Covert Cover-Up, page 17
Beck hoped he was the only one struggling to find a way out of this, and that Ollie was well on his way to safety. At the same time, he wanted to find his son. Needed to know he was safe. He thought he knew where Ollie would go, but so far he hadn’t found him. Where are you, Ollie?
He was thinking about this all wrong.
Ollie wouldn’t simply hide, he would try to climb to escape.
Beck’s heart hammered at the thought.
Beck changed course and headed for Vista Point Trail, running through cedars and dogwoods. If he was Ollie, that’s what he would have done, and his kid was enough like him to think the same way. But nothing in life had prepared either of them to face off with this sort of evil. Beck ran toward the base of the jagged granite spirals, the place he’d taken Ollie in the past to start their climb. Only they had protective gear and ropes. This—this was dangerous, and part of him hoped that Ollie had gone a different way.
Part of him hoped Ollie wouldn’t try to free climb. One mistake could kill.
Finally, he reached the heart of the Crags. He glanced up. Castle Dome stood tall and lofty like a sentinel over the region.
Ollie...
He worried about Katelyn but trusted she was out there searching for Ollie, too. He hoped she’d already found him and secured his safety. That he’d grabbed the box and taken off like that had surprised them all, and served as the distraction that Beck had needed. Up to that point, he had been flailing to find a way to distract Cooley without causing more harm to Ollie.
Ollie had been the one to give them a chance.
Beck was sure God had something to do with it, too. He always did.
Don’t worry, Ollie, Katelyn. I’m coming.
Beck weaved up the steep wall of the dome’s first section, then paused to look around.
No Ollie.
Bending over his thighs, he caught his breath. “Ollie... Where...are you?”
“Here, Dad. I’m here.” The voice was small.
He whirled and spotted his son huddled in a space between two boulders. Shivering, Ollie held out the opened Pokémon box, Pokémon cards spilling out. Tears rushed down his cheeks.
Beck ran forward and drew him into his arms. “Oh, Ollie. I’m so proud of you. You got away. You got to safety.”
He released Ollie and crouched at eye level. “Are you okay?”
Ollie’s eyes remained huge. “I think so. Mimi and Pops will be worried, though.”
Beck tensed. He hadn’t wanted to ask about them yet. “You mean Cooley didn’t harm them?”
Ollie shook his head. “Pops got sick so we had to go home. Mimi was taking care of him. I went outside—Pikachu was missing.” Mimi’s cat. “And then, he took me. He let Pikachu get away, but he took me.”
Mom and Dad would have tried to call Beck. So what Ollie said didn’t make sense. They could be tied up somewhere. He had to focus on getting Ollie to safety, but he could call the police and get someone to his parents’ home. He held up his cell. No signal.
“Dad, I thought the box held some of Mom’s things.”
Beck ruffled Ollie’s hair. “I’ll explain everything, I promise, but right now Cooley wants to kill us. He wants to kill Katelyn, too. We have to get somewhere safe. You understand, don’t you?”
The anger and confusion in Ollie’s eyes seemed to clear as he nodded. “Okay. I came here to climb and get away. I thought... I thought I could climb, but I don’t have the ropes. I didn’t have you. I can’t go without you.”
“But you did the right thing. I suspected you would come here, and I came to find you. Cooley is out there in those woods with a gun. If we can make it up to our spot we’ll be safe from him. We’ve done this a hundred times, Ollie.” And Beck could possibly get that signal.
Ollie nodded. “I’ll leave the box here. I don’t think Cooley wanted the cards. We’ll come back for it, won’t we?”
“Yes, we will.”
Beck grabbed Ollie’s hand and together they headed up the dome—where Beck had trained for free climbing many times. “You got this,” he said.
They followed the quartz vein along the granite toward the porch on the dome’s east side. There the ground would drop away, down sheer cliffs. After the porch came the gully, and then the final pitch, which was a class four. They’d need rope for that.
“We’re stopping here, Ollie.”
“I know. We need rope. You haven’t taken me yet.”
“Maybe one day.”
They found a place to rest, where they often would come to look at the view.
Father and son. And talk about the deeper things of life. Here all was quiet and the world was right again. Here Beck could be closer to God, and to his son.
Here Cooley couldn’t get to them.
Beck wished Katelyn was with them, and guilt warred inside that he was here with Ollie but had left her to fend for herself. But she’d reminded him a hundred times she was an ex-cop. One had to pick and choose their battles, and right now, Beck wanted to get Ollie away from the madman who had killed Beck’s wife, and was gunning to kill them all.
He tugged out his cell phone to call 911 and then Katelyn.
A big drop hit Beck in the face. Then another. Then the storm clouds released a downpour.
“Dad!” Ollie slipped.
* * *
Rain hammered the forest. Though the trees shielded her from the brunt of it, Katelyn was hit with a few pine needles, along with water drops, as rivulets washed debris away in places. Splashing through them, she searched for Ollie.
That had been her only job, the most important job she would ever have—to keep that little boy safe.
