Clint Wolf Mystery Trilogy: Boxed Set

by BJ Bourg

  “What the hell are y’all doing?” she hollered, kicking out with both legs. It was dark and things were happening too fast for her to see what was going on, but she knew there were at least two people grabbing on her—and they were large and strong. Without warning, they flung her violently to the blacktop. She landed on her back and her head smacked the hard surface with a thump. Dazed and in pain, instinct kicked in and she tried to take in as much of her surroundings as possible. In the pale light from the moon and stars she saw two figures standing over her. Based on their shapes and the grunting sounds they made, she figured they were men.

  They’d already crashed into her with a vehicle and they hadn’t apologized yet, so she knew she was in trouble. She didn’t know what they had planned for her, but she knew she couldn’t wait to find out. Taking a deep and silent breath, she reached for her pistol with her right hand, moving as fast as she could. Just as her fingers wrapped around the grip, the first man lunged forward and planted a heavy boot on her wrist. She cried out in pain and twisted to her right, grabbing at the boot with her left hand in an attempt to free her wrist. The harder she tried to push the leg off, the harder the man scrunched his boot on her wrist. She felt a burning sensation as the rough blacktop ripped at her flesh. “Get off of me, you prick!” she said, punching at the leg in the boot. It felt like a tree trunk and hurt her knuckles, but she punched at it again.

  Both men laughed and the second man leaned over her and jerked her head back by the hair. “You’re a feisty little bitch, ain’t you?” He laughed in her face and she gagged when she caught a whiff of his breath.

  “Get your filthy hands off of me,” she ordered, trying to see his eyes in the dark. She thought she might be able to shove a thumb through one of the eyeholes in the mask, but it was too risky. She was in a vulnerable position and didn’t want to do anything that would provoke them into hurting her more than they had already. Melvin would be there soon, so all she had to do was remain healthy enough to stay in the fight once he arrived. Ignoring the pain in her wrist, she asked, “Who are you? What do you want with me?”

  “Oh, we don’t want you,” Rancid Breath said. “We want Clint Wolf.”

  The blood in Amy’s veins turned to ice as realization kicked her in the gut. These were the men who killed Clint’s wife and daughter—they were the Parker brothers! Clint had warned them the Parker brothers might come looking for him, and he made it clear their fight was with him. He didn’t want any of his officers getting caught up in his mess and he had ordered them to steer clear of the Parker brothers if they showed up in town. Although she was scared and her future was uncertain, Amy smiled in the darkness. I guess I don’t listen very well, do I?

  Rancid Breath saw her smiling and asked her what was so funny. “You think we’re playing with you?” he asked. “You think this is a joke?”

  Amy’s hand was getting numb and she knew she had to get that boot off of her wrist soon. Clint had posted mug shots of the three Parker brothers and she remembered that Simon Parker was missing his front left tooth—just like the driver of the Crown Vic. They were wearing masks, so it was possible they preferred not to be identified.

  Trying to throw them off of their game, she said, “Simon, why don’t you let me up and we can talk about this. The department has insurance to cover the damage to the car and no one got hurt, so it looks like we’re all good here.”

  The boot moved slightly and the man on the other end of it sucked in his breath. Good—a reaction.

  She could hear sirens in the distance. Although they were faint, they seemed to be getting closer. It was only a matter of time before Melvin would think to check the road south of town.

  “Come on, Simon, what do you say we put an end to this party?” Amy was terrified, but she didn’t want them to know it. “Why don’t you get your boot off of my wrist and I’ll draw my gun and shoot you in the face—maybe knock out your other tooth.”

  Simon laughed. “This party will be over when I say it’s over. Clint Wolf isn’t in control anymore…we are. And he’s going to pay for killing my little brother. He’s going to pay with his blood and the blood of everyone close to him.”

