Present Danger by Elizabeth Goddard (shoe dog free ebook .txt) 📗

“I told you to station a guy back there.”

“We did. That was me. He walked out the back and coldcocked me before I had time to react.”

Jack gritted his molars.

“Find him and arrest him for assaulting an officer.” He glanced at Terra and ended the call. “Now he has definitely committed a crime.”

Jack focused on following Leif on the two-lane highway. Just where was Leif taking them anyway? Was he onto them and leading them on a wild goose chase?

His cell rang. “Tanner.”

“Nathan here.”

Jack put the cell on speaker. “Detective Campbell. What’s up?”

“Sarge pulled me in to assist. I hope you don’t mind. I mean, we have the forest service deputized, so why not—”

Jack cleared his throat loudly. “Nathan. Terra’s in the car with me. We’re following a lead. Sarge pulled you in. What have you got?”

“Did some more digging on Chance Carter. He doesn’t show up until about thirteen years ago.”

“What do you mean?”

“He didn’t exist until then.”

“How can someone suddenly exist?”

“Good question. It could be a synthetic ID.”

“Keep talking,” Jack said. The car in front of them suddenly turned off onto a county road. Jack slowed. He needed to keep his distance so Leif wouldn’t know he had a tail. It might already be too late.

“Cut to the chase, Campbell.”

“A person could spend a couple of years building an ID. Get a social security number from a child or a homeless person. Or the deceased. Then accumulate fake information associated with the ID. Bottom line, Chance Carter isn’t really Chance Carter.”

“Then who is he?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”

“Thanks for letting me know. I’d prefer to know his true identity.” Jack explained what had happened in Bar Wars and that he and Terra were following Leif. “We’re closing in.”

“Careful out there.” Campbell ended the call.

Jack glanced at Terra and caught her frown.

Up ahead, Leif finally turned onto another farm road. Jack sighed. “I wish we had a drone to do this work for us.”

“What? No funding?”

“No funding.”

“We can’t lose him,” she said.

“Oh, so now you want to follow him.” Jack chuckled.

“I never said I didn’t. I want to find out why he was meeting with the pilot as much as you do.”

“We won’t lose him.” Jack slowed as he approached the county road Leif had taken. “We’ll follow him all the way to his destination.”

“I have a gut feeling he’s going to disappear because he knows we’re onto him,” she said.

He grinned at that and glanced her way, then back to the road.

“I call it my forest service special agent instinct.”

“I like it.”

Jack turned onto the road lined by cornfields on both sides and drove slowly. No car lights ahead. “Unfortunately, I think you were right. He’s gone dark on us.”

“I’m sure he’s parked in the cornfield somewhere or we’d see his lights up the road.”

Stopping the vehicle, Jack opened the windows. Terra said nothing. He listened for a few moments, then finally urged the vehicle forward again—slow and steady as if they were just out for a late evening drive through the cornfields on a beautiful star-filled night. The silhouette of a grain silo stood tall in the distance.

“Um, Jack. What are we doing?” Terra whispered.

“Looking for signs that someone drove into the crops.” He kept his voice low.

“Crop circles.” Her quiet laugh sounded lyrical. Warmth curled inside. He shook off the nonsense. They had to remain on guard. If Leif was involved, he could be the man who killed Jim and Neva. He could be the man who tried to kill Terra. “No, seriously. The corn mazes. We’re close to one. Don’t know if it’s opened for business this late. I hope not.”

Terra’s small intake of breath clued him in. He slowed the vehicle.

“Keep driving,” she whispered.

He did as she directed.

“We don’t want him to know we saw his turnout,” she said. “I don’t know if he’s waiting for us to give up and then he’ll take off or what.”

“He can’t sit there all night.” Jack hated to keep moving. He wanted to turn around.

“He could,” she said. “Or he could simply leave his truck and just walk out.”

“Nah. That’s too far.”

“No, it’s not, Jack. First, he’s been military trained to survive under impossible conditions. Not that he has to here. There’s a farmhouse out there. He could steal their car.”

“Or harm the farmer and his family.” That was it. Jack shut off his lights and maneuvered his vehicle until he’d turned around. “We’ll wait here for a few minutes and see if he comes out. I had only meant to follow the guy tonight and not engage him. But I have a bad feeling about this.”

Jack closed the windows and used his radio to call for backup. The man was evading them for a reason. “We can’t let him slip through our fingers.”

“Especially since you lost the pilot.”

“Come on. The first time we didn’t even know he was a flight risk. No lame pun intended.” Jack looked at Terra. “You’re not wearing a vest, are you?”

“Neither are you.”

“I have one in the back that I’ll grab. Sheriff only requires detectives to have them with us and use them in enforcement situations. This has turned into something different than I thought.” But it wouldn’t fit her well enough to be efficient.

Though he hated to bring more deputies into it, the last thing Jack wanted was to go into that cornfield after Leif. “I don’t want to lose him, but we’ll wait here until backup arrives.”

Bullets pinged his vehicle.

“Get down!”

FIFTY-TWO

Terra shoved down the screams and covered her head as she ducked.

“Go, go, go, go! Get out on your side.” Jack shielded her.

She opened the door and slid out.

Jack crawled over the seat and joined her on the far side of his vehicle.

“An assault rifle,” she said. “He’s using an assault rifle.”

“Battlefield firepower.” He grunted. “The guy has lost it. PTSD or something.”

Terra’s heart pounded. The night sky. The tall plants. The gunfire. All of it seemed surreal. The fear could