by Jo McNally
Mack didn’t reply, instead directing the girl to the left, where she thought the old homestead might be. What would she ask for? Dan back in her life? In her bed? What point was there in that if he didn’t stop being so tough on himself? If he didn’t see himself as a man outside Sheriff Dan? That’s what Mack had to wish for. Dan’s job might have shaped him, but it didn’t have to be who he was at heart. She’d wish for him to see that. But she wasn’t very hopeful as she hurried after Chloe. He was a stubborn one.
Two hours later, they’d zigzagged their way to the top of the ridge. The view of Gallant Lake stretching out in the distance was beautiful. But Chloe was unimpressed. The eight-year-old wasn’t here for sightseeing.
“Are you sure this is the right hill? I haven’t seen anything that looked like an old house or barn or well.” Chloe’s brows bunched together as she gave Mack a skeptical look. “You are getting old, you know. Maybe you forgot which hill you climbed.”
“Thanks a lot, kid.” Mack handed her a water bottle from the small pack she’d carried. “Enjoy the view for a minute while I try to get my bearings.” Mack looked around the ridge. It would have been easier if she could use the map app on her phone, but the area was yet another dead zone, with no signal at all. They seemed to be hugging the western end of the ridge. The homestead must be to the east. “This is the right hill, just the wrong end of it. We need to go east. Do you know how to tell which way is east?”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Duh. The sun rises in the east, so it’s that way.” She gestured widely, basically covering every direction but due west. “How much farther is it?”
“Do you want to quit? Are you tired?” She wouldn’t have objected if Chloe was ready to pack it in. It was getting warm, and they only had two bottles of water left.
But kids were resilient, and Chloe shook her head emphatically. “No way! I want to make my wish!”
They walked east for half an hour, and the trees started to thin. Mack could see an overgrown field, and the roof of an old barn straight ahead. The old Jessup farm was on this end of the ridge, but as far as Mack knew, no one had lived there in a long while. That’s why she was surprised to see the glint of windshields and chrome from several vehicles parked there. She and Chloe stopped at the edge of the woods. Those were all late-model cars, and there were four of them by the old barn—two sports cars, a luxury car of some sort, and a pickup truck. One of the sports cars was low, sleek and electric blue.
Something sent a trickle of warning up the back of her neck. She remembered the call Dan had gotten from his task force friend about the guy they’d missed. The guy driving a souped-up bright blue Charger. Just like the one she was looking at right now. She took Chloe’s hand and stopped her.
“We’ve gone too far, honey. This isn’t the place we’re looking for. Let’s go back toward the car. We’ll have to come back another time to look for the wishing well.”
“But maybe those people know where it is!” Chloe pointed as four men came out of the barn. Three were wearing ball caps pulled low on their foreheads, with loose-fitting dark clothing, carrying large duffel bags. But one was in chinos and a bright white business shirt and tie. And suspenders. His gait was familiar. So was his dark hair, short and neatly styled. He carried a leather satchel. All four of the men’s heads were on swivels, looking around as if they sensed they were being watched. Just about the time Mack realized who the businessman was, he looked up the hill and straight at her and Chloe. Wes Compton from the bank. She knew he was up to something fishy that day in the parking lot.
Chloe started to wave, but Mack squeezed her hand in a signal to freeze. The girl seemed to pick up on her sense of danger, staying quiet and alert at her side. Dan seemed to dismiss her suspicions about Wes, but she was more certain than ever that she’d been right. Wes said something and the other men separated, two heading toward the vehicles and one—the largest—jogging to the south side of the ridge. The guy loading the back of the blue car was Carter, the man she’d seen at the bank. Wes waved at Mack and Chloe.
Mack tugged Chloe under the shadow of the trees. Something was very wrong here. She and Chloe should not have seen this. Her heart started racing. Maybe he hadn’t recognized them. But where had that other guy gone? Wes shouted something up at them. She couldn’t make out all the words, but she clearly heard her name. She waved, giving him a wide smile.
“Hey, Wes! We got turned around hiking up here, but I know where we are now.” Somewhere they shouldn’t be. “Gotta go! Bye!”
