Removing her handgun from its holster, she whispered instructions. “Let’s split up and go in from two directions. You take seven o’clock and I’ll take five. Avoid each other’s line of fire.”
He nodded. “I’ll draw her fire. You’ll have about a fifteen-second window to take her down.”
He started to turn away, but Mattie grasped his forearm to stop him. “Be careful, Brody.”
“You too.”
She turned off to the right, whispering to Robo to heel and seeking the five o’clock position to home in on the cliff face. Robo stayed close as she crept through the forest, using trees and boulders as cover when she could. She’d recovered her breath during their brief stop, and it came evenly. Her senses sharpened. The wind sighed through boughs overhead, and dead pine needles crackled beneath her feet.
Mattie crept close enough to Carmen so that she could see her clearly. The woman’s black hair had been pulled from its braid, messy strands floating around her head. She stood at the bottom of the incline, her back to Mattie and her hand raised to shield her eyes from the setting sun. She studied the cliff face above, holding her crossbow ready.
Mattie searched for Cole in the rocks, but could see no sign of him. She decided to get even closer.
Cover became sparse as she moved to the edge of the clearing, but by now she estimated she was only about thirty feet away from the woman. Robo danced at her heel, ready to lunge forward. Grateful that his training held to remain silent, she gripped the strap on his vest to keep him close. She scanned the seven o’clock position but couldn’t see Brody. He would be well hidden, and she didn’t waste time looking for him. She assumed he would be in place.
Mattie waited, her breaths coming in short bursts despite her trying to slow them.
“Carmen Santiago!” Brody shouted from off to her left.
Carmen pivoted, training her bow in his direction. But she didn’t fire. She crouched and sidestepped behind a boulder at the base of the cliff—still armed.
The boulder sheltered Carmen from Mattie’s vision. Does she have a gun? A gun would be a huge factor.
“Lay down your weapon!” Brody called. “Come out with both hands raised where I can see them.”
Robo tried to surge forward, but Mattie held him back. “Heel,” she whispered. “Steady.” She felt it critical that Carmen didn’t know she and her partner were there. Surprise on their part would make all the difference. Robo settled beside her.
“Why are you threatening me?” Carmen called out.
“I’m here to arrest you for the murder of Adrienne Howard,” Brody shouted.
Mattie looked for him, but still couldn’t see him. Evidently Carmen couldn’t either.
Carmen gave a sharp laugh. “I had nothing to do with that. You should talk to my hired man, Juan Fiero.”
“Well . . .” Brody said, drawing out the syllable. “I’ve done that already. He’s alive and talking.”
Silence fell over the clearing, and Mattie wished she could see the woman. Then Carmen backed cautiously, crossbow held ready, keeping the boulder between herself and Brody but coming into Mattie’s view. She could see the camouflage pattern and black scope on the bow. She couldn’t count on Robo’s Kevlar to protect him from the deadly bolt. She waited, Robo straining against his vest. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep him from barking.
Evidently Brody grew tired of the wait. He stepped out from behind the trees, showing himself at the edge of the clearing. He held his rifle pointed at the sky.
“Come out and let’s talk,” he said. “We’ll both put down our weapons.”
Carmen rounded the boulder, sighting through her scope as she came. A heavy clunk vibrated through the clearing as she shot the bolt. Brody fell.
Heart racing, Mattie sent her dog. “Robo, take her.”
Robo streaked across the thirty-foot clearing like unleashed fury. Carmen turned, while he leaped at the arm that held the bow and clasped it in his jaws. His momentum sent them both tumbling down into the rocky shale, Robo on top. Without releasing his bite, he leapt off the woman and stretched her out, dragging her away from the crossbow. Carmen’s screams and Robo’s terrible snarls echoed off the cliff.
Mattie charged toward the two of them. She pounced on Carmen’s back, feeling satisfaction when she heard the wind whoosh out of her. Robo continued to tug while she grasped Carmen’s free hand and pulled it behind her back.
“Surrender,” she told Carmen, “and I’ll call off the dog.”
With a curse, Carmen quit struggling.
“Robo, out!” She waited for Robo to drop her captive’s arm. “Guard!”
Robo loomed over Carmen’s head, saliva dripping from his jaws.
“Don’t move, or he’ll go after you again,” Mattie said as she secured Carmen’s other arm behind her back.
She started to reach for the cuffs that were secured to her utility belt, but Brody came up from behind with his. Mattie snapped the steel cuffs into place, looking up with relief at Brody but seeing the blood trickling down his forehead. “You’re hit,” she said.
“Shit,” he muttered, gingerly touching a wound on his forehead. “More like I hit the ground.”
Mattie shook her head. You’re crazy, she thought, but kept the words to herself. Letting Robo stay in guard position, she stood and stepped away from her captive. The woman was no longer struggling. “You ready?” she asked Brody.
“Yup.”
She released Robo and called him to her side.
Brody bent and grasped Carmen’s upper arm, his firm grip apparent even to Mattie. “On your knees,” he told her in a gruff voice.
“I have political asylum,” she said, struggling to get up on her knees. “You can’t arrest me.”
“Watch me. Stand up now,” Brody growled as he pulled her up. He proceeded to arrest her for Adrienne’s murder and read her the Miranda rights.
Mattie wondered why the woman thought she’d have immunity and hoped there’d be no problem prosecuting her. The only proof they had that Carmen Santiago had killed Adrienne was the word of a migrant worker. She hoped Adrienne’s laptop contained something even more damning.
Mattie took her first aid kit from her utility belt and handed Brody a sterile gauze pad. “Will you be okay?” she asked. “I need to find Cole Walker.”
“I’m fine,” he said, pressing the gauze to his wound. “Go ahead and track him. I’ll take her down to the barn. Call on the walkie-talkie if you need help.”
Mattie gave him a short salute and turned to go, patting Robo and telling him he was a good boy. “But we’re not done yet,” she said, withdrawing Cole’s hat from the utility belt and giving Robo a sniff. She lowered her hand and used a sweeping gesture to indicate the ground.
It took only a few seconds for Robo to pick up the trail, and he followed it across the slope. She heard Brody tell Carmen to walk as she hurried to keep up with her dog. Robo appeared confident, tail waving and happy, while he led Mattie through the forest. Soon, she realized that Cole must be headed for the main road. After about fifteen minutes, she came to the edge of a small clearing and caught a glimpse of him disappearing into the trees on the other side. A large black dog walked beside him. The Doberman.
Such a great sense of relief flowed through her that it was almost overpowering. Breaking into a run, she shouted. “Cole! Cole, it’s Mattie.”
He reappeared through the pine, and the exuberant grin that she’d grown so fond of lit his face. He dropped the branch he was using for a walking stick and limped toward her, his arms extended. “Mattie! Thank goodness you found me.”