KILLER
ON THE LOOSE
Emily followed
Rick as they hiked west to intersect the trail leading to their SUV.
She hurried in
silence climbing steep areas. The exercise felt good and relieved some of her
sore muscles. The more distance between her and the compound the better. She
flashed back on the crates of weapons and boxes of computer parts.
Rick had
anonymously sent texts and alerts to the local law enforcement as well as the
local branch of the FBI to retrieve the two men and confiscate the military
weapons. The information included photos and the exact location of the property—the
couple’s anonymous investigative protocol.
With everything
Emily had witnessed at the property, nothing weighed heavier on her mind than
the breaking news in DC. She immediately relayed everything to Rick about the
missing girls and the bomb scare—but it wasn’t everything.
Emily never kept
anything from Rick—ever.
She recognized Agent
Nick Bracco from the news coverage and knew that he worked the terrorism
division of the FBI. Several years before, she had met him before the trial in
Indiana where she had to testify against fellow officers from the Crestview
County Sheriff’s Department—before coming to California and meeting Rick. The
fallout after the trial had ended her career as a deputy sheriff, but she
reinvented herself as a covert vigilante detective after an incident.
Since then, and
as far as anyone knew, she was legally dead. Very few people knew that she was
still alive, but Bracco knew. Emily had contacted him a few times over the past
few years for information on some of her cases.
“You okay?”
asked Rick.
Emily looked at
him and forced a smile. “Of course.”
“You look like
you have a lot on your mind—more than usual.”
“Thinking about
our next move,” she explained.
“Maybe our info was
wrong?” Rick clearly wrestled with the facts leading them to this location.
“I don’t think
so…”
“Is the
kidnapping some kind of political maneuver or some type of exchange for someone
or something else?”
“I’m not sure. I
have to reevaluate everything. But I believe the girls are still alive.”
“Are you really okay?”
his dark eyes searched Emily’s face.
“I’m just
worried about the girls. We’ve never had a case intersect with something of
this nature. It concerns me…”
Emily walked
ahead and continued to the area where the SUV waited. She didn’t want to face
more conflict until she had time to think.
Rick continued, “What
I can’t figure out… why would the kidnapper go to such extremes with the bomb
scare in DC?” he stopped and turned to Emily. “And what does it have to do with
us?”
Emily’s phone
buzzed. She retrieved it from her pocket and stared at the caller ID.
The name identified
Nick Bracco as the caller.
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