She backed up, ignoring whatever he shouted in response, and started jogging into the woods with Chloe running at her side.
“What’s wrong, Mackie? Why are we running from Mr. Compton?”
“I think Mr. Compton is doing something... secret...on that farm, honey. And he might be mad that you and I saw him. Let’s get back to the car.” They headed down the hill, but she could hear footsteps keeping up with them. Damn it. Wes’s voice called out again, closer this time.
“Mackenzie! Stop! I just need to talk. You’re not going to outrun us.”
Us.
The other man was chasing them, too. That couldn’t be good. She and Chloe ran past a huge downed tree, roots sticking up in the air at the base. She tugged Chloe behind the roots and up against the thick trunk, holding her finger to her lips to silence her. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but she needed to do something to protect Chloe.
“Don’t question me,” Mack said in a rushed whisper. “I need you to hide here. I’ll cover you up. Don’t make a sound until your dad or I come for you, okay?” Chloe’s eyes were wide as silver dollars, but she immediately knelt near the trunk of the tree. Thank goodness she was wearing dark clothing. It would be hard to see her through the leafy branches Mack was tossing over her. “I’m going to pretend you ran down the hill, so don’t say anything if you hear me calling for you. Don’t make a sound, okay?”
“Okay, Mackie. But...what about you?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m gonna text your dad to come.” Hopefully a text would get out, even if a call wouldn’t. They heard heavy footsteps getting closer. “You’ll be safe here. Wait for your dad or me—no one else.” Their eyes met through the leafy shelter. Mack’s chest went tight. “I love you, Chloe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Mack turned and started running straight west, as far away from the tree as she could get. When the footsteps got close enough that Wes didn’t have to shout when he told her to stop, she kept her back to him, putting her hands up to cup her mouth. She started shouting off to the west at the top of her lungs as if Chloe had run in that direction.
“Run, Chloe! Run to the car and call your dad! Run!”
She pulled out her phone, but Wes grabbed her arm and knocked the phone to the ground. He spun her around, glaring at her as he tried to catch his breath.
“Damn it, Mackenzie! Why did you have to run like that?”
The second guy, looking angry and rough, ran up behind Wes, who nodded off in the direction Mack had been shouting. “Go find the kid. She’s trying to get to the car, which must be over on Marshall Creek. Don’t hurt her—just get her back here.”
As the man took off, Mack pretended to be upset, but she was secretly relieved. The ruse had worked. They were moving away from Chloe’s hiding place. Wes released her, shaking his head as if he was deeply disappointed.
“Mackenzie Wallace, what are you doing? I just wanted to talk to you both so there weren’t any misunderstandings about what you saw. There was no need to panic.”
“Really? Then why did you just send that guy running to catch a child? You could have cleared up any misunderstanding with a phone call. You didn’t have to chase us through the woods. In fact, you know what?” She stepped back, testing him. “I think you should call me later and explain it all. Or not. Whatever. I need to go...”
He took her arm, less gently than befo
re. “I don’t have time for this, Mack. Your boyfriend and his posse have been getting on my last nerve these past few weeks, so I need to get this barn cleared out today.” He started walking, pushing her ahead of him. “It’s too bad. We had a good thing going in Gallant Lake.”
“Look, I don’t know what you’re doing up here, and I don’t want to know. Seriously, I don’t want to be involved. I don’t care. And Dan isn’t my boyfriend anymore, so don’t worry about that.”
His eyes narrowed. “You expect me to believe you and Dan broke up, and you just happen to be out here with his kid? That’s quite a coincidence, don’t you think? I’m not an idiot, Mackenzie.”
Before she could answer, the big guy came thumping through the trees and back to them. He shook his head at Wes.
“No sign of the kid. The car’s still there. No one else around, so she hasn’t raised any alarms yet. Maybe she got lost. Maybe she’s hunkered down in the woods somewhere, hiding.”
Wes gave Mack a long, calculating look, then gave her another shove as he answered Big Guy. “Forget the kid. Let’s get the rest of the stuff loaded and get the hell out of here.” He looked at Mack. “You’re staying with us, at least for now.”
