by Dale Mayer
“Damn,” Jace said in a soft voice. “Has he gone to the center itself?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Jace turned toward the door, then looked at John’s wife. “Who was the call from?”
“Amber.”
“Thank you.”
He strode to the truck so damn fast, Emily could barely keep up. He was already talking into his phone. “Meet us at the center.”
“Did you call the detective?”
He nodded and pointed to the detective’s car now heading out into the main traffic. “Get in,” he barked. “We have to go to the center, and we have to go now.”
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Another TxSAR member has been injured. Some kind of an incident close to the center. John’s gone to help.”
She sat quietly as he drove fast but not aggressively. Even now knowing time was important, he wasn’t taking any chances.
“I hope nobody else dies,” she said in a small voice.
“I’d be okay if one of them did.”
Startled, she turned to look at him. “What?”
He glanced over at her. “Haven’t you guessed by now?”
“Guessed what?”
“The person doing all the killing is one of the TxSAR team.”
Emily gasped and sank into her seat. She could only stare at him wordlessly. In her mind all she could think of was how absolutely horrible that someone would do that.
*
They raced into the center’s parking lot. The detective was already out of his car. Together the three ran inside the main building. The front reception was empty. The office empty. Jace glanced around and bolted through the double doors toward the back. There he saw Amber. “Amber, where is John?”
Startled, she said, “He just left with Troy.”
“Who was hurt?”
“Peter. The rocks slipped while they were practicing water rescues, and he’s stuck between a couple big ones.”
“What are you working on?” the detective asked. “I didn’t hear any call for TxSAR or police backup.”
Amber’s face lit up in surprise. “No, it was a training mission. Peter fell, and his leg got pinned by two rocks. They’ve gone to help him.” She looked at the three of them. “I’m heading out to the site now too. I believe paramedics have been called.”
“We’ll follow you,” Jace said.
She nodded. “I’m bringing some of the gear for the guys.”
Jace motioned to Emily. “Come on. Back to the truck.”
Emily followed him. “I still don’t understand what this is all about.”
The detective got in his car, but this time Jace was in his truck and pulling out right behind Amber as she drove an SUV. He followed her onto the side roads that wound up and around the area. Ten minutes later she pulled onto the side shoulder and parked alongside several other vehicles. Jace pulled up behind her.
He glanced at Emily. “Make sure you stay as part of the crowd.”
She frowned at him. “Why?”
He was already outside, racing around toward her. “I don’t have time to explain. I need to know you’re safe.”
She shrugged. “No problem. I’ll see what the others are up to.”
He nodded, pointing to where the crowd was gathered. “Stay there.” And he took off.
She walked to the crowd. Several people looked at her and frowned. She shrugged. “I came with Jace and the detective.”
“Detective?”
She nodded but didn’t explain. How could she? She didn’t know anything.
A river was below, maybe twelve feet from where she stood, but the bank went on for a mile—or seemed to. It was slippery from the recent heavy rains. It didn’t seem to slow Jace at all. He was already at the site where Peter sat with his leg pinned. She recognized several other men as being from the TxSAR team from their outfits. On man was ten to twelve feet into the river. Some of the men wore harnesses, and a couple more stood just inside the water, waiting to help.
Jace was not in any way geared up for this kind of activity. He didn’t even have decent boots on for the unstable ground or the river. But she knew making any comment would be useless. Not only would he not hear her but, even if he could, he wouldn’t listen. She saw the surprise on the others’ faces as they saw him. The atmosphere was calm. There was no yelling or anger.
The pain on Peter’s face was visible as she turned to look at Amber. “How did that happen?”
Amber shrugged. “When the rivers have a lot of force, the rocks become unstable. It doesn’t take much to make them move.”
“And you’re the one who called John to come help Peter?”
“Yes. John’s got experience with this kind of stuff. We wanted to make sure Peter was rescued before there was any permanent damage to his leg.”
At that Emily winced. “Right. That’s not exactly something anybody wants.”
Amber lowered her voice. “Troy has lots of experience but not as a leader.”
Emily didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she thought she heard a flat tone, as if Amber didn’t like Troy. “Must be tough to see any of your friends get hurt.”
“It’s worse to see them dead.” At that Amber turned and walked back to her SUV.
She had not seemed that upset, but this whole business was pretty damn upsetting.
Emily glanced at the rest of the group hanging around, but she didn’t know anyone. With a bright smile she said, “You guys in the TxSAR training group?”
Several of them nodded. “We came for a training session. Then things went bad.”
“You get some real experience in saving someone,” she joked gently. Several laughed. She realized that, to them, it probably wasn’t the best of days.
While she was trying to get information, her options were limited. She didn’t think she would get too many answers here. She waited at the top as the men below clustered around pry bars used to shift rocks, and finally Peter was free. But he wasn’t able to walk. With Jace and John working together, they created a seat with their entwined arms and carried Peter up the embankment. An ambulance arrived just then. They put him up on a stretcher and took off. The whole process took probably thirty to forty minutes, but it seemed to happen so fast with everyone busy doing something. She watched in fascination, having never seen a rescue like that before.
