“I’ve done that twice now, Rafe. I’m not getting anything. I’ve even tried to switch the frequency to see if I can get anyone in town to answer.”

Rafe pounded his fist on the steering wheel. “Something’s wrong.

I know it.”

His every instinct was screaming at him that this situation was ripe with danger. Something had happened.

“I’ll see if I can get Logan. Maybe he’ll know what’s going on,” Cam said.

When Nate Wright had radioed in earlier, Joe hadn’t been at the station. He’d been on site, possibly making sure he’d cleaned up properly after himself and getting rid of pesky little pieces of evidence. Joe had always joked that he, himself, was the smartest man he knew. That arrogance had seemed like a funny quirk. Now Rafe could see that Joe truly believed it. He thought he was above the law.

Cam changed the frequency again and let out a little shout of joy as he got an answer. “Thank god. Logan. Logan, it’s Cam and Rafe. I need to know if the SAC is still at the crime site.” Logan’s voice crackled over the line. “Your SAC is a jerk. He had me bring all this crap out here and now he’s gone. I asked some of the forensic guys and no one’s seen him. And the forensic guys are looking at me like I’m an idiot. I fucking hate that. He wasn’t at the station when I left. Is it standard FBI procedure to disappear in the middle of an investigation?”

Rafe’s skin went cold. “Who’s at the station with Laura?” There was a slight pause, and then Logan didn’t sound quite so pissed off. “Nate. Nate’s there. I’ll get him on the radio.” The connection got quiet for a minute.

“He wouldn’t take her in the middle of the day.” Cam’s words came out almost like a prayer.

“He’ll do anything it takes.” God, Rafe needed a gun. Why had he given up his gun?

Logan’s voice came back on the line. “Nate isn’t answering. No one’s answering. I’m getting in my Bronco right now. I can be there in ten minutes.”

Ten minutes was too long. Rafe turned onto Main Street. Unlike the other times he’d been on the street, it was almost deserted. The line of businesses and restaurants was eerily quiet. There was one truck parked outside the Trading Post. It was big and black. Rafe recognized it because he’d thought sincerely about firebombing it with its owner inside. Now Rafe couldn’t think of a single person he’d rather see more than Wolf Meyer.

He stopped the SUV in the middle of the street just as Wolf walked away from the front door of the Trading Post, scratching his head at the closed sign.

Wolf was dressed in a black T-shirt, jeans, and boots. He looked very military and substantial. Rafe hopped out, leaving the engine running.

“Hey, have you got any idea what’s going on? Why the hell is everything closed in the middle of the week?” Wolf asked.

Rafe didn’t have time to answer the man’s questions. “I need a gun.”

Wolf Meyer looked like a man who had kept a gun handy.

Wolf went from confused to stone-cold professional in a heartbeat. He moved toward his truck. “What’s happened with Laura?”

No hesitation from the ex-SEAL. “We figured out who the killer is, and we think he’s after her. Nate took her in to be interviewed while we were getting the files we needed, and now we can’t raise anyone from the station.”

“Fucker.” Wolf pulled back the front seat, and his hand disappeared. “There’s no way Nate lets anything happen to her. We have to think that Nate’s not answering for a reason.”

“Yes, he’s either run with her or he’s down.” Rafe didn’t even want to think about that. If Joe had killed the sheriff, Rafe wasn’t sure how he was going to live with himself. Of course, if Joe killed Laura, Rafe wasn’t sure he wanted to live at all.

“Nate’s going to be a tough kill,” Wolf said, his voice gruff as he pulled out a black bag. He unzipped the bag and started pulling out what looked like an endless supply of things with which to kill people. Rafe knew he’d come to the right place. “Sig Sauer P226.”

“I’m familiar.” The minute Wolf put that big black gun in his hand, Rafe felt infinitely better. Rafe quickly checked the chamber and made sure it was loaded and ready to go. “How many more do you have?”

Wolf grimaced. “More than I should have. And a couple of knives. Taser unit. Two shot guns.”

“Are you planning on starting a war?” Cam asked, holding his hand out for his weapon. He proved he was familiar with fire arms, too, when Wolf handed him another P226.

Wolf reached back in his truck and came up with a scoped rifle.

“My mom and potential future step-dad,” he stumbled on the word, groaning just a little, “they might be crazy, but they are right about this town. It’s dangerous. I’m loaded and ready to go. Russian mob.

Stalkers. Biker gangs. Hell, aliens. I’m ready to take them all down.” Rafe would use the help. He’d use anyone if it meant getting Laura back alive and whole. He couldn’t fail her again. “Will you come with us?”

