Jenna shook her head. “I’d rather let Wolfe have some time alone with you. Arms behind your back.”
“I don’t take orders from women.” Thompson grabbed at the chain around his neck and coughed. “You’ll have to shoot me.”
Jenna handed her Glock to Julie. “Don’t hesitate, if he overpowers us, shoot to kill.”
She read him his rights and with Jo’s help, they cuffed Thompson and searched his pockets. They found two cellphones and the key to the shackle. Jenna took back her weapon and released Julie. “Your dad is waiting for you outside and we have deputies on their way to take him in.” She tugged three times on the rope and received a tug in reply.
“You won’t be triggering any explosions from these.” Jo removed the batteries from the phones and pocketed them.
“Stupid woman. You should have put a bullet in me. Handcuffs won’t prevent me from killing you.” Thompson, jumped to his feet and swung his head making the chain cut through the air.
The chain whirred as it gained momentum in its deadly sweep of the cavern. Jenna thrust Julie into the passageway. Now she’d have to break her word to Kane and take Thompson down. Death was too good for what this man had done, families needed justice through the courts, and Kane needed to face the man who’d killed his wife. Jenna pulled her weapon and aimed for his head. With the chain whizzing by, it was her only choice, but would make the shot fatal. “Stand down.”
A flash of brown came out of the darkness and with the chain flashing above his head, Duke hurled himself at the monster, sunk his teeth into the front of his pants, and didn’t let go. Thompson howled like a wolf and dropped to his knees unable to dislodge Duke’s grip. Duke growled and shook his head, his sharp canines digging deeper into vulnerable flesh. Without a second thought, Jenna holstered her weapon, rushed in, and slipped the manacle around his ankle. The metal lock closed with a satisfying click.
“You’ve got nothing on me. I’m going to hunt you down and make you pay.” Thompson’s words came out in a growl of pain. “I know where you live.”
Jenna rolled back on her knees ignoring him. Her prisoner wasn’t going anywhere until backup arrived. “Okay, Duke, you can let go now. It’s time to go home.”
Sixty
The time it took for help to arrive seemed like hours and Jenna sighed with relief when Kane and Wolfe emerged from the tunnels with Nootau. They’d left at once and made the mile or so journey through the forest in short time, but negotiating the catacombs had slowed them down some. During Jenna’s wait, Thompson’s words had played on her mind. Did they have enough evidence to link him to the bombings?
After they’d made the trek up the mountain, Carter flew straight to Black Rock Falls Hospital and landed on the helipad. Once Wolfe had carried Julie inside, Carter headed to town. With Rowley and the Louan deputies blocking Main, he put the chopper down outside the sheriff’s department. Inside, Jo formally charged Matt Thompson with the kidnapping of Julie Wolfe. It was a charge that would stick and hold him in the cells. With the threat safely locked away, Jenna sat with Jo in her office sipping coffee to wait for Carter and Kane to arrive. She yawned and looked at the clock. “I’m getting tired now.”
“Me too. I’ll be glad when we can hand over to the Louan deputies and get some sleep.” Jo peered at her over the rim of her cup. “It was pretty tense in the caves when the guys arrived. I understand Wolfe’s anger when he saw the state of Julie but the way Kane changed when he confronted Thompson was almost like seeing a psychopath with a victim. Although he didn’t touch him, I could almost cut the tension. It must be his sniper training, I guess. They can fall into a zone and block out emotion.”
Wishing she could confide in her about Kane’s secret hell, she averted her gaze and nodded. “Yeah, he does that, I call it his combat face. With Wolfe, I figure he kept it together well, although I could see he wanted to tear the man apart.” She turned to stare at her computer screen and quickly changed the topic of conversation. “We don’t have enough solid evidence to charge Thompson with the bombings.” She frowned. “By changing his MO each time, with a good lawyer, he’ll do a plea bargain and be out in a few years.”
Voices came in the hallway and Jenna stared at the door. Kane and Carter strolled in waving an evidence bag. She looked at them. “Okay, please tell me you have some evidence to nail this guy?”
“Oh yeah.” Kane laid the evidence bags on the desk. “Two explosive devices. Don’t worry, they’re safe—but Thompson made a mistake. We found a fingerprint on the tape and it’s a match. The trademark soldering is identical to all the other devices.”
“Wait, there’s more.” Carter tossed a toothpick in his mouth and did a dramatic pause. “Kalo called, Thompson is a match for the DNA found under Pamela’s nails. It was on the database. Thompson had given a sample of his DNA to formally identify his son, who was killed in a housefire last year.”
Jenna nodded. “How come I didn’t know about that?”
“Thompson lived in Blackwater and the housefire was in Helena.” Kane filled two cups with coffee added the fixings and handed one to Carter. “Kalo hunted down links between Thompson and the three main points of our conclusions, social workers, magistrates and cops.”
“Yeah.” Carter stirred his coffee. “Thompson was tossed from foster home to foster home and ended up abused. Years later, he put in numerous complaints about the system and one complaint made it to court but he had a lousy lawyer and the magistrate dismissed the case. When he couldn’t get justice, the bombings occurred.”
Jenna nodded. “So, I assume the people killed in DC were the ones involved in the case?”
“Yeah, he targeted the social worker and lawyer, but why he killed the magistrate’s secretary is still a mystery.” Kane dropped into a chair and sighed wearily. “Then comes the circumstances around the Blackwater bombings.” He stared at the ceiling. “We were that close.” He held his forefinger and t
humb an inch apart. “Thompson must have been satisfied with his revenge in DC and settled down in Blackwater, married and had a son. His wife died in a car wreck, he took up drinking and someone reported him to child protection. It was Connie Wood, who took his two-year-old son away and put him in foster care. He ran off with him on a visitation day and Sheriff Stuart arrested him for abduction. After the arrest Connie Wood stood up in court and labeled him an unfit father and the boy was placed in another home in Helena. The magistrate responsible was Abe Coleman.”
Rubbing her temples Jenna peered at him. “Oh Lord, and then his son died in a housefire at his foster parents. That would have been the second trigger that caused all the recent bombings.”
“Yeah.” Carter gave her a long look. “Then what happened, Jo?”
“It was the profile I surmised at the get-go. The first bombings were all about him, his revenge on the system but the second wave of bombings specifically targeted the family unit because he’d lost his son. His son’s death would have triggered the dormant psychopath and he wanted revenge.” Jo shook her head. “The problem was, as he went along escalating, he was starting to enjoy himself. It was probably the first time he’d felt anything for a long time.” She sighed. “Raping Connie Wood was his way of getting even and knowing he would kill her children was his revenge.”
“I’d like to speak to the prisoner.” Kane finished his coffee and stared at her. “He hasn’t lawyered up yet, has he?”
“No.” Jenna took in his relaxed demeanor but he couldn’t hide the rage in his eyes. She looked at Carter. “Would you mind updating the files while we’re gone? The Louan team are dropping by to take care of the prisoner overnight and they’ll be here soon.”
“Sure.” Carter pulled out his phone. “Kalo sent me all the details.”