Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

" H ow far do you let him roam?" Dave asked as they tromped through the snow with Duke a few yards in front of them.

"He's trained to go only about twenty yards unless he picks up a scent. Then I give him freedom to track. He's trained to trail for scent, but I've also had him training to alert for blood, in case we're searching for someone lost in the woods or even trapped in a collapsed building."

"That's how you found Zoe."

"Yeah. Luckily, we were out training before the expected snowstorm. If we hadn't…" He let the words hang.

Dave laid a firm hand on his shoulder. "We're thankful you were there."

Up ahead Duke paused and let out an alert bark.

"What's that?" Luke said beside them, his rifle at the ready.

"He's scented something." Connor whistled to recall the animal, who quickly bounded through the snow back to them. He gave him a treat and fasted the lead to the thick harness he'd put on him in preparation for traveling.

"You think there were more members of that team? One might've gotten hit and circled back?" Luke asked.

After they'd found all six intruders at the cabin and moved them away from the spot, Matt stayed back with Zoe and Katie to be sure they were safe and clean up any blood, while Connor and the other brothers took Duke out and to check for any other attackers.

"Usually, teams work in groups of six, but who knows?" Dave slowly raised his weapon and started in the direction of thick hanging evergreens where Duke alerted the scent.

They followed the dog's trail and what looked like drag marks. Duke whimpered.

"Whatever it is, it's in there," Connor said. Dave cast a look at his brother, who had his rifle aimed at the veil of low-hanging evergreen branches and gave a nod.

Dave moved the first branch and shone his flashlight inside.

Two bodies dressed in jeans and camo jackets lay sprawled on top of each other, eyes glazed in death and their heads at odd angles from broken necks.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Luke asked coming closer, then looked over his shoulder at Connor.

"I have no idea."

"Local hunters stumbled on the hit team?" Dave asked, rifling through their pockets and finding their wallets and cellphones. "Virginia licenses. Joseph Lundstrum. Harold Franklin."

"Not from around here with those names. Besides no one in this area is coming on my land to hunt without telling me first."

"You're that scary?" Luke asked.

"No. That's just the way folks are down here." He patted Duke again and nodded at the weapons Dave brought out from under them. "Besides, no one hunts with handguns out here."

Luke nodded and lowered his rifle.

"What do you want to do with them?" Dave asked.

"You take their weapons with the others off my property. Otherwise," Connor shrugged, "leave them like the others."

"Your property, your call." Dave stood letting the branches cover them again, pocketing the two weapons, cellphones and wallets. "The problem is, who are they, why were they here, and why did the hit team take them out?"

Connor turned and headed back to the cabin, Duke trotting happily beside him. "All questions we can answer once we have Zoe safely out of here."

?

Zoe sat on the bed, putting her right shoe on when Connor, Duke and the others returned. She looked up at him. "I'm not going to be able to get the other one on."

"Not going to be a problem," he said, tearing his gaze away from her to where Matt stood eating cold soup beans. "Everything ready?"

"All packed up. Didn't think we should let this go bad." He took another bite and moved out of the way as Luke snatched a bowl and scooped up some of the food.

"We used a lot of calories coming down that mountain," he said. "Not to mention a fire fight."

Connor opened the cupboard and took out a half-used bag of dog food and set it at Matt's feet. "You carry that. We need to go as soon as y'all are done eating."

"Why?" Zoe asked, picking up on the tenseness in his body and voice.

"We found two dead bodies up the holler in the direction of the road," he said, staring at her and not mincing his words.

Of course he wouldn't. The man had too much honor to lie to her about something so serious.

She looked to the door as Dave took a plastic bag out of his backpack and dumped two wallets, phones and a set of car keys inside. He'd done the same with the hit team's communication equipment along with some hair samples for DNA. Once a cop, always a cop. He collected evidence at every mission.

"More of the hit team?"

"We don't know. They were dressed differently, not all in black."

"But you think they were here to find me, too." It wasn't a question.

"No other reason for them to be here. This Markus, you believe it was him?"

"He was definitely who tried to run me off the road then shot me."

"Would he be that determined to kill you to send two teams?"

"Yes."

"And would he have the second team, the highly trained professional team of killers take out the first pair of amateurs?"

"He doesn't like loose ends."

"And if he doesn't hear back from the second team?"

She didn't blink. "He'll send another."

"Then we need to get out of here. Now." He grabbed her coat from where he'd hung it by the door and helped her into it. "Luke, the electrical box is behind you. As soon as everyone's out the door, cut the power." He handed the leash to Katie and looked at Duke. "Follow."

The hound stood at her side, looking at everyone expectantly.

"I'll need my shoe on," Zoe said.

"No you won't," Connor said, quickly picking her up once more. Then he lifted one corner of his lips. "I carried you in, I'll carry you out."