Suddenly Jace was beside her, dripping wet, a hard look on his face. Her heart sank as she looked at him. “Is that what you expected?”
He slanted a glance her way. “We got here in time to make sure it didn’t happen again.”
She gasped in understanding. “Really?”
He gave her a clipped nod. “Really.”
“Do you have any proof?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t.”
A man in charge told everyone to pack up and head back. That he’d proceed to the hospital to make sure the reports were filled out.
John walked over and shook Jace’s hand. He smiled at Emily. “I didn’t mean for you guys to come down here.”
“We wanted to make sure there were no more deaths,” Jace said.
John winced. “Maybe I was wrong about that.”
Jace shook his head. “I doubt it. I really doubt it.
“You doubt what?” the leader asked with a belligerent tone to his voice. “How the hell do you keep popping up and getting in our faces?”
Emily frowned. “That’s hardly fair,” she stated, then read the name on the newcomer’s jacket—Troy. “Jace came to help.”
Troy glared at her. He shook his head. “Out, goddammit.” He stormed off, but Jace called out, “I guess I upset your plans then?”
Troy spun around, shock on his face. “What are you talking about? I didn’t have any plans here. We were training.”
“Sure, that’s a great way to get rid of somebody, isn’t it?”
Troy spread his legs into a wider stance and placed his fist on his hips. “Wha
t the hell are you saying?”
“I’m saying, you meant for more than another accident here,” Jace said, his gaze watchful.
Emily shook her head. She wished this wasn’t happening here and now. But, behind Troy, she could see the detective leaning against Troy’s truck, listening, and he wouldn’t allow Troy to take off. She glanced at John who had gone incredibly still. As if watching a western shootout in progress.
“I’m saying you killed Ronnie and Howard this year and Ken Foster last year.”
Troy’s eyebrows shot up. “Now wait a minute. Those three men were all good, honorable men who died in accidents. Doing what they love to do. Which was rescuing and helping others.”
If she hadn’t been looking so closely, she wouldn’t have seen it. But she did. That whisper of fear that crossed Troy’s face. And she wondered and worried. Please don’t let something like that be the truth. It would be too horrible to imagine Ronnie dying because of this man. Why would Troy do something like that?
“That’s true. They were the best of men. But they died by your hand. The same as I’m pretty sure Peter’s accident was one you engineered. It was the only way you could lure John to the scene. You knew he’d mentored Peter, and that, if Peter was in trouble, John would step up, regardless of his fear and pain and sense of loss.”
“Of course he’d come to Peter’s rescue. We all came to Peter’s rescue,” Troy said, his voice blustering and angry. He spread his arms open wide. “You did see the whole lot of us here, right?”
“And I did see you leading the charge to rescue.” Jace nodded.
“Right, like I always do. I’ve been volunteering here, been part of the center, for close to twenty years.” He shook his head. “How dare you accuse me of doing something wrong. I’ve invested my entire life here, every free weekend. Anytime somebody needed me, I was there.”
“And yet all those years you were never the leader of the center. Never the one they looked up to. You were never the manager, the organizer, the boss,” Jace said, his voice forceful and yet quiet.
So much damn power was packed into that accusation that it was like a visceral punch to the other man’s gut. She watched Troy take the blow, absorb it, and turn it into fury.
“And,” Jace challenged, “the others preferred the leaders they had. Ken Foster was here for what, a decade? Until you arranged for him to have an accident,” Jace said.
“Are you nuts?” Troy cried out. “Are you seriously implying I had something to do with those men’s deaths?”
“I’m not implying any longer,” Jace said. “Not only did you engineer the accidents but you murdered those men.”
John sucked in his breath. The detective straightened. Yet the silence from the group was deafening for a moment.
Then Troy snorted. “And why would I do that?”
“Who is it that took over after Ken Foster was killed?”
“You know who took over. Ronnie did.”
Jace turned to John and said, “How was Ronnie elected for the position?”
“By our votes. Troy was a contender but didn’t have the same experience as Ronnie. Neither did Troy have the same respect from the team, and that makes a huge difference. Ronnie was the man who had all the experience and the respect.”
“But Troy couldn’t handle that. You didn’t have all the experience, did you, Troy?”
“I had equal amounts of experience. We both had the same experience, a number of years of dedication, but he got the promotion,” Troy spat out. “I should’ve gotten it.”
And then it hit her. “Oh, my God, you killed him because he got the position you wanted. Then you killed his cousin because, as soon as Ronnie was dead, Howard would automatically step in to take his place because he was the next in line for the position.”
She stared at the river, looked at John, and then at Troy. “You were afraid John would come back to the center, and the team would vote him in as the next leader. You couldn’t allow that to happen.” She shook her head and turned to Jace. “The life insurance was secondary.”
“That’s preposterous,” Troy snapped. “Why would I do that?”
