Critical Pursuit (23 page)

NIGEL HAD NEARLY
screamed when the lady at the convenience store pointed at him and said, “It’s him!” He’d run away from the place as if someone had lit his pants on fire, dropping groceries as he fled. The stupid woman followed, all the while jabbering on her cell phone. He’d been tempted to run her over but didn’t want to damage his van.

After he got back on the freeway and saw the chopper, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that it was after him. Except for that day ten years ago, Nigel had never felt cornered in his entire career. He hated being rushed. It was all wrong.

Somehow, someway, they’d figured him out.

At first he cursed and pounded the steering wheel. But after he eluded the helicopter and then avoided a couple sheriffs’ units, a serene feeling of invincibility settled over him.
No one’s career lasts forever,
he told himself. He glanced back at the twins, tied up on the floor of the van, and euphoria coursed through his veins like a strong drink.

I can go out with a Fourth of July–type finale,
he thought.
I’ve already made more bold moves than anyone else, I bet. My last caper will be the pièce de résistance
 
—something that will make all the talk shows and the major newspapers.

A tiny spike of fear crowded in as he left the van to check in with the camp host. He debated just driving by. It was still mostly dark out. But their lights were on, and passing them by might arouse more suspicion. He relaxed when he saw that they had neither TV nor computer. They knew nothing about him and the twins. He filled out a registration card with false information and headed for the campsite.

Now he was home free. This was his backyard. He’d mapped these forests in his head when he was a kid, and those maps were still vivid in his mind.
No one will ever find me or the girls,
he thought, smiling for the first time since he fled the convenience store.

When he parked, he untied the twins and calmed their crying by telling them he was taking them to their grandpa. They just had to be quiet as mice, he said, or they’d never make it to him. Along with his camera bag, he filled a small backpack with food, extra clothing, and money. Nigel knew he’d never be back to the van. The most important thing to do right now was get lost in the forest, finish his business with the twins, and disappear.

He grabbed the little girls, one of their hands in each of his, and they headed into the dark fringe of pine trees.

WITH HERO
at her side and some of the twins’ clothing that Tony had given her, Brinna stood by the van and took a deep breath. There was an early morning chill in the air, and she hoped the girls were warm. She blinked away the image that flashed in her mind of Pearce with the twins.

“Are you back on good terms with that God of yours?” she asked Jack.

“I think so. I’ve made my peace.”

There was conviction in Jack’s voice, she thought, and she took note of the change in the man. The weak, creepy guy of last week was now all cop and all confident. The kind of guy she’d want to work with. A guy she could trust to cover her back.

“Good. Pray. If I never find another kid my entire career, I have to find these two. Alive.” Her throat thickened and she paused. “They’re like members of my own family.”

Her father came to mind, and suddenly Brinna knew how he must have felt twenty years ago. Maybe she couldn’t
excuse the drinking, but after all this time, she knew why he drank. The situation she now found herself in illustrated in painful detail what her father had dealt with.

She bent to one knee and held the clothing under Hero’s nose. “Find, Hero; find.” Once the leash was unclipped, Hero took off into the forest, testing the air with his sensitive nose.

The sunlight filtering through the trees brightened the trail as Jack and Brinna charged after him. The path was a well-worn firebreak that followed an old logging road.

“He’s got at least a twenty- or thirty-minute head start,” Jack noted.

“Yeah, but he’s also got two little girls to drag or carry, and he started in the dark. I know he hasn’t killed them. I know it.” Brinna spit the words out, wanting to convince herself that being cornered would not change Nigel’s MO drastically. She tried not to think of Carla and Bella being dragged along against their wills, probably cold and most certainly frightened.

Hero eventually came to an unmarked trail that cut off the firebreak and wound upward through the trees. It was a narrow trail, well worn by hikers and coated in a layer of pine needles with pinecones scattered here and there. Because of a fire a few years ago, the forest on this hillside was a sparse mixture of tall old pines, older spread-out oaks, charred trunks, and an occasional cedar. Nothing here caused Hero to pause; he just kept his nose to the air on his way up the trail.

“Pearce isn’t even trying to cover his tracks,” Brinna noted.

“Why would he? He evaded a helicopter and a sheriff’s unit. By now he’s probably feeling pretty cocky.”

