Chapter 22
Noelle took Eli’s hand and squeezed it, knowing that finding Scott was only the beginning. They had to bring him in…and pray he hadn’t already murdered Grace Galloway.
“Hang on,” Hetty said through the headset. “The winds are tricky. I’ll do my best to set us down gently, but be ready for bumps and swoops.”
Noelle swallowed hard and clutched Eli’s fingers with one hand while her other grabbed the edge of the seat.
She kept her gaze on the small dock until a cabin came into view, nestled in a copse of winter-bare trees and lodgepole pines.
A thin line of smoke rose from the stone chimney, testifying to an inhabitant.
When she pointed out this detail to Eli, he nodded, his mouth in a grim line.
“Remember, I want you to stay in the plane with Hetty. I don’t want you anywhere near Montgomery.”
Noelle lifted her chin. “Well, I don’t want you anywhere near him, either, but here we are. I won’t take unnecessary risks, but neither will I sit on my hands if a situation arises where you need help.”
Eli frowned. “Our deal was you stay with the plane. Period.”
“I agreed to no heroics, not staying on the plane.”
Eli opened his mouth to argue, just as the plane dipped and lurched to the right. He braced a hand against the side door and cast a glance out the windshield, as did Noelle. They were hovering above the water, and Hetty was working hard to level the wings as they touched down on the glassy lake.
Once they were on the water, Hetty made a careful turn and pulled up to the dock opposite the floatplane that was already tied up.
Noelle ducked her head to better view the cabin, watching for further signs of life.
In the confines of the copilot’s seat, Eli withdrew his sidearm and readied it. When he lifted his eyes to Noelle again, his gaze was hard and unrelenting. “Stay. Here.” Turning to Hetty, he said, “Can you keep the engine on, ready to take off again quickly?”
She checked her fuel gauge. “I think so.”
“And radio back to base for support. I need armed backup—” he gave Noelle a pointed look “—from whatever law enforcement agency can get here fastest.”
Hetty nodded and put a hand on his arm. “Be careful. Your family will never forgive me for bringing you here if you get hurt.”
Eli flashed a lopsided but clearly uneasy grin. “Careful is always the plan.”
Noelle gritted her back teeth, choking back tears of fear and frustration.
She did not like being told what to do, even if she knew why Eli had ordered her to stay with Hetty and the plane.
But the directive chafed. She wanted to be useful, wanted to play a more active role in having Eli’s back and wanted to decide for herself what level of risk she took to help bring Scott in.
“Eli!” she called, whipping off her headset as he climbed out of the plane and made the leap to the dock.
He turned back, pressing a finger to his mouth to signal for quiet.
Hetty chuckled as she opened her door, saying softly, “As if he didn’t already hear us fly in and pull up here.”
Noelle had been thinking the same thing, that Scott had to have been alerted and was now watching Eli from the cabin, but she said nothing. Eli had to be aware of as much himself.
Hetty climbed out, staying low as she looped ropes and straps to the dock that would keep the plane from drifting.
Noelle divided her attention, half of the time scanning the cabin for movement and the rest following Eli’s progress.
He moved quickly, his weapon raised as he hustled down the dock and onto shore.
Shoulders hunched, he darted to the nearest tree—and barely reached the hardwood’s cover before the first shot blasted from the cabin.
Noelle clamped a hand to her mouth to silence her scream.
Hetty scrambled back inside the plane, hissing, “Get down!”
She slumped lower, but Noelle kept her head high enough to keep Eli in her sights. If anything changed the current dynamic in Scott’s favor, Noelle intended to race to Eli’s aid, his directive be damned.
Bark splintered from an old-growth tree as Eli flung himself behind the wide trunk. His adrenaline pumping, he took a beat to catch his breath before he carefully turned toward the cabin without allowing any part of his body to protrude.
How many weapons did Montgomery have in the cabin? And how good of a shot was the forensic scientist? Eli had taken top honors at the academy firing range, but Scott had the advantages of better protection and clearer line of sight.
After a moment, Eli pulled a small mirror from his coat pocket, the one he kept handy for signaling rescuers if he ever got stranded in a remote area.
He angled the mirror to check the cabin windows.
One of the windows nearest him was cracked open, and he spotted the dark shadow of a body standing just to the left side.
The weak sun that leaked through the cloud cover glinted off the metal of a rifle barrel in the narrow window gap.
