Trail of Secrets(85)

                Seth aimed his gun directly at Anthony as one of the sheriff’s deputies shouted above the roar of the engine, “Put your hands up and come down. You’re under arrest.”

                Anthony let his gaze drift over the officers facing him, but he said nothing. Then he revved the engine and rumbled forward as fast as the dozer would go. The officers held their ground and kept their guns aimed at him as the machine with the big blade across the front bore down on them.

                It was impossible to know which way he was going to steer the big dozer, and Seth didn’t know whether to stand still or jump to the side. Then he saw Anthony grimace and lean forward over the steering wheel. With a new burst of speed he drove toward Seth.

                “Stop!” Seth yelled, but it did no good. Anthony appeared committed to a course, and there was no stopping him.

                “Detective!” one of the deputies shouted. “Get out of the way. He’s going to run you over.”

                With the dozer only inches away, Seth fired at Anthony and took a flying leap away from the dozer. His ankle scraped across the end of the blade, and he landed facedown in the dirt. Ignoring the pain in his leg, Seth jumped to his feet and stared in horror at the scene before him.

                The bullet must have found its target, because Anthony lay slumped over the steering wheel of the dozer as it lumbered across the yard, headed toward the side of the house. It looked as if it picked up speed the closer it came to the house. The thought popped into Seth’s head that Anthony’s foot must be pressed down on the gas pedal when he’d been shot.

                The headlights of the machine lit up the side of the house, and Seth thought he saw movement at one of the windows. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to one side. What was that? The breath left his body as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. Callie stood at a broken window, her fingers wrapped around iron bars, and stared at the bulldozer bearing down on her.

                “Callie!” he screamed. “Get away from there!”

                Unmoving, she stood still, the lights illuminating her figure as she remained frozen in disbelief at what was coming toward her.

                “Callie!” he screamed again, but his voice was muffled by the sound of the dozer. He had to get to her.

                He willed his legs to move, and he sprinted toward the house, but he was no match for the powerful machine. With a thunderous crash, the dozer plowed into the side of the house. The walls collapsed like a house of cards and splintered into thousands of pieces. The dozer disappeared into the house, and there was another crash and then silence.

                A cloud of dust rolled from inside, enveloping everything in its path. Seth stopped at the open-sided building and stared inside. There was no sign of Callie. The powdery dust from the crash choked him, and he coughed, but he didn’t hesitate to move forward as he leaped onto the pile of debris left behind.

                “Callie! Where are you?”

                The other officers ran up. One of them handed him a flashlight off his utility belt. “Use this. Do you see her anywhere?”

                He swept the beam of light in an arc around the room, but all he could see was the scattered remains of the walls and floor of the house. “Callie!” he called again.

                He waited, but there was no answer. With his heart pounding in his chest, he crawled through the opening in the house and swept the light around again. The bulldozer had stopped when it crashed into the wall on the other side of the house. Anthony’s body was still draped across the steering wheel, but there was no sign of Callie.