Chapter 24

Nero - Sunday

After a heated discussionabout how best to keep eyes on Lani without being spotted, they'd relocated to the house of one of Wanda's friends. Currently, the Perrys were snowbirding in Arizona, so the house was vacant and she had keys. The Perrys had a much better view of the street that ran past the park than either Rufus's or Wanda's homes. Chief Dear had also called in his two newest patrol officers and had them parked down the street and out of sight.

"Mags, Critter, Rufus, and I are heading up to retrieve Dina Paulson," Dear said glaring at each one of them in turn. "Forrest, Nero, Wanda, your jobs are to stay here and stay out of danger. Burgess and Quincy are in place. They may be new, but I wouldn't have brought them on if I didn't think they could do their job."

Nero felt a little sorry for Chief Dear. The likelihood of the plan not going… as planned was high and he had a bunch of freethinkers to deal with. When Dear's stern gaze landed on him though, Nero nodded.

"Vik, why do I feel like you might be the only one who follows instructions today?" Dear grumbled.

As soon as everyone had settled down, Lani headed out, a single crutch firmly tucked under one armpit. Dear's plan was for her to walk all the way to the cut, through it, and back again, and then repeat. Hopefully, Lockwood would take the bait.

"He's frantic," Chief Dear had said. "He's down here and he's desperate. Based on what Rufus has told us, I don't think you're going to have to wait long."

There was nothing for Nero, Forrest, and Magnus to do now but wait, along with Wanda, while Lani Cooper put herself in the path of danger. Rufus, Dear, Critter, and Mags had already left to hike up to the encampment.

Nero could tell Forrest loathed every second of sitting around. Nero would too, if it had been his sister out there. He hated it for Forrest, but Dina Paulson and Dale Lockwood—if that's who it was—needed to be stopped. He may not have known Forrest Cooper for long, but he knew Forrest would do anything for his sister, even step into the path of a killer. But Lani was the only one who could do it.

Chief Dear's plan was to take Dina Paulson into custody while Dale Lockwood wasn't around. Since Rufus had been adamant that she seemed physically ill, Dear figured they could subdue her with nonviolent measures without Lockwood around to protect her.

"I fucking hate this," Forrest said for the twentieth time after completing his twenty-fifth circuit from the living room to the kitchen and back again.

Wanda ignored him. She sat curled up on the couch, her gaze not moving from the residential street where Lani hobbled back and forth calling for her non-existent cat. Nero didn't know who Wanda was more focused on remaining unhurt, Rufus or Lani—but it was probably close to a tie.

"I don't like this, but I want the bastard caught. I want to know that Romy and all the other kids are safe. I want Ned's killer brought to justice." She'd glared at Rufus before he'd departed. "Don't do anything stupid. You may know more about the back country that the rest of these kids put together, but you're not as young as you used to be. And no damn heroics. You either," she'd said to Lani.

Nero noticed that neither Rufus nor Lani made any promises. He was pretty sure Wanda noticed too.

"You're going to wear a hole in the carpet," Nero told Forrest from where he sat next to Wanda on the couch.

Forrest stopped at the front door. "I'm taking a walk."

"Forrest," Nero warned—as if he could sway Forrest Cooper when he was determined to do something. For crying out loud, four days ago Forrest hadn't been speaking to him.

"I'll offer to help find her fake cat maybe, I don't know, but I can't just wait here and do nothing."

It had been less than an hour since the others had left to find Dina and the weather had decided to dial it up to eleven. What had been light rain was now a downpour. Occasionally, they could hear Lani calling for the imaginary cat, but nothing else. With luck, no residents were going to rush out and help her in this rain.

Rufus and his team were probably only just getting started. What if this Dale guy decided not to come down here after all? What if he had decided on another direction after Rufus had left? Nero didn't like thinking about all the ways this half-assed scheme could go wrong.

Rufus was certain Lockwood was headed to Cooper Springs and that he would be drawn to Lani Cooper if only because she looked like Dina. Nero wanted to agree with him but who could tell what Lani looked like in this weather? There was so much that could go wrong.

"Wait." Wanda got up onto her knees and all but pressed her nose to the glass. Nero copied her movements. "Do you see that? Is that someone?"

Magnus and Forrest rushed to the window, nearly bowling each other over in the process.

"Where?" Forrest demanded.

Wanda pointed to the right. "There."

Like spectators at a tennis match, all four of them looked the direction she was pointing.

Lani had moved into the shrubbery—pretending that her imaginary cat might be hunkered down, Nero supposed. Beyond her, a shadowy figure neared her location. If he hadn't been looking closely, Nero might have missed him. Lockwood seemed a bit like a woodland creature himself, wearing animal fur and buckskin pants and skirting the darkest edges of the forest. Flitting from one deep shadow to the next.

Things happened so quickly that later, when Nero was asked about it, he had to close his eyes and visualize it all like some sort of old-timey stop-motion film.

Lani paused, then called out again as if she had no idea he was lurking ten feet away. She had to know; Nero's entire body clenched with anticipation.

Lockwood sprang and Lani whirled. There was a glint of metal that wasn't Lani's crutch and Nero realized that the Deep Dweller held a knife in his grip.

Raising her crutch and spinning on one foot, Lani wielded it like a baton. The crutch caught Lockwood directly in the side of his head but, unfortunately, it didn't slow him down much. Shaking his head, he sprang again, showing the agility of a much younger man.

