“Who’s sitting with him?”
Jack’s lips flattened. “Owen’s friend Leif. I spotted him walking in not long after you did.”
Leif? Terra’s pulse jumped. Oh, please, God, don’t let him be involved in this. “Do you think he saw me?”
“My guess is that he missed you since he’s now in the meeting with the man who took Blevins’s place.”
“Or he isn’t committing a crime so he has nothing to hide by sitting with our subject.”
“I think he would have said something to you, had he seen you.”
“I agree. He seems like the kind of guy to be aware of everything going on in a room. I bent over to pick up my cell phone when I dropped it. He could have come in the bar at that moment and missed me.”
Jack shrugged. “What are they doing now?”
“Just talking.”
“How are we going to handle this?” Jack asked.
“Maybe we should just head back there and slide into the booth and join them.” She grinned.
“We’d get more out of them by simply questioning them each on their own. I called for backup, just so you know. No one is coming in or interfering. Just a couple of deputies to wait outside in case things turn ugly.”
“Backup? Our point in being here tonight was to watch. Even if we’re only going to ask questions, we’re not charging anyone. They haven’t committed a crime.”
“That we know about. If it is the pilot who took Blevins’s place, we have questions for him. My deputies should be in place now. One at the entrance and one at the back door, just in case.”
The same waitress approached, and Jack ordered a soda. She smiled, but Terra didn’t miss her frustration. She probably figured her tip wouldn’t be worth the effort. But Terra would be sure to leave a good one.
In fact, before things started moving, she pulled out a twenty and laid it on the table. “If this guy in the booth is our pilot, Chance Carter, and he’s trying to keep a low profile, then hanging out at the local bar doesn’t seem wise.”
“Unless it’s worth the risk.” Jack ducked his head, hiding under his cap as more patrons entered.
“I might not have connected the two events.” Terra leaned forward on her folded arms. “The plane crash and then Jim’s murder on the heels of that, except that Carter disappeared. Why?”
“He’s got something to hide. Or he’s afraid for his life.” Jack thanked the waitress, who set the drink in front of him. He took a sip. “But that’s what I intend to find out tonight.”
Terra finished her drink and swirled the ice in her glass. “We know he’s a courier for an airfreight company, so his job is to deliver packages. It’s possible he was delivering contraband related to Jim’s and Neva’s murders.”
“Agreed. Given the chain of events, I’d say highly probable. We know Jim helped Carter and was murdered while the pilot was in the hospital, so Carter didn’t commit the murder. But did Jim lift the package Carter was delivering? Because it wasn’t on the plane or with Carter when he was taken to the hospital. Was Jim murdered for Carter’s package?”
Terra blew out a breath. “So, it stands to reason that Carter came here tonight to look for the package so he can deliver it and get paid. Or deliver and not die like Jim and Neva.”
“You could be right.” Jack held her gaze. “What’s happening now? Still talking?”
“A waitress delivered beers. Maybe they haven’t gotten down to business yet.”
Terra looked into Jack’s eyes and saw the questions swirling. They had more questions than answers.
A ruckus at the back drew her attention. Adrenaline shoved through her veins, and she palmed her weapon in her shoulder holster. “Carter stood up. He’s reaching across the table now. He’s grabbing Leif by the collar like he’s threatening him.”
“Another change of plans.” Jack stood. “We need to leave now.”
“What? Why?”
“You don’t want to be sitting there when Leif walks out.”
FIFTY
Chance had taken more risks than usual tonight. Anger boiled through him, and he sucked down another cold beer before he trusted his legs not to follow that murderer through the door. If he hadn’t known to watch his back before, he knew to watch it now.
He thought back to the moment he’d watched the man enter the bar, nod and wink at the waitress, take in everyone in the room without being obvious, and stroll to the back. Recognition slammed into Chance, and he almost choked on the microbrew he’d been trying thanks to the waitress’s recommendation and some extra cash, compliments of Blevins.
He’d gotten control over his emotions. Regained his composure mere moments before the guy slid into the booth across from him.
Then the guy had the nerve to smirk. “So, you survived.”
Chance gained control over his anger, but he still ground out the words. “You. You were responsible for the crash. You sabotaged my plane.”
Chance had seen him back at the hangar right before he’d left for Montana. After Chance had finished his preflight check, he made sure his tanks were full of fuel and then he ran quickly to use the facilities. This guy had been talking to another pilot across the hangar.
The guy lifted his hands. “Nothing personal.”
“Just business?” Chance gripped his beer mug much too tightly. That was to keep from slamming it into this guy’s head. He didn’t need to draw attention to himself, especially since he’d spotted a plainclothes cop enter the bar.
“Yes. My business. I had planned to meet someone else here tonight. But it looks like you’ve taken his place.”
Blevins. “I’m here to deal in his place.” And get my hands around your throat if given the opportunity. “What’s your name?”
“No names.”
“You already know mine. Since you’re uncooperative, I’ll call you Darth Maul, in keeping with our Bar Wars meeting and the mask above your head. So, Darth Maul, where’s the package you were supposed to bring tonight? Did you sabotage my plane just so you could get your hands on it to make the delivery, and that somehow got messed up? Do you realize you could have destroyed the package completely? You killed Ole Blue.”
