Bourbon Blaze

by Deanna L Rowley

  “James and Tomas Carp escaped from prison one week ago.” The district attorney said.

  “I still don’t understand. Why would I be concerned about this?”

  “Curt!” Chris screamed into the phone, “Tomas Carp is the man who attacked Sophia, and commanded the dog to attack her.”

  “Oh, shit!” Curt put one hand in his hair and pulled it while turning in a circle. He must have made some noise because the next time he looked up Dana stood in the doorway.

  “Dana, call Sophia’s cell.”

  Without question, Dana did. She shook her head at her husband then dialed the office. “Voicemail.”

  Chris heard her. Everyone remained silent for several seconds. “What about Sean?” Dana asked.

  “Who’s Sean?” Chris asked.

  “The guy she started dating here.” Curt looked at his wife in shock, “Dana!”

  “What?”

  “Connor’s party? Isn’t she there?”

  “Let me call Susan.” Dana dialed, sighing in relief. “Susan, this is Dana, I’m putting you on speaker.”

  “Hello?” Susan asked. “Dana, what’s wrong? Is it the kids? Do you need me to come over to help?”

  “Have you seen Sophia?”

  “No, I talked to her earlier, I haven’t seen her, why?”

  “When did you talk to her?”

  “Who’s that?” Susan asked, hearing someone in the background.

  “I’ll tell you later. When was the last time you talked to her?”

  “Around one, she called me from work. She’d lost track of time. When she came up for air, everyone had left for the day. She was going to go get a bottle of bourbon, then come here. She said her phone battery was dead. Holy hell, it’s been almost four hours.”

  “Do you know where Sean is?”

  “Sitting right here. With the storm and several people sick, I canceled the party. Sean and his friend showed up about twenty minutes ago. What’s wrong? Let me put the phone on speaker.”

  “Sean?” Curt asked, ignoring Susan, but not before telling her Dana would explain later.

  “Yeah, what’s going on?”

  “I have my brother and the district attorney from Daytona, Florida, on the other line.”

  Sean glanced at Neil, both shrugged.

  “Sean, Tomas and James Carp escaped. Both of them. A week ago.”

  “Oh shit!” Sean and Connor said together as they jumped to their feet.

  “Who are Tomas and James Carp?” Neil asked. Susan grabbed his forearm, leaning into him. “I don’t know if you know Sophia’s story, but her ex used a dog to attack her twice. She moved here to get away from him. A little over a month ago, he received a sentence of three to five years.”

  “Do you think they’re headed this way?” Sean asked.

  “We don’t know.” Came a voice Sean didn’t recognize. “Right now, we’re looking for Sophia to warn her.”

  “I’ll head out to her place.”

  “She’s not living there with Susan?”

  “No, she moved into Randy Fry’s doublewide on Monday.”

  “Right.” Curt shook his head. “What do we do?”

  “I’ve got Neil Saunders with me. He’s another deputy. We’ll backtrack from here to HALO, from there, to the liquor store. See if we can find any sign of her. Depending on the outcome, I’ll head to her place.”

  “Why don’t I do that?” Curt said. “You and Neil backtrack. Keep me informed.”

  “In the meantime.” The district attorney sighed. “I’m going to call my counterpart there. Give them the heads up. Give me your numbers. I’ll pass them to him.” After exchanging information, everyone hung up. Curt looked at his wife.

  “Go, but be careful. It’s been snowing all freaking day. We’ve gotten at least three feet already.”

  Curt nodded and headed up the stairs to the attic. Once there, he dressed in his former fatigues, strapped on a Kevlar vest and made sure he had his weapons with plenty of spare ammo in a shoulder pack. Back downstairs, he wasn’t surprised to see his wife and children waiting for him.

  “Be careful,” Dana said. “We’ll keep the fires burning here. You do what you have to. Please, work with Sean and Neil. I know you don’t know them as well as I do, but they’re like you. They are former military and police officers. Work together. If by some chance those two made it here and found her, Sean’s going to need support.”

  “I agree.” He kissed his wife, hugged his children. “Keep the door locked. I’ll be home as soon as I can. I’ll call you when I can.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Dana repeated her husband’s favorite saying as she hugged him again. The last look Curt had of his family was his wife surrounded by their children. His heart swelled with love for them.

