Deadly Revenge (Pearl River #3)

Chapter 29

29

Max had learned to never ignore the sixth sense that told him danger lurked nearby. “I felt someone was watching while you were in the arena, but I couldn’t identify a threat anywhere.” He held Ace’s reins with one hand and rested his other hand on his gun. “Come on, boy.”

“When did you—” She stared pointedly at his gun.

“My Glock? I went after it while you were working with Ace.”

“So I’m not imagining the goose bumps on my neck?”

“No. This ever happen before?”

“Not before this week. The barn has always been my safe place.”

Max knew the feeling. He felt the same way at his parents’ farm.

Once they were in the hallway, he pointed to a side aisle. “Can we untack there?”

She nodded and led Ace around the corner to another set of crossties. She slipped the bridle off and the halter on, then hooked the crossties. Max helped her unsaddle Ace.

“Do you really think someone is out there?” Jenna asked.

“ Something’s out there—even your horse sensed it.”

“It could be a squirrel as far as he’s concerned.” She’d tried for lighthearted, but her voice trembled.

“Maybe, but there’s no sense in taking chances, especially since Sebastian’s been—”

An ATV blasted by the barn door, and Ace tried to rear. They both grabbed his halter.

“That was Kirk,” Jenna said. “He was probably the one in the woods.”

“I’ll check and see.”

“While you’re gone, I’m going to hose Ace down.”

Max caught the boy before he hopped off the four-wheeler. “Hey there!”

The boy looked around at him. “Yeah?”

“You Kirk?”

He nodded.

“You spooked a horse.”

Kirk shot an uneasy glance toward the barn. “I thought they were all up,” he said, his tone defensive.

“Were you in the woods in the last fifteen minutes?”

“Why you want to know?”

“Just curious, that’s all.” Max drew closer as the boy dismounted the ATV. He pulled his badge from his pocket and showed him.

The boy’s eyes saucered. “I ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”

“Not saying you did. Did you just come from the woods?”

“No, I promise—I was going to, but Granddad sent me to the back pasture to find a mare who’s about to foal.”

His tone told Max he hadn’t been happy about it. “Did you find her?”

“Yeah, I knew she was okay. I could’ve gone to the river,” Kirk said. “Wait. Why do you want to know if I was in the woods?”

Max didn’t want to alarm the boy since they really didn’t know who, if anyone, had been in the woods. “Ace kind of spooked at something there.”

“Wasn’t me.” He started toward the house and stopped. “What’s a TBI agent doing here, anyway?”

“Jenna Hart is a friend of mine.”

Kirk smiled for the first time. “I’m going to be feeding Ace this week, and sometimes she lets me ride him. She’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, she is. You must be a pretty good rider, then.”

The boy’s chest puffed out. “I am.”

Humble too. Max glanced toward the wooded area that was a good half mile away then back at Kirk. “Any chance I could borrow your ATV?”

The boy hesitated. “For how long?”

“Fifteen minutes.” Shouldn’t take any longer than that to check out the scope of woods. “And I grew up driving one of these, in case you wondered if I can drive one.”

“I suppose it’s okay. I have a few chores to finish around here, anyway.”

“Thanks.” Max straddled the four-wheeler that was similar to the one his dad still used. He gave it gas and a few minutes later approached the V-shaped area Jenna had pointed out. After killing the motor and dismounting, he carefully searched for broken branches and trampled grass, signs someone or even an animal had been hanging around.

When he didn’t find anything at the edge of the trees, he hiked deeper into the woods. A hundred feet in, he found a path. Max cocked his ear. Sounded like running water, probably a creek. Max wasn’t familiar with this part of the state, so he didn’t know how large the stream was. If it were shallow enough, whoever had been spying on them could’ve waded in.

He followed the path to the creek. From where he stood, it appeared too deep for anyone to wade, but it was wide and deep enough for a small craft like a canoe or kayak or even a paddleboard to navigate. Max walked toward the bank.

A branch snapped behind him. He whirled around, and a fist connected with his jaw. Max’s head snapped back, and he staggered. He fought to regain his balance, but it’d been years since he’d taken anyone down in a fight, and Max was rusty.

The man, dressed in Levis and a black short-sleeve T-shirt, came at him again. Sunglasses kept Max from seeing his eyes, but it looked as though he had short hair under the ball cap he wore.

Max pivoted away from him. Too late, he saw a flash of silver just before the man slammed a pistol against his head. Max’s knees buckled, and he pitched forward, darkness rolling through his brain ...

“Max! Wake up!”

Jenna’s anxious voice barely penetrated the fog in his brain. He struggled to answer, but his voice wouldn’t cooperate.

“Max ... talk to me. What happened?”

“Jenna?” He finally managed to get her name out.

“Thank God you’re okay.”

He didn’t know so much about being okay. Max opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but like his voice, his muscles refused to move.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced around, but everything was blurry.

“I came as soon as I learned you’d borrowed Kirk’s ATV. I found you on the ground. Just be still.”

With weakness holding his body captive, there was no way he could do anything but be still. The fog slowly cleared, and Max tried to recall what’d happened. He’d been in the woods ... heard water flowing ... and then ... it all came rushing back. “There was a man here ... he got the drop on me ... he must’ve hit me with the butt of his gun.”

“When I found you unconscious, I called Alex. Do I need to call an ambulance too?” Jenna asked.

“No.” He wished she hadn’t called Alex. But it was protocol. “Help me sit up.”

Jenna held out her hand, and Max pulled himself to a sitting position, then braced his back against a tree trunk. His head swam. Maybe not his best idea. “Does Alex know how to get where we are?”

“I told her to find the ATV and then follow the broken branches to the river.”

After a few minutes, he lightly pressed his fingers against the side of his head, wincing when he found a tender spot.

“Did you see who it was?”

“Sort of. He wore sunglasses and a ball cap. Bulky guy in jeans and a pullover.”

Evidently, he’d been watching them while Jenna worked with Ace. But why? And why attack him?

She took out her phone. “I’m calling 911. If someone hit you in the head, you may have a concussion.”

Max held up his hand. “Don’t call. I’m not seeing double and I’m not nauseated.” He was more embarrassed that the man had gotten the better of him. Max pushed away from the tree he’d been bracing his back against. “I need to stand up.”

“Let me help you.” She aided Max in climbing to his feet and then steadied him once he was up.

“So, what were you doing before the attack?”

He turned and pointed toward the creek. “I was walking to the bank. It looked like someone or something came up from the creek, and more than once. I was checking it out, except I never got close enough to see.”

“It’s actually a river—the Blackwater River,” Jenna said. “It isn’t very big here, but there’s a sandbar where the river changed course years ago. It gets wider and deeper before it empties into the Pearl River above the lake.” She glanced toward the bank. “The bend is a perfect place to tie up a small boat or canoe and climb up the bank. Maybe the way they got here was what someone didn’t want you to see.”

“But why were they spying on us in the first place?”

She blew out a breath. “Could it be Rick Sebastian?”