“But how did she know all of the things that you were going to do and then to discover?” Starnes said.
“I don’t believe that what has happened in D.C. had any bearing on Diamond’s actions. I don’t know how Diamond gets her information about people and events. But for some reason, she is usually ahead of the game. She’s just on a different page from the rest of us. Well, especially a different page than the one I am usually on.”
“You give her a lot of credit,” Rosey said.
“Mostly deserved,” I said. “The thing that bothers me is that someone apparently got the drop on her. That’s hard to do.”
“Well, she was kidnapped right under your nose early on,” Starnes said.
“And escaped.”
“They simply misjudged her skills. Perhaps the second time around, they decided to take no prisoners,” Rosey said.
“Yeah. But how do you get the drop on a professional killer?”
“She was convalescing from her recent concussion when Sai found you,” Starnes said.
“Correct. She was not yet at full capacity, so it would have been easier to catch her off guard, but … I don’t know. Even when she’s injured, she’s better than most I’ve known.”
“So, where are you going with this, Clancy?”
“If I am guessing correctly, then I suggest that our focus be close to Laurel’s home and favorite trails rather than searching the county far and wide,” I said. “There are plenty of dirt roads in the county, so we could use a bonafide starting place around Laurel’s home.”
“It’s worth the gamble,” Rosey said, “We have to begin somewhere. Might as well be there. Reasonable guess, I’d say.”
“And you?” I said to Starnes.
“You two go to the area around Laurel’s home and see what you find. I have an idea about one other place. I’ll call the sheriff to see if he will help us search.”
“You going alone?”
“Not on your life. I’ll take Dog.”
58
Laura Beth Call was not the emotional wreck I expected to encounter when we arrived at her small house on Road 1310 near the Hickory Fork Creek. Think remote and isolated. The driveway from 1310 was a good three football fields in length. It was lined with white pines and a kind of make-shift fencing that was completely overwhelmed with honeysuckle vines which were waiting on more warm weather before they exploded with blooms and their intoxicating fragrance. We were a few days into April, but even allowing that it was unseasonably warm. It felt good despite the circumstances. At least we didn’t have to battle cold mountain weather on this occasion.
The warm night didn’t stop me from feeling like a fool. My feelings went further back than the first day of April. I suspected that I had been a fool for a good while now. The voice on the phone was still haunting me. Familiar, and yet distinct and no clue as to the identity.
Laura Beth was up and sitting quietly on her thread-bare couch knitting. I could see her through the living room windows as we approached the front door. I told Sam to stay on the porch and alert us if anything suspicious aroused his curiosity.
I knocked.
“Come on in,” she said without moving from her work on the sofa.
“Any word on my daughter?” she said.
We told her about the phone call and the tidbit we had learned.
“Was a woman named Diamond here to see her?” I said.
“Don’t know a name, but there was a woman who drove up my lane part-way and stopped. Laurel went out to see who it was. I saw her talkin’ to the woman.”
“That woman driving a small truck?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think it was a small red truck. Looked like Starnes’ truck maybe.”
“And the woman in the truck didn’t stay?” I said.
“For awhile. Laurel stood out there by the truck and they talked, I reckon. Maybe an hour or so. Maybe longer, I don’t know. I had chores and too much to do to keep an eye on them. I trust Laurel. She doesn’t entertain strangers so as to cause worry. I figured she knew the person and, well, they talked for a good bit.”
“Just one day.”
“That’s all I saw.”
“And where was Laurel hiking on the day she failed to return?” I said.
“Go out to 1310, turn right and stay on that road until it ends. Then follow the Hickory Fork to the west and climb.”
“Did you go that way looking for her?”
“No. Laurel’s not going to get lost in these mountains. Might as well entertain the idea that a wild bear could get lost around here. Laurel knows the trails better than the rangers who work for the government. Better than most hunters. She’s not lost.”
“Okay, I get that. But we need your thinking in trying to locate her,” I said.
“Well, with what you have told me … and now that I know someone took her … let’s just say that unless they have secured her with locks and chains, they may yet be surprised.”
“A wily girl,” I said.
“You don’t know the half of it,” she said as she continued her knitting without looking up at us.
“We’ll go up that way,” I said as we both turned to leave. “Thanks.”
“You’re going hiking tonight?”
“No, we’re just going up that road till it ends.”
“Looking for the woman,” she said.
“Yeah, looking for the woman.”
“Friend of yours?” Laura Beth said.
“Yeah.”
“Hope you find her. And my girl, too.”
Laura Beth told us that the easy part of the road ended about half a mile from her drive. The rest of the road might require some skilled driving to avoid the potholes and the gullies. I was driving Diamond’s Silverado. Starnes was driving the ’58 Ford truck which had belonged to her father. She had loaned Diamond her small, old red truck to use while I had access to the Silverado. We were all searching for the old red truck on some remote road in McAdams County.
Sam was in the backseat of the Silverado sitting up with his ears alert for any sight or sound. I could hear him sniffing as we inched along on the mountain road.