  Amy could feel her pressure starting to rise. “You killed his innocent wife and daughter. How dare you cry about the justifiable homicide of your piece of shit criminal of a brother. I think it’s you who’s going to pay—”

  “Shut your filthy mouth, pig!” Simon said, raising his voice and digging his boot deeper into Amy’s wrist, bringing tears to her eyes. “You’d better watch what you say about my little brother. I’ve got no problem shooting you right here!”

  Amy winced in pain, her mind racing. She knew she had to keep him talking so he wouldn’t hear the sirens and catch on that backup was en route, but she didn’t want to push his buttons too hard. She wasn’t ready to die. “Look, we can work something out, I’m sure. If you just walk away, I’ll forget this happened. I’ll say it was a hit and run and no one will be the wiser.”

  “And what do I get?” Simon wanted to know, easing up on his boot just a little.

  “You’ll get to keep your freedom.”

  “I’m never going back to prison. They’ll have to kill me first.” Simon leaned so close to Amy she could detect the smell of stale cigarette smoke on his breath. “I tell you what, if you want to make a deal, I’ve got one for you.”

  Trying not to inhale Simon’s stench, Amy asked him what he proposed.

  “I hear Clint has a blonde lady friend.” Simon paused and Amy could see him smile in the darkness. “If you tell me where I can find her, I’ll let you go. I’ll need your pistol, but you can just walk—”

  “Simon!” Rancid Breath hollered. “I hear another cop car.” He hurried to where Simon stood over Amy. “Do you think it’s him?”

  Amy knew he had to be talking about Clint. So, they’re trying to use me as bait to get to Clint, she thought.

  “Is the car coming this way?” Simon asked.

  “It sounds like it’s getting closer, so it must be.”

  “You get on one side of the road behind those trees and tell David to get on the other side behind the truck. If it comes down the road, shoot out the tires and disable the car. If it’s Clint, don’t kill him. His ass is mine. If it’s anyone else, cut them in half.”

  Amy tried to remember everything Clint had told her about the Parker brothers. She knew there were four of them—Simon, Taylor, David, and Thomas—and Clint had killed Thomas during the armed robbery attempt and massacre of his family. Simon was the one whose boot was on her wrist and David was somewhere in the darkness, so Rancid Breath had to be Taylor.

  Taylor started to walk away, but shot a thumb in Amy’s direction first. “Don’t go getting greedy with the blonde,” he said. “After we kill that bastard Clint Wolf, I want my turn with her.”

  Once Taylor had strolled off, Simon leaned over and grabbed Amy’s pistol, trying to pull it from the holster. Amy instinctively grabbed his thumb with her left hand and wrenched it back. Simon howled in pain and jerked his hand away. “You little bitch!”

  Amy knew what would happen next. Simon was silhouetted against the moonlight and she saw his hand rear back to strike down at her. In that moment, she rolled onto her back and pushed off with her left foot. In one swift motion, she launched her right foot upward into the air and toward Simon’s head. The heel of her boot landed flush on his face, catching him off guard. He grunted and stumbled backward. Amy seized the moment and rolled back to her right and shot a second kick toward Simon’s knee. With a shriek, he toppled sideways and fell to the ground.

  CHAPTER 11

  Cradling her right wrist in her left hand, Amy bolted toward the northbound shoulder of the road, heading for the banks of Bayou Tail. The grass was tall along the shoulder of the road, but she could see the moonlight glinting off the water between the weeds. If only she could make it to the water she’d be home free.

  Simon screamed in rage and a gunshot explod
ed behind her…and then another. Dirt exploded into the air to her immediate left and she cut to the right. Spurred on by fear and an intense desire to live, she crashed through the tall weeds and covered the short distance to the bayou side in record time. More shots exploded behind her and, without a bit of hesitation, she dove headlong into the murky, alligator-infested water.

  “Get that bitch!” Simon screamed, snapping off more shots, but the sound of gunfire turned to muffled pops as Amy plunged deep into the water of Bayou Tail. Kicking her feet as fast as she could and taking long strokes with her arms, she turned left and headed north, trying to stay parallel to the shore. Her gun belt and clothes were weighing her down and she had to struggle to keep from sinking to the bottom of the bayou. Her throbbing wrist was making matters worse and she began to worry she wouldn’t make it.