“I don’t care about the condition of the package. I only care about who wants it and where to find them.”
Darth Maul only knew that Chance was delivering a high-priced item, but he didn’t know to whom. “That isn’t how it works. You said no names, remember. Besides, I courier packages and drop them off where I’m told. I don’t know the what or the who.”
“Then why are you here?”
“The same as you, I suppose. I had hoped to get the package and finish my delivery so that I would know who’s behind it.”
“And no one has contacted you to make new arrangements?” Darth Maul’s eyes were sinister. Chance could imagine his face painted with red and black like the character.
With the murders, Blevins was scared and only too happy to let Chance take his place while he disappeared until it was safe to return. Chance hoped to meet the murderer, the person who had intercepted the package and taken it from Jim. This guy had sabotaged Chance’s plane—why? So he could pick up the pieces? What was left of the artifact? Destroy the delivery? Chance believed he had to have murdered Jim. But they were at a standoff if Darth Maul was also asking who was behind trafficking this item. Chance was after the same information. He wanted to know the man behind the blackmail, and then he would personally deliver the artifact to make sure that he was free forever. Except he didn’t have it.
However, if he got his hands on the item in question, then he should turn it over to the police and connect the dots for them. But if he did that, he had no doubt he would be the next murder victim. Other lives were at risk too.
Without the name behind the blackmail and this delivery, he couldn’t face off and end this once and for all. In the meantime, Darth Maul needed to be locked up for his crimes. In addition to Jim and Neva, this man had killed Ole Blue.
<
br /> Chance was no murderer, and he didn’t like that he had any part in this. He wouldn’t be working with this guy. Instead, they were competitors.
Darth Maul narrowed his eyes. “I know who you are.”
Chance’s pulse spiked. “I thought we had already established that.”
“No. Your real name and identity before. Chief Warrant Officer . . .” He trailed off. True to his words. No names.
Chance couldn’t believe it.
“I know how you’re connected now, and thanks to you, I also know who’s behind it. Thanks for the intel.”
“What intel? I haven’t told you anything. What are you talking about?”
Darth Maul pulled a photograph from his pocket and slid it forward to Chance. Chance reached across the booth and grabbed him by the collar. This guy knew more than he was sharing, and Chance wanted answers.
Darth Maul gave him a name. That information confused Chance, and he released the man, who slipped out of the booth and walked away.
Chance had watched the cops head out the front door ahead of Darth Maul. Myriad emotions had spiked through his head. This had gone on too long and too far.
Chance could probably expect to greet a few cops himself on the way out the front door. Maybe even the back. He didn’t have time for the cops. He had to end this before it was too late and someone else ended up dead. Chance had seen it in the man’s eyes—he was a killer. Darth Maul didn’t care about the package. He only cared about who was behind the deliveries. Just like Chance. And Darth Maul had figured it all out by simply sitting here looking at Chance.
He stared down at what Darth Maul had left behind. How had the man gotten his hands on this picture? Chance and his crew—maintenance guys and his copilot/gunner—in front of an Apache helicopter.
FIFTY-ONE
Jack and Terra kept to the shadows as they made it to Jack’s vehicle and jumped in. He instructed the two deputies to back off and wait for further instructions.
“I don’t think Leif saw us.” Jack started the vehicle. “He’s getting into his truck.”
“Good thing we left first,” she said. “But you had wanted to question the guy who we presume is the pilot. I didn’t get a good look at him.”
“And I still intend to question him.” Jack got on his cell and instructed the deputies to enter the bar and bring the pilot in for questioning about the plane crash and Jim’s death. He also requested someone remain at the back in case Carter tried to slip through their hands.
Glancing at her, Jack ended the call. Leif pulled from the curb. Jack waited for another vehicle to get behind Leif, then Jack steered onto the street. The car in front of Jack turned, so he kept pace several car-lengths back from Leif as he drove them out of town toward farmland—fields of wheat, soy, and corn.
“I almost think we should have stayed behind to question Chance Carter, and that’s not because I don’t want to follow Owen’s friend. But you know the saying, a bird in the hand—”
“Is worth two in the bush. Let’s see if we have a bird.” Jack got back on his cell and called Sarnes. “Well? Did you get him?”
“No, sir. Sorry. He went out the back.”
“I told you to station a guy back there.”
“We did. That was me. He walked out the back and coldcocked me before I had time to react.”
Jack gritted his molars.
“Find him and arrest him for assaulting an officer.” He glanced at Terra and ended the call. “Now he has definitely committed a crime.”
Jack focused on following Leif on the two-lane highway. Just where was Leif taking them anyway? Was he onto them and leading them on a wild goose chase?
His cell rang. “Tanner.”
“Nathan here.”
Jack put the cell on speaker. “Detective Campbell. What’s up?”
“Sarge pulled me in to assist. I hope you don’t mind. I mean, we have the forest service deputized, so why not—”
Jack cleared his throat loudly. “Nathan. Terra’s in the car with me. We’re following a lead. Sarge pulled you in. What have you got?”
