Page 19

Chapter 19

“Get the NDBCI in Bismarck on the phone. Now!” Nick paced the war room, his heart hammering against his ribs, his chest so tight he could barely breathe.

Paul pulled up the online phone directory and clicked on the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. He dialed his cell phone and after a few questions, he handed the phone to Nick. “This guy said he’s Jensen’s boss.”

“This is FBI Agent Tarver. The murderer has Agent Jensen, but she’s got her cell phone on her. She said something about GPS tracking. Can you pull her up?”

“Holy shit. He’s got Jensen?” the man said.

“Yes, sir. It’s her brother-in-law. We need to find her. Now.”

“On it. Give me a minute, and I’ll have that location.”

“She may not have a minute.” The truth of his words nearly knocked him to his knees. He handed Paul’s phone back to him. “Give him your cell phone number. I want to keep mine free in case she calls back.”

“Do you think she will?”

“God, I hope so.” He paced the floor like a caged lion ready to rip into anyone who dared poke his head inside the room. He’d been back at the station less than two minutes when Brenna’s call had come through. At first he’d felt elation, followed quickly by frustration, anger and helplessness. Now all he could do was wait for word from Bismarck. Nick smashed his fist into his other palm. “Where would he have taken her?”

“Does he have a lake cabin like most of the people around here?” Paul asked. “Or maybe a hunting cabin?”

“Hell, we don’t know anything about Stan other than he’s Jensen’s brother-in-law.” Melissa stared up at the whiteboard and pointed at the information about each victim. “Drummond was found on Eagle Lake, Stinson up Highway 7 along the Red River, Carmichael and Gomez?—”

“Highway 7.” Nick pressed his eyes closed and tipped his chin to the ceiling, racking his brain.

“I overheard on the police scanner that they blocked that road due to flooding,” Paul said.

“Brenna had a grandmother who lived out Highway 7—next door to Stan’s mother’s house.” Nick’s eyes opened, and he ran for the door. “I know where he’s taking her.”

“I’m coming with you.” Paul grabbed his jacket.

“Me, too,” Melissa echoed.

“We need something higher off the ground than a sedan.” Nick stared across at Paul and Melissa.

“That would be the truck I rented.” Melissa pulled her keys from her pocket and tossed them at Nick.

Nick and Melissa climbed in the front seat of the fire-engine-red, four-wheel-drive pickup. Paul slid into the backseat and leaned over the top. “What’s with the pickup?”

Melissa crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re not a Texan unless you drive a pickup.”

“But you’re not a Texan,” Paul said. “And we’re not in Texas.”

Melissa’s brow rose. “I’m working on that. I have my paperwork in for my next assignment.”

Before Paul could reply, his cell phone rang. He answered,“Agent Fletcher.” He listened. “Right, we’re on our way.”

“NDBCI?” Nick glanced over his shoulder.

“Yeah. You were right. The GPS pinpoints her location at five miles north of Riverton on Highway 7.”

Nick’s teeth ground together as they headed north on Lincoln Street, weaving through traffic bent on heading west, away from the flooding Red River.

Water stood four inches deep on some of the streets, and by the reports back at the police station, it would only get worse. One breach in the levy system was dumping hundreds of gallons of water a minute into the city's river district. Those who hadn’t gotten out wouldn’t without rescue now.

By the time they reached the turn to Highway 7, the water was up to six inches and rising.

“Isn’t that the levy over there?” Melissa pointed to the right.

Nick’s hands gripped the steering wheel as he concentrated on keeping the vehicle between the ditches. “Yes.”

“Kinda scary knowing the river is cresting over the levy in other areas, considering the levy rises above this road.”

Nick didn’t respond. If the levy burst before he got to Brenna, he’d damn well swim the rest of the way. The woman had more courage and gumption than any other he’d ever met. She loved this town enough to risk her life to save its inhabitants. The least he could do was risk his own life to save her.

Clouds choked the sun from the sky and rain drizzled onto the windshield.

“Geez, as if there isn’t enough water to worry about,” Melissa said as Nick switched the wipers on.

Brenna’s grandmother’s house loomed on the horizon. The house and huge metal barn were surrounded by a lake of water.

Plowing through twelve inches of water now, Nick prayed the truck would stay on the road long enough to get to the next house. To Brenna.

“There’s Jensen’s SUV!” Melissa shouted. “And look, fire!”

Nick pulled in behind the SUV, blocking it from the road. Without bothering to shut off the engine, he leaped out of the truck and raced for the house, yelling over his shoulder, “You two take the back of the house. Don’t let Klaus get away.”

Nick didn’t wait for Melissa and Paul to take their places at the rear of the building. He knew they were capable as surely as he knew Brenna was inside that house.

Across the wide wooden porch, a wall of fire burned, the overpowering scent of diesel fuel permeating the air. The smoke rising above the blaze burned black. Stan had doused the house in fuel to burn it to the ground with Brenna inside.

