Tracking Stolen Secrets

by Laura Scott

“You really think he’ll call back?” Helena’s tone was filled with doubt.

  “I hope so.” Everett didn’t like having their investigation being partially in the hands of a small-time crook, but what else could he do?

  Every instinct he possessed told him Zoe was still in Denali.

  “So now what?” Helena’s forehead puckered with a frown, and he felt certain she was still dealing with the headache from being attacked. Oddly, he wanted to smooth them away.

  “I’m running out of ideas,” Everett admitted gruffly. “I could flash her picture around some more, but I didn’t get the sense anyone was interested in cooperating with me. We can try staking out the hotel to see if we can catch Zoe going in or out.”

  Christine began to wail, and Luna began to whimper, as if not liking the sound of the baby being upset. With a start, Everett realized it was close to lunchtime.

  “I’ll get her bottle ready,” Helena offered. “I need to get used to the routine.”

  He nodded and picked up Christine. Luna followed as he paced the interior of the cabin, jostling the infant in his arms. When Helena had the bottle ready, she sat in a chair and held her arms out for the little girl.

  Again, the scene was far too familiar. Images of Sheila and Colin flashed in his mind, a deep ache stabbing his heart.

  He couldn’t take much more of this cozy togetherness.

  His fingers curled into helpless fists. He needed to get out. To leave Christine with Helena and head off to solve the case.

  Luna nudged his hand with her nose and licked his wrist as if asking to be petted. He let out a silent sigh and glanced down at the animal, reaching to bury his fingers in her thick pelt.

  It all came back to working with Helena and Luna. They provided the best chance at finding Zoe.

  And once he’d found her, he felt certain she’d provide the name of the guy in charge. She’d only have two choices: tell them what they needed to find and arrest him, or go to jail.

  Factoring the baby into the picture, he figured Zoe would do whatever was necessary to stay out of jail.

  His cell phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. He recognized Norbert’s number. “Thanks for returning my call,” he said.

  “I told you everything I know,” the man whined.

  “You’ve always been great at keeping your ear to the ground, Norbert. I’m sure you must have heard something about the next high-dollar target.”

  His informant was silent for a long minute. “I mighta heard something about a hotel in Denali.”

  Everett tightened his grip on the phone. “Which one?”

  “The new one. But I can’t be sure,” Norbert hedged. “I overheard it at the bar last night.”

  “Anything else? I need more, man, and you know I’m good for it.”

  “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Gotta go.”

  There was nothing but dead air on the line.

  After calling Trent and giving the added information for the search warrant, Everett turned toward Helena. She was burping Christine like an old pro.

  “I’m going to head back to the hotel, keep an eye on things for a while.”

  “If you’re going, we’re all going.” Helena narrowed her gaze. “We’re working this as a team, remember?”

  “Yeah, okay.” He didn’t like it, but also didn’t like the idea of leaving them here alone.

  The thought of anything happening to either of them made him feel sick to his stomach.

  “Maybe we should grab something to eat first,” he suggested. “Christine should be ready for a nap soon. Her sleeping for a couple of hours would make things easier on us.”

  “Fine with me.”

  They ate grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches and discussed how to best approach the stakeout.

  “Being in a police SUV isn’t exactly being undercover,” Helena pointed out.

  “I know, but we can park the SUV in the brush, maybe muddy up the sides a bit and use binoculars.”

  She nodded. “Okay, it’s a plan.”

  He glanced at Christine, who was still stubbornly wide awake. “Can’t say I’ve ever gone on a stakeout with a baby before.”

  Helena let out a choked laugh. “Me, either.”

  They shared a smile and, for a moment, he felt almost...happy.

  Then Luna began to growl. A deep, rumbling sound that made every instinct flash red alert.

  Everett jumped up, his weapon already in hand. “Get Christina and keep her safe.”

  For once Helena didn’t argue. She called Luna to her side while reaching for the infant carrier. In seconds, she took the baby into the back bedroom.

  Luna’s growling never let up. Everett couldn’t believe their location had been compromised once again. Had the noise he’d heard been something more? Maybe, but Luna hadn’t scented anything, either. Thankfully, the daylight made it difficult for the bad guys to hide. But that same light worked against him, too.

  Everett crept up to the window, scanning the area around the front of the cabin.

  “See anything?” Helena called softly.

  “Negative.”

  “We should make a run for it.”

  He hesitated, torn by indecision. Stay or go? Their compromised location meant they’d need to get away sooner or later.

  “Okay, but let me go first.”

  There was a momentary pause and suddenly Helena was beside him, still holding on to the infant carrier. “I’ll back you up. Be careful.”

  He hated the idea of the baby being in danger. “If I draw gunfire, I’ll take off, see if they’ll follow me. That way you can get Christine in the vehicle and get out of here.”

  She didn’t answer, but he knew keeping the baby safe would be her top priority.

  He opened the door of the cabin just a crack and waited.

  Nothing.

  Still, Luna’s low growls were impossible to ignore. He slid out through the opening and ran in a crouch to the edge of the vehicle.

