Zane Thacker was in the recovery room after having surgery to repair the damage from two bullets. One hit his arm and one pierced through his side, but no major organs were damaged. A bullet had blown off the toe of his shoe, but missed his foot. He was expected to make a complete recovery.
Faith surveyed the scene. The grass around the signs for the trailhead was sparse, but the vegetation on either side of the small dirt parking area was thick and overgrown.
Special Agent Julie Sutton, a young agent Faith didn’t know well, approached. “Special Agent Malone? I didn’t expect to see you out here. I thought you’d be in the office.”
“There’ll be time for the office later. For today, I need to see what we’re dealing with.”
“Of course. I’ve been here since nine a.m., and I’d be happy to walk you through the scene if you’d like.”
“Please.”
Sutton pulled out a notebook and pointed in the direction of the trail. “Agents Powell and Thacker met at five forty-five a.m. to run the trail.”
“In the dark?” Were they crazy? She walked toward the trailhead, Agent Sutton close on her heels.
“One of the Secret Service agents, Agent Dixon, was out here earlier and he said they run it every Monday. I was skeptical, so I jogged it myself after I arrived. It looks more rugged than it is. Once you get about thirty feet in, there’s a smooth dirt path. Norocks, few branches. And once you get to the other side of the lake, the trail is paved almost to the end. You could safely run it with a full moon. Even without moonlight, it would be doable within an hour of dawn by anyone familiar with the trail.”
Faith eyed the path. Maybe. She didn’t care to run outside. Who was she kidding? She didn’t care to run at all. She could run, but why? She pulled her thoughts back to the scene. “Does the trail loop around?”
“Almost. It’s a horseshoe, not a complete circle.” Julie pointed to another marker at the opposite end of the parking area. “It winds to the far end of the lake, then back around the other side. Assuming they ran the entire path, they came out over there and were walking toward their vehicles when the attack began.”
Sutton pointed to the first evidence marker. “I haven’t personally interviewed either of the agents yet, but this is what we think happened. The shooter was over there, hidden in the brush. The weapon was a .22 rifle, and the shooter was a horrible shot. My nephew could have hit both of them from that distance. He’s seven.”
Agent Sutton was right. Caught unaware, even in dim morning light, their bodies would have been easy to see as soon as they exited the trail. How could the shooter have missed? “How many shots?”
“We aren’t sure. At least five. But based on the shooter’s skill, there could have been more.”
Faith walked to the spot where the shooter had been. “We’re sure this is the spot?”
“Yes, ma’am. We took photos of everything. Someone was lying here recently, and the angle is right for the shots.”
Faith lay down and propped herself up onto her elbows. She pretended to hold a rifle and squinted as if she were looking through a scope.
How had they survived? They were defenseless.
Agent Sutton pointed toward the middle of the parking area. “The first shot was there. Agent Thacker fell. Agent Powell hit the dirt. They both crawled toward the vehicles. The shots followed them as they made their way. One shot got Agent Powell’s leg, but it’s mostly a burn. Then another shot hit Agent Thacker in the side. At that time, Agent Powell pulled him behind the car.”
“How’d you get all this?” There was no way they’d have been able to figure out the time line so quickly, and Sutton already said she hadn’t interviewed the agents.
“Agent Powell, ma’am. He blacked out after the explosion, but he came to before the ambulance arrived. He was able to give a pretty thorough report before they took him to the hospital. Agent Dixon passed it on to me.”
Luke had been conscious before he left the site? That was the best news she’d heard all day, and it gave her more confidence in the report. If the info was from Luke, injured or not, it was accurate. That man was meticulous. Getting shot wouldn’t have altered his personality. If anything, it would have heightened his usual need for details.
Faith continued to peer through her imaginary scope, picturing the scene. Zane falling. Luke pulling him behind the car. If she’d been the shooter, she would have...
A horrible realization settled through her. “He wasn’t trying to kill them.”
“Ma’am?” Agent Sutton’s voice pitched an octave higher than it had been earlier.
“The shooter knew the car was set to blow, so he had some fun with them.” Faith fought to keep her voice flat and dispassionate. “Then he herded them toward the car. He knew his shots wouldsend them scurrying for safety ... right into the trap he’d set. He wasn’t a bad shot. He was very good.”
“That’s...” Agent Sutton couldn’t finish her thought, and Faith couldn’t blame her.
Faith pressed her hands into the ground. He’d been here. The person who’d tried to kill Luke. And Zane. He’d been right here. His body had warmed this ground. His breath had fluttered the brush that hid him from view. How long had he lain here, waiting? How long had he worked to know their routine?
“You’ll be sorry.” She whispered the words to the ground and rose, brushing the dirt of this evil spot from her hands, then her shirt, then her pants. “Let’s go see the explosion site.” She walked toward the mangled vehicles with Agent Sutton scurrying to keep up.
Faith picked her way around the contorted remains of Zane’s Ford Focus. The car had been parked closest to the trail exit, and they’d fled toward it when the shooting started. What was left of Luke’s Focus was on the other side of the parking area, near the trail entrance. Both men had been in between the two vehicles when the bombs went off. The open space was littered with bits of metal and melted plastic. She could make out what had once been a wheel to her left, an axle a few feet beyond. And was that the engine?
