Page 3 of Whisper Through the Pines

Five days ago

The moment Kane had completed his mission, all hell broke loose. On foot and completely alone behind enemy lines, he made his way across the rough sandy terrain to the extraction point. Craters from bombs cut up the landscape as explosions blasted around him, filling his eyes with dust. There was no chance a chopper could get close enough to take him to safety. He considered his options and sighed. Without air support, he had little chance of getting out of there alive. He rolled into the shadows of a rock formation and held his position. Time ticked by as he waited for instructions. He saw it before he heard it. High above, a US Navy fighter jet buzzed his position and veered away, trying to draw attention away from him. He grimaced, one plane on a suicide mission to save his sorry ass. The creed of never leaving a man behind was in his blood, but he’d never expect anyone to die for him. He cursed as the attack drones’ next wave of certain death suddenly changed direction, leaving his path clear, and he stared in horror as they spewed their deadly load toward the jet. He said a silent prayer as the jet maneuvered, spinning away from the threat. Missiles surrounded it—and a red ball of flame exploded on target. Kane broke his radio silence and tapped his com as a missile took out the jet’s tail. “Terabyte, do you copy?”

“Copy.”

“Navy bird is hit. Going down.”

“Hold your position.”

As the plane exploded and plummeted in a death spiral to the ground, only one of the pilots had time to eject, the second went down into the massive explosion. The ground shook and billows of black smoke filled the air. Another explosion way too close threw boulders and dirt all over him. He stared into the sky as the remaining pilot landed hard some ways from him. The man hadn’t attempted to land or roll, and his parachute spewed out behind across the sand like an exclamation point. Kane tapped his com. “Terabyte, do you copy?”

“Go ahead.” Wolfe’s voice sounded like home.

Kane pulled his shemagh scarf up over his nose to protect him from the smoke and lowered his goggles. “I have eyes on the fallen pilot. I’m on the move. The other one didn’t make it.”

“Copy. We can’t see anything but smoke.”

Fumes billowed from the wreck, and Kane used the black smoke as cover and ran toward the fallen pilot. Above, US jets roared, taking out targets all around him, brave men offering their lives to protect him—a dead man. Keeping to the shadows, he finally made it to the pilot. He checked for a pulse. Under his fingers, a faint but steady beat pressed against his flesh. Scorch marks covered the pilot’s clothes and he had bruising to one side of his face, but he looked okay. Using his Ka-Bar knife, Kane cut through the ejection seat harness to get him free, bundled it up with the parachute, and pushed it down behind a rock and then went back and tried to revive the man. He could hear enemy drones moving toward his position and the scream of jet engines as a team covered him. He needed to get to cover fast and, with a grunt, hoisted the pilot onto his shoulder and ran back to his hiding place. He dropped him gently to the ground and checked him again for injuries. He removed his helmet and gently tapped his cheek. The man’s eyes moved under his eyelids, but he failed to regain consciousness. Kane sighed. He looked so young. He swallowed hard, scanning the tangled metal smoldering a long way away. The other pilot had died trying to protect him and he’d die willingly to get this one back to his family. “Terabyte, do you copy?”

“Affirmative.”

Kane took a sip from his water flask and leaned against a boulder. The smoke made his eyes water. “Casualty is out cold, pulse faint. Taking fire. I’m black on options here. Need secondary LZ—now.”

“Copy. We’re working on it. Multiple hostiles are moving toward you from the north, but we have you covered. Use the smoke and head south, along the mountain range.” He gave coordinates. “Listen for me. I’ll be hiding in the smoke.”

Kane stared into the thick black swirling fumes. “You? Haven’t they got a Blackhawk to haul us out of here?”

“National security. Get moving. You haven’t got much time. The moment you’re clear we’re sending in a cleanup crew.”

Staring north as a gust of wind disturbed the smoke, he made out a dust cloud in the distance. Armed hostiles were coming in force and he had minutes to escape. Jets screamed above him and bombs exploded. The ground trembled as he hoisted the pilot onto his back and ran for his life.

Four

Black Rock Falls

Present day

After adding the coordinates to the crime scene in Rio’s GPS, Jenna stared out of the window. On the drive into the office, she hadn’t noticed the amount of Halloween decorations the townsfolk had already installed throughout the town. Now with Rio driving, she realized how preoccupied she must have been, which surprised her. She usually enjoyed the Halloween festival, provided she didn’t have to deal with psychopathic killers. Her boys were excited and Tauri constantly brought home different items he’d made at school to show Jackson. Usually at this time of the year, Kane obtained a pumpkin and spent an enjoyable time with the boys carving it out and adding a light inside before placing it on the front porch. The fact that he hadn’t done that yet and had left without any notice whatsoever left a deep hole in Jenna’s heart. It was no wonder she hadn’t noticed the Halloween decorations on the drive to the office. Her head was everywhere but on the job at the moment.

“I don’t mean to pry into your business.” Rio glanced at her as they took the fire road and headed deeper into the forest. “Is everything okay with you and Dave?”

Jenna ground her back teeth and leaned back in the seat with a sigh. “Of course everything is fine with us. Why would you think any different?”

“He seems to have been gone for a time.” Rio frowned. “It must be difficult for you to manage alone with the boys. If there’s anything I can do to help, you only have to ask.”

Smiling at him to at least give out the appearance of being nonchalant, Jenna shook her head. “It’s all good. I’m not alone. As you know, I have Raya. She lives at the ranch with us and is exceptionally good at helping me with the horses. In fact, we sat down the other night and cleaned all the guns in the gun safe.” She blew out a sigh. “Of course, I miss him when he’s away, but men need time to themselves sometimes. I know Wolfe needs to get away too and they like to spend some time together fishing and hunting. There’s been nothing happening here for the last two months and I believe they were getting a little stir-crazy. They both finished building antique motorcycles in the same week and I figure they were at a loss at what to do next.”

“Uh-huh.” Rio’s eyebrows rose. “I find it very strange that they both have been away for so long. I know Dave hates being away from you and the boys. He mentioned it to me before, when I asked if he’d like to go fishing with Rowley and me. We planned a week last summer after we closed the last case—you recall our vacation?”

Nodding, Jenna kept her eyes face-front as the GPS instructed them to make a left. “Yeah, he mentioned it, but it would mean leaving me alone with only Raven to run the office. I’m afraid I asked him if he wouldn’t mind making an excuse for not going with you. I know he would have liked some time away fishing with you guys. Carter would have likely wanted to join you as well, which would have meant that I’d have no one to call on in an emergency. Styles and Beth would come, but they’re even farther away.” She flicked him a glance. “This is one of the reasons I didn’t ask him to set a limit on his time away. I figured he deserved to take as much time as he needed and so did Wolfe. It’s not as if we don’t have them covered. They work really hard and deserve a break.” She gave him a direct stare. “Another thing, I’m not the type of wife who constantly checks up on her husband. I don’t need to because I trust him implicitly—and most likely they’d be somewhere out of range anyway.”

“What about in an emergency?” Rio drove along a narrow trail.

Barking a laugh mainly to remove the lump from her throat, she turned to look at him. “That’s what I’ve got you guys for.” She stared ahead, noticing Raven’s truck parked alongside the trail. “There, I see Raven’s truck, just ahead.”

Once they’d parked behind Raven’s truck, Jenna collected her things and slid out of the door. Behind her Emily Wolfe parked the medical examiner’s van. She went to speak to her. “Wait in the van with Webber until we clear the area. Raven is out here somewhere.”

“Okay.” Emily buzzed up her window and leaned back in her seat.