On the Hunt

by SUE FINEMAN

  “He’ll cooperate if I have to take off one finger at a time.”

  Stipes reached for his coat. “Ah, torture. Right up my alley.”

  Sometimes Stipes reminded him of Greg. They had the same build, they had more macho attitude than either needed, and they both had excellent instincts.

  Sometimes a little intimidation went a long way, and Stipes looked like he could fight off a tiger with one hand. Especially now, when he was still kicking himself for letting someone kidnap Mia from right under his nose.

  <>

  Mia heard someone coming. She scooted back to the short tunnel, and feeling her way with her hand on the wall, found the hidden alcove. Streaks of light came down the short tunnel, but not into her little hiding place.

  “Shit,” the man whispered. “Where in the hell did she go?”

  If she’d had her gun with her and enough light to see, she would have fought her way out. Breathing as quietly as possible, she prayed he didn’t find her. A wave of dizziness came over her, and she shivered with the cold. Sliding down the wall to a sitting position, she wrapped the blanket tighter around her, and closed her eyes. Her eyes hurt from trying to see what couldn’t be seen. No wonder bats were blind.

  <>

  Dave drove Stipes to the Edwards house and they went directly to the basement, where Edwin Edwards stood yelling at Murphy to get the hell out of his home.

  “I’ll handle this,” said Dave. “Charles Edwin Edwards, you’re under arrest for the murder of Nadine Lynderman, for the attempted murder of two federal officers and a Tacoma Police Officer, and if you don’t tell me what you’ve done with Mia Gregory, you’ll also be charged with kidnapping.”

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  Dave finished reading Edwards his rights. “Where is Mia? What have you done with her?”

  “I demand to see my attorney.”

  “As soon as you open the door behind the wine rack and tell me where Mia is.”

  Edwards crossed his arms and glared at Dave. “I have nothing to say to you.”

  Dave glanced at Murphy. “Cuff him. If he moves, shoot him.”

  Edwards laughed, and Dave snapped. This sick creep thought kidnapping Mia was funny? Dave’s fist caught the man’s jaw and Edwards dropped to the floor. “I want to know what you’ve done with Mia, and if you don’t tell me, there won’t be enough of you left to talk to your damned attorney.”

  For the first time, Edwards’ eyes held a look of fear. Stipes’ hand on Dave’s shoulder brought him back to the problem at hand. What had this creep done with Mia?

  “Murphy, did you check every wall in the basement?”

  “Yes, sir. The only one that isn’t solid is the one behind the wine rack.”

  “Then find a sledge hammer or a crow bar and let’s get it open.”

  Murphy grinned. “Yes, sir.”

  Stipes pulled Edwards off the floor and shoved him into a chair at the game table. “Keep your hands on the table where I can see them. Move an inch and you’re a dead man. If you harmed one hair on that woman’s head, you’re dead anyway.”

  “But it won’t be quick.” Dave leaned down in Edwards’ face. “It’ll be painful, not quick. Where is she?”

  “I have no idea.” He said it as if he could care less, and Dave wanted to bash the man’s skinny nose in. He drew his fist back to hit Edwards again, but Stipes grabbed his arm.

  Murphy had a crowbar, so Dave snatched it from his hand. If he didn’t do something physical, he’d end up killing the son-of-a-bitch. If Edwards didn’t get the death penalty for killing his stepdaughter, he’d stand trial for the two murders in Philadelphia. If Dave didn’t kill him first. Sometimes the law moved too slowly and sometimes it was entirely too civilized for people like Edwards, who could kill a young girl without blinking and then wipe all traces of her from his home.

  Dave put all his attention on the wall and the piece of wood covering it. It looked like half a piece of plywood, but there were no nails around the outside. Using his fingernail, Dave scratched at a slight indentation near the middle and found a headless screw sunk into the wood. Using the crowbar, Dave began tearing the outside of the wood apart until he got to the center. “Looks like a door.”

  “How does it open?” Murphy asked.

  Stipes had Edwards cuffed hands and feet in the middle of the basement floor. Edwards yelled, “This is police brutality.”

