Last Track, The (28 page)

“I . . . I can’t . . .” Andy said, terrified and choking. Tears ran down his face.

Five hundred yards left to the void.

“You can!” Jessica implored. “Keep trying!”

“Steady boy . . .” said Erich in a commanding voice to Mr. Jones. Erich’s own horse idled just beneath Mr. Jones’ line of vision. An out-of-control animal was bad enough, one spooked by the sight of approaching horses could become completely unmanageable.

With a desperate lunge, Andy turned and pushed away from Mr. Jones. The boy reached for Jessica, hands thrashing. The soft parts of their hands brushed one another.

“Almost! Try once more!” Her voice rang out achingly. Jessica held back the tears swelling inside.

The next hundred yards melted faster than the last. For Jessica, the world went silent. Her heart rattled like a train through a concrete tunnel.

Three hundred yards left, and closing fast.

Instead of going for Andy’s hand, she eased Tic-Tac back, and slackened the charge. She stood in the stirrups, tilted toward Mr. Jones, and hooked Andy around the waist. She yanked. He held firm to the horse, petrified, unable to unclench his fingers.

“Let go! I’ve got you!” Jessica commanded.

Andy could not, or would not, relax his grip. He cried.

“Let go!”

“. . . my. . . hands . . . numb … so scared.” Leftover tears stained his face red and purple. Sobs slurred his words.

Two hundred yards.

“Andy! Let go! Right now!”

Jessica saw Andy’s grip on the cantle did not relax. Not a bit.

Forcefully Erich seized Mr. Jones’ reins. With a thumb and a finger, he wadded one end of the loop into his fist. Erich glanced across at Jessica. A nod acknowledged his readiness.

Primed to heel Mr. Jones, Erich hesitated. With Andy still in the saddle, and Tic-Tac in kicking range, braking without sufficient room meant a terrible risk.

When they breached the hundred-yard mark, Jessica decided the best way through his primary fear of falling from Mr. Jones was by playing to a deeper, darker fear. A deceitful avenue. A final opportunity.

In a moment of genius inspiration, she shouted. “Andy, there’s a praying mantis on your arm!”

“Get it off!” he screamed, swatting wildly at himself, spastic. Faced with a more terrifying possibility, Andy’s grip finally loosened. With a whoop of glee, Jessica scooped him clear of Mr. Jones, and nestled her son onto the English-style saddle.

Andy kept kicking at phantom insects for a while until he finally stopped fighting. He trembled. She held him close, squeezed him tightly against her bosom. Under her control, Tic-Tac slowed and veered for the stream.

Erich wrestled with Mr. Jones as long as possible, trying commands and then pleas that might assuage the unruly beast. But Mr. Jones did not yield. He did not stand down, or respond. He raged on.

With less than a dozen yards of solid earth left, Erich surrendered, and halted his own horse.

And Mr. Jones vanished beneath the horizon.

03:53:22 PM

Suddenly Mike stopped worrying about concealing his movements from observation or his calls from interception. He only cared about reaching Jessica on the phone and making sure Andy was all right. Though he moved away from the trail, it was pacing, and releasing nervous energy, rather than putting distance between himself and his last discovery.

“I was just going to call you,” Jessica said.

“Tell me you and Andy are all right.” Mike said, his heart hammering. “I had a bad sense something was wrong.”

“Unfortunately,” Jessica said, “you’re right. We’re on our way to the hospital just to make sure these bruises and cuts aren’t hiding something more serious, but I’m pretty sure we’re both fine. Crazy accident. The horse Andy was riding went berserk, and dragged Andy along for quite a ride. It’s a good thing Erich came when he did. He really helped. I’ve never seen a well-cared for animal behave like that. Given what happened, Andy is doing great.”

“Thank God he’s okay.” Then he added grimly, “Maybe it wasn’t an accident.”

“What do you mean?”

“I believe it was the Partner. They were trying to send another message. Please listen for a second. I think it’s best if you and Andy pack up and leave after you get checked out at the hospital. You know where to go.” Back in the days before they were married, they camped at a cabin at the basin of a five-hundred-acre lake most every autumn. Long nights, and a perfect view of the stars. He loved the place.