That a bullet had grazed Katelyn shouldn’t have stopped her. That wound bled profusely now because her heart pounded and adrenaline surged. Gasping for breath, she leaned against a tree, ripped the sleeve from her soaked blouse and wrapped her arm. At least the rain had washed the wound a bit. She should have done that to begin with, but she thought she could catch up with the boy. He had somehow disappeared—and not just him.
She’d heard Beck shouting for Ollie, but she hadn’t seen him. She’d been beyond relieved to hear his voice because she’d left him fighting with Cooley. She had no doubt that Beck could get the best of Cooley, the coward.
She’d heard Beck shout that Cooley was coming. So he was out here, too.
The cold wind and rain whipped around her. She couldn’t remember the last time it had stormed like this.
Ollie had made a run for it more than twenty minutes ago, she guessed. Good for him. Good for him that he got away and gave them a distraction, but now what? She wiped the rain from her eyes and face, then pushed from the tree trunk, ready to search again.
She remained wary of Cooley, who would still be out here searching, too. He wanted that box. And he wanted them dead. They were the only witnesses. She wished he would leave. Clearly he hadn’t won this battle, which only meant he would come for them again when they least expected it.
No. That couldn’t happen. They had to get him today. Take him down today.
The rain slowed to a steady beat instead of a tumultuous hammering downpour. Katelyn ignored her shivering and tried to hold her weapon steady. The forest was dark in the shadow of the crags. Lightning flashed in the distance as the storm moved on. She strained to see well and needed to pull out her flashlight, but feared that would definitely give her away to Cooley.
A branch caught her foot and she stumbled forward and fell into the wet pine needles face-first. Her gun slid across the needles beneath a fallen, rotting tree trunk
With the rain trickling through the trees and the rumbling thunder in the distance, she struggled to hear any sounds that would warn of approaching danger.
She scrambled to her feet.
Cooley stood near and held a gun. He’d seen her too. She dove behind a tree as gunfire ricocheted through the forest. Katelyn gasped for breath. Her weapon was somewhere beneath that fallen trunk. Somehow she had to make her way around to get the gun.
Forget her burning arm.
She was moments away from certain death.
Remaining frozen in place behind the tree, she calmed her breathing and listened. The forest was eerie with shadows cast when lightning flashed and raindrops pattering through the trees and plopping on the needle-laden ground, muting the sound.
She detected the slightest motion.
And held her breath.
Cooley... He was near. He had to be near.
What am I going to do?
Her only choice was to make a dash for her gun and hope he wasn’t quick enough to shoot her in the back.
That didn’t seem like much of a choice. She needed another choice.
Holding her breath, Katelyn remained as quiet as possible and hoped he wouldn’t find her. Heart pounding, her pulse roared in her ears.
Then Cooley stepped directly in front of her, the muzzle of his gun pointed in her face.
Oh, God, help me...
He lifted the weapon and swung the grip toward her head.
TWENTY-FOUR
“You’re doing great, Ollie.”
At least up on the crags, darkness hadn’t yet descended. They had barely enough light and needed to get down while they still could. As they made their way down the Castle Dome, the rocks were slippery, but Beck and Ollie had trained on this climb before and knew every place to step. He wanted to stay so that Ollie would be safe, but with the wind so harsh, Ollie had slipped. Beck had caught him. But the crags weren’t safe, either, after all, so they made their way down. Beck had thought this was the best way to escape Cooley. At the top, Beck had called 911 and explained their emergency as succinctly as he could.
A man with a gun with intent to harm was on the trails.
He didn’t go into the fact the man was a CIA operative or supervisor—that would make it sound like a crank call. Katelyn’s brothers could hear the news on the police radio and come for them.
Then he’d texted Katelyn. He needed to know if she was okay. He waited for her reply for a few minutes. She could be hiding or in a bad situation. Or she could simply be searching and lost.
He’d heard gunfire and his gut clenched.
He’d left Katelyn to fend for herself. Guilt suffused him. How did he keep Ollie safe and help Katelyn? Sure, she’d been a former cop, but cops depended on backup.
Friends never leave friends...
His only thought for his son, he’d left Katelyn behind, trusting that she would be okay.
Had the gunfire been from her gun? Or Cooley’s?
He led the way down, and if Ollie slipped again, he would once again reinforce his moves. Reposition him if necessary. Granite could be climbed wet or dry, so the rain didn’t hinder them too much.
“Only a little more, Ollie. You’ve got this.”
Finally Beck hopped down and reached up to grab his boy from the rocks. He held him long and hard. “Ollie, I need to find Katelyn. I’m worried about her. But I don’t want to take you into danger.”
“You want me to hide, don’t you?”
He released Ollie and gripped his arms. “Hide and wait for me.”
Tears streamed from Ollie’s face. “I can’t, Dad. Take me with you. That’s the safest place for me.”
Beck thought he’d never heard wiser words. “You know something, you’re right.”
He tugged his son to him, hoping for life to return to normal. He hadn’t even told Ollie about the house. Considering how he acted over the box he thought contained his mother’s things, news of the house fire would be devastating.
