He could hear Patches sliding around a bit in the backseat as he rushed toward the base of the mountain, where the main road led up to the best place in Desparre to hide out. But were there other roads off it? He had no idea.
“Sorry, Patches,” he told her, wondering if he should have left her in the hotel room. But most likely he was overreacting. And if he caught up to Keara coming down the mountain, maybe she’d be more open to talking with an adorable dog begging for her attention, too.
“Almost there,” he muttered a few minutes later as the road that led off the mountain came into sight.
Before he reached it, a dark blue truck sped away, making a turn in the opposite direction Jax was coming from.
It was the truck.
Jax’s pulse picked up as he instinctively punched down harder on the gas. Had Keara run into the bomber on the mountain? Had he hurt her? Was she still up there?
Yanking his phone out of his pocket, he told it, “Call Ben Nez!”
As he reached the base of the mountain, Jax’s gaze pivoted from the road that went up the mountain to the street heading out of Desparre that the blue truck had taken. Should he go search for Keara up the mountain? Or follow the bomber?
He clenched his teeth, panicked at the thought of making the wrong choice. Go after the bomber. It was Keara’s voice in his head. He could imagine her insisting she could take care of herself, to keep the bomber in sight and get the police and FBI on him now.
“Ben here. What is it, Jax?”
The way Ben said his name, the stress in his voice, told Jax he’d repeated himself again.
“I found the bomber. Coming down off the mountain in that same truck. He’s heading out of town. I’m following him.” Jax’s voice sped up as he made his decision. He passed the road up the mountain, hoping he’d made the right choice.
“What? Jax, where are you exactly?” Ben asked.
Jax gave him the road, then demanded, “Did you hear back from Keara?”
There was a pause that made dread drop to Jax’s stomach, then Ben admitted, “She’s not answering her phone. Anderson and I were just about to head up the mountain.”
“Should I turn around?” Jax demanded, trying not to panic. Maybe Keara couldn’t answer because the roads were dark. He’d heard agents the other day complaining about how narrow they were, how the sudden drop-offs alongside the road in places were startling. Maybe she didn’t want to dig her phone out of her pocket and be distracted from driving.
“No,” Ben insisted. “Stay on the bomber. Just make sure you stay at a distance. You don’t want this guy spotting you, okay? Just stick behind him and keep giving us updates. We’re on our way.”
“No,” Jax insisted. “Send someone else. You need to go find Keara.”
“Jax, if Keara’s in trouble, it’s probably connected to that truck,” Ben said, his tone darkly serious, noises in the background suggesting he was already heading for his vehicle. “But we’ll send officers up the mountain just in case. We’re coming to you. Just be safe. The road you’re on leads out of Desparre. It eventually goes into a neighboring town so small they don’t even have their own police department. What they do have is a lot of secluded, wooded areas where a bomber might hide. One of Keara’s officers was just talking about it earlier today as a place where the bomber could be if he wasn’t in Desparre or Luna.”
“Okay,” Jax agreed, only half listening as he focused on the road ahead. It was empty except for him and the blue truck. He didn’t want to get too close and tip the bomber off that he was being followed. He also didn’t want to lag too far behind, have the guy take a sudden turn and disappear before Jax could catch up.
“This guy is a killer, Jax,” Ben stressed, as if Jax needed the reminder.
He knew all too well what the bomber had done to Keara’s husband, what he’d done to Keara’s life.
“If you think he’s spotted you, turn around. Give us his last coordinates and we’ll be right behind him,” Ben insisted. “Don’t risk your life. You’re not an agent. You’re not trained for this. Do you hear me? You do not want to end up alone with this guy.”
“Okay,” Jax agreed, not sure if he meant it. Where was Keara? Why hadn’t she called him back? Why hadn’t she answered Ben’s calls?
“Shit,” he swore as the truck suddenly sped up, whipping off the road and onto a bisecting trail into the woods.
Jax hit the gas, and as he headed farther away from town, Ben’s voice came through a burst of static. “Jax! Did you hear me? Don’t engage!”
From the backseat, Patches yelped as she slid across the seat.
“Hang on, Patches,” he said, slowing as he reached the turn the blue truck had taken. He eased off the gas entirely, until his SUV was just creeping forward, until he could crane his head and stare down the road.
Boom!
Jax punched the gas again as the gunshot blasted, and his SUV raced forward. Hopefully, they’d pass the road before the bomber could hit them. Hopefully, the bomber wouldn’t follow, but would use that opportunity to keep going.
Patches yelped again as Jax gripped the wheel hard, ducking his head low, hoping neither of them would be a visible target.
But as they passed the trail, the truck was still stopped, the brake lights lit up. A hand disappeared back inside the driver’s side window, and the truck started up again as if the driver was going to take this chance to get away.
He had a brief instant of relief. Then the gun box in the back of the truck popped open and Keara partially emerged from it.
KEARA GASPED IN the cool night air as she
