Chapter 1

Silver Plains, Texas

“If you look closely, Mr. Dillon, you’ll see all this flooring is hardwood, not that wood paneling you find in new construction,” Britney Stewart said, her hands clasped in front of her, a well-trained smile plastered on her face.

The small two-bedroom house had a musty smell, despite the cookie dough she’d put in the oven to give the house that lived-in, comforting feeling to it. It was an old realtor’s trick and worked like a charm in new houses, but didn’t seem to do much to these tract houses from the fifties. Too much aged lumber and drywall that had seen decades of residents had an odor of its own stronger than anything Toll House offered.

“I’m noticing some cracks along the ceiling,” the client said. “How’s the foundation?”

“We’ve had it checked recently and it was certified to be in good condition. You can of course feel free to bring in your own inspector, but from what my guy tells me, you can expect some shifting in these older houses. You’d be hard-pressed to find a house in this development without some cracks and wear. It’s purely cosmetic, however. They built these things strong back in the fifties, made them to last. Not like the stuff cranked out today, full of plywood and cut corners.”

“I don’t know. I’m bringing my family out here once I get settled and my wife wanted us to have a nice place off the base. She’s always saying how interchangeable everything is there, including the neighbors. It’s hard for little kids to get a feeling of stability they need on base.”

“You know most of the people around here are tied into Fort Chilton one way or another, mostly families that would prefer to live off base if they can for the very same reason. They’re looking for that sense of a community with roots.”

Britney couldn’t imagine anyone living here if they didn’t have to. It wasn’t unbearable now, but in a few months it would would feel like living on the face of the sun again. Except for the army base and the small town that supported it, there was nothing but desert in three directions, and the hills that marked the outer edge of the Rockies in the other.

The town itself wasn’t much to speak of either. Other than the forever necessary businesses like the grocery store and the doctor’s office, there were several of a less reputable nature, such as strip clubs and bars. Hell, they didn’t even have a real church, just the Baptists who’d set up in one of the vacant storefronts on main street. She couldn’t imagine anyone trying to raise a family in a place like this.

“Are there a lot of military families on this street?” Mr. Dillon asked.

“Five. The rest are folks who live in town. Doctor Brodie actually lives one street over, which should tell you that this is one of the better neighborhoods in town.”

“Is it loud, though? I know military families can sometimes get rowdy. My last posting was ... something of a problem, that way. It’s why I asked to see houses at the end of the street or in a cul-de-sac, since it cuts down on the noise.”

“One a few houses down, but they’re very quiet. They’re older, as you folks go. Her husband’s a sergeant who I think is close to retirement, so they stay pretty quiet. The rest are on the other side of the development.”

“What about the other neighbors? At any base I’ve been stationed at, some people work nights, and could be a little loud on their off evenings.”

What he meant was strippers, but these military guys sometimes liked to pretend they were gentlemen, she thought. In a base town like this, the strippers actually make nearly as much as the town doctor, although they didn’t manage their money well enough to actually buy a house. Britney thought one of the girls who worked at the Dancing Pony did live in this neighborhood, but she wasn’t about to point that out, especially since he seemed to think having that element nearby would be a deal-breaker.

“Nope, it’s really quiet. I’m pretty sure everyone on this street works during the day, so your wife should find it relatively peaceful. Besides, one of the benefits of these old homes is their sturdy construction, great for keeping the noise level to a minimum. Heck, you could probably scream in here and the people next door wouldn’t ever hear it.”

“Well, that sounds about perfect.”

“You should consider putting an offer on it if you’re really interested. I’ve got several parties who’ve shown interest and I’d hate to see a gem like this get swept out from under you.”

That was, of course, a lie. The market here was dead. The only people who ever moved in were in the military, and very few of those had families who wanted to live off base. If her husband didn’t run the hardware store, she wouldn’t have made enough money to eat every day of the week. The only reason she’d gotten her realtor’s license was out of sheer boredom.

“Do you have the paperwork?”

“I certainly do,” she said, surprisingly giving a smile.

She might be contemptuous of the job and entire town, but Britney was also fiercely competitive. There were only two other agents in town, a stripper trying to go legit and the wife of one of the county deputies. She’d rather be dead than getting beaten by either of those two idiots.

“After you,” Mr. Dillon said.

Giving him a smile, a genuine one for once, she turned and headed towards the kitchen, already looking forward to telling Jessica Prosser she’d had another sale this month. That cow didn’t even have a showing this month.

The smile vanished as she felt his hand gripping the hair on the top of her scalp, pulling her head back hard. She was so surprised, she didn’t make a sound for a moment, her brain trying to catch up with what was happening. By the time she started to shake herself free of her shock and start to draw in a lung full of air, she felt the cold edge pulling against her now exposed neck. Her scream came out as a gurgle as she began to choke on her own blood.

The hand that had never let go of her hair now pulled backward hard as a foot smashed into the back of her knees, causing her to collapse to the floor. She barely felt her head bounce off the floor, her hands gripped tight to her throat, trying in vain to hold onto that moment of life.

She could feel the back of her head warming up as blood began pooling around her, the world starting to grow gray. Mr. Dillon’s face looked down on her as he watched her die. She wanted to look away, but nothing seemed to work anymore. Staring at her murderer’s face, she wished his cruel smile wasn’t the last thing she’d ever see.

