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“I know the capabilities of my bird.” Styles dropped down low and then without warning rose very high. He used the radio to contact Wolfe. “Possible target in sight.” He gave the coordinates. “Two black SUVs, a chopper, and a small brick building set beside the burned-out ruins of a ranch house. Maintaining altitude to avoid detection. Suggest stealth. Over.” He looked at Jenna. “Look down on the left. I’m sure I saw someone moving outside. I’ll do another sweep, but I’ll need to maintain altitude or they’ll get suspicious. Check it out.”
As the chopper made another sweeping turn, Jenna aimed the field glasses down to the brick building. A jolt went through her stomach. In front of the building, a man dressed in black combat gear with a submachine gun slung over his shoulder leaned against the wall. “Yeah, one man, armed. He’s wearing the same gear as the men who took Tauri.” She moved the glasses over the chopper and her heart raced. “The chopper has a blue emblem on the tail. It’s the same chopper. We’ve found them.”
“Positive ID on the chopper. Armed guard on patrol. Over.” Styles contacted Wolfe and then looked at her. “The problem is we can’t just land and storm them.” Styles frowned at her. “They wouldn’t hesitate to kill Kane and your son. They’re witnesses. I’ll search for a place to land where we won’t be seen, but we’ll be going in on foot.” He peered out of the window. “Looking at the terrain, it will be a mile or so. I’ll take a look around, but we don’t want to alert them we’re here.”
The radio came to life. It was Agent Katz.
“I’m detecting something strange at those coordinates. There was a signal interference when you first called in. I figure they are using a signal disruptor. Over.”
Jenna swallowed hard. That would account for not detecting the tracker in Kane’s belt. His phone could have been smashed but no one knew about his belt. These men were covering every angle and not taking chances of being detected. Concern for Kane’s and Tauri’s safety growing by the second, she ran a hand down her face. “That means we won’t be able to use our comms on the ground.”
“That won’t be a problem.” Styles lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “We’ve all used hand signals during missions. Wolfe will be able to communicate with me as long as we have eye contact.”
Blowing out a breath, Jenna nodded. “That’s good to know.”
“Over there, a wooded area with grasslands behind.” Styles used the radio to speak to Agent Katz. He gave her the coordinates. “Check for any mineshafts in the immediate area. I’ll need room for Wolfe to land as well. Over.”
It seemed a lifetime before the response came back and Jenna listened with interest as the all-clear came over the radio. They sped off in the direction of the trees and from another direction she made out the white ME’s chopper, speeding toward them. When Styles landed. Jenna ripped off her headset and climbed into the back to retrieve their backpacks. Bear licked her hand and Duke barked a warning. She rubbed his ears. “It’s okay, Duke. We’ll find them. Now make friends with Bear. He is here to help too.”
“Bear hasn’t got a bad bone in his body.” Styles jumped down from the chopper and took the backpacks from her and set them on the ground. “He nurtures and protects. He was trained to do a wide variety of maneuvers on the combat field, since then I’ve trained him to track. With the pair of them, we should be able to locate Tauri.” He gave her a long look. “Carter has told me how much he admires your husband’s abilities, so I’m sure he’ll be fighting back from the inside once he knows we’re there. He was a Marine like Wolfe, I believe?”
Jenna nodded. “Yeah, there’s no ‘was’ in the Marines. It’s lifelong, in or out of the service.”
“I understand. I was an MP in the Army. We had a close-knit team but we weren’t popular on base. I don’t miss being in the service at all. I like the slower pace of Rattlesnake Creek, although of late, since Beth arrived, we’ve been working all the darn time. It’s her expertise in cybercrime. Someone is always needing her for something, so we travel all over.” He held out a hand to assist her from the chopper and winced. “It’s a long way down and I don’t want you to turn your ankle.”
Reluctantly, Jenna took his hand. Because of her size, many people believed her to be incapable of jumping down from heights, but the ground was littered with rocks and she didn’t plan on limping behind the others when they hunted down the cartel. “Thanks.” She hit the ground and turned to lift Duke down, her knees buckling from the weight of him.
