“You care to clarify that?” I waited. “It’s driving me crazy. There’s no reason behind the assault. It’s a stupid move. If they were out to get Sarah, there was a fifty-fifty chance she wouldn’t be there. From what Nolan says, the day and time was in the planning from the beginning. Why would they risk this? Why not blow a couple of bombs on Courthouse Square?”
“I don’t know, Win,” he said on a long exhalation.
“Look at the attack, Nathan. They could’ve used a couple of IEDs, done a drive-by and sprayed the front of the station. Public proof of power. They wouldn’t even have had to kill anybody. The point would’ve been made.”
“If it helps any, they’re getting reamed out from the guys who issued the order. Well, the ones left.”
“How many are left?”
“Twenty-some-odd. They don’t seem leaderless either. I gather more recruits may be coming into the state.”
“How soon?”
“Plan’s still in the works.”
“So they’re not giving up.”
“Doesn’t look that way.”
“Keep me in the loop. Please. Look for a reason why they picked McCrumb County for this exercise. Why here?”
“Lower your frustration level, Win.”
“I can’t. Not when I know this isn’t over.”
* * *
I broke for lunch. I tried to take a real break, but my mind kept turning over the same facts. The same questions with the same results. Nada. To a tactical officer, this made no sense at all.
So could I pretend to be somebody else? Maybe a county sheriff? No, not possible. I knew I couldn’t approximate Sarah’s mind when it came to this county. Its people, the land, the history. I tried to understand. Most times I failed.
I didn’t know any of the sheriffs in surrounding counties. Besides, it’d look weird if I called them. Then a thought struck. I finished the sandwich with enthusiasm, rinsed my dishes, and picked up the phone.
“Hey Zoe. You up to your neck in work?”
“What work?” she asked. “About the little scrape the sheriff’s department had with a gang of thugs? If Sarah doesn’t release more information, I got nothin’ to do.”
“Can’t do anything about Sarah. I had an idea though. What if you called sheriffs in the surrounding counties? Ask what their standard procedure would be in like circumstances?”
“What’s this about, Win?”
I cleared my throat. “I can’t figure out why they picked their target. The response of the other sheriffs might throw some light on it. Is there set procedure? Or did they never imagine anything like this could happen? What would they have done? Should give you a good sidebar.”
“What’s my deadline on this?”
I laughed. “Just get back to me when you get some answers.”
“You think it’s over?”
“No.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
Des sat by the front door, her eyes bright with cabin fever, tail wagging. I got my parka, my phone and a travel pack of tissues. If I fell, I didn’t want to wait until Sarah came home.
As soon as I opened the door, Des took off down her usual trail. I started around the yard. It was slippery. The constant temperature fluctuation the past few days had created layers of ice. As soon as I thought I was through to the ground, I’d break through another layer. Des had made her path just as slick. I turned to the other trail down to the creek. Pristine. Maybe it’d be easier.
I started carefully, placing and testing the crutches before I put my weight on them. I kept my eyes on the terrain. I was concentrating so hard, I wasn’t aware of the two men until they were on me. One from each side. They knocked my crutches away. As I stood balancing on my good leg, one of them stuffed a hood over my head. I tried to strike out, but each took an arm and put some kind of tie on them.
I tried to shove one of the men. One of them cussed. I heard thundering paws and then a shot. A whine. I struck out blindly. Felt a hand at my throat. A thumb on my neck. Pressure on my neck.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Win and Sarah
Win
I regained consciousness in the back of a van. Though it was moving slowly, it skittered in icy ruts. The hood was still over my head, so the first task was maneuvering so I could see. The idiots had tied my hands in front. Unadulterated half-wits. I inched my hands up to the hood. Lifted it. Much better. I unzipped my pocket. Slowly, without sound. Then pulled my phone out, hit 7#, the emergency call Nathan had installed as part of my system that enabled the GPS. Pulled out the tissues and stuck the phone behind them. Put it all back in my pocket, re-zipped it and let the hood fall back over my face.
