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H eart lodged in her throat, Libby bent over the laptop she had brought along, braced for the SUV to be riddled with bullets. Shane took a sharp turn, then hit the gas. She realized he was heading away from Greybull and Cody, toward the mountains. When the gunfire finally stopped, she lifted her head.

“Stay down,” Shane barked.

Suppressing a sigh, she turned to look up at him. “I don’t hear anything. It sounds like the shooting has stopped.”

“For now, but who knows if there’re other shooters out there?” Shane’s expression could have been carved from stone. “Just stay down a while longer, okay? I knew staying at the cabin was a bad idea.”

She winced. “My fault.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Shane sounded less upset now that they were relatively safe. If there was such a thing as being safe, which she was beginning to doubt. Especially since they were no closer to finding her grandfather.

“I don’t understand. Why did he start shooting?”

It took Shane a moment to respond. “I think he wanted us gone so he could keep digging in the cellar for the treasure.”

That had her sitting up. “Well then, we need to call Paul and have him head out there to arrest him.”

Shane grimaced, but the call he made wasn’t to Paul. The name that popped up on the dashboard screen was Alexis Sullivan. “Don’t go to Marvin Tolliver’s cabin,” he said in a curt tone. “Some guy with a rifle has taken several shots at the place, forcing us out of there. We’re back on the road.”

“What in the world?” Alexis sounded shocked. “On the road heading where?”

“Don’t know yet,” Shane admitted. “Turn around and head for the ranch. I don’t want you or Joel anywhere near the gunman. If you ask me, they’re getting desperate. As if they know they’re running out of time.”

Libby couldn’t help but agree with that sentiment. They’d had her grandfather for more than twenty-four hours. They probably hadn’t anticipated it would be this difficult to get the money.

If there was any money. Libby still wasn’t sure that her grandfather had kept it or if he’d used it over the course of the past forty-eight years.

“We’re not going back to the ranch,” Alexis said firmly. “We’re coming to back you up. Tell me where you are right now.”

Shane sighed. “We’re heading east on Highway 14. But I don’t know what our final destination is. You could be driving aimlessly for hours.”

“Doesn’t matter, we’re heading your way,” Alexis insisted. “Keep us in the loop.”

“Okay, I will.” Shane sounded resigned. “But whatever you do, stay away from Marvin’s cabin.”

“Got it. Call us back when you have a plan.”

“Yeah, as soon as I think of one,” Shane muttered sourly, before ending the call.

“I had an idea shortly before the gunfire erupted.” Libby opened the laptop. “Hang on, I need to use my phone as a hot spot again.”

He frowned as she pulled out the phone. “Okay, but what’s your idea?”

“Let’s see if it even works.” She was hesitant to say too much because what she was about to do would get her fired. If she were caught.

Then again, her grandfather was running out of time. Without Paul or any other law enforcement helping them, she didn’t have much of a choice. As Shane had mentioned, the gunmen were getting desperate. They were going to keep searching for the money until they found it.

And once they did? Her grandfather would be taken out of the picture for good.

Drawing a deep breath, she brought up the hospital billing system. She had to go through a few extra steps as the system didn’t recognize her using this particular device. But it didn’t take too long, and soon she was logged into the hospital billing system. From there, she quickly entered Ward Engler’s name to see if he was in the system. If he wasn’t, there would be nothing more she could do.

He was! Her heart thudded against her ribs as his name and address popped up on the screen. “I have Engler’s address.”

“You do? How?” Shane looked shocked.

“I logged into the hospital’s billing system. He was treated at the hospital in Cody last year.” She shrugged, then added, “I’ve broken all kinds of rules accessing the hospital database for personal reasons, but that doesn’t matter. For now, I think we need to head over there. If nothing else, to cross him off the list of suspects once and for all.”

“What’s the address?” Shane asked.

She rattled it off. Using the built-in map application in his SUV computer, he found the address. He tapped the screen. “Here’s the location. And surprisingly, it’s not far from where we are right now.”

