Deception Read online

  Praise for Crosshairs

  “Bradley creates a sweet, slow-building romance in which she weaves fascinating details of the lives of park rangers. With several plot lines involving different mysteries, Crosshairs will surprise readers until the very end.”

  Booklist

  “You absolutely have to read this! It’s an absolute can’t-put-down book, and your head will spin as you try to solve this murder mystery. I highly recommend this book!”

  Interviews & Reviews

  “Bradley continues her Natchez Trace Park Rangers series with a layered second-chance romance. Bradley unwraps a mystery of the past through a modern investigation that mends relationships, strengthens faith, and offers a couple a renewed chance at love. There’s much to dig in to for fans of crime fiction tinged with faith.”

  Publishers Weekly

  Praise for Obsession

  “A fantastic suspense read with tension at all the right spots! Fans of Patricia Bradley will not want to miss this one.”

  Write-Read-Life

  “Patricia Bradley remains one of my favorite authors in the romantic suspense genre. I loved this story! I loved the characters, and I also loved the setting. This book has it all—it is full of suspense and mystery, has lots of twists and turns, and more!”

  Life Is Story

  “Suspense writer Patricia Bradley’s second installment of the Natchez Trace Park Rangers series weaves plot twists and thrills that her followers have come to know and love.”

  Mississippi Magazine

  “A skillfully written thrill ride set on the Natchez Trace in Mississippi.”

  Interviews & Reviews

  Praise for Standoff

  “Bradley has done it again with her unique brand of mystery and intrigue, penning another gripping tale of greed and betrayal, as well as redemption and hope. Brimming with action, romance, and page-turning thrills, Standoff will hook readers. What a fantastic start to a brand-new series!”

  Elizabeth Goddard, award-winning author of the Uncommon Justice series

  “An explosive start to a brand-new series by Patricia Bradley that suspense lovers won’t want to miss. Full of family secrets, a mysterious old flame, and murder.”

  Lisa Harris, bestselling author of the Nikki Boyd series

  “With a plot as twisting as the villain’s schemes, Patricia Bradley’s Standoff spins a tale that will keep the reader racing through the pages and wondering ‘Who is the killer?’ until the thrilling conclusion.”

  Lynn H. Blackburn, author of the Dive Team Investigations series

  “My first ever Bradley book, and I very much enjoyed it! I really wish that I could give it more than 5 stars. Her style of writing is astounding! I’m a fan for life.”

  Interviews & Reviews

  “Patricia Bradley knocks it out of the park with the first installment of her new series! Twists and turns, romance, action and suspense galore keep readers glued to the edge of their seat until the very last page.”

  Write-Read-Life

  Books by Patricia Bradley

  LOGAN POINT SERIES

  Shadows of the Past

  A Promise to Protect

  Gone without a Trace

  Silence in the Dark

  MEMPHIS COLD CASE NOVELS

  Justice Delayed

  Justice Buried

  Justice Betrayed

  Justice Delivered

  NATCHEZ TRACE PARK RANGERS

  Standoff

  Obsession

  Crosshairs

  Deception

  © 2022 by Patricia Bradley

  Published by Revell

  a division of Baker Publishing Group

  PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

  www.revellbooks.com

  Ebook edition created 2022

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

  ISBN 978-1-4934-3618-7

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.

  In memory of my daughter, Elisa Renee Sides.

  You will be in our hearts forever.

  August 22, 1962–September 25, 2021

  Contents

  Cover

  Endorsements

  Half Title Page

  Books by Patricia Bradley

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

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  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  An Excerpt of JUSTICE DELIVERED

  About the Author

  Back Ads

  Back Cover

  1

  Today was not a good day to die. Her Sig P229 ready, National Park Service Ranger Madison Thorn pressed her sticky back against the hangar as another bullet kicked up dirt three feet away. The shooter’s aim was getting better.

  The Brewster County sheriff and his deputies were at least thirty minutes out. And an FBI response team based in Dallas was more than an hour away.

  The hangar provided little shade from the Texas sun, and Madison backhanded sweat from her face. Sometimes being one of the elite Investigative Services Branch special agents tested her endurance—this case in particular. For the past six months, Madison had been part of the team investigating the human traffickers using Big Bend National Park for their smuggling operation.

  She’d texted the FBI agent she was partnering with to meet her at the airstrip after getting a tip from a confidential informant. The human traffickers were flying in a load tonight. No word on what their cargo was.

  Where are you, Chad?