"Take these." Katie pulled out an extra pair of gloves from her coat and handed them to her.

"Thanks." Once she had them on, she wrapped one arm around Connor's neck and leaned in to ease her weight a little. "You're sure your arm isn't too wounded to carry me?"

He lifted one brow at her in a very male way and started for the door. "Let's go."

?

Zoe held on tight to Connor's neck as the group tromped through the knee-high snow. Dave was in the lead. Luke right behind him. Connor and she were third with Katie and Duke behind them. Matt brought up the rear. No one talked, as all of them were on watch for any other intruders who might've been waiting at the cars in ambush.

Suddenly Dave raised a fist in the air up ahead. Everyone stopped. He held up the key fob in the direction of a black SUV.

Nothing happened.

"Shit," he said and approached the vehicle. "Dammit."

"What's wrong?" Connor asked, his arms tightening around Zoe.

Dave held up some red tube-like things with other black like tubes off the ends. "They pulled the spark-plug wires."

"Can you fix it?" Matt asked.

"Not the way they pulled them. It's going to have to be towed to a mechanic. Someone wanted us stranded here."

"I'll say," Luke said circling the SUV. "They slashed all four tires."

"Jake isn't going to like this," Matt said. "I don't think the rental insurance we paid for covers sabotage from hit squads."

Zoe covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

"Funny," Dave said with irritation. "You aren't the one who has to tell him."

Luke had already headed towards the road. "There's two more cars up here."

The group moved up to a late model sedan. This one was in working order with no slashed tires.

"Not big enough to carry the hit team," Dave said, testing the door which was locked. "I'd say it belongs to the two guys we found in camo gear. More their style."

The third car was larger. A Land Rover type that had three rows of seats.

"This was the hit team's ride," Luke said. "Nice of them to leave it for us to use. I wasn't looking forward to cramming into that sedan."

Dave pulled a key fob from his other pocket and clicked it. The door release beeped, and the lights flashed. "We're good to go on this one."

"Zoe and I'll take the back seat," Connor said, handing her over to Luke to hold as he shoved one of the middle row bucket seats out of the way and climbed inside, turning to extend a hand to Zoe. Luke held her until she had her right foot inside the car. Connor helped her to the back seat, then settled in beside her, so she could elevate her left leg and lean against him. His arms wrapped around her held her more secure than the seat belt would at this angle. "We're set. Katie, take Duke over to a tree to pee before we go."

Dave took the driver's seat and started the engine.

"I got shotgun," Luke said climbing into the front passenger seat.

"You're such a child," Matt said, waiting by the door with his weapon ready while his wife went with Duke to a big oak tree.

"You're just jealous."

Katie came back and kissed her husband. "No, he isn't. He gets to sit with me."

"While you're sitting with Dave." Matt said as Katie climbed inside. Duke figuring out his spot was between the two bucket seats in the second row and stretched out on the floor.

"Touché," Luke said.

"Are they always like this?" Connor, who'd grown up without siblings, asked.

Zoe snuggled closer. "Yes. Worse when my brother Zach is with them."

Dave turned in his seat to look at Zoe. "You're the one with the broken leg, so it's your call. You want to stop at a hospital in Norton to have it looked at immediately? Or are we heading back to DC? Or do you want to finish your trip to Columbus?"

She considered the question. "It's not hurting much now, so we don't need to stop nearby. Besides, I think we should put as much distance between us and these hitmen as possible, so no, I don't want to stop in Norton."

"That's one possibility eliminated," her cousin said.

"What is Markus's plans?" Connor asked from behind her. "When I told you we might be snowed in for a month, you said you couldn't stay that long because someone was going to die. Do you remember when this was going to happen?"

"Not exactly. It's still a little sketchy, but I think in the next week or so?"

"So, you don't have to go to DC right now."

"No, but I do need to go there, to stop him."

"But not today," he said gently.

"Right. Let's go to Columbus."

"Good choice," Dave said slowly moving the Land Rover backwards towards the road. "Besides, we have a team in DC already."

"Who?" Zoe asked.

"Jake, Castello and a new guy, Ben," Luke said. "You might remember Ben from the inaugural ball fiasco."

"Medium height, weight, military-close head shave and good with a weapon," she said.

"That's him. Although he's not sporting that haircut these days and has a beard."

"Why are they in DC?" she asked.

Everyone but Dave turned to look at her. "They were looking for clues as to what you wanted to meet with the EIS team about," he said.

"Why?" she asked again.

"Because you didn't make it to meet me and Abby," Luke said.

"Because your phone was dead," Matt added.

"Because you were lost," Katie said.

"Because you're one of us. You're family," Dave said, his eyes briefly meeting hers in the rearview mirror. "We don't leave family behind."

Zoe blinked back the tears threatening to spill over, clutched her arms over Connor's holding her firmly against him.

You're family. We don't leave family behind.