  When she could no longer hold her breath, she fought to resurface and caught a mouthful of much needed air. Trying not to cause too much of a ripple, she treaded water and scanned the dark shoreline. The brothers had switched off all the headlights, so it was hard to get her bearings. She was about to dip back under the water when one of them spoke and gave away his position.

  “Where is she?” It was definitely Simon and he was somewhere to her left. “Did we get her?”

  “I don’t see her,” called a voice that was even with her position. It sounded like Rancid Breath, but she couldn’t be sure. “We need to get set up. That cop is getting close. I think he’s heading this way.”

  They were right; the siren did sound closer. Amy knew Melvin would eventually head south, if he wasn’t already. She had to do something quick or he would drive right into an ambush. Taking a deep breath, she slipped under the water and swam north as hard as she could, angling toward the shoreline. It felt as though she were moving backward, but when she resurfaced two minutes later she saw the dark shadows of the weeds along the highway. In the dim glow from the moon, she was able to see what looked like a large willow tree that had fallen into the bayou along the shore. If she could put the willow between her and the Parker brothers, she would be safe.

  Gasping for air, she dog paddled toward the north side of the fallen tree and said a silent prayer of thanks when she got close enough to grab onto one of the branches. Trying not to snap any of the branches or make the water ripple, she pulled herself along the edge of the tree until she reached shallow water. She tried to stand, but her boots sank in the soft mud and her head dipped below the surface. Black water poured into her mouth and she choked, trying to cough it out of her throat.

  “Hey, did you hear that?” called one of the brothers. “I think she’s over there.”

  Suddenly, a bright light shone across the water and began stabbing at the shadows. Holding onto a low-hanging branch, Amy allowed her body to sink into the murkiness, keeping only her lips above water. An occasional beam of light flashed through the branches, but she was confident they couldn’t see her—the tree was too thick and they were at least forty yards on the other side of it.

  Something splashed into the water along the opposite bank and she saw the light jerk in that direction. Someone fired shots at the noise—at least four of them—and she heard Simon scream at them to cease fire. “It’s an alligator, you idiot!”

  Amy gasped when she remembered the alligators. Careful not to make too much noise, but hurrying as fast as she could, she pulled herself hand-over-hand along the northern side of the tree. Although her arms screamed in fatigue from the long swim, she didn’t stop until she was safely on dry ground. Exhausted, she dragged herself to the shoulder of the highway and collapsed. After taking a few deep breaths, she rolled to her back.

  Amy’s polyester shirt clung to her tight frame and she pulled on it as she lay there panting, her heart pounding in her ears. When she’d gathered up enough energy to move, she rolled to her hands and knees and began crawling north. Every now and then one of the brothers would yell that they saw her in the water, and that would be met with an occasional gunshot and lots of cursing. Based on the sound of their last shot, she knew they had not advanced toward her position.

  She continued crawling until she was about fifty yards farther, where there was a slight bend in the highway. She was familiar with the road and knew she’d be able to see headlights approaching from about a mile away. She picked an enormous cypress tree as cover and backed into the dark shadows beside it, immersing herself in the thick weeds that grew naturally along the bank. Pickers clawed at her bare arms and left an after-burn, but she ignored it. The minor discomfort was nothing compared to what the Parker brothers would do to her.

  Amy waited in the darkness, listening as Melvin’s siren zigzagged across town. She hadn’t worked with Melvin long, but she knew enough about him to know he would be frantic, driving like mad all around town searching for her. When will you think to head south?

  The bayou water had washed away her bug repellent and she swatted at a flock of mosquitoes that buzzed around her head. Saying a silent prayer, she keyed up her radio, but the water had rendered it useless. Sighing, she flexed her wrist several times before trying to draw her pistol. If Melvin didn’t find her in a hurry, the Parker brothers would, and she needed to be ready. After several attempts, and some help from her left hand, she was finally able to pull her pistol from the holster.

