Chapter 6 #2
Scrambling from the bed, Kendra slipped her feet into her shoes and padded to the window. Staying to the side, she peered outside, looking for whatever had caught Smoky’s attention.
The closed window indicated her K9 hadn’t scented anything alarming, but she also knew dogs had better hearing than humans.
For long seconds, she didn’t see anything. Had Smoky heard an animal? Maybe a moose or an elk? Bears were hibernating by now, so she didn’t think they were a concern.
Then she caught a glimpse of movement through the trees. Narrowing her gaze, she followed the dark shadow’s progress. She didn’t see any footprints in the snow, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone hiding in the woods.
The shadow that moved between the trees wasn’t as tall as a moose or an elk. Then she caught a glimpse of a man’s face.
Someone was out there! Kendra spun from the window, mentally berating herself for leaving her weapon in the kitchen.
She quickly crossed over to open the door, glancing cautiously up and down the hallway before moving to the kitchen.
Dominic was sitting at the table with his head cradled in his hands.
Clearly, he’d fallen asleep while working.
The computer was dark, which was a good thing. She didn’t want any interior lights to draw the intruder’s attention. She grasped Dom’s shoulder. “Wake up,” she whispered. “Someone’s outside.”
“What?” Dom lifted his head and blinked his eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I saw a man out back. We need to make a run for it. Grab your computer.” Keeping her head low, she grabbed the gun and tucked it into her waistband. “Let’s go.”
Dom’s expression was grim as he reached for his coat.
She slipped into hers, then grabbed her backpack.
She couldn’t leave without Smoky’s food and protective gear.
Dom edged up to the window overlooking the front of the property.
She joined him, relieved there weren’t fresh footprints around the SUV.
Hopefully that meant the vehicle hadn’t been tampered with. And there wasn’t a moment to lose. “I’ll head to the driver’s seat. There isn’t time to get Smoky in the back. I’ll have her get into the back seat. You need to keep your head down, understand?”
He nodded. “I’m ready.”
Their only advantage was surprise. The moment they made any noise, the gunman would fire at them.
Sending up a quick prayer for safety, she silently opened the front door of the cabin, taking a moment to scan the area.
Her main reason for not using the back crate area was to avoid the beeping sound that accompanied the hatch lifting upward.
That and her fear that it would take too long to get the back opened and closed again.
She stepped outside, with Dom following.
The thick snow muffled the sound of their footsteps.
She and Dom opened their respective car doors at the same time.
She tossed the backpack into the back, then gave Smoky the hand signal to get inside.
The K9 paused for a beat, as she normally didn’t go into the car like this, but when Kendra repeated the gesture, Smoky leaped up inside, squeezing through the two front seats to get into the back.
Kendra quickly slid in behind the wheel as Dominic folded himself into the passenger seat.
The sound of their car doors closing was loud enough to make her wince.
She pressed the start button, hit the wipers to remove the inch of snow covering the windshield, and put the car in gear.
Punching the gas, she barreled down the driveway as fast as the snow-covered gravel road would allow.
Having the SUV in four-wheel drive helped, but their progress wasn’t nearly as quick as she’d have liked.
A crack of gunfire rang out behind them. Kendra didn’t bother to look at the rearview mirror as the back window was still mostly covered in snow. Instead, she focused on keeping the SUV from sliding too much as she navigated the vehicle toward the road.
Another crack of gunfire rang out. Thankfully, she didn’t hear any metallic pings indicating they’d been hit.
The road was just a few yards ahead. Once they reached the road, she pulled on the steering wheel, making a hard left, then punched the gas again to put as much distance between them and the shooter behind them as possible.
A long silence hung between them. Kendra cranked the heat, hoping the warmth would melt the snow from the rest of the windows.
“How did you know someone was outside the cabin?” Dom asked, breaking the silence.
“Smoky woke me.” Using the rearview mirror, she eyed her K9 stretched out in the back seat.
Smoky was taking advantage of the extra space.
Kendra would rather have the dog safely tucked into the crate area, but that would have to wait until later.
No way was she stopping anytime soon. “Smoky growled at something she heard outside. I thought at first it was an animal, but then I saw a man moving between the trees. That’s when I came to find you. ”
“Smoky is amazing, but I don’t understand how we were found.” Dominic rubbed the back of his neck. “We didn’t rent the cabin through legal channels. We used our phones and the internet, but rerouting the server should have worked.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.” She hit both defrost buttons to help melt the remaining snow clinging to the front and rear windows. “I’m just glad Smoky alerted me in time so we could get away.”
“Yeah.” Dom frowned. “Kendra, this isn’t good. If the guys tracking us have some sort of computer guru on their payroll, then we’ll have to go completely off-grid. And that means not using any phones or computer access.”
She glanced at him, then eyed the rearview mirror. Seeing nothing on the road behind them, she tried to relax. “If that’s our only option, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“I don’t want to give up on searching for the truth.” Dom’s expression was grim. “How are we going to figure out who’s after us if we call off the investigation?”
She understood his concern. “We can leave the investigating to my family. My sister-in-law Raine and my brother-in-law Griff can do the legwork.”
“Then they’ll be in danger.” Dom shook his head. “I don’t like it. Maybe I didn’t do a good enough job of rerouting the server.”
Since she had no idea exactly how he’d accomplished that feat, despite watching him in action, she didn’t know what to say.
She didn’t want her family in danger, either, especially since there were several pregnant women on the ranch.
But at the same time, she hated to admit they might be in over their heads.
“As cops or, in Raine’s case, a former cop, they understand and accept the risk of danger. ”
“I still don’t like it,” he repeated. “I have another way I can try to hide our electronic trail. It’s more complicated than the method I used before. But first, we need a place with internet access.”