  24

  Sophia woke slowly. She felt like she’d gone ten rounds with a heavyweight boxer losing every round. She was afraid to open her eyes, scared of what she might see. Off in the distance, she heard voices arguing. She opened her eyes just enough so that she could see a wooden floor. She glanced to either side, and realized she was in a rustic cabin. She saw a glow in the corner, Sophia realized it came from an ancient wood stove. When she heard footsteps, she closed her eyes.

  “She’s faking it, bro.” Came a voice. Suddenly she was struck across the face. She screamed and tried to open her eyes. They were swollen. Her vision distorted. Frowning hurt too much.

  “Who’s there?”

  “Ah, you don’t remember me, bitch?” Came an angry voice less than six inches from her face. “You should remember me. It’s your fault I went to jail.” Sophia’s chin was gripped painfully her whole head jerked up. She tried to push him away, but her hands were strapped to the arms of the chair she sat in.

  “Tomas?” Sophia cringed, saying the name of her biggest nightmare. “I thought you were in jail.”

  “I was. It pays to have friends in low places. You won’t be getting out of here alive. If you did, you and your cousin should have a nice little chat.” He laughed evilly. Sophia sucked in her breath, wondering what Susan had to do with all of this. She saw him take a swig from the bottle he held. It was the same brand of bourbon she drank. She froze as she remembered.

  “You rammed my car.”

  “Yep.” Tomas gave a sinister laugh. The blood in Sophia’s veins to freeze. “Well, actually, James did. I told him to do it.” Tomas laughed again, taking another swig of the bourbon. He passed the bottle to someone. Sophia saw James, Tomas’s older brother.

  “Hey, bro, too bad we don’t have a dog with us. You should see this bitch around a dog. I could use the entertainment.” Again, Tomas emitted a sinister laugh.

  Sophia cringed at the thought of having a dog anywhere near her. She grit her teeth and said nothing. She refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing her afraid. If she made it out alive, she could at least listen to relay information if she survives. Out of nowhere, she was punched from the opposite side. If she had to bite her tongue off, she wasn’t going to cry out.

  “You owe us, bitch!” Came the snarled response. Sophia recognized James Carp’s voice. She remained silent, hoping the less she said, the less they would harm her.

  Sean and Neil left Susan’s house, but not before asking her precisely what Sophia’s plans had been. Once in his police issue SUV, Sean started the engine. He told Kilo to hang on. With is ass barely in the seat, he dropped the SUV in gear and took off.

  “Slow down, man.” Neil cautioned. “You don’t want to wreck before we get out of Susan’s driveway.” At the end of the road, Sean turned left, Neil asked why.

  “We came in a back way. The way we came went to the interstate. This way takes us into town.”

  “Oh.” Neil nodded. It was slow going. Two miles up the road, Kilo started to whimper from the back seat. Sean looked at him in the rearview mirror. That’s when they saw a car off the side of the road. He turned on the police lights. Sean pulled up behind it, slammed the car in park and toge
ther, he and Neil exited the SUV. They hurried as fast as they could through the deep snow to the car. Sean had recognized it as Sophia’s. Sean’s cell phone rang as soon as he and Neil reached the car.

  “Kilduff.”

  “Sean, it’s Olsen, I received a call from the district attorney. What can you tell me?”

  “We found Sophia’s car.” Sean said, giving the location. He told the Sheriff he, Neil, and Kilo were approaching the car.

  Sean left the cell phone on and slipped it in his uniform shirt pocket. He let Kilo out of the back and gave the command to approach the car. Kilo sniffed the ground. Sean and Neil slowly approached. Neil used his personal cell phone to take pictures of the scene as they approached.

  “Son of a bitch,” Sean said. He directed Neil to snap pictures to send to Sheriff Olsen.

  “Sheriff, Neil’s sending you some photos. Evidence indicates Sophia’s car was rammed on the driver’s side. There’s no sign of her anywhere. The airbag deployed, there’s blood. Neil and I are going to set Kilo to track. Sir, I’m letting you know that Curt Bannerman will be joining us.”

