Tracker
Zeke noticed her discomfort and hit the button to turn down the airflow. After discussing the situation with his superior again, he dropped his cell phone into a cup holder between them. “I have to protect you and Kevin. He’ll keep coming for you. I’m to get you to the inn first. It’s too dangerous to go chasing after that vehicle.”
Frustration roared through Penny. “I was right there! I should have killed that man and looked inside myself.”
Zeke reached over and gripped her arm. “Listen to me, Penny. In situations like this, it’s always best if the parents stay out of the way and let us do our jobs. My team is one of the best. You need to take a breath and trust us.”
“I know,” she said, wondering how she’d ever find her next breath. “I know.” She couldn’t voice the terror ripping her apart. What if it’s too late? What then?
Zeke zoomed the sleek SUV around curves and along dirt roads and watched the rearview mirror. Cheetah stayed in the back in a roomy kennel. She felt safe with these two, but Penny couldn’t relax until she knew Kevin was safe.
When they got to the Wild Iris and saw a local police officer standing with two FBI agents holding canines on leashes, her heart sank. “I have to find my baby,” she cried, hopping out of the vehicle before Zeke could turn off the motor.
She ran toward the big, two-story house, every cell in her body on overload. “Kevin? Kevin, Mommy’s here.”
An officer stopped her at the wide stained glass front door. “Ma’am, you can’t go in there.”
“She’s with me,” Zeke said, showing the officer his ID. “Her two-year-old son could be in danger.”
“He’s gone,” Rex Harmon said when Penny rushed inside, shaking his head. Rex, an avid hiker, had a room across from hers. “That man—he had a gun and he took the little boy.”
“No!” Penny put a hand to her mouth and moaned, a sick feeling pooling inside her stomach. “No...”
“What did he look like?” Zeke asked, pulling out a picture of his half brother. “Is this him?”
“Nah,” the older man said. “This thug was short and muscular with long, greasy blond hair and funky eyeglasses. He got into a beat-up old black van.”
Zeke’s eyes flared with awareness, his gaze hitting on Penny. She grabbed onto a chair, her worst nightmares coming to the surface. The same man she’d seen in the woods. Kevin had been right there, inside that van. She could have saved him.
“Do you know that man?” she asked Zeke, each word a struggle, each beat of her pulse a condemnation.
He nodded. “Possibly. But we’ll figure that out later.”
“Was this man in the van?” Penny demanded, her finger jabbing at the picture of Jake.
“No,” Rex said, sympathy in his eyes. “He was alone but he overpowered Miss Claire and hit her on the head. I heard her scream and I saw him with the boy. Miss Claire was hurt but she got to her shotgun. Only he had a gun, too, and he pointed it at the kid when we both ordered him to stop. Miss Claire dropped her gun and the man got in the van with your son and left.” He glanced from the officers to Penny. “I tried to get a license plate but it was all rusted out.” He gave Penny an apologetic look and waved a hand at all the officers swarming around. “I was about to call you when they showed up.”
Penny’s stomach twisted and recoiled. A cold sweat crept up and down her spine. She sank down on the stairs and pushed at her hair. “Is Miss Claire okay?”
“She’s fine,” Rex said. “She’s in her room with a female officer. The EMTs looked her over but she won’t go to the hospital.”
Penny stood, dizziness overcoming her. Zeke reached out to her and guided her to a chair. “I’ll find him. I promise. You stay here while I go and check on your babysitter.”
He asked Rex to bring her some water. The front door swung open and another man wearing an FBI vest entered, along with another canine. She’d seen them outside and heard Zeke introduce him as Special Agent in Charge Max West. He had short, spiked blond hair and blue eyes that seemed to stare everyone down, but like Zeke, he seemed confident and born to be in charge. She also noticed a jagged scar on his left cheek.
That only reminded her of how dangerous this situation had become. Jake had sent someone to kidnap her son and now he was at their mercy. That man could have killed Claire and Rex, too.
She watched, impatient and numb, while FBI agents and K-9 dogs filled the inn, their presence a sharp contrast to the dainty furnishings and heirloom antiques placed all around the Victorian-style mansion turned boardinghouse.
