BACK IN MCKENZIE Ridge, everyone was on edge as expected. They were executing their plan, putting Lydia out there, front and center for Tom to see from wherever he was hiding. Life was back to normal, whatever that was.

The O’Reilly brothers were set up at Sugar Pine Stables when they got back, having snuck in under the guise of darkness the night before. Their command center was there, and they were watching everything, 24/7, rotating shifts. Ronan and Ryker had followed Dec and Lydia back to McKenzie, but drove on through, so as not to be seen.

Later that night, they did as the brothers did and came back to town. They hiked through the forest and came in from the north, where nobody would see them, right into Lydia’s garage through an entry door on the north side.

The cousins were their secret weapon. Tom would anticipate the O’Reilly brothers’ presence, despite not seeing them. Ronan and Ryker, however, left them with the upper hand and element of surprise. He wouldn’t see them coming once they got a trace on Tom. He’d walk right into them – they were the eyes and ears Tom didn’t know they had.

The brothers were spread out. Dace and Wylie were staged at the O’Reilly cabin, where they were less likely to be tracked and able to come and go following leads, less detected. Tom knew the cabin, but it was just far enough out of the way that he couldn’t watch them and everyone else.

Liam and Luke stayed at Sugar Pine Stable on the opposite end of town. Tom didn’t know they were there and wouldn’t think to even look there. Liam had his cyber recon equipment set-up, watching everything clear to Arrow Springs, the next town over.

Blake and his local team were spread out as well. No matter where Tom was or how he decided to strike next, there was a team nearby. He couldn’t watch all of them, all of the time. The pressure was on, and he was sure to falter.

When Lydia left the house, she left with Declan. He was the only person Tom would see with her. He would bank on that when he finally decided to make his move.

Liam’s facial recognition software finally had a hit. It picked him up in Arrow Springs again, at a gun shop, using area security cameras. Something they had been relying on finally paid off. Ronan and Ryker were on the road within minutes, taking the one highway that sat between the two towns. Tom wouldn’t see them coming until it was too late.

It was a good twenty to thirty minute drive, one way, from where they were, with ice and snow on the roads. While they moved in, Liam tracked Tom’s movements through Arrow Springs’ city cameras, then the O.D.O.T, Oregon Department of Transportation, cameras once Tom hit the highway. He was headed to McKenzie Ridge and right into Ronan and Ryker.

“He’s headed right for you, boys. Light blue pick-up, late model. Twenty minutes to target,” Liam instructed.

“Copy that, command. We’ll toss spikes at one mile visual. Road conditions aren’t prime; we’re expecting rough impact,” Ryker said through the radio call, referring to road spikes that would disable Tom’s vehicle.

Everyone was dialed in and listening to the event go down, if not watching for themselves over Liam’s shoulder. It was eerily silent as they waited. Tension was high, emotions higher. Tom was going down, finally.

“I got him on the next camera. Target is ten miles out, on his way to you,” Liam informed.

“Copy – ten miles. Change in plans – conditions warrant tossing the trap at five miles out, then driving on. We’ll circle around when we pass him and chase him right into the spikes.”

“Shit.” Liam hollered. “I think we have a camera out. I don’t see him and there’s no movement on the feed – he should have passed by now. We’re blind boys. Keep your guard up; should be hitting visual in 4 miles, 5 miles to target.”

“Copy. We’re in position. Spikes are down, driving toward target. Two miles, no visual.”

There was a long pause, nothing to see or report on either side.

“He’s off the grid – do you have a visual?” Liam asked, trying to sort out where they lost him or if it was just a technical issue.

Ryker responded with a simple, “Negative.”

“Target should be in view; do you have a visual?” Liam’s tone turned angry as if asking again in an angry tone would simply make Tom appear.

“Still a negative, Liam.”

“Son of a bitch! Where is he?” Liam pulled up live satellite maps, looking for movement from an aerial view.

“We’re moving forward, seeing if he’s just pulled over somewhere making it easy for us,” Ryker informed.

Luke chimed in, offering an update, “Plates are back – truck’s stolen out of Seattle.”

“I have an aerial view. You’re the only vehicle on the road. Mission’s a bust. He’s in the wind again,” Liam said, slamming his fist on the table.

“Could he have turned around?” Lydia asked.

“No, he would have shown up on the cameras, and the software would have alerted us,” Liam answered.

“We’re turning around and picking up what we left behind. There are a few turn-offs out here. Not sure if these are private driveways or supposed to be roads with all this snow,” Ryker offered. “Give me coordinates if you want a search.”