Nick slung his jacket into the icy water around his feet, drenching the leather before draping it over his head and charging through the fire to the front door. Flames licked at his clothes, but he made it to the door. Wrapping his coat sleeve around the door handle, he tried to turn it, but it was locked. With his jacket as a shield, he slammed his elbow through the plate glass window and reached inside to unlock the deadbolt.

Once inside, he dropped into a crouch. Using his shirt to cover his nose, Nick moved through the room, his eyes stinging from the smoke. He felt his way across the floor until he bumped into an object on the floor.

The lump emitted a soft, feminine groan.

Nick fell to his knees and blinked several times before he could see blond hair spread out on the wood floor. “Brenna!” He rolled her over into his arms, but before he could lift her, a foot came out of the smoke and connected with his ribcage, sending him flying backward. His head slammed against a wooden rocker, and he struggled to get his bearings, his wet feet sliding on the smooth floor.

Smoke clogged his lungs as he lurched to his feet and plowed back through the thick haze to the man leaning over Brenna with a gun in his hand.

Nick threw himself at Stan Klaus knocking the weapon free, and the two men crashed to the floor in a tangled heap.

“No! You can’t stop me. She needs to die!” Stan screamed.

“Not on my shift.” Nick swung a fist with all his pent-up emotions packed behind the punch. Pain sliced through his knuckles when they made contact with Stan’s jaw. The killer’s head jerked back, bouncing off the hardwood planks.

Nick worried about Brenna lying behind him on the floor. He had to get her out before she died of smoke inhalation.

He cocked his arm, ready to land another fist in Stan’s face when the man twisted and shoved him to the side, rolling out of range.

His feet sliding on the floor, Nick struggled to get up, throwing himself after the serial killer. He caught Stan in the back of the legs, and the man fell against the edge of a curio cabinet and lay still.

Nick yanked the hem of his shirt up over his face and nudged Stan with his foot. The man didn’t move, didn’t respond.

With the fire quickly consuming the dried timbers of the old house, Nick didn’t have time to waste on Stan. He turned back to Brenna and, in one fluid motion, scooped her into his arms and ran for the door.

Flames had climbed into the rafters, eating through the beams like paper. A loud cracking sound rent the air, and the porch overhang collapsed in Nick’s path. He dodged to the side and leaped off the porch into a foot of freezing water. He didn’t stop running until he reached the truck.

Jerking the passenger door open, he gently laid Brenna in the seat, his heart lodging in his throat.

He hadn’t stopped to check for a pulse. She hadn’t woken up to tell him she was okay.

With his hands shaking, Nick touched two fingers to her neck, feeling for life in Brenna’s still body.

For what felt like a lifetime, he held his breath until the faintest nudge tapped against his finger, then another, until her pulse beat in a regular rhythm.

Brenna coughed, her eyes fluttering open. “Nick? Oh, God. Nick.” She coughed again, and tears trickled from the corners of her eyes, leaving charcoal trails down the sides of her face in the thin layer of soot.

He pulled his pocket knife out of his pocket and sliced through the ethernet wire, freeing her hands.

Brenna wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his shirt. “You came.”

“Damn right, I did,” he murmured against her temple.

Melissa and Paul waded around from the other side of the house and stood beside the truck. “Hey, boss, that house is toast,” Melissa said. “We never saw Klaus, did you?”

Nick stroked Brenna’s soft cheek. “He’s inside.”

“Then he’s history,” Paul said, gazing over his shoulder at the fire burning out of control.

“Good.” Nick pulled Brenna into his arms, glad he’d found her before Stan could finish what he’d started.

“Well, boss, I hate to break up your reunion,” Melissa said. “But the water is rising faster and it’s damned cold.”

Nick tucked a strand of hair behind Brenna’s ear and straightened. “Let’s go.”

Sliding Brenna to the middle of the seat, Nick climbed in beside her. “Bradley, you drive.”

“As they say around these parts, ‘you betcha’.” Melissa climbed behind the wheel, turned the truck around in the flooded yard and headed back the way they’d come.

Nick glanced over his shoulder as the roof of the little house caved in, the entire building an inferno. If Stan Klaus had survived the fall against the cabinet or smoke inhalation, the fire burning now would finish the job.

Good riddance.

Melissa drove a lot slower in the rising river water on the trip back to town, straining to keep the truck on pavement they could no longer see. “Wow, this might get ugly before it gets better.”

“I’m counting on you, Bradley.” Nick tightened his hold on Brenna as the truck skidded sideways. “Show us how to drive like a Texan.”

Melissa did just that, pushing through almost twenty-four inches of water at some points to get them back to the high ground at the police station.

All the while, Nick held Brenna in his arms as she drifted in and out of consciousness. He couldn’t lose her now. She was the woman for him. The one who made his life complete. Somehow, he had to convince her to stay with him, even if he had to give up his work with the FBI.