Chapter 17
Elena and Sully pressed on through the forest. The undergrowth grabbed at her boots and ankles, but muscle memory was a real thing, and she managed to walk with quiet steps. Sully? Not so much. He sounded like a bear raiding a trash can.
The beam of their flashlights cut through the night in narrow sweeps, illuminating just enough ground to follow Ollie’s trail. Every few steps, Elena held up a hand and they paused to listen, straining to hear anything beyond the whisper of wind through pine needles.
“There,” she whispered, touching Sully’s arm and pointing ahead. “You hear them?”
Men’s hard voices carried through the trees. “You know the trouble you’ve caused us? I’m going to have to calm down in order to kill you!”
Ollie screamed, and Elena exchanged a glance with Sully, who nodded once and drew his weapon. They ran.
Seconds later, they burst into a clearing to find Ollie backed against a tree. Two men loomed over her—one holding her arm in a vicious grip, the other pointing a gun at her head.
“FBI! Drop your weapons!” Sully shouted.
The men whirled. The one holding the gun swung it toward them. Fired.
Elena dove to the ground, weapon clenched as she rolled behind a fallen log. More shots followed. “Get the girl!” The shooter’s shout pulled Elena’s head up. She spotted Ollie scrambling toward the underbrush.
“Stay down, Ollie!” Elena called to her.
The night erupted with new shouts and the beam of powerful flashlights cutting through the trees from the east. “Sheriff’s department! Drop your weapons!”
The one who’d been firing at them turned his weapon toward the new threat and popped off three shots. Answering gunfire sounded and he crumpled to the ground.
“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” The second man threw his hands up, his gun falling to the forest floor. “I’m unarmed!”
Deputies swarmed the clearing, weapons trained on the other would-be kidnapper-slash-murderer. “Secure that weapon! Elena, Sullivan—you all right?” Sheriff Donovan’s voice rose above the commotion.
Elena pushed herself up, her left wrist throbbing once more. She’d landed on it. Great. “We’re okay.” She searched the area. “Ollie? Where are you?”
“Here.” The girl’s voice came from behind a thick pine. She stepped out, shaking but unharmed. “I’m okay.”
Relief flooded through Elena as she hurried to Ollie and wrapped her in a tight embrace.
The girl clung to her, trembling but standing on her own two legs. “They shot Agent Gowen. You have to help him.”
Elena met Donovan’s eyes. “Where?”
“I . . . I don’t know how to explain how to find him. I’ll have to show you.”
“It’s okay, I’m here.” Agent Gowen stepped out from the tree line, holding his side, blood seeping between his fingers. He went to his knees. “She’s okay?”
“Chris!” Sully bolted to his friend and Elena rushed to join them.
“Lay down,” she said. “I’ve got you. I need a first aid kit!” Seconds later, someone pressed one into her hand. She found gauze and tape and did what she could on the spot. “He needs a hospital.”
“I’m okay,” Gowen said. “First bullet got me. Second one missed, but I’m all right.”
Sully snorted. “No, you’re not. You have a bullet in you.”
“Didn’t hit anything major, I don’t think.”
A deputy hovered and Elena looked at him. “Can you transport him to the hospital?”
The man nodded. “I got him.” He and Sully helped Chris to his feet. The agent groaned but stayed upright and soon was in the back of the cruiser. “My car’s two miles from the wreck. I tracked them from there.”
“We’ll get it sorted. I’ll be by to check on you soon, man,” Sully said. “Thank you.”
“Anytime,” came Chris’s strained reply.
They pulled away, and Sully rejoined her. “You all showed up just in time,” he told the sheriff.
“The patrol was sweeping the eastern perimeter when we heard gunshots,” Sheriff Donovan explained, holstering his weapon as his deputies led the handcuffed surviving kidnapper to a cruiser.
“Gideon said she’d probably be headed this way and we were trying to meet her like your friend was.
” He motioned to the man on the ground. “Someone get the coroner out here.”
“I’ll take care of it as soon as I can backtrack and get a signal,” a deputy said.
“Head out and do that, please.” The sheriff turned to another deputy. “Stay here, secure the scene.”
“Yes, sir.”
“It’s Piper,” Ollie blurted out, walking back to slide her arms around Elena’s waist. She buried her face in Elena’s chest. “Piper’s working with them,” she mumbled.
Sully’s audible gasp echoed hers. “What? Ollie, why would you say that?” he asked.
Ollie looked up but didn’t let go of Elena. “I heard her on the phone with someone at the jail. She even admitted she stole my medication. She’s helping Rhino.” She pointed to the man now in cuffs. “That’s Rhino. I don’t know his real name, but Piper is working with them.”
