Chris suddenly stood, placed his laptop haphazardly on the small kitchen table and raced out the back door of the cabin. His heart was beating like a bass drum against his chest, and hadn’t stopped ever since they’d discovered the Montgomery connection. His eyes scanned the horizon, but the fisherman and his boat were gone, and the lake was completely empty.
Binoculars.
When Chris had seen a flash of light, the man fishing from the rowboat hadn’t been storing his phone, he’d been concealing binoculars. A phone probably wouldn’t have reflected the light like he’d seen, and wasn’t quite the right shape. But binoculars would have, especially smaller ones if the lens caught the light just right. And the binoculars had been pointed directly at Eleni’s cabin, which means the fisherman had been watching them. He couldn’t believe he’d missed it.
Fear stabbed his heart as he raced back in the house. “We have to get out of here, now,” he announced as he slammed his laptop closed. “Bring the scrapbook.”
Eleni looked bewildered and gave him a questioning look as he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to her feet. “What are you talking about? We’ve just discovered this information about the Montgomerys, and I want to do some research to find out more.”
“There’s no time. You’re in danger.” He kept his own body between Eleni and the back of the cabin and started leading her outside. He’d lost the kidnapped child during his last case. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure he didn’t lose Eleni. A wave of protectiveness surged within him.
“But we finally have a lead...” she protested. Her words were cut short by the echoing boom of a high-powered rifle round coming through the back door and imbedding itself into the wood by the bookcase. Splinters and pieces of debris went flying as a second and third bullet followed closely behind the first, both also hitting various spots of the inner wall of the cabin. Thankfully, the shooter was no expert marksman, and none of the bullets actually hit their target.
There was no time for talking or explaining. He pushed her out the front door of the cabin and toward the car as fast as he possibly could, not stopping until she was scrunching on the floorboard by the passenger-side front seat, the scrapbook tucked protectively in her arms. He circled the car at a run, then started the engine before tossing his FBI laptop in the back seat and slamming the driver-side door. “Stay down as I try to get us out of here,” he said hotly.
“But my laptop and phone are still in there...” she protested.
“Yes, and that’s probably how they found us,” he agreed as he quickly backed the car up, did a fast three-point turn and headed down the drive. Another bullet caught the back window of the car as they escaped down the driveway. The glass splintered but didn’t break, even after another round hit the rear windshield a few inches to the right. Yet another bullet hit the trunk and Chris heard the metal sing as the lead perforated the steel.
He stomped down on the accelerator and the car leaped forward, the tires grabbing purchase on the dirt and stones on the ground. They left a plume of dirt behind them as he navigated the wooded lane, quickly heading back to the main road. Trees and brush obscured his vision on both sides of the car as he raced down the drive. Chris wondered fleetingly how many criminals were chasing them, and if they were on foot, or if they would soon be pursuing them in a vehicle.
Chris didn’t have long to wait. Just as he made it back to the main road, a bullet perforated the sign that advertised the cabin rental where Eleni had been staying, and another ricocheted off the back bumper. Then a blue sedan entered the road just a bit south of the drive they had been on, and another gunshot rang out. Chris wasn’t sure where or even if that bullet had hit anything, but Eleni was still unharmed, huddled below, between the dashboard and the passenger seat of their car. The car was still driving, despite taking a few bullets, so Chris focused on escaping this latest attack. Eleni’s safety was all he cared about.
Eleni watched as Chris pressed down again on the accelerator, speeding at an even higher velocity now that they were out on the open road. He kept both hands on the wheel as he raced down the roadway, and constantly moved his eyes between the road and the car’s mirrors. The pavement turned, and it looked like it took every ounce of strength he possessed to keep the car on the road. She said a quick prayer, asking God for help as they made their escape.
“What’s going on?” Eleni yelled, as she tried to steady herself by gripping the door handle. “Are they still following us?”
“They’re right behind us,” Chris replied, checking his rearview mirror once again.
Eleni couldn’t believe how calm he sounded. Maybe he was used to being shot at, but it was a new experience for her. Fear made her muscles tense and her stomach twist. All she wanted to do was curl into a ball and scream until the danger was over. Instead, she tried to focus on his words, hoping that by talking to him, she wasn’t distracting him from keeping the car on the road. “What do they look like? Is one of them that guy that has been following me?”
“I don’t know. There are two men in the car—the driver and the shooter. Both are wearing baseball caps pulled low and dark glasses, so I can’t identify either one. I can’t even get a good glimpse of their clothes.”
“What about their race, or their body types? Any clues?” she asked.
