“Bristow Road!” Sean exclaimed. “The Harker Family Trust. It’s less than half a mile from the Airlie Airport. Let’s go.”
“Sean-” Dillon began.
“This is where she is,” Sean said. “I know it. It’s close enough, secluded-I’m going.”
“We all are, but you can’t fly in this weather.”
“Why the hell not? I can’t drive there faster than I can fly. It’s not snowing right now, but the roads are shit, and it takes an hour in good conditions. We can be there on the ground in thirty-five minutes.”
He rose and grabbed his wallet and jacket, then opened the closet and grabbed a duffle bag.
“What’s that?” Dillon asked.
Sean looked perplexed. “My go-bag.” He left the room.
Hans raised his eyebrows and said sarcastically, “Oh, no, he’s nothing like Jack.”
* * *
Noah hung up the phone and said to Abigail, “Kate and Hans just got off the phone with Miller’s ex- wife.”
“How’d they find her?”
“I didn’t ask, but I’m sure the Rogans had something to do with cutting corners.” He wasn’t complaining about it, however. Lucy’s life was in immediate danger.
He stared at the report he’d just received from the Wilmington Police Department. Three missing women. Miller had been a suspect after he’d been arrested for statutory rape, but they had no evidence, no proof. The only thread of evidence was one witness statement describing a car that matched Miller’s at the time. But the car was a common make, and there was no apparent motive. A brief interview with Miller proved fruitless.
But if Miller had anything to do with the missing women, he was definitely more dangerous and more experienced than they’d thought.
“What’s that?” Abigail asked.
“I’ll tell you in the car.”
They walked out of FBI headquarters. “Where’s Miller?”
“Warrenton. I hope they’re right-Miller’s family has property there held in a blind trust.”
“It’s going to take over an hour to get there.”
“Kate is flying with Hans, Rogan, and Dillon. I’m going to call our tactical unit in the Northern Virginia office. They’re closer, but it’ll take them a few minutes to mobilize.”
Noah pulled out onto the road. It wasn’t snowing, but visibility was poor. “I can’t believe Sean is flying in this.”
“You’d do the same thing,” Abigail said.
“I don’t think you know me that well.”
Abigail smirked. “I think I do. You don’t work with a guy for a week-even someone as closed-mouth as you- and not figure him out.”
Noah shook his head and talked to the Northern Virginia Resident Agency. They were located in Manassas, much closer to the target site.
“They’ll mobilize in fifteen minutes and send a team out to the site, but their ETA is one hour, ten minutes because of the roads.” He quickly sent Hans and Kate a message, along with the name and number of the lead tactical agent.
He then filled Abigail in on the missing women in Wilmington.
“You really think Miller was involved in their disappearance?”
“I don’t know, but it’s suspicious.”
“You know what I think?”
“Don’t keep me guessing.”
“I think he has been playing this game for a long time. Only three women? I’ll bet there’re more, all over the area. Were they a similar type?”
“Blond, under thirty, shy.”
“Sounds like his ex-wife,” Abigail said.
“Lucy doesn’t fit the profile.”
“But Lucy was trying to send him back to prison.”
Sean landed at Airlie Airport forty-two minutes later, just before noon. The roads going to the airport were worse than he’d anticipated, and every minute of the trip ate at him, another minute that Lucy was in that sadistic S.O.B.’s hands.
“What’s Noah’s ETA?” he asked Hans.
“He’s forty-five minutes out. The tactical squad is on their way. ETA eighteen minutes.”
Dillon asked, “How are we going to drive there? We can’t walk a half mile-”
Sean shook his head. “Trust me.”
He steered the plane around to the hangars. There was no one there, it was a private airport and he’d have to sweet-talk his way out of fines, but he didn’t care. He found what he was looking for.
He picked the lock of an older-model Ford that was parked next to a hangar.
“You’re not-”
“We’re bringing it back,” Sean said. He looked under the steering wheel, pushed in the panel, and pulled out the wiring. In less than a minute he had the truck running. “Let’s go get Lucy.”
FORTY-THREE
Sean, Kate, Dillon, and Hans approached the Harker property from the north, where they were obscured by a large, empty barn. Sean could see the farmhouse fifty yards away. It had once been white, but was now severely weathered. It would have been quaint, with a wraparound porch and a swing next to the front door, if that pig Miller wasn’t holding Lucy captive inside.
At least, they assumed he was inside. A garage on the opposite side of the property could be where Lucy was being held. And they needed to search the barn.
“SWAT is thirteen minutes out,” Kate said. “We have a lifeline helicopter on standby at Airlie, and they can touch down here five minutes after contact. Sean, you and I are going to search the barn. Hans, call the SWAT team leader and give him the layout and our location. Keep the line open.”
She motioned toward Sean. They both had their guns drawn and walked around the perimeter of the barn to the main entrance. The wide door was ajar.
A deep impression in the snow leading from the house to the barn, or vice versa, was fresh. It looked like something heavy had been dragged through the snow-frozen grass was partly revealed in the gulley. Kate got his attention and motioned toward the door, then put three fingers up. He nodded.
One. Two. On three they silently entered the barn simultaneously through the opening; Sean high, Kate low, guns raised and sweeping from side to side as they quickly assessed potential danger.
They didn’t see anyone, nor did they hear anything. But over and above the unpleasant scent of moldy hay and animal, there was another foul smell that was fresher.
They went from stall to stall methodically.
Kate stifled a scream and Sean rushed over. He saw the headless torso on the ground, and a rat scurrying away from the open wound that had been the woman’s head.
For a split second the last week flashed through Sean’s mind, and an overwhelming sense of loss and despair flooded through him.
But it wasn’t Lucy.
“Lucy!” Kate cried. “Oh God-”
“It’s not Lucy,” Sean said.
Kate shook her head. “Oh, God, sorry, I just-”
“Expected the worst.”