“Did the Partner call you again? Did they say it was connected? Like before?”

“Yes, though they didn’t give out too many specifics. It was a quick call. They just said they were trying to head it off.”

“I don’t know, Mike. I don’t know what to think anymore. Maybe you were right. Something is happening here. It might be too risky for us to stay on,” Jessica said. “To be fair though, Mr. Jones was a bit more animal than Andy was ready for. I should have gotten him another horse.”

“I don’t think it’s your fault. You just said you’ve never seen an animal act like that.”

“Right,” Jessica said. “So what are you thinking?”

“Someone drugged Mr. Jones.”

“How?”

“Whatever it was, the delivery mechanism was probably on a time-release, so it took a while to affect him. If he was acting crazy at the beginning, you wouldn’t have let Andy on him.”

“Maybe you’re right, Mike. I don’t know.” There was a pause and then she snapped her fingers. “I almost forgot that someone was in my room around lunch. It might have just been the cleaning woman, but I’m not sure.”

“Was anything missing?” Mike asked.

“Not at first glance. Someone played around with my laptop, though. The screen was up and I always close it.”

“Was the session locked?” Even if she took that step, it hardly mattered much. A tech savvy enough to interfere with cell and GPS signals could have easily beaten her security measures.

“Definitely it was,” Jessica said. “If we leave, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet,” Mike said. “I’ll figure something out. I’ve been in worse situations. The Partner said you need to go
now
. And they were very specific that something would happen.”

“We can’t skip out yet. We’re too close, Mike. A name for the missing body fell in my lap. All I need is to fill in a few blanks. Then once we unravel who owns Better Days, LLC, we got the Partner. And once we have that, it’s just about Sean . . .”

“Jessica, it’s just too dangerous for you and Andy to stay on at the ranch. Research can be done anywhere there’s a telephone and the Internet. Can’t it?”

“Why don’t you call this what it is, huh? You feel out of control. And that scares the hell out of you.”

“Maybe,” Mike said.

“Is there more?” Jessica said.

“Only that I feel like I really messed up getting involved in this one. I didn’t count on it . . . I didn’t want it to affect you and Andy like this.”

“Mike, your work always affected us. It didn’t end when the case wrapped up, either. Whether we were directly involved in the case, like now, or you just pushed all the emotions down in those dark places you carry with you everywhere and never spoke a word about it, it impacted us. But that’s who you are. At least, that’s who you are right now. It doesn’t have to be that way, though.”

Lost in thought, Mike fell silent. He thought a lot about what she said. Eventually, he mustered enough resolve to continue. “Are you going to leave with Andy?”

“Not yet,” Jessica said. “Because that’s who I am.”

03:58:55 PM

The Partner almost crowed into the phone, “So I hear your little plan backfired.”

“My, we’re getting cheeky,” Crotty said. “Didn’t I tell you to ditch this phone? And it wasn’t entirely a wash. I’m sure the message got through.”

“Whatever you like,” the Partner said. “Point is, I know what you’re up to.”

“What’s that?” Crotty asked.

“Regani just called. The banker spilled his guts. Don’t think for a second you’re leaving me to take the fall while you walk into the sunset with the cash. The Feds will never see those records as they are now.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“As far as I’m concerned,” the Partner said, “what tatters remain of this partnership will evaporate the second the boy surfaces. We go our separate ways. I’m working for me now.”

Crotty chuckled at the Partner. The mere thought of it was ridiculous, and a bit ironic. The Partner breaking it off. Such an unthinkable image. He didn’t know how to start visualizing it. And yet, here after all these years, the first hint of nerve showed its face. Too bad there wasn’t more of that will present at the beginning. If only the Partner had showed that resolve—even a trace of it—before, then there might have been a chance for a future. A chance for a stronger company. But alas, there was no blue sky waiting on that horizon. It had come to this separation. It must be this way. “Sure,” Crotty said. “And good luck with that. The way you spend money, you’ll be tapped in three months.”

“You’re not the only one who can read a ledger.”

