Hiding in Montana
Author
Laura Scott
Reads
19.5K
Chapters
20
ONE
Pilot Lexie McDaniels sat in her tiny corner office in the Blue Skye Aviation hangar and waited for the storm-tracking software to load on the computer screen. She had a flight tour scheduled the following morning and wanted to make sure the weather forecast hadn’t changed. Living a few miles outside Great Falls, Montana, nestled in a valley between the Rocky Mountains, she knew from personal experience the conditions, especially the wind, could change on a dime.
A flash of movement through the window at her right caught her eye. She frowned and leaned forward to peer through the glass, attempting to pierce the darkness beyond. At nine o’clock at night, she was alone in the hangar. Skip the mechanic and Harry the airstrip owner had left hours ago.
She didn’t see anything unusual. The light from the nearly full moon was partially obliterated by tall leafy trees lining the northwest corner of the parking lot. The runway was located in the opposite direction. Lexie frowned again and told herself she was imagining things. Still, her plane was her only way of supporting herself, so she rose and headed through the dark hangar, intending to go outside to check things out.
Most likely the wind had blown something past her window. There was no reason to worry. Five years ago, she’d put her past behind her. She was safe in Montana, as far from the big city of New York as a person could get.
Upon reaching the door, she wrinkled her nose at the horrible smell of body odor mixed with cigarette smoke mere seconds before hard hands grasped her shoulders, yanking her backward against a taut sweaty body.
“If you scream, you’ll die.” Hot smelly air hit her face.
No! The harsh words filled her with fear, but sheer survival instincts quickly kicked in. Lexie elbowed her attacker, stomped on his feet, but then went still as she felt the hard barrel of a gun dig painfully into her side.
“Stop it!” The man’s grip tightened painfully. “Behave and you won’t get hurt.”
She had to swallow hard against the ball of fear lodged in her throat. She sent up a silent prayer for God to protect and guide her. “W-what do you want?”
“You.” The single word was followed by a creepy laugh. Visions of being attacked or worse tumbled through her mind. “And that plane.”
Her Cessna? Lexie instinctively dug in her heels. No way. Not happening.
But her assailant was strong and easily dragged her across the concrete floor of the hangar. She tried not to panic. To not think about the danger of flying at night in the mountains.
Yet what did that matter, anyway? This guy could very well kill her once her usefulness as a pilot was over.
“Wait!” The word came out hoarse as his arm was wrapped tightly around her neck, partially cutting off her air supply. “I need to have a mechanic check the plane before we go.” She stalled for time; why exactly, she wasn’t sure. “It’s important the engine is in peak flying condition, especially if we’re heading out at night.”
“Nice try, but I saw you flying the plane earlier. It’s fine. We’re leaving. Now!” He ruthlessly dragged her forward.
Lord, please help me! She went limp, her sneakered feet dragging behind in a way that managed to tangle her legs with his.
It was enough to knock the sweaty guy off-balance. The arm around her throat loosened and the gun moved away from her side for a fraction of a second. She gathered her strength, but before she could react, the assailant abruptly let her go.
Lexie fell to the floor, her knees hitting the concrete hard, but then she quickly jumped up. She heard muffled grunts and saw two dark shadows fighting. A low growl had her taking several steps backward in fear. Through the darkness, she saw the whites of an animal’s eyes.
What was going on? Suddenly one of the men groaned and slumped to the floor while the other jumped up and raced out of the hangar. The dog continued to bark and growl, giving chase to a point, but then stopping near the open hangar doorway. The dog wheeled around and ran back to the man on the floor.
Lexie felt certain the man who reeked of body odor was the one who’d disappeared outside, but the news wasn’t entirely reassuring. What if this guy was an accomplice?
She edged around the stranger sprawled on the floor, giving the dog a wide berth as she made her way toward the light switch. The incandescent lights came on low at first, providing her eyes time to adjust as they slowly grew brighter.
The man on the floor didn’t move. Was he dead? Was he involved with the man with the gun? She was torn between taking off and staying to make sure the stranger was alive. The dog sat right at his side, which made it impossible for her to approach.
“Good doggy” she said in a weak voice. “Nice doggy. Don’t bite me, okay?”
The dog licked the stranger’s face. The man let out a low moan, and finally lifted his head. “W-what happened?”
“You tell me.” Lexie eyed him warily. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The man managed to sit up. He stroked the dog, calming the animal. “Ma’am, are you okay?”
“I’m not the one on the floor,” she pointed out.