  Still nothing.

  A blur of motion caught the corner of his eye. He called out, “Stop, police!”

  More silence.

  He opened the back door of the SUV and the rear hatch for Luna, and then ran around to the driver’s side. Instantly, Helena was there, buckling Christine into the seat while the dog gracefully jumped into the back.

  In mere seconds they were barreling down the rutted driveway, leaving the cabin in the dust.

  Just when he thought they were in the clear, he heard the crack of a rifle.

  The metallic ping as the bullet hit the vehicle made his heart stop.

  “Hurry!” Helena urged.

  He pressed harder on the gas, sparing a quick glance at the baby through the rearview mirror.

  For the first time since losing Sheila and Colin, he prayed.

  Please don’t take another innocent life, Lord. Not another innocent life.

  Would his prayers be answered?

  SEVEN

  Someone was shooting at them!

  “Is the baby okay?” Everett asked, his voice hoarse.

  “I think so.” Helena gripped the door handle as Everett increased their speed, her mind whirling. Who was out there? The same shooter with a rifle who’d taken a shot at her on the grassy knoll? If so, how had they been found? Only a handful of people knew about their relocation and she trusted Colonel Gallo and the rest of the K-9 team with her life.

  She glanced back at the baby, relieved to find Christine’s eyes drifting shut. “She’s falling asleep.”

  “Good.” Tension radiated from Everett as he focused on the highway.

  A heavy silence fell between them. After the first couple of gunshots, one that had pinged the SUV, she hadn’t heard any more once they’d reached the highway. That
made her wonder if the guy had been in a stationary spot, high up in a tree.

  But someone had also been outside the cabin, it was likely what had caught Luna’s attention. Her K-9 was good but couldn’t track someone way up off the ground in a tree somewhere.

  Two bad guys, likely from the criminal ring Zoe had gotten herself entangled with. Were they working together? It was the only explanation she could come up with.

  “We need a new place to stay,” Helena said as Everett continued to put distance between them and the shooters. “Any ideas?”

  Everett’s mouth was a grim line. “This would be easier if it wasn’t the height of the tourist season.”

  “I know.” She sighed. “I’ll call my boss again, see what else she can come up with.”

  Everett grimaced and nodded. “Okay, but I think it might be better for you and Christine to head back to Anchorage.”

  “Not happening.” She squelched a flash of guilt over keeping the baby with them. “Zoe is here in Denali, and Luna is our best chance of finding her.”

  He didn’t respond, but she could tell by the reluctant acceptance in his gaze that he knew she was right. It was the main reason they’d teamed up to work the case together in the first place.

  He didn’t like it and, frankly, neither did she. It was never a good idea to expose Christine to danger.

  But what was the alternative? The criminal ring was his investigation, and he planned to see it through to the end. And so did she.

  “We’ll both stay the course. Once we find Zoe, I’m sure we’ll get the information we need to break the case wide open.”

  “You hope that’s what will happen,” Helena corrected. “But she could be just an innocent pawn in all of this and may not have as much information as you think.”

  “Maybe.” Everett glanced up at the rearview mirror and she knew he was eyeing the sleeping baby. “But I still believe Christine’s father is involved.”

  She was forced to concede he had a good point. Why else would Zoe go along with all this? Maybe the father was threatening to harm Christine, which is why her twin had taken the risk of dropping off her daughter at Everett’s cabin.

  Pulling out her phone, she dialed her boss. “This is Helena, our safe house was compromised.”

  “That’s not good news.” Helena could imagine the deep frown etching Lorenza’s brow. “You haven’t even been there twenty-four hours.”

  “Tell me about it.” She didn’t want to mention how Everett had called his informant, which may have led to their discovery. “Can you help us find something else?”

  “I’ll see what I can do. Give me thirty minutes.”

  She disconnected from the call. “If Lorenza comes up empty, we could try the park rangers. They may know of a place we can use.”

  “I’d rather keep those who know about our location to a minimum,” Everett said. “I already feel guilty enough that we were found.”

  “We don’t know for sure the call to your informant was the leak,” she pointed out. “Anchorage is over four hours away. There wasn’t enough time for anyone to drive up from there to get to the cabin.”

  “We know the shooters are here in Denali, and this isn’t the first attack on us.” He glanced at her. “They might have tapped his phone.”

  “You think they have that kind of sophisticated technology?” Helena wasn’t entirely convinced. “I mean, it’s possible, but that means they have access to big-time resources. More so than what we originally believed.”

  “Possible organized crime connections,” Everett murmured. “The way they’ve eluded capture so far has me leaning in that direction.” He hesitated and added, “Don’t forget we included the rangers in on this. One of them may be on the take.”

  The idea of Zoe being linked to organized crime made her stomach knot. And the possibility of the park rangers being involved, wasn’t any better. “I hope that’s not true, Everett.”

  “I know.” His gaze was grim.

  Helena’s phone rang, her boss’s name on the screen. “Colonel? Did you find something?”