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

“You call this good time?” Kara said, slapping at another bug. “This sucks.”

She’d been making great progress on her English, but sometimes when she was stressed or annoyed, she’d start dropping parts of grammar not common in her native Russian.

“Come on, this is fun.” John Taylor said, smiling at his adoptive daughter. “Hell, this is great. We have an ice chest full of food, we’ve got lanterns, padded bedrolls. It’s the life. When I was in the army, sometimes we’d just have our rucksacks for pillows, lying on the ground, and don’t even get me started on MREs.”

“You’re forgetting we didn’t sign up for the army,” Loretta Whitaker said. “I didn’t realize getting engaged to you came with sleeping in the cold surrounded by bugs. I’m with Kara, this sucks.”

“Look up at the sky. You can’t see a sky like that in DC. Listen, you hear that?”

“I don’t hear anything,” Kara said.

“Exactly. No one outside yelling. No car horns. No sirens. Blissful silence.”

“Also no TV, no restaurants, and most importantly, no shower,” Whitaker added.

“Bah, you two just like to complain.”

“I want to make it clear on our honeymoon, no camping! I want room service and maybe a pool boy fanning me with a big palm leaf.”

“‘Yes’ to the room service, ‘no’ to the pool boy.”

“You know my sister is about to blow a gasket, us disappearing. We’re supposed to get married in two weeks, and we have a ton of stuff left to plan.”

“I know you told her she could plan the wedding, but what’s there left to do? Caldwell set everything up for us, down to paying for the reception.”

“I think that’s why she wanted to plan it. She made this big thing about it being part of the maid of honor duties, but we all know that’s bullshit. She heard our budget and who was involved and I think she just wanted the glamor.”

“Fine by me, but my point is, why do we need to be there? That was the whole point in agreeing to Caldwell’s demand anyways. You know I’m not crazy owing anyone anything, but it’s worth it if it gets us out of planning the wedding.”

“You know she won’t count this as you owing her anything,” Whitaker said. “You’ve saved her life, her daughter’s life, and helped her get elected. She practically counts you as one of her children at this point and she definitely counts Kara as one.”

“Which reminds me, I could have spent the weekend with Mary Jane,” Kara added. “She’s staying with her mother this weekend and invited me, and I had to say no, because I was camping. She thought I went insane.”

“We needed the family time. Things have been insane since November and we don’t get to see you nearly enough as it is. You’ll be off to college in another year and a half, and I want to make up for all the time we’ve missed.”

“Whatever,” Kara said, throwing a pebble at him.

He knew she wouldn’t have missed this for anything. For all she liked to complain, he knew Kara was all talk. Ever since she’d moved in with Mary Jane Caldwell to be closer to the fancy school Mary Jane’s mother had gotten her into, they didn’t see her as often as any of them would have liked. She had spent the majority of her life living with her abusers, sold to whoever paid the most, until she escaped that life and came back to the States with Taylor. He knew she wouldn’t have given up a single moment of the family time she now got.

“They finished with your dress, yes?” Kara asked.

“They did. It’s twice as beautiful as when we picked it out. I loved it, but they really knew their stuff when they altered it. I swear they did it in a way that makes me look ten pounds lighter.”

Taylor snorted. Of the three of them, Whitaker was probably in the best shape. Unlike Taylor, who did the very least amount of exercise possible, she was at the gym every day, working to stay toned or in the training ring, making sure she could still kick everyone else’s ass.

“Besides, we convinced Joe to let both of us clear up all of our casework leading up to the wedding. When was the last time you didn’t have an active case load? Let’s enjoy it while it lasts, because you’re still his wonder girl. I guarantee you when we get back from the honeymoon, he’s going to slam you with work.”

“Fine by me, I’d prefer having active cases rather than get assigned old case files or administrative work.”

“Did you finish...” Taylor started to say, and then stopped.

There were some sounds any soldier became attuned to over the years, and in today’s military, a helicopter was one of those. He’d first started hearing the distinctive ‘whop/whop’ sound a chopper’s blades made several moments ago, but had ignored it until now. Shenandoah might be peaceful, but it wasn’t cut off from the rest of the world entirely. Planes and other aircraft traveled overhead and they were only a slow, winding, bumpy thirty-minute drive from a fairly well-used thoroughfare.

Two things finally made him stop and take notice. One was the sound that it made. Military helicopters have a different sound than their civilian counterparts. This wasn’t a Blackhawk, which he’d flown in many times, the sound wasn’t deep enough. If he had to guess, it was a smaller bird, maybe an old Huey or a Seahawk.

The second thing that made Taylor take notice was that the sound was getting closer. It wasn’t just closer distance-wise that drew his attention; it was that the helicopter was dropping closer to the ground as well.

Considering they were in the less built-up camping grounds the park had to offer, without even public latrines, whatever made someone send a helicopter out here was worth paying attention to.

“Chopper?” Whitaker asked, now hearing it, too.

“Yeah, and I think it’s coming here. There’s a clearing on the other side of those trees. If it lands anywhere, it’ll land there.”

Taylor reached back and confirmed his weapon was still at the small of his back. While he and Whitaker hadn’t been expecting trouble on a family camping trip, neither of them liked to go unarmed if they could help it. They’d both had too many surprises over the last few years to feel comfortable otherwise. Thankfully, their badges usually took care of signs and policies that would otherwise force them to leave their weapons behind.