  “Shut the fuck up or I’ll knock your head off,” said Stipes, and Edwards shut up.

  Dave had other things on his mind, like how to get inside this thing.

  Stipes took a turn with the crowbar and ripped the rest of the plywood off, leaving a round plug in the wall about three or four feet in diameter. “What the hell is this, a tomb?”

  Dave stepped out of Stipes’ way. Stipes was stronger than any of them, and he could wrestle that thing out of the wall.

  Murphy shook his head. “We’re going about this the wrong way. If this is a door, it wasn’t made to open like this. Edwards isn’t that strong.”

  “See if it’ll twist,” said Dave.

  Stipes pressed against it with the heels of his hands and pushed on it. It turned a little, so Dave helped. Seconds later, they had the plug out of the wall and he peered into what looked like a crude tunnel. His heart pounded. When he was nine years old, he’d played in something like this with his best friend and it caved in on them. Dave got out and ran for help. Firemen had to dig Bobby’s lifeless body out. Dave had nightmares about that for years. He still got claustrophobic in small places, and anything under the ground terrified him. He didn’t even like to go into a basement, and forget caves and tunnels. Yet, if they’d taken Mia inside this thing, someone had to get her out, and Dave couldn’t ask his men to do something he was afraid to do himself.

  “I’ll go,” said Stipes. “It’s my fault she’s in trouble, and I’ll get her out.”

  “No, not with your cast,” said Dave. “I’ll go, and I’ll take two men in with me.”

  “I’m in,” said Murphy, and Smith echoed him.

  Dave looked around. “We’ll need strong flashlights and an emergency kit.”

  “Radios,” said Smith. “I doubt the cells will work underground.”

  While his men rounded up what they needed, Dave tried to still his pounding heart. If someone had to dig Mia’s lifeless body out of this hole, he’d die himself.

  They should wait for hardhats, but enough time had passed. Dave’s flashlight scanned the walls and low ceiling. There were rocks everywhere, very few support beams, and the ceiling was too low for him to stand up straight. He crawled through the door and stood, hunched over, flashlight in one hand and gun in the other. He wanted to call to Mia, but what if she wasn’t alone? Did Edwards have someone waiting to ambush the rescue team? What if Mia wasn’t in there?

  What if she was? He had to know, and there was only one way to find out.

  He moved quickly through the tunnel, checking for any sign she’d been there. He heard Murphy and Smith moving behind him. They both had flashlights, but there was only one on at the moment. They didn’t speak. The light alone would alert someone they were in the tunnel. He wanted to call to Mia, to hear her voice, but he had to check out the tunnel first. He couldn’t see the end, and the deeper he went into the tunnel, the harder it was to breathe. If he had any sense, he’d turn around and get the hell out of this hole, but he couldn’t. He’d left Bobby behind, and he couldn’t leave Mia in here. He had to get her out.

  If she was in here.

  What he wouldn’t give for some of those night vision goggles the military had. He held the flashlight as far to the left of his body as he could to make himself less of a target.

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  Someone kicked Mia and she roused out of a deep sleep. She stayed very still and tried to breathe evenly, so he wouldn’t know she was awake. He turned his flashlight on for a second, but she kept her eyes closed. “Damn bitch,” he whispered, and she knew it was the man who
took her from her bed.

  She heard shuffling footsteps and prayed it was Stipes and Murphy and some of the others, but not Dave. He didn’t belong underground.

  The man’s pant leg brushed against Mia’s hand. She slipped her fingers under his pants and pulled a hair out of his leg. He jumped and let out a little squeak of panic. Pulling her hand under the blanket, she tried hard not to smile, in case he turned on the flashlight again. He was afraid of the dark, and she’d just made him more afraid.

  He scooted away and then pulled back as a light came down the main tunnel.

  “There’s a door up ahead,” a man whispered, and she recognized Dave’s voice.

  Using both fists, Mia shoved on the backs of the man’s knees, and he went down. Dave’s light went out and she couldn’t see. “Dave, there’s a man in here with me, and I can’t see if he has any weapons.”

