Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(41)

*

Eagle found no signs of the trespasser. Most people assumed his property was just inside the interior fence. But he had acres spread out as far as he could see.

He didn’t want neighbors.

He didn’t want trespassers either. And he sure as hell didn’t want intruders. He’d checked the pens. Everything was fine, although there was a distinct air of uncertainty among the birds.

Some were fretting and cawing; others just watched in wariness. The dogs at his side picked up the pace and spread out. There were miles to check. He stooped at the spot where he’d seen the intruder on the video camera. Now it was a matter of tracking him. But so far the man had just followed the interior fence line. He’d moved from side to side. Like a caged tiger on the outside, looking for a way in. Of course that was easy. If he wanted to, he could have gone over, under, or around the fence. Which meant something else stopped him from crossing it. And that was most likely timing, or he was unsure his quarry was inside the house.

Eagle needed to know where the guy had come from. The grass on the outside of the fence wasn’t talking. There were no footprints in the sand and gravel on that section of land. But there were footprints on his side of the creek. Keeping to the grass, he tracked the footprints for several acres.

He stopped where the intruder had jumped over the creek. He could see his tracks on the other side. The good thing was there were tracks coming in and going out, so the man had left the way he came in. Eagle picked up the pace, almost running as he tracked his prey.

At the back of his property, in the farthest corner, he found a cigarette butt. He bagged it, then put it away in his pocket for safekeeping. He had zero tolerance for people who weren’t mindful of the damage a forest fire could bring. In July, the state had burned badly as two out-of-control forest fires had swept across the land. This asshole needed to learn a lesson about leaving his cigarette butts on the ground. Eagle would gladly take on that job when he found him. And there was no doubt in Eagle’s mind that he’d catch him. If not today, then soon.

The tracks ended at the road. A vehicle had been parked on the shoulder but was long gone. The intruder was probably on his way back with reinforcements.

Yet why? None of this made any sense. She’d already escaped. If she hadn’t told them what they wanted to hear after three weeks or so of torture, surely they now realized she didn’t have the information they wanted. So why worry about her now? She’d also been away long enough to tell her story. Shutting her up wouldn’t stop anything she’d already put in motion. Although it would stop her from giving witness against them in a criminal court. Was that what this was all about?

Eagle wasn’t too worried about justice at a trial. He didn’t figure those men would make it that far. It was too damn bad she hadn’t had a way to kill more of her captors before she left. It would have saved them all this trouble. But her priority had been getting away, and, given the condition she was in, he knew she wouldn’t have survived another day. Something had given her the strength to take advantage of the moment.

Did the kidnappers follow her, either physically tracking her or via an online search of satellite images? The internet made life a lot easier for both the good guys and, unfortunately, the bad.

Eagle was pondering whether he should take a different route back when a truck came barreling toward him. He recognized the old white Ford as the brakes were slammed on, and Gray came to a screeching halt. He rolled down his window and called out, “Hey, what’s the matter?”

“An intruder,” Eagle snapped.

Gray’s jaw dropped. “In the house?”

Eagle shook his head. “By the interior fence line, outside of the house.”

“Oh, shit. You think they saw her?”

“No idea.” He didn’t say that they hadn’t been home, so they couldn’t have seen her because what he really didn’t know and hadn’t checked on the time stamp how long the man had been here. Neither had Eagle checked the earlier days to see if this was a second visit or a third. He nodded. “What are you doing here?”

Gray shrugged. “I came to make sure my patient was okay.”

Eagle motioned to the cab. “How about you give me a ride back?”

Gray nodded, and Eagle walked around to the passenger side and hopped in, the dogs jumping into the back of the box at his command. It was only a five-minute drive to the front gates. He hopped out and unlocked the gates to let Gray in, then promptly locked the gates again.

When Gray got out, he asked, “Anybody tried to break through the gates?”

Eagle shook his head. “They’re steel. Who would even try?”

“Anyone who doesn’t know what they are made of might try to just drive right through.”

“Not if they’re trying for a silent approach,” Eagle snapped.

But the thought had already occurred to him. The double-doored gate was on steel poles four feet into the ground with crossbeams. A pickup truck could do some serious damage to it, but it would also do some serious damage to the pickup. He doubted that an engine would survive a head-on collision with his gate. That was enough to make him happy.

He led Gray inside. There he saw Issa curled up on the couch, a blanket over her shoulders. Asleep.

Gray stopped beside Eagle, his expression softening. “At least she’s walking.”

“Doing too much walking,” Eagle snapped. He walked over and put on the coffeepot. He was still on edge. He noticed the laptop was still up, showing the intruder at the fence line too. He closed the lid to not be questioned about it by Gray and walked over to check on Issa.