by Saul, Jonas
“Sure, but tell me more on the way in,” Parkman said.
Together they jumped into the Tahoe, Sarah driving.
“We’ll drive in with this. They won’t know we’re not with them until it’s too late.” She paused and looked at him. “How did you find me?”
“Your parents said it was about an hour’s drive from town. I started driving. After an hour I called in to see what emergency calls had been made in this area over the last day or so. A suspicious vehicle was seen at a house a little ways back. The woman called it in and gave us the plate of this vehicle. It matched the plate number that we knew was on this particular gang’s vehicle. Also, the fire department responded to a house fire. They found two dead men on the property,” he glanced at her. “One was strangled and one was shot. Know anything about that?”
Sarah looked at him. “Their plan was to kill me. I had no choice.”
“Sarah, after all these years, I’m the one cop who trusts you. How did you get away?”
They came to a bend in the road. Parkman could see that it was more of a road than a driveway. It was wide enough to be a two-lane highway at this point, which made sense to him if it was the old airport access road.
“I escaped from the compound and walked about five miles until I came upon a house. It was empty and I needed to call for help, but also get cleaned up. I got in through a back window. Some of the men from this compound drove up in two of these SUVs and I had to hide in the attic. The next thing I know the place is on fire. The two guys found dead were the last two to leave, but they saw me and wanted to wait behind to make sure I was dead. I grabbed a belt from the closet upstairs, jumped out the back window into a pool and strangled the first guy. Took his gun and shot the second one. And now, here I am going in to get the rest. This stops here. Right now.”
Parkman sat back. He stared at her with admiration and respect. This young woman sure knew how to stay alive.
Up ahead he saw a line of small buildings come into view.
“Those are the jail cells they kept us in. Behind them is a large building like a hangar where they do the interrogations and torture.”
Parkman was worried they’d drive in too far. “Stop here and let me out. I’ll snake along behind these buildings. The doors are all open. They look empty to me. If anyone is still here they’ll be in the hangar.”
Sarah stopped and Parkman jumped out. He turned to her, “Watch your back.”
Sarah hit the gas and pulled away so fast the door slammed shut on its own.
Alone now, Parkman checked inside a few of the buildings and started for the hangar. Sarah parked to the far right of the little barn-like building on the side of the hangar. She put the driver’s-side door by the tree line in order to have shelter when she exited the vehicle.
The only sound was the soft wind. The place had a deserted feel to it. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he felt they were too late.
Sarah motioned to him that she was going in the back of the hangar. He nodded and showed her that he was entering through the front.
If there were still hostiles in the building he wanted to be the first one in. He bolted for the hangar door, swung it open with one swift pull and jumped in low, his gun at the ready.
What he saw shocked him.
Sam Johnson lay on the floor five feet away, his leg covered in blood with a strap wrapped tight like a tourniquet. His eyes were closed. If Parkman didn’t see the slight movement of Sam’s chest, he would’ve assumed Sam was dead.
Three people were near another black Tahoe. He recognized Dolan and Esmerelda right away. The third was a man holding a large gun. The look on his face told Parkman how surprised he was to see him too.
“Drop it!” Parkman shouted.
His eye lined up and his finger depressed hard. Something inside just wanted to shoot the guy’s glasses off his face.
In a blur of movement, the man dropped down and slid in behind Esmerelda. He locked a hand on her throat from behind and raised the gun to her temple.
“You drop your weapon, pig!”
Parkman held fast for a moment. He caught his breath and eased off the trigger. Knowing that the FBI were probably only ten minutes away, and that Sarah was coming in behind this guy, Parkman lowered his weapon to the side.
“I want you to throw it away.”
Parkman knew, as soon as the gun was a distance from him, the guy would shoot. Where was Sarah?
Then he saw her. She stepped out from behind the nose of the Cessna. Parkman could tell he was the only one who knew she was there. In seconds, Sarah hovered over the guy and bent down to rest her gun on his thigh. He jumped and looked at her.
Without saying a word, she fired her weapon and swiped at his gun with her free hand in the same moment. Parkman watched it happen from forty feet away. The guy’s weapon did not discharge as it was knocked away. His leg blew up in a shower of red.
Dolan grabbed Esmerelda and pulled her away so forcefully that the two of them slid a couple feet on the floor like they were stealing second.
A harrowing scream echoed throughout the building as the guy with the glasses grabbed at his bleeding leg.
Parkman holstered his gun and bent to check on Sam. His pulse was weak, but he was alive.
When he looked up again, Sarah was gone. He bent to look for her feet under the SUV and the Cessna, but it appeared she had left the hangar.
