Chapter Eighteen
Stacy’s shot had gone wide, almost grazing Connor. He fired and hit Bruce in the shoulder. The man staggered and turned toward him. “On your knees,” Connor ordered. “Now!”
Bruce dropped to his knees. Farley rushed to his side but didn’t touch the man. Shane knelt beside him.
George climbed up beside them. “Throw out your weapons,” he barked.
Both Bruce and Shane tossed their guns into the snow.
George picked up one of the weapons, checked that it was loaded, then kicked the other aside.
Connor moved down to join them. He wanted to go to Stacy, but he couldn’t leave George alone with these two just yet.
In fact, what was George doing up here? He was supposed to be down the trail ahead of him.
“What about the man who just arrived on the snowmobile?” he asked George.
“It’s Anthony,” George said. “He’s waiting below. That’s what I came up to tell you.”
That was some good news. “He can look after these two while we look after Stacy.”
George looked around. “Where is Stacy?”
“She fell.” Connor gestured below. “You didn’t see her?”
George shook his head. “I’ll see to these two,” he said. “Go to her. You’ll get there faster than I could.”
Connor whistled for Farley, then headed straight down the steep slope, alternately taking giant steps and glissading on his heels. But when he reached the bottom of the incline, he found only churned snow. “Stacy?” he called, keeping his voice low.
“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll shoot her.”
He turned and found Nate holding Stacy close, the barrel of a large pistol pressed to her cheek. Her face was in shadows, but Connor could feel her terror. Or maybe that was only his own fear, which froze him in place.
“Get your hands up where I can see them,” Nate ordered.
Connor slowly raised his hands. He strained his ears, hoping to hear Agent Anthony’s approach. Surely he had seen Stacy fall or heard her scream. He shifted his attention to Stacy. “Are you all right?”
“I—”
“No talking!” Nate shoved the gun in her side. He glared at Connor. “Do you have a gun?”
Connor thought about lying but didn’t want to risk it. “Yes. In my jacket pocket.”
“Take it out. Slowly. Toss it on the ground.”
He did so. The gun landed without a sound in the deep snow.
“We’re going to walk over to the snow machines now,” Nate said. “Don’t try anything, or I’ll kill her, then you.”
“I understand,” Connor said. Without moving his head, he searched for Farley. Maybe the commotion had frightened him away.
Connor took a careful step back, then another. Nate stalked forward, dragging Stacy alongside him. “Turn around.” Nate ordered. “Think about how easy it would be for me to shoot you in the back.”
Connor turned. A few more steps brought them within sight of the three snow machines they had ridden up from the base area. “I’m going to take one of these,” Nate said. “And I’m going to take the fed here with me.”
“What about Shane and Bruce?” Connor asked.
“What about ’em? I don’t owe them anything.” Nate dragged Stacy over to the vehicle. “Get on,” he ordered.
Awkwardly, she climbed onto the machine.
Nate sat behind her, then leaned over to grab the handle of the starter cord.
Stacy jerked back, hitting him hard in the chin with the back of her head. She half fell, half crawled off the seat of the machine and landed on her knees in the snow while Nate was screaming and trying to sit upright.
Barking furiously, Farley raced out of the darkness. “Farley, no!” Connor shouted.
Nate turned the pistol on the dog, but Farley was already leaping, biting at the arm that held the gun.
Stacy crouched behind one of the other snowmobiles, out of sight.
Cursing and shouting, Nate fought off the dog. There was no sign of the gun now—Nate must have dropped it. Connor ran toward him, but Nate had managed to throw off the dog and reach the controls of the snowmobile. The vehicle roared to life and headed straight for Connor.
Connor dove sideways, narrowly avoiding being hit. Farley rushed to his side and began licking his face. Connor gently pushed the dog away and struggled to his feet.
The roar of the snowmobile grew louder. Was Nate coming back to try to run him over again?
But this wasn’t Nate. A man in a black balaclava raced toward Connor. Connor waved, trying to flag the driver down, but the driver veered around him. Seconds later, he heard a sickening thump! and the sound of the engine ceased.
Connor turned to see Nate on his face in the snow. One snowmobile lay on its side, the other idled nearby. The figure in the balaclava straddled Nate and leaned down to cuff his hands behind this back.
Then the man in black straightened and looked at Connor. “Are you all right?” Agent Anthony asked.