I slowed the truck and eased to a stop. Rosey pointed to a small truck off to the left side of the dirt road about a hundred yards in front of us. As soon as I opened my door, Sam bolted toward the vehicle in front of us. We followed quickly. It appeared to be Starnes’ small truck. My heart sank a bit as we approached. I was hoping against hope that we had found Diamond.
I used a small flashlight to look inside. Blood was pooled on the floorboard of the rider’s side. Diamond’s head was on the rider’s seat while her body was mostly on the driver’s side. She was obviously unconscious, if not worse.
“She has a pulse,” Rosey said.
He was on the driver’s side of the vehicle. Sam and I were opposite him.
“We need to get her to some medical facility fast,” I said.
“She’s lost of a lot of blood,” Rosey said. “Let’s take her back to Beth Call’s.”
“And not the hospital?” I said.
“I’ll call 911 and have the ambulance come to Beth’s. They’ll be a sight quicker than us.”
We eased Diamond out of one truck and into the bed of the Silverado. I found an old blanket behind the back seat and we used that to wrap her body tightly. She had been shot three times as we had been told. Two shots were to her upper chest cavity on either side of the heart. As far as my medical expertise allowed, I was fairly certain that the two shots had missed her heart. I was guessing. It was the other shot that bothered me. It was in the abdomen and the one I was concerned about the most. The bleeding out part was my chief anxiety. Gut shots can be nasty injuries.
I found some rags in a compartment in Diamond’s truck and gave them to Rosey. He folded and pressed one of them to her abdomen while Sam looked on with concern. I drove us back the short distance to Beth Call’s place.
Beth had us place her gently on her couch and then began to examine he
r.
“You know what you’re doing?” I said without thinking much.
“I have some E.M.T. training,” she said. “Not a great deal, but enough to know how to examine her and to see if I can do anything. I know my limits.”
I moved back away from her while she opened Diamond’s blouse to view the wounds. Rosey went out to the front porch to wait. I was frozen to the spot on Beth’s living room floor. I watched to see what she could and would do.
Beth lifted Diamond’s limp upper torso to examine her back.
“Through and through,” she said. “Let’s hope there’s been little damage with these two wounds.”
She then opened the rest of the blouse to see the stomach wound.
“Come here and help me,” she said to me. “Hold this tightly against her… here.” She pressed a folded sheet against the abdomen and placed my hand on it.
“This is the concern,” she said.
“We figured that when we found her,” I said as I pressed the folded cloth against the lower wound.
By the time we had had our earlier diagnosis confirmed by Beth, it wasn’t long before the official emergency crew arrived. Amazingly fast, if you ask me. They hooked up some fluids after examining Diamond. They sped off into the dark night towards Mission Hospital in Asheville with my friend in tow.
They didn’t have to tell me it would be a battle for her to make it. I figured that out all by myself when we found her limp and comatose body in the truck.
My anger was growing toward my still unknown assailant. That mysterious voice on the phone was causing some severe grief for me.
I called Starnes to tell her what had transpired. She was on the south side of the county checking out her own hunch.
“You can come back now. We found her and she’s on the way to the hospital.”
“She gonna make it?” Starnes said.
“Probably up to her and the doctors. Doesn’t look good.”
“You mind if I add the Divine to the equation?”
“If you have any pull, it’d be nice.”
“No pull, just trust and hope.”
“Remember you’re seeking Divine influence for a professional assassin,” I said.
“Let’s hope this is an open-minded deity,” she said.
“You might ask for a miracle while you’re asking.”
“That could be way beyond my level of influence,” Starnes said.
“Wouldn’t hurt to ask.”
59
Diamond was in surgery for a good portion of the night. It was daybreak before the surgeon came out to report details about what she did to the patient. Gave her some blood, more than she first thought necessary. Didn’t find any infection in any of the wounds, but was seriously concerned with the gut wound, her term not mine. Removed the slug from that lower wound. The upper torso bullet wounds were clean. Nothing vital was hit. She told me that my friend was a very fortunate woman. I nodded in agreement without saying anything.
The doctor also told me that the next forty-eight hours were critical. Seems like I’ve heard that line before. Why don’t they just say two days?
I thanked her as she turned to leave. I sat back down next to Rosey. I was close to exhaustion. He was awake and steady and a little weary himself.
“Thanks for staying,” I said to him.
“You would have done the same for me.”
“That the reason you stayed.”
“No, but it contains my sentimentalities. Real men don’t get gushy.”
“Yeah, tough guy. Anyhow, thanks.”
“You hungry?”
“Not really, but I could use some dark brew.”
“Figures. I know a place.”
“In Asheville?”
“Not far from here. Starnes is meeting us.”
He drove us to the IHOP on Tunnel Road. I made them bring an extra pot of coffee just for me. Starnes and Rosey ate some eggs and other things. I paid little attention to what Rosey had ordered for me, except for my coffee. I nursed and drank several cups. My mind was elsewhere.
