Page 17

Jake charged from the threshold of Garth Fields’ ramshackle residence into the oppressive heat of a mid-July afternoon. “Stop! Police!” he yelled at the hulking figure running away from him, his command shattering the neighborhood’s stillness.

Jake sprinted across the yard after the fugitive, dodging around a rake here, a half-buried tire there—obstacles littering the ground, remnants of domestic life turned feral. His reflexes kept him upright, honed from years of navigating the unpredictable streets of Kansas City

There was no mistaking the desperation in Fields’ retreating figure, the way his shoulders hunched as if to dodge each word hurled at him. He moved fast for such a big man, disappearing behind a weathered shed.

When Jake rounded that corner, he saw Fields grappling with a chain-link fence. Jake’s hand closed around Fields’ ankle, but the other foot lashed out the desperate energy of a man cornered. The sole of a shoe met Jake’s jaw with a force that set his ears to ringing. Even so, Jake’s hand remained ironclad around Fields’ ankle.

With a grunt of determination, the deputy yanked the fugitive from his precarious perch atop the fence. As they fell in a tangle of limbs and hit the ground hard, Jake leveraged his body, using his momentum to pin Fields to the earth.

“Garth Fields,” Jake panted, “you’re under arrest.” He reached for the handcuffs secured at his belt.

But Fields’ energy was not yet spent. With a surge of vigor, he bucked beneath Jake, a surprising show of strength. In the frenzied melee, Fields’ elbow jabbed into Jake’s side, stealing the air from his lungs. A flash of agony lit up Jake’s ribcage, his breath hitching in a silent gasp. For a moment, the world narrowed to the sharp edge of discomfort cutting through him. Instinctively, Jake tightened his hold, pressing down harder as he wrestled to regain control in spite of that pain.

Then Fields’ hard shove sent Jake sprawling backward, the ground delivering a second punishing blow.

***

Jenna moved slowly, her steps deliberate as she navigated the maze of clutter that crowded Garth Fields’ living room. She scanned the dim corners, seeking out any sign of movement, any hint of threat. Then a muffled thump from somewhere deeper within the house caught her attention. She paused, listening, her gun held steady in front of her.

When only stillness followed, Jenna stepped forward, each movement calculated to reveal nothing to anyone who might be lying in wait. She inched in the direction of the noise, prepared for what—or who—might be waiting behind the closed door at the end of a hallway.

Jenna’s approach was silent. As she reached the door, she heard another thump from within. She pressed her ear against the cool surface, and a scraping sound demanded action.

With a swift movement born of necessity, Jenna gripped the doorknob, raised her weapon and pushed the door open.

***

Jake lay there for a split second, the world spinning slightly as he grappled with the pain’s sharp talons. Then, with a grunt, he got himself onto all fours; his training kicked in, refusing to let him stay down. As his vision cleared, he caught sight of Fields’ slipping into the mouth of an alleyway.

“Damn,” Jake muttered under his breath, pushing up off the ground. His hand went to his side, feeling the hot throb beneath his shirt. The adrenaline pumping through his veins dulled the pain enough for him to stand. He took a deep, steadying breath, grimacing as his ribcage protested, and bolted after the fleeing suspect.

Fields, with the desperation of the hunted, made a reckless dash into the street. A horn blared as he narrowly sidestepped a car that screeched to a halt. Jake followed after him, ignoring the driver’s angry honks.

As he rounded another corner into the unforgiving blaze of the mid-July afternoon, he saw his chance. Fields’ stumble was all Jake needed. He closed the distance and launched into a tackle that would have made his high school coach proud.

The impact was an eruption of sound and sensation, their bodies crashing onto the sidewalk. The handcuffs were in Jake’s hands, and he snapped them closed around Fields’ wrists. Then Jake pulled out his gun, discouraging the fugitive from fighting again.

“Garth Fields, you’re under arrest,” Jake managed between gulps of air, his voice hoarse. He struggled to maintain the formal tone as he recited the Miranda rights, each word punctuated by his labored breathing.

As he pulled the man to his feet, he saw faces peering out from behind curtains in a nearby house window. He fished his phone from the depths of his pocket and dialed for backup. The call connected, and he relayed their location with precision.

The biggest concern in his mind now was Jenna.

***

When Jenna opened the door, she saw a woman’s form sprawled across the floor, bound to an overturned chair. The gag in her mouth was a cruel silencer, yet her eyes screamed what her voice could not. Jenna had found Lily Cummings.

The room’s clutter spoke volumes about a brutal struggle that had taken place there, but it was Lily’s deliberate act of rebellion—toppling the chair to create noise—that had drawn the sheriff to her. Jenna acknowledged the bravery even as her hand steadied the gun she aimed into the uncertain shadows around them.

“Stay calm,” Jenna whispered. “You’re safe now.” Satisfied there were no immediate threats, Jenna quickly holstered her weapon.

“Stay still, I’ve got you,” she reassured Lily, her voice calm. She knelt beside the overturned chair, her deft hands working at the ropes that bit into Lily’s flesh. Jenna felt the coarseness of the bindings, saw the stark red welts they had left on Lily’s pale skin.

As Jenna peeled away the last of the rope, she reached for the gag that stifled Lily’s cries. With gentle firmness, she removed the fabric barrier, and Lily’s breath came out in desperate gulps. Her face, streaked with the evidence of her ordeal, was a mask of relief and terror.

