Chapter 3
THREE
No one stopped Kane as he shouldered his way through servers carrying dirty dishes and found the night manager’s office. The door was open, and behind a desk, a stick-thin man stared at a computer screen. Kane knocked on the door. “Sheriff’s department. May I have a moment of your time?”
“I guess so. Did you find out what happened to that woman?” The man looked up at him and frowned.
Kane checked his watch as he moved into the office.
“A woman was viciously attacked and kidnapped. She says she was thrown into the trunk of an SUV and then the perpetrator stopped here for gas and a meal. The woman managed to escape. So I need to look at your CCTV footage between eleven and twelve to identify the vehicle and who did this.”
When the manager flashed him an indignant stare and his mouth set in a thin line, Kane raised one eyebrow. “You’re not breaking anyone’s privacy laws by showing me. This person could be in the diner right now. Do you want to risk one of your customers or staff being injured?”
“I guess not.” The manager tapped on his keyboard and then beckoned Kane around the other side of his desk.
Bending to peer over the man’s shoulder, Kane watched the footage.
The camera was aimed at the pumps and only a few vehicles stopped for gas.
As a light-colored SUV stopped in front of the pumps, but on the opposite side to the entrance to the roadhouse, Kane laid a hand on the manager’s shoulder.
“Go back and then stop when the license plate comes into view.” He nodded. “Now zoom in.”
Mud splattered the plate and covered the details.
Sighing, Kane straightened. Snow covered the vehicle, making it difficult to identify.
He asked the manager to zoom in again as a figure opened the hatch and bent inside before heading for the restaurant.
He’d need the FBI IT specialist Bobby Kalo to look at the footage to get a closer idea of the size of them.
The person’s face was hidden by a ball cap worn under a hoodie.
“Go ahead slowly. I want to see when the woman escapes.”
He watched slowly but saw nothing. The woman could have used the vehicle for cover and slipped into the dark perimeter of the lights. He handed the manager the thumb drive. “Can you give me a copy? I’ll get the FBI to clean it up for me.”
The manager obliged and Kane pushed his cooperation a little more. “We know the exact time the driver used his card at the pumps. I need to know his name. It will be easier to do this now than have my team come in here with a search warrant.”
“Okay, okay.” The manager held up both hands in mock surrender. “Give me a minute.” He tapped away on his computer and then handed the thumb drive back to Kane. “The name on the card was Ellie McBride.” He shook his head. “Seems to me your kidnapper was a woman and not a very smart one either.”
Kane bit down hard on his cheek, tempering the need to swear. What the heck was happening? He straightened and handed the manager his card. “If you hear anything relating to this matter, please call me. Thank you for your cooperation.”
He turned to leave and found Jenna standing at the counter speaking to one of the servers.
He waited for her to finish and went to her side.
“I have the footage and the credit card details and guess what? Our victim paid for her abductor’s gas.
” He shook his head. “There’s nothing, not a shred of usable evidence. ”
“I found nothing either.” Jenna frowned. “It doesn’t sound right, does it? I figure we sleep on it and look at it again in the morning.” She shook her head. “I was expecting a nice relaxing weekend in front of the fire playing with our kids.”
Kane walked beside her to the door. “Me too.”
As they stepped out into a blizzard, ice smacked his cheeks and bit into his flesh.
He grabbed Jenna’s hand and they slid their way to the Beast and jumped inside.
In the short time they’d been away, snow had packed the windshield.
He started the engine and then grabbed a snow brush and the de-icing spray from the back.
The snow wasn’t packed, so he brushed it away and then sprayed a good amount of de-icing spray over it.
His lips and cheeks numb, he slid back behind the wheel.
“Man, it’s cold out there. The convenience store isn’t far from here.
We’ll see if we can find Ellie’s SUV.” He went along the ramp to the highway.
Snow packed against the windshield and built up on the wipers. Visibility had dropped by the minute by the time the lights of the convenience store came into view. Kane drove into the parking lot and spotted an SUV coated in white parked beside a wall of snow. “That looks like her vehicle.”
