Shattered Order: A Psychological Crime Thriller (Shattered Survival Thrillers Book 3)

by S. J. Braden

  “Mike, thank God it’s you. Tell this FBI goon I’m the best man for the job and to let me get to my wife. Please.”

  “Court, I’m glad to see you again, it’s been a while. And I’m sure happy to know Colleen has been found, I’ve been following the case. But you know, you might be the best man, with the most knowledge and experience. But just like surgeons don’t operate on family members, we don’t disarm family members. Do you trust me, Court?”

  “Of course I do, I taught you everything you know and you’re a good student. I just want to see my wife.”

  “Okay, I understand. But she’s been gone a few days now and I know they were long stressful worrisome days for you. I bet what you want more than anything in the world is to wrap your arms around that beautiful lady and hold her tight. But you know you can’t do that yet. So, what do you say, you let us get in there and get our job done, and then she’s all yours, to have and to hold. Come on Court, cooperate and make our job easier, and faster.”

  “Okay, alright, just get on with it. I got my phone, if you have any qualms, are unsure of anything please call me, I’ll talk you through it.”

  “You know I will old man,” he said as he motioned to the van and the team came pouring out and into the house.

  Meanwhile, inside the house, FBI agent Isabel Smith was sitting with Colleen. They had untied her wrist from the pole, gotten her up out of the floor and carefully walked her to the restroom, then settled her on the ugly olive green vinyl couch with a bottle of water.

  “I really shouldn’t complain, but this couch is almost as uncomfortable as the floor. Who do you think ever thought it was a good idea to cover furniture in plastic?” Colleen asked Isabel.

  Isabel chuckled and knowing the question was completely rhetorical and a means of releasing nerves replied, “I think it was the same guy who thought polyester was suitable for clothing and suits. Colleen, Court is upstairs, they won’t let him down until we get the collar off of you. But he’s here. I imagine your personal support crew is too. I’ve been working with them this week and I have to say, you have a great group of friends who care very deeply for you. You must be a remarkable woman.”

  “What support crew?”

  “Oh, you don’t know. Tommy, Trent, Frankie, and Pierce have been helping Court disarm bombs and look for you.”

  “They are all here? In Memphis? But why?”

  “Trent, Frankie, and Pierce came from the beginning. The kidnappers told Court not to contact the police and he didn’t. But then when the bomb exploded at the Music Festival, the feds were brought in, and Tommy was sent. On the way to Memphis, he learned that Trent was injured in the explosion.”

  “Oh No! Is he okay?”

  “I’m so sorry! Yes, he’s fine. His injuries were minor. But the guys have been here through it all. I heard that Abby, Sarah Frances, and Missy were coming into Memphis today too. There’s quite a group of people anxious to see you, and the techs will be here any minute.”

  Before Colleen had time to burst into tears in relief and gratitude, they heard the heavy footfalls of boot-clad men descending the stairs into the basement. Captain Mike Tucker was the first one through the doorway of Colleen’s current holding cell in the basement of Rachel and Shawn Ford’s home.

  “Mike!”

  “Colleen, it’s mighty fine to see you, today. How about I help you lose a little weight there?”

  “Please do. I’m ready to go home.”

  Chapter 57

  “Hi, Uncle Vance! It’s been years since I’ve seen you. And now you're leaving for a year?”

  “Hi Valerie, your just as beautiful as you ever were. Hi Xyloh, R.J. was lucky to catch you, wasn’t he. May he rest in peace. I’m sorry for your loss, honey.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Vance, but hey, you have good news. Mama Bee says you got invited to go to Russia for a year. How exciting and what an honor, huh?”

  “I still don’t know why me, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Everyone knows the Russians are the best nuclear physicists in the world. I’m so excited, say, thanks for coming to get me. One of the guys from work is going to rent my house so I can leave everything here including my car, he’s agreed to drive it once a week, so everything will be here when I return next year.”

  “It’s no problem, no problem at all. Are you packed and ready to go?”

