Tundra Threat (16 page)

“Why didn’t you just walk away from the business if you’re so sure it’s doomed? Move away? Start a new life?”

He stared at her. “There’s nowhere in the world where you could make the kind of money I stood to make with the clients I’d started to take on.”

“You mean, wealthy clients who were too irresponsible to follow basic hunting-safety rules? Who wanted trophies that are illegal to obtain?”

“You wouldn’t believe how much they paid if I told you. All I wanted was to earn a little more. Then I was going to do just what you said and leave. Enjoy my money in some warm tropical paradise. And my plan was going to work. But then you showed up and started to get nosy.”

Chills crawled up her arms. “I just answered a poaching call. Did you call it in?”

“What kind of idiot do you think I am? No, I didn’t call it in. They were supposed to rot in the tundra, never to be heard from again.”

“But
someone
called it in and then I found them.”

“An unfortunate turn of events for both of us.”

McKenna frowned. “But I had hardly anything to go on at that point in my investigation. I might never have pieced it all together if you hadn’t kept committing crimes. So why come after me?”

“Your boyfriend had already started to poke around my business. He asked questions about the clients I was taking on. I knew it was only a matter of time before he figured something out. I thought about killing him and getting him out of my way, but he’s too well known in this town. I knew I’d never get away with it. I figured it’d be easier to go after the person responsible for investigating. And when I realized you and Will knew each other...” A sinister grin inched across his face. “I thought if I attacked you, he’d be so distracted taking care of his damsel in distress that he’d leave my company alone.”

“But you didn’t count on Anna stumbling on to the polar bear population changes.”

His face hardened. “No. I didn’t count on that.”

“What about Seth?”

“Who?” Rick stared blankly.

“The guy who was murdered on the beach.”

Rick nodded. “Ah, him. Yes. He was a friend of the first two, apparently. He came up to investigate their deaths. He pretended he was interested in a hunting tour of his own to feel me out. Once I figured out his game, I made sure he couldn’t talk, either.” Desperation strained his features. “Don’t you understand? I had no choice. He would have ruined everything.”

McKenna finally understood. It wasn’t that Rick was a cold-blooded killer. He was a greedy, selfish man who’d been forced by circumstances to make a choice. And he’d made the wrong one.

And he’d had to keep making wrong choices to cover up the wrongs he’d already done.

One more murder at this point wasn’t going to make a difference to him. His conscience was already seared. He was beyond the point of no return. And he knew it.

She was going to die today.

SIXTEEN

“S
he’s not dying today.” Will slammed a fist against the inside of the passenger door of Matt’s truck. Matt had insisted he was in no shape to drive.

“McKenna needs you to be calm, man. And so does my truck.”

“I can’t believe Truman was behind it this whole time.” He hit the door again. “And we never knew.”

“He hid things well. It’s not your fault. McKenna went through his records and even she didn’t spot anything.”

“If I’d looked around more, asked more questions...”

“Then you’d be dead and not here to help.”

He’d had no idea that morning that everything would come to a head today. Things had been escalating and he was ready for this nightmare to be over, for both him and McKenna, but not this way. He was afraid now to see how it would end. “We should be at the airstrip in a matter of minutes.” Matt said the words as if they were supposed to reassure him. But when minutes counted like this, he couldn’t help wondering if they were going fast enough.

Luke would never forgive him if he let something happen to his baby sister.

And Will would never forgive himself if he let something happen to the woman he loved...before he told her and got that knowledge into her stubborn head.

“Captain Wilkins is meeting us there, right?”

Will nodded, glancing without meaning to at the manila folder in his lap. He’d found it in the cereal box, just as McKenna had said. He marveled at the intuition, or more likely the prompting, of the Holy Spirit, that had made her leave the notes at home. This was probably what Rick had hoped to destroy in the fires, and Will knew that if Rick had gotten his hands on the notes today when he snatched McKenna, he would have destroyed the last shreds of evidence they had against him, which included some of McKenna’s observations, transcripts of interviews she’d had with people and a printed version of the message Anna had sent regarding the dwindling polar bear population. A killer would be brought to justice today. Will just hoped he didn’t kill again before they could catch him.

“Yeah, he’s meeting us,” he finally answered Matt.

“She’s going to be fine,” Matt said again, but the words rang just as hollow as before. The problem was that Will knew Rick’s personality. He was a carefully controlled, well-thought-out man. The fact that he’d gotten this careless, this sloppy, didn’t bode well for McKenna’s safety.

They finally turned onto the airport’s road. Will flinched when he saw the plane where his should be. It was just another reminder of the lengths to which Rick had been willing to go.

“There he is.” Will pointed to a plane that met Wilkins’s description. Matt parked the truck and they both hurried out, slamming the doors behind them.

“Which one is Will Harrison?” A tall man stepped out from behind the plane.

“Me.”