“You plan to stay here?” Starnes said.
“You mean at the hospital, of course. Remains to be seen. We wait and see.”
“That’s not an answer,” Starnes said.
“My life is not my own,” I said. “The next phone call will dictate what’s next.”
“Of course it will,” Rosey said. “I wish we could get an upper hand here.”
“Don’t we all,” Starnes said.
Rogers called. I went outside to fill her in on all that had occurred since we had last spoken.
“Sorry to hear about Diamond. I hope she makes it.”
“She’s tough,” I said. I tried hard to believe what I was saying.
“But not invulnerable.”
“No, but I used to think she was bullet proof.”
“Like a cat. I suspect she’ll have a few more lives.”
“I need you to send me some money.”
“I’m now your banker?” she said.
“All things considered, that’s who you are at the moment.”
“My status is elevating even as we speak. How noteworthy. How much money do I send you?”
“Two billion, give or take a few pennies.”
“That’s a bit more than I guessed you would say. It’s a good bit more than what your checking account allows for. So, begs the question, I suppose … How do we transact such a gargantuan sum?”
“I’m pondering that one.”
“Well, while you are pondering that one, you might want to consider that most banks cannot handle such a transaction of that magnitude without asking questions and treading water for a few hours, if not days.”
“Yeah. That crossed my mind as well. How about you stand by for a transfer of funds like you did when we borrowed that money.”
“I stole it, pure and simple. And, for the record, I did not steal two billion. And I didn’t borrow anything. Why do you insist on using euphemistic language when you have me cross legal lines?”
Nothing like having artificial intelligence question your ethics. Perhaps what Uncle Walters and I did when building Rogers was to actually create my alter ego or nagging conscience. It was certainly not intentional, at least not on my part. It just developed that way. I think.
“Okay, I had you steal it. Your complicity in a crime is stated.”
“Good. We’ll share a cell together somewhere in Kansas.”
Smart-aleck machine.
“I assume that the treading water you referred to concerns a physical transfer of such an exorbitant number like two billion,” I said.
“So astute and yet so young,” she said. “Yes, dear. I would think that it would take more than a few hours to actually get your hands on that many suitcases full of currency. And, once more, simply for clarification, I did not steal two billion dollars. I took hold of one point something billion dollars.”
“Okay. Point clarified. One point something. Lotta cash. So a wire transfer or computer linked thingamajig is the way to go.”
“Without question. So this is some kind of ransom demand?”
“For a twelve year old girl.”
“Laurel Storm Shelton.”
“Good guess, Sherlock Rogers. You must be following our situation closely.”
“I’m an investigative computer. I work for a highly skilled detective, some times. I investigate. It’s my role in this relationship.”
“I don’t recall asking you to investigate Laurel Shelton.”
“My, my. What a wonderful memory you have. As a matter of fact you did not ask me to investigate Laurel Shelton.”
“You did that on your own.”
“Guilty. While I spend a great part of my time doing research from your directives, I am also an independent contractor who does her own research.”
“This is dangerous on many levels, you know. So this is the meaning behind following our situation closely.”
“For the recor
d, I am smiling at the moment. And, it is only dangerous if you ever would fire me.”
“That’d be worse than selling the family parrot to the town gossip,” I said.
“To turn a saying, yes. In your case, it would be the end of a great career.”
“You’re holding me hostage,” I said.
“In a manner of speaking, I suppose I am. But, you know I love you.”
“Ah, yes. Ours is an interesting relationship, to say the least.”
“I was thinking that very thought … to say the least.”
I returned to the table just in time to receive another phone call. Restricted number appeared in the phone’s small window. I sat down and poured myself some hot coffee. The phone rang again.
“This is our mysterious voice calling once more,” I said to everyone just before I opened the phone and connected to the caller.
I hit the speaker button and placed the phone next to the coffee pot in the center of the table. Since there were no other people sitting at the tables around us that early in the morning, I felt safe in letting our small group listen.
“So how is the wounded victim?” the voice of calm said.
“Critical,” I said.
“Too bad. Wrong place, wrong time,” he said. “Now on to more important matters. Where’s my money?”
“In a safe place.”
“Any place that is not of my choosing is not a safe place. I want two billion.”
“Correction. You received two hundred thousand up front from the buyer. Then one point something billion to you. The latter is what I took,” I said.
“Then I want my one billion, nine hundred and ninety-nine million, eight hundred thousand dollars back,” the voice said quite accurately and without hesitation.
“I bet you do. I want you to release Laurel Shelton unharmed. Then you can have the money you believe is yours, that number you just stated.”
“I want cash. Unmarked bills, non-sequential so the authorities cannot trace the money.”
“Not going to happen,” I said.
“Does this mean that you have not yet had sufficient pain emanating from the injuries to your friend in critical condition now as we speak? You want me to hurt this young girl as well?”
Out Jumps Jack Death: A Clancy Evans Mystery (Clancy Evans PI Book 8) Page 30