Resisting made no sense. Running would be futile. And if she cooperated, they might forget about Chloe all together. She yanked her arm away from him but started walking back to the farm.
“Fine.”
* * *
The radio in Dan’s car crackled before Terrance Lewis’s voice came over it, low and steady. “Everyone’s in place. Hold tight for now. Let’s see if any bigger fish show up.” Terry was with the DEA and the leader of the task force operations.
“Roger that. They’re loading the vehicles now. Canvas duffels. Looks like Carter, Martinez, Compton and some big guy I haven’t seen before,” Sam Edgewood replied. Damned if Mack hadn’t been right about good old Wes Compton being up to no good. Mr. Clean Cut was the local freaking drug lord, right under Dan’s nose. He shifted in the seat of the unmarked sedan, parked under the shade of a maple tree just fifty yards from the dirt driveway leading up to the “abandoned” farm currently in foreclosure. That’s why they could never catch up with the product. Wes kept moving it from one vacant, foreclosed property to another.
They’d caught a break when the woman who’d almost died at the resort last weekend told investigators that “some guy at the bank” had sent her and her brother to meet the man who sold them the drugs. Dan remembered what Mack told him about Wes, and they’d started checking all the foreclosed properties. There was a suspicious amount of activity at this place, with the buildings up a long curving driveway, out of sight from the road. They’d had someone sitting on it for days now.
“Hold on. Something’s happening.” Sam’s voice was quiet on the radio. He was hiding behind the barn. “Compton and the big guy just went up to the woods in a hurry. Maybe there’s another stash up there?”
Dan didn’t want this bust going sideways after all this work. “Have they made us? We have anyone up there?”
“Negative,” Terry responded. “Too many of these gangs use wildlife cameras with motion detectors, and we didn’t want to risk triggering one. We’ve got one agent at an upstairs window in the old house.” The agent acknowledged with a click on the mic. “One of your fellow deputies down by the road. One with Sam.” Two more mic clicks. “Two cars of federal agents waiting on side roads for once it all goes down. Hopefully without a fight.” There was a pause. “If it goes sideways, just remember Yosemite Sam up there is the best shot of us all. Those guys won’t sit for a week.”
Sam would never be able to live down the day he’d shot a carjacker in his left butt cheek. Dan chuckled, then pressed the button again. “Jesus, don’t say that out loud. His ego’s bad enough.”
One of the SUVs full of DEA agents clicked their mic so the raucous laughter could be heard. Sam was also laughing softly. “I keep telling you guys I hit him right where I was aiming.” There was a quick pause. “Hold on.” Sam’s tone was suddenly all business. Something was wrong, and everyone went silent.
“Jesus. Okay, be advised Compton and his buddy have emerged from the woods and are returning to the farmyard. They have a woman with them. I repeat, they have a civilian woman with them, and I don’t think she’s there voluntarily.”
“A hostage?” Terry asked. “That’s not their style.”
More static, then Sam’s whisper. “Style or not, her body language screams ‘unhappy.’ Disgruntled customer?”
“We’ve been camped out at this farm for two days,” Terry replied. “They haven’t had any clients here. Description?”
“Long blond hair. Average height. Jeans. Blue sweater. Small backpack.”
Dan’s vision blurred, making him blink almost as rapidly as his heart was pounding. It took all his concentration to draw in a breath and hold it, trying to slow his adrenaline to a more functional level. Mack had been wearing jeans and a blue sweater this morning. He remembered noting the bright pink stripe around each cuff and the hem. It matched the thick socks she’d been wearing. The socks he’d bought her after she got those blisters weeks ago.
He squeezed the mic button so hard it was a wonder it didn’t snap. “What color are her socks?”
Silence. Then Terry spoke. “Did you just ask about her socks?”
Before he could reply, Sam answered with the one word Dan had been dreading.
“Pink.”
“Is she alone? Is there a little girl there? An eight-year-old?” Dan was almost shouting, which he knew was a no-no when guys were using earbuds.
