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I slid on my sunglasses, grateful that the sun was behind me, and scanned the mountain.
Movement. Two men were scurrying out from the boulders, both in black—in black when it was nearly a hundred degrees!
No, not suspicious at all.
I ran across the yard, climbed the pool’s waterfall, hopped the fence, and pursued them.
Six
Jack Angelhart
Jack entered the house moments after the paramedics arrived. He scanned the room, his eyes landing on Margo who stood outside with her back to the house. The paramedics were checking the vitals of Jennifer White and the man she’d been meeting with. Now that Jack had a clear view of the stranger, he thought he recognized him, though didn’t know from where.
“Sir? Is this your house?” a paramedic asked.
Jack shook his head, was about to identify himself when the man said, “It’s my house.”
He owned the rental—or was he lying? Jack suspected Margo had the answers.
“Please stand aside.” The paramedic motioned for his partner to bring the stretcher forward.
As they worked on Jennifer, the man who claimed to own the house remained silent and sat on the floor against the counter, rubbing his temples. Jack needed to figure out what happened and why Margo was involved.
Dammit, Margo, what are you up to?
He made his way outside to speak to his sister, but she was already on the move. She bolted across the yard and jumped over the back fence, heading up the hill into the Phoenix Mountains Preserve. Jack wasn’t sure who she was running from or why, and he debated following her or tracking her down at her house tonight and demanding answers.
His radio beeped. He and Tess communicated via radio when working, a lot easier than cell phones when you were in the field.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Margo is running up the mountain!”
“I see.”
“Help her!”
“What?”
“There were two men hiding behind that cluster of boulders halfway up the hill. Both wearing black T-shirts and tactical pants. She’s going after them. They’re headed northeast, toward the neighborhood on the other side of the ridge. She’s going to get hurt!”
Jack looked beyond the boulders, saw Margo, then a hundred yards past her were two men who quickly disappeared from view.
“I got her,” he told Tess and pocketed the radio. He followed Margo’s path, the sun at his back, but it was too hot to be running up a mountain. What the hell was she thinking pursuing two men alone?
Though he was closer to forty than thirty, Jack was in good shape. He spent a lot of time both hiking and working out at the gym, so the steep hillside didn’t slow him down. Yet, the heat and beating sun would quickly exhaust him.
Margo had a solid lead, but he was gaining. He loved his sister, but sometimes he wanted to throttle her.
The air was dry and still. What he wouldn’t give for a monsoon to clear out the dusty air, and he hoped his pop was right and monsoon season would come early this summer.
“Margo!” he shouted. He didn’t yell again, realizing he didn’t know who she was pursuing or why—if they had weapons or had been responsible for whatever happened to Jennifer White and her alleged co-conspirator.
Either she hadn’t heard him or she ignored him. He was gaining ground.
The men she was following dropped out of sight as they descended the other side of the mountain. They weren’t on a trail, which made traversing the terrain tricky—cacti and ankle-twisting boulders were the least of his concerns. There were rattlers all over the state, and when he hiked he wore appropriate boots and looked for telltale signs.
Running across the face of the mountain was not being smart.
