Ronan nodded. "I had Daisy check his application. None of the information on it checks out … the name and social security number he used belongs to someone who died ten years ago."
"He's on the run," I murmured. "Why not call the cops?" I asked.
Ronan was quiet for a moment. "I think he's on the run, but not necessarily from the law. Just a feeling," he added. "I met him a few times before that night … he was well-spoken and seemed familiar with the chaos that comes with working in a busy ER. But there was something else about him too. I never sensed he was any kind of threat."
I nodded because I didn't really need to know anymore. Ronan knew his shit. If he felt there was something off about the whole thing, he was probably right. And judging from the scene inside the house, he was a hundred percent on the mark.
My phone beeped and I pulled it out to see a text from Daisy, the girl who handled the IT for the group. I showed Ronan the screen. He nodded.
"I was able to find the form he filled out for his parking pass. He put a valid license plate on it. Daisy was able to track the car – it's listed under the guy's alias so he probably paid cash for it at some point when he bought it. It's an older car, but it has a customer assistance feature. Even though it wasn't active … "
"Daisy was still able to hack their system and get his GPS location."
Ronan nodded. "I'd like you to check it out. Feel the guy out. If we need to bring the cops in, we will, but based on this" – Ronan glanced at the house – "I'm more inclined to keep them out of it for a while. The house is a rental, so I suspect it will be a while before the landlord realizes anything is up."
I nodded in understanding and glanced at the location Daisy had sent me. "He's in the Cascades," I said. "Near Mt. Baker."
Ronan merely said, "Keep me posted and be careful."
I didn't respond as I watched him go to his car. I was both intrigued and leery of the situation. Ronan might think the guy was harmless or in trouble, but I'd seen enough to know that even the most average joe could be hiding a wealth of evil that no one would have suspected in a million years.
Hell, I had the scars to prove it.
I sighed and tucked my phone in my pocket. I had a long drive ahead of me and no idea what I'd find at the end of the journey.
* * *
I'd known the weather would be an issue as I'd made my way farther and farther up into the mountains, but once my truck began sliding back and forth along the narrow, winding snow-covered road leading to the location my GPS was pinging on, I began to regret not putting chains on my tires. Not that they would have done much good, especially since I had nothing to weigh down the empty bed of the truck.
I risked a glance at the GPS screen and saw that I was only a mile from my destination, but with the heavy snow and blowing wind, it may as well have been twenty. I forced my body to relax as a particularly strong gust of wind made the truck swing wildly towards the opposite side of the road. With no guard rail and a sheer drop off, there was only one certain outcome if the truck plunged over the edge, and while I couldn't say I was particularly fearsome of death, I wasn't actually seeking it out.
I slowed the truck as the road began turning away from the cliff's edge and began heading inward. A new sense of focus shimmied through me as I was once again surrounded by dense forest on each side. The wind continued to howl all around me as the snow became blinding and I was forced to drop my speed to just a few miles an hour since the visibility was next to nothing. By the time I entered a clearing and my GPS showed I'd reached the coordinates Daisy sent me, I was actually feeling somewhat drained. The snow was still heavy as I took in the sight of the small wood cabin in front of me. It was the only building in the sparse clearing, so I could only assume it was privately owned rather than being a part of one of the many resorts that dotted the area. I could see a wisp of smoke trailing up from the chimney. An old, beat up SUV sat in front of the cabin and I saw that the plates matched the ones Ronan had gotten off the guy's parking pass form. Since I knew the occupants of the cabin would have easily seen me coming whether I was on foot or in my truck, I drove up to the cabin and parked next to the SUV. I grabbed my phone from the cup holder and tucked it into my pocket and then shrugged on my jacket, which wasn't heavy enough to offer any true protection from the cold, but was better than nothing. The last thing I grabbed was my gun which I kept in my hand as I exited the vehicle.
I hadn't made it more than a few steps when I heard someone shout, "Don't move!"
I instantly froze as I sought out the owner of the high-pitched voice. I finally spotted my quarry by the side of the cabin. I should have been unnerved by the sight of the revolver being pointed in my direction, but instead, I felt a sense of calm wash over me.
This was what I was good at.
Stick me in a room full of people I was expected to socialize with, and I was pretty much just a body turning oxygen into carbon dioxide. But point a gun at me or come at me with a knife and I fucking came alive. I didn't seek death out, but I sure as hell got a twisted thrill when it came at me with everything it had.
