on a regular basis since her job required her to be out in the middle of nowhere with strangers following her around and wild animals approaching unexpectedly. But could she take down a six-foot-three-inch muscular man? A deranged, desperate fugitive who didn’t have anything to lose?
Except the one person he loved in the world. His son.
Her heart swelled when she thought about Kevin. So innocent and precious. He’d never know his father. But if she didn’t make a move, he’d never have his mother, either.
“Quit stalling, Penny,” Jake said, his voice as hard and dry as the surrounding countryside. She stared at the flat, brown land leading to the distant woods and hills and spotted a lone scarlet-colored fairy trumpet. The pretty flower beckoned her. It had survived the hot summer. She would, too.
Lord, help me in my time of need. Give me the strength to do what I need to do.
With a grunt and all the energy she could muster, she whirled and elbowed Jake in the ribs, one booted foot latching against his left calf so she could trip him. Still in motion, she jabbed at his eyes with two fingers, surprising him.
He put a hand to his face and went down with a groan, giving her just enough time to slip out of his grip and slam her heavy backpack against his head.
Clutching the bag against her as protection, she spun away from his crumbled body and took off toward the forest about fifty yards across the meadow. If she could make it to the tree line, she could hide up in the hills until nightfall. Or longer if necessary. But she couldn’t hide. She had to call the boardinghouse and warn Claire before Jake got to Kevin.
But right now she had to outrun the man she once loved. Her heart hammering in her chest, she pushed with all her might and took off, her hiking boots kicking up dust.
Thinking she’d made it, Penny glanced back when she was about ten yards from the thick stand of ponderosa pines and aspens leading to another trail. Jake stumbled toward her, his gun raised.
He wasn’t going to let her live.
A gunshot echoed through the meadow just beyond the woods.
Zeke started running.
“Search,” he commanded, letting Cheetah’s leash go. The dog took off toward the area where they’d heard the shots, Zeke jogging behind him. Cheetah must have picked up some kind of scent that he recognized. But had it come from the same vicinity as that gunshot?
The showdown that Zeke had been waiting for for close to six months could be about to happen. And none too soon. Roaming all over the country trying to track down leads, desperately trying to rescue his older half brother, only to discover that the man he’d always worshipped had turned traitor, had taken its toll on him and the entire team. He’d even taken a bullet recently and still had the sore spot on his upper left arm to prove it. Thanks to his brother, he’d have a nice scar as a permanent reminder.
But nothing was going to stop Zeke from trying to track down Jake. Maybe he could at least keep him alive and in prison instead of dead and gone. If Jake was willing to give them vital information that could finish off the last dregs of the Dupree syndicate, maybe they could work out a plea bargain at least.
“Find him, Cheetah,” Zeke said, the urgency of their situation driving him on.
Cheetah had Jake’s scent from an old T-shirt they’d found in his locker back at headquarters in Billings, but they’d also confirmed the blood on a shirt they’d found in a cabin in Texas belonged to his brother, too. That, along with a watch Zeke had given him when Jake had first become an FBI agent. Zeke asked to be on the case and he’d followed the tips all over the country, hoping to end this thing. Now it could all end right here in Montana.
Zeke had images of his brawny half brother serving as a dedicated FBI Classified K-9 agent, now turned outright criminal, to spur him on. Yet, despite everything, he didn’t want to accept that Jake was all bad. He had called Zeke not long ago and told him he was in too deep now. Just another reminder of how confusing things had become.
Hot and exhausted, both he and Cheetah hurried out of the thicket. Cheetah’s low growl and urgent trot told Zeke he’d probably find his brother.
But had Jake been shot?
When they made it out into the open, Zeke sucked in a sharp breath. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing.
Jake had a woman held at gunpoint.
A woman who looked familiar based on the pictures he’d seen. And scared. She was bleeding, her left cheekbone bruised and swollen. Her gaze slammed into Zeke’s and he felt a jolt of adrenaline rushing over him.
Penny Potter? It had to be her.
Zeke didn’t hesitate. He needed to end this now.
“Drop the weapon,” he ordered, his assault rifle aimed at Jake and the woman. Penny was the mother of Jake’s young son, Kevin. Her golden-brown hair and slim, athletic figure sure fit the description. Her hair was shorter and heavily streaked with lighter shades of blond, but he remembered her face from some old photos they’d found when they’d searched her last known address in Colorado. The K-9 team had been looking for her since late spring but she’d managed to elude them, too. Zeke never imagined he’d find her here again and with Jake holding her hostage.
“It’s over, Jake,” he called, his gaze trained on his brother. “Don’t make it any harder.”
Jake didn’t even flinch. Shoving the gun closer to the woman’s stomach, he shouted, “Hello there, bro. Long time, no see.” Then he shook his head and chuckled. “They had to send you, right?” Jake’s dark blue gaze slid over Zeke’s tactical uniform with disdain. “All geared up and loaded down to come after me. Poetic justice and so much irony, don’t you think?”
Zeke advanced a little closer. Cheetah was silent but waiting for his command with a controlled tremor. “Jake, Cheetah can take you down but I don’t want to force that. Put the weapon down and let the woman go. We can find a way to help you. Maybe work out a plea bargain or something.”
He almost added a please, but Jake used to tease him about being weak-kneed and impulsive. Zeke couldn’t show any weakness now, and he wasn’t about to make any impulsive decisions. A woman’s life depended on it. And the life of her child, too, if he was guessing right on her identity.
Jake shook his head and jammed the gun against the woman’s ribs so hard, she cried out. But she quickly recovered, a determined grit in her expression. “It’s not over until I have my son safely out of this country,” he informed them. “I need to get Kevin. I’ll be out of everyone’s hair soon.”
“You can’t do that,” Zeke said. “You don’t want to take your son away from his mother.”
Jake’s gaze scanned the woods and trails. “What’s left for me to do except leave? The Dupree family is shattered and their lieutenants are scattered to the wind. I’m on my own and...there’s really no other way. I just want my son, so I’m going to get him. Now.”
He gripped Penny’s arm and pushed her forward.
“I can’t let you go,” Zeke said, wondering if he’d have the courage to shoot his own half brother. Jake’s desperate statement only made things worse. Turning his attention to the frightened woman, he asked, “Penny, are you okay?”
She gasped and nodded, her eyes filling with both relief and dread. Zeke could see the resolve in her gaze, too.
“She’s fine,” Jake gritted out, anger echoing in each word. “Turn around, Zeke. Let me get to my boy. I won’t hurt her, I promise.” Then he added, “And I don’t want to shoot you again.”
“I don’t trust your promises,” Zeke said. “I’m going to ask you one more time to drop your weapon.”
With