  The light came back on. “Where are you?”

  “Down the side tunnel on your left.”

  The man she’d pushed down turned a gun on her. “I have a gun, and if you don’t back off, she’s dead.”

  “If you help us nail Edwards, you’ll go free,” said Dave.

  “Deal,” the man said.

  “Give the gun to the lady and put your hands behind your head.”

  “I have it,” Mia called to him.

  Dave came around the corner, gun pointed at the man, who had his hands behind his head. “Face the wall and spread your legs.” Dave played the flashlight beam over the man and then turned to Mia. “Are you all right?”

  She covered her eyes against the harsh light. “I am now that you’re here.”

  Murphy and Smith pulled their prisoner past Dave while Mia reached up and wrapped her arms around the man she loved. She couldn’t believe he’d come in here himself. Dave’s forehead beaded with sweat. Her big strong FBI agent was terrified. “Come on, hotshot. Let’s get out of here before Edwards comes back.”

  “He won’t be back. If he moves a hair, Stipes will kill him.”

  They moved toward the door at the Clover Leaf, Murphy and Smith in the lead with their prisoner, then Mia and Dave.

  A blast behind them knocked Mia to the ground, and Dave fell on top of her.

  “Get that damn door open,” Dave yelled, and Mia could almost taste his fear.

  Seconds later, they saw daylight, and as Mia and Dave struggled to their feet and rushed toward the door, a second blast went off behind them. Strong hands pulled her forward and out the door.

  “Help Dave. Hurry,” she told the men.

  Two men went back in the tunnel and dragged Dave out. Mud streaked his face and his wide eyes reflected his fear.

  One more blast blew dirt and rocks and dust out through the door and knocked Dave to his knees. He didn’t get up.

  “Someone call the paramedics,” said Mia. “Dave is hurt.”

  “No, I’m okay.”

  He didn’t look okay. “Take a deep breath, hotshot. Why did you go in there?”

  “To get the woman I loved.”

  Her eyes filled with tears, because she knew what it cost him to come after her. He wouldn’t have done it for less than love.

  Murphy read their prisoner his rights, and Mia reached for Dave’s hand. “My hero. Come on upstairs and I’ll wash the dirt off you.”

  “Hey, I’m dirty, too,” said Murphy.

  “You’re also married,” said Stipes. He’d just come into the bar.

  “I’m not,” Smith said with a dimpled grin.

  Mia loved these guys for lightening the tense mood.

  Dave’s quirky smile curled one side of his mouth. “But she loves me.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Dave barked orders. “Stipes, call Kowalski and see if Dinah knows anything about the bombs in the tunnel. Someone set those things off, and I want to know who and how. Find out if there are any more surprises in Clover Hills. Smith, get all the men out of the Edwards house and send someone out on damage patrol. Murphy, you’re in charge of the prisoner. I’m going upstairs with Mia.”

  Someone hooted, but Mia didn’t care. Dave loved her.

  Dave walked upstairs with Mia. He had work to do, but first, he needed a hot shower. His back and legs ached from the force of the blasts, but he couldn’t complain. Everyone had gotten out alive.

  Mia squeezed Dave’s hand. “Why not ask Edwards about the bombs?”

  “He’s not cooperating, and I’m sure he’s the one who set the bombs. Edwards used you for bait. He knew I’d go in after you.”

  “Of course he did.”

  Mia walked straight to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and peeled off her filthy pajamas. Dave stripped off his clothes and stepped in behind her.

  “How long was I down there?”

  “I don’t know, honey. Stipes found you gone around daybreak, give or take. Your bed was cold, so you’d been gone awhile. He said they checked everything in the hotel from the attic to the basement, but they didn’t know about the tunnels. Nobody knew about the tunnels.”

  Edwards knew Dave would come back to Clover Hills once someone told him she was missing, and he knew Dave would search for her. If they’d wanted her dead, they would have killed her in her bed. Edwards didn’t care if she lived or died. He probably wanted to create enough confusion so he could escape.

  Dave gently bathed Mia’s cold body and she bathed his, paying close attention to the bruises on his back and legs.

