“Huh.” Cody leaned back in his chair. “Who went on this trip to find the cabin?”
“Billie knew the location so Detective Issacs and his men took her up there.”
“What men?”
“Issacs and two plainclothes officers picked her up about an hour ago.”
“Quinn, the Echo Mountain PD has been down two men since April. I heard they can barely get their shifts covered so they’re getting assistance from the Skagit County Sheriff’s office.”
Quinn slowly put down his sandwich. “Then the guys must have been with the county?”
Cody didn’t look so sure. Fear clenched Quinn’s gut.
“No, no, no,” Quinn muttered, and began pacing his apartment. He whipped his phone off his belt and called Alex.
“Hey, little brother.”
“How well do you know Detective Issacs?”
“Not well, why?”
“But you worked on a task force with him, right?”
“Yes, but it didn’t last long and we didn’t say more than a dozen words to each other. Why, what’s going on?”
“He and two other men took Billie into the mountains to find Rick Bronson’s stash, but my gut’s telling me he might be involved in—”
“Careful there, buddy. This is a cop you’re talking about.”
“Forget it.”
“Wait, give me a little time to look into Issacs before you do something drastic.”
“I don’t have time, Alex. He’s got Billie.” Quinn ended the call and rushed to the closet. He pulled out his pack and checked it for supplies.
“You have any idea where they went?” Cody asked.
“None.”
“Quinn, there are thousands of acres of mountainous land out there. How are you going to pinpoint their location?”
“Their location, right. If I can get a hold of Bree’s phone I can do a reverse signal trace.”
Quinn called Bree, gave a condensed version of what was going on and asked her to stop by immediately with her phone.
In a matter of minutes Bree came by and Quinn got to work locating the signal she’d received from Billie’s personal locator beacon the other day.
“Come on, come on,” he muttered, trying everything he could think of to track her signal. Bree and Cody hovered close by. Someone pounded on Quinn’s door and Cody answered.
SAR team members Aiden, Harvey and Will marched into Quinn’s dining room.
“What are you—”
“I texted them and told them what was going on,” Bree interrupted Quinn. “I thought you’d need help once you pinpointed her location.”
“What are you doing?” Harvey asked, looking over Quinn’s shoulder.
“Reverse signal trace of Billie’s locator beacon,” Quinn said.
“Think it will work?” Will said.
Quinn didn’t answer. If it didn’t work...
Quinn’s phone rang. It was Alex. He shoved it at Cody. “Can you talk to him?”
Cody spoke with Alex, while Quinn and the other men focused on Quinn’s laptop.
“He’s working on finding her location now,” Cody said to Alex. “Yes... Uh-huh... I’ll tell him. Thanks.” Aiden walked back to the dining table. “He spoke with the Echo Mountain Police Chief. He’s been keeping a file on Issacs due to questionable behavior like disappearing during a shift for hours at a time. Issacs told him he was heading into the mountains with two Skagit county deputies today.”
Quinn glanced at Cody. “Call Alex back and see if he can find out if any Skagit officers were assigned to this case, or if Issacs is making it up.”
“He wouldn’t lie to his own chief, would he?” Aiden said.
“He would if he was never going back to work. Once he gets his hands on the bearer bonds he’ll have enough money to disappear indefinitely.” He glanced at the computer screen. “And Billie will be a liability.”
The locator beacon lit up on the screen. “Got her.”
“Are you sure the cop is a part of this?” Harvey asked.
“I won’t take the chance.” Quinn forwarded the beacon signal to his smartphone, stood and grabbed his pack. “If Issacs isn’t involved and I find them, there’s no harm, no foul. If he is involved...” Quinn shook his head and started for the door.
“Wait,” Aiden said.
“No time, Aiden.”
“We’re coming with you.”
Quinn turned to the team. Aiden, Harvey, Will and Bree nodded.
“If I’m right, this could be dangerous,” Quinn warned.
“Which is why you’re staying back,” Aiden said to Bree.
“Hang on, Fiona and I could—”
“No, he’s right, Bree,” Quinn said. “Billie would never forgive me if anything happened to you.”
Bree sighed. “Okay, but it’s dangerous for you, too.”
“We’ve got the climbing experience,” Will said.
“And military experience,” Aiden added. “Plus, they’re amateurs.”
“Greedy amateurs,” Harvey added. “Greed makes people stupid.”
Quinn kept hearing Issacs’s snide comment about Quinn not being able to work with a team and how that had caused so many mistakes. It was a dig, another way to damage Quinn’s self-confidence. As he considered the three men standing before him, he finally felt the strength of joining with others for a common goal: to save Billie.
“Meet me out front in ten,” Quinn said.
* * *
Billie and the police officers hit the overlook in two hours. They probably would have made it sooner if Issacs’s men were more experienced hikers. One of them had slipped crossing a stream and gotten soaked, and the other man struggled to keep up.
They got to a clearing and spotted a rustic cabin sitting on a patch of rugged property.
“That must be it,” Issacs said.
They approached the cabin and she pulled out the key she’d found in Rick’s box. A key someone had killed Stuart for?
