Against All Odds Read online

  Finally, a heavy-set guy in a sorely out-of-style jogging suit jumped into action halfway between Alex and Flynn.

  Flynn jumped over some shrubs and darted around rose bushes. It slowed him enough that Alex was able to close the distance, at least until he reached the plants.

  Just as he passed the roses, Flynn disappeared into the woods.

  The dude in the jogging suit stopped and gasped for air. “Who’s that guy?”

  Alex didn’t stop. “Only a child predator!” He ran past him and into the woods.

  The other man’s footsteps sounded from behind.

  Flynn was nowhere to be seen, and there were several paths leading in different directions.

  Alex went straight ahead, ducking under low-hanging branches and jumping over exposed roots. He listened for the criminal but couldn’t hear anything over the ragged sounds of his own breathing.

  The path branched out in other directions, appearing more like a maze than anything else. It was like it was designed as an escape for a convict.

  Alex’s lungs burned, but he kept running. He wouldn’t stop until he caught up with Flynn or his legs wouldn’t take him any farther.

  He raced down one path, then another and another until he was certain he’d gone in a figure-eight. After taking a different fork, he circled back to the jogger.

  Alex stopped and gasped for air. “Did… you… see… him?”

  The guy wiped sweat from his brow and shook his head. “He got away.”

  “Unbelievable.” Alex leaned against a tree, his muscles aching and burning.

  “That guy’s a child predator?”

  Alex nodded, still trying to catch his breath.

  “Is he the shooter?”

  “No… idea.”

  “I’ll go tell one of the cops.”

  Alex just nodded, but he didn’t think it would do any good. None of them had bothered to go after them and find out why they were chasing someone.

  Once he was able to breathe normally again, Alex wove his way out of the woods and back to the school grounds.

  Jogger dude was talking to one of the cops from another precinct. He pointed to Alex.

  The officer waved him over.

  Alex picked up his pace and told the officer what had happened, and who Flynn was. “He might be the shooter! We have to stop him!”

  He nodded, then radioed in the information. Not even a minute later, a policeman and policewoman raced into the woods.

  “Can I go?” Alex asked. “I need to check on someone.” He still didn’t know if Zoey had been there during the shooting.

  The officer shook his head. “You need to stay here. I have to call about the suspect. You said he’s a death-row inmate?”

  “Yes.” Alex slid his knife back into his pocket.

  “I haven’t heard anything about an escape. I’m going to have to find out if it’s true.”

  Alex gritted his teeth. “I’m telling you, it’s him!”

  “Don’t move.” The officer stepped away and pulled out a cell phone, keeping his gaze on Alex.

  “You’re related to Ariana?” Jogger asked.

  Alex flicked a nod, eyeing both the cop and the woods.

  “Brother or something?”

  He got that a lot, given that he’d only been fourteen when Ari had been born. “Birth dad.”

  The guy raised his eyebrows.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  They stood in awkward silence until the officer returned, his mouth and eyes twisted into a scowl. He stepped close to Alex. “Your guy is still on death row. He didn’t break out. He isn’t here. Care to tell me what’s really going on?”

  Jogger dude looked at Alex like he was the sicko.

  Alex gave the cop a double-take. “I saw him! That was the guy who abducted my daughter. It was him!”

  The officer shook his head. “Nope. He’s reading War and Peace on his bed as we speak.”

  “That can’t be.”

  “Oh, it is. It makes me wonder what you’re up to, though. Why are you trying to distract us from what’s going on here?”

  Alex’s mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me?”

  The cop pulled out a pair of cuffs from his jacket. “You’re going to need to go downtown for questioning.”

  “You’re not serious!” Alex stepped back. “You can’t arrest me.”

  “I very much can.” He arched a brow. “But I don’t have to if you comply.”

  “Uh, can I go?” Jogger dude looked back and forth between the officer and Alex.

  “Yeah. Thanks for your help.”

  Alex glared at the officer. “I’m no criminal. Talk to Captain Fleshman—he’ll vouch for me.”

  “I don’t know a Captain Fleshman.”

  “Detective Garcia? Anderson?”

  “Nope. Not from around here. Give me your wrists, and I’ll take you to the station for questioning.”

  Alex stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared him down. “I’m not leaving here in cuffs. You haven’t arrested me! I’ll go to the local station if I have to for questioning—in my own car, but you will not drag me away in handcuffs from my daughter’s school. Do you understand?”

  They stared each other down until the other man relented. “Okay. You definitely need to go in for questioning, but I won’t arrest you. However, I’m going to your car with you and logging in all your information.”

  Alex bit back an angry retort. How could they waste time on Alex when they had a real suspect so close?

  Bomb

  Nick exited the classroom and turned to Foster. “That room’s clear.”

  She nodded. “I just got word that the bomb squad is on its way.”

  “We’d better hurry. There’s still a lot of ground to cover, and they’re probably going to try and clear us out of here.”

  “They’re coming from Seattle. That gives us a little more time, depending on when they left. Or maybe they’re almost here already. I’m not sure.”

