Fourth Day

by Lisa Phillips

  He’d thought Kennowich had a plan. Somewhere he was going, like a backroad where he left a car just in case. Sal half expected to come across a secret airport, constructed out here in the middle of nowhere.

  But there was nothing.

  No houses. No routes of escape. Just mountains and what was turning into an endless pursuit.

  The horse’s skin was covered with sweat.

  Sal dismounted and grabbed the reins. He led the horse to a stream to the west and made a call as he walked.

  Talia didn’t even let it ring twice before she answered, “Matrice.”

  “Still got him on your radar?”

  “I had to patch the FBI office in San Francisco in on what’s going on. They’re on the line also.”

  “I’ve been behind him for nearly two hours now,” Sal said. “His horse has to be tired because his pace has slowed. He’s still pushing it though.”

  “Copy that,” a male voice he’d never heard before said. “Keep herding him north. Our agents are approaching from northwest and northeast.”

  “Copy that.” Sal figured he’d give like for like, and it was efficient. “I’m ready to get this guy in cuffs.” Where he thought he was going was a major source of irritation. “There’s nothing out here to the north?”

  He wasn’t herding Kennowich as such, but Sal had angled to the right half an hour or so ago and sped up in order to try and get the man to change direction. It mostly worked. Though Sal had to wonder if Kennowich was just running away, or headed somewhere prearranged, or if he was purposely leading Sal on a mountain chase.

  Talia said, “Miles of mountains. Won’t be long before you’re in Nevada at this rate.”

  Sal actually liked the Nevada mountains. “Nowhere you think he might be headed?”

  “The Reno airport?”

  Sal would have to look at a map, but figured it unlikely Kennowich that would ride his horse all the way there. “We need to take him down now.”

  He wasn’t all fired up to have the FBI as the ones helping. The agents in Seattle had gone from ally to enemy pretty fast. They’d tried to round up his team for questioning. Their agents had handed Allyson over to Kennowich.

  He knew these agents from the San Francisco office weren’t in question. Most federal agents—like most cops—wanted to do their jobs right. They followed procedure, and they looked for ways to help people. To see justice done.

  He just couldn’t let go of the unease that had stuck with him after the adrenaline dissolved. He’d rather be out here with his team, the ones he trusted more than anyone else, if he had to have backup.

  Talia must have heard something in his voice, because she said, “Dakota’s been calling me every five minutes, asking what’s the latest and whether she should get on a plane.”

  “Special Agent Pierce is being questioned by agents in Seattle, as far as I’m aware,” the FBI representative said.

  “She’s never liked sitting still.” Sal felt the smile across his mouth, glad for the distraction of all that Dakota represented. “Tell her I’m okay.”

  “Will do.” Talia was quiet for a second, then said, “Kennowich turned east. He’s rounding a mountainside that looks like a cliff.”

  Sal heard a wolf howl. The horse shifted, and he led it away from the stream. “Time to move.”

  Talia gave him directions.

  The FBI agent was quiet for a while, then came back on the line. “All positions report. Six minutes to takedown.”

  “Copy that.”

  Talia echoed his response.

  Sal hauled himself back on the horse and followed the map on his phone that showed where he was in relation to Kennowich. He moved to the rear, between the two groups of FBI agents he could now see, and secured the horse so he could retrieve it later.

  Alone, he trudged between the trees. Each step sank into the soft earth, coating his boots with mud. He liked this work. The lengthy pursuit, followed by the takedown of a high-value target.

  So why did he want to be at the hospital with Allyson instead?

  As soon as Kennowich had fled the barn on the horse, he’d rushed in to saddle another one and then taken off after him. Twenty minutes had passed before he spotted the man up ahead. That was when he realized he’d blown off the ATF team’s involvement and gone off by himself.

  Same old, same old.

  Only now everything was different. Not the part where Talia helped, and the FBI assisted in the capture. He felt different.

