“So, let me make sure I’m understanding this correctly...” Mitch was done being patient. He and Zach had been riding shotgun in separate cruisers with well-meaning deputies for—he glanced at the clock—eleven hours straight.
The most productive thing about their meeting up at the gas station so far was the caffeine. Mitch had downed his first cup and was on his second. Adrenaline was wearing thin and he needed the boost. “We’re no closer to figuring out where she could be, and all we’re planning to do about it is drive around some more and hope we stumble across Baxter or where his goons may have taken Kimberly?”
“Everyone in the county is looking for her. Hell, everyone in the state,” Zach stated. “You have a small fleet of airplanes in the air. If you can think of a better course of action, I’d like to hear it.”
His cousin was just as frustrated as he was. Mitch could tell based on the stress cracks on his forehead.
There was no sign of Kimberly. No sightings. Deputy Talisman was being interrogated. So far, to no avail.
Her cell phone had been dumped on the side of the highway outside El Paso. She had to be right under their noses and they were missing it.
“You’re the one with law-enforcement experience. What does your gut tell you?” Mitch asked his cousin. He wasn’t trying to frustrate Zach; he just wanted Kimberly home safely where she belonged.
“That she’s here and we’re missing something,” he said.
“Is she still alive? Wait. Don’t answer that.” Mitch changed his mind. He didn’t want to hear statistics. She had to be alive. He couldn’t accept another outcome. “We’re looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“I know it seems that way,” Zach began.
Mitch issued a sharp sigh. Eleven hours had passed. He checked his watch. Eleven hours and fifteen minutes to be exact. He couldn’t allow himself to go to a place in his mind where this ended badly. There was too much left unsaid between him and Kimberly, dammit.
Deputy Bright walked up to the pair. He glanced at Mitch. “Ready?”
Mitch nodded before thanking the man. It couldn’t be much fun for him to have Mitch riding along for his twelve-hour shift. Speaking of which, a shift change would come up soon. Mitch wondered how long the sheriff would be able to allocate his resources to one case without any leads.
It was a short walk to the cruiser.
As he gripped the handle, Zach called out.
Mitch turned in time to see Zach waving him over. His cell was to his ear. A knot twisted in his gut as he hightailed it over to his cousin.
“Where is that?” Zach asked the caller as he made eye contact with Mitch. The call was on speaker and Deputy Stillwater nodded. Stillwater was tall, dark in complexion and had an athletic build. He wore a white Stetson and reflective sunglasses. He had a serious expression and looked like the kind of guy who wouldn’t put up with a lot of flak.
“I know that location,” Stillwater said. “It used to be named Shoots but it’s been closed a few years.”
“He’s sure?” Zach said into the receiver after a nod of acknowledgment to the deputy.
“We’ve already sent people to watch Baxter’s home and other known hangouts. There’s been no activity, sir,” the female voice assured. “We’re out of ideas. Talisman started talking a few minutes ago. I ran out of the room to call you.”
No activity at Baxter’s local haunts for hours on end sounded odd even to a civilian. But Talisman’s giving up the location could be a trap. Even if Baxter was there, he could’ve been alerted.
Not that Mitch and Zach had another option.
“We’re on our way,” Zach confirmed with a look toward Stillwater. The deputy nodded.
Deputy Bright was already making tracks to his vehicle. Mitch took off running to catch up.
Hope was a slippery slope, so he wouldn’t go down that path just yet.
“Where are we going and how far away is Shoots?” he asked Bright.
“About twenty minutes,” Bright replied, pushing buttons to turn on the lights and siren. Wheels spewed gravel as they peeled out of the parking lot. “We’ll go dark as soon as we get closer.”
Mitch had a feeling this was going to be the longest twenty minutes of his life.
Five minutes out, Bright darkened the lights and turned off the siren. A ride that was supposed to take twenty minutes took sixteen at the speeds he traveled.
He and Bright were the first to arrive to the location, almost immediately followed by Zach and Stillwater. The place was still set up as an outdoor shooting range.
Mitch shouldered the door open. He recognized a couple of trap fields and more than double that in skeet fields.
“Hold on,” Bright said. “I need you to stay in the vehicle.”
As much as Mitch had no plans to get in the way of law enforcement, he couldn’t sit idly by.
“I won’t interfere,” he promised.