Brinna grunted as she forged up the trail. After about twenty minutes of climbing, the trail leveled off, and they hiked across a ridge. Though the morning was still chilly, Brinna wiped sweat from her brow. The trail was visible ahead, eventually winding up and disappearing into a thicker forest, one that the fire had skipped.

Hero suddenly stopped and stood still, sniffing, ears alert.

“Did he lose the trail?” Jack asked, catching his breath.

“No.” Brinna shook her head and tried to quiet her own breathing. “He hears something.” She knelt next to the dog and grabbed his collar. Holding her breath, she strained to hear what the dog heard. There it was.

Faintly Brinna heard a little girl crying. “Did you hear that?” She turned to Jack. His expression told her he had. The sound came from below them and echoed across a canyon.

Brinna clipped the leash back on Hero but let him lead them as he cut down, off the worn trail. Here the ground was soft with a thicker mat of pine needles, and Brinna had to step over sticker bushes. Every so often she sank into a gopher hole. The dog turned right, into the forest, and the cries became stronger. Brinna turned to Jack and motioned for him to circle around on her left. He climbed back on the ridge trail and paralleled her.

She and Hero stayed straight, angling down into a gully. Brinna’s head snapped up at the sound of a man yelling. A string of obscenities followed, the words carrying from far away. The crying sounded closer, as if it were coming her direction.

Dodging around some trees and hurrying toward the
sound, Brinna could clearly hear two girls wailing. Hero whimpered, and she silenced him with a hand gesture. Stepping through some small bushes, she saw them. Carla and Bella were running on her right, sobbing as they ran.

Hero barked, and the girls turned in Brinna’s direction. She jogged toward them, all the while searching frantically in the direction they’d run from. Where was Pearce?

“Carla, Bella, come here!” She knelt to scoop the girls close with one arm but kept her other hand on her duty weapon. Both the girls sobbed, the kind of crying that leaves kids stuttering. It was minutes before Brinna could get anything out of them.

Finally Carla wiped her nose and seemed ready to talk.

“Where’s the bad man, Carla? Where is he?” Brinna asked, eyes darting around the area.

“He fell, Aunt Brinna. He fell.”

“And we ran,” Bella added with a sniffle and a hiccup.

Brinna pulled out her handheld radio and hailed Jack. “The girls are with me. Any sign of Pearce?”

“I’m still looking. I’ll head back your way in a minute.”

Brinna hugged both little girls tight. Eyes closed, thankful and relieved, she considered her mother’s God.
Will I ever be able to reconcile the happy endings and the tragic ones?
she wondered. And she knew then, like Milo, she had a lot of questions for her mom.

“Don’t worry,” she told the girls. “You’ll be back with your grandpa before you can say Jack Russell.”

They calmed down slowly as Hero nuzzled and licked their faces.

A few minutes later, Jack came crashing down the slope. “There’s no sign of him. I found this.” He held up a camera bag.

For a brief moment, Brinna went back in time twenty years. The tears were hers, out in the vast expanse of desert. In front of her, Pearce had spread out a blanket and set up a camera.

She bit her lip and brought herself back into the present. “We’ve got to get these kids home.” Standing, she reintroduced Jack to the girls and vowed to herself she’d be back to hunt the creep down.

Jack scanned the bright horizon and directed Brinna’s attention that way. “He won’t get far. When you’re on top of the ridge, all you can see is forest for miles. I didn’t want to get lost and become part of the problem. Sheriff’s search and rescue will be all over the area before you know it.”

“He won’t get away this time; he won’t,” Brinna said through gritted teeth as she picked up Carla. Jack took Bella and the group headed back the way they’d come, to the campground.

SHERIFF’S UNITS
already had the van cordoned off with yellow police tape when Brinna and Jack returned with the girls. First order of business was to make sure the twins were okay, then fill in the search unit on where they’d lost Pearce. Brinna was about to ask a deputy where the medics were when she saw a pair huffing up the campground road. They set up quickly and took the girls from Jack and Brinna.

Aside from being hungry and thirsty, Carla and Bella were unhurt. Pearce had had no time to violate them. While Jack phoned Tony, Brinna studied a map the deputies gave her and planned a search grid. She’d find some of Pearce’s clothing in the van, and she and Hero would be off. The sound of a helicopter approaching from the south was audible, and she knew that would be a help.