“Which means it’s not that far from Grandpa’s cabin. I think we’re onto something.” She held Shane’s gaze for a long moment. “Engler has a trailer that could have housed the four-wheelers. Then he acted guilty when you saw him in Greybull. I don’t know yet how he fits into this, I don’t think he looks like the bank robbery accomplice Harry Stern who is out of jail, but I’m convinced he’s involved.” She frowned, then added, “What’s odd is that Ward Engler is a local resident. And that he doesn’t live that far from Grandpa. I wouldn’t have expected that.”

“I agree, that’s odd. But who knows how these things happen?” Shane hit a button so that the route to Engler’s place was highlighted on the screen. After a few minutes, he made another call to Alexis. “Hey, we have a new plan. We’re headed to the home of a guy by the name of Ward Engler.”

“Who’s he?” Alexis asked.

“An older guy who came to our attention yesterday when we noticed him hauling a trailer that we believe housed a couple of four-wheelers. Bryce didn’t alert on Marvin’s scent, so we didn’t think too much of it. But I took a picture of his truck license plate and reported him to the local police. That’s how we learned his name was Ward Engler. When I saw him in the town of Greybull, I thought I’d try again with Bryce, only the guy took off out the back door, leaving half his lunch behind.”

“How did you get his address?” Alexis asked.

“That doesn’t matter,” Shane said. “But take the information down so you have it, too, okay?”

“Give it to me,” Alexis agreed.

He gave her the address. “I know you’re still at least an hour or so away, but we’re going to find a place to park and head in on foot. Keep in mind, Bryce didn’t alert initially, so I don’t think Marvin Tolliver was ever in his car. This could turn out to be nothing, but we won’t know until we check it out.”

“Maybe you should wait for police backup,” Alexis said, her voice tinged with worry. “What if this guy is armed and tries to take you and Libby out of the picture?”

“I’m armed, too, so I’m not that worried about one old guy. Besides, the police are tied up at the deadly crash scene, remember?” Shane’s expression turned impatient. “We don’t even know if this guy is involved. Maybe he’s scared of dogs. Or maybe he took money to move the four-wheelers and that’s the extent of things. If we don’t find anything at his place, we’ll look for a place to meet up with you and Joel.”

“Okay.” Alexis let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t like it but will wait to hear from you.”

“Thanks. One of us will be in touch.” He ended the call.

“One of us?” Libby echoed with a frown. “You’re not leaving me behind.”

He drove in silence for a long moment. The gap between their current location and their destination, Engler’s home, shrank with every mile. “I don’t know what to tell you, other than I don’t think we can just walk up to the front door to ask if your grandfather is there.”

“Of course not.” She tried not to roll her eyes. “You said you’d find a place to park so that we can go in on foot.”

“Yeah. Speaking of which, zoom in on that map. See what’s around the property if you can.” He gestured to the computer screen.

“Give me a minute to pull it up on the computer.” She was more comfortable working off the laptop. Her car didn’t have a fancy built-in computer screen like this. After a minute of examining the area, she grimaced. “Looks to me like the house is surrounded by woods on three sides, the only exception being the front, which as you pointed out isn’t an option.” She looked at the highway, the location of the Engler driveway, and then back at the map. “Okay, so we get off Highway 14 and take Eagle’s Way Road, which leads to the property. You’ll need to drive past the house for about a half mile. Looks like there’s a cleared spot off the road there that we can use as a starting point.”

Shane nodded and slowed the SUV as they approached Eagle’s Way Road. She found herself holding her breath as he turned left and continued north. She searched their surroundings as the moving dot on the screen indicated they were approaching their target. She caught a glimpse of a dark-green house about fifty yards off the road before Shane passed it. He kept his speed steady for the next half mile, then he stopped and pulled off the road.

“I didn’t see any cars in the driveway,” she said as he shifted into park.