  “Okay. We’re going to need all the time we can get.” So far, they’d only found a few kids, but the last girl had been frightened out of her mind, just shaking in the corner of a classroom by herself. Foster had escorted her outside because she could barely walk on her own.

  Nick and Foster continued checking classrooms for kids, but there didn’t appear to be any down this hall. Someone else might’ve already cleared it earlier. It was hard to know, because this was hardly an organized scene.

  It was actually one of the most chaotic Nick had seen in his career, and the fact that other forces came to help only added to the confusion. But it was better to be over-careful than under.

  They reached the end of the hallway, and the only thing left was a janitor’s closet. Nick nodded to it. “You want to check it out while I call it in that this section is clear?”

  “Sure.” Foster opened the door and stepped inside.

  Nick pulled out his radio, and just as he was about to make the call, Foster poked her head out of the closet.

  “You’re going to want to see this.” Her face was pale.

  Nick’s mind went wild with bloody images of kids as he leaped over to the closet.

  Foster widened the door and stepped out of the way.

  On the floor, in the middle of the tiny closet full of mops, brooms, and vacuums sat a rectangular black box with wires sticking out of every direction and several buttons on top.

  They exchanged a worried glance. Foster pulled out her radio. “Is that the bomb?”

  “If it isn’t, someone really wants us to think it is.” He reached for it.

  Then he froze and stepped back, closing the door.

  Beep.

  Nick and Foster stared at each other, wide-eyed.

  Beep, beep.

  Foster pulled her radio out and called it in.

  Nick reached for the door.

  “Nick, no!”

  He spun around, more from the surprise of her
using his first name. Even during off-duty play dates with the kids, they’d really only ever called each other by their last names or rank.

  “Don’t open that door!” She pleaded with her eyes.

  “You head outside. I’m going to check it out.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Then step back.” Nick turned around, giving her a moment to move, though he doubted she would. He grabbed the knob and his heart nearly exploded out of his chest.

  The bomb—if that was what it was—might be connected to the door somehow. It hadn’t made any noise until before he’d closed it.

  “This is your last chance to step back,” he warned her.

  She didn’t step away.

  Nick flinched. He didn’t want to be responsible for her death if the device really was a bomb. Nor did he want to put his own life on the line unnecessarily. He had three kids to think about.

  “Captain?”

  “Call it in. See if the bomb squad is close, or if we can talk to them. Find out what they say.”

  “Okay.”

  He turned around and faced the door. The beeping continued on the other side of the door. Nick’s pulse pounded through his body. He really wanted to open that door, and being captain, it was his call. But at the same time, he had almost no experience with bombs. All the other times he’d dealt with them, they’d been fake. Given the severity of the situation as a whole, he had to be even more careful than usual.

  Foster looked up from the phone at that moment and yelled, “They say we need to clear the building! Now!”

  Nick turned around and met Foster’s gaze.

  Beep-beep-beep.

  The noise was getting faster.

  Without a word, they burst into a run down the hall. Nick glanced back several times, half-expecting to see a ball of flames headed their way.

  Just as they neared the exit, the bomb squad came into view. They were covered in protective gear from head to toe, had several canines, and a large box—presumably to detonate the device.

  Nick told them where it was, then opened the door, allowing Foster to run out ahead of him. They ran through a courtyard, then down along another wing of the building until they came to the ball fields. The area was a sea of people and aid vehicles.

  He stopped, scanning the crowd for his kids.

  Foster skidded to a stop and turned to him. “Do you think this is far enough from the potential blast zone? Or should we tell everyone to leave the property?”

  Nick took a deep breath. He didn’t know enough about explosives to make an educated guess about the reach of the bomb—if that was in fact what they were dealing with. “We’d better let the experts make that decision. I don’t want to see anyone getting hurt in a stampede to flee the school. That’s likely the real danger.”

  “So, what do we do now?”

  “Let’s check on the rest of the scene. Find out what we know about the shooter and victims.” That would give them the chance to walk around the perimeter of the building and would allow Nick to look for his kids.

  Detained

  Alex glared at the two-way mirror, though given how many people were at the school it was unlikely that anyone was bothering with him.

  He tapped the scratched, inked table and read some of the scrawling others had written since his last visit to the room. It made his stomach knot thinking about how many times he’d been in these holding rooms over the years—usually when someone he cared about was missing. And here he was again, and Zoey was missing.

  Alex wanted to throw up. How had he ended up back here? When he should be out there, searching for not only his fiancée but his daughter’s abductor—the man who was supposedly behind bars in Walla Walla clear across the state.

  It didn’t make sense. Alex knew that face. He’d punched that face when Ari had been missing. They’d crossed paths while the coward was grocery shopping shortly after he’d taken Ariana. He’d been both bold and cowardly at the same time.

  How could the guy be in two places at once? It made absolutely no sense. He couldn’t be on death row and running free near a school shooting at the same time.

  Yet there he’d been. Recognition had flickered on his face when he saw Alex. It was him.

