Sheriff

When they’d gone about fifty feet, he paused and took out a pair of binoculars. The structure was closer now, just another forty to fifty yards away.

He caught a glimpse of one guard near the front door. If there were others, they were too well hidden for him to see. But he suspected there was at least one more, patrolling the perimeter.

“Found one,” he whispered, handing her the binoculars. “At the door. He’s not even trying to hide, but maybe there are others.”

Julianne handed the glasses back to him. “Seems awfully quiet. I expected the chopper to garner some attention.”

Brody didn’t disagree. Even if the guards assumed the chopper belonged to the army base, which was located near the border of Texas and Arkansas, wouldn’t they at least come out to make certain?

“Ready?” He looked at Julianne who nodded. “Let’s go.”

He shook off a wave of apprehension and moved forward. They covered another twenty yards, the house now dangerously close, when he signaled for her to wait.

Raising the binoculars again, he could see the single guard near the front door as clearly as if the guy were standing right in front of him. He was dressed in army green, with a rifle slung over his shoulder, but he also lounged against the wall of the house as if he were bored out of his mind.

Something about this wasn’t right. He took his time, carefully checking the vicinity for others who might be hiding nearby.

Nothing.

Could this Dupree guy Julianne was tracking be that arrogant? Did he really think the thick woods and the fence offered him enough protection?

If so, maybe this wouldn’t be as dangerous as Brody had feared.

With the guy leaning up against the wall, he couldn’t go in to take him from behind. But Brody could rush him, bringing him down before he had a chance to pull his weapon.

“I’ll take the guy at the door,” he said using the mic to make sure Max and Zeke knew the plan. “I need everyone else to keep alert in case there are other guards who may come running.”

“Roger,” Max replied. Julianne simply nodded and moved a few feet ahead, putting herself and Thunder in position.

With stealthy precision Brody moved from one tree to the next, coming up on the guy’s right-hand side. The gun was slung over his right arm, so Brody had to assume he was a lefty.

He rushed the guard, hitting him hard and taking him to the ground with a muffled thump. He pressed the guy’s face into the earth so that he couldn’t shout for assistance. But it didn’t matter because within seconds the front door swung open and a second guard appeared in the doorway, his weapon pointed directly at the spot where he’d left Julianne.

Crack! Crack!

Two shots echoed through the trees. Brody’s heart slammed to an abrupt stop in his chest. The guard in the doorway fell backward into the house from the force of Julianne’s shot.

Brody yanked on the guard’s arms, pulling them behind his back to cuff him when more gunfire rang out. The guard tried to head-butt him, so he was forced to hit back, knocking him unconscious. Then he finished tying the guy’s wrists behind his back and his ankles together so the guy couldn’t escape.

When he rose to his feet, he saw that Max, Zeke and Julianne were huddled near the front door. Unfortunately, it looked as if the gunfire had been exchanged both ways; there was a bit of blood on Zeke’s arm and two guards, he’d been right about one patrolling the perimeter, were dead, leaving only one to question once they’d cleared the house. Max and Zeke quickly took control of the fallen guard’s weapons.

“Ready to go inside?” Max asked in a low, urgent tone. “I’ll take the lead.”

Julianne nodded and pulled out the same evidence bag she’d used earlier that day, the one with Jake Morrow’s shirt inside. She opened the bag. Thunder buried his nose inside, taking his time to imprint the scent.

“Find Jake.”

Thunder put his nose to the ground, but Julianne kept her hand on his collar, giving him a hand signal of some sort. The dog stood at her side, his nose twitching with the need to follow the scent.

Max approached the door first, taking the right side. Zeke came up on the left. After a moment they both disappeared inside, each heading in opposite directions.

Julianne stepped up to the doorway, following Max. Brody didn’t like being separated from her, but took the left, following Zeke and Cheetah.

The house was plush, with at least a dozen different rooms, but there was no sign of a captured agent.

In fact, there wasn’t anyone at all. Other than the three guards they’d taken care of, the place was empty.

* * *

Julianne couldn’t believe that Angus Dupree and his henchmen had gotten away. Frustrated, she let go of Thunder’s collar. “Find, Thunder. Find Jake.”

Her partner went to work, nose to the floor, instantly alerting in the main living area. But then he kept going, down the hallway to one of the bedrooms, where he alerted again.

In the kitchen. The bathroom. Another bedroom.

Thunder found evidence of Jake in nearly every room in the entire house.

“He was here,” Julianne said, glancing at Zeke. “Probably recently. We must have just missed them.”

“Julianne, come look at this,” Max called from one of the back bedrooms.

“What did you find?”

His expression was grim. “Blood. Fresh blood along the side of the desk chair.”

She sucked in a harsh breath. “Thunder, heel.”

The dog bounded to her side.

“Find Jake,” she repeated. He’d already alerted in this room, but over by the side of the bed, not the desk.

Thunder put his nose to the floor, sniffing along the edge of the desk. When he got to the side where the blood was, he alerted again.

“We’ll need to test the blood to match Jake’s DNA, but according to Thunder it’s likely his.” She glanced around the room. “Maybe this is where they kept him locked up, either at the desk or on the bed.”

“That’s the picture I’m getting.” Max opened the desk drawers, but they were empty.

Julianne went down on her knees to look under the bed. A flash of silver caught her eye. “Thunder, find Jake.”

The dog crawled on his belly beneath the bed, emerging a moment later with something in his mouth. Julianne gently pried it out of his jaw.

“What is it?” Max asked.

Zeke and Brody came into the bedroom. Zeke took one look at the item she held in her hand and asked, “Where did you find that?”

“Under the bed.” She looked at the heavy silver watch. “Do you recognize it?”

Zeke paled, his expression full of anguish as he nodded. “It belongs to Jake.”