“I didn’t either, but there’s a huge pole barn.” He shrugged. “Needs room for that trailer, the four-wheelers, and whatever other toys he’s got stashed away.”

Libby didn’t want to admit how unnerving it was to be so close to the place. As Shane stared out the windshield, she wondered if he was having second thoughts. “I’ll go,” she offered.

“No.” He shot her a frustrated look. “That’s not happening.”

Had he decided to wait for his siblings to get there? “Please, Shane, I really need to find my grandfather. Whatever he did in the past, he doesn’t deserve what the kidnappers are putting him through now.”

“I never said he deserved this,” Shane said with a frown. “If you want to know the truth, I’m trying to decide if I should take Bryce with me.”

A wave of relief hit hard when she realized he hadn’t changed his mind about moving forward with the plan. “Why wouldn’t you?”

“He’s trained to bark when he alerts.” Shane shrugged. “I can give him the command to stay silent, but that doesn’t mean he won’t get excited if he picks up the scent.” He drummed his fingers along the top of the steering wheel. “I don’t know. It may be better if I head out alone to see if anyone is even there.”

She wasn’t sure she liked that idea. “I’d rather you take Bryce with you. He’s so well trained, I can’t imagine he’ll bark if you tell him not to.”

A hint of a smile quirked the corner of Shane’s mouth. “Okay, I’ll take him.” He pushed open his driver’s side door. “Let’s gear up.”

Gear up? She wasn’t sure what he meant, but she pushed out of the car to join him. He let Bryce out, then rummaged in the space beneath the crate area. She peered over his shoulder, amazed to see there were all kinds of things stuffed in what appeared to be a relatively shallow storage area.

“Here, this is for you.” He held out a vest. It was heavier than she’d expected, making her realize it was made of Kevlar.

“You think we’ll need these?” It was her turn to have second thoughts.

“Better to be safe than sorry.” He helped her fit the Velcro straps over her torso, tugging them snug. Then he donned his vest. Lastly, he bent to attach Bryce’s K9 heavy bulletproof vest.

“I’m glad he has protection too.” She bent to stroke Bryce’s head.

“Yeah, although dogs have a higher chance of suffering serious internal bleeding if they’re struck by a bullet even with the vest on.” He frowned and knelt beside Bryce. “The good news is that you’re fast, right boy? A moving target is much harder to hit.”

The thought of Bryce suffering internal bleeding made her feel sick to her stomach. All this because of money? Money that she wasn’t even sure still existed! Was this a terrible mistake?

She couldn’t bear the thought of losing her grandfather, so she pushed the doubts aside. But as Shane went through the usual routine of offering Bryce water and then getting ready to search, she lifted her heart in prayer.

Please, Lord Jesus, keep us all safe in Your care!

* * *

“I need you to stay close to the SUV while we’re gone,” Shane told Libby.

“Oh, but—” she began to protest.

“I’m not going to argue with you about this.” He tried to soften his tone. “If I’m not back in thirty minutes, I want you to drive out of here. Find my siblings and the police.” He held her gaze for a long moment. “Please, Libby. If something goes wrong, I need to know you’ll get help here as soon as possible.”

Her face paled, but she reluctantly nodded. “Okay, I’ll wait here for thirty minutes, and if you don’t come back, I’ll contact your siblings and the police.” She frowned. “I don’t have Alexis’s or Joel’s number.”

He took a moment to make sure she entered Alexis’s and Joel’s numbers into her phone. Satisfied, he turned to gaze down at his dog. He debated which search scent he should have Bryce focus upon. They knew there was more than one bad guy involved. On the off chance the one bad guy Bryce had gotten a piece of had never been to Ward Engler’s home, he decided to go with Marvin’s scent.

“Here, Bryce.” He offered the scent bag containing Marvin’s dirty socks and T-shirt to his K9. After all, their mission was to find Libby’s grandfather. Alerting on the bad guy without having Marvin nearby wasn’t helpful. “Search Marvin!”

