Kate paced in front of the living room fireplace of the family’s log house, then went into the kitchen where Abby had made a big pot of fresh coffee.
“Mama, why don’t you sit in the living room and wait for the sheriff and the FBI?” Abby said. “Jay and I will make sure everyone gets something to drink. You need to focus on whatever they have to tell you.”
Elliot appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Honey, they’re here.” He put his arms around Kate. “We prayed long and hard about Hawk and his circumstances. Let’s take this meeting as an answer to prayer. Let’s just listen to what Special Agent Romo has to say.”
Kate didn’t want to leave Elliot’s arms. Didn’t want to deal with Hawk’s mess. Or the fact that he was in danger and Virgil wasn’t in charge. The doorbell rang. Kate pushed back and looked up at Elliot. “Hold on to me, okay? My knees are like Jell-O.”
“I’ve got you. Come on.” Elliot linked arms with her, and just as they stepped out of the kitchen, they nearly collided with Hawk, who threw his arms around them both.
“I’m so sorry,” Hawk said. “The consequences just keep getting worse. I no sooner get through one and a worse one pops up.”
“God will get us through this.” Elliot nodded toward Abby, Jay, Jesse, and Grandpa Buck. “Why don’t you go hug your fan club? They’ll be so glad to see you.”
Hawk walked into the living room while Elliot and Kate greeted the sheriff, and the sheriff introduced Kate to Special Agent Romo.
“Let’s go sit in the living room,” Elliot said. “All of us are eager to hear whatever you came to tell us.”
Elliot introduced Romo to the other members of the family.
“You have a ten-year-old daughter too,” Romo said. “Is she going to sit in on this?”
“No,” Kate said. “Riley doesn’t know anything about this. She’s away at camp and won’t be back until Sunday afternoon.”
“It’s probably best.” Romo sat next to Virgil on the love seat facing the others.
“I’ve made a fresh pot of coffee,” Abby said. “Any takers?”
“You’re reading my mind,” Virgil said. “Just black.”
Romo nodded. “Same here. Thanks.”
“I’ll have a cup,” Hawk said.
Abby smiled. “Cream and sugar, I know. We’ll be right back.”
Kate could hear the pendulum clock ticking, her own heart beating, and Grandpa Buck’s nasally breathing in the unsettling silence that followed.
Abby and Jay returned with the coffee and took their seats on the floor next to Jesse. Grandpa Buck was in his rocker. Hawk sat with Kate and Elliot on the couch. All eyes were on Sheriff Granger and Special Agent Romo.
“It’s late,” Virgil said. “But somehow I knew you’d all be right here, waiting to hear the next step. It’s my understanding that each of you were up to speed on the statements that Hawk and Dennis gave at the courthouse this morning. So Special Agent Romo is going to update you on where we are now in this investigation. Chris?”
“I’m really glad to see the support you have for Hawk, individually, and as a family,” Romo said. “That’s going to mean everything in the hours and days to come. Okay, here’s what you need to know. Kennedy Taylor did not use her real name. Her real name is classified. From this point on, she will be referred to as Nameless. Our interest in this case stems from the fact that Nameless has a five-million-dollar bounty on her head and is being pursued by a really determined bounty hunter—one evil dude—who will stop at nothing to find her. Our intelligence indicates that this bounty hunter is coming here to find Hawk because Hawk was involved with Nameless and may know where she is. I need to speak freely about some difficult things.” Romo looked at Kate and Elliot. “Hawk thinks Jesse is mature enough to handle it, but I did want to give you warning. Are you okay with that?”
Kate looked at Elliot and they both nodded.
“If this bounty hunter catches up with Hawk, he’s not going to take Hawk’s word for it that he doesn’t know where Nameless is. He will do whatever it takes, even torture, to get Hawk to reveal her whereabouts, which, of course, he can’t. Once he’s convinced that Hawk really doesn’t know, he’ll kill him.”
Kate sucked in a breath, her hand over her mouth.
“Obviously, we can’t allow that to happen,” Romo said. “I, Virgil, and two of my special agents met earlier to devise a plan to capture this bounty hunter, but it’s going to take real courage, intense focus, trusted teamwork, and a little good luck to pull it off.”
“So you know what this man looks like?” Elliot said.
Romo glanced at Hawk, then focused his attention on Elliot and Kate. “I wish we did, Mr. Stafford. But we don’t. Our intel is one hundred percent sure that the bounty hunter’s coming. But, after putting our heads together, my people and Sheriff Granger see only one way to draw this man out in the open. And that’s where Hawk comes in. Virgil, maybe you’d like to explain.”
Virgil cleared his throat. “We’ve discussed the situation with Hawk, and he understands that what we’re asking is risky. But unless Hawk makes this bounty hunter believe he’s accessible, the guy could take one of you at gunpoint and force his way to Hawk. Then one or all of you could be at risk too. There’s only one solution: Hawk needs to let us put him out there to draw the bounty hunter from the shadows. Once this guy makes a move, we can close in quickly and take him into custody.”
“So, just to clarify,” Buck said, “you’re plannin’ to apprehend the bounty hunter, not take him out?”
“My orders are to bring him in unharmed,” Romo said. “I wasn’t told why. That’s classified. I was told that this bounty hunter is no good to us dead.”