The moment Wolfe landed he made his way to her side. He carried a backpack and a medical kit over one shoulder. On his hip, his M18 pistol was evident, and his jacket was weighed down with spare ammo clips. She turned to see Styles spin the cylinder of a Magnum revolver and pat his pockets for extra ammo. She blinked at him. “You’re bringing a six-shooter to a gunfight against automatic weapons?”
“I have a Glock as a backup weapon, just in case things get nasty, but I figure four bullets will be enough.” He pushed on his Stetson and turned to Wolfe. “Are you leaving the nanny behind?”
“Yeah. Raya is going to man the radio.” Wolfe pulled on a pair of gloves. “If Beth believes they’re using a signal blocker, it’s better someone remains here to see what happens. She can call Beth for assistance if we need it. Beth can alert the Blackwater sheriff. They have a chopper at their disposal.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Styles looked over his shoulder at Jenna. “Are you ready to move out, ma’am?”
Jenna opened her mouth to tell him not to call her ma’am, but military men were all the same and she just nodded. “Absolutely. That’s my family being held hostage by mercenaries.”
TWENTY-ONE
Craggy Rock
It had taken longer than expected for the forensic team to process the crime scene, and hunched against the cold, Rowley made another sweep of the house perimeter, searching for anything of interest. One footprint could make so much difference in a murder investigation. Rio had walked the entire driveway, up one side and down the other, searching for tire tracks. They’d found no trace of the stun gun killer. It was like hunting down a ghost. How could a guy move around without leaving a trace behind? Heck, he’d made footprints alongside the gravel pathway to the back of the house and yet they’d found no trace of anyone. As he walked, his mind flicked back to Jenna. They’d heard nothing from her since she’d left with Agent Styles, and no news wasn’t good. The choppers could cover a wide area in a short time and it had been three hours since she’d left.
Pushing the concern to one side, he concentrated on the murder cases. Jenna had taught him well and Rio had handled his fair share of homicides. There was no reason they couldn’t find this killer alone. It would be nice to be able to remove some of the burden from Jenna’s shoulders right now. She was holding up well, but he suspected the brave exterior was hanging on by a thread. They must move on with the murder case and have something for her when she returned. He walked back around the front of the house and met Rio. “I’ve found nothing at all. You?”
“Nope and I’ve just spoken to Norrell.” Rio blew out a long sigh. “She gave me the laptop and phone, but she didn’t find any fingerprints not belonging to the victim. No signs the place was wiped clean either. The only thing she believes might me a possibility is that the killer moved the hair to one side to get access to the neck.” He shrugged. “He might have left something on her skin, a trace of sweat, something. So she’ll be concentrating on that. She also believes that as there is one sandwich and one cup of coffee, the victim wasn’t expecting company.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Rowley looked at him. “The place has high security and yet the alarm was switched off and the front door unlocked. How did he get in if she didn’t open the door to him?”
“This is something we need to concentrate on.” Rio stared into space. “Why did she just sit there and allow him to touch her hair? Why didn’t she run? Victims are usually found in hallways or places where they’ve tried to escape. All these victims just sit in front of the TV and there’s no indication they were moved postmortem.”
Putting himself in the victim’s shoes for a while, Rowley frowned. “Maybe he knew the code for the door, and most guys carry a weapon out here. He maybe walked in and held a gun on her.” He looked at Rio. “She’s alone, no neighbors, and a guy sticks a gun in her face. She’s not going anywhere, is she?”
“That makes sense.” Rio stared at the door as Webber pushed a gurney with the body out to the ME’s van. “What doesn’t is his motive. This is a serial killer and they usually have something that makes them kill. They enjoy the kill and it’s usually messy. This is almost nice in comparison to what we usually see. I can’t see the thrill in killing someone with a stun gun.”
Sickened by the sight he’d witnessed of the wide-open black holes for eyes in each victim, Rowley shook his head. “Maybe he gets his thrill after the kill. He likes the look of what he’s done. He enjoys ruining their faces. Maybe eyes are a trigger and he wants to destroy them. Don’t ask me to figure them out or I’ll be as crazy as them.”
TWENTY-TWO
