just because he killed my sister and shot my nephew, although that’s a huge part of it.”
“What’s the other part?” she asked.
Riley’s jaw clenched and his brown eyes flashed. “He’ll do it again if he isn’t stopped.”
“Yeah.” She drew in a breath. “All right, thanks for the warning. I’ll talk to Max, but I have a feeling he’ll say that we’ll take our chances. You know this area and we need someone that can help guide us.” She paused. “Why is he hanging around here? Why doesn’t he just leave?”
Riley shook his head. “Believe me, I’ve asked myself that same question. He has a vehicle, but I’m not sure how much money he has. The only thing I can figure is that he knows Denver and the park like the back of his hand. He’s comfortable here. He also knows that if he leaves, I’ll be right behind him. I think he’s tired of running and just wants to see me dead so he can get on with his life.”
She nodded slowly. “Makes sense.”
“Yeah. It actually makes things easier for me, believe it or not.” He turned to walk toward Ian and she frowned while she stared at the bounty hunter’s broad back. His blunt statement that he needed the reward money bothered her. Sure, a hundred grand was a lot of money, a fortune for some people. But still...
Disappointment streaked through her. She didn’t know why she expected Riley to be different. But she did. What was it that made her want to hold him to a higher standard? She shook her head.
Then wariness flowed through her as another thought surfaced. Could this be some sort of a setup? A distraction from what they needed to be focused on? According to Star, Jake had definitely been in the area—and recently. But what if Riley was working with Morrow? Could he be a part of the Dupree crime family himself? She pulled her phone from the clip on her belt and sent a text to Dylan O’Leary: Background on Riley Martelli needed ASAP. Dylan was the unit’s technical guru. Based in Billings, Montana, he kept the unit running smoothly. He could do anything with a computer and find just about any information needed.
She discreetly snapped a picture of Riley while he was talking with Ian then sent that to Dylan as well.
On it.
She smiled at his immediate response and knew she’d have everything she needed before too long. She turned her attention back to Riley. He was looking her way and motioned her over.
Harper clipped her phone back to her belt and went to see what they’d found. Star stayed at her side.
“Where are we?”
Ian nodded to a small area on the ground. “Someone built a fire here and Star says it was Jake.”
“He was camping out here.” It wasn’t a question.
“Maybe, but when I followed him to this spot, he didn’t have any kind of camping gear set up,” Riley replied. “He simply started a fire.”
Harper frowned. “But why?”
“Maybe he was bored and passing the time. Who knows?”
Harper squatted next to the doused fire. “Or he was burning something he didn’t want anyone else to see.” She picked up a small stick and separated the ashes. Bits of white paper were noticeable. “A note?”
“Again...maybe,” Riley responded.
“Some of the pieces aren’t completely burned and have writing on them.” She glanced up at him. “You might have had him running before he could finish the job.” Using the stick, she managed to flip one of the larger pieces of paper. “Potter,” she said, then gasped. “Hey, this could have something to do with Penny.”
“Who’s Penny?” Riley asked.
“The mother of Jake Morrow’s child.”
“Whoa.”
“Yeah.” Harper sighed and stood. “We’ve been looking for her and her son, Kevin, because we figure she can lead us to Jake. He was spotted at her home near Billings just a few days ago, but ran when we got there.”
“Wait a minute, if he was at her house—and here at the national park—then he’s definitely not a captive of the Dupree family. And if he’s not a captive and needs help—because he sure didn’t want mine yesterday—then what’s he doing? Why isn’t he reaching out to you?”
“We’ve pondered all of that, of course, but we just don’t know.” She had her thoughts, but kept them to herself for now. “He’s not a captive,” Harper said. “That much we do know.” The question was, was he a double agent? As much as she didn’t want to believe it, she couldn’t help but think he might be working for the Duprees. She just couldn’t figure out any other reason for Jake to be acting the way he was.
Even if he was worried about Penny and needed to find her, all he had to do was ask and they’d all join in the search for her. As a team. But he was working alone and seemed to want to keep it that way.
“So, like you said, you stay on her trail and let her lead you to Morrow—or in this case, let Morrow come to you if you catch up with Penny first,” Riley mused.
“That’s the plan.”
“All right,” Max said. He motioned for the team to gather round. “Let’s get this area processed. We’ll do it ourselves and make sure it’s done right.” They retrieved the necessary supplies from the vehicles, moved in and got busy working on it.
Harper’s phone buzzed and she pulled it up to look at the screen.
A message from Dylan. Still working on your request, but this anonymous text just came in and wanted to get it to you straightaway. Forwarding it now.
She waited. The team had been receiving anonymous texts leading them to various places around the country. The person sending the texts seemed to want to help find Jake. However, remaining anonymous was obviously more important to the sender. And they were very skilled at making sure they stayed that way. Even Dylan hadn’t been able to track the texts.
The buzz came again. Find Morrow’s toddler and find Jake. That simple.
She resisted the urge to snort. Right...that simple. If only. Harper pondered the fact that Penny had run when all the trouble with Jake started and they had figured out that the missing agent was most likely looking for her. Only a month ago, they’d gone to Penny’s house and had run into Jake doing the same thing. Only he’d bolted when he saw them. Which made no sense to her.
So if Jake was in the park, that was a good indication that Penny and her child were here as well. But where? And why Colorado? She glanced back at the pile of ashes then texted Dylan again. See if Penny has any connections here in Colorado, please. Let me know ASAP.
Sure thing.
Thanks. So how are the wedding plans progressing? Dylan was madly in love with Zara Fielding. Zara was a former team intern who was currently training at Quantico to become an agent. She was also Dylan’s fiancée.
Beautifully. Haven’t talked to her in a couple of days so I’m going through withdrawal. If you talk to her, tell her to call me.
Will do.
TTYL.
“Hey guys,” she called, “we’ve gotten another anonymous text.” The others gathered around her and she shared the message.
“I’d really like to know who’s sending these,” Ian muttered.
“Dylan will figure it out eventually. Let’s finish up here and see what the lab can come up with.”
For the next three hours, they worked the scene, but Morrow was obviously long gone and nothing else turned up that she would consider helpful. Finally, Harper sighed and walked over to Max. “I think we’re done here, what do you think?”
“I think you’re right.”