“Dan...” Sam started, still in a near whisper. “Are you asking about Chloe? Do you think your daughter might be out here? I haven’t seen anyone but the woman... Oh, crap. Are you saying this woman is Mackenzie Wallace? Your girlfriend?”
A new low voice came on the radio. “Smith here, from the upstairs window. I can confirm it’s Mackenzie Wallace. My sister went to school with her.”
“She’s arguing with Compton.” Sam’s voice was level, as if he didn’t know Dan’s entire world was falling away from his feet. “He’s pointing to the barn. She’s pointing to the ridge.”
“Gilford’s Ridge.” Dan didn’t bother stating it as a question. That stupid wishing well was on the burned-out Gilford farm. Mack had taken Chloe to Gilford’s Ridge. Which, by some ridiculous chance of fate, was where Wes Compton’s current storage place was. Dan had been too distracted that morning to make the connection, but then again, this operation hadn’t been on his radar when Mack picked up Chloe. Sam had been on surveillance today and noticed the jump in activity. Suspecting Wes and his men were clearing out, Terry made the call to grab them.
“What are we doing, guys?” It was one of the federal agents from the waiting cars. “These roads are remote, but they’re not abandoned. We’ve had two local cars pass us already. All it takes is someone getting nosy, or sending a text to one of Compton’s guys, and we’re blown.”
Terry said something about waiting for bigger fish again. Smith was talking about the men loading more duffels into their trucks. The feds were offering to grab the trucks as they left the farm. But the only thing Dan cared about was where his daughter was.
The radio buzzed with static, and another unfamiliar voice came on. “Okay, we’re on Marshall Creek Road behind the ridge, and there’s a blue Ford compact here. Parked and locked tight. No one around.”
“That’s Mack’s car.” Dan’s mouth was dry as cotton. “My daughter was with her. She’s eight.” He swallowed hard. “If Compton’s done anything... I’m going up there now.”
“Negative! Sit tight, damn it.” Terry’s command was quiet but firm.
Sam joined in. “Agreed. Don’t make things worse, Dan. Chloe’s not here, and the woman isn’t sobbing or distraught. She’s just pissed.” There was a pause. It couldn’t be easy for Sam t
o be operating so close to Wes and his well-armed men. He was hiding in the old pump house, but the thing wasn’t soundproof. Or bulletproof. Terry’s mic clicked again.
“Dennis, take your team up the hill from the car. Use stealth, but find that kid.”
“Roger. On our way.”
It was the logical course of action. Dan would have made the same call in Terry’s position. But Terry wasn’t in his position, with his daughter and the woman he loved in danger. The L word settled his pulse more than any breathing exercise ever could. He loved Mackenzie, and his job didn’t have a damn thing to do with that. His job sure as hell wasn’t more important than that. Than Mack. Than Chloe. They were his family. He opened his car door slowly and slid out, moving along the tree line near the road as he inserted the earbud and tapped the mic.
“Be advised, I’m out of my vehicle, moving closer to the driveway.”
Sam let out a string of hissed obscenities in his ear.
Terry’s voice came on again, sounding more resigned than angry.
“Roger that. Do not come up the drive until we know what’s happening. A shoot-out doesn’t help anyone.”
“Affirmative.” Charging in, guns blazing, only worked in the movies and would put Mack and Chloe in more danger.
The next few minutes of silence felt like an eternity as Dan hunched under a large eucalyptus bush. He was so tense that his whole body twitched when the earbud finally clicked.
“Be advised,” Sam said. “Two of the vehicles are preparing to leave. Carter’s in the blue one. Martinez is in the other.” A pause. “The woman is sitting on the back of a farm wagon in the yard. She keeps glancing up the hill when Todd’s not looking. Dan, I have to think your girl is still up there.”
He closed his eyes, praying to whoever might be listening that Chloe was okay. Going forward without that little girl in his life just wasn’t an option.
Another click. “Dan, we found her. She had a good hiding spot.” Dennis’s words were the sweetest Dan had heard. “She said she was ordered not to move until she heard from the woman or you. Say something so she knows we’re the good guys.”