  After finding Chad’s vehicle hidden behind an outbuilding at the entrance, Madison expected him to be at their rendezvous point, but there was no s
ign of him. Her stomach churned. What if the cartel had lured them both here and Chad had been captured? No. The Chad Turner she’d fallen in love with was too smart to have been captured, so where in the world was he?

  Madison hadn’t meant to fall in love with him, but he’d been so wounded when they met. His wife had left him, and he only saw his boy once a month. She was able to make him laugh again, and in turn he made her feel loved.

  Movement in the rocks to her right caught her attention, followed by rapid gunfire. Madison zeroed in on the location, recognizing the shooter’s sandy hair. Chad. He was all right. She breathed a little easier and gave him cover as he dashed from the outcropping to the hangar.

  “Where have you been?” she asked.

  “Scouting.”

  “When you weren’t here, I was afraid you didn’t get my message. Could you tell who the shooters were? Or see where they went?”

  Chad shook his head and turned away from her. Madison slipped another clip in her Sig and studied him. His fingers tapped the side of his leg. A sure sign he was nervous.

  Something was off. She glanced toward the thicket where the shots had come from. No one was firing at them now . . . Had it been him all along?

  No. He loved her. In the months she’d known Chad, she’d trusted him with her life, her heart. But Chad had changed in the last two months—ever since his ex-wife left town with their four-year-old son.

  “You okay?”

  They’d spent enough time together for Chad to read her. Pushing aside her thoughts, she managed a wry grin. “Are you kidding? People are shooting at us. A Dr Pepper would be good about now.”

  “You and your Dr Peppers.” His chuckle sounded forced to Madison’s ears. “You’ve already had your one for the week.”

  “Desperate circumstances call for desperate measures. At this point, it can only get better.” She glanced toward the thicket again. “I texted the sheriff. He’s on his way.”

  Seconds passed.

  “He’s not coming.”

  Her breath stilled. “What do you mean?”

  “Just what I said. I called him, told him it was a false alarm.”

  Slowly she turned toward Chad, her heart almost stopping at the sight of his service revolver leveled at her.

  “I’m sorry, Madison.” Regret filled his eyes.

  She forced air into her lungs. This couldn’t be happening.

  “Why, Chad?” Even as her mind refused to process what was happening, her body reacted in defense mode, conditioned by years of martial arts training. Automatically, she tensed and shifted to the balls of her feet. “I thought we had something special.”

  “I don’t have any choice.” The regret vanished . . . or maybe had never been there, just her wishful thinking. Instead, his steel-gray eyes hardened.

  She judged the distance between them. A little closer would put her in striking range with her feet. “There’s always a choice.”

  He shook his head. “Not this time. Put your gun on the ground. The one you carry at your back, as well.”

  “Is it money?” She had some savings. Maybe she could offer it to him.

  “They’re getting Noah for me.”

  Madison stared at him. Chad’s ex taking his son away had sent him off the rails. “What Jeannie did to you was wrong, but—”

  “You don’t have a clue. You never had your son moved out of your life, two thousand miles away. Now do what I said, or I’ll shoot you myself.”

  She knelt and placed her service gun on the concrete walkway, then removed the smaller semiautomatic from her back holster.

  “This isn’t the answer.” When Madison stood, she inched closer to him, something he didn’t seem to notice. “I know you, Chad, and there’s no way you can live with yourself if you kill me.”

  Her heart sank when his hard eyes didn’t soften. “I’ll manage. At least I’ll have Noah.”

  “You won’t get away with it.”

  “But I will. I have it all planned out. The plane is bringing Noah and then flying us to a little fishing village where we’ll disappear.”

  A light bulb went off. Her informant was working with the cartel, feeding her just enough information to gain her trust. “There’s no shipment coming in tonight. You wanted to get me out here.”

  Chad laughed. “Give the lady a gold star. They’ve moved on from here, anyway. It was getting too dangerous to use the airfield.”

  He planned to kill her, probably take her body with them and dump it over the ocean, and everyone would assume the traffickers had kidnapped and killed them both.

  “But why kill me?”

  “I know you. After I was presumed to be dead, you would’ve tried to track down my ‘killer.’ I couldn’t take the risk that you might actually find me.”

  How had she let herself be duped by him? “How many times did you tip them off that it was safe to bring a load in?” Had to be a lot for this kind of payoff.

  “Enough to get my son.”

  “Are you sure they’ll come through with their end of the deal? You can’t help them any longer if you’re hidden away in some fishing village in Mexico.”

  “Shut up.” For the first time, doubt crossed his face. When he shifted his eyes toward the airstrip, she used the distraction to move a little closer.

