Vendetta Read online

  She reached for her holster. She had a weapon. She had what she needed to start a fire. Which meant she wasn’t completely out of options. Five minutes later, she’d gathered as much dry wood as she could find and had started a fire beneath the shelter of a tree. She pulled out the sleeping bag, trying to ignore the coyotes’ howls in the distance, slid inside, and started praying. For Bridget, for her own safety, and for the numbing diversion of sleep.

  Nikki woke up to darkness. Someone was shaking her shoulders. Calling her name. She fought to escape the heavy layer of sleep that had settled over her and the fingers gripping her shoulders. She pulled away, then tried to scramble backward in the confining sleeping bag. She reached for her gun beside her. She needed to run. Needed to get away from the scent of death that clung to her. What if Cooper wasn’t really dead? If he found her again, this time he would kill her.

  “Nikki . . . Nikki, stop. It’s Tyler. Give me the gun.”

  Tyler? How had he found her?

  She stopped fighting when she caught sight of his face in the beam of a flashlight. Flickers of memories surfaced. Cooper with a grenade. Chasing her through the woods. The gun going off. Cooper dying . . .

  “He’s dead,” she said, looking into Tyler’s eyes. She couldn’t make herself care. The only thing she felt was numbness.

  “We found his body,” Tyler said, taking the weapon from her, “but I need to make sure you’re okay. There’s blood all over you.”

  She unzipped the sleeping bag and wiped her hands against her clothes, still trying to find her equilibrium. She was covered with blood. How had she not noticed?

  “It’s his blood.” Her voice broke as the numbness began to fade. She looked up. Cooper was moving toward her in slow motion. Grenade in hand. A smirk on his face. He was going to kill her.

  “Nikki?”

  Cooper’s image vanished.

  “I shot him,” she said.

  “You did what you had to do,” Tyler said. “Everything is going to be okay now. Can you get up?”

  She nodded. “I think so. Bridget’s alive. We’ve got to find her.”

  “Cooper told you that?” Gwen asked.

  “Yes.”

  “He could have been lying,” Tyler said.

  “No. He was telling the truth.”

  “Do you know where she is?”

  “I know she was never in the park, but he would have had to hide her nearby. If he has a piece of property, a close friend . . . We need to find her.”

  “Okay,” Gwen said. “I’ll radio in the information and get a couple officers searching for that information right now.”

  She let Tyler help her up. Gwen was standing in front of her, holding a warm blanket. Anderson, Simpson . . . they were all there, along with a couple more uniformed officers she didn’t recognize.

  “It’s good to see you alive, Special Agent Boyd,” Anderson said. “Though I’ve decided you’re as much a magnet for trouble as Jack is for yellow jackets.”

  She shot him a weak smile. “All I know is that it’s good to be alive.” She pointed to the scarf in the tree, where she’d hung the grenade, the ends of the red strip blowing in the gusty wind. “The grenade. I put it up in the tree. I didn’t want anyone to stumble across it . . .”

  Tyler pressed his hands against her shoulders. “They’ll take care of it, Nikki. They’ll take care of everything.”

  “He’s right,” Anderson said.

  “We’re just all glad you’re okay.” Gwen wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. “We came in by helicopter. Do you think you can walk out of here? It’s not too far.”

  “Yeah. But what about Jack?” she asked. If he was dead . . .

  “It’s a miracle,” Gwen said, “but that boy’s tougher than you think. He’s already out of surgery, and the doctors believe he’ll make a full recovery.”

  “And Lopez?”

  “Some hikers found him disoriented but alive, with a huge goose egg on the back of his head,” Tyler said.

  They started back through the darkness by the light of their flashlights. Officers were processing the scene. Taking photos and gathering evidence at the place where she’d killed a man. No matter what Cooper had done, she hadn’t wanted to take another life. Maybe there hadn’t been any other options, but that didn’t stop the collision of her moral beliefs and the reality of what had happened.