“Yeah.” He put a hand to his head for a moment, then staggered to his feet. She noticed he had a backpack with him, yet he didn’t seem like a hiker who’d wandered in. He was a bit unsteady as he stood there, looking around. Finally, he met her gaze. “I’m Chris Fuller, with the Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit.” He shifted the backpack and lightly rested his hand on the dog’s head. “And this is Teddy, my partner.”
Lexie loved dogs, but nothing about this scenario was normal. Now that the animal had stopped growling, the brown-and-white spaniel appeared friendly enough. She crossed her arms over her chest, chilled despite the mild June temperatures. Finding two strangers in her hangar, in the span of a few minutes, was frightening.
Chris Fuller was well over six feet tall and wore casual black jeans paired with a black T-shirt covered with a bulky black vest. His warm brown skin highlighted his muscular arms and shoulders. He wore his black hair short and had a jagged scar over his left eyebrow, and his intense topaz gaze seemed to look right through her.
It took a moment to notice the blood on his temple. “You’re hurt. I have a first-aid kit in my office.”
“Not now.” He waved his hand impatiently. “Do you know the man who attacked you?”
She shivered and shook her head. “No. Why? Is that why you’re here?”
“Yeah.” He frowned. “How long was I out?”
“Not long, less than a minute.” She instinctively took a step backward as he approached. “Wait, how do I know you are who you say you are?”
He looked surprised by her question. He looked down at the front of his vest, then pulled the lanyard out from beneath to show her his badge. “I’m a cop, and so is Teddy. See his K-9 vest? You’re safe with us. What’s your name?”
“Alexandra McDaniels. I go by Lexie.” She let out a relieved sigh. God had sent one of the good guys to save her. “Okay, I believe you and Teddy are cops, but why are you here?”
“We’re tracking an escaped convict wanted for murder.” The officer pulled paperwork from his back pocket and unfolded it. “Do you recognize this man? His name is Frank Lanier. Is he the person who attacked you?”
Lexie stared at the mug shot. There was something about his face that niggled at the back of her mind. Had she seen him on the news? “No, I can’t say for sure. I’m sorry. It was dark, and he grabbed me from behind.” The memory of the attack made her shiver again. “You believe this escaped convict is the man who attacked me? It would explain why he dragged me toward the plane and ordered me to fly him out of here.”
If not for the officer and his dog showing up when they did, she might very well be up in the air right now with a brutal killer.
He must have seen the revulsion on her features. “Hey, it’s okay.” Chris’s smile was reassuring. “You’re safe, remember? Teddy tracked Frank Lanier here, and my partner is rarely wrong.” He gave his dog another pat. “Don’t worry, we’ll find him and soon. Trust me, it’s our job to make sure secrets don’t stay buried for long.”
Lexie stared at him, having trouble meeting his all-too-knowing topaz gaze. His statement about uncovering secrets struck a chord deep within.
Because it was imperative that her secrets remained hidden, forever.
Chris did his best to ignore the throbbing pain reverberating through his head. It irked him that Lanier had gotten away. He needed to get out there and find him, but not until he made certain Lexie was doing okay.
The pilot was stunningly beautiful, with long wavy dark hair and bright green eyes. She looked unnerved, and he felt bad for what she’d been through. Nothing bothered him more than men who mistreated women. “Lexie, why don’t you let me escort you home? Teddy and I need to get back to tracking this guy as soon as possible.”
“Just go. I’ll be fine.” Her attempt at a smile was pathetic. “Although I still think you should let me bandage your cut.”
“I’d rather make sure you get home safely. My injury isn’t serious.” He’d suffered far worse as a risk-taking teen and in his career as a cop. After working for three years as a K-9 officer in Phoenix, Arizona, he’d been grateful to land a spot with the new Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit. They were still in their first year, on contract with the FBI to assist with cases across the region. The team was already on probationary status to determine its need, and thanks to a dangerous incident at the K-9 training center in Denver two months ago, they were under even more scrutiny. The case was still under investigation.
Regardless, Chris felt certain that tracking down and arresting Frank Lanier would help silence any fears about their team’s future.
His boss, Tyson Wilkes, had created the concept of their Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit, recruiting officers he considered the best of the best. Their role was to interface with other law enforcement agencies to cover the wide expanse of the Rocky Mountains. Chris had been proud to be included, even though his relationship with his half brother, Ben Sawyer, also a RMK9 officer, was rocky. Ben was the one who’d recommended him to the sergeant in the first place.