“Did some more digging on Chance Carter. He doesn’t show up until about thirteen years ago.”
“What do you mean?”
“He didn’t exist until then.”
“How can someone suddenly exist?”
“Good question. It could be a synthetic ID.”
“Keep talking,” Jack said. The car in front of them suddenly turned off onto a county road. Jack slowed. He needed to keep his distance so Leif wouldn’t know he had a tail. It might already be too late.
“Cut to the chase, Campbell.”
“A person could spend a couple of years building an ID. Get a social security number from a child or a homeless person. Or the deceased. Then accumulate fake information associated with the ID. Bottom line, Chance Carter isn’t really Chance Carter.”
“Then who is he?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
“Thanks for letting me know. I’d prefer to know his true identity.” Jack explained what had happened in Bar Wars and that he and Terra were following Leif. “We’re closing in.”
“Careful out there.” Campbell ended the call.
Jack glanced at Terra and caught her frown.
Up ahead, Leif finally turned onto another farm road. Jack sighed. “I wish we had a drone to do this work for us.”
“What? No funding?”
“No funding.”
“We can’t lose him,” she said.
“Oh, so now you want to follow him.” Jack chuckled.
“I never said I didn’t. I want to find out why he was meeting with the pilot as much as you do.”
“We won’t lose him.” Jack slowed as he approached the county road Leif had taken. “We’ll follow him all the way to his destination.”
“I have a gut feeling he’s going to disappear because he knows we’re onto him,” she said.
He grinned at that and glanced her way, then back to the road.
“I call it my forest service special agent instinct.”
“I like it.”
Jack turned onto the road lined by cornfields on both sides and drove slowly. No car lights ahead. “Unfortunately, I think you were right. He’s gone dark on us.”
“I’m sure he’s parked in the cornfield somewhere or we’d see his lights up the road.”
Stopping the vehicle, Jack opened the windows. Terra said nothing. He listened for a few moments, then finally urged the vehicle forward again—slow and steady as if they were just out for a late evening drive through the cornfields on a beautiful star-filled night. The silhouette of a grain silo stood tall in the distance.
“Um, Jack. What are we doing?” Terra whispered.
“Looking for signs that someone drove into the crops.” He kept his voice low.
“Crop circles.” Her quiet laugh sounded lyrical. Warmth curled inside. He shook off the nonsense. They had to remain on guard. If Leif was involved, he could be the man who killed Jim and Neva. He could be the man who tried to kill Terra. “No, seriously. The corn mazes. We’re close to one. Don’t know if it’s opened for business this late. I hope not.”
Terra’s small intake of breath clued him in. He slowed the vehicle.
“Keep driving,” she whispered.
He did as she directed.
“We don’t want him to know we saw his turnout,” she said. “I don’t know if he’s waiting for us to give up and then he’ll take off or what.”
“He can’t sit there all night.” Jack hated to keep moving. He wanted to turn around.
“He could,” she said. “Or he could simply leave his truck and just walk out.”
“Nah. That’s too far.”
“No, it’s not, Jack. First, he’s been military trained to survive under impossible conditions. Not that he has to here. There’s a farmhouse out there. He could steal their car.”
“Or harm the farmer and his family.” That was
it. Jack shut off his lights and maneuvered his vehicle until he’d turned around. “We’ll wait here for a few minutes and see if he comes out. I had only meant to follow the guy tonight and not engage him. But I have a bad feeling about this.”
Jack closed the windows and used his radio to call for backup. The man was evading them for a reason. “We can’t let him slip through our fingers.”
“Especially since you lost the pilot.”
“Come on. The first time we didn’t even know he was a flight risk. No lame pun intended.” Jack looked at Terra. “You’re not wearing a vest, are you?”
“Neither are you.”
“I have one in the back that I’ll grab. Sheriff only requires detectives to have them with us and use them in enforcement situations. This has turned into something different than I thought.” But it wouldn’t fit her well enough to be efficient.
Though he hated to bring more deputies into it, the last thing Jack wanted was to go into that cornfield after Leif. “I don’t want to lose him, but we’ll wait here until backup arrives.”
Bullets pinged his vehicle.
“Get down!”
FIFTY-TWO
Terra shoved down the screams and covered her head as she ducked.
“Go, go, go, go! Get out on your side.” Jack shielded her.
She opened the door and slid out.
Jack crawled over the seat and joined her on the far side of his vehicle.
“An assault rifle,” she said. “He’s using an assault rifle.”
“Battlefield firepower.” He grunted. “The guy has lost it. PTSD or something.”
Terra’s heart pounded. The night sky. The tall plants. The gunfire. All of it seemed surreal. The fear could paralyze her.
“Terra.” Jack gripped her shoulders. “Breathe, Terra. We have to get out of here. But I need to warn the other deputies on their way, if it’s not already too late. I need to tell them before my radio is toast.”
Crouching, he reached across the seat to grab the mic and radioed again for backup. “Officers in danger. We’re being fired upon with an assault rifle!”
Present Danger Page 23