“Jenna,” Lily gasped, her voice strained with fear and exertion. “He... he said he’d kill me. Like the others.” Her words sliced through the room, heavy with implications of a darkness far greater than a single kidnapping.

“The others?” Jenna whispered, chilled by Lily’s words. Had her captor been referring to the two men who had been killed by the shock of that horrible branding? Was Lily about to be counted among them?

Jenna steadied Lily, gently holding woman’s arm as she helped her into a sitting position. The bruises marring Lily’s skin were jarring against her pallor, each one a testament to the terror that had unfolded within these walls. Jenna’s emerald eyes held a storm of concern as they swept over Lily’s battered form. “We’ll get you to a hospital,” she assured her.

Jenna’s hand shook slightly as she retrieved her phone from her pocket and dialed for an ambulance. As she spoke with the dispatcher, Jenna’s mind was ablaze with the implications of Lily’s words. The others—what did that mean? How deep did this rabbit hole go?

She ended the call and helped Lily get to her feet, then guided her to the faded couch in the living room. “Let’s get you comfortable,” Jenna murmured, her hand gently on Lily’s shoulder as she eased her down onto the cushions. The environmentalist’s breaths came in short, ragged pulls, the ordeal drawing lines of strain around her eyes.

The paramedics arrived quickly, their faces set in professional masks of concern as they filed in through the open doorway. One paramedic wrapped a cuff around Lily’s arm with practiced swiftness. “Blood pressure’s looking a bit high,” he commented, “but that’s to be expected,”

“Shock can do that to you,” Jenna replied as she knelt beside Lily. “Stay with me, Lily,” Jenna said. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Lily’s gaze found Jenna’s, a silent communion passing between them. “I found evidence of bribes... large sums of money being paid to Garth for zoning changes.” Her words were brittle, threatening to shatter, but she continued her story. “When I confronted him here, he...” A shiver ran through her body. “He attacked me. He said he had to put a stop to my investigation.”

Jenna’s expression hardened at the confirmation of corruption staining her town’s integrity. “And then?” she prompted.

With a trembling hand, Lily brushed the stray strands hair from her face, her other hand tracing the reddened skin where the gag had been. “He bound and gagged me,” she whispered.

“Thank you, Lily. You’re incredibly brave,” Jenna assured her. She knew the courage it took to stare down fear and then keep going.

“Alright, we’re going to take you to the hospital, just to make sure everything’s okay,” the paramedic interjected, breaking the moment.

Jenna nodded, standing as they prepped Lily for transport. She watched as they wheeled her out, her mind churning with the implications of bribery and violence, of a threat that spread through the very foundations of Trentville.

“Jenna,” Lily called out weakly, her stretcher pausing at the threshold. “You have to stop him.”

“Stop who, Lily? Garth?” Jenna asked sharply, stepping forward. “Jake’s gone after him.”

“No, the one pulling his strings, making those bribes and kickbacks,” Lily breathed out, her eyes pleading. “And you have to stop him. He’s responsible for the murders. I’m just sure of it.”

Lily’s chest heaved as though every breath were a battle, her eyes glazing over with the memory of freshly lived horror. “He said I was getting too close,” she stammered. “That I’d end up like Clyde and Roger if I didn’t stop poking around.”

Jenna’s mind spun, thoughts darting like swallows at dusk. She leaned in, her green eyes intense, searching Lily’s face for any clue that might have been overlooked. “Did he say anything about who was behind the bribes?” she pressed.

Shaking her head, Lily winced, a grimace crinkling her features as paramedics attended to the welts and bruises marring her skin. No words came, only the silent echo of fear and pain that whispered of threats larger than Garth Fields.

At that moment, the front door burst open. Jake stood in the space, his uniform disarrayed, the lines of exertion etched into his face. A triumphant but battered air clung to him, a bruise already coloring his jawline.

“Got him,” he panted.

His gaze met Jenna’s. In his disheveled appearance, she read an entire story of pursuit and capture. “Backup’s taking him to the station now.” He broke off his story, “And I see you’ve found Lily.”

“Yes, she was a captive here. I think she’ll be all right, but she needs to be checked out at the hospital.” Jenna relayed the harrowing account of Lily’s ordeal to Jake as the paramedics worked with practiced urgency. She watched them secure Lily onto the stretcher, her heart tight with empathy for the fear that must have coursed through the poor woman, bound and gagged, alone with her terror.

“Fields kept her like some twisted trophy,” Jenna said. “She said he threatened her life if she didn’t back off the investigation.”

Jake listened intently, his attention never wavering from Jenna’s face. As the EMTs loaded Lily into the back of the ambulance, he stepped closer, the lines of his face drawn by the raw intensity of the chase and what they’d discovered. “So, do you think we’ve got our killer?” There was hope in his question, along with the fatigue of the day’s exertion.

Jenna’s watched the ambulance doors close behind Lily. When the vehicle pulled away, she turned her vibrant eyes back to him,

“Jake,” she replied with a deep frown, “I’m afraid that Garth was just a puppet, and somebody else is pulling the strings. We’re missing something—the why behind it all,”

She met his gaze squarely. “This is just the beginning.”