Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn Book 6)(78)

A branch snapped nearby, and she froze. Back pressed against a tree, she held her gun at the ready, listening. The intermittent chatter on the comms burst and buzzed in her ear. She reached up and tore at the earbud, pulling it out and letting it hang along her collar. Again, she listened. She thought she heard footsteps ahead. She tried to move with them, gaining on whoever was out there without them hearing her in pursuit. On her right, the cave came into view. A foot protruded from the mouth of the cave.

Josie crept closer, heart pounding, blood rushing in her ears. She pressed her back against the outer part of the cave’s entrance, listening. She heard nothing. No footsteps, no rustling, no breathing or any kind of movement. She peeked around the cave entrance. The foot hadn’t moved. Swiftly, Josie turned into the cave, sweeping the barrel of the gun back and forth. The foot belonged to a woman, who lay in a puddle of blood and soil. She was young and pale with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. As Josie got closer, she saw that the woman had been shot in the head. There was an entry wound to the right temple with stippling below the bullet hole, indicating a close-range shot. Whoever had killed her had held the gun to her skin and pulled the trigger. The splatter on the cave wall to the left of her head was still wet and dripping.

Josie thought about the shots that they’d heard when Amy was leaving the money in the center of the field. There had been two shots fired before Amy was hit, which had to have been the FBI agent shooting at the kidnapper and the kidnapper firing back. Then the kidnapper had shot Amy. It had been several minutes before the last shot rang out. Had the kidnapper killed his own accomplice? Why? What was his plan? Keeping all the money for himself? That didn’t make sense as there was no indication that he had even taken the money. She had only half been paying attention to the chatter in her ear, but she knew the team at Lover’s Cave had seen no activity of any kind since Colin left the money inside the cave.

It would seem that the only thing the kidnapper had hoped to accomplish was to kill Amy.

Had this woman tried to stop him? Had she wanted her portion of the money? Whatever the dynamic had been, she had ended up dead. Josie took out her cell phone and called Oaks, keeping her voice low. “I found the female accomplice. She’s dead.” She gave the location as best she could and hung up. Moving to the other side of the cave entrance, she listened again. She thought she heard the crunch of leaves, but she couldn’t be sure.

She maneuvered out of the cave, staying close to its outer wall and searched the trees and brush, but she didn’t see anyone. She took the path again, moving from tree to tree, trying to make herself small. The climb became more difficult. Her lungs burned. The ground beneath her feet angled upward steeper and steeper. Finally, she came to a small clearing and she knew she was close to the top of the mountain. There were several large rocks, and a ring of small stones circling a heap of ash. Beer cans littered the area. Local kids came all the way out here for privacy.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of movement on her left. She took a shooter’s stance and aimed in that direction. She saw the man’s shaggy brown hair, dark green shirt and mud-covered blue jeans as he emerged from behind a wide tree trunk, a rifle sling across his chest. The barrel of the gun poked up from behind his left shoulder. “Freeze,” she called. “Police. Get your hands up.”

He turned toward her. Her mind registered the pistol in his hand. They both shot at the same time. Josie felt the impact of his bullet in her stomach, driving her off her feet, back through the air, and then she tumbled down the hill below.





Fifty-Four





Josie lay on her back, trying desperately to suck in air that would not come. The pressure on her abdomen was enormous. Get this vest off, get it off, get it off!!! She tried to say the words aloud, but the wind had been knocked out of her. Her lungs screamed, her whole body buzzed with panic. She couldn’t breathe; her gun was gone; and the killer was still out there, somewhere above her. Leaves crunched near her head. She tried to turn over, to get up, to scream but she couldn’t. Hands pressed down on her shoulders.

“Hold still,” a male voice said.

As the faces of two FBI agents in full tactical gear came into view, relief flooded her.

“She’s been hit in the vest,” one of them said.

“Let’s get it off her.”

They peeled the vest off and sat her up, the motion sending a spike of pain straight through her center. Finally, her breath returned. Gasping, she pointed toward the top of the incline. “He’s up there. I fired at him, but I think I missed.”

“We’ve got more units coming in from the other direction,” one of them said. “Let’s get you back to the school. There’s an ambulance waiting there.”

They lifted her to her feet. “I don’t need an ambulance,” Josie said.

“You should get checked out.”

“No,” she insisted. “I don’t need an ambulance. I just need to… I need to go home… or I… I need my gun. My gun.”

It appeared in one of the agents’ hands. “Here you go. Now let’s get out of here. You shouldn’t be out here injured.”

She took her gun and slid it into her holster, even that small movement sending pain through her belly. “I’m not injured.”

“We’ll see,” one of them said as they led her back down the hill.