“Shouldn’t be too difficult figuring out where they’re heading,” Hawthorn replied with little concern. “We can find out who owns it and put some pressure on anyone who knows them.”
“Providing we can secure that information,” Wilson announced.
“They can’t be that smart.”
She shot a glare at him. “They have automatic weapons and a sharpshooter hanging out the side of a helicopter,” Wilson reminded him while raising a cocky brow. “We’re not exactly dealing with amateurs here.”
“At best, they’re a bunch of weekend warriors looking for a big payday,” Hawthorn insisted and waved her off. “We can handle them.”
§
Beck drove Kirk’s jeep through the woods along a path that barely constituted a roadway. It was overgrown with tall weeds and had been washed out in many areas. The jeep finally stopped within a small clearing near a gently flowing stream. Ross and Beck got out of the jeep and looked around.
“Well,” Beck announced with a sigh. “This is about as remote as it gets.”
“Needed a compass just to find it,” Ross teased with a humored grin then looked back at Beck. “We’re going to be here a while. We may as well make ourselves and our guest as comfortable as possible.” He then raised a curious brow. “Did you want to pitch the tent?”
“I can do that,” Beck replied almost cheerfully and approached the back of the jeep.
Ross headed for the rear passenger door and opened it to reveal Marco with his wrists still zip-tied in front of him. “Welcome to your new home,” Ross teased.
Marco got out of the jeep and looked around with some surprise. “You can’t be serious,” he announced.
Beck tossed a flat, round, five-foot disk into the clearing. It sprang open into a pup-tent. “Tent is pitched,” he proudly announced to Ross.
Marco stared at the small tent that would barely fit one average-sized man. “A tent?” he practically gasped. “We’re going to live in the middle of the woods in a tent?”
“We also have sleeping bags. Spared no expense,” Ross announced cheerfully. “Although, we only have two of them, but Beck and I will take turns on guard duty, so it’ll work out just fine.”
Marco didn’t take his eyes off Ross. “And I thought the safe house was roughing it,” he muttered, then managed a tense smile. “You can’t possibly expect to keep me out here a few days.”
“Days?” Ross asked with some surprise, then smiled and shook his head. “No, absolutely not. It’s going to be weeks, but don’t worry. We have fresh water.” He indicated the stream. “And plenty of MREs that’ll keep us alive for months. Once we dig a hole, we’ll even have a latrine.”
“It’s the beginning of fall,” Marco insisted. “Do you have any idea how cold it’s going to get in a few weeks?”
“I did mention the sleeping bags, didn’t I?” Ross informed him.
Beck then poked his head into their conversation and raised his hand. “And we’re good Boy Scouts. We know how to make a campfire.”
“It’ll be fun,” Ross announced cheerfully while patting Marco on the back. “Like camping; military style.” He then eyed Beck and turned serious. “You did tell Kirk to pack the bear repellent, right?”
“It was on the list right beneath marshmallows,” Beck replied.
“I’m going to die out here,” Marco muttered, then groaned and placed his hand over his eyes. He then looked back at the two men who were clearly mocking him and raised his zip-tied hands. “I can’t exactly go anywhere. Could you at least cut me loose?”
Ross glanced at Beck.
Beck stared back at him with a look of surprise. “Don’t look at me,” he practically gasped. “If he takes off, I’m not chasing after him. Not without the bear repellent.”
Ross looked back at Marco and shrugged. “Looks like you’re shit out of luck.”
“Were you hired to protect me or humiliate me?” Marco demanded.
Ross considered the question. “The first,” he replied, then grinned. “The latter is just an added bonus.”
Chapter 26
Gil’s helicopter set down in a remote field, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Once the aircraft shut down, Monroe climbed out of the passenger side and opened the side door. Darth leaped out of the helicopter and immediately ran across the field, checking out his new surroundings.
“Don’t wander off,” Gil announced as he climbed out of the pilot’s seat.