  “Do what you have to do. I’ll call everyone on duty to your current location. As a matter of fact, Smith and Newman are en-route.”

  “Thanks.” Sean hung up and relayed the message to Neil.

  “Bannerman’s on his way.” Neil walked around the car again, pausing when three vehicles approached. Two had flashing red lights, one did not. Curt exited and swore when he saw the damage to Sophia’s car.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “Kilo’s a tracker. We’re going to see if he can pick up a scent. Saunders and I are going to follow him. We’ll keep in radio contact with everyone. Newman and Smith will be processing the scene. Sheriff Olsen is on his way, along with the other deputies on duty.”

  “Once everyone is here, Smith and I will follow behind you.” Deputy Barry Newman said. “You three have the military experience. From the tracks I’m seeing, there are two different prints. Both look the size of grown men. I’ve never seen Sophia. I don’t know if any of these prints are hers.”

  “They aren’t,” Sean said, while pulling out his phone. “This is Sophia. She’s a tiny thing. Five-two, jet black hair, and bright blue eyes.” He showed her picture to his co-workers. “She always wears her motorcycle riding boots. Always.”

  Curt agreed with him.

  “Yeah, these aren’t her prints.” Neil squatted down. “This set of tracks are shallow, normal. The prints leading away from her car are deeper, like they were carrying something. Since there’s no sign of Sophia except for the blood on the airbag, I’d say they took her.”

  Curt looked in the car and pointed. “Her purse is on the floor, sticking out from under the passenger side seat.” Everyone watched Steve Smith make his way over, opened the door, retrieving the item. Sean wanted to stop him. He felt it should be his job to guard Sophia’s car. But he had to have the others do the work. Feeling confident Smith and Newman had things under control, Sean indicated he was leaving.

  Sean gave Kilo the command to find Sophia. He knew it would be slow going through the deep snow. Sean had all the confidence in his partner. It took less than a minute for him to pick up a scent, with his leash extended in Sean’s hand, the three men took off, following the dog. The footprints ended further down the road, but Kilo was able to pick up another scent. The men pointed to the ground and they followed the bright green trail in the snow. Sean assumed it was antifreeze.

  Sean held up his hand in a hold motion about a mile down the road. Deep in the trees on the side of the road was a black pick-up truck. They radioed it in. Sheriff Olsen, along with the new deputy, Max Abbott, arrived at their location within minutes.

  “What’s up?”

  “Kilo tracked Sophia’s scent to the road. He lost it. But he was able to pick up a different scent, that led us here. I pulled him back because we spotted a truck in the trees. We wanted others here in case there is no one here. You can process it, and we’ll continue on.”

  “You’re lead.” Sheriff Olsen nodded. He stepped back, indicating for them to proceed. Sean gave the command to Kilo, and they took off, following the canine. Sheriff Olsen called the plate in. It came back stolen, he had dispatch contact the State Police for backup. Curt stayed back, keeping his eye out on the surrounding area while the deputies approached the truck with their weapons drawn.

  They called Curt over to the truck. From the looks of it, after ramming Sophia’s car, the radiator gave out making it only this far. A trail of antifreeze led from the road into the woods where the truck stopped.

  “At least you should be able to track better,” Sheriff Olsen said. Everyone looked up when several vehicles pulled up. “Wow, that was fast.” A dozen armed officers approached. It was the State Police, along with the deputies who worked with Sean. The off duty officers had also arrived.

  “What’s happening?” One of the newest arrivals asked. “We saw Smith and Newman back at the first scene. What’s this?” Indicating the wrecked truck in the woods.

  “Truck was reported stolen several days ago,” Olsen said. “Kilo tracked us to here, we’ve called in the State boys. We’re going to leave this here. All of us will follow Kilo and Kilduff to see if we can find Sophia. The last time anyone talked to her was around one this afternoon. It’s going on six o’clock. Five hours since anyone heard from her. No clue how long ago her car was rammed.”

  “Does anyone know why her car was rammed?” Max Abbott asked. “Why would someone take her?”

