Was it possible? Was Jon Oestergard the damned Ice Mummy Killer?
Chapter 33
The pickup was idling, its headlights beacons in the night.
A white Dodge with a camper, poised at the highest part of the road. The hills rose above this point, but here the road was a snow-covered S curve that wound down the back side of the mountain.
Standing in front of the truck, Gabriel Reeve, shackled and handcuffed, was visibly shaking, and at his feet was a lump of fur ... oh, Jesus, her dog!
Bait!
This was worse than she thought.
She had the phone in her lap, and without looking down, texted Pescoli:
With killer @ Cougar Pass. Help!
It was too late, of course.
She hit the send button and mute button, then dialed Pescoli and slid the phone into her pocket and calmly said, hoping her mouth didn’t move too much, just in case she was being watched through some kind of mega nightscope. “I’m at Cougar Pass, on the old mining road. Trying to get Gabriel Reeve. Send backup. ASAP!”
Her car rolled to a stop.
“Throw your weapon out of the car,” a voice boomed and she visibly started.
He was watching!
Gabriel, shackled in knee-deep snow, started to run toward her.
Craaack!
The report of a rifle echoed across the canyon.
Gabriel tumbled forward.
“Oh, God, no!” Alvarez yanked her gun from her holster, opened the door of her Outback and, weapon drawn, certain she would find blood blooming across her son’s chest, did everything she shouldn’t. With no idea where the assailant was, she flung herself through the falling snow and across the few feet to her boy.
“Come on,” she said when she reached him. “Are you hit?”
“No!” He was already moving with her, awkwardly stumbling toward the Outback, when another shot was fired.
The back window of her car blew out and she threw them both to the ground again.
Where the hell was the sniper?
Higher on the hill, above the road, looking down on them. If so, they were sitting ducks.
“Crawl to the car,” she whispered, frantically. She thought the sniper was above them on the hillside, but the back window had blown in, so she thought he might be behind them.
He’s playing with you.
This is a game. Sport.
He probably has night vision goggles and God knows what else in his arsenal.
“Get under the car,” she ordered. “Use it for cover!”
“Don’t leave.” Gabe was frantic with fear.