He stuck out a hand. “Captain Bob Wilkins. Let’s go. Tell me what you know on the way.”

They climbed into the plane. Will wished he were flying it, but wasn’t that one of the things he’d been encouraging McKenna to do—be okay with not being in control all the time?

He’d probably handled that badly, even if it was true. Apologizing for that was another thing he wished he’d have the opportunity to say to her. Would he ever have the chance to say all the things he wanted to say?

No. He wasn’t giving up yet. This wasn’t over.

“McKenna’s been abducted by a man named Rick Truman. My former boss at—”

“Yes, Truman Hunting Expeditions.” He nodded. “I’ve heard of it. It’s a reputable company up here.”

“Until recently.”

The other man raised his eyebrows. “I’m going to want to hear more about that later. For now, let’s focus on our search. So she’s been abducted by Truman. He’s an outdoorsman, so more than likely she’s being held somewhere remote.”

“Which doesn’t narrow our search range,” Will couldn’t help adding.

“Obviously.” Wilkins studied him. “Do you know anything else about him that could help us?”

“No.” Will shook his head. “He’s a hunter and he’s always seemed like a decent man. I wouldn’t have thought he was capable of half the things he’s done.”

“North Slope Bureau Police have already searched his house?”

Will nodded. “I called them as soon as I got McKenna’s message and realized what had happened to her. Then I called you.”

“No sign of her there?”

“No. He does have an old cabin, not too far from where the polar bear poaching was taking place.”

Wilkins leaned forward. “Do you have coordinates?”

Will shook his head. “No. I’ve only been there once. I just remember we flew east from Barrow.”

“We’ll search the area.” He gave instructions to the pilot and leaned back. “Truman is going to be desperate at this point.”

“I know.”

“You’re sure you want to be involved in the search? What we find...” His voice trailed off and he shook his head, regret in his eyes. “It might not be something you’ll want to see.”

“She’s going to be okay.”

The trooper said nothing. Will fought the doubt that threatened inside of him, beyond the confident words he’d hoped were true to the deep part of himself that wasn’t sure.

She
was
going to be okay. Wasn’t she?

They continued flying over the tundra, the landscape empty of all but plant life and an occasional herd of caribou. They wandered freely over the land, exploring it and reminding Will of his time with McKenna, riding around on the four-wheelers.

He sat up straighter. “How would Rick have gotten her to his cabin?”

“You’re on to something there.” Captain Wilkins considered it. “He has a pilot’s license and plane, doesn’t he?”

Matt chimed in. “A plane is harder to slip away in undetected. A four-wheeler would be more likely. People leave town on those so often, no one would notice another one.”

Will turned to look at his friend, who’d been silent up until then. “Thanks. I think you have a point.”

He shrugged. “I told you my, uh, unique perspective might come in handy.”

“Look for anything that might be an ATV trail,” Captain Wilkins instructed the pilot.

Not even a minute had passed when they picked up a four-wheeler trail that brought an old hunting shack into view.

“That’s it.” Will’s voice turned sober as he looked out at the building. If they were right, he was minutes away from seeing McKenna again. He refused to think about either the possibility of them being wrong or too late.

* * *

“There’s one more thing I’d like to know.” McKenna didn’t know how willing Rick would be to answer more questions, but she had to at least try to stall. Then again, with all he’d confessed already, he’d made it clear that his plan was to kill her, so would answering another question matter to him?

“What’s that?”

“Why didn’t you kill us when you ‘found—’” she used air quotes “—us after the plane crash?”

“I would have. But I’d already decided against shooting you. With the plane crash right there, there was no way to make it look like an accident.” A expression of disgust crossed his features. “Besides, I’ve discovered that shooting people is an unpleasant experience. Animals die so much cleaner with so much less agony.”

She wanted to be sick as she listened to him talk, more convinced than ever that something in this man had snapped. Neither she nor Will had thought he was the criminal type, and she’d believed they’d been right. But somewhere along the line he’d cracked and he was too far gone to reason with now. Still, the knowledge that he didn’t plan to shoot her gave her a small measure of hope.

“Oh? So why not kill us on the plane somehow?”

“That phone call. I knew Will could be telling someone who you were with.” He rubbed a hand up and down the back of his head, his nerves starting to show. “I can’t risk anything pointing to me. It would ruin everything.”

“Why not stop now?” She used the calmest voice she had to try to reason with him.

“With all I’ve done?” He laughed. “Getting away with this is my only hope. If I’m caught, it’s all ruined. All of it. With what I’ve been through, I can’t have that. That’s why you’re going to die today.”

“You just said you don’t like shooting people.”

His menacing grin flickered. “I don’t. But sometimes you do what you have to.” Rick reached for his weapon. Leveled it at her. Took a breath. Then lowered it and walked out the front door of the cabin.