“Watch it, Don,” the passenger said. “We don’t need to end up in a fucking ditch with our cargo.”
“Fuck you,” the driver replied. “Fucking van’s garbage and the road’s nothing but ice.”
The passenger grumbled but shut up.
I closed my eyes and went down Nathan’s list of militia members. I couldn’t remember a Don. Was he one of the guys from Idaho? I couldn’t remember.
“Fucking stupid mission,” Passenger said.
“Not for you to say. She awake yet?”
I could hear the front seat squeak. “Naw. You sure you didn’t kill her?”
No answer.
“Why do they want her?”
“Shut your fucking mouth. We got orders, we carry them out. Period.”
Sarah
Deputy Branch pulled into the area in front of our house and put the unit in park. “You want me to wait until you check everything?”
I started to say no, but the house was quiet and Win hadn’t turned on any lights. Not that she needed to since it wasn’t dark, but she usually did. A welcoming beacon, she’d said.
When I got out, I noticed the prints from her crutches heading away from the clearing, down the trail to the creek. Surely she hadn’t tried that trail.
“Wait for a little bit, would you?” I asked. “Win took a trail and if she’s down, I might need help getting her vertical.”
“Yes ma’am.”
I started down the trail and wondered where the hell Des was. By now, she should’ve been swarming me with her happy dance. Then I saw her, lying on her side, whining softly.
“Dave!” I waved at the patrol unit. “Branch! Come on!”
I went to Des, heart in my throat. I rubbed her neck. “What’s the matter, baby? What happened?”
She looked into my eyes, tried to get up but couldn’t.
The deputy came and knelt down, running his hand over her coat. “She’s wounded, but it must be the other side. Should I take her to the squad car?”
“Yeah, but be careful. If she could, she’d be up and running.” As he lifted her up, I saw the snow under Des was red.
My heart was beating fast. Des was down and there was no Win. I got up and followed my one-legged woman’s tracks. A few steps further on, I saw her crutches—and the prints of two big-footed humans. It appeared that they had accosted her, then dragged her down the trail. I couldn’t catch my breath.
I picked up the crutches and raced back to the car just as Dave placed Des gently on the backseat. He took off his parka and laid it on top of her. I slid in next to her so that her head was on my lap. “Call dispatch. Win’s been abducted. Get a BOLO out—but I have no idea what kind of a vehicle she’s in.”
While he did that, I called Dr. Huff, Des’s vet. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“How do her gums look?” Huff asked.
“Not pink, but not gray yet,” I replied. “Maybe the snow helped stop the bleeding a little.”
“We’ll be ready for her.”
I gave her as much of a hug as I could, cuddled her to keep her warm and to keep my worst fears at bay.
Dave put on the lights and we made it to Doc Huff’s in ten minutes. Huff had a gurney waiting outside, we transferred Des to it and Doc pushed it quickly inside. I followed wea
k-kneed and panicked. Dave helped me in, responding to his radio as he deposited me in a chair in the waiting room.
“How did they go? Where does the trail go?” he asked me.
“Down to the creek. From there, it’s just a spit and a throw to the road.”
My hands were shaking so much I could barely answer the phone when it rang. Nathan? Before I could say hello, he said, “Win’s in trouble. I’m tracking her GPS. I can send the locations directly to units in the area.”
“I’m out of the office so along with other units, send them directly to Unit Nine and I’ll let dispatch know.” So many questions raced through my mind, the uppermost being how he knew. Questions I could ask later when Win was safe.
“Stay on the line, Sarah. I’ll keep you up to date.”
“Nathan’s sending you GPS coordinates for Win,” I said to Dave. “Go after her, but please be careful. Backup’s on its way. We’ve no idea who’s got her.”
He nodded and took off, again with lights and siren.