“True,” Crotty said. “But, sadly, you are not one of those people who can add the columns up properly. Now since you have all the answers, I have a question. Did Regani run to you because I made a mistake, or because I wanted him to?”

When it was obvious the Partner had no idea what to say, Crotty snorted. “Always pick your enemies like your life depends on it. It just might.”

03:54:05 PM

Mike was not ready to admit defeat, but he knew Jessica meant every word. She and Andy would stay. The only recourse was to trust her judgment that she would know when, and if, the time came to flee for safer ground. He admired the firmness of her convictions amidst the chaos. She would not be deterred. She would not be shaken. Above all, Jessica was her own person, with her own approaches, needs, and wants. Faced against Mike’s concerns, her views won out.

That was not to suggest that he liked her decision—on any level. In fact, he abhorred it. But he had no choice. He had to accept what he could not change, move on, and concentrate his energies where they might make a difference. With dozens of miles between his family and himself, he could do little else.

A bit of metal flashed in the sun. It glimmered twice more. Mike crouched, opened the binoculars, and concentrated on the burst of light. He waited.

Flickering again across the grass and trees, it disappeared. A thin patch of clouds blocked the sun from striking the metal at the right angle.

But Mike had isolated the reflection source already. A Humvee sat parked two hundred yards away, the bumper facing him. One with a cracked head lamp.

The Humvee.
The same one from the accident the previous night.

03:54:45 PM

Mike investigated. He turned off his cell phone to avoid any mistakes, and crept closer. He drew close, weaving through the trees in a deliberate fashion. His purpose was to disturb the surroundings as little as he could manage.

It was not an easy task. After days of moving as he pleased, now he contained his movements—a complete reversal of his former approach. Being quiet mattered and meant he could not walk in the most efficient way. Instead of quick, direct movements, he took slow ones. Stealth was the principle that propelled him through the trees.

The training and conditioning came back to him and soon enough he reached the narrow path and the Humvee. He hesitated, making sure he was alone. He sensed he was not.

He also wondered why the truck was idling right here. There had to be someone nearby. Or maybe inside the truck. Tinted glass made the windows into dark shadows. Exhaust fumes saturated the air.

His gut said wait where he crouched, so he did. Footfalls wound through trees, toward the truck. Two different sets. Voices followed the steps.

“He’s still pissed at me,” one said.

“Be happy he didn’t drop-kick you through the door, Wrekker.”
Wrekker.
The name from the accident scene.

“I’ll never understand,” Wrekker said, coming into view, one side of his face swollen and bruised, “why we had to carry materials in and out like this. It’s a cutting-edge facility, yet we had to walk the last quarter mile.”

“It decreases the chance that the path appears like a road on satellite or helicopter sweeps,” said the other man. “Same reason we vary the routes to the entrance constantly. Less wear means less attention. We haven’t used this one in at least six months.”

“Maybe before that was a threat, but what difference does it make now? I didn’t appreciate hoisting all that crap inside today. Especially not those chemicals.”

“Don’t be such a whiner. They were in a stable form. You know what I don’t understand?” the other man said. “How come I pulled grunt patrol with you. It’s not like
I
wrecked a Humvee. Hell, why am I even here? If you hadn’t smacked up the truck in the first place, and cost us all that time, we would have finished by now.”

Wrekker hoisted a cardboard box near the rear of the truck. The other man watched Wrekker struggle with the heavy load. Black block print on the label peeked above Wrekker’s forearms.

Drain cleaner,
Mike thought.
If
gallons of that stuff came out, what did they bring in?

Inside the truck were a lot more boxes with the same print, stacked up to the seat backs. “That’s the last of it,” Wrekker said. He slammed the truck-bed door closed.

“Great,” the other man said. “Let’s get out of the way so the next team can finish their work. Cause I definitely don’t want to be around for that. Stable or not.”

With the other man at the wheel, the Humvee tore off, kicking up a light dust cloud.

Mike rose, crawled out of the observation point, and looked down the winding road in the direction Wrekker had traveled from previously. He consulted maps on his GPS. Another road his navigation gear claimed did not exist. Pulling up the coordinates he saved the night of the accident, he checked out the possible destinations for the caravans against his current location.