Skye Cree 03: The Bones Will Tell (29 page)

But Josh was less certain.
“The bastard took Zoe and you let Lena think we have a destination in mind. You know we don’t. We only have the general vicinity and no specifics.”

“
Then we’ll find specifics. I guess we know now why he wasn’t at home or at is fishing cabin. He was kidnapping Zoe.”

“
Let’s think about this rationally. He’s in a vehicle we already know the description of. He can’t get to his remote cabin without taking a boat. We either head back to Silcox Island or we try to find the property near the base. It’s your call.”

“
Neither one of us picked up on anything at the cabin. But we both get the willies every time we get near the army base. My gut’s telling me there’s something about the property there.”

“Then that’s where we go
. We do have an advantage.”

“What’s that?”

“We already did a trial run of this area before and know where it isn’t.”

Josh took out his portable GPS. “We’re six minutes from the base. If the plan is to avoid where we’ve already looked, then we should approach from the north. Don’t get on the 5
. There’s a back way in with an asphalt parking lot. It’s about the only place to leave the car.”

“
Okay. But after that, we head deeper into the woods.”

T
hey maneuvered past
traffic trying to get on the I-5 corridor and took a left heading east. The farther they went the more the landscape changed—less shopping and more of a rustic feel. To get to the paved parking lot, Skye followed Josh’s directives from the GPS. That’s when they spotted a Jeep Cherokee ahead of them. It was speeding down the two-lane road at a high rate of speed.

Behind the wheel, Skye could make out two people in the car. About that time the driver
spotted them. The Jeep took another left down a bumpy dirt road and disappeared from her line of sight.

T
hunder rumbled in the distance. Thick drops of rain began to splat the windshield as Skye pulled up to the Jeep Cherokee parked on the side of the road. The driver’s door stood open like the occupants had fled in a hurry.

“He’s ditched the car!” Skye shouted.

But Josh had already thrown open his door before she could come to a full stop. Jumping out, he began running, trying to pick up where the guy had taken Zoe.

All of a sudden, s
he could see Kiya sprinting ahead in the distance.

Shoving the gearshift into Park, she scrambled out of the car and took off after them doing her best to keep up.

She finally caught up with Kiya when the wolf stopped at a dry creek bed to sniff at the overgrown trail. The path forked left or right.

When
Kiya started to head one way, abandoning the other path altogether, Skye suggested, “Maybe we should split up. That way we’ll cover more ground.”

“We stay together
,” Josh insisted.

“Josh, our priority
right now is finding Zoe. Even though I only saw two people in the Jeep, you know as well as I do we might be dealing with two killers. Someone helped Jason Berkenshaw dump Willa’s body in the park. You said so yourself. I’ll take Kiya with me to the right. You follow your own nose to the left.”

Josh
still thought the idea of splitting up was a bad one, but there was no time to argue with her since Skye didn’t wait around for agreement. She took off with Kiya in the lead.

On her own
now, Skye looked up at the drizzling clouds, spotted a hawk floating overhead with a crow as part of its flock. She didn’t like being separated from Josh. But it was good to know she was far from alone.

At a bend in the
trail Kiya took a dog leg turn farther east into the forest of evergreens and aspen. They followed the ridgeline toward the military base, zigzagging at times to avoid boulders or stumps blocking the way.

She followed Kiya
into a small clearing where horsetail and thistle were thriving in bunches. Skye heard gravel crunch behind her before Kiya snarled in warning.

But it was too late.

Berkenshaw was already on her from behind. She only had time to throw an elbow to his ribcage. But his momentum knocked Skye back a few steps. Off balance, she managed to block his first blow. There wasn’t time to grab for the knife in her boot, only time to gather herself before he landed his next punch to her shoulder.

Instincts took over. She pivoted and swung her leg out. With a hard kick she aimed for his solar plexus
and watched as the wind sailed out of him. It caused Berkenshaw to double over. He was forced to step back to get his breath. 

Skye took advantage of his hesitation to
slide out the knife from her boot. Anticipating his next move, she readied herself for what came next. Eyeing the fury on his face she knew it would be an all-out attack. When he launched himself with all the ferocity of a lion pouncing on his lesser prey, Skye landed the heel of her boot on his knee cap. She followed that by slashing her knife across his arm, causing Berkenshaw to stumble backward.