Bryce sniffed the bag, then looked up at him with his dark eyes as if to say Yes, I remember.

“Good boy,” He tucked the bag back into the SUV, then lifted his finger to his mouth in a shh gesture. “Search Marvin,” he repeated in a hushed voice. He hadn’t done as much training with Bryce on doing quiet searches as that was typically not needed, but the way Bryce gazed up at him made him think the dog understood.

Yet he also knew that Bryce would only be silent as long as he didn’t sense a threat. Bryce’s protective instincts were such that the dog would absolutely bark and growl in warning if he caught Bad Guy’s scent. Still, he was hoping they could get to the house and back without running into anyone else.

Bryce wheeled away from him and lowered his nose to the ground. Shane shot one last look at Libby standing near the SUV, resisting the urge to draw her into his arms for a kiss. As if she’d read his mind, she crossed over and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close.

Heartened by her embrace, he couldn’t help but sigh. “Ah, Libby,” he whispered, before lowering his mouth to hers. She kissed him back, and it was tempting to blurt his growing feelings for her right then and there. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but she’d broken through the walls he’d built around his heart.

More like shattered them to smithereens.

Then she drew away, offering a somber smile. “Be safe, Shane.”

“I promise.” He forced himself to let her go, taking a step back before he gave in to the need to kiss her again. “Remember our agreement,” he added. “Thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes,” she repeated in agreement. “I’ll be here waiting for you.”

He nodded, knowing she would be. Turning away, he quickened his pace to follow Bryce into the foliage. Bryce lowered his nose to the ground and trotted alongside him. As the woods enveloped them, Shane did his best to step as quietly as possible.

From this point forward, he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. The last thing he wanted was to be forced into a situation where he needed to use lethal force.

Bryce moved through the woods in a side-to-side pattern that told Shane the dog had not yet caught Marvin’s scent. Not surprising as they weren’t even close to the property. Typically, he didn’t like to guide the dog in the right direction of where he needed the animal to search, but these circumstances were far from normal.

They needed to get close to the dark-green house belonging to Ward Engler. Hopefully, Bryce would alert well before they got to the house itself.

If Marvin was there. He knew full well that they were operating on little more than a weak theory based on a man who’d abandoned his meal. This trip to the Engler home may be nothing more than a wild-goose chase.

Shane pulled out his compass, making a note of the coordinates. Then he embarked on a path that was due west of his current location. Keeping an eye on the time, he subtly herded Bryce toward the property. The dark-green siding blended so well with the trees that Shane worried he’d walk right past it without ever seeing it.

He estimated they were about a hundred yards from the place when he finally caught a glimpse of a darker green between the trees. He bent and put a hand on Bryce’s head, bringing the dog to a stop.

Bryce stared up at him, clearly wanting to continue the search game. He dropped to one knee, bringing the dog in close. Then he made the shh motion with his hand again. Bryce wagged his tail but didn’t bark.

Satisfied his K9 would listen, he rose and continued to approach the property. The woods ended about twenty yards from the side of the house. His compass had led him exactly where he’d wanted to be. At least, as far as getting close to the place without being seen.

But it didn’t appear as if Bryce had locked in on Marvin’s scent.

He watched for a moment. Seeing no movement, he darted through the clearing until he was pressed up against the side of the house. Bryce stayed close to his side. Shane edged toward the front of the property and peeked around the corner.

Nobody was out front. He glanced at Bryce, who sniffed the air with interest. His K9 didn’t alert, but it could be they brought Marvin in from the back.

If they’d carried the man in, would Bryce alert on his scent? Maybe, maybe not. His dog was good, but scents didn’t linger in the air forever. Especially those outdoors where the elements caused them to dissipate relatively quickly. Wyoming was well known for its brisk wind.