Gil consulted the compass on his watch then pointed across the field. “It should be half a mile that way on the other side of the woods,” he announced.
“I wish we could have circled it from the air,” Monroe remarked as he removed a small backpack from the back of the helicopter then shut the door.
“If there’s anyone around, they’d be alerted to the helicopter,” Gil responded with little emotion and started walking in the direction he’d indicated.
“I know,” Monroe replied while looking around as they walked. “Jackie’s coded message put me on high alert, that’s all.”
“We knew there were going to be several interested parties when we accepted this assignment,” Gil reminded him.
“Which is why I’d love a bird’s eye view of the land,” Monroe insisted, then groaned. “And this is going to be a lot of land.”
“Which is why we get to scout it out,” Gil reported and seemed almost cheerful at the prospect.
Darth raced across the field to catch up to them then continued past them toward the nearby woods. The men and Darth walked into the woods and hiked nearly half a mile before reaching an old roadway. Both stopped at the edge of the woods and glanced down the old, overgrown lane while Darth scouted out the area, marking a few more trees.
“Well,” Gil announced with a deep sigh. “I guess this is it.”
“This should be fun,” Monroe remarked with limited enthusiasm.
Both men stared down the dirt road at the old, overgrown sign. It read ‘Gosford Animal Sanctuary’. The old, heavy gate was chained shut with a large padlock. Ten-foot-tall, stone fencing encompassed the entrance area in both directions, although it changed from stone to chain-link deeper into the woods.
Gil glanced at Monroe. “Did you bring the key?” he asked.
Monroe removed a heavy-duty bolt cutter from his bag and smirked. “Right here.”
§
Once inside the sanctuary, Darth ran excitedly around the vast, cleared area before a large building with a faded sign that read, ‘Visitor’s Center’. There was no telling what smells, even from years past, Darth was detecting. Gil and Monroe looked around. From what they were told about their potential ‘safe house’, it was once an animal sanctuary housing hundreds of endangered animals as well as rescued, injured animals unfit to return to the wild. The sanctuary was nestled on more than eight-hundred acres of cleared and wooded land alongside state game land and surrounded by large farms, making it incredibly secluded. The sanctuary had dozens of large habitats with natural and man-made enclosures and many outer buildings. The tall, stone wall that surrounded a lot of the sanctuary had fallen down in many areas. Other areas within woodland contained chain-link fencing. Some remained intact, while others had been destroyed by falling trees over the years.
Monroe and Gil headed for the visitor’s center, which was the closest building to the main entrance. They approached the building’s large, heavy doors and attempted to open them. Neither was surprised that the doors were locked. Monroe removed his lock pick kit and had the lock sprung in under a minute. Despite having been running around, Darth was at the door the moment it was opened. He darted inside ahead of the two men and sniffed his way around, exploring the entire area. The main room to the visitor’s center was a massive lobby of sorts with a large visitor’s desk just inside the doorway to the right. The open, animal-themed area contained many comfortable chairs and sofas for guests to relax during their visit. There were men’s and women’s restrooms to the left, not far from a corrido
r leading to some offices in the back. A small gift shop and snack bar were located beyond the front desk on the right. Not surprisingly, everything was covered in dust and cobwebs.
“According to Othello,” Gil announced while looking around. “There should be a generator shed out back and another outside the veterinary clinic.”
“The veterinary clinic must be the building one hundred yards from here,” Monroe remarked.
Gil approached the front desk and found an old brochure for the sanctuary. He opened it and spread it out on the desk. It contained a map of the park, the buildings, exhibits, and enclosures for the various animals. Each was well-marked, which would be a tremendous help for them to find their way around the massive property.
Gil pointed to a location on the map. “We’re here,” he announced. “The generator shed is here, and the vet clinic is here.”
Monroe peered at the map as well. “This place has everything,” he remarked. “A bird sanctuary, reptile house, dozens of animal habitats, and small shelters located in each habitat.”