  “Do you have any idea why Cooper killed Reynolds?” she asked, still not feeling completely steady on her feet. Thankful for Tyler’s arm around her. She was cold, her clothes still damp, but all she could think about was finding Bridget.

  “I did some more checking,” Gwen said, “and found out that Reynolds was Cooper’s arresting officer about seven years ago for felony fraud charges. Under the name—”

  “Kenneth Waters,” Nikki said.

  Somehow it was all beginning to make sense. “He met someone in prison who gave him a new identity.”

  Gwen nodded. “Reynolds must have recognized him, then confronted him. Cooper was afraid his plan was about to evaporate into thin air.”

  “So he killed him.”

  Nikki pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders, wondering if she’d ever be able to warm up again. She told her part of what had happened as they walked. About Cooper’s confession. The Coyote. And the other man he’d shot. “Did they find him?”

  Tyler nodded. “It’s been a busy night for the search and rescue teams, but the shot was superficial, and he’s going to be okay.”

  “What about me?” she asked, finally catching sight of the helo in the clearing. “How did you find me?”

  “That was a miracle as well,” Gwen said. “Do you remember Mountain Mike?”

  “Yeah . . . The thru-hiker we interviewed earlier.”

  Already it seemed like a lifetime ago.

  Tyler pointed to the other side of the clearing. She hadn’t noticed the man standing there. He was at the edge of the clearing, his backpack slung across his shoulder, talking to one of the officers.

  “He found me?”

  Gwen called him over, then instructed the pilot they brought to get ready for takeoff.

  “Special Agent Boyd,” he said, walking up to her. “You don’t know how happy I am to see you alive.”

  “I hear I owe you a big thank-you, but I still don’t know how you found me.”

  “There’s not much to tell, really,” Mountain Mike said. “I started back down the trail after I spoke to you at the shelter. Ten minutes or so later, I realized I must have dropped my iPod. With the weather picking up, I debated whether or not I should go look for it but finally decided to double back to try to find it. When I arrived at the edge of the clearing, Cooper was putting a bullet through one of your men.

  “I saw the grenade, knew he had a gun, and knew as well that I couldn’t take him down. But I did have a phone. I called in my location to the park dispatch and told them what I’d seen. They patched me through to Agent McKenna. I told her I was going to follow you in order to keep her updated on your location. I lost track of you once it started getting dark, though I heard the gunshot.”

  Nikki’s breath caught, realizing that tonight could have ended so differently. For all of them.

  “The last location he was able to call in narrowed down the area enough for us to find you with our night vision goggles from the helo,” Gwen said as the helicopter’s rotor started to turn, accelerating slowly.

  Nikki shook her head. “I don’t know what to say except for thank you. You took a big risk, following a man you’d already seen shoot someone.”

  “It wasn’t a hard decision.” Mountain Mike’s expression softened as the helo powered up beside them. “I have a daughter about your age. I hope someone would do the same for her if she were ever in trouble.”

  “Let’s get you out of here,” Gwen said, now having to shout above the noise of the helo’s engine. “We need to go find our missing girl.”

  28

  Tyler’s bre
ath warmed the back of her neck as she leaned against his shoulder.

  “You’re shaking,” he said.

  “I’m just so cold.”

  “It’s over now.” He pulled the blanket tighter around her. “We’ll have you home and warmed up before you know it.”

  Nikki closed her eyes for a moment as the rest of the response team filed onto the helo and the pilot took the bird into the air. But it wasn’t over. Not yet. Not until they found Bridget. And then she’d find time to sleep for the next forty-eight hours.

  “There will be an ambulance waiting for you—”

  “I don’t need to see a doctor,” Nikki interrupted Gwen.

  “We figured you’d pull that argument again, but it’s not up for discussion.”

  “All I’ve got is a few scrapes and bruises. We still need to find Bridget—”

  “We will,” Tyler said. “But I’m also going to make sure you’re okay.”