“I’ve got a flashlight. Let’s go.” Jenna pulled up her hood and jumped down from the truck. “The hatch isn’t secured. I can see a gap.”
Kane pushed open the hatch. The interior light came on. “There’s no purse here but there’s a car jack. I bet this is what he used to hit her and there’s blood all over. I see the groceries but no purse.”
“We’ll bag the car jack.” Jenna handed him an evidence bag. She searched the interior and then went to the driver’s door and opened it. “No keys in here.”
Kane searched the snow at the back of the SUV and bent to look underneath. “Found them. She likely dropped them in the struggle. I’ll lock the vehicle, and Wolfe can look at the items in the morning.” He looked at Jenna’s blue lips. “We need to get out of the cold.”
“Yeah, we do.” Jenna rubbed her arms. “I’m freezing.”
Sliding behind the wheel, Kane stared at the blanket of snowfall. Conditions had worsened in the last few minutes. “I hope the snowplows have been out since we left home. The snowplow attachment can only do so much.”
“Yeah, it’s bad right now. I hope Raven gets home okay.” Jenna frowned. “He needs to get through the forest.”
Kane brushed snow from his face and turned the truck toward home. “His road is on the snowplow priority list and he has his own attachment on his truck. He should be fine.”
“I like him.” Jenna flicked him a glance. “As you knew him in your past life, I know he’s a danger to you, but he kind of fits in, as if he’s meant to be here. Another misfit that’s found a home. Do you figure I’m crazy?”
Biting back a grin, Kane gave her a long look. “He is a handsome guy. Should I be worried?”
“Oh, heavens, no.” Jenna giggled. “I mean, he could be your brother. It’s as if you have two, Raven and Carter, and Carter is the black sheep of the family, but Raven is like you, a big teddy bear at heart but will turn into a grizzly if provoked.”
Shaking his head, Kane eased back onto the highway, peering through the blanket of snow. “You sayin’ I’ve got a hump on my back?”
“No, but you get… Well I was going to say mad but you never get mad.” Jenna tapped her bottom lip. “He doesn’t get mad either. Oh, you know what I mean. You can be nice as pie one second and lethal the next.”
Kane shook his head. “Raven isn’t and has never been lethal.
” He slowed to a crawl and then stopped.
He dropped the snowplow attachment and took off slowly.
“He’s nothing like me. He was trained to help men in the field.
My training was specific. I was trained to infiltrate enemy lines, either to get intelligence or eradicate a target.
I’m sure he can take care of himself in a fight but he’s a doctor.
I like him too but never confuse our abilities. ”
“So, what happened when you met him?” Jenna looked at him as they crawled along the highway. “I know you fought in the desert somewhere—you don’t need to be specific.”
Hating to relive the missions he’d rather forget, Kane blew out a long breath.
“It was bad. I’d completed a mission, and Wolfe was trying to get me to an evacuation point.
The problem was, somehow the enemy knew we were coming, so someone leaked the information.
A ground team had been evacuated miles from my position, but I was getting swarmed and time was running out.
The only chopper that hadn’t been shot down was Raven’s medevac ride.
He was overloaded but risked dropping a rope for me.
I’d grabbed the rope ready to be hauled up when the chopper was hit.
I fell but rolled and got to cover as the chopper went down. ”
Images flashed across Kane’s mind. Bodies on fire, blackened limbs, men crying out in pain before taking their last breath, and the smell of burning flesh and hair.
“It was a nightmare. I checked everyone, all but Raven died in seconds. We were taking fire and there was nothing I could do. He was out cold with a cut on his head. I tossed him over one shoulder and ran for cover before the vultures arrived.”
“The enemy was on the ground coming for you?” Jenna blinked at him and gripped his arm. “Oh, Dave, that would have been terrifying.”
Kane shook his head. He hoped Jenna would never understand the horrors of war.