Max West gathered all of them around and explained what would transpire next. Roadblocks, an Amber Alert, all train and bus stations made aware, all flights out of nearby airports monitored. And all agents out on the hunt.
Penny put her head in her hands and prayed. Helplessness weighed her down, a sense of doom and despair causing her to catch her breath. Why, oh, why, had she come back to Montana?
Law enforcement set up electronic equipment on every available spot and stomped over the braided rugs and slammed the stained glass doors, moving, while she sat there, frozen in a nightmare. She had to do something, anything, to find her little boy.
Agent West came over to her and asked her several rapid-fire questions about Jake. Did he say where he was headed? What did he look like? What kind of weapons was he carrying? Did he mention an accomplice?
He explained to her that they were aware she’d been on the run and why. They knew she’d been in a chalet in Colorado earlier in the summer. Had Jake come after her there?
Penny nodded and answered all the questions, anger warring with fear and regret. “I came back here because...I wanted my son to be here, close to where I grew up. I thought I was safe.”
“Did you come here hoping Jake would find you? Did he arrange to meet you out in the Basin area?”
“No.”
Fury roiled through her. Did they actually think she’d wanted this? That she wanted to be sitting here, paralyzed with fear, wondering if her son was alive or dead?
Finally, Penny lifted her head and said, “He planned to go live on a tropical island, and he said he has a lot of money stashed somewhere but I don’t know where. He wants my son, not me. I didn’t want him around Kevin, and I sure don’t want him taking my son away from me. The man tried to kill me. Why are you questioning me when you should be out there searching for Kevin?”
Max West gave her a stern but sympathetic stare. “We’re doing everything we can to help us find your son, Penny. We’ve taken prints on everyone who works here or is staying here, and we have officers going door-to-door around this area to see if we can find any leads or get any eyewitnesses. Don’t go anywhere.”
“I know who took my son,” she said, her voice rising. “Why aren’t you listening to me? I was an eyewitness. Up close. So close, I feared for my life. Go and find my son before it’s too late.”
Zeke pulled Max aside and said something into his ear. The other man shot a frown at her. Did he know what she was afraid of, what was tearing through her racing mind?
Zeke came over and bent down in front of her. “It’s highly unlikely that they’d hurt Kevin, Penny. You have to keep telling yourself that. Jake wants him, so he would order them not to harm him.”
Closing her eyes to the shattering nerves breaking apart piece by piece throughout her core, she said, “Sure. And while I’m at it, I’ll keep telling myself that Jake doesn’t have him in that van headed to another getaway car or to the airport.”
Zeke stared at her for a brief moment but one of the other agents called him. “I’ll be right back.” Then he whirled around. “And, Penny, don’t go anywhere, understand? That would only make this worse.”
Penny didn’t believe it could get much worse but if they didn’t do something soon, she would sneak out to her Jeep and do whatever she had to do to find Kevin. And she’d take Claire’s shotgun with her.
FOUR
Fifteen minutes passed and Penny didn’t think she could take another moment of waiting. Here she sat, wringing her hands, the sound of people talking around her drowned out by the emptiness clamoring inside her heart. “Kevin,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “Kevin.”
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”
She opened her eyes to find Claire Crayton gingerly stepping down the stairs, a bright red bump shining on her forehead. Claire had been so kind to Penny when she’d pulled up in the parking lot a month ago, on her last ounce of gasoline, Kevin crying in his car seat. Claire had booked them a room immediately and offered to babysit anytime Penny needed her.
“I tried to stop him but he hit me hard with his gun and I went down like a rock. Grabbed my gun but...he held the child and...” The older woman’s eyes watered and her voice wobbled to a halt. “He took our precious boy. It’s my fault, too.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Penny said, standing to wrap her hands around Claire’s plump, comforting shoulders, her own eyes wet with tears, her own bruises and scratches burning from the salt. “It’s my fault. I knew his daddy was dangerous, but I never dreamed he’d send a henchman to kidnap my son.”
Then she started sobbing against Claire’s plaid shirt, the scent of rose water and cinnamon cookies overtaking her. “I want him back, Claire. I want my little boy back.”
A strong hand touched her on the arm.
Zeke.
