Chapter 8 - The Sheriff’s Last Order

Wade Cain had taken my mother.

Every instinct in me demanded immediate pursuit.

That was exactly what he expected.

I checked the unconscious officer first.

He was breathing.

A needle mark showed beneath his jaw.

The second officer had not betrayed us. His vehicle had been taken after he stepped outside to investigate the disabled security light.

I used the officer’s radio to report the abduction.

Then I called Agent Alvarez from the patrol unit’s mobile phone.

“Wade wants the ledger at Route 9,” I said.

“Do not go.”

“He has my mother.”

“We will establish containment.”

“He knows your methods.”

“And he knows yours.”

The statement stopped me.

Wade had studied my military record. He knew I would plan, flank, and refuse passive waiting.

More importantly, he knew I loved my mother.

That made me predictable.

Rachel arrived wearing sweatpants beneath her coat.

She brought a duplicate ledger.

The original was already secured in federal evidence.

“We can create a convincing package,” she said.

Alvarez shook his head.

“He may inspect individual pages.”

“I have full scans.”

“You are not giving him evidence.”

“We are giving him paper.”

I spread a county map across the dining table.

Route 9 contained six miles of forest, two abandoned service roads, the old quarry, and the tree where my father died.

“Wade chose the road because he knows it,” I said.

“And because it means something to you,” Rachel replied.

“He wants me angry.”

“He wants you alone.”

A voice came from the doorway.

“Then send someone he thinks is alone.”

Deputy Martin Cole stood outside with his hands visible.

He no longer wore a badge.

After surrendering it, he had provided a formal statement against Harper. He was technically on administrative suspension.

Alvarez looked at him.

“How did you get through the perimeter?”

“The eastern farm path. Which is why your perimeter isn’t good enough.”

“You are not authorized to participate.”

“I know Wade’s people.”

“So do we.”

“You know their names. I know how they hunt.”

Cole pointed to the map.

“There is an old emergency tunnel beneath the quarry access road. The county used it for storm drainage. Harper showed it to us during search-and-rescue training. Wade can move between Route 9 and the quarry without being seen.”

“Why is it not on current maps?” I asked.

“Mayor Brooks had it removed after Cain Realty bought the land.”

Alvarez sent a tactical team to examine the tunnel.

At three thirty-seven, Wade called.

My mother’s voice came first.

“Nicole, do not—”

A slap cut her off.

Wade spoke.

“Bring the ledger to the oak tree at mile seventeen. Four fifteen. One vehicle. No visible weapons.”

“I need proof she is alive.”

My mother shouted, “Your father hid the good bourbon behind the flour!”

That was proof.

He had done exactly that when I was seventeen, and only our family knew.

Wade returned.

“You have thirty-eight minutes.”

“I want to speak to Travis.”

His breathing changed.

“My son is in custody.”

“You abandoned him.”

“I did what was necessary.”

“You spent your life convincing him he was untouchable. Now he is locked in a cell while you hide behind a seventy-five-year-old woman.”

“I am not hiding.”

“Then stand where I can see you.”

The line ended.

I wore civilian clothes and no body armor visible beneath them. A transmitter was sewn into my jacket lining. The duplicate ledger sat in a metal document case.

Alvarez’s teams approached through the drainage tunnel and forest.

Cole remained at the command location.

At least, that was the official plan.

I drove alone toward mile seventeen.

Fog hung above the road.

The white cross appeared in my headlights.

My mother sat in a wooden chair beside it.

Her wrists were bound.

Wade stood behind her holding a pistol.

He looked older than he had at the diner. His gray suit was dirty. A bandage covered his left hand.

“Stop the vehicle,” he ordered through my phone.

I parked thirty yards away.

“Bring the case.”

I stepped out.

“No sudden movements.”

“I know how guns work.”

“That confidence killed your father.”

My mother lifted her head.

“Don’t listen to him.”

Wade pressed the weapon against her temple.

“Walk.”

I carried the case toward them.

The forest remained silent.

Too silent.

Wade had placed men somewhere nearby.

“Open it,” he said.

I set the case on the pavement and opened the lid.

He forced my mother to stand.

“Bring it closer.”

“You release her first.”

“You are not negotiating.”

“That is all we are doing.”

He smiled.

“Your father said something similar.”

I kept my face still.

“You were there.”

“I watched from the ridge. Elias believed he had outsmarted everyone. He was going to drive to Raleigh with a cut brake line and a box of records.”

“You cut it again.”

“Dean did.”

“And Harper removed the report.”

“Don was always useful when properly motivated.”

My transmitter carried every word.

“What did my father say before he drove away?”

Wade frowned.

“You think this is a memorial service?”

“I think you remember.”

“He said Evelyn would never sell.”

My mother began crying.

Wade leaned closer to me.

“He was right for six years.”

Headlights appeared behind my vehicle.

A sheriff’s cruiser stopped across the road.

Don Harper stepped out.

He was supposed to be in state custody.

Wade looked surprised.

So did I.

Harper held a shotgun.

“You should’ve killed her at the house,” he told Wade.

“How did you get out?” Wade demanded.

“Nolan’s transport team had one of ours.”

Corruption still had branches we had not cut.

Harper pointed the shotgun toward me.

“Move away from the case.”

Wade’s expression changed.

He understood that Harper had not come to rescue him.

Harper had come to erase everyone.

“Don,” Wade said calmly. “Lower the gun.”

“You kept records on me.”

“Insurance.”

“You buried me with that ledger.”

“You buried yourself.”

Harper laughed.

Then he fired.

Wade pulled my mother sideways.

The shot struck his shoulder.

I pushed my mother toward the ditch as Wade fell.

Harper fired again.

The second blast struck the document case, scattering false ledger pages across the road.

I reached the ditch with my mother.

Harper moved toward us.

“You should have stayed at Fort Bragg,” he shouted.

A voice answered from the trees.

“Drop the weapon!”

State agents emerged on both sides of the road.

Harper grabbed my mother by the coat and dragged her against him.

His shotgun barrel pressed beneath her chin.

“Back off!”

Alvarez stepped into view.

“It’s over, Don.”

“No. It ends when I decide.”

Wade crawled toward his pistol.

Harper saw him.

“You ruined everything.”

He shifted the shotgun toward Wade.

That was his mistake.

My mother drove her heel into Harper’s knee.

I rose from the ditch and struck the shotgun barrel upward.

It fired into the air.

Harper fell.

I pinned him until agents secured his hands.

Wade reached for his pistol.

A shot cracked from the forest.

The pistol flew from his hand.

Cole stood near the drainage tunnel holding a state agent’s backup weapon.

Alvarez shouted, “Cole, lower it!”

Cole complied.

Wade lay on the pavement bleeding from his shoulder, surrounded by pages from a ledger that had never been real.

He looked at me.

“You think this town will thank you?”

“I didn’t do it for thanks.”

“They will turn on you. People always protect comfort.”

My mother stood beside the white cross, her wrists newly freed.

“No,” she said. “People protect what they believe they can keep.”

She looked toward the approaching line of police vehicles.

“You taught them fear could last forever.”

May you like

NBC MAKES UNEXPECTED FINAL DECISION REGARDING JENNA BUSH HAGER

After days of chaotic rumors, backstage meltdowns, and speculation that left fans fearing the worst—the silence has been broken. N...

My Stepson Smashed My Son’s Handmade Airplane and Said I Wasn’t His Real...

My Parents Left Me With a $12,000 Restaurant Bill to Prove I Was a Failu...

Her voice became steady.

“You were wrong.”