He ran outside leaving Dolan and Esmerelda alone with a murdering kidnapper. The guy was wounded and Dolan was more than capable of dealing with him now. Parkman needed to see where Sarah had gone.
Sarah was nowhere to be found.
Nor was the black Tahoe that they had come in.
She had disappeared.
PART II
THE SECT
Chapter 36
Sarah drove for at least an hour before pulling into a mall parking lot. It took her five minutes to find a dark corner to park in. She angled the Tahoe into a spot so as to block the view from the mall itself. Then, wasting no time, she searched the vehicle but didn’t find any tools. The glove box only held the Tahoe’s manual.
When looking under the seat she found a quarter and ended up using that to unscrew the license plate from a black Chevy Suburban parked on an angle taking up two spots. Careful to keep a watchful eye out for curious onlookers, she switched the plates as fast as she could.
Two miles away she filled the gas tank of the Tahoe. While in the Chevron gas station, she bought a little notepad and a couple of pens, along with two Red Bulls and an armful of snacks. Using her credit card would probably tell the authorities where she was, but she had no choice. From the bank machine in the corner she took out five hundred as a cash advance to avoid using the card again. When the police arrived at the gas station to pull the camera feeds they would see the new plates. That just meant she’d have to change either the plate or the vehicle, soon.
She used the restroom and got back in the SUV.
Dolan and Esmerelda were safe. She knew her parents were in some kind of protective custody. Now it was just Sarah against them.
This had become personal. She had almost died a couple of times. Her escape hadn’t been that successful. She had wanted to locate the authorities and try to bring these people down, but she was too late. They had packed up and left. To where, she had no idea, but she figured Vivian knew.
It had to do with Jack Tate somehow. Her sister had led her to him. He was the key. When they were first kidnapped and changed vehicles she remembered that no one had tied Jack up. Also, she didn’t see him again. There was no talk about his freedom from captivity. But the one thing that led her to believe he played a larger role in all this were the ripped shirts of her captors. It had to be some kind of code or symbol for their group. Jack was involved in some way, she was sure of it.
If that could be believed, then Vivian had some explaining to do. Why hadn’t she warned her? Why allow her to be dragged down into this and nearly killed? F
or what purpose? How could she save people if she’d been wounded or killed?
Unless Vivian was privy to that kind of information on the Other Side. Could she know exactly what would happen? How Sarah would react to every situation? What about free will? What if Sarah chose something different? How would Vivian get her results then?
Sarah wanted to help people. She enjoyed saving others. But when it came to nearly being shot in the forehead by sociopaths and getting shot twice plus beaten up and nearly dying in a house fire, she wondered how far her sister would allow these events to go. Couldn’t she just work through her to give ample intelligence to the police so they could raid the compound without having to involve Sarah?
There were too many questions with no simple answers.
Sarah drove on into the afternoon with no destination in mind. She had a credit card with a few thousand still available on it but couldn’t use it; five hundred in cash; and a full tank of gas in a stolen vehicle with stolen plates. Half the State Police and the FBI would be on her tail soon while she hunted down a prey that remained elusive.
How many people were held in that compound back at the hangar? Where were they now? Could this be her last job as an automatic writer?
She hadn’t thought of herself as expendable before. Maybe this was it. The police would be able to tell that it was Sarah who killed the two men at the house fire. She even admitted it to an officer earlier today. Then, through a proper investigation, it would be determined that she was in the clear. But there were so many other things to be dealt with. The police always wanted everything answered so the files were complete. It would take months to deal with all that had happened in the past several days.
Time Sarah did not have.
Because somewhere out there, a man named Jack Tate was connected to the murder of her sister.
One thing she was pretty sure of was that he was a part of this large, murderous group.
A group that Sarah intended to bring down.
Chapter 37
Armond tried the cell number again. It went directly to voice mail.
“Fuck! All I can conclude is that they’re dead or arrested. That leaves you two and the two up front leading this convoy.”
Jeffries leaned back and turned around in the front passenger seat. “Armond, we are safely away. We have a large head start. Once we are secure in the compound and our vehicles are shielded we can take care of the people who caused this.”
Armond glared at him. “That is precisely the problem. I only have four guards now. We have eighteen girls in that bus. You know how this is done. There are always two with me and two minimum with the girls. You are all too well trained to risk letting you handle simple jobs outside our influence.”
“I understand,” Jeffries said, nodding his head slightly. He looked at his watch. “We will be in Colorado in six hours. Surely some of Tom’s security could stand in while Kent and I take care of Sarah Roberts. It would be our pleasure.”