“Well, Hawk is no good to us dead either!” Kate said. “You’re the FBI. You must have a better plan than using an innocent citizen to do your dirty work.”
“I’m anything but innocent,” Hawk said. “This bounty hunter is after me because I got involved with a woman I knew nothing about. No one knows where she is, and this person thinks I do. I can’t change that. But I trust Sheriff Granger to shoot straight with us. He always has. I’m sure Special Agent Romo wants to do what’s best. When this is all over, we’ll probably trust him as much as we do the sheriff.” Hawk took Kate’s hand. “I’ve got to do this, Mama. To protect me and my future. And to protect the family. If they don’t get this guy off the street, we’ll be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.”
Kate studied her oldest. So bold. So sure of himself. “Hawk, what if something goes wrong, and they can’t stop him from getting to you and whisking you away to a place where no one can protect you?”
“Then God will protect me,” Hawk said. “Look how He’s had his hand on this family through so many dangerous situations. I’m not going to stop trusting Him now.”
“I assure you,” Romo said, “it won’t be necessary to rely on God. My people are the best at what they do. We’ll keep Hawk safe.”
Kate squeezed Elliot’s hand. Such arrogance, she thought.
“Maybe the Lord wants us to rely some on both,” Buck said. “You said yourself we need trusted teamwork. Can’t get much better than that.”
Romo’s face turned red. “Fair enough. I’m willing to work with God if He’s willing to work with me. Okay, here’s the plan: You need to keep in mind this is an undercover operation. First, we need to install surveillance cameras and make use of our facial recognition technology. This could help us identify the bounty hunter if he or she is already in the system, which is a real possibility. Do you have surveillance cameras here at Angel View?”
“Yes, we do,” Kate said. “Virgil talked me into upgrading them last year.”
“Great. I don’t see any outside cameras here at your home, though. I’ll have a surveillance system installed ASAP and we’ll have it linked to our equipment. Again, think undercover. We don’t want anything to stand out. This guy’s a pro. He’ll be looking at his environment with scrutiny. Virgil, tell them how we plan to keep Hawk in our sight.”
“We don’t think Hawk is safe doing Jeep tours until this thing’s over,” Virgil said. “In order to get him away from that and sound legit, you need to tell the staff that you have a landscaper coming to draw up plans to beautify the grounds, and that Hawk is temporarily being pulled off his tours to work with the landscaper and to train a new grounds maintenance crew. You’ll have to get with the nursery you currently use and tell them you’ve decided not to outsource lawn maintenance and have hired a crew of your own. Shouldn’t be hard for anyone to believe, since Hawk was supervising outdoor maintenance before he started the Jeep tours. This would give us a perfect opportunity to bring in a half-dozen agents posing as the new grounds crew without raising suspicion. We’ll get a couple additional agents to pose as the landscapers. Hawk could pretend to work with them too, which would give him a chance to move around and look busy.
“Of course, you’d have to sell this to your staff without raising a hint of suspicion,” Virgil said. “If we see we need more agents, we can add some as pest control, housekeeping, maintenance, and the like. What we want is busy, normal activity a person might expect to see at a resort like Angel View.”
“And while all this is happening here to keep Hawk moving around the premises,” Romo said, “we will have the FBI command center set up behind the empty barn on Pete Jameson’s farm, where we can operate in obscurity. I’ll be there with other agents and with the sheriff and some of his people, carefully watching Hawk and observing who else might be watching Hawk. We’ll have agents posing as guests too. And one working at Flutter’s as a busboy. We’ll be observing people from all angles. We will use drones to monitor the property from the air. We’ll have two FBI agents in your home twenty-four seven. Each agent will be awake and in charge for twelve hours and then switch off. That way, there won’t be an unfamiliar vehicle parked on your property, and no agents coming and going. That should avoid suspicion and help give you peace of mind while we try to flush out the bounty hunter and take him into custody.”
Grandpa Buck wiped his bald head with a kerchief. “I’ll say one thing, you folks’re sure going to a lot of trouble to get one bounty hunter. Sounds like this operation will cost more than the bounty would’ve paid him.”
Romo smiled. “I doubt that. But the FBI doesn’t put a price tag on safety. Before we get out of your way for the night, just understand that the ball is already rolling and things are going to happen at warp speed starting tomorrow morning. It’s absolutely imperative that we get our people in place so we can position Hawk where we can observe him all the time. Remember, this bounty hunter isn’t going to shoot Hawk. His goal is to get Hawk somewhere alone where he can do whatever it takes to find out where Nameless is. We need to keep Hawk moving around the premises so we can try to pick out the bounty hunter. The facial recognition technology might save us the trouble, in which case we can close in quickly. Otherwise, we’ll do it the way we’ve been doing it for decades. Our surveillance cameras will enable us to study the people who study Hawk. Shouldn’t be that hard to pick out the bounty hunter. We’re experienced in what to look for.”
“What happens,” Kate said, “if, despite your best efforts, this bounty hunter isn’t on anyone’s radar and makes a move you didn’t anticipate?”
“Don’t worry,” Romo said. “I will anticipate every conceivable scenario. That’s my job.”