Minutes passed. Had he decided to leave her to die? If he was hoping animals would come after her, she stood a chance, since there was nothing to draw them. Was someone else coming to finish her off?

Whatever his plan, this was the end.

Unless she could figure a way out.

She’d been studying the layout of the cabin since they’d arrived. There wasn’t much to it. One wall held the door. The next had a window. The other two were solid and she was in the corner between them. Under the window was a pallet with a sleeping bag. Beside her, a couple of feet away, was a little stove.

The first thing she needed to do was get her hands untied. If it was rope that bound her, she’d wiggle out of it somehow, but he’d used zip ties, or something like them. And she had no idea how to free herself from the hard plastic that bit against her skin.

She sat for a minute, trying to think of anything but what the next few hours would hold.

Inspiration struck as she stared into the distance wondering what to do. McKenna leaned the chair from side to side, hoping to get close enough to the stove to reach some sort of tool in the container beside it.

The chair didn’t budge. She twisted her head around to look over her right shoulder and shuddered when she saw the nails attaching the chair to the wall.

He’d thought of everything.

She was truly trapped here. McKenna knew time had passed since she’d been abducted, but she didn’t know how much. Hours? Days? Had Will gotten her voice mail? Would he be on his way with the notes? Or was she on her own...as she’d thought she wanted?

She’d been wrong to tell him she could do it alone. He’d tried to help, and she’d thrown it in his face.

“But it was
my
investigation. I was in charge of it,” she whispered, still feeling as if she had to explain to someone, anyone, why she was on this desperate quest for independence.

Even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t true.

She’d never been in charge. God had. She’d simply been the human agent carrying out His desire for justice and good to triumph. He’d brought Will to help her. He’d helped her find the leads she had uncovered. And she’d essentially told Him, just as she’d told Will, that she was fine on her own. But she wasn’t. And that was okay.

As the truth overwhelmed her, she felt her shoulders sink with relief.

Now, tied to a chair, physically in control of nothing, she finally understood. McKenna knew she’d live life differently, trust God differently, with the overwhelming knowledge that He was Sovereign.

“I’m ready.” Rick stepped back through the door, face grim, eyes determined, weapon ready.

It was too bad she would never get the chance.

* * *

They’d landed the plane half a mile away, hoping that putting even a small amount of distance between themselves and the cabin would camouflage their arrival.

Captain Wilkins led, motioning for Matt and Will to follow. They crept silently over the soft grasses toward the cabin.

Will could hear someone moving around inside and guessed it must be Rick. It took all the self-restraint he had not to sneak a peek through the window just overhead. But doing so could alert Rick to his presence. He couldn’t afford for that to happen.

Will was weighing his options, trying to formulate a plan, when he heard voices inside the cabin.

“I’m ready.”

“For what?” It was McKenna’s voice. She was still alive. Her voice wavered a little and Will got the impression she cared less about getting an answer to her specific question than she did about keeping Rick talking.

“We’ll go in together,” Captain Wilkins whispered, motioning to the gun Will had forgotten was holstered on his hip. “Only use it if you have to. It’s easier to explain me shooting if it’s necessary.”

Will nodded and crept closer to the door when the captain gave him the okay.

“To shoot you,” Rick replied. “As I told you, I don’t enjoy it, but it’s the quickest and best way to make sure you don’t cause me any more trouble.”

As he heard the sound of the hammer being lowered on a gun, Will couldn’t wait any longer. He threw open the door of the cabin, noticing that neither Wilkins nor Matt had followed. Rick’s gun had been leveled at McKenna, who had her eyes squeezed shut, but he whirled at the noise and the gun went with him, pointing instead straight at Will.

“You.” Rick’s eyes narrowed. “You are ruining everything. You and your nosy girlfriend.”

“You made your own choices. We didn’t do this to you,” Will said as he stepped closer, working to put himself between McKenna and Rick’s weapon. He tried to catch McKenna’s eye, to reassure her that he was doing everything he could to make sure they got out of this somehow, but she was looking at something behind him. Wilkins and Matt?

“But I had a plan,” Rick whined.

Will noticed Rick’s voice seemed different—more desperate than usual. Every muscle in Will’s body tensed, waiting for whatever would happen next.

“And it will still work fine,” Rick said as though he’d just realized, a smile crossing his face. “I can just shoot you, too. Yes, that works nicely.” He turned back to McKenna. “But I’ll shoot her first.”

He started to raise the gun again.

Will reached for his weapon, keeping Captain Wilkins’s instructions in mind but knowing if it came down to it, he’d do what he had to do to keep McKenna alive.

“Put the gun down.”

Wilkins’s calm voice coming from behind him was not what Will expected to hear. He glanced back to see that the man had pulled his own gun and was pointing it at Rick. Personally he would have shot first and tried to reason with the guy later, but Wilkins was the pro. Nonetheless, Will kept his hand near his holster, heart racing as he waited to see how this was going to go down.