  In spite of the ordeal in the tunnel, his spirit soared. She loved him.

  They had a killer in custody, but before they could leave Clover Hills, they had to be sure there were no more bombs and no more men out to get them. After he got everything wrapped up, he’d talk with Mia about the future.

  He’d been foolish to consider walking away from her. He wasn’t his father, and Mia was nothing like his mother. She didn’t hold anything in, and with a woman like this, he couldn’t picture himself ever cheating. If he did, she’d boot him out the door or clean her gun.

  He kissed her one last time, dressed, and walked downstairs. He had work to do.

  Stipes looked past him to the stairway. “She’s upstairs drying her hair,” said Dave. “If she isn’t down in ten minutes, send out a search party.”

  One man after another reported in. They’d all done what he’d asked of him and more. Stipes said they’d found a broken wire in the door to the tunnel in Edwards’ basement. “We’ll have the experts check it out, but I think when we opened the door, the break in the wire set the timer for the blasts. The street in front of the Edwards house caved in from the blast, and the only car that was damaged...”

  Someone laughed and then someone else, and Dave groaned. Stipes didn’t need to finish the sentence. Dave had lost another rental car.

  “Two cars and a plane. I think you’ve set a new record, Montgomery.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” said Murphy. He stood behind the bar, serving drinks, while the men celebrated the successful conclusion of the operation.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Two days later, Dave helped Mia pack her car for the drive to her mother’s home in Caledonia, Texas. Her grandmother had recovered from her injuries, but her health had declined. If Mia wanted to get to know her grandmother, she had to do it now. It could very well be the last chance she’d have to learn about her natural mother’s family.

  Dave wrapped his arms around Mia. “I hate to say goodbye. I’d come with you, but I have reports to write, loose ends to follow up on, and people to reassign to new cases.”

  Mia loved him so much she hated to leave, but he had work to do and she had to spend time with her grandmother. A little absence and he might decide he didn’t love her after all, but she had to take the risk. If their love wasn’t strong enough to last through a separation, they didn’t belong together.

  She kissed him goodbye and left before the ache in her heart flooded her eyes.

  It took her three long days to drive to her mother’s home in Caled
onia, Texas. Every mile she put behind her made her feel more alone. She’d left everything familiar in Tacoma. Everything but her family and the man she loved.

  Mom greeted her with a big hug, and Mia hugged her grandmother, too. The bruises on Mrs. Snyder’s face had all healed, although she had a scar above her eye where the doctor had stitched her cut. Mom had taken very good care of her, as Mia knew she would.

  Over the next few days, Mia spent hours with her grandmother, listening to stories about her life and her daughter’s life. She’d recovered from the beating and had her cataracts removed. The wrinkled old woman seemed happy, but the doctor didn’t expect her to live much longer.

  Mrs. Snyder died peacefully in her sleep five weeks after Mia arrived in Texas. She left everything she owned, including the little house in Clover Hills, to her natural granddaughter, Mia Gregory. Mia would cherish the family pictures and memories of this time with her grandmother.

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  It took Dave several weeks to get all his cases tied up, testify in court on the last case, and turn things over to Stipes. The threat of a lawsuit by Ken Knight still hung over him, but he’d have to deal with that if and when it happened.

  Charles Edwin Edwards had a stroke a few days after his arrest. It left him permanently brain damaged and unable to speak or walk. He’d never stand trial, but maybe he’d already found justice. Edwards was already locked in a prison of sorts.

  In exchange for her cooperation, Dinah Edwards was spared the indignity of prison. She returned the money her husband had embezzled from the company in Philadelphia. She’d lost her daughter, her husband, her home, and her financial security.

  Kowalski had decided to retire and take a teaching position at the university in Denver. The more Dave thought about Kowalski’s decision to teach, the better it sounded. Thanks to his father’s investment expertise, Dave had enough money to live on for a few years, but he needed to work at something.

  Accounting had complained about it, but they’d come up with the money for the lost airplane and two rental cars. His severance pay had paid off all his other bills, including the new car, a Christmas present for Mia.