"Motherfucker."

Jerking the door open, Forrest ran to the aid of his sister. The other three raced after him but stayed back from the action. Nero was pretty sure that Lani was holding her own, and he reminded himself the other two officers were close by.

"Where did she learn that?" Nero asked as Lani and her crutch spun and twirled, crashing into her attacker and knocking him off-balance.

"Capoeira," Wanda whispered. "It's a Brazilian martial art. Lani never did go for the normal self-defense stuff."

Lani's moves were impressive, and Nero made a mental note to look up capoeira when this was over. Just as he had that thought, Lockwood managed to get a grip on Lani's weapon. With a powerful yank, he jerked it out of her grasp. Then he pulled his arm back and a meaty fist landed on the side of her head. Lani slumped sideways.

"No!" Wanda hissed, her body jerking.

Nero couldn't breathe. Dropping the crutch to the ground, the attacker grabbed Lani's arm and began trying to drag her toward the hiking path while she kicked out at him.

With a shout of anger and fear, Forrest flew into the fray.

"What does that boy think he's doing?" Wanda demanded.

A rhetorical question, because obviously he was trying to protect his sister. Forrest literally couldn't stand by and watch Lani be assaulted.

Forrest tried to jump onto the attacker's back from behind, but they were too close to the same size and Lockwood was too strong. After all those years of surviving in the woods, Dale Lockwood could give the Iron Man of the Hoh a run for his money. He shook Forrest off like he was just a fly. Careening backward, Forrest landed hard on his back, releasing a pained groan. Lockwood's hold on Lani had loosened though; she rolled away and rose to her feet in a partial crouch, her hands out ready for combat.

"Where's the knife?" Wanda hissed. "God dammit, Forrest Cooper, if you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you."

The older woman started forward again. Magnus grabbed her arm in a firm grip.

"No," Nero added. At less than one hundred feet away, they were close enough to the battle.

Seriously, if Wanda got hurt while Nero was on watch, he'd never forgive himself and Rufus would probably run him out of town.

She shook Magnus's hold off with a huffy, "fine."

As they watched, unable to do anything, Lani jerked the crutch back out of Lockwood's grip. Nero hissed when she lost her balance and stumbled. Forrest still lay on the ground.

"Get up, dammit," Nero said. "Get up already."

Nero was about to break his own rule when he saw Lockwood glancing between the brother and sister, probably trying to decide which one to go for next—Lani, without her weaponized crutch, or Forrest, trying to get up from the ground but kicking out with his feet to keep Lockwood away.

Lockwood's lips were moving; was he saying something to the siblings? They were too far away for Nero to make out the words. The huge mountain man darted toward Forrest again. The knife in his raised hand glinted, a ray of sunlight that had finally made its way over the forest canopy falling on to the blade.

"Stop where you are! Drop your weapon and put your hands up," a voice boomed.

Lockwood froze but only for a millisecond, long enough to look from the edge of the forest scrub and spot who was yelling. Something about his expression told Nero what the man was about to do.

The woodsman had no intention of stopping, putting his hands up, or letting the patrol officer arrest him. Knife clearly still raised, Lockwood charged out of the woods and into the street, heading directly for the young officer whose service weapon was raised and aimed directly at him.

The single gunshot echoed loudly across the quiet neighborhood. At only twenty or so feet away, it was an easy shot.

Nero thought he saw Lockwood smile in the millisecond before he crumpled to the pavement.

"Holy crap," Nero said as he bolted into action, followed by Wanda and Magnus, needing to see if Forrest and Lani were okay.

In the few seconds it took for them to get to him, Forrest had pulled himself into a sitting position, but he was awkwardly holding his forearm. Grabbing the crutch—but not using it—Lani also limped to her brother's side.

"You idiot! I told you to stay away."

"Just a flesh wound," Forrest replied meekly. "You don't look so good yourself."

Nero had to admit that Lani did look a bit rough. A trickle of blood rolled down her cheek where Lockwood had punched her, and she was favoring her previously injured leg.

Bending down, Lani whacked her brother's uninjured shoulder with a thwack. "Don't try to be funny, either. You could've been killed, dammit."

"You could've too," Forrest returned hotly, then groaned as he got to his feet.

"Yes, but it's literally my job! Did he get you anywhere else?" Lani demanded.

"No, just my arm. You should probably check on them."

Forrest nodded toward the two officers and the prone man sprawled in the middle of the street. From where he stood, Nero could see a small pool of blood. It didn't seem to be getting any larger.

"Right," Lani agreed as she stuck her crutch under one arm and bumped over to Dale Lockwood's final stand.

If it hadn't been Cooper Springs, Forrest, Nero, Magnus and Wanda would've been ordered to stay away but as it was, they trailed after Lani, stopping a respectful fifteen feet away.

The second of the two uniformed officers was on his knees beside Lockwood's body while the first hadn't moved and looked to be breathing heavily. Officer number two had pulled on a pair of gloves and appeared to be checking for a pulse. Lani stopped at his side, but the officer shook his head at her and stood back up.

"Can't say I'm super shook up," Lani said grimly, "but the paperwork is going to be a nightmare. Officer Burgess, thank you for the backup. We all appreciate it."

Burgess visibly swallowed. "Just doing my job, ma'am."