Exposed (38 page)

“We might be getting closer,” she said. “You see any more turnoffs?”

“No.”

The road dipped lower, and they were hemmed in on two sides by limestone. They drove in silence for a while, and anxiety started to nip at her. It was isolated out here. They had a twenty-minute jump on the backup team, but she still felt worried. What if they couldn’t find it? What if they crossed paths with Bracewell or one of Mladovic’s men on this road? The terrain was rugged, difficult. Plus, everyone and their grandmother out here drove a pickup. The Taurus was bound to attract attention. Ditto a SWAT van or whatever sort of vehicle they planned to send.

They rounded a bend, and a trio of buzzards flapped up from the roadway where they’d been scavenging an armadillo. Maddie’s stomach did a somersault. The area gave her the creeps. If she felt scared just driving around, she could only imagine how Jolene felt, being held captive out here with no one to hear her cries for help.

“There! On your right!” Maddie pointed at the distant turnoff. She consulted her map again.

It was a dirt road, and Hicks pulled over soon after they passed it. Maddie looked for the best place to hide the car, and her gaze landed on a line of scrub brush.

“What do you think?” she asked, glancing around.

“I think this would be better cover in the middle of summer.” He maneuvered the car between a few tall junipers and cut the engine. “But we don’t have much choice.”

Maddie scanned the area. She listened. She didn’t hear a single car, not even in the distance. She didn’t hear anything except the faint sounds of the engine as it came to a rest.

Hicks looked at her. “Beckman’s not too happy with me right now.”

“What’d he say?”

He shook his head. “I’m not going to repeat it.”

Maddie unzipped her purse and pulled out her pistol. She checked to make sure it was loaded.

“You know how to use that?” he asked.

“Pretty well.”

“Just don’t point it at an agent. Those will be the guys in Kevlar who show up in about fifteen minutes.” He opened the door. “They know you’re in the car here,
but it still wouldn’t be good for you to wave that thing around.”

“And where are you going?”

“I noticed some tire tracks. I need to go take a look.”

Maddie tucked the gun into the waistband of her jeans and got out of the car. “I’ll help.”

“You should stay here.”

“Just a quick look. I’m a CSI, remember? You’d be foolish not to let me help you.”

She stayed near the bushes as they hiked up the road a few yards. She spotted the tracks at the turnoff and crouched down. Hicks knelt beside her.

“Looks like a pickup truck.”

“A dualie,” she corrected. “And two other vehicles, either pickups or SUVs.”

“What’s a dualie?”

“One of those extra-large pickups, double tires on the back. See?” She pointed out the distinctive tread marks in the dirt.

She took a few photos with her phone and stood up. “Bracewell has a dualie. But his aren’t the freshest tracks here. Someone else drove through this gate in the meantime.”

She stepped over to another set of tire marks that was overlaid with the double-wide tracks. She glanced up at Hicks, who was busy texting info into his phone.

“Tell them there have been at least four different vehicles in and out of here in the last two days, since we had that big rain.”

Hicks didn’t say anything.

“Which is a lot of traffic on a deer lease when it’s not even deer season,” she added.

The agent’s hands froze around his phone. His gaze snapped to hers. “Back in the car. Now.” He grabbed her elbow and shoved her ahead of him. “I hear a truck.”

Brian barely slowed for the curves as he sped down the highway. He wished he had his pickup, which was much better suited to this type of terrain.

“Has he reported in?” Sam demanded over the phone.

“Negative,” Brian said. “Last update from LeBlanc, they were on the highway.”

Brian scanned the road in front of him now, looking for the exit. But if his GPS was worth shit—which he doubted—he had another five miles to go.

“What about the hostage rescue team?” Sam asked.

“Their ETA’s ten minutes. I might even beat them there.”

“Okay, I’m pulling into to Mladovic’s neighborhood now. It’s just him and his wife home, according to the surveillance team. Let’s hope he comes in without a fight.”

“Let’s hope.”

The conversation was surreal. For months, Brian had dreamed of being part of the big takedown. Now it was happening without him, and he couldn’t care less. Sam could have the collar.

Brian had his sights set on a new enemy: Bracewell. The key to all of this. He’d abused his power. He’d probably helped kill those girls and destroy evidence.
And with every minute that ticked by, Brian became more convinced that he was the gunman who’d put Maddie in his crosshairs.

Brian had some vicious thoughts in his head, but he pushed them aside so he could focus on the most important objective: getting Maddie out of harm’s way.

“Okay, we’re at the house now. I’m out, Beck.”