Sully stared at the girl, and Elena’s heart hurt for the betrayal shining in his gaze. But he believed Ollie.
Ollie looked at him. “She was talking to someone about Hannah being safe if she did what they wanted.”
“Hannah?” Elena asked.
“Her daughter,” Sully said, his expression darkening further. “She has a sixteen-year-old daughter.”
Sheriff Donovan stepped closer. “Let’s get everyone back to safety, then sort this out. It’s too blasted cold to stand around in these woods yakking. Jammers are still active, but I’ve got guys looking for them.”
“The bombs?” Elena asked.
“All clear, according to the bomb squad.”
“Good. That’s good.” She gave Ollie another hug, still processing this new information. “Let’s go see what Piper has to say for herself.”
The journey back to the ranch passed in tense silence.
Elena kept an arm around Ollie’s shoulders, the girl’s revelation about Piper turning over and over in her mind.
The betrayal cut deep, even though Elena had only known the agent for a short time.
If she felt like this, she couldn’t imagine how Sully felt.
His hard features divulged nothing of his thoughts, but she kind of felt sorry for Piper in a strange way.
Facing Sully was going to be terrifying for her.
At the big house, Maya took charge, wrapping Ollie in blankets and pressing hot chocolate into her hands. Piper was sitting on the sofa, pale, hands clasped between her knees, eyes on the floor.
“Why?” Sully asked her once Ollie was settled.
Piper looked up and found Ollie’s accusing stare, and her face crumpled. “You weren’t supposed to run,” she said, her voice barely audible.
“You stole my medication,” Ollie shot back. “You were going to let me die.”
“No! I just needed you in the hospital. I needed time.”
Sully stepped forward, positioning himself between Piper and Ollie. “Time for what, Piper? To betray your oath? To get a witness killed?”
“To save my daughter!” Piper’s composure shattered.
Tears streamed down her face. “They have Hannah. They grabbed her three weeks ago. Said if Ollie testifies, they’ll kill her.
I didn’t know what to do.” Her gaze turned pleading.
“I knew I couldn’t do it,” she said, “but I had to play along until I could get Hannah to safety. I promise.”
The room fell silent. Elena moved closer to Ollie, keeping a protective hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Sully asked, his voice quieter now.
“They were watching. Always watching. And I just couldn’t risk you’d go above my head.
” Piper sagged against the back of the sofa.
“I hired someone—ex–Navy SEAL—to find her. But I haven’t heard back.
The man I talked to at the jail—the one holding her—confirmed she’s still alive, but they’re running out of patience. ”
Sully’s face morphed from anger to compassion back to anger. “Who’s holding her?” he demanded.
“Bellini’s people. They’re keeping her somewhere in or around Nashville.
That’s all I know.” Piper looked up, her eyes red-rimmed but hard and clear.
“I never would have let them kill Ollie. But I also had to try and save Hannah. I was simply stalling, trying to find a way out for both of them.” She ran a hand over her face.
“But you told them how to find us at every safe house,” Sully said.
“No, they made me wear a tracker. I simply made it seem like you were the one that got us all out of there in time.”
Sully stared at her, obviously playing the incidents over in his head. “But it was you.”
She shrugged.
A man dressed in FBI gear stepped forward. “This changes the situation. We’ll set up a task force to locate the girl.” He looked at Piper. “Give me the name of the man you hired and his contact information. I’ll get in touch with him.”
Piper did so.
Elena squeezed Ollie’s shoulder gently. The girl looked up at her, confusion and hurt evident in her eyes. “Does this mean she’s not a bad guy?” Ollie whispered.
Elena sighed, looking at Piper’s broken expression. “It means sometimes good people make terrible choices when someone they love is in danger.”
Ollie nodded slowly, her analytical mind working through this new information. “So now we have to save Hannah too.”
“Yes,” Elena agreed, meeting Sully’s gaze across the room. “Now we have to save Hannah too.”
Later that morning, Sully watched the man Ollie had identified as Rhino through the two-way glass of the sheriff’s interview room.
He’d question him shortly, but for now, he wanted to just observe him.
The man sat with his shoulders hunched, handcuffed to the table, his eyes darting around the space.
Caught. Cornered. Dangerous.
The door opened behind Sully. Sheriff Donovan stepped in with a manila folder. “Got his prints back. Real name’s Lorenzo Amato. Two priors for assault, suspected in three murders but never charged.”
“Bellini’s muscle.” Sully took the folder, flipping it open to scan the rap sheet. “And the dead guy?”
“Not in the system, surprisingly enough. You’ll have to get that from the prisoner. But you’re sure you want to do this now?” Donovan asked. “The people at the ranch have no way to communicate if something goes wrong.”