Chris and Ben were professional at work, but their personal relationship was strained. Mostly because Ben kept trying to convince Chris to let go of his anger long enough to speak with their father. The father who’d had an affair with Chris’s mother, but then dumped her because she wasn’t part of the rancher community. Drew Sawyer had then married Ben’s mother because she was not only from the community but came from the prosperous neighboring ranch, adding to his father’s wealth.
Yeah, meeting the old man wasn’t high on his list of things to do.
Not that it mattered now. He and Teddy had a killer to catch.
“I don’t live far, and I have my Jeep.” Lexie finally stepped closer. “I’m sure I’ll be okay getting the rest of the way home while you and Teddy go to work.”
“Come a little closer.” He dropped to a knee beside Teddy. “Friend, Teddy. Lexie is a friend.” He held out his hand to Lexie. “Let him sniff you.”
She looked interested as she placed her slender pale hand in his. A shock of awareness rippled up his arm, and he tried to mask the sensation by focusing on his partner.
Teddy sniffed for several long seconds, then his tail wagged back and forth with exuberance. Teddy was friendly by nature, unless threatened. He was also a phenomenal tracker, his nose one of the best of all K-9s on the team, second only to Nell the beagle.
At least in Chris’s humble opinion. Besides, Nell was a cadaver dog. She didn’t have Teddy’s ability to find Lanier, who was alive and on the move.
“He’s beautiful,” Lexie murmured.
“Thanks. I think so, too.” He rose to his feet, hiding a wince as his head began to pound again. “Ready?”
Lexie nodded. Before they moved, he took the evidence bag out of his pocket and offered Lanier’s scent to Teddy. “This is Frank. Seek Frank,” he commanded. “Seek.”
Teddy sniffed and then lowered his nose, following the scent all the way outside.
Chris scanned the area outside the hangar, holding Teddy at bay as Lexie shut down the lights and locked the door. He noticed a dark blue Jeep parked off to the side from the main entrance.
“Seek,” he repeated. Lexie watched in apparent fascination as Teddy followed the scent across the parking lot toward a spot along the edge of the woods. Teddy alerted and sat.
Not surprising to learn Lanier had sought cover in the forest. “Good boy. Heel, Teddy.”
The dog looked back at him, as if he wanted to keep going, but then spun around and returned to his side. Chris quickly returned to Lexie and escorted her to the Jeep.
“He’s amazing,” she said in awe. “I’ve never seen a K-9 in action before.”
“He is,” Chris agreed. Teddy’s nose kept working, as he sniffed around the vehicle. Thankfully, Teddy didn’t alert at the Jeep, so he felt certain Lanier was hiding in the woods.
Lexie unlocked the car and opened the door. He tightened his grip on her arm and looked in the back seat and the rear storage area before nodding and releasing her. “It’s clear.”
“Thanks.” Her smile was tremulous. “Take care of yourself, Officer.”
“Chris.” He wasn’t sure why he corrected her. After all, he was a cop. “You, too, Lexie.” He thrust a business card into her hand. “Here’s my contact information. Don’t hesitate to call if you need something.”
She nodded, tucked the card away and slid behind the wheel. He waited until she was safely locked inside the vehicle before offering Teddy Lanier’s scent once again.
“Seek,” he commanded.
Teddy was eager to get back to work. His partner picked up Lanier’s scent and trotted quickly toward the trees lining the far side of the parking lot. Chris pulled his weapon, something he should have done when he’d approached the hangar. When he’d first heard muffled voices, he hadn’t anticipated Lanier had gone inside and taken a hostage.
A failure he’d have to own. He inwardly winced at how Tyson would take the news. Then he shook it off. He still had a good chance of bringing Lanier into custody.
“Seek,” he encouraged his partner as the dog wound his way around trees and brush. Chris held his flashlight nestled between two fingers of his left hand, using that same hand to help stabilize the gun he was holding with his right.
Sweeping his light over the area, he hoped to catch a glimpse of Lanier. It was risky to go after him in the woods, as Tyson Wilkes had told them at an earlier team meeting that Frank Lanier was known to be armed and dangerous. Something he now knew from firsthand experience.
But Chris didn’t have a choice. The cold-blooded killer had already tried to kidnap a pilot. Who knew what else Lanier would do if he was feeling desperate.
It was Chris’s job, and Teddy’s, to keep the heat on. The longer Lanier was on the run, the more likely he’d make a mistake.