She sighed and let it go. For now. It was only a matter of time before she was forced to call on her siblings for help.
The way she’d promised her oldest brother, Chase.
Yet that didn’t mean she was going to wake them up at this hour.
She grimaced and tapped the clock on the dashboard.
“It’s only quarter past four in the morning.
Too early for any of the breakfast cafés or coffee shops to be open. ”
“Maybe we should head back to Greybull.” Dom shifted in his seat to grab the computer. “I can try to find another rental property.”
“Hold off on that for now.” She glanced at the rearview mirror to make sure there were still no cars behind them. “Did you learn anything new before you fell asleep?”
“I was able to find the last three charter flights that landed in the hangar where Stuart Ramsey worked, all a week before he left his job in Jackson.” Dominic rubbed his neck again.
“I can’t believe I fell asleep. I only intended to rest my eyes as the screen kept getting blurry.
I’m still getting used to my new contact lenses.
I thought they were the problem. Turns out, I was exhausted.
Sleeping bent over like that has given me a serious crick in my neck. ”
“New contact lenses?” she echoed.
“Yeah, glasses are a pain. They fog up in the cold.” He waved a hand. “Never mind. The important part is that I was able to track down the charter flights.”
She nodded. “You’re thinking one of those charter flights is the guy who paid Stuart to sabotage your dad’s plane?”
“I figured it couldn’t hurt to look into them as potential suspects.” He sighed. “I didn’t get a chance to dig into their backgrounds, though.”
“It’s a place to start.” She was impressed he’d thought of it.
Taking several turns, Kendra wound her way through town, backtracking often enough to hopefully avoid being seen by the gunman.
As they wasted time, she debated staying in Cody or heading to Greybull.
In her humble opinion, there were more motel and rental options available to them in Cody.
And the city was slightly closer to the ranch than Greybull.
The minutes ticked by with excruciating slowness. A glance at the fuel gauge had her turning at the next intersection.
“We should get some gas, then find a breakfast café.” She drove down the brightly lit and Christmasy-decorated main thoroughfare. “Maybe one of them will be open at five or five thirty.”
“Okay with me.” Dom shifted the computer so he could dig in the front pocket of his jeans. “I have cash for gas.”
“I do too. But we’ll need some for breakfast too.
” She pulled into the next gas station, then parked alongside the building when she realized it wasn’t open yet either.
After a moment’s hesitation, she decided to kill the lights but left the engine running.
It was too cold to keep the car shut down for long.
“Okay, tell me about those charter flights that landed in the hangar where Stuart Ramsey worked.”
“They’re all men ranging in age from mid-thirties to early sixties.” He opened the laptop and turned the screen so she could see. “In age order, their names are Timothy Platt age thirty-five, Lamar Mortenson age forty-nine, and Ian Bartoli age sixty-two.”
“None of those names sounds at all familiar.” Not that Kendra had necessarily expected to recognize the guy who’d hired Stuart Ramsey to kill Dom’s father and her parents. “I would lean toward one of the older guys.”
“I agree, although all three should be vetted regardless.” He sighed. “In all fairness, they could be innocent. We don’t know for sure that someone chartering a plane from that hangar is involved. Could be one of them learned Stuart was in debt from gambling, making him an easy target for the job.”
“True.” And yet another reason to ask Raine, Doug, or Griff to lead the investigation. “I can’t imagine being in debt is enough to convince someone to ruthlessly sabotage a plane, killing everyone on board.”
“Yeah, it’s a little crazy.” Dom frowned. “Maybe the cartel threatened him in some way if he didn’t agree to help.”
“Maybe.” In her mind, gambling alone didn’t equate to agreeing to committing murder. “Raine didn’t mention gambling as something the South African cartel was involved in. Just gold, gemstones, and drugs.”
“I keep wondering if my dad stole the Krugerrand from the cartel.” Dom stared out at the dark parking lot. “He may have sold a bunch of the coins to pay for the plane.”
“Gunther Volter could have paid your father in Krugerrand,” she pointed out. “Maybe that’s how he had his fellow cartel members pay Stuart too.”
Dom shrugged but didn’t say anything. She could tell he was torn between wanting to defend his father’s innocence while also considering his father’s culpability.
Kendra realized she and her siblings were the fortunate ones in this tragedy.
Their parents had been killed through no fault of their own.
Not that Gary Lakeland had deserved to die, but if he had done something to let the cartel track him to Billings, then he was partially responsible for leaving Dominic an orphan.
The streets were dark and empty, but when she caught a glimpse of headlights coming toward them, she instinctively killed the engine. At her sudden movement, Dominic glanced over.
“What’s wrong?”
She pointed to the lights growing brighter with every passing second. “Sink down in the front seat as low as possible,” she whispered.
With his height, that wasn’t an easy task. She scooted down, hugging the driver’s side door, giving him room to bend over the center console.
“Who do you think is out there?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” She lifted her head just enough to look over the edge of the dashboard. Then she sank back down again. “It looks like a large truck. Similar to the one that passed me on the road back in Greybull.”
“The shooter?” Now Dominic lifted his head to see better. “He’s out there looking for us?”
Kendra didn’t know if the truck belonged to the shooter or not. She grabbed the front of Dom’s jacket, tugging him down. The lights outside grew so bright she found herself holding her breath, anticipating the SUV would be slammed with bullets any second.
She desperately wanted the truck to assume the SUV was empty and move on. But when the lights didn’t fade away, she pulled her weapon from her waistband, preparing for the worst.
If they were going to die today, she would do her best to make sure she took the gunman down with them.