Page 17

SIXTEEN

Urging his horse forward, Carter met the crying girl and grabbed her horse’s bridle. “Hey there. I’m an FBI agent. My name is Ty Carter. That man coming along is Chief Deputy Zac Rio out of Black Rock Falls. What’s your name?”

“Serena Lee.” Tears streamed down her eyes and she pointed behind her. “Men came to Grandpa’s cabin. One of them is back that way in the forest, but he’s heading away from here. He has a woman with him. She called out to speak to my grandpa.”

“Then what happened?” Rio came closer.

“I don’t know. Grandpa said to go and collect the eggs and stay out of sight until the strangers left. He didn’t trust strangers.” She covered her face and sobbed. Dark hair spilled over her face and her body trembled.

Not being good with kids, Carter looked at Rio and tipped his head toward the girl. When Rio shrugged, Chaska, one of Blackhawk’s cousins, came forward and spoke to the girl in his native tongue. She raised her head and replied, her words fluent but punctuated by sobs. Carter looked at Chaska. “Do you know this girl?”

“I know her mother, and she visited the res some years ago.” Chaska indicated with his chin back the way they’d come. “The cabin back there belongs to her grandfather Troy Lee. Her mother is Kaya. She moved to Black Rock Falls with her husband. Her grandfather teaches her about the forest. He was a good man.”

Wanting to push and discover what had happened, but curbing his enthusiasm, Carter nodded. “Okay, so does she know what happened?”

“She heard a gunshot, not her grandfather’s shotgun, and hid. Two men came by, dragging him to the pigpen. She could see he was dead. He had blood on his shirt. The men and the woman all went inside, and she snuck away on the horse and has been avoiding them ever since. She was heading back to the cabin to call for help.”

Carter looked at the girl, who had calmed since speaking to Chaska. “Did you see where the other men went? We followed them to the cabin and they look like they’re headed back to the river.”

“No, they were all at the river and I headed in another direction. I got lost and then heard one man and the woman, and told Thunderbolt to go home. We cantered all the way here. The man was heading the other way.” Serena hiccupped and scrubbed at her eyes. “I saw something else, a drone, flying along above the river toward them. It was carrying something. Next time it went over, it was flying high and the box was gone.”

Concern gripped Carter. Something wasn’t right. Sure a group of prisoners could arrange a bus wreck, but organizing men capable of shooting the bus driver from a chopper and now drones dropping supplies? This manhunt had just gone to the next level. He turned to Rio. From his expression, he didn’t need a rundown. “We’ll take her to the cabin to collect her things.” He turned to Chaska. “Can you get her safely away from here and onto the res?”

“Yeah, we have trails no one has discovered.” Chaska moved his horse close to Thunderbolt and looked at Serena. “Would you like to stay with your grandmother until we catch these bad men? I will contact your mom when it’s safe to do so.” He glanced at Carter. “Is that okay?”

Nodding, Carter turned his horse around. “Yeah, we’ll head back to the cabin and inform the others. We’ll get her something to eat and then you must get her out of here. She’s a witness and these men won’t hesitate to kill her the moment they find out.”

“You have my word.” Chaska met his gaze. “She is family. I’ll keep her safe.”

“Thanks. Will you contact me when you arrive?” Rio handed him one of his cards. “We’ll need to know you’re safe.”

“Yes, I’ll call.” Chaska headed back to the cabin with Serena at his side.

Standing guard as Serena packed her belongings, his gaze scanning the forest alongside Rio and Blackhawk’s other cousin, Takoda, Carter hit his com hoping that it would carry the distance to Kane. “Kane, do you copy?”

“Copy.”

Carter brought Kane up to date. “This is bigger than we imagined.”

“Yeah, seems to me there’s something going down that we haven’t anticipated.” Kane heaved a sigh. “We’re coming up inland toward you, so we will no doubt run into one of the groups. From what you are saying, it will probably be the man and the woman. That has to be the prison guard. If she is hurt, she was either injured in the wreck or the prisoners have been abusing her.”

Carter shook his head slowly. “She might have been in on it. It’s strange she isn’t dead, considering the company she’s keeping.”

“Maybe. I guess we won’t know whose side she’s on until we get there.” Kane sighed. “She’s the least of my problems. If someone is dropping packages to them in the forest, it’s likely to be weapons. I figure this escape is twofold. They needed to get Eduardo Souza out of prison, and he likely put a very high price on my head. The men he’s chosen to hunt me down have nothing to lose. His wealth is a bottomless pit and he could give them a new life just about anywhere. Souza has had so many identities that finding him again is going to be difficult.”

Seeing so many potentially bad scenarios, Carter ran a hand down his face. “Right now, we need to concentrate on the serial killers. Souza is an escaped felon and the entire FBI has him in their sights. Investigations didn’t stop when he was imprisoned. We needed to close down all the branches of his empire. This hasn’t yet been accomplished, but I can assure you that some of the best are hunting down and clearing out rats’ nests as we speak.” He blew out a breath. “None of this is logical. Three serial killers, armed or not, wouldn’t have a snowflake’s chance in a brushfire to take us down. They kill innocent people and we’re all military trained. I’m starting to believe this is a ruse to get us away from Black Rock Falls.”

“Well, Souza is no fool.” Kane’s boots crunched through the underbrush as he walked. “He would be aware of the involvement of you and Styles by now. As you said, he has fingers in every pie. He would have someone to infiltrate the FBI’s files, just like Kalo, and discover who was involved in taking down him and his men. Getting us out here and splitting us up is a way to take us down. We don’t have intel on what weapons they’re carrying or their communication devices. With an eye in the sky, they’ll know our location. If we can locate them, we have the numbers to take them down. I’m just hoping Jenna made it safely back to the ranch. A chopper can’t land there. The ranch is secure and she has three FBI agents to watch her back. I’m waiting on her call.”

Carter shook his head. “Call her now. You have drones at your ranch, right? Get her to pack one up and use the other to bring one to our coordinates. Then we’ll be on an even playing field.”

“I don’t want her going outside. You know darn well she’s a target. So is my son.”

“Styles here. Do you copy?” The familiar voice came through Carter’s com.

Rolling his eyes, Carter stared at Rio. “Yeah, I’m here. Can we dispense with the ‘copy’ and ‘over and out’ shit?”

“Sure.” Styles sounded amused. “Beth will send the drone. She’ll get the job done. You can rely on her.”

Straightening and sweeping his gaze over the forest again, Carter cleared his throat. “You okay with that, Dave?”

“Copy. There’s a cabin one mile south from your position. We’ll meet you there. If we run into the prisoners, you’ll hear us coming. Over.”

Carter rubbed Zorro’s ears. “I’ll never get the military out of that man.”