  “Yes, my suitcase is right there.”

  “I’ll put it in the car.”

  “No, no,no, it’s heavy, I’ll take it.”

  They all left the house and Vance locked up. He went to the trunk to put his suitcase in the trunk and Valerie said, “Just put it in the back seat.”

  “No, no one should have to sit next to this old thing, it can go in the trunk.”

  Not wanting to create a scene in the driveway, Valerie opened the trunk.

  “Did you know there’s a shovel in here? Do you always travel with a shovel?”

  “I guess Vince left it in there. I’ve been looking everywhere for that shovel.”

  “You know, I always thought it funny you married a guy named Vince.”

  “Why is that funny?”

  “You know, Vince and Vance. I wondered if you secretly harbored some crush on your uncle.”

  “I can assure you that isn’t the case, Uncle Vance. It was purely coincidental. You ride up front. Xyloh is going to ride in the back seat.”

  “I’ve never seen a nuclear power plant except on TV, can we drive by it? I want to see the big tower with smoke.”

  “Sure, yes, okay, I’ll direct you.”

  The thing about nuclear power plants is that they are never in the middle of town. They are on the outskirts, usually of small towns, and are somewhat secluded. As they traveled toward the plant and left the heavy traffic of town, Vance never saw it coming. Xyloh was lightning fast at slipping the pre-tied noose over his head from behind and tightening it. All she had to do was hold on tight, but being able to leverage herself against the back of the seat in front of her made it much easier.

  He stopped breathing just as Valerie turned off the paved road onto a dirt road that led deep into the forest surrounding the lake near the power plant. Valerie estimated if they worked fast they could get the grave dug before dark.

  At the Federal Correctional Institute in Memphis, the men were out tending the garden used for vegetables to feed the inmates. The Memphis prison was one of few that grow a major portion of their food, including cattle, buffalo, and chickens. On this day, Rodney was weeding the squash. He hated the job because he hated those ugly, seemingly eyeless gray squash bugs that came crawling out from under the leaves.

  Off to his right was Malcolm, a block mate who suddenly seemed friendlier today. Rodney wondered why. On his left was Fred. He didn’t know much about either man, other than their names and sometimes he wondered if even those were their real names. These two dudes were quiet, didn’t socialize much, loner types. But then, Rodney thought, I’m not too social myself. I shouldn’t be here. I don’t belong around people like this. I’m more important than that. Hmm, maybe they feel the same way. Maybe they didn’t do anything wrong, or maybe someone turned on them too. Maybe we have more in common than I thought. Maybe I should reach out to them. My time here will go by faster I suppose if I have someone to have a conversation with once in a while.

  Rodney stood up and walked to Fred, held out his hand and said, “Hello, I’m Rodney. I’m new here and haven’t felt much like talking but I suppose it’s time to meet my neighbors.”

  “Yeah, Rodney, okay. I’m Fred. Do you know my friend Malcolm over there? Hey, Malcolm, new boy here decided he ain’t too good to talk to us, come over and meet his honor.”

  Malcolm rose from weeding the beans and walked over to shake Rodney’s hand. As he did, Fred bumped up against Rodney’s back, forcing him closer to Malcolm. While shaking hands with his right hand, Malcolm’s left hand shoved the shank into Rodney’s inside upper thigh, expertly severing the femoral arter
y. The three men stood close until Rodney’s pants legs were soaked in blood. Both men backed away from him letting him fall to the ground in an unconscious heap.

  When Malcolm raised his hands and waved to get the attention of the guards, the rips in his shirt and the blood became visible where he shanked himself. When the guards arrived, Malcolm told his story of turning Rodney’s shank on the man attacking him, and Fred verified the story. Malcolm was taken to the infirmary. Rodney was taken to the county morgue.

  Malcolm Stevens, M.D. was incarcerated for physician-assisted suicide and the guards respected him. No one questioned his story further.

  “Hi Mom, it’s done. One down and we are on our way back. Can you get the kids off to school in the morning? We’re exhausted.”