She sighed. So much violence.
They approached the front door and she noticed the keypad lock. She pocketed the key. “Well, this is useless.”
The detective peeked in the front window, but it was covered with something solid. “We’ve gotta get in there,” he muttered.
“We could break the glass,” one of the other officers said.
“Windows are covered from the inside. We need to go in through the front door.” He glanced at Billie. “Any guesses at the code?”
“I have no idea.”
One of the other cops narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
“Why would I lie about that?” she said, more than a little miffed.
Issacs kneeled and looked at the door. “Any special numbers in your family? Birthdays, anniversaries?”
“I could try a few things, I guess,” Billie said.
Issacs moved out of the way and she tried a combination of her and Rick’s birthdays, then their anniversary. Nothing.
“You should call a locksmith,” she said.
“You probably know the code, Billie. Just think,” Issacs pressed, his voice taking on an edge that made her uncomfortable.
She paced a few steps away from the door and remembered the last time she and Rick were together in the mountains, waiting for search and rescue to find them. She’d kept him alert by asking questions and engaging him in conversation. She knew he’d suffered a brain trauma, yet he still talked to her. At one point he’d begged her forgiveness for not being a better husband. She offered her forgiveness, even though at the time she didn’t quite feel it in her heart.
With desperation in his eyes, he’d asked her to recall their first date in great detail, from the movie they’d seen to the flavor of ice cream they’d shared afterward.
He’d called it the best day of his
life. At that moment, stranded in the mountains, their first date had been the most important thing on Rick’s mind....
She spun around and went to the door. She keyed in the month and date of their first date: 0417. She heard a click and opened the door. The cabin was pitch-black and she hesitated before going in.
Detective Issacs drew his firearm and nudged her aside. He went in, the two cops close behind him. Her heart racing, she wondered if there were other members of Rick’s team who knew about this place, and if they’d been here recently.
“It’s safe,” Issacs said from inside. “Come on in.”
She stepped into the one-room cabin. One of the cops ripped a blanket off the window, shining light across two single beds and a desk. Detective Issacs analyzed a stack of boxes in the corner and nodded to the cops, who pulled them down and rifled through the contents.
Issacs pulled something out of a box and nodded at his men. “We can’t risk them coming back for this. Keep watch and I’ll take care of Mrs. Bronson.”
SIXTEEN
Quinn, Aiden, Will and Harvey found the closest trailhead and made the climb. It wouldn’t take long to catch up to Billie since Quinn and his men were practically jogging. Not unusual for SAR volunteers.
When a text alert went out, team members would often challenge each other to see who would get to the scene first to take the field command position. In this case it wasn’t about taking charge as much as saving Billie’s life.
Quinn’s gut told him Issacs was dirty. He recalled the contentious interactions he’d had with Issacs and how the detective lied about being a close friend of Alex’s. The red flags should have gone up sooner.
Harvey, who led the team, consulted a topographical map as he hiked the rugged trail.
Quinn looked at his phone for Billie’s GPS signal. He’d downloaded the app for fun, never expecting he’d use it for a personal crisis.
“We’re close,” Quinn said.
Then his screen went blank. He swallowed and fought his rising panic. “I’ve lost reception.”
“Lost it?” Will challenged.
“Reception is spotty out here, but we’re right on top of her,” Quinn said. “We’ll use the natural cover to our advantage to neutralize Issacs’s men. I’m sure they have firearms and since we don’t, we need to be smarter than they are.”
“Shouldn’t be hard for a guy like you,” Will snapped.
Will may not like Quinn, but Quinn knew how much Will cared about Billie. For that, Quinn would be eternally grateful and he’d find a way to get along with the guy.
Harvey turned a sharp corner and hesitated. Quinn and the other men stepped up to Harvey and eyed a cabin in the distance.
“That must be it,” Quinn said. “They’re probably inside. Aiden, see that rock face along the side of the property?”
“Yep.”
“Can you and Will hike up to the top and set up makeshift anchors to rappel down the cliff toward the cabin?”
“Sure, what have you got in mind?”
“I’ll distract them to draw them out.”
“Actually I’ll do the distracting.” Harvey grinned and pulled out a handful of firecrackers.
“They’ll hear the noise and come outside. I’ll draw them close to the ledge then you and Will drop down on top of them. Four of us against three of them are pretty good odds.” Quinn glanced at all three men. “Everyone good with that?”
They all agreed they were and spread out to take their positions. Adrenaline racing, Quinn rushed down a hill and zipped behind the house to position himself on the other side of it.
Then a horrible thought struck him: What if they’d already found the bearer bonds, killed Billie and left the scene?
No, he couldn’t think that way. He had to stay hopeful. Suddenly he found himself needing to ask God for strength, no matter what the outcome.
Because Quinn didn’t think he could survive losing the woman he loved.
A sudden chill of loneliness rushed through him. He needed Billie, needed her more than he’d needed anything in his life. She was the one person who believed in him, so much so she’d convinced Quinn he wasn’t a bad guy, that his childhood antics hadn’t driven his mother into an early grave.