  He wanted to call Niall, who was retasked by Talia to stay with Allyson because Sal had asked her to. He hadn’t liked the fact she would be alone, not knowing what was happening.

  Sal’s phone buzzed with the command to move in.

  He started the approach, seeing that Kennowich had dismounted his horse. The man then smacked the horse’s flank to send it off running. Sal couldn’t figure if he actually knew what he was doing around the animal or not. Probably because he didn’t know what Kennowich was up to at this moment, and it irritated him that he had no idea.

  He glanced once more at his phone and saw the other agents converging.

  Their target stood alone in a tiny clearing, the cliff face of the mountain in front of him. His back to Sal.

  Standing still. Doing…what? Did he know he was done, that they had him cornered? It seemed too easy. Like he’d walked himself to this very spot. And for what?

  Sal cleared the last tree and came into view. “Malcom Kennowich!” He called out in a loud commanding tone, “Federal agents. You will lay all weapons down and put your hands up!”

  Kennowich spun, already firing.

  Sal squeezed his own trigger. Two of Kennowich’s bullets missed Sal, but the third caught him in the chest.

  He staggered back a step and went down to one knee.

  FBI agents shouted, racing over.

  Toward Sal.

  Kennowich’s teeth flashed white. The world swam in and out of view as Sal tried to figure out what had happened.

  More shots echoed across the mountainside. Birds fluttered into the sky.

  Sal blinked, looking up at the blue.

  Chapter 26

  Niall raced the car down the mountain highway while dread swished around in Allyson’s stomach to the motion of the turns. Sal. He’d helped her so many times, now it was their turn to help him.

  Sure, he was tracking down Kennowich. He did that kind of work all the time. Why would this be any different? Still, there was a part of her—call it discernment, or something else—that wasn’t going to relax until she saw him for herself.

  The second the phone rang, he handed it to Allyson. Talia. She swiped the screen and the call came through the rental car speakers. “Niall’s here, and so am I.”

  “Good.” Her voice was breathy. Whether that was from stress or exertion, Allyson didn’t know. And there wasn’t time to ask. Talia said, “I’ve got you on GPS. Keep heading along that highway. It’ll be another ten minutes.”

  She’d already texted Niall general directions before they’d left the hospital.

  “Copy that,” the NCIS agent said.

  “Are we worried?” She knew she was but wanted to hear their take.

  Talia was the one who answered. “I’ve lost contact. They were about to take down Kennowich, but everything went dead. As though someone covered the entire area with a blanket. No GPS. No cell contact. Even the radios went offline.”

  Niall gripped the steering wheel with renewed intensity. “So we have no idea of the outcome of the operation?”

  “Right,” Talia said. “I tried a backdoor I have into Sal’s phone, but it won’t connect. So either they knew about it, or it’s a fluke.”

  “Who?” Allyson asked. “Kennowich?”

  Talia paused. “Or the FBI agents who went with him to do the take down.”

  Silence filled the car. She stared out the windshield remembering how she’d opened her front door to those agents. She’d gone with them, trusted them. In the en
d, it turned out Kennowich had paid them off for handing her over to them.

  Was the corruption in the FBI more widespread than those few agents? That would mean not only did Kennowich have agents on his payroll in Seattle, but also here in California.

  His business was based here, so that made sense.

  It was also a completely terrifying idea, considering he also had holdings all over the US and abroad. What if Kennowich had men and women in law enforcement, and even in government, all over the place?

  There would be nowhere safe to hide from him.

  Nowhere he couldn’t go to find a safe place to lay low and escape the justice that sorely needed to be brought against him.

  For the first time, Allyson felt the fires of vengeance stoke in her. This case was the first time things had gotten personal for her, aside from the day Sal had been hurt—a one-time occurrence, thankfully. This was huge. Widespread, like an infection in the body.

  They would need serious medicine to root it out.

  A rustle came over the phone line. In the background she heard a man say, “I vouched for those agents, personally. I work with those men.”