Moving back to the center of the side wall, he peered into the closest window. The bedroom appeared to be empty, but the sheets on the queen-sized bed were left in a messy tangle. There were also clothes draped over a nearby chair and a lone cowboy hat sitting on top of a dresser. There was no doubt in Shane’s mind the items had been left behind by the homeowner, Ward Engler.

He eased along the side of the wall to the next widow. Peering inside, he was disappointed to realize this window offered a view of the same bedroom. It occurred to him that the house may be a split-ranch model, where the main bedroom was located on one side of the house, leaving the second and third bedrooms on the opposite side.

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be easy to get to the other side of the house. Walking as quietly as possible, he headed to the corner. There he peeked around to check the back of the house. He noticed a pair of tall glass patio doors halfway down and surmised it was a similar setup to Marvin’s home, where the general living room and kitchen area were situated in the middle with a view of the outside overlooking the back patio.

Probably not a good idea to go that way. He turned and went back around to the front of the house, Bryce at his side like a silent shadow. This side of the property had a concrete step leading to the front door. There was also a large picture window. Shane crept toward the window and carefully peered inside, doing his best not to be seen. It didn’t take long to notice the main living space of the house was empty. All hope of finding Marvin inside faded as he scanned the kitchen and living room that were slightly larger than what Marvin had at his cabin.

Now what?

A hint of movement caught his eye, causing him to rear back to avoid being seen. His heart thundered against his rib cage for several seconds. Taking a steadying breath, he edged closer until he could see inside again.

A short, stout figure had entered the kitchen.

Not Ward Engler, he quickly realized. A woman, roughly Ward’s age or older based on the long gray hair pinned into a bun at the nape of her neck. He frowned. Somehow, he hadn’t anticipated Engler would have a wife. Not that it was unusual for folks to be married. More so that he hadn’t remembered Deputy Paul Holland mentioning a wife.

Clearly, she existed, as she was doing something near the kitchen sink. Maybe washing dishes? When she stood for several seconds with her back toward him, he decided to make his move.

Bending over, he quickly crossed the front of the house to reach the other side. Bryce started to follow but then stopped to sniff near the front door. Then the dog sat and turned to stare at him intently.

An alert? Most likely, and he was proud of the way his K9 didn’t bark. Shane lifted his finger to his lips again to reinforce the need to be quiet, then gave Bryce the come hand signal. The dog bounded to his side, tail wagging as if anticipating he’d get to play with his rubber ducky.

As much as it pained him, Shane knew this wasn’t the time to offer Bryce his reward. For one thing, he didn’t want the dog to attract the woman’s attention. More importantly, he didn’t have eyes on Marvin.

In lieu of the ducky reward, he knelt beside Bryce and rubbed his hands over the dog’s head and ears, his torso was covered by the vest, and murmured encouraging words near his ears. The dog leaned into him, his tail wagging. After a long moment, he stood. Giving the dog the signal to heel, he made his way up to the next window.

As he suspected, it was another bedroom. One that appeared to be empty and unused. The bed was neatly made, and there was no clothing strewn about or shoes kicked into the corner. Clearly not a hiding spot.

He kept going until he reached the next pair of windows. As expected, this was the third and last bedroom.

This one wasn’t empty! There were some clothes on a chair, but he couldn’t tell if the shirt was the red plaid one Libby deduced her grandfather had been wearing when he’d been kidnapped. Shane narrowed his gaze, trying to see better. Someone was lying on the bed, a thin blanket drawn up over one shoulder as the person’s face was turned toward the wall. From this angle, he couldn’t tell if the person was male or female, much less make a positive ID.

Should he tap on the window to get the person’s attention? Or would the noise draw the woman into the room?

As he stood debating his next move, the figure on the bed abruptly rolled over so that they were lying on their back, staring up at the ceiling.

The older man’s features were drawn into a grimace, and there was a dark bruise on the side of his temple. Just to be sure, he pulled out his phone and quickly compared the image of the man on the bed with the picture of Libby’s grandfather that she’d shared with him and the police.

A match. He’d found Marvin Tolliver!