“Please, God,” he whispered. “I don’t know how to do this but I’ve gotta try. Please, God, help Billie.”
He waited below the cliff, his eyes trained on the house, but there were no signs of life.
“Check in,” Quinn said into his radio.
“Aiden and Will in position,” Aiden responded.
“Harvey is ready to make some noise,” Harvey said.
“Let’s do it,” Quinn ordered.
A few seconds later the firecrackers popped and two men sprinted out of the cabin, guns drawn. Gripping his shoulder, Quinn stumbled and positioned himself just right. Issacs’s men—a short bald guy and a tall blond one—jogged over to him.
“What happened to you?” the tall guy said.
“The bearded guy,” Quinn gasped.
“You saw the bearded suspect?” the bald guy said.
“Yeah, he’s close.”
Without warning, the tall guy slugged Quinn in the gut and he fell to his knees.
“You’re always messing things up, Donovan.”
“Finish him,” the bald guy ordered.
Aiden and Will dropped from above, colliding with the men before they could discharge their firearms.
The stunned gunmen struggled against their attackers. Aiden pinned the bald guy facedown and pulled his hands behind his back. Will wrestled with the other one, and Harvey rushed to help, but the man was doing a good job of fighting them off. Quinn was about to throw himself into the mix when the tall guy broke free and scrambled to his feet.
Will nailed him with a taser. The guy went down in a trembling heap. The two gunmen finally secure, Quinn, Aiden and Harvey eyed Will.
“A taser?” Harvey said. “Really?”
Will shrugged. “What can I say? I’m raising two girls.”
Quinn eyed the cabin wondering why Issacs and Billie hadn’t come out with them. Unless...
“You want company?” Aiden said.
“No, I got this.” Quinn sprinted to the cabin and darted inside.
No one was there. Not Billie, not Issacs.
Boxes of what Quinn suspected were stolen goods were piled from floor to ceiling against one wall.
Dread clawed its way through his chest. He spun around and went to the gunman.
“Billie?” Will said.
Quinn grabbed the bald gunman and flipped him over. “Where is she?” he ground out.
“Like I’m gonna tell you?”
Quinn lost it and slugged the guy in the jaw. Pain sliced through Quinn’s hand. Aiden pulled him off the guy and got in his face. “Check the GPS signal.”
Dazed with worry, Quinn pulled out his phone with a shaky hand.
Please, God...
Quinn eyed the screen. A signal popped up. “Got it.”
“She’ll be dead by the time you get to her,” the bald man said.
Will kicked the guy in the ribs. Harvey yanked Will away from him. “Okay, man, we know,” Harvey said, then looked at Quinn. “Aiden and I will stay back with these guys. You and Will go get Billie.”
Quinn and Will took off in a full-blown sprint. Quinn pushed the crazy thoughts out of his mind, thoughts like he would be too late, never be able to hold her or kiss her again. They served no purpose and would only distract him from finding Billie, because he wasn’t leaving this mountainous land without her.
Only, would he find her alive?
* * *
It was finally over. Billie and the detective followed the trail toward a rendezvous spot where another team would escort her to safety.
She sigh
ed as she thought about what was waiting for her down below. Quinn. She’d told him that they needed to talk when she returned, and she’d meant it. It was time for both of them to come clean about their feelings for one another, and for Quinn to be honest with himself.
“What’s the hurry?” Detective Issacs asked.
“I want to get home,” she shot over her shoulder.
“You mean back to Quinn Donovan?”
“And my nice, peaceful life.”
“Peaceful?”
She slowed down to allow him to keep pace with her. “I had finally found peace after Rick’s death. It took a year, but I made it, and then that bearded guy showed up on the trail.”
“Did I hear my name?”
Billie whipped around and found herself staring into the eyes of the bearded guy.
“What are you doing here?” Issacs said, grabbing Billie and pulling her behind him.
“I made bail. You knew that.” The guy smiled.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Why not? You’ve got my bearer bonds.”
“Everything’s at the cabin,” Issacs said.
She wondered why Issacs didn’t pull out his gun and shoot the guy.
“Maybe.” The bearded guy stalked toward them. “Maybe not. Either way, I can’t depend on you to do your job.”
The guy charged Issacs and they both went down. Billie took off in the opposite direction, racing uphill. Here she thought she was safe, that she could put this all behind her yet Rick’s criminal boss had tracked her down. How was that possible?
She wanted to pull out her phone and call for help, but couldn’t risk slowing herself down.
A shot rang out. She stumbled and kept running, tears forming in her eyes. She hadn’t come this far to be killed by the bearded man. After all, he had no use for her now that they’d found the cabin with the bearer bonds and other stolen goods.
“Billie!” Detective Issacs called out.
She hesitated.
“Billie, it’s okay!”
With a gasp, she stopped running and caught her breath. She leaned against a boulder and waited for Issacs to catch up to her. She surely didn’t want to go down there and see a dead body.
Mountain Pursuit: Smoky Mountain Investigation ; Mountain Rescue Page 38