  Alex glowered at the mirror again. “How can you keep me locked up in here at a time like this?”

  He got up and paced, shooting annoyed glances at the mirror every few seconds.

  Had Flynn come back for Ariana? Did he take Zoey when he realized he couldn’t get Ari? Or was it all a coincidence? Was he just there to see the show?

  There were too many questions and not enough answers. Not any answers. And here Alex was, trapped in the tiny room unable to do anything to help anyone he loved.

  For all he knew, Flynn was on his way to the Nakanos’ to try and get Ariana but nobody would call over there and warn them because they didn’t believe Alex. Just like they hadn’t believed him before.

  Would anything change after the academy? Once he was on the force, would they finally have some respect for him? Or would he always be seen as the town screw-up?

  He went over to the door and pounded on it. “If you’re going to hold me, at least make it worth the time! Don’t just leave me in here!”

  Alex flashed back to banging on another door. It had been a dirty room, and he’d been denied food.

  He leaned against the door and closed his eyes. The filthy smell of that room came back to him. The taunts and the music. Not the music. That song played on loop for so long it still played in his mind at night when he couldn’t sleep.

  Alex spun around and hit the door again. “At least tell me if anyone has found my fiancée!”

  It was pointless. Nobody was going to help him any more than back in that filthy cell.

  Sighing, he sulked back over to the table and slunk into the same chair he’d been sitting in. He pulled off his sweatshirt, balled it up, shoved it on the table, and rested his head on it.

  Alex closed his eyes, trying to ignore the song that would likely never leave him, and mulled over his interaction with Flynn. He let his mind run, hoping it would offer some clue he’d skipped over. Maybe he’d seen Zoey in the crowd, but he hadn’t noticed because he’d been so focused on their daughter’s abductor.

  If he had, his memories weren’t helping. Alex saw nothing new.

  Just him sitting in the police station. Again. For someone who wasn’t yet a cop, he’d spent too much time in these holding rooms.

  He got up and paced again, for all the good it did him. What he needed was to be back at the school, looking for Zoey and their daughter’s abductor.

  How could Flynn be in two places at once? Nobody had believed Alex when he’d said he’d seen the guy back then, and they sure weren’t listening now.

  He glanced at the door again, but he wasn’t going to act like a prisoner. Hitting the door and yelling wasn’t going to get him the attention he wanted, not here and not back at his illegal cell.

  Alex walked over to the mirror and stared at his own reflection, imagining who might be on the other side. Probably nobody, but it felt better thinking someone was there.

  He knit his brows together. “What good is it keeping me here? Why am I being held? Because I said I saw someone? Give me a break! I haven’t done anything wrong!” He glowered, picturing the small room back there, then walked the length of the mirror several times. “The only thing I did wrong was admit what I was doing. Clearly, you guys think I’m crazy. Why else would I be here? What are you going to do when I’m a part of this force? What then? Huh?”

  Alex kept going for a while, but finally quit. It wasn’t getting him anywhere. The chances of anyone being back there on a day like today were lower than low. Everyone was at the school. They’d just dropped him off and left. It wouldn’t have surprised Alex if the fool hadn’t even told anyone he was there.

  He needed to talk to a lawyer about this, but they were holding his phone. As soon as Nic
k got back, Alex would demand to see him.

  Nick knew Alex hadn’t lost his mind. The police captain wanted him on the force. It was just a matter of Alex getting through the academy. Then they’d be golden.

  Then it would be Alex’s job to chase the criminals. He wouldn’t get locked up for it.

  “Let me out of here!”

  Corral

  Nick ran over to the last group of stragglers. “You need to leave the school grounds.”

  A lady with too much makeup glared at him. “Why?”

  He gestured toward the bomb squad’s well-marked vehicles. “There’s a potential bomb. We’re clearing the area.”

  She gave him a dramatic eye roll. “Fine, whatever. Come on, Conner.” She put her arm around a kid and they headed away, the others with them following.

  Nick jogged a little farther, coming to an officer from another force. “This area clear?”

  “All clear. Any word on the device?”

  “Not that I’ve heard. Now we need to get ourselves off the grounds.”

  The other officer nodded, and they headed across the street to where the crowds had gotten even bigger.

  Word had probably spread far and wide about the shooting, and possibly the bomb threat. Now everyone in the area wanted a look for themselves.

  Onlookers were inching closer. Nick ordered them back then told the officer with him to stay there and watch the people.

  It was worse than trying to herd cats.

  Nick walked around the perimeter, ordering the civilians to keep their distance while at the same time looking for his kids. His stomach twisted in knots.

  He hadn’t heard of any kids being shot, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. This was the most disorganized crime scene he’d ever been to, especially with who-knew-how-many other departments on the scene and the bomb squad.

  Nick continued telling people to stay back. It was amazing how many people were willing to risk their lives for the sake of curiosity. If there was a blast, debris would fly through the area they stood in. But considering how many fake bomb threats there were, it was no wonder next to no one was taking this seriously.