  Talia sighed. “Special Agent Billings from the Seattle office of the FBI, who has formerly worked at the San Francisco office, disagrees with our theory that the agents sent to help Sal aren’t, in fact, friendly.”

  Neither of them missed the tone in her voice. Allyson glanced at Niall, who met her gaze for a second before looking back at the road.

  Allyson said, “Any evidence that there’s corruption in the FBI, more than just the couple of agents who handed me to Kennowich?”

  The FBI agent on the line was quiet.

  “That appears to be a simple case of blackmail, though we’re still unraveling the threads. The rest of the team is here.” She paused. “Haley says hi.”

  Niall smiled. “Hi, Sweetness.”

  Talia chuckled and relayed the message. Then she said, “The state of the FBI in San Francisco is out of my purview, I’m afraid. But I’ve put in a call to Daulton to be aware, as a team showed up at the house to help. He’s keeping watch on all the evidence that’s being collected on Kennowich from his hou—take the next right. It’s a fire road.”

  Niall took the turn.

  “I’d like to see him explain why he had an entire surgical suite in his vacation house.” Allyson realized what she’d said only after it came out of her mouth.

  Talia said, “Ally,” her tone soft.

  She didn’t correct her that only friends called her that. “So we don’t know who to trust.”

  Niall asked, “What about Victoria, what does she say?”

  “She isn’t here,” Talia said. “She’s at the office of Homeland Security, not at the Secret Service office or the FBI, though that’s where I thought she was. I haven’t heard anything in a while. She’s gone radio silent.”

  “Let’s find Sal and Kennowich,” Ally suggested. “Then we can get back to Seattle and figure out the rest.”

  “Agreed.”

  Talia said, “Follow that road north. It winds around the mountain, and you’ll come up on where two FBI vehicles should be parked.”

  They followed her directions and found no cars.

  “This is ominous.”

  She glanced at Niall, wondering why he’d think that. Then she looked at the empty space where tires had left ruts in the dirt and had to agree with his assessment. “Let’s go.”

  She shoved the car door open and got out.

  Sharp pain rippled through her side, but she ignored it. There was no way she would sit here and let Niall go alone. The man was wearing dress shoes. Hers weren’t much better, nothing but borrowed running shoes from one of the nurses, but they would do fine.

  “You good?”

  She glanced at Niall. “I won’t last hours, but I’m okay for now.” Mostly she was ignoring the pain, but that didn’t really work. There wasn’t any way to completely put the sensation aside, she just needed to try to focus on other things. She was going to be snippy until they found Sal and she could rest.

  He walked with his phone held out in one hand, gun in the other. She had his extra weapon.

  Talia said, “Half a mile uphill to the northwest. Follow the dots.”

  It didn’t take long to come upon the clearing.

  The first dead man lay awkwardly against a tree. Blood covered his chest. “He’s an FBI agent.” She didn’t crouch, that would hurt. And if these guys had betrayed Sal, she didn’t even want to know. Today had been…just too much.

  “Over here!”

  She spun too fast to see what Niall had and cried out in pain. Then she saw him. Sprawled on the ground, hog tied. Gagged. A knot was raised on one side of his temple, but his eyes were open and clear. The side of his shirt, where he had stitches from being stabbed, was damp with blood again.

  “Sal.” She sank to her knees while Niall cut him loose, relaying to Talia what they’d found about the dead man and the state Sal was in.

  “You guys need Life Flight?”

  Sal said, “No,” but it was muffled.

  Niall finished cutting him free. “He looks all right.”

  She pulled the gag from his mouth so that it hung down his neck. Sal sat up. “I’m good. You guys?”

  Of course he sounded more worried about them. He sat up, stretching out his limbs as he moved.

  She nodded. “We’re good.”

  Sal squeezed the back of her neck, then leaned in and touched his lips to hers. “Good.”

  Talia’s voice came through the phone speaker. “Where’s Kennowich?”

  . . .