But first things first. They weren’t out of this yet.
Beck took a long breath. “We just have to take the trail down now.”
They continued along the trail that led out of the area at the base of the crags and drew near the woods.
Beck stopped and eyed the forest.
“What are we doing, Dad?”
Ollie’s eyes were big and round and blue, and Beck saw Mia there, in his son. How did he make him understand? How did he keep his boy safe and also save the girl?
Ollie’s eyes widened. “Dad!”
Beck whirled around, keeping his body in front of his son. Cooley stood ten yards away, aiming his weapon at them.
“I should kill you now. Blow both your heads off. But I need the box.”
“Where’s Katelyn?” Beck asked.
“No need to worry about her. I took care of her. You’re a failure, Beck. Mia should never have married you. I warned her that she wouldn’t be happy settling down, especially with the likes of you. A big dumb athlete.”
Beck tried not to let the words cut him, eat away at him. Mia was gone. What did the words matter? But his heart bled, the wound opening back up. And now to hear that he’d let down Katelyn, that she was dead too... Beck’s knees almost buckled.
He still had this one last chance. This last chance to save his son. Ollie had to live, no matter the cost.
“What have you done with it, boy?”
“I’ll never tell you!” Ollie shouted.
Cooley fired his gun into the ground near Beck’s feet. He almost flinched but maintained his composure. “Ollie lost the box. He doesn’t know where he left it. You’re free to search.”
“That’s a lie. He wanted his mother’s things bad enough to risk everything.”
Well, Cooley had been paying attention and that didn’t help them right now.
“Boy, the next shot is going into your father’s gut. Did you know that’s one of the most painful ways to die? You bleed out slowly. It can take—”
“Stop it!” Beck took a step forward.
Cooley lifted his weapon higher, aiming more toward Beck’s chest. “You see, if he dies slowly, you’ll have time to say goodbye to dear old dad. Otherwise, I could just shoot him in the heart and he dies instantly. Or a bullet to the head.”
“Dad.” Ollie choked out the word through tears. “I’m scared.”
Beck reached over and squeezed Ollie’s hand, reassuring him. He had no idea how he was going to get them out of this. If he could draw Cooley in a little closer, then he could ram him and Ollie could once again run. This time he could run to find a ranger station. But he could keep running until he was somewhere safe and never look back.
“I’ll give you everything you want. I’ll take you to the box right now, only let Ollie go. Let him live his life.”
“Deal. You give me everything I asked for, then only one of you has to die today.”
Beck didn’t think he misinterpreted the hidden threat. He would die today, but Ollie didn’t have much time to live.
* * *
Her vision blurry, she saw two of everything.
Cooley had slammed her with the butt of his gun. That much she knew because she felt it with every single beat of her heart thundering through her head. All she could think was that he was done wasting bullets trying to kill her. Maybe his last two bullets were meant for Ollie and Beck. Cooley might have finished the job, though, if he’d been able to find her gun.
She had to get to Cooley before he used the last of his ammunition to kill two people she cared deeply about.
The voices had sounded through the trees and stirred her. Motivated her to get up and save Beck and Ollie. So she’d scrambled to her feet and found her gun, despite her throbbing head and double vision. Aching back and burning arm. That would all heal. But lives could not be recovered.
She could do this. She had to save them. This was the moment she could make it all right. She’d never wanted this moment or asked for it, but it was here. Katelyn had to help them.
Using the trees for support, she moved from one to the next until she finally got her balance and her double vision eased up.
The voices echoed against the crags leading her to them. Katelyn held her weapon high. She knew exactly what she had to do. But what she didn’t know was if this was like the scene from True Grit, where the ranger helped save the others but was mortally wounded and died in the effort.
She couldn’t think about that.
Beck and Ollie had to live even if she died.
As she crept forward, she finally saw the two men she had to save and blurred images of Cooley’s back.
Katelyn crept quietly. Cooley was too busy making threats, and she was about to run out of time.
She wouldn’t let them down.
But how did she shoot if her aim was definitely going to be off? She couldn’t see straight.
God, help me take the shot. Help me make it right. I have no other choice. When I walk through the water...
“Cooley!” she called. “You should have killed me when you had the chance!”
Cooley whirled around and fired his weapon at the same moment Katelyn fired twice.
The man fell forward. Katelyn dropped to her knees. She could have missed and killed Beck or Ollie.
They ran toward her. Beck dropped next to her, and Ollie, too. The rock-climbing master held them both in his arms.
Beck gripped Katelyn to peer at her. “Are you okay?”
“He hit me in the head. I could have killed you just now. My vision is blurred. I feel sick.”
“You’ve got a concussion. I called the police. Someone should be here.” He glanced around. “But the woods are growing darker. I should get you out of here.”
She rose. “Wait. We can’t leave Cooley.” Katelyn stumbled toward the man. If he wasn’t dead, he was dying. “We should try to save him. Keep him alive until help can arrive. Call for an ambulance, too.”
