was getting worse every minute. He quietly climbed the ladder to the top of the tower. Maggie O’Dell was holding a slingshot and was so focused on her target that she didn’t hear Duke as he stepped silently into the open-air tower.
Duke quickly assessed the situation. The tower was twenty feet square, open on all sides with three-foot- high walls. There was nothing inside, nothing to hide behind. Just him and Maggie O’Dell.
Her back was to him. Her backpack, full of rocks, at her feet. Rocks that she was pummeling Sean and Nora with below. But the smoke was growing thicker, and he could practically see her body tense in frustration. Her perfect plans were not-so-perfect, Duke thought. In a few minutes Sean and Nora would be safely away, or the smoke would be too thick to see them.
He approached cautiously, slowly, drawing his gun. He didn’t want to shoot her. He didn’t want to kill anyone, even someone as vile and psychotic as Maggie O’Dell.
She froze. She’d sensed him.
“Hold it right there,” he said gruffly.
She didn’t move.
“Put down the slingshot. I have a gun.” He took another step toward her, a watchful eye on her hands.
She whipped around and fired the slingshot at him. But her aim was off. The rock barely grazed his shoulder. Damn, it still hurt, but he wasn’t out. He held his gun steady on her. “Drop it.”
Maggie’s face twisted in anger. “You! You’re not supposed to be here!”
“Hands up, Maggie.”
“No. You can’t make me.”
“Quin is safe. We found her, she’s already on her way to the hospital. She’s going to live.”
Duke wasn’t certain that was true, but he wanted to convince Maggie that she’d failed. He needed her compliant. He didn’t have handcuffs, but he couldn’t very well wait here in the tower until help arrived. Forest fires were erratic and could shift direction without warning. Right now, winds were low, but at any time that could change.
He didn’t know if she had a gun, but she had a knife strapped to her belt. He watched her hands. A knife could easily kill even if thrown twenty feet, and Duke was much closer than that.
“Get your hands up now!” he ordered for the second time. He saw her calculating her options.
He approached her, finger on the trigger. He would have to shoot her if she went for the knife. She stood there, lips tight, glaring at him. “You’re screwing with my plans,” she snapped. “I don’t like that!”
Duke put the gun to her neck and unsheathed the knife in one fluid motion. She stood perfectly still, neither helping nor hindering him. He didn’t trust her. After everything she’d done, she wasn’t going to come in this easy.
He had no place for the knife, and tossed it over the side of the fire tower.
“You first,” he said, gesturing toward the ladder.
“I don’t want to go.” She crossed her arms.
“The fires you set are heading this way.”
“I know. You’ll just die with me I guess.”
“I’m not dying today, sister, and neither are you, unless you try some dumb-ass move. Now get a move on.”
She glared at him.
“Fine,” he said. “Nora had a lot of questions about your handiwork, I guess you won’t be able to answer them.”
“Don’t talk about her!”
“She’s on her way to her plane right now. She’ll be out of here and you’ll be stuck. She can tell the media anything she wants about your activities. Your murder spree.”
“I didn’t kill anyone who didn’t deserve it!”
“Your best friend deserved to be poisoned?” Duke shook his head. “And what did Quin ever do to you other than offer you friendship?”
Her face reddened. “She ignored me! She was so scared of what Nora would say she didn’t want me anywhere near her. Well, I showed her! I will
“Then you’d better get your ass down that ladder or Nora English will make sure you’re not even a footnote in serial killer history.”
Maggie laughed harshly, ending with a cough. “Sure, we’re both killers. She killed my father, I just balanced the scales.”
“Nora had nothing to do with your father’s death.”
“That’s what she told you, but she’s a liar. She set him up, him and our
Duke pushed harder. He had to get the woman out of the tower and off the mountain. He didn’t know how much time they had. “Do you know how we found Quin? Through Lorraine. Your mother ratted you out.”
“Bull-fucking-shit. My mom didn’t know about any of this. But she hates Nora as much as I do, she’d approve.”
“When Nora told her you’d kidnapped Quin, Lorraine was heartbroken. Told Nora about Templeton’s cabin in the woods and exactly how to get there.” He’d fudged the details a bit, but saw that it was working. Maggie was shaking, her mouth open. He went on. “She picked Quin over you.”
“I don’t believe you!” But her expression said she did. She believed it because he was here and had told her he’d saved Quin.
“We have Quin,” he said, “and your cat and the duck you stole from Butcher-Payne. It has a broken wing. You thought it might not be able to survive on its own.”
Her lip quivered and tears streamed down her face. “Lorraine told you?”
“Lorraine told
That did it. She practically collapsed into herself and shuffled across the floor toward the ladder.
“Hold it,” he said as she was about to step down. Gun to her head, he quickly patted her down. He still didn’t trust her, but he couldn’t find a weapon on her.
“Okay,” he said. “Go down slowly.” He coughed, the smoke was thicker, and he feared they wouldn’t be able to find their way to the plane. He hoped Sean knew exactly how to get there in the dark, because they might as well be blind in this smoky forest. He couldn’t see any flames, but he smelled the aromatic scent of burning pine. He prefered it in his fireplace.
This high up he had a perfect cell phone signal. He called Sean. “I have her. I don’t have cuffs, but she’s unarmed.”
“Hold on,” Sean said, and Duke heard him ask Nora about handcuffs. “Nora has a pair,” he said.
“Good. We’ll meet you at the road. I hope you know how to get to the plane.”
He watched Maggie carefully walk down the ladder. Methodically. Slowly.
“I do. Hurry.”
“Maggie suddenly slid the rest of the way down the ladder, her hands tempering her fall as they loosely held the wooden sides. That had to sting, but Duke had no time to think. She was already at the bottom.
“She’s running,” he told Sean, stuffed his phone and Colt in his pants and followed Maggie’s lead.
Nora tensed. “Did Duke just say she was running?”
“Yes.” Sean stood next to her protectively. “We need cover. Can you walk?” He coughed, the smoke becoming a major problem for both of them now.
“I have to,” she said.
Sean helped her up. Shoulder aching, Nora was limping and could practically feel the bruises growing on her thigh and back and head. But she no longer had the urge to vomit, and while her head throbbed, she felt marginally better.
Apprehensive, she watched the mountainside for Maggie or Duke. The smoke waffled in, hanging eerily in the air. It was nine in the morning, but it might as well have been dusk.
“Are you okay?” Sean asked quietly.
