Chapter 1
ONE
The insistent chiming of Sheriff Jenna Alton’s phone woke her from a dream of warm sunshine and building sandcastles on the beach with her children. She stuck out her hand to grab it before it woke the entire household and stared at the caller ID.
“Who is it?” Her husband and ex-Special Forces, Deputy Dave Kane, turned on the lamp beside the bed and leaned up on his elbows.
Jenna pushed hair from her eyes. “It’s Raven.” She frowned. “Hi, Raven. You’re on speaker with me and Dave. What’s the problem?”
“I need backup at the Triple Z Roadhouse.” Deputy Johnny Raven, ex-medevac chopper pilot and now K-9 trainer and one of her team, had never requested backup.
At six-four and two hundred and fifty pounds of military-trained ex-soldier, he also had Ben, his K-9, as a partner.
“One of the servers at the roadhouse called 911 because a woman there insists that someone kidnapped her and is convinced her abductor is still in the building.”
Jenna dumped the phone on the bed and stood reaching for clothes. “What’s your location?”
“I’m on Stanton driving toward the roadhouse from Black Rock Falls. ETA is approximately seven minutes.” Raven cleared his throat. “I called Rio but he’s not picking up his phone and you’re closer than Rowley.”
“Is the woman he kidnapped in a safe location?” Kane pulled on his jeans and pushed his feet into his boots.
“Yeah, they have her in the break room.” Raven’s vehicle roared as he sped along the highway.
“I told them to act as normal as possible but to stay behind the counter. The woman states that she escaped from his SUV, which is parked out front. None of the servers can see the vehicle from their position. I’ll take a look when I drive past and I’ll try to get a plate number. ”
Jenna pulled on a Kevlar vest and then her jacket.
She went to the gun safe to collect their weapons.
Beside her, Kane was calling Raya, their nanny, to watch over their sons, Tauri and Jackson, in their absence.
He gave Jenna a nod as he disconnected. Raya lived in an apartment connected by a door to their kitchen.
She checked her pockets for ammo and gloves.
“We’re on our way. Go in by the back door.
Call ahead and tell them to expect you. Don’t show yourself.
The roadhouse has CCTV cameras and we’ll be able to identify the truck without him knowing you’re there. ”
“Copy.” Raven’s truck engine slowed. “I’m going by the roadhouse now. I’ll head down to the Triple Z Bar and get into the roadhouse via their parking lot so I’m not noticed.”
Jenna nodded at Kane as he pointed toward the door. “We’re leaving now.” She disconnected.
A sleepy bloodhound crawled out from under the bed and shook himself.
“Go back to bed, Duke.” Kane scratched the dog’s head. “We’ll be back soon. Watch the boys.” He smiled as the dog headed along the hallway and nosed his way into the boys’ bedroom. “I’m sure he understands everything I say.” He followed Jenna through the house.
As they hurried to the front door, Raya came through the connecting door, gave them a wave, and headed toward the spare bedroom. Jenna followed Kane outside and reset the alarm. “Thank goodness we have Raya.”
Floodlights came on as Jenna ducked icicles hanging from the front stoop and gasped as an arctic wind cut through her clothes.
The previous evening, Kane had liberally coated the walkways to the garage and barn with an ice retardant, yet snow still coated everything.
She ran past a winter rose, its pink petals frozen solid and looking as if it were made of sugar.
All the windows of the ranch house were covered with swirling ice patterns.
She grabbed Kane’s arm to steady herself as they ran to the garage and climbed into Kane’s tricked-out black truck, affectionately known as the Beast. The truck took off with a roar and the snow tires gripped the road as the snowplow attachment in front cut through the driveway snow with ease.
It was fortunate that the snowplow driver lived next door and kept clear the road that connected Jenna’s ranch to the main highway into Black Rock Falls.
Apart from the town needing their sheriff, they also needed a snowplow.
Ahead, the road’s rusty appearance showed evidence of a recent coating of Ice Slicer, made from a mineral mined locally.
Pushed back in the seat as Kane lifted the snowplow attachment from the road and accelerated, Jenna stared at her phone. “Why do you figure Rio isn’t answering his phone?”
“It’s Friday night, Jenna.” Kane’s lips curled into a smile. “Maybe he has a hot date? He wasn’t on duty tonight, was he? It was Raven’s turn to man the 911 calls.” He sighed. “The single guys need a life. They work all the hours you ask of them, so don’t be too hard on him.”
Jenna hadn’t even considered that Rio might have a date.
Her concern was for his safety. The high snowfall and low temperatures caused accidents and house fires.
“I have no interest in his social life, but I don’t expect him to have his phone turned off for any reason whatsoever.
He is the member of our team living closest to town.
In an emergency, I need him to get on scene as soon as possible.
That’s why I made him chief deputy.” She sighed.
“Tonight is a perfect example. We’re twenty minutes away from the Triple Z Roadhouse, and Raven could be in a life-threatening situation.
Living in town, Rio could have been there in five minutes. ”
“I can see your point.” Kane slowed as they went through town.
Main was practically deserted, with only vehicles parked outside Antlers, the steakhouse and entertainment hub of the town.
“He’s been immersed in the footage from the BW Ranch.
If you recall, you asked him to check the trail cam footage for the comings and goings of suspicious deliveries of pelleted horse feed.
He is convinced that Bryce Withers is doing something illegal.
No one uses armed guards for deliveries of horse pellets. Something is sure going on there.”
Jenna did recall Bryce Withers, the wealthy horse breeder who traveled extensively around the state.
He’d become a suspect in a previous murder investigation, and her deputies had witnessed the strange behavior around the delivery of supposed sacks of horse pellets.
At the time, they had a serial killer on the loose and had found no evidence for a search warrant or for any other reason to check the delivery.
During the investigation, they’d been watching the movements of all the suspects by using trail cams alongside the roads to their properties or where they worked.
It was perfectly legal for law enforcement to record movement on any highway.
Because of Rio’s concern about the delivery, they decided to leave the cameras outside Withers’ property to check if he received regular deliveries of horse pellets.
This was because, in Rio’s opinion, the delivery they’d witnessed was large enough to last even the biggest ranch at least three months.
She nodded. “Yeah, we’ll need to follow up on that.
I’ll be interested to see what data Rio has collected.
It might be enough to convince a judge for a warrant. ”
As they headed along Stanton, Jenna reflected on her unconventional team.
She’d arrived in town like Kane, with a new face and name.
He was an active asset to the government and could be called back into service at any time, but she started her law career as DEA Special Agent Avril Parker, who, after taking down a drug cartel, was placed in witness protection.
Rio was a gold shield detective from LA with a retentive memory, and Raven a superb doctor, chopper pilot, and dog handler who hid himself in the forest to deal with PTSD.
The only person who hadn’t suffered some kind of trauma was Deputy Jake Rowley.
He’d been the most helpful and loyal rookie a sheriff could dream of.
Now after seven years, he was indeed a valued member of the team.
She chuckled and Kane glanced at her, one eyebrow raised.
“I was just thinking how we’re surrounded by damaged people.
Apart from Rowley, even our FBI contacts have been through the mill of problems.”
“That’s what keeps them edgy.” Kane turned into the Triple Z Roadhouse. “How do you want to play this?”
Scanning the parking lot and not seeing an SUV parked by the pumps, Jenna shrugged. “I figure we walk in the front door and see who runs.”