“I need to talk to Caleb,” I said into the phone. “I’ll call you back as soon as I’m finished.”
“Stay cool, Sarah. We’ll get her back safe.”
I couldn’t respond, just disconnected and called Caleb. I gave him a brief rundown of what had happened.
“We’ll get the CSI van out to your place—can they tell where it went down?”
“It’s on the trail to the left as they pull in the clearing. But you may want to send them down to where the creek meets the road. Maybe they can find tire tracks.”
“They’re on their way. What else?”
“We need SWAT in the area. Willy’s got command. Des is at the vet’s and Dave took the unit. I’m stranded.”
“Which vet?”
“Doc Huff.”
“No sweat, Sarah. I’ll swing by and pick you up.”
That’s what I was afraid of. I started pacing.
Win
The van slowed down, took a turn. Bumpier here. Driveway? I had a rough idea where we were—out in the middle of nowhere. House? Barn? Other farm building? I just hoped to hell the GPS was working. That Nathan had been at home to pick up my emergency call. That all wasn’t lost. I kept kicking myself for being such easy prey. I hadn’t even bloodied a nose. It wasn’t over yet.
The van stopped, both doors slammed shut, then the side door rolled open. I felt the cold air sweep in.
“She still out?”
“Yeah.”
I felt myself dragged over the metal floor. Lifted out of the van and slung over the guy’s shoulder. The hood fell off with a little help. He was breathing hard by the time I heard a door creak open on rusty hinges. Some sort of out building. As we entered, I took a quick peek. Barn.
He deposited me on the ground with an umph.
“How long is she gonna be out?” I thought it was Passenger.
“’Til she wakes up. Maybe I tapped her a little harder than I thought.”
“Maybe? What if she dies?”
No answer.
“Just find the damn heater and get it going. Fucking cold in here.”
I heard some banging around. Then the roar of a small engine. I began to feel the heat. The van had been chilly and my muscles were beginning to tighten up.
“Please tell me why we’re doin’ this,” Passenger said.
“Need to know.”
“I need to know. Come on, Don.”
“We’re gonna trade her for our men. Not the locals, just us.”
“Jesus,” said Passenger. “You think they’ll go for that?”
“They better, or they’ll get one dead bitch back, after we play with her a bit. We might even send a finger of hers if they don’t cave at first.”
“Ah, Jesus. I don’t mind shooting the enemy, but torturing women…”
“Shut up, Phil. Just shut the fucking up.”
I heard something being dragged across the dirt. Something to sit on? Not for me. I wondered if I should “wake up” now. Or begin to scare the shit out of Passenger and remain comatose? Then a thought occurred to me. If I woke up only speaking Tajik, they’d think I was crazy from lack of oxygen to my brain, maybe get them to lower their defenses. But how the hell was I going to do anything offensive with no crutches and one leg to stand on?
The biggest part of tae kwon do is mind. Mr. Kim said that was my missing education, so that’s what we’d been working on. Now might be a good time to practice. Draw the chi within, find the moves I was capable of. Practice them in my mind until it was time.
Sarah
Nathan guided the chase while I paced at the vet’s. Caleb arrived within fifteen minutes, the longest fifteen minutes in my life. As I fastened my seat belt, I asked, “Any word from Branch?”
“Nathan says he’s pretty close behind,” Caleb said. “But no sighting yet.”
“Has he cut the siren and lights? I’d rather a visual than provoke a car chase, especially since the roads are in such crappy shape.”
He relayed the order and settled in to cover ground without landing us in a ditch.
Win’s face, asleep this morning, popped into my mind. She’s so beautiful and while she acknowledges it, says offhandedly it was the one good thing she got from her mom. Asleep, all the tension she carried was gone and her frown replaced by a peaceful rest. I swallowed.
Dave’s voice came on the radio. “Got them in sight.” He gave the license plate and description of a white Chevy van. “They’re turning into a lane that leads to a barn. I’m continuing on. Will stop when I’m out of their sight.”