“Why wouldn’t you?” Jace said. “After all, it wasn’t a crime in your mind to kill these men, was it, Troy? You left their families with a hefty life insurance policy, didn’t you? So by killing the men, you did everybody a favor. In your warped mind, the money made up for the deaths. Even though the wives suffered, they got one million bucks. No way for you to get that million dollars, but it helped you feel better about killing their spouses.” Jace stared at Troy, seeing his face twist in anger. “You didn’t have to kill these men. Yet you did. And you didn’t give a damn because everybody got money, was better off with them gone, weren’t they? It let you justify your actions.” Jace shook his head. “But you were so wrong. These families wanted those men alive, with them for decades to come. They didn’t want the damn money.”
In a hard voice John added, “Is that why you suggested I get a life insurance policy after Ronnie died? So when my turn to die came around, my dearly beloved Mary wouldn’t suffer more than she had to?”
Emily stared at Troy in shock. “That is so incredibly ugly.”
“And how many others did you kill to further your own interests, to climb the social ladder, to get the position you thought you deserved?” Jace asked.
“It’s not my fault,” Troy roared. “If they’d given me a chance, I wouldn’t have had to force them out.”
“Force them out? You killed them.”
“I did not! The river did that!” He made a motion with his hand to the water below. “I didn’t hold their heads underwater. That was the river.”
“Are you sure? Because we have a videotape of a third man with Ronnie and Howard at that vehicle. All clustered in the same place.”
“And I told you that was the man they rescued.” Troy shook his head at them. “You’re making me out to be a bad guy here. I didn’t do anything.”
“But the man in the vehicle didn’t have on a helmet. That third man was you. You went back into the river after you brought the truck over and got out the lines. While in the water, you made your way to Ronnie. But in all the confusion, you were counting on no one noticing who was where,” Jace said, his tone glacial. “While there, you either held Ronnie underwater or slammed his head into something hard to knock him out. And Howard, busy trying to get the survivor to shore, didn’t realize Ronnie was in trouble until Howard came back to see what was keeping his cousin at the vehicle. Then you gave Howard the exact same treatment as Ronnie, didn’t you? All that was left was to cut their lines and let the river have them.”
Emily stared in horror as Troy’s face worked, coming up with an excuse to justify what he’d done. How could he though? There was no excuse.
“How could you?” she cried out. “Ronnie was a decent man. So was Howard.”
Troy looked at her. “Who the hell are you anyway?”
She stuck out her chin. “Ronnie’s ex-wife, that’s who. I knew the family. I knew both of them.” She shook her head. “I worked at the insurance company where they had their policies.”
“Easy,” Jace whispered. He put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. That’s when she realized she’d taken several steps toward Troy, and her hands were clenched into fists. She was ready to attack Troy for what he’d done.
She stared at Troy. “You’re a monster. You killed three men. God only knows how many others you planned on killing. John was today, wasn’t he? Somehow John would have an accident out here while he was saving Peter.”
At that Troy seemed to blow a gasket. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. You don’t know what it’s like to be passed over time and time again. I gave my entire life to this organization. And they never gave me anything back.”
“You don’t volunteer like this to get something in return,” Emily cried out. “You do it to help people. That’s the difference between you and Ronnie and Howa
rd and Ken. They did it to help people. You did it to help yourself.”
The detective stepped up behind Troy. Before he realized it, he had handcuffs on his wrists. Yet he kept spouting, “It’s not fair. It’s not fair. I couldn’t even afford life insurance for myself. And yet not only did they do what they loved but they were well-loved for it. Now that they’re gone, their families are all fine and dandy with the money. All I wanted was to run the center, to be looked up to, like they were.”
“The other two men?” Emily asked. “Lyle and Richard? Did you kill them too?”
He snorted. “I wish I had. I should have, but they weren’t worth the effort.” He shook his head. “No, I didn’t. And if I had, it wouldn’t have been so obvious.”
Sounds of sirens approached, and Emily realized the detective must’ve called for backup. She turned to Jace. “If he didn’t kill them, who did?”
He glanced at her. “The methodologies said it wasn’t Troy. Like he said, he would’ve made it less obvious. He would have used an accident scene, like he did for the three he did kill. He wouldn’t have run over one, and he wouldn’t have poured water down the throat of the other.”
She stared at him in bewilderment. “Then who? Who killed them?”
He stared at her. “You might get your wish after all.”
She gasped. “Sicily?” she shrieked. “You’re serious?”
He nodded. “It’s up to the police to prove it, but I’m pretty darn sure she and her current lover decided to kill her husband and ex-boyfriend for the insurance money. A convenient way to get rid of two problems and land a heavy-duty payday without working for it.”
Emily was too flabbergasted to say anything. Her jaw dropped, and she stared at him. “I didn’t really want her to have done it,” she said when she could speak again. “But the woman obviously didn’t give a damn about poor Lyle.”
“No, it looks like she didn’t.”
He put an arm around her, turned to face John, and asked, “John, are you okay?”
Emily studied the man and realized how much he’d aged in the last few minutes.
He nodded. “I am now. There was something so futile about helping to rescue others only to lose our own men. Wondering if we were even doing anything to help protect our own people …” He shook his head. “I know it sounds twisted and wrong, but I feel better knowing Troy murdered them, and it wasn’t the men’s lack of care or training or that the job itself was too big. I feel like I can come back to the center and handle it now. The others need me. Particularly after they find out what Troy’s done.”
