hurry,” she called, thinking she’d go where she wanted after he left. “Jake could be at the inn right now. He said he had a van stashed somewhere.”

“Got it,” Zeke responded, already running away.

Penny tried to move but the dog moved with her. Blocking her. Feeling helpless, she searched for one of the trails. The canine gave her a daring eye-to-eye stare. Too good at his job.

Frustration gnawed at her. What more could she do? Feeling lost and so very alone, she prayed, tears falling fast and hard down her face. Please, Lord, help me now.

“Please don’t let it be too late for my son,” she said out loud. The courageous animal standing in front of her looked at her with doleful eyes, as if he understood her prayers.

Penny reached out a hand, wanting to pull her protector close. But Cheetah was trained to do what Zeke told him. He stood straight and on the alert, his eyes never leaving her face.

Then she heard what sounded like a vehicle to the east. The sound echoed over the quiet woods. Crouching, she whispered to Cheetah, “What if Jake’s coming back?”

The dog turned his head toward the sound but still didn’t move. Penny held her breath and listened, her adrenaline spiking. Could she really do it? Could she use this weapon to kill the father of her child?

THREE

Penny stayed crouched behind the rock, her heartbeat pounding against her temples like a jackhammer. A black van pulled up on one of the trails, and a man wielding a gun got out and scanned the woods. Penny tried to make out his face, but he was too far away and the shifting light was too low. Barely breathing, she watched as Cheetah stayed with her and stood so still she thought the dog had turned to stone. The canine emitted a low growl, the dare in that whisper of aggression telling her she was safe with him.

But the man kept coming, slowly, deliberately, as if he knew exactly where she was hiding. Penny decided she wasn’t going to wait around and find out. Lifting the weighty handgun, she checked the safety and put her sights on the man. She hadn’t fired a gun since Jake had taken her to target practice so long ago. Could she shoot another human being?

Taking another long look at him, she tried to memorize details of his description. He wore dark glasses and had longish, stringy blond hair. He wasn’t very tall but he was brawny and in good shape.

The henchman advanced but Cheetah’s growls grew louder, causing the assailant to glance up in shock and pivot back and forth. He started backing away, a definite fear in his eyes.

Penny used that fear to give her courage. Lifting up, she aimed and shot into the air near where the man stood, hoping Zeke would hear and come back. The man took off running. Cheetah’s barks now turned brutal and loud.

The man hopped back in the van and started it up. Penny raised the gun again and shot toward the moving target. She missed but she thought she heard something else over the sound of the dog’s barks.

The cries of a child.

* * *

Zeke followed the trail of broken bramble and loose rocks along the craggy ridge, stopping to take a photo each time he saw drops of blood on the rocks or dirt. Cheetah had at least injured his brother. Probably not a deep bite since Jake had been wearing heavy leather boots, but enough that a crime scene tech could get a sample to back up whatever Penny could tell them. The K-9 team could gather evidence and get it to Billings. They all wanted Jake.

Deciding he couldn’t keep going along blindly, Zeke stopped at the top of the ridge and glanced down through the woods. It was hard to see with the growing dusk but he stilled and waited. Nothing. Jake had to be hiding down there somewhere but until help arrived, he had no choice but to turn around. He didn’t want to leave Penny alone. Pivoting, he heard a crashing noise down below. Could be an animal or it could be his brother on the move again. He hurried to check it out.

The sound of gunshots in the area where he’d left Penny had him running back in that direction instead. When he heard Cheetah’s fierce bark, he knew she was in trouble. Had Jake set up yet another distraction so he could get to Penny?

* * *

After what seemed like hours but had only been a few minutes, Zeke returned, winded, fatigue coloring his eyes.

Rushing up to where she sat against the tree with the gun held tightly against her, tears streaming down her face, he sank onto the ground by her. “Cheetah, sit.” Then he gently cupped Penny’s arms in his hands. “Are you okay?”

She handed Zeke his gun, thankful that he’d come back so quickly. But she was so scared of what she might have done it took her a while to speak. “A black van, big with no windows. A man got out and searched the area. I decided to scare him away so I shot toward him.” With each word, she began to sob in earnest.

Zeke nodded, concern deepening his frown. “Good, that’s good. Did you get a look at him?”