  Chad checked his watch. Sweat beaded his face.

  “They’re late. Maybe they’re not coming at all.” Almost within range. Her standing flying kick wasn’t as good as the running one she usually practiced, but she had to work with what she had. Madison prepared herself mentally for the maneuver, but at the same time, she had to keep him off guard. Maybe if she pushed his buttons a little harder . . .

  “And Noah . . . Have you thought about what this will do to him?”

  “I said to shut up.” The gun wavered in his hand. “He’s four—he’ll get over it.”

  Madison’s heart lurched when she heard the faint drone of an airplane. Chad jerked his head toward the runway, and Madison pivoted, jumped up, and kicked both feet into his chest.

  Time slowed. He turned toward her, his eyes wide, mouth open. As she knocked him off his feet, he brought the gun around and fired. The bullet went wide and came nowhere close to her. Madison landed on her feet and scooped up her gun.

  Chad fired again. The bullet whizzed close enough to her head that she felt the heat. Madison returned fire, hitting him squarely in the chest. He dropped his Glock and crumpled to the ground. She kicked the pistol away and knelt beside him, pressing two fingers against his neck. His pulse was weak and thready. He’d be lucky to make it to the hospital. Her heart hurting, she turned her attention to the small corporate-type jet that had just circled the airstrip to land. She and Chad had been partially hidden by the hangar, and she was pretty sure the pilot hadn’t seen what just went down.

  It didn’t matter if he had. If Noah was on that plane, she had to get him safely off. A plan came to her, but if she couldn’t pull it off, they both might be killed. First she called the sheriff. “I need help.” She quickly explained what happened as the plane came in for the landing.

  “I have a unit five miles from you,” the sheriff said.

  “But I thought Chad called you.”

  “He did, but I’d already notified the FBI response team. When I called for them to abort the mission, they informed me Chad was under investigation. The team is on its way in a helicopter.”

  “No! You have to stop them. Chad’s son is on the plane, and they might kill him if they hear a chopper.” The plane taxied to a stop. She had to get out there before they took off again. “I gotta go!”

  She hung up and quickly shed the holster at her side, breathing a thanks that there hadn’t been time to dress in her NPS uniform when the informant called.

  Madison slid her backup gun into the holster at her back and pulled her T-shirt over it. With more bravado than she felt, she sauntered past the concrete barriers on legs that felt like overcooked noodles and tried not to think
what would happen if the pilot had a photo that identified her. With the safety of the barriers behind her, she forced her legs closer to the runway.

  The door near the cockpit dropped down, with steps leading into the plane. A bearded man appeared with an AK-47 in his arms.

  “Chad Turner sent me to pick up his son.” She was surprised at how strong her voice sounded. “Did you bring him?”

  At his side, a woman appeared with a sleeping boy in her arms. Madison recognized Noah’s red curls. “Who are you and where is Turner?”

  “He had car trouble and sent me. I’m his new wife.”

  “You’re lying. Turner would have let us know if he had a wife.” In a smooth motion, Bearded Man swung the AK-47 around and fired.

  Madison dove for the ground and rolled, barely dodging the bullets that sprayed around her. She fired, and Bearded Man pitched forward on the tarmac just before the cabin door closed. Seconds later the engines screamed to life.

  They still had Noah. She had to stop them. Madison rolled over on her belly and aimed her gun at the jet’s tires. Two quick shots, and the plane settled on the tarmac.

  They were going nowhere.

  2

  MARCH, FOUR YEARS LATER

  Every mile south that Madison drove on the Natchez Trace brought more dogwoods in bloom due to the early spring. Even more than had been in Jackson, Mississippi, where she’d spent most of Tuesday with the Ridgeland district law enforcement ranger and Hugh Cortland, lead for the FBI team she would be working with on this new case. They’d all been so helpful, especially the analyst, Allyson Murphy. It was a bonus to be on good terms with someone who could get information quickly.

  For the past four years she had buried herself in fraud and theft cases, sifting through hard drives and recovering deleted files—anything that wasn’t a violent crime. Both Madison and the Investigative Services Branch had been surprised to discover she was even better at solving white-collar crimes than she had been the other.

  Madison shuddered, remembering her last violent-crime case that ended with the FBI agent she’d partnered with dead. The same agent she’d fallen in love with. At least she’d saved his little boy.

  She brushed the thoughts away and concentrated on driving the lonely road. Huge trees arched their limbs across the two lanes, creating a canopy that allowed little sunlight through. She could only imagine how spooky it would be at night. No way did she ever want to drive the Trace after dark.