Bright issued a sharp sigh. “Sir, I can’t allow—”
Stillwater and Zach were already out of their vehicle.
“I take full responsibility for him,” Zach said.
“With all due respect you’re out of your jurisdiction, Sheriff,” Bright said. “Protocol’s in place for a reason.”
“I’d like to offer my assistance as backup. I’m a sworn peace officer and you need all the help you can get,” Zach continued.
Time was wasting.
“We can’t afford to lose another minute. We’ll stay right here. Just find her and bring her back alive,” Mitch said.
Stillwater called for backup. He and Bright had their weapons out, sweeping from side to side as they moved, methodically clearing obstacles and small makeshift buildings.
“So we just stand here?” Mitch asked Zach.
A plane flew overhead. And then another.
“We need to find cover. Standing out here like this, we’re an easy target. Baxter or one of his men could come out from behind one of these obstacles, shooting,” Zach said.
“How do we know he’s here?” Mitch asked, following Zach around a barricade, where they crouched low. The sun was high in the sky, heat bearing down on them.
“I overhead a report that two vehicles were parked near a shed on the property,” Zach answered.
“This person say anything about seeing her?” Mitch asked.
Zach shook his head. Mitch didn’t want to think about the fact that this could be a wild-goose chase. That Kimberly could have been murdered hours ago and left in a ditch along the highway or, like Tonto, tossed out of the back of a vehicle...
His cousin had his phone out and he was studying a map. “Follow me.”
“Where to?” Zach was too smart to get them mixed up in friendly fire.
“We need to locate the vehicles. If things go sour Baxter will use his SUV to flee the scene.”
Smart.
Zach pulled out his Glock and led the way with it.
“You have a spare one of those?” Mitch didn’t like the idea of being the only one showing up to the party unarmed.
“This didn’t come from me.” Zach reached down to his ankle holster and retrieved a pistol.
Mitch accepted the offering, thanked him and then followed his cousin.
Beads of sweat rolled down Mitch’s face in the dry, blistering New Mexico heat as they progressed toward the location.
Rapid shots fired, crackling like fireworks, freezing them in their tracks. Both dropped to the ground and then rolled onto their stomachs.
“Stay low,” Zach whispered as they belly crawled toward an expensive-looking white SUV. Parked next to it was a late-model king-cab pickup truck. “They come out this way and we’ve got ’em.”
Mitch knew enough about gun safety to realize he needed to put a solid barrier between the two of them and whoever came at them. He scanned the area and located a three-and-a-half-foot-tall concrete wall. It was approximately five feet wide. No doubt another tool meant for training Baxter’s lackeys.
A small measure of hope tried to take root at the fact that the men hadn’t been shooting Kimberly to kill. But then again all that really said was they needed her for something.
Once they got it, she’d most likely be tossed aside just like Tonto.
Again, Mitch couldn’t allow the possibility to take seed in his thoughts. In order to push ahead he had to be convinced that she was still alive.
More bullets split the air. Zach muttered a few choice words as he palmed his cell. He fired off a text asking for an update from the sheriff and then stared at the screen.
He muttered another curse.
“We can’t go in blind,” Zach said. “We could end up hurting more than helping.”
“I can’t imagine how that could be possible,” Mitch countered. A shot of adrenaline made it even harder to sit back and wait. Do nothing. The sound of blood rushing in his ears matched the thump-thump-thump of his heartbeat. The only good news so far was that Baxter was on-site.
Mitch didn’t want to consider the possibility that Kimberly had been taken somewhere else. All signs pointed to her being here.
“This is hell for me, too,” Zach admitted. He glanced at his screen again. “Nothing yet. It’ll come.”
Those last two words sounded more like hope than promise.
And then Zach’s phone vibrated.
He put it on speaker and turned the volume down so low that Mitch could scarcely hear.
“I have two men down on the scene. ETA for backup is twenty-three minutes,” Sheriff Knell said, sounding solemn. “Do not engage with the suspect. I repeat. Do not engage.”
Zach’s expression wore the stress cracks of a seasoned soldier returning from battle. Mitch had spent enough time around law enforcement to realize no one wanted to leave men down if they could help.
“What are the numbers?” Zach asked.
“Two men holed up in a shed,” Sheriff Knell reported.
“Any signs of a female victim?”