  “I just got a call from the prison. Your daddy was killed. But I can get the kids off to school, no problem. You girls get some rest. I’m going out of town tomorrow, I’ll be gone a couple of days.”

  “Are you okay Mom?”

  “Yes, I guess I’m a widow now instead of a divorced woman. That’s better right?”

  “Yeah Mom, that’s better. See you soon.”

  Chapter 58

  Rachel Ford and Gordon Gibbs, aka Marilyn Monroe and Jay Leno, were led from the Ford home in handcuffs and transported to the criminal justice center in separate squad cars for booking. MPD officers strung yellow crime scene tape around the property line. All the spectators, including Court, Tommy, Pierce, Trent, Frankie and the ladies were forced to the sidewalk beyond the perimeter. They all stood along the tape line, like spectators at a sporting event, watching the house intently for Colleen to come out safe and sound. Those waiting said silent prayers for Colleen and for Mike, the captain of the bomb squad who was disarming the bomb around her neck. Not a word was spoken aloud. Trent stood behind Abby with his arms wrapped around her, and the other two couples mimicked them. Court and Tommy stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the doorway to the house as intently as a hawk looking for prey.

  Four members of the bomb squad including Mike, the captain had gone into the house. Both of the original FBI agents and the assisting MPD officers left the house. But none of them approached Court, Tommy or the rest of their crew.

  Three members of the bomb squad came out of the house, and one returned with a box of equipment from the van. Court knew what would be in the box, and held his breath as he waited. When that guy came back out of the house he had Isabel with him, as both Mike and Colleen insisted that she leave. She didn’t want to leave Colleen, but she felt better knowing that Colleen was at the least familiar with Mike. Apparently, Mike and Court worked together years ago when Court was with the squad.

  Since the eight people waiting for a glimpse of Colleen spanned the width of the small yard, the other bomb squad members, agents and police respectfully stood behind them and waited for the outcome.

  Descending the front porch steps Isabel looked up and saw the crowd of people standing at the police line at the edge of the yard. Her eyes locked onto Tommy’s. When he saw her, he hesitated only a moment and opened his arms to her. She ran to him, and as his arms enveloped her, she buried her head in the crook between his neck and shoulder and wept for the first time ever on the job, the police line sandwiched between them.

  Tommy rubbed her back and gave her a minute to compose herself before pulling her back to look into her eyes and asked, “Colleen?”

  “Oh, she’s fine! I’m sorry, Court, she’s just fine, I just was overwhelmed with relief that we found her and she’s okay. I feel like a fool now.”

  “No need to be embarrassed! Thank you for sitting with her. Is she hurt? Did she say anything about what’s happened to her?”

  “Yes, she said for the first seven days she was at the restaurant at the top of the UP building downtown. She saw The Mari explosion and all the chaos following the Music Fest explosion from her window. Then she somehow escaped, but evidently, the guard at the building she asked for help was in on it. She awoke here yesterday she thinks, but doesn’t know how long she was unconscious and she’s been in the basement with no windows, so she isn’t 100% sure of the time. She said she saw a total of three kidnappers but they always wore masks. She has no major injuries. Her heels were badly scraped in the abduction but are almost completely healed, she has cuts on her hands where she says she used a broken piece of a mirror to help her escape and she has a bruise on her face. She said after the Music Fest bomb, one of the kidnappers was angry and hit her with the butt of a pistol, but the bruise is already starting to yellow. She’s going to be okay.”

  “I just want to see her. Mike needs to hurry up with this,” Court muttered.

  “I told her you are all here. She couldn't believe you all came but she was glad you've been here for Court.

  “I want to go watch the questioning of these folks. But I’m waiting to see Colleen and know she’s okay,” Tommy announced.

  “Me too, we can go together as soon as she’s released. I’m sure they will take Colleen to the hospital to get checked out, and I think she has enough of a crowd here for that. It will take some time to process Ford and Gibbs before the questioning begins. I don’t think we’ll miss anything,” Isabel reassured him.