Brian spotted the turnoff and slammed on the brakes. “Be careful,” he told Sam.

“Yeah, you, too.”

Maddie sat in the car, alone, scanning the area around her. Her anxiety mounted with every minute that crawled by. No word from the team. No Hicks. Nothing but heavy, nerve-wracking silence.

She pictured Jennifer Murphy staring out her kitchen window with a heart that was slowly cracking in two. She pictured her looking at all the yellow ribbons that were meant to be hopeful but by now must seem cruel. If Jennifer were here right now, she’d scour every inch of this land, every hill and every hollow, no matter what dangers were waiting for her.

Maddie yearned to get out of the car. But Hicks had told her to stay.
Commanded
her.

She looked down at the gun clutched in her hand. She had no formal training. No jurisdiction.

She peered through the windshield again. Her palms were wet. Her heart seemed to be beating a hundred times a second.

If Brian found out, he’d be furious. Brian cared about her, maybe even loved her. If anything happened to her, he’d find a way to blame himself.

Cabrera had ordered her to stay put, too.

Maddie gazed out the window and felt her heart drumming inside her body. She wasn’t Brian’s wife. She wasn’t Cabrera’s subordinate. But she
was
someone’s mother. That label was branded on her heart forever, no matter what.

They don’t need Jolene anymore. They’re going to kill her if they haven’t already
.

Maddie got out of the car. She eased the door shut and stood still to listen. She glanced around to get her bearings.

Slowly, she crept deeper into the brush until she encountered the barbed-wire fence surrounding the property. Careful not to snag her hair, she ducked through it. She felt a rush of adrenaline. She’d crossed a line. There was no going back.

Maddie eased through the foliage, staying close to the evergreens for better cover. She darted her gaze around, looking for any sign of a person or a dog or a vehicle.

A wind whipped up and shifted the branches around her. Something silver caught the light about a hundred yards away. She moved closer. She stared at it through the leaves.

The silver flashed again, and she recognized it. It was a glimmer of hope.

Brian’s blood went cold when he saw the car.

Empty
.

He pulled into the trees and parked, then jumped out with his gun in hand. No sign of Maddie or Hicks. Nothing.

The car was unlocked, and he reached in to pop the trunk. He held his breath as he went to check . . .

No blood, no bodies.

No Kevlar.

He frowned down at the trunk and closed it. Wherever they’d gone, they’d taken the time to suit up.

He cursed under his breath as he moved toward the fence. What the hell was she thinking? He’d known this would happen the second she told him about this deer lease. She was going to go nosing around, and screw anyone who tried to stop her, including him. She was a CSI and a mother, and besides that, she was stubborn as hell. If there was a chance in a billion that Jolene was here alive, then no amount of logic could keep her away.

Frustration and fear tightened his chest.

Brian closed his eyes and listened carefully. The air was still and quiet. He didn’t hear a car or a bird or anything. He didn’t hear the
whump-whump
of a chopper or the low hum of an armored van. He wasn’t sure how he’d beaten everyone here, but it probably had to do with his triple-digit speed on that highway.

Brian pulled out his cell and sent Maddie his second text in the last ten minutes. He stared down at his phone. Still nothing.

He could wait for his team, as planned, or he could go looking for them. He knew what he should do, and he also knew he wasn’t going to do it.

Brian waded into the bushes and ducked through the fence.

Right away, he spotted tracks in the woods. One set could have been anybody’s, including Hicks. Another set looked small and feminine and might belong to Maddie. Brian followed the footprints, hoping none of Mladovic’s goons had the slightest bit of military training. It wouldn’t take much to pick up this trail out here. Besides leaving footprints—which, thank God, were now pretty well obscured by dead leaves—she’d also left telltale breaks in the tree branches from where she’d pushed through the brush.

Accident? He didn’t know. If she’d been forcefully hauled away, she might have been trying to leave a trail for the HR team that was about to swoop in.

On the other hand, maybe she hadn’t thought about covering her tracks when she’d moved through the
area. Maybe she’d been thinking about something else, such as the aluminum camper Brian saw looming up ahead at the far end of a clearing. A place to stash a hostage? Possibly. It was the first thing that popped into his mind, and Maddie’s, too, he’d bet.

A noise to the east had him whirling around. He heard the clang of metal and several male voices. They were muffled, and as Brian moved through the woods, he saw the reason. Beside a dense clump of trees was a dilapidated barn. The structure was gray and weathered and missing about half of the slats. Brian caught the movement of people inside and eased closer for a better look.