Lenora Worth - Tracker

He guided her to the SUV and came around to the driver’s side.

Before she could dig for her cell phone, Zeke pulled the official-looking sleek black phone out of his pocket. “Make the call.”

Penny dialed the number to the inn and waited. “She’s not answering. Something’s wrong.”

Zeke took the phone back and pressed on the gas pedal. “We’ll be there in five minutes. In the meantime, we’ve got people already going over the area where I found you with Jake. They’re searching for the van and they might find something we missed.”

Penny nodded and listened while he spoke to someone about the location. She was still shaking and the blast of cold air coming from the vehicle’s air-conditioning made her shiver even more. Interrupting his conversation, she said, “I think we should have tried to find the van. I can identify it. Should we turn around?”

Zeke noticed her discomfort and hit the button to turn down the airflow. After discussing the situation with his superior again, he dropped his cell phone into a cup holder between them. “I have to protect you and Kevin. He’ll keep coming for you. I’m to get you to the inn first. It’s too dangerous to go chasing after that vehicle.”

Frustration roared through Penny. “I was right there! I should have killed that man and looked inside myself.”

Zeke reached over and gripped her arm. “Listen to me, Penny. In situations like this, it’s always best if the parents stay out of the way and let us do our jobs. My team is one of the best. You need to take a breath and trust us.”

“I know,” she said, wondering how she’d ever find her next breath. “I know.” She couldn’t voice the terror ripping her apart. What if it’s too late? What then?

Zeke zoomed the sleek SUV around curves and along dirt roads and watched the rearview mirror. Cheetah stayed in the back in a roomy kennel. She felt safe with these two, but Penny couldn’t relax until she knew Kevin was safe.

When they got to the Wild Iris and saw a local police officer standing with two FBI agents holding canines on leashes, her heart sank. “I have to find my baby,” she cried, hopping out of the vehicle before Zeke could turn off the motor.

She ran toward the big, two-story house, every cell in her body on overload. “Kevin? Kevin, Mommy’s here.”

An officer stopped her at the wide stained glass front door. “Ma’am, you can’t go in there.”

“She’s with me,” Zeke said, showing the officer his ID. “Her two-year-old son could be in danger.”

“He’s gone,” Rex Harmon said when Penny rushed inside, shaking his head. Rex, an avid hiker, had a room across from hers. “That man—he had a gun and he took the little boy.”

“No!” Penny put a hand to her mouth and moaned, a sick feeling pooling inside her stomach. “No...”

“What did he look like?” Zeke asked, pulling out a picture of his half brother. “Is this him?”

“Nah,” the older man said. “This thug was short and muscular with long, greasy blond hair and funky eyeglasses. He got into a beat-up old black van.”

Zeke’s eyes flared with awareness, his gaze hitting on Penny. She grabbed onto a chair, her worst nightmares coming to the surface. The same man she’d seen in the woods. Kevin had been right there, inside that van. She could have saved him.

“Do you know that man?” she asked Zeke, each word a struggle, each beat of her pulse a condemnation.

He nodded. “Possibly. But we’ll figure that out later.”

“Was this man in the van?” Penny demanded, her finger jabbing at the picture of Jake.

“No,” Rex said, sympathy in his eyes. “He was alone but he overpowered Miss Claire and hit her on the head. I heard her scream and I saw him with the boy. Miss Claire was hurt but she got to her shotgun. Only he had a gun, too, and he pointed it at the kid when we both ordered him to stop. Miss Claire dropped her gun and the man got in the van with your son and left.” He glanced from the officers to Penny. “I tried to get a license plate but it was all rusted out.” He gave Penny an apologetic look and waved a hand at all the officers swarming around. “I was about to call you when they showed up.”

Penny’s stomach twisted and recoiled. A cold sweat crept up and down her spine. She sank down on the stairs and pushed at her hair. “Is Miss Claire okay?”

“She’s fine,” Rex said. “She’s in her room with a female officer. The EMTs looked her over but she won’t go to the hospital.”

Penny stood, dizziness overcoming her. Zeke reached out to her and guided her to a chair. “I’ll find him. I promise. You stay here while I go and check on your babysitter.”

He asked Rex to bring her some water. The front door swung open and another man wearing an FBI vest entered, along with another canine. She’d seen them outside and heard Zeke introduce him as Special Agent in Charge Max West. He had short, spiked blond hair and blue eyes that seemed to stare everyone down, but like Zeke, he seemed confident and born to be in charge. She also noticed a jagged scar on his left cheek.

That only reminded her of how dangerous this situation had become. Jake had sent someone to kidnap her son and now he was at their mercy. That man could have killed Claire and Rex, too.

She watched, impatient and numb, while FBI agents and K-9 dogs filled the inn, their presence a sharp contrast to the dainty furnishings and heirloom antiques placed all around the Victorian-style mansion turned boardinghouse.

Max West gathered all of them around and explained what would transpire next. Roadblocks, an Amber Alert, all train and bus stations made aware, all flights out of nearby airports monitored. And all agents out on the hunt.

Penny put her head in her hands and prayed. Helplessness weighed her down, a sense of doom and despair causing her to catch her breath. Why, oh, why, had she come back to Montana?

Law enforcement set up electronic equipment on every available spot and stomped over the braided rugs and slammed the stained glass doors, moving, while she sat there, frozen in a nightmare. She had to do something, anything, to find her little boy.

Agent West came over to her and asked her several rapid-fire questions about Jake. Did he say where he was headed? What did he look like? What kind of weapons was he carrying? Did he mention an accomplice?

He explained to her that they were aware she’d been on the run and why. They knew she’d been in a chalet in Colorado earlier in the summer. Had Jake come after her there?

Penny nodded and answered all the questions, anger warring with fear and regret. “I came back here because...I wanted my son to be here, close to where I grew up. I thought I was safe.”

“Did you come here hoping Jake would find you? Did he arrange to meet you out in the Basin area?”

“No.”

Fury roiled through her. Did they actually think she’d wanted this? That she wanted to be sitting here, paralyzed with fear, wondering if her son was alive or dead?

Finally, Penny lifted her head and said, “He planned to go live on a tropical island, and he said he has a lot of money stashed somewhere but I don’t know where. He wants my son, not me. I didn’t want him around Kevin, and I sure don’t want him taking my son away from me. The man tried to kill me. Why are you questioning me when you should be out there searching for Kevin?”

Max West gave her a stern but sympathetic stare. “We’re doing everything we can to help us find your son, Penny. We’ve taken prints on everyone who works here or is staying here, and we have officers going door-to-door around this area to see if we can find any leads or get any eyewitnesses. Don’t go anywhere.”

“I know who took my son,” she said, her voice rising. “Why aren’t you listening to me? I was an eyewitness. Up close. So close, I feared for my life. Go and find my son before it’s too late.”