  Forty-five minutes later, Mike appeared in the doorway of the house, guiding Colleen by the elbow. She was walking on her own, still in her suit from over a week ago.

  No amount of screaming yellow police tape would hold Court back, as he crashed through the tape jogging to Colleen. When he reached her, despite the fact that she was walking just fine on her own, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the waiting ambulance. He hovered over her while the attendants checked her out. After a thorough examination of her wounds, checking her vitals and asking a myriad of questions, they proclaimed her okay to go to the hospital for fluids or home if she promised to drink plenty of water and get something to eat very soon.

  “Home!” she and Court exclaimed in unison.

  Chapter 59

  Bee disconnected the call from her prepaid cell phone. She had just reserved two deluxe cabins at Natchez Trace State Park for two weeks. Two cabins, because the cabins were nestled remotely in the woods surrounding the lake in pairs, each pair sharing a dock. So by reserving two adjacent cabins she was assured of privacy for her little getaway with Steve.

  She carried her small overnight bag out and placed it in the trunk and returned inside to make sure everything was turned off. She locked up and left to pick up Steve. She couldn’t wait to share her good news with him.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Lover Boy, I’m at the corner, come on out, I’m ready and anxious to get this show on the road!”

  She hung up the phone as she slowed at the end of Steve’s driveway and came to a stop for him to get in the passenger seat. She sped away with a little chirp of the tires and giggled.

  “My, you are in rare form this morning. What’s got you so giddy?”

  “I have news for you, Lover Boy.”

  “Yeah, what’s that my busy little Bee?”

  “I’m not getting a divorce.”

  “What? And that has you all excited? It’s all you’ve talked about for five years. I thought the whole point of this trip was to celebrate and talk about our future.”

  “It is, it was. I got a phone call last night. I guess you didn’t see the news this morning. I’m not getting a divorce because Rodney is dead. According to the news this morning, he tried to shank someone in there, but he picked the wrong guy. This guy was a doctor and he’s in for an assisted suicide rap. Anyway, the guy turned Rodney’s shank back on him and he’s dead. So I’m a widow. Valerie says a widow is better than being divorced. What do you say?”

  “Woo Hoo! That’s what I say! So we can get married any time now, right?”

  “Well, that all depends on you. If we just wanted to go to the Justice of the Peace I think next week would probably be okay- you know once they issue a death certificate. But if you want a big weddi
ng like you once talked about wanting, well I think we might have to wait a little bit longer. For one thing, there’s the planning of such an event.”

  “Oh Bee, I want to be married to you so much. I can hardly wait. But I do think you deserve a nice beautiful ceremony. And I want everyone to know you’re mine.”

  “See we have the next three hours to talk about it, then for the next two days while we languish and love each other in our secluded getaway, we can finalize the details.”

  Bee drove and mostly listened to Steve prattle on about wedding plans and suggestions. She occasionally would offer an opinion just to make him think she was listening. And she was, once in a while, in between her thoughts of the empire she and the girls would be running soon.

  Bee pulled into the grocery store parking lot nearest the State Park.

  “Forget something, Love?” Steve asked.

  “No, I’m buying groceries so we don’t have to leave our little love nest for the next few days. We have a fully stocked kitchen when it comes to utensils, we just need food.”

  “What about a grill, is there a grill?”

  “Yes, there is. What did you have in mind?”

  “Let’s get some steaks and I’ll grill for you.”

  “Okay, that sounds magnificent. I’m making you a blackberry cobbler too with butter pecan ice cream on top the way you love it.”

  “But you don’t like cobbler Bee.”

  “I know, I’ll get some chocolate sauce and whipped cream for me.”

  “For the ice cream?”

  “Or something.”

  They chuckled as they checked out and kissed while they loaded the groceries into the car. Steve popped Bee on the rear end and then jogged the cart to the basket coral in the parking lot.

  On the way to the state park, Bee explained she had made the reservations in his name, so would he mind going to check in and getting the keys while she called to let the girls know she had arrived safely.