When she spotted Zoe out of the corner of her eye, Skye yelled, “Get out of here. Head back to the road.
That way.” Skye pointed to the west. “Run straight that way. The minute you get inside the car, lock the doors.”

“But I don’t want to leave you.”

“I said go. Do what I say! Now!”

By that time, Berkenshaw had righted himself, but was still having trouble
evening out his breathing. Skye caught a blur of movement. Berkenshaw tried to take something out of his jacket. She drove her boot into his wrist, knocking a Beretta M9 pistol out of his hand. The force of the blow had Berkenshaw back on his heels as Skye kicked the weapon into the sandy underbrush.

The move gave her time to assess Jason Berkenshaw. He had brown hair, green eyes and stood about five-eleven. But there was something about those cool green eyes that said no one was home.

“Well, come on you big wimp, haven’t you ever had a female fight back before?” Skye roared in challenge.

“Bitch,” he spat out. “You’ll pay for this. I knew I should’ve taken you down first.”

“Not as smart as you thought you were, huh? You’re such a dumb shit. You should’ve started with me. But you made a huge mistake. Trouble is I think you were scared, didn’t think you could take me.”

As she hoped, her
insult brought him closer. Skye saw the hatred in his icy eyes as well as the violent way they reacted. He was so mad his green orbs darted about, unfocused.

“You killed your girlfriend, Ellen Schreiber, planted false evidence to frame my father for it
when you were an MP.”

“What the hell are you talking about?
You’re crazy. I don’t know any Ellen Schreiber.”

“Whatever you say.”
Skye figured she needed one more slam to push him over the edge. “After all the women you’ve killed, it’s a female who has outsmarted you. That’s got to chap your butt.” Skye waited a beat for him to get within arm’s reach.

“Fuck you,” he shouted and spit in her face.

With the knife in her right hand, she jabbed him in the ribs, flicked her wrist ninety degrees, turning the blade for greater damage. With the heel of her left hand, she sent an uppercut to his nose. Although he staggered back for several seconds, the blow didn’t take him down.

Skye swung her leg out in an arc, angled, and sent her boot into his face.
But he still didn’t go down. Instead, he decided to charge. Like a bull running toward a matador’s cape, he tackled her and brought her to the ground.

Her back hit
first with a thud. Berkenshaw jumped on her, doing his best to straddle her. Her sheer grit refused to let him take control. But with the blood oozing from his wounds it was enough to soak her gloves causing her to lose her solid grip on the knife. It slipped out of her grasp, landed somewhere next to them in the dirt.

She bucked
hard and to the left, causing Berkenshaw to lose his balance and tip over. Momentum had her rolling until she prevailed on top.

From her sitting position, s
he brought her knee up, jammed it into his crotch. From a standing position with full thrust, the pain in his balls would’ve been a lot worse. But she had to settle for what she could dish out. That’s why she didn’t let up. With gloved fists, she pounded him and sent punch after punch to his belly, his face, his throat.

She
spotted the knife about the same time he did. They grappled for it, but Skye got to it first. Wrapping her fist around the handle, they fought for control. While he pushed it away, she tried to angle it back toward his torso.

Gripping the handle
as tight as she could, she brought it up, inches off the dirt. Strength to strength, she forced the blade until it hovered over his midsection. With a final burst of energy, she managed to cut a ribbon across his chest.

When
he screamed out in pain, she changed directions, bringing the edge diagonally in a swath the other way. She raised the knife to stab him in the heart.

And t
hen everything went black.

Josh
might not
have agreed with splitting up, but he couldn’t deny there was someone behind him, dogging him, and circling back. He smelled blood right before he heard Kiya’s mournful wail. He changed course and followed the abject moaning through a thick scrub of sagebrush and sedge.

Since h
e recognized what that sound meant, he knew Skye was in trouble. As soon as he reached a clear route, he took off running.

The minute he
got to the little glade, he saw his wife lying on the ground, an open wound to the back of her head. Blood poured from the gash.

The
silver wolf stood over her charge, her front paws resting on Skye’s chest. Josh watched as Kiya licked the face of the woman he loved—and shimmered into an unconscious Skye.