  “I did. But try to stay safe here, okay? I’m running out of favors to call in.”

  “We will.” She put the phone on speaker and pulled up the note-taking app. “What’s the address?”

  As Lorenza relayed the information, she tapped it into her phone, then read it back.

  “That’s correct. Oh, and there’s a punch-code lockbox on the door containing the key. The place is for sale, but the owner has been renting it out. And, as luck would have it, the previous tenant ended up leaving early, so the place is yours for the rest of the month.”

  “Great, thanks.” Helena disconnected and put the address into the GPS. “Turn right at the next intersection,” she said. “Looks like this cabin is actually closer to the hotels.”

  “Good news for us.” Everett took the turn. “I still think staking out the Denali Grand Chalet is our best chance of finding Zoe.”

  “Maybe.” If Zoe was, in fact, working there. Could be that she’d tried to get a job but wasn’t hired.

  Or it could be that her twin was there but had already moved on to something else.

  Helena told herself not to focus on the worst-case scenario. Her twin was okay, and she prayed they’d find her before she managed to bury herself deeper into trouble.

  “We need more information on the Chalet itself,” Everett said as he followed the GPS directions to their new location. “I heard the place was built by some rich guy.”

  She performed a search on her phone. “It’s owned by a billionaire by the name of Jayson Porter. Apparently he’s some tech giant CEO and has connections with the Hollywood jet set. His girlfriend is some big actress.”

  “Great. Talk about the perfect target for someone looking to score.” Everett scowled.

  “You think so? Wouldn’t a billionaire have extensive security? I mean, someone a little less rich and famous might be easier to steal from.”

  “Not if it’s an inside job.”

  She grimaced. “And you think Zoe is the insider who is tasked with stealing the goods?”

  “I think it’s a strong possibility.” Everett leaned forward. “Is that the driveway there?”

  “Yes.” The drive leading to the cabin was rutted worse than their previous location. As they approached the safe house, she tried not to wrinkle her nose with distaste. The place didn’t look nearly as nice as the previous one.

  No wonder it was still on the market.

  Everett parked in front of the cabin. She got out and quickly released the dog from the back. “Will you get Christine? I want to walk Luna around the property.”

  “Sure.” Everett was already pulling the infant carrier from the back seat. He gazed down at Christine for a moment then carried her up to the front door. It didn’t take him long to punch in the code and open the cabin door.

  Helena released the dog. “Come Luna.”

  The K-9 was all business as they walked around the property. The terrain was more rugged, the thick weeds and brush making it difficult to navigate.

  A deterrent for the bad guys who kept finding them? She could only hope. Luna didn’t growl or alert on Zoe’s scent, not that she expected the dog to find her sister here. When she was satisfied that the property was secure and relatively well hidden from the road, she turned back.

  The interior of the cabin left much to be desired, but she knew it could have been worse. “I have a pair of binoculars in the vehicle, do we want to watch the Chalet in shifts? I can do the first one, and you can relieve me after a few hours.”

  Everett hesitated. “We need to wait a bit on that idea. I still can’t figure out how our last location was discovered.”

  “You don’t think Norbert’s phone was tapped?”

  “If the guy in charge suspected Norbert was talk
ing to me, I think they’d find a way to silence him. I can’t help but wonder if we were somehow followed from the Chalet.”

  “I didn’t see anyone behind us, did you?”

  “No, although we did pass that park ranger.” His expression was grim. “Still, even if the rangers aren’t involved, it doesn’t mean the bad guys didn’t find a way to track us. Especially from a spot high up in the trees. The gunfire was from a rifle, just like the shot taken at you the first day on the hill.”

  She shivered. If Everett was right about a spotter nestled in a high place with eyes on the Chalet, then they need to rethink their approach.

  Unfortunately, she had no idea what their next move should be.

  * * *

  The baby stirred and began to fuss. Everett picked Christine up from her infant carrier and briefly rested his cheek against her downy head.

  When the bullet had hit the vehicle, he’d thought the worst.

  “You’re okay, little girl,” he whispered. “Everything is going to be all right.”

  The baby quieted in his arms. For a moment, he could barely breathe, the sweetness of the baby hitting him hard.

  When Helena and Luna entered the cabin, he felt her curious gaze. “She okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” He reached for the diaper bag. “Christine probably needs to be changed.”

  “I can do it,” Helena offered. “I could use the practice.”

  Diaper changing wasn’t high on his list of fun things to do, but oddly enough it was difficult to hand the baby over. His gaze caught Helena’s, and a tingle of awareness rippled over him. He cleared his throat. “You’ll do fine.”

  Helena snuggled the infant and carried her into one of the bedrooms. Meanwhile, he headed into the kitchen, taking note of the lack of food. They’d been forced to leave their previous cabin in too much of a hurry to pack the cooler.

  At least Christine had plenty of formula. Zoe had left more than enough for the little girl.

  He made a fresh bottle and tried to think of the closest place to grab something to eat. If he could convince Helena to stay here with Luna and Christine, he could run to one of the small grocery stores.