“My officers have no idea if anyone else is inside that shed.” The sheriff’s voice was heavy.
Zach thanked his colleague and ended the call. He stared at Mitch. “You heard the man. We have no idea if she’s in there.”
“She is.” Mitch couldn’t say why he knew but a sense of certainty came over him. “Why else would they shoot if they had nothing to hide?”
“There are a lot of reasons. This could be the home base of their operation,” he said.
Mitch examined his cousin. He could get a read on him with one look.
“That’s not what you really believe,” Mitch said.
“Good men are out there, dying. I’m going in one way or another. I’m just trying to figure out a way to keep you out of this,” Zach said honestly.
“Then there’s no reason to waste another minute sitting here.” Mitch hopped to his feet.
“First instinct will be to go to the injured men. We need to secure the perimeter first. Baxter might be on the move. Best case is that he’s still in the shed, figuring out his next step.” Zach shot a look.
Mitch acknowledged that was the best scenario for the injured men. Not necessarily for Kimberly.
First things first, they needed to assess the situation up close.
“I won’t do anything stupid.”
“Didn’t think you would,” Zach replied as he crouched low and proceeded toward the trail.
Mitch followed, thighs burning as they passed the final barricade that lead to an open space about the size of an acre.
The trail opened up to flat land. A ten-by-twelve shed stood toward the right-hand side of the property. A ring of man-made barricades surrounded the area, making it easy for someone to navigate an escape situation.
Everything was still and dead quiet. There was no breeze. The sun pelted him, causing sweat to roll down the sides of his face.
Mitch scanned the area for signs of the officers. Two metal barrels to his left had fresh-looking blood streaks marking them. He nudged Zach and nodded toward the barrels.
Zach followed his gaze. He rocked his head slightly. His gaze swept the perimeter. The metal door to the shed was closed. There were no windows.
On closer inspection Mitch noticed a round cutout in place of a knob. The opening was large enough to fit a barrel and for someone to see through.
His cousin was eyeing the same area.
Zach turned to Mitch and signaled that he was going to check on the deputies. Another signal from his cousin indicated that he wanted Mitch to cover him.
Zach doubled back the way they came. Smart.
Zach reappeared in Mitch’s sightline at the double barrels. The next thing he saw was his cousin administering CPR from behind the barrels.
Mitch kept vigilant watch at the metal door.
It swung open and his heart cramped.
Kimberly stumbled out and took a few unsteady steps.
His heart clutched.
“Don’t shoot,” she pleaded, dropping to her knees.
A clean-cut man stepped behind her and forced her to stand. Her body blocked a clean shot.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Zach abandon CPR and pop to his feet, crouching low behind the barrels. He wouldn’t do anything stupid.
The barrel of a gun poked out of the hole on the shed’s door.
Mitch had no way to warn Zach and could only hope that his cousin could see it.
And then he realized what was about to happen.
Baxter sidestepped as the shot cracked the air.
Kimberly’s eyes widened as she searched her body. A red dot flowered on her stomach. Mitch had to stop himself from going nuts, giving away his location and getting himself killed. As much as he wanted to run toward her, he realized that’s exactly what the men wanted. He refused to play into their hands.
Baxter took off a second later to Mitch’s right, an easier trail to his SUV.
Fighting the urge to run to Kimberly, Mitch darted after Baxter instead.
The next thing he knew, Baxter had spun around on him and drawn a weapon. Before the man could get off a shot, Mitch fired.
Gunning toward Baxter at full speed, Mitch experienced a rush of adrenaline that made it impossible for him to steady his hand, but he was close enough for the bullet to take a chunk out of the inside of Baxter’s left arm.
Baxter instinctively grabbed his wound.
Mitch took another couple of steps and then dove headfirst into the man’s knees, knocking him backward and causing him to lose his balance. He stumbled a step before falling. The gun in his right hand flew onto the hard, unforgiving earth a few feet away.
Baxter stretched toward the weapon but Mitch was already on top of him, connecting jabs to his jaw. Baxter’s head jerked with every punch landed. Blood splattered everywhere, both from Baxter’s nose and from Mitch’s knuckles.
The sounds of more shots being fired behind him registered. The knot braiding Mitch’s gut twisted relentlessly.
He nailed punch after punch until Baxter’s body went limp underneath him.