“Congratulations.” Chuck extended a hand to Brinna. “You found them safe.”

Brinna shook his hand and sighed. “Not just me and
Hero. Jack was a great help. But Pearce is still out there. No little girl is safe as long as he’s at large. I’m betting he heard us coming and let the twins go to stall us, so he could get away.”

“Where’s he going to go?” Chuck held up a clipboard with Pearce’s wanted poster and tapped it. “His face is plastered everywhere.” He waved the board at the San Bernardino County sheriff and their operations. “These guys know the area better than Pearce does. And search techniques have improved over the last ten years. He’ll be in custody before you know it.”

“And I want to be there.” Brinna crossed her arms.

“I don’t think that will happen.”

Chuck and Brinna turned as Jack walked up, frowning.

“Why?” Brinna asked.

“I just got off the phone with Scranton,” Jack said. “He’s at the DiSantos’. We are officially ordered back to Long Beach. Brinna, this is serious. We can’t ignore him again.”

“No, I’ve come this far! Pearce is close. Hero can find him; I know it.” She clenched her fists, her gaze bouncing from Chuck to Jack. In both men’s faces she saw empathy, but she also saw common sense. She’d only just escaped the fire with the shooting. Did she really want to jump back in the frying pan?

Chuck put a hand on her shoulder. “Listen to Jack. We’ll get Pearce. Don’t put your career in jeopardy over him.”

Brinna started to protest, but Jack cut her off. “Brin, we have the girls. You aren’t the only cop in the world who can find people.” He added the last gently.

Brinna held his gaze and tried to be angry. His weird, empty eyes were gone, and all she saw in them now was genuine concern.

She turned toward Carla and Bella sitting on a gurney, munching food that the paramedics had given them.

It wasn’t fair that she had to leave now, so close to the end.

But Jack was right; the girls were safe. That was the most important thing.

Taking a deep breath, Brinna scanned the now-bright forest borders. “You’re right.” She looked at Jack. “Let’s see if the medics will let us transport the twins home.”

* * *

It was difficult for Brinna not to break down into tears with Tony and his wife as they grabbed the twins in bear hugs. The joy and relief in the room reminded her of something very important. The reunion with her family had been much the same that first day. But it was also that same day when something started to fester inside her father, something that built the wall and impaired their relationship for twenty years. When Tony came up for air, she pulled him aside.

“Thank you, my good friend,” he gushed as he grabbed her in a hug. “How can I ever repay you?”

Brinna pushed back and held him at arm’s length, smiling. “You don’t owe me a thing, my good friend, except maybe this.” She nodded to Carla and Bella. “Love the girls, keep them close, but never blame yourself for what happened. The only bad guy in this is Pearce. Don’t let anger, guilt, bitterness, or unforgiveness come between you and those two
precious girls. Those are destructive emotions. Don’t let them ruin what you have.”

“You speak from experience.” Tony smiled and blew his nose.

“I do. I’d bet my life that it’s easier not to build the wall than to try to tear it down later.”

“I THINK WE STAYED
one step in front of the reporters,” Brinna noted as she and Jack pulled into the station parking lot. It was close to noon. They’d been given the official okay to go home and sleep; their follow-up reports could wait.

“Won’t be easy to do in the coming days, especially after Pearce is in custody.” Jack parked the unit, and he and Brinna climbed out. Brinna let Hero out and turned toward where her personal truck was parked. Jack reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve been awfully quiet about Pearce. Are you okay with everything?”

Brinna yawned and stretched. “The girls are home and safe. Do I want to catch the creep? Yes. But I’ve realized I’m not God. Other cops can catch crooks too.” She held Jack’s gaze and realized something else she kept to herself. She liked him, and if it weren’t for Hero, she wouldn’t mind being his partner.

Jack chuckled. “That’s quite a concession. I guess I realized something too.”

“What?”

“Life goes on. There are some battles worth fighting. Sound corny?” He gave her a sheepish smile that Brinna couldn’t help but return.

“Yeah, but I won’t tell anyone. Go home and sleep. I don’t want a tired partner tonight.”