Armond shook his head. “No, too risky. You will do as you are required. I have something else in mind for Sarah. Just get us to Colorado safely.”
Armond turned on his cell phone and dialed Tom Jacobs’ private line. He answered on the fourth ring, slightly out of breath.
“Tom, its Armond. What’s happening there?”
“We are preparing for your arrival. The short notice has my select few working extra hard to accommodate the amount of people you are bringing here.”
“Have you prepared secured sleeping arrangements for the girls and my men?”
“Yes, Armond. I have decided to put the girls on the top floor of the Temple building. That’s where they will be the most secure. We already have some beds up there for other church business, so I’ve had my men carry up the rest to accommodate your needs.”
“Good. There are a few other things I’m going to need,” Armond said as he stared out the tinted window of the Tahoe they were traveling in. The American countryside raced by, oblivious to his murderous intent. At times he wondered if he was delusional or worse, psychopathic. Concerns of his mental state were often touted as insane by their very nature as he knew he couldn’t self-diagnose. A madman never doubted his sanity. He felt great, in power, in control and most of all, about to take back control on a huge scale. Hearing that Sarah was alive and his two good men were left for dead at the resting house nearly drove him over the edge. He only hoped Dolan and Esmerelda were dead now. Since he’d lost contact with the remaining crew member at the hangar, he could only assume the worst.
“I need you to call that local Marshall, the believer, and ask him to give you a location on one of my SUVs.” Armond read the vehicle identification number to Tom and then continued, “I need him to search for it as privately as he can using OnStar or the security system tracker or whatever he can, but I need it found as soon as humanly possible. Can you do this?”
“Yes I can. It will be handled. As soon as he gets an ID on its location I’ll contact you.”
“We are about six hours’ drive away. You will be ready for us, yes?”
“Of course.”
Armond hit the end button and turned to look back out the window. He marveled at how simple life was for the people in the cars that raced by going the other way. These business men and families he saw in their Cadillacs and minivans had no idea that the tour bus ahead of Armond was carrying kidnapped girls for the sole purpose of pleasing men like the ones driving their families to Disney Land. How could they know? The tour bus had blacked-out windows and was labelled with church insignia. Armond had always been friendly with the Mormon Church, as they tended to congregate in secured compounds away from the general public and they believed, in certain groups, that it was right to arranged marriages for twelve and fourteen year olds. Armond himself had left the Texas compound just a few days before the early April 2008 raids on Warren Jeffs’ outfit.
He didn’t believe in all their doctrines. But these people gave him a place to hide when he needed one and he needed one for a while until the heat dissipated.
He scrolled through the phone numbers in his cell and located the one he needed.
This line was answered instantly.
“I need a job handled.”
“Go on.”
“There’s a girl that needs to be dealt with. Her name is Sarah Roberts. I don’t know where she is at the moment but I may know within the hour. Can you do this?”
“Yes. Call me back when you know where she is.”
“There’s something you should know,” Armond added. He couldn’t allow any more mistakes with Sarah. She appeared all too capable. “This girl is quite good. Sarah has one of our vehicles. As soon as I locate the vehicle I will call you back. But, I have to warn you to be careful. She is extremely professional and has been trained very well.”
“I understand. I will be prepared and waiting to move out at your call. This may cost you more than the regular amount.”
“Do the job and I will pay you accordingly.”
Armond hung up and tilted his head back on the seat. Good, he felt good again. This ex-marine had come home to America with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and had turned into one of the best hit men Armond had ever used. To date he tried to remember how many hits he’d used him on and stopped counting around a dozen. Americans had no idea what the real statistics were. How many people went missing every year? How many were fed to pigs at pig farms? How many were dropped in the Everglades with two broken legs and two broken arms, never to be heard from again as the alligators got fatter?
It was thanks to people like Elson, Armond’s hit man, that whoever had crossed him had disappeared for good and without a trace.
He felt good knowing that Sarah Roberts would finally be taken care of the right way. The way he should’ve done it in the first place. The only sour note was that he wouldn’t get the pleasure of doing it himself.
His phone rang. Private showed up in call display.
“Yeah.”
“It’s Tom. The Marshall called me back. OnStar got a hit. The vehicle is traveling south on 84 going towards Salt Lake City. That vehicle could be at our compound in five to six hours. By tomorrow morning, if that’s where it’s headed.”
“Okay, nothing to worry about. I will take care of this. Keep me posted when it stops. I’ve got someone meeting it. I want to hear back from you the moment it stops.”
“Got it.”
Armond terminated the call and dialed Elson back.
“It’s on 84 heading south into Salt Lake City. Start after it now and I’ll call you when she stops for the night.”