“Roger that, Unit Nine. How many suspects?”
“Only saw two men in the van, but I’ve no idea how many could be in the barn.”
“Stay close Dave. Get yourself a perch.”
“Ten-four.”
“Where’s SWAT?”
“Close to that location.” Caleb watched the car’s computer monitor.
“Have them meet us here.” I pointed to the next road on the screen. “We can go through Major’s Woods and come out in back of the barn. I think Ronnie Major still uses it, though his acreage is about a mile away.”
“You’re beginning to sound like Micah,” Caleb said with a grin. “Knowing every structure and every owner in the county.”
“Guess that’s one of the things I got from him.”
“There’s the barn,” I said. “Keep on to the next road and take a left.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Sorry. I’m damn scared.”
He took a hand off the steering wheel and patted mine. I felt like crying.
About ten minutes after Caleb parked on a logging road, SWAT arrived. We’d have easy access to the back of the barn. Willy took the lead with his three team members behind him. I followed them while Caleb stayed at the car to coordinate other units in the area.
When we got to the edge of the woods, Willy signaled a short trek through the woods until we were positioned behind the barn. He examined the building with binoculars. “Is this barn used regularly?”
“It’s an overflow barn for hay,” I said. “If you’re asking if Ronnie keeps it in good shape, the answer is yes.”
He nodded. “Looks to me like one of the loft doors is open a tad.” He handed me the binoculars. “If we could get up there, we’d have the upper hand. Think the pulley will hold?”
I took a good, close look. “Should. It’s shiny, so it’s been used recently.”
Pointing to his crew he said, “You two—target the loft. For God’s sake, be quiet. You take the small back door.”
“And me?” I asked. “Or do I have to stay here and be terrified?”
“You can follow me to the front, but stay behind me. You haven’t trained with us, Sarah.”
Despite feeling sidelined in my county, I reined in my temper. He was right. He was in charge. I nodded.
“Anybody see any eyes on us?” Willy asked.
Three people answered in unison “Negative.”
Win
Every time Passenger tried to ask a question, Don shut him up. I thought I could use the tension between them. Careful Win. I also thought my time-out was almost at its end. Otherwise, I’d have to play dead.
Strange how your other senses perk up when your eyes are closed. I thought I heard a squeaky brush against the back wall, like a running shoe on clean linoleum. A different sound from what I’d been hearing. Another one, farther up on the wall. Then a third, almost to the hay loft. Sarah and the cavalry? I could only hope. Another scrape lower down. Another person? Or no entry from above? Or was I just going crazy? Hearing things that weren’t there?
Take it like any other op, Win. Work to gain advantage.
I moaned. Whimpered. Opened my eyes. Kept them unfocused. I said “cold” in Tajik. Blinked. Pantomimed “cold.”
They both looked at me. Passenger stood.
“Tough shit,” Don said.
“Let me sit her on a bale,” Passenger said. “Won’t do any harm.”
“Fuck you, bleeding heart.”
Passenger walked over, took two bales off the stack. Took me under the arms and pulled me up. I wobbled. He guided me as I hopped over to the closest bale.
“Thank you,” I whispered as he helped me sit.
He went back to his own bale. “How much longer?”
“He’ll call when he calls,” Don said. “Now for the last time, shut up.”
I kept blinking. Slumped. Started muttering in Tajik. If there was an op or not, these two guys were going to meet the Madwoman of Afghanistan. I listened intently. I felt a cold draft, carefully glanced up. Two figures. Yes! Thank the stars my captives had seated themselves with their backs toward the loft.
I began speaking Tajik. Did a translation of Rumi in my head. I got louder. More agitated. Strange to hear such beautiful words said with fear, anger. Craziness. I began to shout.
Sarah
“She’s got to be aware we’re here,” said a whispered voice over the com line. “She’s going ballistic, making a lot of noise.”
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