“It’s over, Scott!” he shouted, knowing Montgomery could hear him through the window.
“Lay down the rifle and come out unarmed, hands up. I don’t want any more bloodshed.
” When he got no reply, he added, “If you surrender without resisting, it will go easier for you at trial. We’ve got you dead to rights, and this can only end one of two ways for you. Prison or the cemetery. Your choice.”
“I’ll take option C, thanks,” Scott shouted back. “I kill you and walk out of here to live another day.”
Eli gritted his teeth, remembering how his colleague, a man he had trusted, had rigged a bomb for him and Asher.
“You already tried that once, and it didn’t work.
” He considered what else he should say, how best to win Montgomery’s cooperation.
Antagonizing him would put Scott’s back up, but the man was a scientist. Would logic work?
“Scott, listen…it may just be me here now, but a whole SWAT team is on its way.” At least he prayed they were, storm conditions and workload notwithstanding. “You’ll soon be outnumbered.”
“Maybe soon, but not yet,” Montgomery called back. “Right now, it’s just you and me. I like those odds, and I’m playing to win.”
Noelle peered over the edge of the back seat, Eli still in her view. The shooting had stopped, and Eli was in a verbal exchange with Scott.
“What are they saying?” she asked Hetty.
“I don’t know. My focus has been on trying to raise someone on the radio and call in some backup. Nobody’s responding.”
Noelle’s heart scampered at the notion that any assistance Hetty might alert could arrive too late to help.
Knowing she could do nothing to help Hetty with the radio, Noelle retrained her focus on Eli and Scott.
A compelling need to know what was transpiring, what direction the standoff was going swamped her.
How could she be of any use to Eli if she stayed huddled in the back seat of Hetty’s plane like a lump of useless cargo?
While Hetty continued to appeal for backup, changing the radio frequency and repeating her handle and location, Noelle sucked in a lungful of courage and cracked the passenger door open.
Climbing awkwardly from the back seat and earning a panicked frown and vigorous head shake from Hetty, she wiggled her way out to crouch on the dock beside the seaplane.
Noelle peered under the belly of the aircraft and decided she’d get a better view from nearer the nose and propeller. Staying as hidden as she could behind the landing gear and fuselage, she perked her ears over the hum of the engine to hear what was transpiring on shore.
“We can end this now, without further bloodshed, yours, mine or Grace’s,” Eli shouted.
He paused, and in the lull, Noelle strained to listen for a reply.
After a few seconds, Eli continued, “Yes, we know you have another woman in there with you. We know her name, and we want her released unharmed. Let’s start with that as a goodwill gesture. ”
“Counteroffer,” Scott shouted. “I trade you this woman for Kansas.”
Noelle’s gut roiled. So they’d been right about what, or rather who, was at the heart of Scott’s crime spree. Poor Kansas. Noelle could only imagine how she’d feel if a sociopath had killed innocent women because of an obsession with her.
She thought back to the night at the ABI offices when they’d realized the connection.
Noelle had tried to comfort and support Kansas in the ladies’ room after Eli’s cousin had fled the conference room in horror.
Kansas had been pale and shaking, emptying her stomach in one of the ladies’ room stalls.
And though her disgust and dismay over the twist in the case remained as shadows in her eyes, Kansas had regained her composure in short order.
Kansas, who faced difficult circumstances, rough terrain and occasionally gruesome discoveries on the job, was a model of strength and courage to Noelle.
Mustering some of that same bravery for herself, Noelle mentally searched for a way to gain Eli the upper hand. Could she create a distraction? Find him access to the cabin from another direction? Provide him valuable time for the support teams to get here?
She saw movement from Eli’s post behind the large tree and peeked between the propeller blades to see what was happening. His gaze was on her, his mouth scowling darkly as he waved a hand, signaling for her to get back inside the floatplane.
Before Noelle could either signal back a refusal or follow his direction, Scott fired a shot from the cabin. The bullet carved a hole in the dock a few feet from where Noelle stood.
Then another even closer.
Eli returned fire, and Noelle plastered herself closer to the plane, adrenaline making her head spin.
“Noelle!” Hetty shouted, jolting her from her shock. “Get away from the propellers! I have to get the plane out of range!”
Noelle gaped, scuttling closer to Hetty. “You’re leaving!”