  “My brother called me almost an hour ago.” Curt began. “Sophia’s from Florida. She’s only been in Iowa a few weeks. Seven months ago, her ex commanded his dog to attack her. Both the dog and man beat the ever-living shit out of her. Sophia worked for my brother at the time. He was there when it happened. While she was still in the hospital, her ex-boyfriend attempted to kill her there. It’s messed up. The asshat received three to five years for attempted murder.”

  “In Florida?”

  “Yes, my brother called saying her ex and his brother escaped five days ago.”

  “Shit, this is personal. Do you think they blame her for putting them in jail?”

  “Yes.” Sean admitted. “Sophia told me he said if she was dead, they couldn’t go after him for attacking her.”

  “Some fucked up logic there.”

  “I know, right?” Sean sighed. In under five minutes, everyone headed through the woods. Kilo followed the scent. The men followed the tracks. Sean called a halt, they all looked at him. He pointed through the trees.

  “What?” Curt asked.

  “Old-line cabin. Either someone’s helping them, or they know the area. I grew up here, spent my whole life here, I didn’t know a cabin was here.”

  “I did,” Neil said. “I’m not from here. I’m from the other side of Des Moines. I used to come here with my grandfather during the hunting season. I thought it had fallen down by now. It looks like it’s going to fall down any minute.”

  “Yeah.” Everyone agreed. They spent the next few minutes strategizing. They wanted to make sure everything was ready before they moved in. When they heard a blood-curdling scream it motivated them to move quicker.

  “That’s right, bitch! Scream! Let me hear you scream.” James Carp taunted Sophia as he slapped her across the face. “My brother had everything until you came into his life! It’s your fault he went to jail! It’s your fault his life went to shit! It’s your fault…” James paused. Sophia took the opportunity to get a word in.

  “Fuck you, James! It’s not my fault. It’s his. He did this all on his own. The real blame is yours. It’s your fault!” Sophia yelled at him.

  Crack!

  James backhanded her again, Sophia wasn’t going to back down. She was going to tell them what she really thought before they killed her. “Go ahead, hit me, beat the shit out of me. You’ll never get out of here alive. If you do, and I don’t, I’ll haunt you until the day you die. I’ve n
ever seen such stupid criminals in my life.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” James asked.

  “You escaped from prison. Why come to Iowa? Why didn’t you head to the Gulf? Or to Miami? You could have gotten a job on a cruise ship, gone to a different country, disappeared. No, you both are so fucking stupid you came to east bum fuck Iowa. For what? I didn’t do a damn thing to either one of you. Regardless of what you think. Tomas followed in your criminal footsteps after you went away. Tomas begged to get Dawg back. Tomas took over your dog-fighting ring. How is any of that my fault? It’s your fucking footsteps he stepped into. For years he avoided you. He wouldn’t talk to you. As soon as you went away, he picked up where you left off. You, not me. So, fuck you, James Carp!” By the time she finished, Sophia was screaming at him.

  “It’s your fault because you said something! You should have kept your fucking mouth shut!”

  “Fuck you! This is a free country. I’m not married to Tomas. Even if I was, I’d never keep my mouth shut if he was in the wrong. It’s not my fault he wasn’t man enough to keep a job and a roof over his head. He would have lost the house if it wasn’t for me paying half the bills. There’s no one to blame but the two of you.”

  “ENOUGH!” Tomas screamed. He tipped up the bottle of bourbon, downing several swallows. He tilted the bottle as he walked around the chair Sophia was strapped to. Pouring the liquid all over the floor. He pulled a lighter and started flicking it on and off.

  “Let’s fucking end this now, James. I’m done. She’s been nothing but trouble since the day I met her.” He reached out, grabbed his brother’s upper arm, and tried to drag him away.

  “Let’s not be too hasty. You’ve fucked her in the past. I think I’ll take my turn. It’s been over a year since I had any pussy. We can do her, then light this cabin ablaze. We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere, Iowa. Who is going to know? With this storm, it’ll be spring before they find her.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on it!” Sophia said. James reached for the button on his jeans. Sophia began to struggle to get away. Tomas stood behind her, putting his hands forcibly on her shoulders, keeping her in place. He reached down to grab her breast. Sophia threw her head back and slammed it into Tomas’s chin. He screamed at the same time James yelled.