“There are supposed to be sleeping quarters in the clinic,” Gil remarked. “That means there’s a kitchen and at least one bathroom with a shower. We’ll need to see if the water still works.”
“Othello has it on good authority that the place was still functional when they shut it down,” Monroe informed him.
“What happened?” Gil asked, then glanced casually at Monroe and raised a curious brow. “T-Rex get loose and eat a few tourists?”
“Actually, I believe they lost funding when a few of their main investors were bumped off,” Monroe replied with all seriousness.
Gil suspiciously eyed him.
“Sal was on the board under the name of one of his lesser-known organizations, P.R. Corporation. That was back when the sanctuary was operational,” Monroe remarked.
“Figures,” Gil muttered, then raised a curious brow. “Can this place be traced back to Sal?”
“No,” Monroe informed him. “The company can’t be traced back to him, and it’s no longer in existence.”
“Good to know.” Gil looked around the visitor’s center and spotted the gift shop with the snack bar alongside it. “There’s also a kitchen within the snack bar and public restrooms here as well.”
Monroe grabbed one of the many brochures and stuck it in his pocket as a backup in case they made a wrong turn. “Why don’t you and Darth have a look around the visitor’s center, and I’ll see about getting the generator running,” he suggested. “Once the power is on, we’ll meet back here at the front desk. After that, we can head over to the vet clinic together and check that out.”
Monroe removed an Uzi from the backpack and handed it to Gil. Gil slipped the sling over his neck and shoulder, allowing the weapon to hang at his side. Monroe then removed one for himself and did the same. As Monroe left, Gil and Darth searched the main lobby area of the visitor’s center. Gil didn’t anticipate finding much of anything, but that was sort of the point. Seclusion and privacy were what they needed most in a safe house. Once Gil and Darth finished looking around the massive lobby, they headed down the corridor beyond the restrooms to the area containing office space. Gil opened the door to the main office in the back. Also animal-themed, the office, thick with dust, included a large desk, an old sofa that quite possibly pulled out into a sofa bed, and some old chairs. Despite being closed for quite some time, the desk contained some dusty items left behind. Nothing of importance, but it seemed as if those in charge expected they’d be returning one day.
After Gil and his canine partner finished their sweep of the back corridor, Gil made a pit stop in the public restrooms and discovered the water was working. The water came out brown-tinged at first but cleared after running a few minutes. Running water was a plus, considering how long they would potentially be stranded there. As Gil and Darth left the men’s room, the lights flickered and came on. Several light bulbs immediately burned out the moment power was restored, but there would still be plenty of light even at night. Monroe finally returned to the visitor center’s lobby and joined Gil and Darth, who had finished their sweep.
“The clinic is about one hundred yards from here,” Monroe informed him. “I did a quick walkthrough. It’ll meet our needs for ‘operations’.”
“Then let’s take a quick tour of the sanctuary,” Gil announced while removing his official map of the property. “We’ll check out some of the exhibits. Scout out the habitats and form a perimeter.”
Both men and Darth left the main building and traveled the walkway now overgrown with plant life that had taken over after the sanctuary had been abandoned. A maintenance shed was located not far from the clinic and housed old machinery, some rusting golf carts, and a few old ATVs. The ATVs seemed to be in decent shape, and Kirk could probably restore them. The zebra habitat was the closest exhibit to the visitor’s center. Although the fencing remained intact, the lush grass had grown tall. In the opposite direction was the hippo habitat. Near the middle was a kiddie playland of sorts with a half-sized train sitting and rusting on tracks that circled the entire sanctuary. The lion habitat was near the back, snug against the state game land. Not far from that was the reptile house and the bird aviary. The reptile house was a massive building, while the bird aviary was essentially a tall, two-story, glass birdcage. The many ponds throughout the facility now looked more like swamps.