“Yes.” Connor moved, not toward Anthony, but to the snowmobile where Stacy still crouched. She stood as he approached, then turned to watch her father walk down the trail, Bruce and Shane in front of him.
Anthony met the trio at the bottom of the trail. “I’ll take over from here,” he said.
“Arresting us won’t stop anything,” Shane said as Anthony cuffed him. “We’ve placed charges all over this resort, set to go off after the resort opens.”
“We’ll find the charges and disarm them,” Anthony said.
“You’ll never find them all,” Bruce said.
“You’d better hope we do,” Anthony said. “Mass murder carries serious penalties, including death.”
Shane opened his mouth but apparently thought better of speaking and looked away.
“How are we going to get them down the mountain?” Stacy asked Anthony.
“I’ve arranged for someone to pick them up.” A low growling rose up from lower down the mountain. Anthony turned. “I think that’s their ride.”
An orange snowcat rumbled up the mountains on tracks. When it stopped, Stacy had to tilt her head back to see into the cab. The door opened, and a man in black SWAT gear jumped down. A second similarly clad officer remained in the cab, along with the driver.
“Three to transport,” Agent Anthony said.
“We’ll take good care of them,” the SWAT officer said. He took Bruce by the arm and led him to the vehicle. It took both officers to boost each shackled man into the cab, but none of the three resisted.
“We need to get those explosives off the mountain,” Connor said.
“There’s a bomb squad on its way from Salt Lake,” Anthony said. “They were closer than Denver.”
“In the meantime, we can find and mark the bombs for them to remove,” Connor said. “I’ve already located the ones at Lifts One and Four.”
“The ones on the ridges will be harder to find in all this snow,” Stacy said.
“I know some experts who can help,” Connor said.
“Don’t tell me your dogs are trained to sniff out explosives,” Anthony said.
“That would be pretty sweet, but no, they can’t find explosives.
But the ski patrol members know every inch of this resort.
Right now, before anyone else destroys the tracks, we can find where Shane and the others stood when they launched the bombs.
We know the general trajectory the cast boosters take when thrown.
I think we have a good chance of finding all of them. ”
“The resort will have to be closed until we determine it’s safe,” Anthony said.
“Agreed,” Connor said. Doug would hate it, but even he would see the potential disaster if they missed even one explosive that detonated and killed a guest.
“Let’s get ski patrol in here,” Anthony said. He turned to Stacy. “We need to question Greer and the others. Maybe we can get them to tell us how many bombs they deployed and more about the timing mechanism. And we need to get your father medical help.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I can look after myself,” George protested, but he allowed Stacy to lead him to one of the snowmobiles. He climbed on behind her.
She didn’t look back as she followed Anthony toward the base area.
Maybe it was a good sign that Anthony was including her in the interrogation, Connor thought. Maybe he recognized how badly this situation might have gone without her determination and effort.
Connor pulled out his phone and checked the time. 5:00 a.m. Most of the patrol members would be getting out of bed soon anyway. He sent a group text. Everyone report to SkyCrest ASAP. We’re on the hunt for unexploded bombs.
He didn’t have to wait long before the first call came in. “Is this a sick joke?” Anders asked.
“No joke. I’ll explain it all when everyone is here, but we’ve got four hours before the resort opens to find a bunch of unexploded cast boosters wired to timers.” No need to mention the resort would open late today, if at all.
“The stolen cast boosters?”
“Looks like it.”
“I’m on my way,” Anders said.
Massive scavenger hunt saves the day.
Nina pinned the newspaper with the headline to the bulletin board over Connor’s desk. The story about the hunt for hidden bombs at SkyCrest Resort was accompanied by a photo of Farley digging furiously at the snow while Connor looked on.
“He didn’t really find one of the bombs, did he?” Chase asked.
“I think it was just an accident,” Connor said. “But he did dig one up. The photographer was standing right there and said it was the perfect photo op.”
“He probably thought it was a toy,” Raz said.
“Or maybe Farley has a hidden talent,” Lily said. “It might come in handy. Every once in a while we do launch a dud and have to retrieve it. Farley could save us a lot of time.”
“I’d just as soon we never lose another cast booster,” Connor said.
“Have you heard from Stacy?” Nina asked.
“No.” He turned away, afraid his expression might reveal his disappointment.