His dark eyes held the same despair that raged through her, raw and jagged and burning. He placed her back in the nearby chair and kneeled in front of her again, his eyes on her. “Listen, we’ve got people out looking already, and we’ve put out an Amber Alert. But I need you to take me to the room where Kevin sleeps, okay? Cheetah can pick up his scent. It hasn’t been that long, so if I hurry I can locate him.”
“Did the others search his room?”
“Yes, but they were looking for clues regarding the kidnapper. They’re searching for him while others are searching for Kevin. Both of them, really. I want to focus more on Kevin since Cheetah is trained in search and rescue.” Touching a hand to her arm, he leaned in. “I promise I’m going to do everything in my power to bring Kevin back to you.”
“I’m going with you to search,” she said, standing and hurrying up the stairs, her heart beating just as fast as her hiking boots.
Zeke took off after her. “No.”
“Yes.” She stopped on the second-floor landing and turned at the first door on the left. “This is our room. I have the bedroom and he sleeps here in the living room in this crib.”
Pointing to a large mahogany baby bed full of blankets and sheets decked out in a cowboy design, she walked over and picked up a stuffed brown horse, tears streaming down her face. Holding it close before she handed it to Zeke, anguish cutting through her, she said, “I’m going with you. Do you understand?”
Zeke let out a sigh, compassion in his dark eyes, and leaned down so Cheetah could get a good sniff of the worn horse. The canine lifted his snout, his ears perking up. “Yes, I understand. And since I need to keep you alive, I will go along with it. But Penny, you have to stay out of the way, okay?”
“Okay.” She wiped away tears and lifted her head, staring at him with a dangerous resolve in her heart. After grabbing some baby supplies and shoving them into a diaper bag, she turned to him. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Zeke’s head pounded with fatigue and tension ten times worse than foot soldiers stomping on his brain, but he followed Cheetah through the house and out to the SUV. Penny had insisted on gathering up some things for Kevin, including the little stuffed horse she’d clung to while the techs went over her room. Cheetah had hopefully picked up the kidnapper’s scent, too, since the man had been in the house.
Zeke had to make this right.
The situation here was under control so he needed to be out there looking. The Wild Iris had become ground zero to set up operations to find Kevin and Jake. Locals and FBI alike scoured the grounds and had laptops out on top of their vehicles, searching with maps and following leads on tips. They’d had calls about sightings of three different vans in three different areas, but none of them had panned out. This could take all night. Max had assigned Nina Atkins, the petite blonde rookie who’d recently joined the team, to stay at the inn along with a couple of other agents and two locals. Nina and her K-9 partner, Sam, a cadaver-detection-trained Rottweiler, were to watch over Claire and the staff and residents. Whoever took Kevin wouldn’t like leaving behind witnesses.
Claire and her crew went to work on bringing them food and drinks and offered whatever else they needed in the way of comfort. Rex answered the phone and explained the situation to the few other boarders who’d drifted in from work or travels and directed traffic to the restrooms and the coffeepot.
Vehicles kept coming and going. But no sightings had brought any substantial information, and they’d had no word on any solid leads even though the local citizens were being vigilant about helping. No one liked to hear of a child being kidnapped. Zeke couldn’t let Penny see his own anxiety, but the dread pooling inside his stomach made that last cup of coffee he’d downed turn sour.
Jake was a master at setting up distractions and false scenarios. It had been one of his best assets as an agent. He’d certainly proved that today but not in a good way. Worried, Zeke knew his brother could charm just about anyone into doing his bidding.
He’d obviously gone to a lot of trouble to set things up so that while he was holding Penny and shoving her through the woods, his accomplice, Gunther Caprice, had kidnapped Kevin.
Zeke wished with all his heart he could have hauled his brother in. But even then, Gunther could have been long gone with Kevin. That thought chilled Zeke to his bones.
To make matters worse, Max wasn’t too happy with him right now. Zeke had Jake in his sights and had let him get away. The whole unit probably thought he’d allowed his half brother to escape. He’d get things straight with Max and the others later. Right now, he was worried about the woman trailing behind him. Trying to get a handle of things, he studied her closely. If he was going to protect her and Kevin, he needed to figure out who exactly he was dealing with.
