Page 51 of Scent of Fear

Then she’d worry about the repercussions of her grandfather’s actions.

The drive back to the cabin didn’t take long. Shane pulled into the driveway and stopped the vehicle. He put a hand on her arm when she reached for the door handle.

“Not so fast. Bryce and I need to check the place out first.” He pushed a button on the key fob to open the back hatch for Bryce. “Once it’s clear, we’ll let you know.”

Since the kidnappers had been there before on more than one occasion, she didn’t argue. In fact, she found herself holding her breath as Bryce trotted forward, sweeping his nose from side to side as he took in the scents.

When Bryce began to growl low in his throat, Shane reached for his weapon, and shouted, “Come out with your hands up where I can see them!”

She watched the front door of the cabin intently, but nobody emerged. Bryce’s growling grew louder, then he let out a couple of short barks.

“Last warning,” Shane called. “Don’t make me sic my dog on you.”

Still no movement from the cabin. But then she heard an engine roar to life. Without thinking it through, she scrambled from the car as Shane and Bryce bolted around to the back.

“Stop!” Shane shouted. “Get him, Bryce! Get him!”

Her heart was in her throat as she rounded the cabin in time to see a man disappearing on a mini bike into the woods. Her first thought was that he wasn’t riding a four-wheeler as they’d thought.

Her second thought was to be afraid for Bryce as he barreled into the woods after the intruder. What if the bad guy shot him?

Shane must have had the same concern, because he called out, “Stop, Bryce! Come!”

A long thirty seconds later, the large shepherd emerged from the woods. Shane ran forward, dropping to his knees to examine the dog.

“Is he okay?” she asked breathlessly.

“Yeah.” Shane took a minute to hug the animal, then stood. “I don’t like the way the bad guys keep showing up here. I don’t think we should stay.”

She was torn by indecision. If her grandfather was able to get away, he’d come straight here.

But Shane had a point about the bad guys showing up every time they left the place. The fact that they returned to the cabin so often made her realize they wouldn’t stop until they’d found the money.

And worse, once they had what they wanted, they’d likely kill her grandfather.

* * *

“Come on, Libby.”Shane frowned when he noticed she was staring blindly out into the woods where the bad guy had vanished. “You need to pack a bag.”

“I’m not leaving.” She finally turned to look at him. “Did you notice he was on a minibike? Not a four-wheeler?”

“Yes.” He had been surprised by that, although he shouldn’t have been. These guys seemed to have a variety of vehicles at their disposal. “The engine sounds higher than a typical four-wheeler.”

“He’s staying somewhere close by,” Libby said with a frown. “Maybe even close enough to watch us. To take advantage of the moment we leave to come back to search for the missing money.”

“That’s possible,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t change the fact that we aren’t safe here.”

“I can’t leave.” She rounded on him, her eyes flashing with temper. “Don’t you get it? If they find the money, they’ll kill him. If we stay close, they’re less likely to come back.”

Or they’d come back with guns to take them out of the picture, for good. But the new determined-to-be-optimistic version of Shane couldn’t bring himself to point that out. Instead, he considered their options. “Let’s get inside the house. I’ll call my siblings.” He belatedly remembered several of them were out on other searches, leaving limited resources behind. “I’m sure Joel and Alexis won’t mind helping again.”

Libby gave a jerky nod and turned to step around him. He caught her arm again. “Me first, with Bryce. Stay behind me.”

She didn’t argue. As he walked toward the patio doors, he noticed the cellar door had been left open. This was where the bad guy had been when they’d arrived. Not in the house, but in the cellar.

Bryce trotted alongside him. He growled low in his throat, sat at the top of the steps, and let out a sharp bark.

“Good boy!” He tossed the rubber ducky in the air for Bryce as a reward for alerting on the bad guy’s scent. Obviously, he was the same one Bryce had chased earlier.

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