“Of course.” Wolf slammed the truck door shut. “What are you going to do with this guy? Do you have enough to arrest him?”

“I’m going to get him alone, and I’m going to kill him,” Rafe said.

Even as the words came out of his mouth, he knew he shouldn’t have spoken them out loud, but he couldn’t take them back. He meant every word.

Wolf stared at him for a moment. “See that you do. And then tell me what your alibi is. I’ll back you up. So will any man in this town.

They won’t be able to prosecute you. Just make sure you get rid of the gun. And wipe it down first.”

Wolf sounded like he knew a little bit about how to play dirty, but then Rafe was sure the SEALs had taught him that. They didn’t play fair when the country’s safety was at stake, and Rafe didn’t intend to play fair, either.

Wolf nodded as he started toward the sheriff’s department building. It was only a block away, but it seemed like a mile to Rafe.

Rafe turned to his partner, the only person in the world who understood how much was at stake. “Let’s go get her.” He watched Cam swallow down his fear and turn stony cold. “I’m ready.”

Rafe walked toward the sheriff’s department, his mind set to the task.

* * *

Cam went in the front door, gun at the ready. Wolf followed behind him while Rafe went up the alley to sneak in the back. Cam’s heart was in his throat. He checked his emotions so he wouldn’t take one look at Joseph Stone and pull the trigger.

He was shocked at just how normal the station seemed.

A young woman dressed in a long skirt and loose shirt walked out into the main room as Cam and Wolf walked in. Her eyes went wide as she saw the guns in their hands. “Deputy Briggs? Is there something I should know?”

Hope. He remembered Nate introducing her as Hope. “Where’s Laura?”

“She’s in with the sheriff. I was just taking a little break.” Hope strode over to open her boss’s door, and then a little shriek came out of her mouth. “Sheriff!”

Cam ran. Now some of the others were coming out of the interrogation room. Edward actually called out for him to stop, but Cam ignored him. He felt bile in his throat when he saw the sheriff slumped over his desk. The desk was in complete disarray. He’d knocked over a thermos, and coffee was everywhere.

“We need to call a bus,” Rafe yelled from the small room in the back. “Brad is down.”

“I’m fine.” Brad sounded cranky, but Cam was focused on the sheriff. Wolf got in behind the big man and tried to pull him up.

“He’s got a pulse.” Wolf struggled as he forced Nate Wright’s big body up. “Come on, Sheriff. It’s time to wake up and possibly purge.” Where was Laura?

Chaos ruled all around him. He couldn’t place all the voices shouting.

“Call Caleb. Half-alive sheriff is more important than dead reporter.”

“We have to get him on his feet.”

“What happened to Special Agent Conrad?”

“Where’s Laura?”

Where was Laura?

“Stop,” Cam shouted. His roar filled the room, and everyone stopped. “Hope, get Caleb over here. Edward, you stay. Wolf, get the sheriff into the bathroom. Everyone else, get out of here. When Logan gets here, send him in.”

“I need to sleep.” The sheriff tried to shove Wolf away.

“No, Sheriff, you need to spend a little time in the bathroom.”

“Can’t. Gotta keep it open for Callie.” But the sheriff was on his feet, stumbling toward where Wolf wanted him to go.

Rafe helped Brad sit down. “What the hell happened?” Brad’s forehead was swollen above his right eye, and his face was covered in blood. It seemed to have stopped, but Brad held a towel to his head anyway. “I walked in to ask the sheriff about the recording equipment, and I found him like that. I realized something was wrong, and I tried to get your girl out of here, but she attacked me. I hit my head and then nothing.” He turned to Edward. “Just where the hell were you?”

Rafe shook his head. “It wasn’t Edward. It was Joe. We need to figure out where Joe would have taken Laura.” Edward’s face went a stark white. “It can’t be Joe. Joe is out at the crime scene. He told me to handle the cameraman because he needed to focus on evidence.”

Cam was sick of everyone hiding their heads in the sand. “He killed his wife, and now he has mine. You’re the closest one of all of us to him. Where would he go?”

Edward shook his head as if he was trying to wake up from some nightmare. “He loved Marla. He loved her so much. I was so sure of it. He was devastated when she died.”

“Edward, snap the fuck out of it.” Cam needed a different tactic.

Just because Edward was blind didn’t mean he was stupid. “I need you to focus. You know more about the actual facts of this case than anyone. Stop thinking of him as Joe. He’s the Marquis de Sade.