Thirty-Seven
Jane’s dad sat beside her in the SUV with his military-grade laptop tracking his state-of-the-art Newham drone. Reid sat in the back so her dad could direct Jane. ATF hadn’t arrived yet, and there had been no roadblocks set up between her dad’s compound and Pelican Harbor.
She’d left Parker shut in her dad’s house for now. She might not be able to protect anyone else, but she could protect her dog.
Charles peered at the screen. “They’re still on Bon Secour Highway. About four miles ahead of us.”
“Stay with them.” Jane’s biggest fear was they’d make it to I-59 and disappear in the heavy summer traffic. A white vehicle wasn’t the easiest to track. Gulf Shores would be teeming with white cars today.
“Let’s think ahead,” Reid said by her ear. “What would be the easiest way to escape?”
She thought for a minute. “Out on Fort Morgan Road. There are a lot of private docks. They could slip into a driveway and escape by boat if it was preplanned.”
“I hope that’s not the plan,” her father said. “The drone won’t be able to see the vehicle through the trees. Some of those places are heavily wooded.”
“If they go that way, we could take the drone out past the trees to Mobile Bay where we could watch for boats.” She tossed her phone to Reid in the backseat. “Please text Augusta and Jackson and ask them to bring a boat out to the Mobile Bay side of the peninsula.”
“I’m on it.”
Her father never lifted his gaze from the computer screen. “As long as there aren’t multiple boat launches occurring, we might track them. If the boat we’re following doesn’t dock in two hours, I’ll have to bring back my drone so there’s juice for it to land.”
She turned on the lights and siren, pressed hard on the accelerator, and maneuvered around cars that pulled over ahead. “Let’s just get to them and take them into custody.”
“There are three of them, and they are professionals,” her dad pointed out. “And we don’t want that dirty bomb detonating. We have no idea if they had time to arm it or not.”
“And there are three of us, and two of us are law enforcement,” Jane snapped. “If you’re afraid, I can let you out.”
Her dad shot her a searing look that made her close her mouth. “Sorry, Dad. But we can do this.”
“I’m not saying we can’t, but we might need backup. They could have automatic weapons for all we know.”
“We sure don’t want a shoot-out,” Reid said. “And I think if they’d armed the bomb, they would have left it in your bunker.”
Cars still moved to the right and let her pass. “How far ahead now?”
Her dad hadn’t taken his gaze from the laptop. “They’re merging into traffic on 59 and going south. I suspect you’re right, and Fort Morgan Road is their destination. We have to be careful we don’t push them into doing something stupid that might kill people. Stay far enough behind that they don’t hear your siren. There are a lot of vacationers out here. We don’t want any of them harmed.”
While Jane knew the counsel was wise, she wanted to slam into that vehicle and force the men off the road. Her cooler head prevailed though.
“Where’s the ATF?” Reid asked. “Have we heard any more from them?”
“I haven’t,” Jane said. “Didn’t they tell you they’d be right out?”
“Yeah,” Reid said. “But their idea of right away must not be the same as ours.”
“The men will be to Fort Morgan Road before the ATF could arrange a roadblock,” her dad said. “If we can overtake them on the peninsula, we’ve got them. Traffic is light out there, and Jane can force them to stop.”
Jane drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as traffic in front of her didn’t seem to notice her bubble light. When the clueless driver still didn’t move, she “yelped” the siren a moment until he moved over.
She zoomed past. “Now how far?”
“About two miles ahead of us.”
It felt an eternity as the minutes ticked by with her dad giving occasional updates. She had to get that bomb back.
“They’re on Fort Morgan Road. Go get ’em!”
Jane accelerated as fast as the vehicles ahead would let her. Once she got close enough for them to hear the siren, they’d speed up too. She prayed she could make up some of the distance before they realized they were being pursued.
“They’re speeding up. They’ve heard us back here,” her dad said.
She nodded and gripped the steering wheel with both hands as her SUV careened around a curve. Where was the white SUV? The curvy road blocked her view of the other vehicles up ahead.
“Where are they?”
“About half a mile ahead. Oh, wait, the vehicle disappeared!” Her father made some adjustments. “I still don’t see it. The trees overhang the road, and there are several tracks they could have taken out to the water. Let me see which ones have boat launches.” He messed with the computer some more. “All three have boat launches, and all three have boats moored at the docks.”
“Keep watching and see where the SUV breaks through the trees.”
“We’ll have to make a decision to turn down one of the tracks.” Her father stared ahead, then back to the screen. “Nothing yet. Take the first driveway up ahead.”
She nodded and did what he suggested. The drive was barely wide enough to get down. “I don’t think this is it.”
“You’re right. Back out and try the next one.”
Brush scraped at the sides of her SUV as she maneuvered back to the road. Several cars delayed her swerving onto the road, but she was finally able to go forward and turned into the next lane. This one was wider and looked well used.
“I see it! We’re on the wrong track. Turn around. It’s the next driveway.” Her father ran his finger over the trackpad. “They’re getting on the boat.”
She turned her siren to the yelp sound as she reached the end of the drive. But the sinking sensation in her stomach told her they were going to be too late.
* * *
Reid hung on to the door as Jane turned the SUV into the narrow gravel drive. She was a maniac behind the wheel. Thick brush scraped by the side of the vehicle, and large water oak trees blotted out the sunshine. She gripped the wheel and maneuvered around a big pothole.
“I think they’re heading for Dauphin Island,” her dad said. “I’ll have to bring back my drone or it will be lost at sea.”
“It’s only money, Dad! We have to get that bomb.”
“I don’t care about the money, but my drone doesn’t have enough power to continue to track them to Dauphin Island. It will fail no matter what. I’ll take the drone down to just above the boat to see if I can find the name so we can track it on the island.”
They broke through the brush into clear blue skies by a dock. The white SUV was parked there.
She parked her SUV, and Reid got out to rush to the dock and stare out over the whitecaps at the boat zooming away from them. Jane and her dad joined him. In the distance the escaping boat kicked up foam. Farther out were oil platforms and barges carrying coal. The drone was a black dot that zoomed down to hover over the boat.