She swallowed, trying desperately to tamp down the fear that assailed her. “Yes. Not too tall. Long, stringy blond hair and glasses. And a really big rifle.” Then she grabbed his shirt. “Zeke, I can’t be sure since it all happened so fast and Cheetah was barking, but I...I think I heard a cry. Inside the van.” The terror took over and she started shaking. “I think I heard a child crying.” Then she fell against him, the sick fear engulfing her, the reality of her fears paralyzing her. “Zeke, I shot at the man and I missed. But I heard a child’s cry.” Pulling away, she stared up at him. “What if my son’s in that van?”

Zeke’s eyes went wide. Lifting her up, he pulled her closer and looked down at her. “We’re going to the inn. We’ll find Kevin.” Then, still holding her near, he took out his phone and reported everything she’d just told him. “Yes, sir. We’ll be there as soon as we can get back to my vehicle.”

He ended the call and turned to her. “Let’s get you back to the inn.”

She tugged at his arm and pointed toward the road. “We need to go after them. They went that way. I...I have to find Kevin.”

She started to go around him and tried to reach for her backpack.

“I’ll get it.” He snatched up the flower-encased bundle, their gazes locking for a brief moment. “Let’s go.”

Zeke pulled her with him across the rocky terrain at a furious trot. “My SAC—special agent in charge—Max West, and another agent are already headed to the Wild Iris, and the whole team is here and scattered throughout the woods. We’ve put out a BOLO on the van and we’ve got Jake’s face plastered all over the news and social media outlets. Max made sure the locals put out an APB.”

“So you didn’t see him anywhere?”

“No,” Zeke said. “But I did find blood on some of the rocks. I gave Max the locations so the crime scene techs can do a sweep of the area.”

We had him. Penny wished they could have stopped Jake but everything happened so fast. She prayed Kevin was safe, prayed she’d been imagining those wails. She had shot toward that van but thankfully, she’d missed.

Dear God, please, please. I couldn’t bear it if my child were kidnapped. She wished this was just a horrible nightmare. Each step seemed like an eternity and each time she glanced back, she expected Jake to be trailing them.

Then she halted and gasped. “I remember something Jake said earlier.”

“What?” Zeke queried, swiping at buzzing bugs.

“He said he had a van waiting. ‘We’ll have Kevin.’ Then he went on talking about how we’d leave together.”

Realization filled Zeke’s eyes. “That does make it sound like Kevin would already be in the van.”

She bobbed her head. “Yes, yes. I think I heard my baby crying.” Putting her hands to her mouth, she tried to take another breath. “Zeke, what if Jake holding me here was all a distraction so that man could get to Kevin? And now...he could be hurt or—”

Zeke let out a frustrated sigh and took her into his arms. “Penny, think. Where did the shot land?”

She closed her eyes. “It hit a few feet in front of the van, thankfully.”

“So if Kevin was in the van, he’d probably be in the back, maybe in a crib or a seat, or you could have heard something else.” Softening his tone, he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Don’t think the worst until we can get to the inn, okay?”

She glanced up at him, wanting to believe him. “Okay. Hurry anyway. We need to find out.”

Zeke started going over things, his voice calm while her heart screamed in agony. “We know someone else was with Jake. I have an eyewitness for that. And they were in a black van. Then you probably saw the same van. The locals and the FBI are searching for it right now.”

“That person could have Kevin already and they could be leaving right now. Can you check? Talk to your person?”

Zeke took out his phone again and made the call. “Yes, sir. Tell them to hurry.” Then he turned to her. “We’ve got people at the inn. We’ll hear soon.”

Penny felt sick, her knees weak. “Hurry, Zeke. Please. We’re wasting time. He went west on the main road.”

He urged her forward. “We can’t get anywhere without my vehicle.”

When they reached a clearing, Zeke scanned the entire area and watched his canine for any signs of a scent. The dog sniffed the air and the ground and looked toward where they’d been before.

“I’ll get you there,” he promised her, his eyes as dark as the tree bark. “I can’t let you out of my sight now.”

She nodded, glad he’d moved quickly. “I need to call Claire.”

He guided her to the SUV and came around to the driver’s side.

Before she could dig for her cell phone, Zeke pulled the official-looking sleek black phone out of his pocket. “Make the call.”

Penny dialed the number to the inn and waited. “She’s not answering. Something’s wrong.”

Zeke took the phone back and pressed on the gas pedal. “We’ll be there in five minutes. In the meantime, we’ve got people already going over the area where I found you with Jake. They’re searching for the van and they might find something we missed.”

Penny nodded and listened while he spoke to someone about the location. She was still shaking and the blast of cold air coming from the vehicle’s air-conditioning made her shiver even more. Interrupting his conversation, she said, “I think we should have tried to find the van. I can identify it. Should we turn around?”