Page 62 of Deputies Under Fire
“More blood,” Rory said. “It’s on the ground.”
She carefully went around the back of the truck so she could join him, and she followed his gaze to the drops on the gravel. Again, not a huge amount, but it looked as if the blood hadn’t been there that long.
“And more,” Rory added, pointing just ahead on the trail.
Eden saw, too, and went with him to the spot. It didn’t take long before they saw more just ahead.
“This feels a little like following breadcrumbs,” he muttered.
Yes, it did. Breadcrumbs that would lead them straight into an attack. That’s why they both drew their guns and kept moving, slowly, checking for anything that could help them make sense of this scene.
If the killer had been leading Ike along this trail, then where was the killer’s vehicle? It lent credence to the theory that the killer had been in Ike’s truck and forced him here. Maybe that meant the killer had left some DNA or trace evidence inside the truck.
As they moved, she spotted one of those holes left over from the dried-up mineral springs. Unlike the ones the killer had used around Carter, this one was huge, a caved-in section of the ground the size of a bathtub. If the killer had planted IEDs in this one, she couldn’t see them because it was too deep.
They kept moving, kept following the blood drops, but they both stopped when there was a sound.
A low, hoarse moan.
Maybe.
Since this was in the sticks by anyone’s standards, it was possible an animal had made the sound. But Eden didn’t believe that. No. The sound had been human. A human in pain.
Rory must have thought so, too, because he quickened the pace just a little, but he also continued to keep watch. Eden did the same.
And she heard it again.
That moan.
And thankfully, this time she could better pinpoint the location. It’d come from just ahead and to her right, where there was a cluster of thick cedars.
Because of the underbrush, they couldn’t just step off the trail, where there might be explosives, so they continued ahead. When they reached the cedars, though, she didn’t see Ike.
Not at first, anyway.
But then she spotted him.
And her heart dropped to her knees.
Because the blood was streaming down the side of Ike’s head, and he appeared to be barely conscious. He was sitting, but he’d been tied to a tree. Not just his hands and feet. The rope had been coiled around his torso, anchoring him in place.
That wasn’t all, though.
No.
Around him, mere inches away from where Ike sat, there was a perfect semicircle of something Eden hadn’t wanted to see.
Four IEDs.
RORY SUCKED INa hard breath and immediately glanced all around the area. Because even though the IEDs had gotten their attention, that didn’t mean the killer wasn’t going to try to capitalize on the distraction and kill them.
He took hold of Eden’s arm, moving her next to one of the larger trees. As cover went, it sucked, but at least it was better than them standing out in the open.
“Ike?” Eden called out to his father while Rory texted Livvy to send an ambulance.
Of course, the EMTs wouldn’t be able to get to Ike, not until the bomb squad had cleared the IEDs, but Rory wanted medicalhelp on hand. Not just for Ike, but for anyone else who ended up hurt in this ordeal.
But what was the ordeal?