Once they finished their sweep, which took some time to accomplish, all three returned to the visitor’s center and decided to sit on the steps outside, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and solitude. Monroe removed the portable radio from his backpack and contacted their friend and middleman during this particular assignment.
“Othello, you copy?” Monroe announced into the radio. He waited a minute or two and tried again. “Othello, you copy?”
“Yeah, Othello here,” the familiar voice with a mouthful of food was heard over the radio. It would appear they caught their friend during his dinner break. Although, Othello did enjoy his junk food and between-meal snacks. “What can I do you for?”
“Could you call Dad and tell him his favorite son would like him to visit?” Monroe announced. “B.Y.O.B., if he pleases.”
“I’ll let Dad know,” Othello reported over the radio. “Over and out.”
Monroe stowed the radio in the bag and then removed two bottles of water. He handed one to Gil, who took a swallow then shared the rest with Darth. Monroe looked around and smiled.
“I could chill here for a few weeks,” Monroe remarked. “It’s nice here.”
“Kind of creepy,” Gil added, then eyed the happy dog beside him and grinned. “Darth likes it.”
“About a thousand smells for him to take in,” Monroe teased, then chuckled. “How far away was that town we saw from the air?”
“From what I saw, about two miles from here,” Gil informed him.
“Should probably check it out once the others get here,” Monroe remarked. “Get some supplies. Maybe Othello could hook us up with an untraceable car.”
“Wouldn’t hurt to make sure the town is safe,” Gil agreed. “We’re going to need a lot of supplies. We’ll wait and see what Ross has planned.”
Chapter 27
Ross and Beck sat on the ground within the thick woods with their backs against the side of the jeep. The two men laughed and joked around before finally glancing at Marco, who was sitting on the ground alongside them with his left wrist zip-tied to the jeep’s running board.
“How’s it going?” Ross asked.
Marco frowned and glared at them. “While I appreciate that you unbound my hands,” he announced, “this isn’t really that much better.”
“On the upside,” Ross announced, “you’re still alive. I guess that’s a fair trade.”
Marco groaned but didn’t respond. They heard the sound of a car in the near distance. Ross and Beck leaped to their feet while drawing their weapons, although remaining mostly hidden behind the jeep. Marco panicked sli
ghtly but couldn’t even stand.
“What is it?” Marco gasped.
“Quiet,” Ross shushed him.
They saw an unfamiliar, gray, four-door car with a heavily damaged front bumper driving slowly along the rough terrain of what once constituted a road. Both men kept their weapons trained on the vehicle that stopped several yards away. The car remained running a moment, but there wasn’t any movement from within the vehicle. The engine finally shut off, and the door opened.
“It’s just me,” Nevada called out before slowly poking her head out with her hands raised above the door. “Don’t shoot, okay?”
As Ross and Beck relaxed and straightened, Nevada got out of the car. Ross nudged Beck and gave him a stern, commanding look. Beck seemed to read his mind and remained behind the jeep. Although Beck no longer aimed his weapon, he didn’t holster it either and, instead, kept a close watch on the woman they had little reason to trust. Ross walked out from behind the jeep while replacing his weapon to his shoulder holster. He stood near the front of the jeep and watched Nevada close the door behind her. She appeared to be alone, but Ross remained rigid. Nevada looked around and shook her head.
“Well, this place was a challenge to find,” she remarked. “No wonder you gave me such shitty directions.”
“Did Bogart get away?” Ross asked while completely ignoring her comment.
“Yeah,” she replied and folded her arms across her chest. “We had a pair of mafia hitmen flunkies after us, but we took care of them.” Nevada grinned and chuckled. “I’d have given anything to see the looks on their faces when they came to.”
“You didn’t kill them?” Ross asked.
Nevada glared at him and raised an arrogant brow. “In my profession, we don’t automatically kill everyone we meet. It’s not really, you know, my thing.”
“Can we assume you weren’t followed?” Beck asked where he leaned on the jeep's roof while keeping his gun in his hand and concealed behind the vehicle.
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