Teddy backtracked twice, but then remained hot on Lanier’s trail. Chris’s head pounded more at the fast pace, but he refused to succumb to pain or weakness. Once he might have prayed to God for strength, but not anymore.
Not after learning his mother had lied to him about the identity of his father. Something he’d only discovered after her death. And when Ben, his half brother, had reached out to him, to let him know their dad wanted to talk.
Whatever. The team was his life now. Sergeant Tyson Wilkes had recruited officers from all across the Rocky Mountain region. Tyson had served as an army ranger in Afghanistan, and had arranged for his Dutch shepherd mix, Echo, to return home with him. Ben was also a former army ranger and worked with his Doberman, Shadow. The other team members were Nelson Rivers and his K-9, Diesel, Danielle Vargas and Zana, Reece Campbell and Maverick, Harlow Zane and Nell, and Lucas Hudson and Angel.
Chris liked the way the team felt a bit like a family. As an only child, or so he’d thought, he’d always wanted brothers and sisters.
Now he had Ben and a slew of others. His personal relationship with Ben was something he needed to come to grips with sooner rather than later.
When his K-9 partner alerted near a fallen tree, Chris gratefully paused to take a breath. Teddy sat and looked up at him, expecting his reward.
“Good boy,” he praised, rubbing the spaniel’s silky brown-and-white fur. He pulled the spaniel’s favorite toy, a small stuffed bear, from the backpack and offered it as a reward. Chris figured Lanier must have stopped here to rest. The guy had been on the run for well over fourteen hours after escaping from the transport van that was found at the side of the road just outside Helena. Lanier had been the only prisoner inside, as he was being taken to Helena for a sentencing hearing after being convicted of killing a banker. It still wasn’t clear how Lanier had managed to escape. All they knew for sure was that the deputy had been found in the front seat of the van, shot in the head, presumably with his own gun. There was no sign of Lanier in or around the badly damaged van.
As the van wasn’t drivable, they suspected Lanier to have stolen a vehicle or to be on foot. When a witness called in a report of seeing the suspect in Great Falls, their suspicions of his having a vehicle were confirmed. Great Falls was ninety miles from Helena.
Chris gently took the toy back, returned it to the pack, then pulled out the evidence bag. Inside was a scrap of fabric from Lanier’s prison suit so that his K-9 could refresh the scent. “This is Frank. Seek Frank!”
Teddy lowered his nose to the ground, then lifted it into the air, drawing in the air around him, searching for the scent cone that would lead him to Lanier. Then Teddy bounded over the fallen log, picking up Lanier’s scent on the other side.
Chris didn’t keep Teddy on a leash, which was yet another risk. He valued Teddy’s life more than his own, but leashes and woods didn’t mesh well. And he needed to grip his gun and flashlight in two hands.
Chris quickened his pace to keep up, following his partner’s lead. The dog headed northwest, the ground sloping downward beneath his feet.
“Good boy,” he encouraged, as he continued scanning the area. He and Teddy were both wearing bullet-resistant vests, but their heads were not protected. Chris had no idea how good of a shot Lanier was, hoping the guy didn’t have the skills to hit either of them from a distance, especially through the trees.
When Chris heard running water, his spirits sank. Teddy continued following Lanier’s scent in a zigzag pattern.
But all too soon, Teddy came to a stop at the edge of the Sun River. It was a small river that branched off from the much larger Missouri River that snaked through town.
The dog alerted, then sat and gazed up at him, tongue lolling.
“Good boy, Teddy.” Chris bent over to lavish praise on the K-9, offering the toy bear again, even as the implication sank deep.
It galled him to admit Frank Lanier had used the river to mask his scent. The guy was smart, but Chris wasn’t ready to give up so easily.
He let his partner rest a few minutes, then tried to estimate which way Lanier had taken. Likely west, since heading east would take them closer to town.
“Come. Seek.” Chris walked along the riverbank. Teddy followed. He sniffed the ground, then lifted his nose into the air, as if trying to capture the elusive scent.
After about thirty yards, Chris picked Teddy up into his arms and crossed the river. On the other side, he went back toward the original spot where his partner had lost the scent, hoping his partner would pick it back up.
But there was nothing. According to Teddy’s keen nose, there was no indication Lanier had gotten out of the river along this stretch.
Chris blew out a frustrated breath and sat down on a fallen log. Despite his and Teddy’s best efforts, they’d lost him.
It was disheartening to accept the fact he needed to call his boss with the news that their escaped convict was still on the loose.