“Getting captured is terrifying, being under fire means that you’re still alive.
It was like that twenty-four-seven. It was easier for me than some because I knew the terrain.
Remember, I’d been alone there for a long time.
I ran for about five miles and found cover in the sand dunes. ”
“You ran with Raven on your back for five miles?” Jenna stared at him, disbelief on her face.
Shrugging, Kane nodded. “Yeah, we were expected to be able to do that before we left on a mission. We never left a man behind, and if there’d been a team with me, we’d have carried out the bodies as well and taken them back to their families.”
“From what Raven told me, he suffered PTSD after that mission.” Jenna hadn’t taken her eyes off him. “I can’t imagine what you went through.”
Glad to see the lights of town come into view, Kane nodded.
“Yeah, it was bad. We almost didn’t make it.
This is where we’re different, Raven and me.
My specific job was to take out targets.
I’m able to switch off the horror of killing someone but he can’t.
I do have empathy but not for threats to our country.
I don’t enjoy taking a life but sometimes to keep our country free, it’s necessary and someone has to do it.
” He looked at her. “We were in the desert under fire for a long time, weeks. He was a soldier and we worked together well, but I did all the killing. I did what was necessary for us to survive.” He cleared his throat.
“Like now, with serial killers. I’ll disable them before I’ll kill them, but if they’re coming at us shooting, I don’t think twice about taking them down and I don’t dwell on it afterward either.
I know in my heart I made the right decision. ”
“That’s good to know.” Jenna peered out the windshield and then took a deep breath. “So how did you get out?”
Not surprised she wanted the full story, Kane nodded slowly.
“I had Wolfe in my ear. As you know, then like now, I was chipped. He could track me and now he still can, since the new chip was installed. He gave us intel on the run. I’d taken Raven miles away from a friendly border because it was crawling with militants.
I needed to get him mobile and safe, which I did.
We were both tanned. His brown eyes and beard made him easy to disguise but some questioned my blue eyes so I wore shades.
Once we’d acquired robes and headgear, I had enough language skills to deal with any factions we met along the way.
We needed food and met friendlies who helped out.
Everyone carried weapons, so we fit right in, apart from being bigger than most of them.
Long story short, and without the grisly details, we managed to make our way along the border until Wolfe could get us a ride out of Dodge. ”
“Raven remembers Junior, so you gave him your name.” Jenna turned in her seat to look at him. “Why would you do that, when you used a codename? What if he were captured and tortured?”
Raising his eyebrows in disbelief, Kane glanced at her.
“Junior was safe. My codename would give them access to my command. Heck, every time I spoke to Wolfe, I needed to leave Raven alone. Speaking to Wolfe, I needed to use my codename.” He sighed.
“Once I’d gotten him to safety, I was taken out of the zone and reassigned.
Wolfe told me he’d been asking after me.
When it was reported I died, my name was given as Junior.
He heard about it and still believes I’m dead.
Yeah, there is a resemblance to my old self, but I had wrinkles from being out in the desert, many scars and tattoos.
I had a jagged scar down one cheek.” He pointed to his face.
“The surgeon performed a miracle; they even took out the cleft in my chin. I look like I did back in college. You have the me I’d have been if I hadn’t joined the military but with all the skills.
” He grinned. “They took skin from my backside for skin grafts. Think about that next time you’re kissing my cheek. ”
“Oh, stop it.” Jenna grinned back. “They changed my eye shape and it’s amazing how different my eyes look.
The rest of me is much the same apart from long blonde hair.
Back then, I’d fit nicely into Wolfe’s family.
Although I look ten years younger than I did after living with the Carlos cartel.
It was a nightmare living there. I didn’t have one wrinkle when I met you. ”
He smiled at her. “You don’t have any now.” He waited for their gates to struggle open against the snowdrifts and drove through. “You’re as beautiful as when I met you.” He looked at the ranch house, lights blazing a welcome. “Thank goodness, we’re home.”