  An hour later, she had her medical clearance and a cup of hot coffee someone had handed her. Sleep would have to come later.

  “We’re looking for properties under his name—both names,” Gwen said inside the mobile command post, “but so far we’re coming up blank.”

  “Where did Cooper live?”

  “The address on his volunteer application is an apartment building in Gatlinburg. I already sent a team there, but they didn’t find anything. Landlord said she hasn’t seen him for a couple of days.”

  “Keep looking. She has to be nearby.”

  Nikki was convinced he would have kept Bridget close. Somewhere convenient to the park.

  “I got a call from your mom while you were changing,” Gwen said. “She’s been trying to get ahold of you. I told her you’d lost your phone.”

  Nikki’s breath caught. It was a question she’d been afraid to ask. “What did she say?”

  “The baby was born just after nine thirty. Jamie’s going to be fine.”

  “And the baby?”

  Gwen caught her gaze. “Your mom seemed upbeat, but she’s clearly not out of the woods. She’s in ICU under close observation right now. It sounded as if they would know more in a few hours.”

  “She . . . so it’s a girl?” Nikki couldn’t help but smile. Matthew and Jamie had decided to wait until the baby was born to find out, but Jamie had told her she secretly wanted a girl.

  Please, Jesus . . . heal that sweet new baby.

  “What did you tell them about me?” she asked.

  “That you would call as soon as you could. I didn’t want to tell them anything without having some answers. We’ve managed to keep the story off the news channels, but that luck’s not going to last much longer.”

  “Thank you.” Nikki felt a trickle of relief wash through her, but the night still wasn’t over. “And Kyle?”

  “He’s back at his hotel, asleep. I haven’t called him yet either. I’m not ready to get his hopes up again.”

  “That was the right call. For now anyway.”

  Tyler stepped into the vehicle and handed her a bottle of juice and a Snickers bar from the vending machine. “Anything yet?”

  Nikki thanked him, then shook her head.

  “I know you want to find her alive,” Gwen said, “but he might have been lying to you.”

  “No. I believe he was telling the truth when he told me she was alive. She’s still out there. Somewhere. And it makes sense. He would have needed her as leverage if things went wrong. He never planned to leave the park in a body bag.”

  “Okay, so if you’re right, then we need to think this through. He had to have told you something before he died. Given you some clue as to where he might have taken her.”

  She worked to push back the exhaustion that had been hovering over her the past few hours. Nauseous over the reality she’d killed a man. Because the emotional impact was interfering with her thinking.

  “He told me she wasn’t inside the park, but there are hundreds of cabins and places outside the park where she could be.”

  “Okay. Then start slowly, from the beginning, and walk me through what happened. You’ve always told me that even without a good lead, you can utilize logic, and that’s what we need right now.” Tyler brought her mind back into focus. “What did the two of you talk about?”

  Nikki drew in a deep breath and felt herself begin to relax. “He spoke about how I’d killed his younger brother, and he’d found a way to revenge his death.”

  “What was his brother’s name?” Gwen asked.

  “Brian Linford. They were stepbrothers.”

  “I’m looking it up now.”

  It might have been a long time ago, but she’d never forgotten Brian’s face or his name. She’d taken a man’s life, and that moment had almost signaled the end of her career. Some days, if it weren’t for Sarah and her need to find her, she was convinced she’d have quit the force years ago.

  “What about the Coyote?” Tyler asked. “He couldn’t tell you what happened to him?”

  “Cooper got transferred, and they lost touch.”

  “Which only means he’s out there somewhere.”

  “I know, but I’ve also realized I can’t keep clinging to some false hope that my sister’s story is suddenly going to have a happily-ever-after ending. I’ve lived on those hopes for ten years.”

  She wanted to believe Sarah was still out there. But she also knew Sarah’s abductor was a calculated killer. And Randall Cooper was no different. He’d made it clear he’d get rid of anyone who got in his way. Bridget might have been leverage, but she was also disposable.