“None,” he said, swerving again as the road turned slightly. “Right before I came to get you, I saw a fisherman on the lake that looked suspicious, but I can’t even tell if one of these guys is the same man or not.” He grimaced. “I’m kicking myself for not realizing the danger sooner. I’m so sorry. No matter what happens, stay down and out of sight. One of them is still shooting at us. They’re not giving up easily.”
The highway curved again at an even steeper degree, and Eleni felt the car fishtail slightly as Chris took the turn, trying his best to stay on the road at their current rate of speed. Chris was obviously a very skilled driver, and she was glad that she wasn’t the one behind the wheel. Driving down the streets of Chicago was one thing—but driving with a shooter on their tail was quite another matter. Without Chris at the wheel, she would have already been dead.
A huge crash suddenly sounded behind them, and she could barely make out a large cloud of black smoke from her vantage point on the floorboard.
“That sounded bad! What happened?” she asked.
“Looks like the driver miscalculated how fast he could go around that last bend,” he said, the relief evident in his voice. “They just crossed the double yellow line and ended up in the ditch on the other side of the road. There’s smoke pouring out of the engine. I think they’re done chasing us—at least for now.”
Eleni felt Chris slow the vehicle some and she said a quick prayer of thankfulness. She started to get up into the passenger seat, but Chris motioned for her to stay put. “Just sit tight for another few minutes. Please. I know you’re uncomfortable down there, but rifles have long ranges, and I want you well out of the shooter’s sites before you get in that seat.” He pulled out his phone and quickly reported the incident, then stowed his phone, his eyes still scanning the surrounding area.
“Are you sure they can’t still be following us?”
“Positive,” he replied. He motioned to Eleni with his hand. “Okay, you can get up in the seat now, and please put on your seat belt.”
“Yeah, I think a seat belt sounds like an excellent idea,” she agreed. “Should we go back and check on them?” she asked as she pulled herself up and clicked her seat belt. “I’m not anxious to get shot, but I don’t want to leave someone bleeding out by the side of the road either, and you’re armed, right?”
“Not a chance,” Chris replied firmly. “I’m armed, but the sniper was using a high-powered rifle, similar to what I used during my army days. It has an incredible range, and my little pistol isn’t even in the same league.” He visibly relaxed a bit and ran his hand through his hair. “Since you seem to be their target, I’m not letting you get anywhere close to them, even if they are injured. That’s the price they’ll have to pay.” He glanced in the rearview mirror once more. “I’m fairly sure the perps’ vehicle was totaled in the crash. And that car they were driving is a newer model, so it probably had front and side airbags. They’ll be hurting, but local law enforcement should be able to take care of them shortly and get them any medical assistance they may need. I doubt very seriously that their lives will be in danger if they have to wait a few minutes for the emergency personnel to arrive.”
Eleni took a calming breath, then forced herself to release the door handle that she’d been grasping with a white-knuckled grip. Her heart was still hammering against her chest, even though they were now going a normal rate of speed and the pursuit and danger seemed to be over. “You saved my life back there, Chris. Thank you. If I’d been out here by myself, I’d be dead right now.” She reached over and touched his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze, then withdrew.
Chris glanced in her direction, obviously uncomfortable with her thanks. “Well, at least we’ve confirmed you’re the target, and we know that whoever wants to hurt you is now willing to take direct action against you instead of obscuring his purpose by hurting a group. I guess that’s progress of a sort. We might even be able to get the FBI involved again. This act alone should be enough to convince my boss that you’re the true target.”
“We know more than that,” she agreed pensively. “We’ve also found the connection to the Montgomery family.”
“We need to spend some more time digging on the internet and see if we can figure out the connection,” Chris replied. “Now that we have another lead to follow, we might just get to the bottom of this.”
Eleni still gripped the scrapbook, and now that they were going a normal speed, she opened it again and continued thumbing through it. Suddenly her heart stopped and a knot instantly formed in her stomach. An image stared back at her from the page—one she hadn’t seen for many, many years.
“Are you okay?” Chris asked.
Eleni glanced over and saw the worry in his eyes. She wondered if her own distress was as transparent. “Can you please pull over?”
He nodded and searched for a safe spot to pull onto the highway’s shoulder. About five miles later, they came to a place with a historical sign by the side of the road that allowed drivers to stop and learn about a past event. Chris did a fast parking job, but left the engine running.
Eleni looked around the area and was instantly glad they were alone. She lifted the book and showed him the article she had found in the scrapbook. It was in better shape than the other articles, and seemed to be from a more recent edition of a newspaper. In the center of the article, there was an age-progressed photo of the missing girl, Celia Montgomery.
“This looks just like my seventh grade school photo,” she said quietly. “I think I’m that missing girl.”