She got to her truck and shed her gun belt, uniform shirt, and vest. “I’m too tired to even kayak,” she said to Hero as she started the engine. Brinna thought about calling Maggie but didn’t want to wake her. When she pulled into her driveway, she saw she needn’t have worried. Maggie was dozing in her porch chair.

Grinning, Brinna let Hero out of the truck. He rushed to Maggie and nuzzled her awake.

“Nothing like wet dog kisses.” Brinna laughed as her friend woke up and hugged Hero.

“I have to agree with you. Hero kisses better than my last boyfriend.”

“Why are you loitering on my porch?” Brinna asked as she stuck her key in the lock.

“Because I wanted to share the paper with you.” Maggie opened the local paper so Brinna could read the headline: “Local Cop Cleared of Any Wrongdoing in Shooting Case.”

“Unbelievable,” Brinna said as she took the paper from Maggie. “But welcome.”

“Yep. Shockley concedes that she’ll have to go with the shooting board’s official results. That sleazeball reporter Clark has proved unreliable, and the physical evidence supports your story.” Maggie snapped both fingers. “Voilà! And Clark
may be on the hot seat soon. The
Times
fired him, and the DA may file charges against him.” She held her arms out for a hug.

Brinna grinned and hugged her friend. “Thanks for being the bearer of good news.”

“I told you it pays to be a glass-half-full-type person. I bet you’ll be the subject of another headline,” she said as Brinna pushed the door open and they walked inside.

“I don’t care about headlines. I’m just glad the kids are okay.”

“And Pearce?”

Brinna dumped her stuff on the sofa, then sat to take her boots off. “Pearce.” She frowned and pulled on the laces. Maggie sat across from her in the recliner. “He’s as good as caught. Even if it’s not me doing the catching.”

Maggie chuckled. “Good for you. Let the rest of us help you with your mission. Your shoulders aren’t broad enough to carry it all.”

* * *

“Great job, Brinna, great.” Janet Rodriguez’s call woke Brinna up, but it was a welcome awakening.

“Thanks. I’m glad the girls are safe. Any word on Pearce?”

“Not yet, sorry. But there are search teams from all over the county on his trail. He’s on borrowed time. But that’s not why I called.”

“Am I in trouble for ignoring Scranton?”

Janet laughed. “No. He tried, but eventually he ended up having to shred the letters of reprimand he wrote for you and Jack. Seems the chief is so happy with all the good press
you brought the department by finding the twins, Scranton didn’t want to be on the wrong side.”

“Does that mean I’m back with Hero?”

“Soon. You have twenty hours to finish with Jack. Can you handle twenty more hours?”

“Piece of cake.”
It will be too.
She listened as Janet explained why she’d called, then hung up, yawning. Jack had turned out to be a better partner than she’d ever dreamed possible. With that thought in mind, she got out of bed to start coffee. The phone rang before she finished pouring her first cup. Caller ID said it was her mother.

“Morning, Mom,” she said as she answered the call.

“I knew everything would turn out well for you; I knew it.” Her mom went on to gush about the girls, the shooting, and everything printed in the paper that morning.

“Thanks. How’s Dad?”

There was a pause, and Brinna hoped that didn’t mean bad news. While the jury was still out on her mother’s God stuff, she knew she really wanted to see her father again and share as much time as possible with him.

“Not much change. You’ll come by later?”

“Yeah, I will. I have a lot to tell him.” Brinna’s thoughts drifted back to the happy reunion between Carla, Bella, and their grandparents.

Now she’d tell her dad she really understood. Hopefully all the wounds Pearce had caused her family would now be free to heal.

She’d only just hung up when the phone rang again. This time Brinna’s eyebrows arched in surprise. It was Jack.

“I just wanted to call and congratulate you. I read the paper. You and I are in an elite group of cops. We both beat Hester Shockley.”

“Yeah, it almost feels as good as finding Carla and Bella. You’re up early.”

“I’ve got places to go. How’s your father?”

“Same. I’m headed over there soon. Thanks for calling.”

“No problem, partner. By the way, that speech you gave Tony DiSanto . . . I want you to know that it touched me, too.”

“About destructive emotions?”

“Yeah. It reminded me of Gil Bridges and something I have to do. I have to forgive him. I have to put that all behind me. It won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight, but Vicki would have wanted it that way. Thanks for reminding me.”

“No problem. You ever need a good slap, give me a call.”