  “Wait . . . I think I’ve got something,” Gwen said. “Take a look at this. A property on the outskirts of town was registered to a Brian R. Linford. Looks like a small cabin located on a couple of acres.”

  “Bingo.” Nikki jumped up and slid in behind Gwen at the computer. “Get us a nighttime search warrant. That’s got to be the place.”

  Tyler studied the map. “Location would be right. He picked her up in Obed, then drove her there on the way into the park before setting the rest of his plan in action.”

  “Giving us just enough bread crumbs to follow along the way.”

  It was still dark when they pulled up on the property. A chain-link fence marked the front boundary of the area where a one-story cabin sat tucked away from the road. Overgrown grass swallowed a few old cars in the moonlight.

  Tyler hung back as Nikki and Gwen, along with a team of officers, made their way quietly in the dark toward the front porch.

  One of the officers knocked on the door. “This is the police. We have a search warrant for these premises.”

  Five seconds later, they opened the door with a battering ram. The smell of cigarettes hit Nikki as they filed into the house. The yellow light shining in the living room did little to illuminate the room. Blinds were closed. There was a worn floral couch in front of the TV. The living room opened up to a kitchen that hadn’t had a proper cleaning for weeks. A couple of empty takeout boxes still on the table.

  They split up to search the house. Nikki made her way down a musty hall into the one bedroom. A wooden dresser sat beside an unmade bed. There was no sign of Bridget.

  She’s got to be here, God. Show us. Please.

  “Clear.”

  “Clear.”

  “Clear.”

  She joined the others back in the living room.

  “There’s no sign of anyone,” Gwen said.

  “We’re missing something,” Nikki said, thinking out loud.

  “What about his personal life?” Gwen said. “Anything that stood out when he talked to you?”

  “I don’t know . . . He’d thought through every scenario he could think of. He had a backpack full of supplies stashed. I’m pretty sure he was planning to disappear after killing me.”

  “Where was he planning to go?” Gwen asked.

  “He never mentioned a specific place.” Something clicked. “But he sounded a bit like a prepper.”

  “A
prepper?”

  “You know. One of those people who worry about the end of the world coming.”

  He’d gone from a computer wizard with a high-paying job to a man wanting to disappear off the grid.

  “There’s nothing in this house that I saw that would point to that,” one of the officers said.

  “A basement?” Nikki asked.

  Gwen shook her head. “According to the floor plan, no.”

  “Maybe it’s not in the house,” Nikki said.

  She ran back outside, her heart pounding as she took the front porch stairs two at a time. Wind whipped around her as the sun began to rise, but she barely felt the cold. She stood in the middle of the lot. A couple of old rusty cars sat in the driveway. Beyond that, there was a grove of trees. Gwen and the rest of the team were right behind her.

  She spun around in a slow circle, trying to jog her memory on anything he might have said. “What about a storm shelter?”

  “It would make sense. Preppers often hide their stash and don’t want others to know about what they’ve got.”

  “So it wouldn’t necessarily be in the open, like in the house.”

  “And he’s got a couple acres here,” Nikki said. “Plenty of space to hide someone.”

  Plenty of space to bury a dead body.

  Nikki dismissed the thought.

  “Let’s spread out now. We’ll clear the property quad by quad.”

  Ten minutes later, Nikki’s flashlight reflected off something metal. “I think I’ve found it.”

  The door was secured with a padlock. She called the guys with the battering ram.

  Let her be alive if she’s here, God, please. Let her be alive.

  Once the door was open, Nikki started slowly down the stairs, the light of her flashlight illuminating guns, ammunition, and enough food rations to last through the apocalypse.

  “Bridget? Bridget, are you down here?”

  Something moved just past the light of her flashlight.

  Nikki saw her a moment later. Sitting in the corner of the darkened room. Hands tied behind her back and a gag in her mouth, eyes wide open in terror.