First Surrender (Chance Encounters #3)

Chapter Fifty

Jackson

T he amount of feet trudging through the thick brush, crushing the dried fallen leaves on the forest floor, drowns out any noise the predators that live here might be making. It’s an eerie feeling, walking deeper into an unknown landscape, knowing Dec is lost and alone in the very woods that these black bears call home.

Lochlan seems confident in his stride beside me and I have no problem following his lead. I’ve never felt the need to assert my authority when it isn’t needed. Lochlan outranks me here and I respect it.

We’re only walking a few more minutes when the dog’s bark pierces through the trees. He’s ahead of us a few hundred yards but it seems he’s stopped moving.

My heart thunders in my chest at the prospect of finding Dec. The sooner I have my eyes on him, the sooner this will be over and I can get him back to the safe zone. We haven’t seen any signs of bears, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t here. “Let’s go.” I pick up speed at the thought and Lochlan keeps pace with me easily.

As we break through a thick tree line, my breath catches in my throat and I hear Natalie gasp beside me.

“Woah, woah.” Lochlan throws his hands up, commanding everyone to stop moving.

A large bear is just ahead of us in a small clearing, proudly standing on its hind legs, squaring up to the hunting dog that hasn’t stopped barking at it. Its black fur is as dark as its distressed eyes, staring at all the unwanted visitors.

“Sissy!” Dec’s voice comes from across the clearing and my head swivels toward the sound, but I can’t see him. My eyes are frantically searching for his small frame among the trees.

“Dec! Stay right there!” Natalie yells back, dropping to her knees.

At first, I think it’s in relief. Her body is finally giving out and she can’t stay on her feet but it only takes a moment to realize she’s looking right at him from her new vantage point.

Tucked in between a big boulder and the trunk of an old tree is his small body, right on the other side of the bear and the dog. I have to squat down to see him fully, barely listening while Lochlan takes the lead, speaking to his guys over my head.

“Hayes, call the dog back,” Lochlan orders the guy with the tattoos, breaking a limb of a sapling next to him. “Everyone else, form a half circle, we’ll funnel him out in one direction.” The group does as he says without question, getting into position to leave the bear one route to escape in.

“Sheriff.” He grabs my attention and I stand back to my height, forcing my eyes off Dec. “I’ll scare the bear off. Stay behind me and grab the boy when you can. Keep your hand on your weapon but don’t shoot. Even if that bear knocks me on my ass and I’m bleeding out, only if it goes toward the boy.” His eyes are hard, giving me no room to question his sincerity. One day I’ll ask him about his dedication to these bears, but not today.

“Got it.”

Standing at his full height with his arms above his head, Lochlan starts waving the limb in the air, yelling gibberish. His size rivals the bears as he marches toward it slowly, but that doesn’t negate the danger. This is a wild animal and he feels threatened.

I keep pace behind him with my gun low but ready. My eyes ping from the bear to Dec, over and over.

The dog’s still barking, not listening to any commands from our onlookers to stand down. If anything, he’s backing closer to Dec, keeping guard between him and the bear.

“I’m coming, Dec. Hold tight, buddy.”

When Lochlan’s within ten feet of the bear, it mewls in distress, collectively making the whole of our group freeze. There’s a deafening silence as we wait to see the bear’s reaction to Lochlan’s approach.

He’s flailing his head side to side in defiance of being cornered but after a few seconds, it ultimately starts shifting backward, preparing to flee the area.

It lowers to all four legs very suddenly, taking off into the brush line, and I sprint the final distance to Dec. I scoop him up out of his hiding spot before I have a chance to regain my breath. “I’ve got you. You’re safe,” I strangle out through a tight throat as he cries against my shoulder.

The dog stays hot on my heels as I rush him over to his sister, dropping to my knees to lower him so Natalie can hug him.

My lungs intake a full breath of air for the first time in hours.

We’ve got him.

“Are you okay?” Nat fusses over Dec, checking him from head to toe. He’s dirty, and his legs are cut up, but he looks fine.

“I hurt my ankle when I jumped over the fence. I couldn’t run anymore, I tried.” He whines into his sister’s neck and I see her own eyes shining with tears. She told him to run and he was trying not to disappoint her.

“He climbed a barbed wire fence? Brave kid,” Lochlan says from beside us. “Looks like you might have a new friend.”

The panting red dog is lying in the dirt beside us, his nose resting against Dec’s thigh. “Thanks for finding me,” Dec says softly to his unlikely savior, petting the top of his head.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” I lift Dec into my arms again and we head back out of bear territory the way we came.

It isn’t until we’re through the fence that I finally feel like Dec’s safe and it’s all over but the dread in my stomach stays thick. Dec’s had one of the worst days of his life and I still need to tell him that I killed his dad.

“Patch that.” Lochlan directs his guys and then waves me over to the side-by-side. “I’ll take you guys back up to the road.”

There’s still work to do, I’ll have to break Dec’s heart tomorrow.

* * *

“It was smart expecting me here at the church so my family would be easier to kidnap. I’ll give you the credit there, Reverend.” It’s late, Dec and Natalie are safely tucked away at home, and now I have a case to close.

“Ah, Mr. Malec. I deserve so much more credit than that. I’ve been pulling the wool over your eyes for as long as you’ve been Sheriff.” Reverend Porter sits slowly in the front pew of his church. The lights are dim and the ghostly glow of the platform lingers behind me.