  Amy squeezed the grip to test her strength and pain shot through her wrist. She transferred the pistol to her left hand and aimed it in the direction of the Parker brothers, waiting…watching.

  After about five minutes, the siren in town seemed to multiply and it was getting closer. She looked to the north, squinting to see down the dark highway. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she saw bright flashes of blue against the night sky in the distance. As she watched, headlights came into view around the far curve in the road—lots of headlights and flashing lights. Melvin was coming and he had backup!

  The Parker brothers were yelling at each other and Amy heard an engine roar to life. What were they planning? The reports from some of their earlier gunshots had sounded like an AR-15, so they were heavily armed. If Melvin and the other officers drove up on the Parker brothers, they would be trapped in the front seats of their cars and wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Amy bolted from her hiding spot and ran north along the shoulder of the highway, pushing her tired legs as hard as they would go. Her boots were heavy and her wet socks swished with each step, slowing her down. With every couple of steps she took, she glanced over her shoulder, expecting at any moment to be mowed down. She stayed close to the bank of Bayou Tail, where the shadows were thick, but Melvin was closing in fast and she’d have to get to the middle of the road soon. She wasn’t sure how much of the highway the Parker brothers could see, but if they had a visual on this stretch, they’d definitely be able to see her figure silhouetted against the oncoming headlights and flashing blues. She just hoped they’d miss if they took a shot at her.

  When the speeding squad cars were within three hundred yards, Amy left the safety of the shadows and hurried to the center of the road. She jumped up and down, waving her arms high in the air. There was no immediate response from the lead vehicle and a horrific thought suddenly occurred to her—what if they didn’t see her in time? She could think of a dozen ways she’d rather die than being run down by a speeding cop car. She had worked her share of pedestrian accidents and they were never pretty.

  Amy thought about firing a shot in the air, but then thought better about it, because it would certainly bring a response from the Parker brothers. Just when she thought she’d have to jump out of the roadway to save her own life, she heard tires screech and the headlights on the lead vehicle dipped sharply. The other cars followed suit and one of them swerved to the shoulder to avoid crashing into the rear end of the car in front of it.

  The lead vehicle stopped within a few feet of Amy and she hurried toward the driver’s side, getting out of the spotlight as quickly as she could.

  “It’s a trap,” s
he yelled once she was beside the lead vehicle—a pickup truck. She saw the Mechant Loup emblem on the door and was relieved when Melvin dropped from the front seat.

  Worry had slashed deep lines in Melvin’s otherwise round face and he grabbed Amy by the shoulders, searching her for injuries. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Amy leaned a hand on his thick shoulder to steady herself, gasping for air, and pointing with the other hand. “It’s the Parker brothers. They…they’re over there and…and they’ve set up an ambush down the road.”

  Several other patrol officers joined her and Melvin near Melvin’s truck, and she recognized some of them—they were deputies from the Chateau Parish Sheriff’s Office. They all looked in the direction she pointed and instinctively put their hands on their weapons.

  CHAPTER 12

  Mountain Bear Inn, Ridgeview, TN

  I opened my eyes. Something had stirred me from my sleep, but I wasn’t sure what it was. My motel room was cloaked in darkness. There wasn’t a sliver of light except for the clock on the nightstand and a dim glow from the floor to my right. I sat up, wincing when a dull pain stabbed at my temple. At Chloe’s insistence, I’d scaled back to drinking half a bottle of vodka per night, but here I was, after only one night away from home, downing an entire bottle.

  According to the clock, it was three in the morning. I’d only been sleeping for an hour or two, so why was I awake? I reached for my waistline and felt my pistol tucked into the front of my jeans. I pulled it out and set it on the bed beside me. The light on the floor had disappeared. I listened, but heard nothing in the tiny room. What woke me up? And what had generated that light?