She was pretty in an outdoorsy kind of way. All golden skinned and toned, not an ounce of wasted fat on her. Probably worked out on a daily basis. Her hair was cut in choppy shoulder-length layers that sprouted out like waves of wheat around her triangular face. Her eyes were almond shaped and a crystal clear blue. Not piercing like Max’s, but more of a clear-sky blue that reflected her heart.
And that heart was breaking right now. To be so close to her little boy and realize she’d been so near the vehicle that might have been holding him, not to mention that Kevin was somewhere with a lowlife like Gunther Caprice. No wonder the woman was in shock.
She rushed ahead of him down the stairs with her ever-present backpack and a big diaper bag over one shoulder, a staunch determination in those Montana-blue eyes.
Zeke also let Cheetah smell the baby blanket Penny had given him. Cheetah sniffed the soft wool and lifted his head to sniff the air. Then he headed to the end of the drive and sniffed around before lifting his snout toward the west.
They made it through the maze of officers and staff roaming through the quaint old house and hit the porch steps as if they were in a race against each other.
Opening the SUV’s back door with a remote key, Zeke commanded Cheetah to jump in and turned to find Max West coming his way.
“Going somewhere, Agent Morrow?”
Zeke wasn’t in the mood for orders. He agreed with Penny that the sooner they got out there searching, the better. “Yes, I’m going to find my nephew.”
“Not so sure that’s a good idea,” Max said. “You do know we have people out there already searching, right?”
Zeke didn’t want to be argumentative but he would stand his ground. “Cheetah has the boy’s scent, sir, and you know he’s trained for this. I need to find Kevin while the trail is fresh.” Then he leaned in. “As I told you in my report, I think we’re looking for Gunther Caprice. He fits the description that science teacher gave me earlier and the description Rex gave us. The man saw him drive away from the basin in a black van. And later, Penny saw the same man, same vehicle, just like I told you.”
Caprice used to be third in line with the Dupree clan and had once been chummy with Violetta Dupree—sister to the crime brothers—but he’d fallen on hard times and broke off with them when the FBI had captured Reginald Dupree in a raid close to six months ago. His uncle Angus had gotten away, taking Jake with him, but now Angus was dead. That left a lot of people scattered and scared. Had Gunther joined up with Jake for money or for revenge? Jake had edged him out, after all.
If Jake’s accomplice was in fact Gunther Caprice, they could get a wealth of information out of that man. He’d been missing and wanted for questioning for months and now, suddenly, he was back in the picture. Jake had obviously made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. But Gunther couldn’t be trusted to keep Kevin alive. That lowlife was only out to save his own sorry hide.
Max’s phone buzzed and he held up a hand and took the call, indicating he wasn’t through with this conversation. “Is that right?” He eyed Zeke. “I’ve got an agent about to leave now.” He ended the call and turned to Zeke. “Your timing is perfect. A man and woman on a motorcycle heard the reports and spotted a black van about five miles from here, driving west on Old Fork Road out of town.”
Penny gasped when she heard their conversation from her spot by the passenger door, her gaze slamming into Zeke’s. “That has to be him.”
“I’m on it,” Zeke said. “Cheetah sniffed the spot where the van was parked here and he’s already tracking in that direction.”
“You’ll take backup.” Max motioned to another agent, who hurried over. After explaining the situation to team member Harper Prentiss, who held her German shepherd, Star, on a leash, Max nodded and pinned Penny with a solemn stare. “Miss Potter, you really should stay here and wait—”
“I’m going to find my son,” she said, the resolve in her words and eyes telling Max they couldn’t stop her. “I can’t sit here and wait, and you can’t make me.”
Zeke glanced at Max. “I’d feel better if I can keep an eye on her, sir.”
“Morrow, we have eyes on her now and it’s safer if she stays here—”
“Stop arguing about me,” Penny interjected. “We’re running out of time. I’m going to find Kevin, with or without either of you.”
Max West looked from Zeke to Penny, surprise and a grudging acceptance in his expression. “Well, I won’t feel better but...I’m holding you responsible for her, Zeke.” He lifted a hand. “Go. Do what you have to do and this time if you find Jake, don’t let him get away.”
Zeke nodded and opened the door for Penny, now fully aware that his superior did think he had purposely let his half brother slip through his fingers. And maybe he had. He could have let Cheetah corner Jake or continue to go after him. But his K-9 partner needed to stay with Penny while Jake tried to ascertain which direction Jake might have gone. When he’d found only footprints and bloodstains on those rocks, he knew Jake had been nearby.