I put myself in his line of sight while my two backup deputies remain on the back wall, giving us room to chat. “Why is a Godly man running a crime ring in Rollins County? Tell me that, Mr. Porter.”

“Son, you have no idea what it means to be a man of God. I am only doing his bidding. Cleaning his beautiful earth of sinners.”

“Sinners?”

“Sinners took my wife from me. My family.”

“Explain.”

He chuckles as if he’s amused by my inquiry. “My sweet, Marcy was taken from this world because of sinners. High on their drugs and alcohol. They drove her off the road and we didn’t find her until the next day. My wife was murdered, leaving me to raise my children on my own.” He inhales a deep, rattling breath, but continues. “My sister allowed men to ruin her, bringing babies into this world out of wedlock. Men who are driven by their own sexual needs, leaving children to unwed mothers, belong in hell. Sinners have ruined this place. Rollins used to be peaceful, a place where families attended church and put their hands on the bible.”

“All of this because you think you’re cleaning up Rollins?”

“Filth doesn’t belong here.”

“Is that why people have been going missing? Kidnapping them and selling them to the highest bidder? Why my family?”

“I wasn’t interested in your family, Sheriff. It only pleased me to rattle you. Declan went rogue in his attempt to pay me back the money he owed me.”

“He was going to pay you back by selling a little boy and a young woman to God knows who? To blackmail me? What?”

“Don’t use the lord’s name in vain, son.”

“I don’t give a damn, Reverend.” My voice is as cold as ice. I’m done with games.

“I don’t know why Declan took your family, he only promised to get me what he owed me.” He shrugs. “I never cared for the skin trade. Wasn’t my goal. Vagrants wander into this place and ruin it. They bring drugs and corruption. Getting rid of outsiders was my only interest. My sons were greedy in their endeavors, and it got them killed.”

“Where are all of the bodies then? The ones who have gone missing since Benjamin and Anthony were killed?”

He shrugs. Part of me hoped that he was trafficking these missing people somewhere else, only because it meant they might still be alive. His dismissal of their humanity leaves a heavier rock in my gut.

“Long gone, Sheriff. Don’t bother. The mountains have reclaimed their souls.”

It takes every ounce of strength to stand here and act unphased. I hardly blink at his detached words.

“Why the 5k bombing?” I ask, needing to tie all the loose ends I can.

“That was Thomas’ idea. He thought he could get back at the military for what they did to him, but I only cared because it showed just how much power I have here. With a snap of my finger, I could have these streets cleaned up quicker than you ever will.”

“Those were innocent people.”

“No one is innocent, Sheriff.” He coughs hoarsely into a handkerchief and lays it on the pew beside him.

“Tell me about the drugs.”

“Drugs. God forgive us for the drugs.”

“You said you were cleaning up, why provide Declan with drugs?” It’s only a theory, but now I need to hear the reverend admit it. He’s the one behind the overdoses, too.

“Mr. Randolph got one of my grandsons addicted. Hooked him years ago. When I found out it was him, I told him he could do my bidding or I’d assist in his descent to hell. He chose to do as I told him until he didn’t. He was supposed to take over the drug supply, boot all the competition out, and get rid of the users. Let them die on the very addiction controlling their lives, it didn’t matter to me.

“He stepped out of bounds. He mixed our business with his personal affairs. Killing his wife put a target on his back and put me in a bad way. I needed him out of jail because he was a tool. A tool who owed me a lot of money.”

“Where are the rest of the drugs?”

He shrugs again. “That is the question. I’m out a lot of money now that Mr. Randolph is dead.”

“How did you know he died?” It’s only been a few hours since I shot Declan, the events haven’t been made public, yet.

“I have ears everywhere, Sheriff.”

Of course, more secrets. The information and lack thereof is making my head pound erratically. I’ve been asking for answers for so long, that it seems my brain can’t fathom it. “Who killed Thomas in the jail?”

“Well, you did, Sheriff.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Ah, but asking too many questions gets people killed.”

“So, it was you?”

He chuckles. “I’m an old man. I don’t get my hands dirty but you know that already. I needed Declan out of jail and I needed him to take me seriously.”

“So, you had your nephew murdered?”

“He was getting chatty and as a man facing a long prison sentence, he had lost his way. He was a lost cause.”

“Why are you being so forthcoming about your crimes?”

“I’m tired, Mr. Malec. I can see that you are not as easy to fool like my son-in-law was. That stupid man should have never been associated with my daughter.”

“Does Vanessa know you’re involved in all of this?”

“She is as flippant as you’d expect. She is a preacher’s daughter, she only does what she thinks will please me. Having her two boys was all she was good for. Randall will be a politician and continue my work, Jeremiah will carry on the family name in his own way I suspect.”

His blatant disregard for his daughter is disturbing but not surprising. He isn’t the only man of his generation with such dismissive views on women.

All the missing pieces are clicking and my disgust only builds that one man coerced and eliminated so many innocent lives.

He begins to hum, reaching for the bible on the seat next to him. A shiny silver revolver is tucked into its cut-out pages when he opens it.

My gun’s drawn and my finger is on the trigger before his fingers can brush the reflective metal. “Don’t fucking touch it.”

“Tell my daughter to bury me in my white robes.” He continues humming his tune, ignoring my command and grasping the handle in his gray and veiny hand.

“DROP IT, REVEREND!” His forearm moves, tilting the gun ever so slightly in my direction, and for the second time today, I kill a man.

With so many questions left unanswered, Reverend Porter is dead. My crime leader is simultaneously discovered and gone.