Chapter Nine
Callie sat in Nico’s office and listened to the plans being made during the video call. Plans to meet with a possible killer if Tucker actually did phone them back.
So far, he hadn’t.
And considering the man had made that demand for a meeting nearly two hours ago, she had to believe he had either changed his mind. Or was setting up a deadly trap.
Probably the latter.
Obviously, Nico was well aware of that possibility, so she didn’t spell it out to him again. She just watched and listened. Owen, Declan, and Shaw were on the large monitor with this video meeting. Owen had considered that the wiser move rather than all three of them showing up at Nico’s. If Tucker was watching the place, then he might cancel altogether or try to come up with a way to kill them all.
“Once we have a time and location,” Owen continued, “we can bring in more manpower if needed. And we can check out the area with a drone to see what we’re up against in advance.” He paused and shifted his attention to Callie. “Your thoughts on this?”
She shrugged and glanced at Tucker’s background check that she’d been studying. “Do you believe he’s orchestrated all of this or is someone else pulling his strings?”
Owen shrugged as well. “Hard to say. His prison stint was for cybercrimes, nothing violent, but he has had firearm training. And even though there are no weapons registered to him, some of his former inmates do have connections in that area. We’re running checks on that now to see if any of them supplied him with guns or even actual help. In other words, we don’t know how much firepower or assistance Tucker might have.”
That unknown was plenty unsettling. But Callie had to trust that Owen, his team, and Nico would handle this. And she wanted it handled with her.
“I want to be in this,” she insisted.
Nico huffed, and he was no doubt about to launch into an argument when his phone rang. “Unknown number,” he muttered. Which meant it was likely Tucker. He set up the record function and hit answer, putting the call on speaker.
“Henderson Point on Outlaw Ridge Creek,” Tucker said, skipping any greeting. “Be there in thirty minutes. Just you and Deputy Brandon.”
“Just me,” Nico snapped.
“You and Deputy Brandon,” Tucker snapped right back. “You can come armed, but if you bring backup, the meeting is off. You’ll never lay eyes on me, and I’ll continue to protect Seth in every way possible.”
In other words, he’d keep killing. And that likely would include an attempt to murder Nico. It was the reason she’d wanted in on this. Of course, Tucker probably wanted her there so he could try to murder her, too. Perhaps because he was worried that she’d come after him to avenge her lover’s death if he did end up killing Nico.
“Thirty minutes,” Tucker repeated, and he hung up.
“Henderson Point,” Declan repeated, and on the screen she saw him pulling up a map on his laptop.
“It won’t be on a map,” Nico assured him. “It’s also called Lover’s Leap.”
Callie made a sound of agreement. “It’s a limestone chalk bluff about twenty feet high. The only way to get there is by using the foot trails. There are a lot of trees surrounding it, and the creek runs below it. In other words, lots of places for Tucker and the bald gunman to lie in wait.”
“How long does it take to get there?” Shaw asked.
“It’s about a ten-minute drive from here,” Nico answered, checking the time. “And about a fifteen-minute hike on the trail. Since it’s dark, it could take a little longer.”
Callie wasn’t surprised that Tucker had given them such a tight timeline. This could cut down on their chance to come up with a plan to keep them alive and capture a killer.
Nico stood. “We’ll leave now,” he muttered, giving her a glance that let her know he was not happy about her being included in this.
“Gear up,” Owen instructed. “And I’ll go ahead and get the drone out there. Declan, Shaw and I will be there soon, and we’ll park up the road.”
That was a risk because if Tucker saw them, he might call the whole thing off. But unless the man was an idiot, he would know that Nico and she would arrange for some kind of backup. It’d be a suicide mission for them just to walk there and assume it was a meeting and not a trap.
“You have gear there at your house?” Owen asked, already moving to gather some things.
“I do,” Nico assured him. “Will the drone have a thermal scan by then so we’ll know what we’re up against?”
“It will,” Owen assured him, and they ended the call.
Nico moved fast, heading not to the garage where he’d left the Hummer but to storage room just off the kitchen. He took out two Kevlar vests, donned one and handed her the other. He also armed himself with a second Glock and a knife before he popped in an earbud and handed her one so she could do the same.
“Help yourself to whatever you think you might need,” Nico instructed.
She did. Callie took a Sig-Sauer and a flashlight, and the moment she had vested up, they went out to the Hummer. Nico didn’t waste any time driving away from his house.
He also didn’t waste any time cursing.
“Shit,” he growled. “I didn’t want you in on this. It’s my fight.”
“Pardon me, but this asshole is probably responsible for killing someone in my jurisdiction. That makes it my fight.”
“But he only wants you dead because of your association with me—” He stopped, did more cursing. “Unicorn,” he grumbled.
Needless to say, that surprised her. “Why the safe word?” she had to ask.
“To stop myself from pissing you off by barking out orders such as stay behind me and get down at the first sign of trouble.” He glanced at her, their gazes connecting for a heartbeat. “You’re a good cop. So, do your good cop thing and let’s catch this asshole and anyone he brought with him.”
Despite everything, she smiled. It was very short-lived though. While it pleased her that Nico had confidence in her abilities, that didn’t mean she was bulletproof. Or incapable of making mistakes. Still, she would do her best to get them out of this alive.
Her phone rang, and when she saw Owen’s name on the screen, she put the call on speaker. “The drone’s on scene,” he said right away. “And according to the feed I’m sending to you now, Tucker is right at the edge of the bluff.”