Wylie laid out large grid maps on a table nearby and traced the route Tom was on from start to where he was last seen. “Okay. There are about a half dozen roads between where he was last seen on camera and where we lost him.”

“So just search those roads. There are only six. That’s easy, right?” Lydia asked.

“No, it isn’t,” he replied. “They are Forest Service roads, some active, some not. They branch out in every direction. There are probably hundreds of possible routes here that he could have taken. Some lead to McKenzie, some out of the area. He could be anywhere.”

“Smart. That’s why we haven’t been able to track him. He’s getting around on those roads and has a truck. He can get anywhere he wants to out there,” Luke said.

“And we haven’t been looking this deep, with the snow. We haven’t had reason to, not a single lead until now,” Dace reasoned.

Declan ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “So where is he staying? We know it’s not in town. Here’s our first clue.”

“There are dozens and dozens of old Forest Service cabins, hunting cabins, vacation homes between here and Arrow Springs. He could be in any one of those,” Wylie said, still looking at the map.

“So we start looking,” Dace said, “but where do we start?”

“Shit – that’s looking for a needle in a haystack,” Luke added, pacing the room, trying to come up with a reasonable solution.

“Not necessarily,” Liam smiled. “Call the boys in. I have an idea.”

Liam turned to his computer screens and started typing away, tuning the rest of the crowd out while he worked. While he formulated a plan, the rest of the group stood by, waiting for their next move.

Days went by without a sign of Tom. Lydia felt like she was being watched, but that’s because she was being watched by every O’Reilly in town – at the very least. Tom was still hiding, plotting, and preparing, or so they all assumed.

They stuck to the routine, with exception to Lydia working more than usual, trying to keep her mind off of what was going on around her. It made the days go by faster, and with each day, they got closer to finding Tom. Even with the distractions, it felt a little like sitting around and watching the grass grow.

“How was Portland?” Eva asked, walking into Lydia’s office. “You look…different. Jax seems happy. Good trip?”

“I feel a little different,” She replied. “I guess time will tell if it’s a good different. We had a good time though. It was nice.”

On cue, Declan walked in, his expression dark and angry. He had been in and out, spending most of his time in his car or next door at Blooming Grounds, watching Lydia via new surveillance cameras from his phone, of all things, so he wasn’t hovering. It was the only way to avoid the mommy mob at Outside In, too.

“What is it?” Lydia asked.

“They found a body.” Both women gasped at his statement, which came with no warning. Just a blatant statement, one they weren’t expecting.

“Tom?” she whispered.

Declan shook his head. “Tom’s body? No. Was he involved? Probably.”

“Who…who was it?” Eva asked quietly, not sure she wanted to know.

Declan looked between the two women and delivered the bad news. “Your missing employee, Jared Tanner.”

“Oh, Jared.” Lydia’s hand went to her mouth, trying to mask the tears that were threatening but lost it when she heard Eva hiccup a small sob.

“Liam found a way to narrow the search down by about half. He tapped into the electric company mainframe and searched for unusual usage – either new or increased use specifically – over the last thirty days. He narrowed the search to a twenty mile radius around the area we last saw him, before he disappeared,” Declan explained.

“Wow, that’s actually brilliant,” Lydia said, impressed.

“That’s Liam,” Declan countered. “We’ve cleared a lot of the cabins, but when the old Forest Service fire watch tower up on the ridge popped up, we thought we had him. Perfect hide out, least likely to be noticed, and nobody goes up there. Squatting in someone’s vacation home – risky.”

“But you found Jared instead,” Eva surmised.

“Looks like a drug deal gone bad, but someone was definitely staying there, too.”

“Tom,” Lydia added.

“Maybe. We aren’t sure,” Declan shrugged.

Lydia furrowed her eyebrows, trying to make sense of something that could never entirely make sense. “Do you think he was involved? With everything we have been…dealing with?”

Shaking his head, Declan didn’t have a good answer. They were all guessing at this point. “He had access to you – maybe?”

“He was a good guy. Played hard like snowboarding and rafting, but I would never peg him as being into drugs. It just doesn’t make sense. God, his poor mother.” Tears threatening again, Lydia just stood there and stared.

Eva wiped her tears and stood tall. “He wasn’t into that. He’d never…he was good.” She nodded her head as if agreeing with herself. “Please excuse me; I think I am going to be sick.”

Sitting down hard in her chair, Lydia looked to Declan. “I think I’m going to be sick, too. This is too much.”

Reality had settled in, and Lydia actually feared for her own life. Sure, she knew they were dealing with a diabolical psychopath with a murderous past – but until now – he was just that. Now there was a body count, and she feared someone she loved could be next. She could be next.