Had he made the right call, giving up the chase to run back to Penny? He’d heard enough about Jake lately to understand his brother would kill anyone or anything to get what he wanted. He remembered that dark side of Jake, had seen it come out at the oddest times. Jake would have shot Penny without any remorse. A while back, he’d tied up Harper in a cave in Colorado, and after telling her he was corrupt and he liked having money and power, he’d left her there where she could have died if she hadn’t ordered K-9 Star to chew apart the ropes holding her. Jake had no qualms about killing a canine or a human.
Zeke had to protect the woman Jake had threatened to kill. He’d made the only choice he could, but now he had a second chance to capture his traitorous brother and see justice done.
Penny got in the SUV, a look of relief mixed with the anxiety marring her expression. “Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked gruffly.
“For standing up to your boss.”
“I wasn’t just standing up to him,” Jake replied. “I meant it when I said I plan to protect you. No matter what.”
She shot him a surprised but grateful look. “I appreciate that but right now you need to find my little boy.”
“I’m going to.”
Zeke checked with Max again, hoping for any reports that could help. “I’ve got Cheetah by an open window and we’re heading west, sir. Old Fork Road. We’re on the road now but nothing yet.”
“Stay on it and be careful,” Max replied. “I’ll send backup if you and Harper need it.” Then he added, “Zeke, I know he’s your brother and you want to keep him alive but—”
“I understand,” Zeke bit out. “I know my duty, Max.”
He ended the call and slung his phone into a cup holder.
“I’m surprised they haven’t yanked you off this case,” Penny said. “It must be hard, tracking him down like this.”
“My job,” Zeke retorted, wondering if she wanted to pick a fight.
She didn’t say anything else and he regretted being sharp with her. “It’s not easy but...if I can get to him first I might be able to take him in instead of—”
“Killing him,” she finished. Then she went silent again.
Zeke had to wonder how she felt about that. Did she still love Jake in spite of everything?
Anxious to get this over with, Zeke turned the truck toward the west and started searching for the road they needed. He prayed they’d also find the thug who’d taken Kevin before the man could meet up with Jake Morrow. Because if that happened, he feared they might not ever see Penny’s son again.
FIVE
Zeke tried to keep her talking while he kept watch on Cheetah in the back, his snout searching the air and the woods rolling by. He told Penny he needed to hear her story and gather any details she might remember. But she knew he was just as curious about her as she was about him. He obviously didn’t trust her since she’d been involved with Jake. She couldn’t blame him for that. Look where it had gotten her.
“How did you meet Jake?”
She swallowed and held tight to the bottle of water in her hand, memories she’d tried to bury coming to the surface. “I’m a wilderness guide,” she said, her voice raw and low. How could she talk about this when Kevin was out there, afraid and in the clutches of dangerous criminals? But she did talk. Anything to keep from crawling out of her skin. “We literally ran into each other a couple of years ago on a hiking trail.”
“He hiked a lot,” Zeke recalled. “All over the world.”
Shooting Zeke a quick glance, she added, “He wasn’t out on a leisurely hike that day. He told me he was a federal agent and explained how it could get dangerous for me to be in the area.” She smiled but it hurt to do so since every muscle in her body was coiled like rappelling rope. “But he hurried back and asked for my phone number, in case I saw anyone suspicious. He called me the next night but it wasn’t regarding the case.”
Looking straight ahead, she said, “We were inseparable after that. He had some downtime once he finished the case and...we spent two weeks together, hiking, kayaking and fishing. He even made me practice my shooting skills. But after I had Kevin, I didn’t want a gun in the house.”
She stopped, gulping in the air she couldn’t seem to find. “I don’t want to go down memory lane, Zeke. It hurts too much. Can’t you make this SUV go any faster?”
Zeke reached out and squeezed her hand. “Penny, don’t think about that shot you made. You didn’t know—”
“I should have been more careful,” she choked out. “I can’t get the sound of those cries out of my mind.”
“The noise could have scared Kevin,” he said. To reassure her, he added softly, “Besides, we haven’t confirmed that Kevin is with the suspect.”