Chapter 42
Dealing with the authorities wasn’t fun, but Keel was back beside Frankie, thankful to have her in his arms. Dirt covered her arms and legs, and there was more blood than he wanted to see on her, but she was okay. At least she’d been able to walk on her own.
“Bean, stay with Frankie.”
“Got it, Keel,” Bean said over coms.
He was thankful he knew so many competent men who he could trust. They were the best of the best, and he never wanted to lose sight of that.
“Behind you,” Stanley said. “They’re running, but not too fast.”
“We should call the cops,” Chase said. Of course, Chase offered the suggestion that was one hundred percent compliant with the law.
That’s who Chase was. But he knew Chase bent rules when necessary.
He was right, they could call the cops, but they had to make sure they knew where to send them.
This part of the wilderness of North Carolina was vast, but dotted with small towns and homesteads.
Forest and Stone could go anywhere if they got away.
“Calling the cops right now might be a little awkward,” Link said. “Let’s see where they go.”
Chase grunted. “For now. But once we track them, we should call so they get thrown in jail and never come back.”
A thought hit Keel, and he had to know. “Bean, did you call an ambulance?”
They were still in range, so he knew Bean had heard him, but the answer didn’t come immediately.
“Sorry, Keel, I was doing some first aid. I’ve already called. They’re on their way.”
Keel could see Forest and Stone ahead. They had slowed significantly. That was one thing about Delta. He and his team had to stay ready for anything, so their bodies were honed and ready for action. They also had night vision, and the brothers didn’t.
With the men slowing, they could run this speed all day. But he needed to do more than just run this pair to exhaustion. He needed to catch Forest and make sure he never came back to bother Frankie.
“You should give up,” Keel called out as he closed the distance on Forest.
It was almost comical to see the fear on Forest’s face as he turned to glance over his shoulder. The high-pitched yelp the man let out before he tripped and stumbled only added to how funny it was.
On missions, they rarely chased their target, and he would take no pleasure from this if Forest hadn’t tortured Frankie. But seeing Forest’s desperation was nice. He wanted to cause pain and make sure the guy could never hurt Frankie again.
But one thing he knew without a doubt was that if he shot and killed Forest right now, he would go to jail. The bastard wasn’t worth a prison sentence. They needed to corner the jerk and then hand him over to the cops.
“We’ve got you cornered,” Chase called out.
Forest responded by waving his gun over his shoulder and firing.
The shot went way wide, hitting a tree off to Keel’s left.
The man was dangerous. The idiot could hit them by firing that way.
Based on what he knew about Forest, if the man stopped and aimed his gun, he would probably have little chance of hitting a target, but firing off a shot with the gun swinging wildly, he might actually shoot one of them.
“Give it up,” Keel called out.
“Never.” Forest slung his gun over his shoulder again and fired. But he wasn’t a crack shot, and he had no idea what he was doing, because before he pulled the trigger, his aim had changed significantly, and his bullet hit Stone, dropping him to the ground with a pitiful scream.
Keel was close enough that he could see blood spreading on Stone’s shirt. Forest cried out as he watched his brother’s life fade.
“You shot Stone!” Forest turned to face them and began firing.
Keel and his guys ducked behind trees to keep from being shot. “This isn’t going to end well for you,” Keel called out when there was a break in shots.
“You fucking killed my brother. I’m going to kill you.”
They’d run far enough that Keel could tell they were by a road. If they fired at Forest, they might hit a passing vehicle. No one wanted that.
“I’m circling to the left,” Chase said.
Keel needed to keep Forest distracted, so he didn’t see Chase moving.
“You’ve got nowhere to go. And we didn’t shoot your brother, you did.
” Keel tried to keep his voice even, but he wasn’t done with this guy.
The man had tortured his woman, and Keel wasn’t a forgiving man.
Maybe Chase would just wound Forest, then they could get him put away for life.
“I hate you, and I hate Frankie. I hope you both die!” Forest yelled.
Keel heard the crunch of leaves and glanced around the tree, seeing Forest running away. Keel moved to go after him, but he could just make out Forest disappearing into deep tree cover.
A loud horn honked, and tires squealed on pavement. A loud thud sounded, like maybe someone had bounced off the front of a vehicle.
Maybe Forest thought the truck could stop, or maybe he ran out onto the road on purpose. They were closing in on him, and his brother was dead. Forest probably knew he’d killed Stone. Maybe he couldn’t live with that pressure.
Keel moved closer to the trees where Forest had disappeared. He could see the lights from the truck and removed his night vision, so he wasn’t blinded. It was a bad scene. It looked like Forest had jumped out in front of that truck.
He couldn’t do anything here, so he disappeared back into the dense foliage. Forest had shot Stone. The forensics would prove that much. Maybe the cops would think it was a murder suicide.
Keel and his buddies headed toward the cabin where Frankie had been held. She needed his help. Forest was beyond any help they could give.
Sirens split the silence, echoing through the woods. He was thankful Frankie was okay. He moved to the bed of the truck where Bean had placed Frankie and put his hand on her knee.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, worry filling her face. “What happened?”
“He’s gone. It’s best we get our story straight. I don’t want the cops delving too deeply into everything.”
“So what story are we telling the police?” Frankie asked.
“That we found you, and Forest and Stone took off. We don’t know what happened to them.”
She nodded, her body shaking hard. “O-okay.”
“She’s going into shock,” Keel said as the ambulance pulled up the drive. No police were with them, which brought relief. He guessed the wreck on the highway would keep the cops busy for a while.
Stanley had moved both of their vehicles closer so they could get out of here once the ambulance took Frankie away.
Scott moved to Keel. “I called the hospital while we were driving out here and asked to talk to Sonja. I told her to tell me that she’d overheard Forest say he was taking Frankie to a cabin in the woods near Pineview. We got lucky and found the cabin. That’s how we knew where he took her.”
Keel turned to his buddy, amazed at how smart the guy was. “Damn, Scott, thank you for thinking of that.” Keel pulled Scott into a hug, slapping his back as one sheriff’s vehicle came into view. “Thank you.”
“Sure. So I’ll make sure everyone knows the story. If the cops ask, we have a good reason why we knew where they’d taken Frankie.”
Frankie grunted as the EMTs moved her to their stretcher. She reached out and took Keel’s hand. “Thank you for saving me. He was going to kill me.”
Keel squeezed her hand. “I’m so sorry you had to go through this.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Thank you. You rescuing me is a miracle. Thank you all.”
Keel was thankful that both Forest and Stone were gone. They wouldn’t ever come back to chase Frankie. She was safe.
The EMT thought Frankie needed to see a doctor, and the sheriff’s deputy let them leave, saying he’d be around for statements later.
He was thankful the deputy wasn’t paying that much attention to them. If the guy looked too hard, he would see their weapons and might start asking questions they didn’t need to answer.
Keel hopped into the back of the ambulance with Frankie, holding her hand all the way to the hospital. She was his to keep safe, and he would make sure nothing like this ever happened again.