Callie’s phone dinged with the incoming video feed from the drone. The drone’s camera had zoomed in on the lone man wearing dark camo. His blond hair was covered with a black knit cap, and he was standing against a tree.
And holding an assault rifle.
“As you can see, he’s armed,” Owen went on several moments later. “But no one else is around him. The drone’s not picking up any other heat sources either.”
Nico and she exchanged a puzzled look. “How far out did the drone scan?”
“About two hundred yards in all directions,” Owen replied.
Considering how jammed that area was with trees and other places for cover, that was pretty far out to stash his hired gun. So, maybe Tucker hadn’t brought the bald guy with him, and Callie wondered why.
Had they had a falling out?
Or was it possible they weren’t even connected?
She only hoped they got the chance to learn the answers about that from Tucker. And if the bald guy was around, maybe they’d be able to find him, too.
“I have a second drone on the way now to sweep the area even further,” Owen added. “And we’ll continue to scan even after the two of you are on the trail. But we have to assume that Tucker has set up something to take Callie and you out. Possibly explosives. Hell, maybe even a dugout pit that he hopes you’ll fall through before you even make it to him.”
Yes, there were plenty ways to kill, and the darkness wasn’t going to help. There was a moon out and she had the flashlight, but it’d be hard to see every inch of the ground before they stepped on something that could get them killed.
“We’re at the trail now,” Nico said as he pulled the Hummer to a stop on the side of the road.
“We’re just up the road from you and have pulled in between some trees so the vehicle won’t be in plain sight,” Owen explained. “We’ll be cutting through on foot, moving parallel to the trail.” He stopped. “Shit. Someone’s coming. We just spotted the headlights of a vehicle.”
Definitely not something they had expected. This part of the road was the very definition of off the beaten path. No one lived in this area, and the only attraction was Lover’s Leap. It was possible this was someone coming to what had become a make-out spot, but she doubted it.
“Shit,” Owen repeated several moments later. “I think it’s Dante.”
“Dante?” Nico snarled. His tone asked the question— what the hell was he doing here ?
“He’s driving toward the trail where you two are,” Owen let them know. “Callie, when he gets there, arrest him. Disarm him, cuff him and put him in the Hummer. We can deal with him once you’ve dealt with Tucker.”
“Dante could be Tucker’s accomplice,” Callie pointed out.
“Yeah, and that’s why you arrest him,” Owen insisted. “Are you both wearing ear pods?”
“Yes,” she confirmed.
“Good. Leave your phone on and communicate through the pods. I’ll loop in Nico so he can hear me as well.”
Callie did as he’d instructed, and Nico and she stayed put in the Hummer until she saw the headlights approaching from behind. The vehicle, a silver Jaguar, slowed considerably but continued to inch toward them. The driver finally pulled to a stop behind the Hummer.
“Keep watch around us,” Nico reminded her, and together, they stepped out.
So did the driver of the other vehicle.
And it was Dante all right.
Callie wasn’t sure which of them looked the most confused, but she thought Dante won that particular award. Thanks to his headlights and the moon, she could see that he wasn’t armed. Or rather, he wasn’t holding a gun. Callie figured he had one stashed somewhere on him though.
“What the hell is this?” Dante demanded. “Why are you here?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Callie replied. Knowing that Nico would cover her, she went closer, pulling out the plastic cuffs from her pocket. “Dante Salvetti, you’re under arrest—”
That was as far as she got before Dante began to spew out a whole bunch of curse words. He also turned as if ready to reach behind him and draw a weapon, but she put a stop to that. Callie pushed him against the side of his car, dragged his arms behind him and cuffed his wrists. After she had him secure, she checked for weapons and found a Glock 22 in a slide holster.
“What the fuck is this?” Dante growled when she yanked out the gun and shoved it into the waist of her pants. “I’m supposed to be meeting someone here…” He hushed. Then, did more cursing. “You set me up.”
“How do you figure that?” Callie asked, leading him toward the Hummer while Nico continued to stand guard.
“You called me,” Dante insisted without hesitation. “Pretending to be someone else, you called me and told me to come here because you knew the whereabouts of the witness.”
Interesting. “And why would you want to know where the witness is?”
Dante opened his mouth and then closed it after he shot her an icy glare. “I need to call my lawyer,” he snapped.
That wasn’t a surprise, but Callie wished he had spilled why he was there. She didn’t like any part of this set-up, but she especially didn’t care for Dante’s arrival on the scene.
Callie put him in the backseat of the Hummer, checking to make sure there weren’t any weapons, and then she used her second pair of plastic cuffs to secure his ankles. That way, he would have trouble running off.
Later, once she had him at the police station, she’d want to know if Tucker had been the one to call Dante and arrange for him to come. Of course, she would also want to know why.
What did Dante have to do with the witness?
“Dante’s secure,” she relayed to Owen after she’d shut the Hummer door. “Has Tucker moved?”
“No, he’s still in the same place,” Owen answered, “And the scan is still showing that no one else is around.”
As the words left his mouth, Nico’s phone vibrated. “It’s a text from Tucker,” he said once he’d checked his screen. “He says we’ve got ten minutes left.”
Not good since they’d have to run like hell to make it, and doing that would be dangerous. Which could be exactly what Tucker had in mind.
“He says if we’re not there in ten minutes, he’s leaving,” Nico added, looking at her. “Let’s go.”
“We’re on the move, too,” Owen assured them.
Nico and she moved fast. Not running. And definitely keeping watch around them.
Above them, she heard a soft whine of the drone, and Callie hoped it would suss out any threat before Nico and she were right on top it.
But the threat was already there.
Around them, everything turned into a fireball.