“Okay, Aidan, start over from the beginning,” Eli said, running a hand over his shaggy bangs after Mallory handed him a cup of coffee. Still reeling from finding his brother on his property, he hadn’t gotten past Aidan, a freshman in college, being in some sort of deep trouble. They were actually half-brothers, since Eli’s father had a brief affair with another woman when Eli was ten years old. She’d abandoned the baby, and that left Dad to take care of Aidan. Things around their house had been tense for a while, but at least his mother loved Aidan, too.
Eli had just returned with Koko and was still in shock from finding his younger brother crashing through a barn door. He’d sent Aidan and Mallory inside once Aidan warned them that they were all in danger. Everett Brand, a local police officer now engaged and about to be married to team member Helena Maddox, had heard the call and come to the rescue. He’d managed to chase down the SUV leaving the premises. Everett had called in reinforcements to scour the woods for evidence, too.
Mallory gave him a questioning stare. “Before Aidan explains, what happened out there?”
Eli sipped his coffee and then set the cup on the counter. “Koko and I pursued the intruder into the woods on the north side of the property. We could see deep tracks in the snow, but unfortunately we lost the scent. When I heard sirens, I pulled Koko back.” He brushed off his jeans and boots. “The snow out there is knee-deep. We met Everett at the road, but when Koko alerted and tugged toward the driveway, Everett and I followed. The vehicle took off as we rounded the curve, spinning out on the snow. Everett went after it, but radioed he’d lost the SUV on the main road.”
Mallory lowered her head. “So this person is still on the loose.”
“Yes.”
Eli nodded. “I gave the colonel a detailed report. Meanwhile, we’re on the lookout for the man who forced Aidan to come here.”
Earlier, Aidan had given Eli a good description and the man’s name, but they all figured that was an alias. He’d go to ground, but they’d keep looking. Lorenza would have someone scouring the whole of Anchorage and beyond.
The kid was shivering now, whether from the bitter cold or fright, Eli couldn’t be sure. But the warm fire and the hot coffee should help. “Aidan? We need to hear your side of this.”
Mallory sat petting Koko. The K-9 had done his job by alerting and barking enough to scare away whoever was with Aidan. But his brother was right. They’d be back. Aidan knew the man who’d wanted to kill them. That wouldn’t go well when he reported back to the whole gang.
Aidan gulped his coffee, then put the cup on the table beside the worn brown couch. “Lena Matson,” he said. “She got me mixed up in this mess.”
“Who is Lena?” Mallory asked, her eyes laser sharp as she went from concerned friend into her professional protocol.
“A girl I met at school,” Aidan replied. “We hit it off kinda quick, like, she got me, or so I thought.”
“Go on,” Mallory said while Eli brought over bowls of slightly scorched chili.
Aidan grabbed the chili. “I’m so hungry.”
“Talk and eat,” Eli said. Why were teenagers always hungry?
Aidan shoved a spoonful of the meaty chili into his mouth, then drank the water Mallory had brought to him once they’d gotten him to the cabin.
“I met Lena in a study group,” Aidan said. “She was behind on math and history. Or so she said.”
Eli glanced at Mallory, thinking this could take all night. “Aidan, speed this up. We’ve got to decide what to do before these people send someone else.”
Aidan finished the food. “We got to know each other, but I noticed she dressed in really nice clothes, so I figured she was way out of my league. Her parents live in a big, fancy house and her dad owns some type of construction business—but that’s just a cover.” He shot Eli an apologetic glance. “They want your property, too.”
Eli took notes. “Okay, so she has money, and her dad wants this property—my property? Why?”
“Yeah, that’s the weird part—as a cover. They need secluded properties like this one and...I bragged on it and on you. Once I realized I’d been tricked, I thought back over the whole group. These kids come from nice families, so they don’t need to go around doing snatch-and-grabs.”
Eli held up his hand. “Wait, what?”
“They run a huge robbery ring,” Aidan said. “I found out when Lena took me to a house that’s three times the size of hers. And hers is huge.”
“Why did she take you there?”
“The big man lives there. The leader, she called him. Her dad works for him. They wanted me to join up,” he explained. “And...she’d told the man about this place because I went on and on to her one night about how my big brother lives here and owns a lot of acreage. Now they want it and they offered a huge price. But I told them you wouldn’t sell.” He shrugged. “But they looked up the info and saw the deed, Eli. They find stuff like that and use it to their advantage.”
Eli glanced from Aidan to Mallory. “They can’t buy something that isn’t for sale.”
“They can if everyone involved is dead,” Aidan blurted. “I said no, we couldn’t sell, and things got worse from there. Lena told me I needed to comply, or bad things would happen to the people I care about, even Mom and Dad. They want this property, Eli. They figured they’d just get you out of the way, I guess. I don’t know.”
“So why did one of them come here with you?” Mallory asked, her hand stroking Koko’s head.
“I had to think fast,” Aidan replied. “I told Lena okay, I’d see what I could do. I told them I’d talk to you. I wanted to buy myself some time.”
Eli glanced at his brother, his expression grim. “So that’s why you came early? It’s close to Christmas break.”
“Yeah, but they sent one of their lackeys to watch over me—meaning they didn’t want me to come here on my own. They needed to trust me, so to speak.” He leaned back on the couch, fatigue obvious as shadows played across his face. “So Frederick, the human tree—or Tree, as we call him—came with me, in his vehicle. He made me drive, you know, to keep me from, like, jumping from the car.”
“Frederick, the man with apparently only one name and one nickname, is the man who wanted to kill us?”
“Yes, and he’s also the man who tried to kill me when I ruined his sniper-perfect shot. Eli, you’d be dead right now if I hadn’t done something.”
Eli nodded. “I appreciate your efforts. Why did you feel the need to run Mallory off the road?”
“Because she was on the road,” Aidan said. “The road to your house, a road that’s less traveled, unless someone is purposely coming to your house. Mallory was collateral damage—in the way. They don’t like witnesses, but they also don’t leave any evidence. They would have made your death look like an accident, but someone else being here made things dicey—according to Tree. And, no offense, Mallory, but you were driving really slow.”
Mallory glanced at the whiteout glistening from the front porch lights. “For obvious reasons.”
“I understand,” Aidan said. “But Tree—he gets kind of antsy about things, and he wanted you out of the way. So he grinned, held a gun to my head and ordered me to tap your SUV with his SUV, know what I mean?”
Mallory nodded. “I do. At first, I thought I’d imagined it but after you kept coming, I got a little scared.”
“I’m sorry,” Aidan said, a sincerely contrite expression on his face. “I recognized your SUV from seeing it at headquarters when Eli gave me a tour, and I didn’t want to hurt you. I hoped you’d pull over and let us by. But then, Tree would have shot you if you had pulled over.” He held his hands in his shaggy dark hair. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Mallory slanted her head toward Aidan. “This...Tree guy...he would have tried to kill me whether I stopped or not?”
“I was afraid so.” Aidan let out a tired sigh. “I did the best I could to get you safely out of the way. I hoped you’d come here and tell Eli what had happened. And you did, thankfully.”
“Yes, I managed to make it here alive,” Mallory said, her wry smile barely hiding her concern. “You were brave, Aidan, to put yourself on the line like that for us. And clever at that.”
“I couldn’t let Tree kill either of you,” Aidan said. “I stopped him for now. But he’s three times bigger than me, and he’s mad, so he’ll be back. He’ll bring a lot of them with him to finish the job, too.” He glanced toward the window, fear darkening his eyes. “These people do not like to lose.”