Normally, I would have just lifted my gun and pulled the trigger before my assailant even had the chance to verbalize another useless threat, but when I realized who it was beneath the gray hoodie that offered no protection from the brutal cold, I stayed my hand.
Because the person pointing the gun at me wasn't the man I was looking for. Hell, he wasn't even a he.
No, I was staring into the wide-eyes of a fucking kid. And a girl at that.
I estimated her to be around fifteen or sixteen. Her long black hair was slung over one shoulder in a long braid and she was wearing a pair of tattered jeans. I couldn't tell what kind of footwear she had on because her feet were buried in the ankle deep snow. Several pieces of firewood were scattered around her and I realized she must have been getting the wood from the side of the cabin when she'd walked around to the front and spied me.
I scanned the rest of the area for other people, but no one appeared from the cabin and I didn't see any other sets of footprints besides hers.
I eased my finger off the trigger of my gun, but didn't put it away. The girl may not have been a typical threat, but she still posed a danger to me, especially considering how violently her hands were shaking as she held the gun on me. I estimated we were more than fifty feet apart – her chances of hitting me were slim, but not impossible. And I didn't have a lot of places I could use for cover.
"I'm looking for Allen," I called as I held my hands out. I took a couple of slow steps towards her.
"Don't move!" she screamed.
I ignored the order and ever so slowly began closing the distance between us. "I just came to talk to him," I said. "Do you know him?"
"Stay away from him! Do you hear me?!" she shouted.
Her skin was flushed, though I suspected it had more to do with her emotion than the cold weather.
"I hear you," I said easily. "I just want to make sure he's okay."
"You're a fucking liar!" she screamed. "I know he sent you!"
I had no idea who he was, but before I could even ask, she wiped angrily at her face with one hand, holding the gun on me with the other. "Just leave us alone!"
Her voice was thick with emotion and I didn't need to see her tears to know they were there. My insides clenched at the fear I was causing her, but I didn't have a lot of options. I had closed the distance between us by more than half.
"I'm afraid I can't do that," I said quietly, not sure if she even heard me over the blowing wind.
"Please," she choked out and I saw her close her eyes for the briefest of moments. I used those few seconds to take several more steps towards her. When she opened them and realized how much closer I was to her, her panic kicked up to a whole new level.
"I'll shoot you!" she screamed. She waved the gun wildly as she took a few steps back.
"Lucy?"
I stilled at the sound of another voice and glanced over my shoulder to see a man standing hunched over near the front door of the cabin. I automatically pointed my gun at him as I tried to assess the change in circumstances, but the move set the girl off.
"No!" she cried out and then the gun went off. Her shot went wild and sailed past me and slammed into the side of my truck. In the several seconds that passed, I did two things. I determined that the man was unarmed and not an immediate threat and that the girl was in a state of shock from what she'd done. I used the latter to my advantage and ran towards her. She screamed when she saw me coming and pointed the gun at me, but her slight hesitation as her finger searched out the trigger gave me the time I needed. As our bodies collided, I tried to brace her fall at the same time that I knocked the gun free from her hand, but I couldn't prevent some of my weight from crashing down on her as we both hit the ground. She let out a woosh of air as the wind got knocked from her.
"Lucy!" I heard the man scream, and I barely had time to recover before his body slammed into mine. I automatically rolled, taking the man with me. Despite the fact that I still had ahold of my own gun, he came at me with punch after punch. But the guy clearly didn't know the first thing about fighting because every swing failed to make contact with anything that would have caused me enough injury to loosen my hold on him or my gun. His struggles irritated me more than anything else, so I did the only thing I knew would end this whole thing and put my gun to his head. As expected, he froze instantly, his eyes going wide with fear. I used his stillness to study him as best I could, considering the heavy snow that was falling around us. I guessed him to be older than me by at least ten years and my height, but he was leaner than me. Not skinny, just average build. His hair was a dark brown and he was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt … like the girl, he was completely underdressed for the elements. The only feature on his face I could make out with any clear distinction were his startlingly green eyes and even then I could only see one because the other was swollen shut. Nearly his entire face was covered in bruises and his lip was swollen and split. Dried blood clung to a gash near his temple and I sucked in a breath when I saw the bruises on his throat.