  Sal stood, holding Allyson’s elbow. Not quite sure if he was holding her up, or himself. Probably both. “You’re okay?”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “So am I,” Talia called through the phone.

  Niall lifted it in front of him. “Sorry. Little distracted.” He glanced at both of them.

  “Good to hear your voice, Talia.” Sal closed the gap between him and his teammate. His friend. They slapped each other’s backs.

  “Got the drop on you?” Niall’s eyebrows lifted.

  Sal nodded to his question.

  Allyson joined their huddle, standing close to him. “What happened?”

  “Last I heard,” Talia said. “Was that you were moving in to do the takedown.”

  Sal nodded for Niall and Allyson’s benefit. He wanted to tug her under his shoulder, have her be close to him. He’d kissed her already, though. Staking his claim—finally—in front of one of his teammates.

  He pushed aside those thoughts he’d like to sink into. Kind of like the way he’d love to sink into a close hold and more of that kiss they’d shared before.

  But not yet.

  “I got hit.” He touched the vest covering his chest and rubbed at a spot that would probably be a gnarly bruise tomorrow. “By the time I figured out what happened, they had me surrounded. Disarmed me and tied me up.”

  Boy was he itching to pay them back for that.

  And yet, they hadn’t killed him. Probably should have considering he was never going to stop looking for them. Not until he had each one in custody and Kennowich behind bars where he belonged.

  Niall shot him a grim look. “They left with Kennowich?”

  Allyson seemed to feel the same. Or she still wasn’t okay from the cut she’d sustained. The woman had some color in her cheeks, the red of exertion. Underneath it, she was still very pale. “He’s gone? Again?”

  Sal tugged her to him then and kissed her forehead. “We’ll find him.”

  “The FBI here has dirty agents in it as well?” She shook her head, wide eyed.

  As though he’d sensed Sal and Ally needed a moment, Niall wandered off. “I’ll check the body for anything that might help.” He asked Talia a question over the phone as he walked away.

  Sal tugged her to face him, but she was already moving that way. Allyson slid her arms up his chest and locked
her hands behind his neck. She couldn’t hide the wince of pain, though. She lowered her hands and slid them around his back before she leaned her forehead on his shoulder.

  Sal rubbed her back, keeping away from her injury, though his fingers felt the edges of it.

  She sucked in a long breath. It broke a couple of times as she pushed it out. “I’m spent. I don’t think I have the energy to go after Kennowich. But he’ll get too far if we don’t move now. The longer that goes on, the farther away he gets.” She leaned back and looked up at him. “I don’t want him to get away.”

  The implication of her words was more than face value. He nodded. “We’re not going to let him.” But he could see she was exhausted. He felt banged up. Then stiff on top of that, from being shot and tied up.

  He tugged on her hand and pulled her over to where Niall was working on two phones, only one of them his.

  “Maybe you could stay in the car.” He wasn’t about to suggest that she should stay here with the dead guy until the coroner got here.

  She was already shaking her head before he even finished saying it. “I’m not leaving. And I’m definitely not going home to my apartment.” She glanced up at him, a note of fear on her face. “It feels like every time I leave your side, I get kidnapped.”

  “That’s not going to happen anymore.” He stopped and turned to her without dropping her hand. “No one is leaving anyone else.”

  “Well, I assume I’ll be able to use the restroom by myself. Because otherwise that would be very awkward.”

  Sal barked a laugh.

  He saw Niall glance at them out the corner of his eye but didn’t take his gaze off Allyson. He moved closer and touched her cheeks. “I’ll allow it.”

  “Thank you, O gracious one.” Whatever sarcasm she’d intended to be there was negated by her smile.

  “You’re welcome.” After they were married, this would be easier. But for now, he would enjoy what he guessed was going to be a wonderful and totally frustrating season in his life.

  Hopefully a short one.

  Talia’s voice came through the phone speaker. “Either of you care to know what I’ve found while you were smooching?”