by Lynn Bulock
“You didn’t have to try so hard. Nobody missed any of them, really. They were expendable, just like this one.” He pointed toward Jasmine.
“Jasmine is not expendable and neither is any other human being. We’re all God’s creations, and God cares about each of us.” Kyra tried to soften the anger in her voice. It wouldn’t help their predicament any if she got Gary more upset than he already was. “God cares about you, Gary.”
“That’s impossible,” he said, cutting her off. “Nobody cares about me and they never have. Nobody but Mama ever cared for me. When our house burned down and my folks died, she took me in and raised me. She was the only one who ever told me the fire wasn’t my fault. Now she’s gone and the demons are back.”
He was pacing again, reminding Kyra of an elderly lion in the zoo. “Stop staring at me,” he yelled, turning around to face Jasmine. “Why do you have to keep staring?”
Jasmine looked down at the ground, and Kyra could see that she was terrified. “I wasn’t staring. I wasn’t even looking. I want to go home.”
“Yeah, well so do I, but it’s too late for that. None of us are going home again. When I finish, you two will stay here with the others and I’ll be going someplace else. Your friend here,” he said, pointing to Kyra, “messed things up enough that I can’t go home to my family.”
Kyra strained at the handcuffs, trying to stretch them just enough to slip one wrist out of the restraints. But they were made of very tough plastic, and she could feel the skin on her arms abrading without any success in freeing herself. “What you did is keeping you away from your family, Gary. But it doesn’t have to keep you away forever. You could decide to let us go. If the police aren’t outside already they will be soon.”
“Then I guess I’d better hurry up here. I want to be long gone before they get here. It’s too late to let you go. Besides, I want you to suffer for what you did to me.”
Kyra took a deep breath, praying that she would be given the right words to turn their situation around. “Jasmine hasn’t done anything to you, Gary. Why don’t you let her go? She’s pregnant and she isn’t well. She won’t get far enough to put anybody on your trail by the time you leave here. What do you say?”
“I say you’re wasting my time.” Gary walked across the open space to a corner and pulled out a duffel bag. Methodically he took several items out of it, including a towel and a large camping flashlight and one other thing that made Kyra’s blood chill. He took out a silvery coil of heavy wire and unrolled it slowly between his hands. It stretched out between his hands, the end coiling around one wrist like a snake. Kyra was shaking with fear in the damp barn now, trying to hide the depth of her feelings from this sad, sick man who had claimed so much power over their bodies.
Was this what it felt like to contemplate death? She knew there was something more than this life, and that plenty of good things were waiting for her in heaven. When she thought about it, she always pictured Gran and Lissa Rose there, maybe even together. But she wasn’t particularly ready to go today. If she did, she’d never straighten things out between her and Josh, at least not this side of heaven. And here in this awful situation one of the other things she knew was that she wanted to straighten things out with Josh.
She wanted to tell him how much she cared for him, even if that meant that she’d have to listen to him admit that he didn’t feel the same way. There was so much more to learn about him, like what he intended to do now that he was going back to the FBI, and how his life was going to be different now that he’d let Jesus into it. She felt a little cheated that she wasn’t going to get to know any of that, thanks to Gary.
He was doing something with that wire again, twisting it and turning it between his hands while he murmured to himself too softly for her to understand. Behind him the huge barn door moved a little on its track, and Kyra thought she saw a hand curl around the door at the opening, helping it open just a bit more. If the metal of the track and the rollers at the top grated, Gary would see that someone was coming in.
On impulse Kyra began to scream, loudly enough that it hurt her throat, but it served a dual purpose. Gary paid attention to her, and any noise made by the door sliding open was covered. Jasmine grew wide-eyed, watching her, and Kyra tried to signal her without words to indicate what she was doing. Jasmine’s gaze flickered between Kyra and Gary. She must have seen the figure opening the door, because for a moment there was a look of hope instead of panic, and then she joined Kyra in screaming.
“Shut up, both of you. I told you we’re miles from anything. Nobody’s going to hear you and you’re just making my head hurt. You don’t want to get me upset.” He flexed the wire between his hands and moved toward Jasmine. The tone of her screaming rose higher as he came closer.
The barn door lurched open and Josh stood there, steadying himself and pulling an automatic pistol out of its holster. “Stop now, Griffith. Don’t move.”
Kyra could have told Josh that threats and orders wouldn’t work anymore with Gary. He moved quicker than she thought possible, putting Jasmine between him and Josh as he pulled the wire around her neck fast enough that her scream ended in a gag.
“I won’t move as long as you stay where you are,” Gary said with a sneer. “Move closer and I’ll kill her in twenty seconds. If I pull this taut I can slice her throat so fast you wouldn’t have time to fire that thing.”
Josh lowered his gun slightly and froze. “Don’t do anything more that you’ll regret, man. We can all still get out of here alive if nothing else happens. You don’t want your wife and daughter to see your picture on the evening news, do you?”
That seemed to stop him for a moment, and Kyra could see the wire slack a little as he loosened his grip. He started to say something, but before he got a word out, noise erupted outside. There was the growl of vehicles, crunching gravel and slamming doors. “Griffith, you’re surrounded. Send your hostages out first and throw your weapons out the door. Then come out slowly and nobody gets hurt.”
“Don’t let them get to you,” Josh said, sidestepping to put himself between the open doorway and Jasmine with Gary behind her. “You can let these two go and then you and I will walk out together, okay? Nobody gets hurt, the cops get what they want and we all get out alive.”
“Sure. That will happen.” Gary’s voice held defeat, but Kyra could see that he was still listening to Josh. For the first time in many hours hope rose within her.
Josh stared at the scene before him, trying to think fast enough to gain control before Griffith harmed Jasmine or Kyra. For a tense moment before he’d entered the barn he was afraid that he was too late. Then he realized that Kyra was screaming to create a diversion, not because Griffith was attacking her or the teen. He knew she was resourceful, and that she’d probably risk her own life to save Jasmine if she thought she needed to.
He gave silent thanks when he saw that Griffith didn’t appear to have a knife or gun in his hand. The wire garrote was too close to Jasmine for comfort, and Josh knew that, if pressed, Griffith would do what he’d threatened. He suspected that this was the way the other victims had died. It would have been quiet and quick, and the bones that showed up years later would have borne no indication of what went on. Knowing that Griffith’s victims probably went quickly wasn’t a whole lot of comfort to him. Right now he wanted to make sure there were no more victims, especially not the woman he loved.
He wanted to run to the barn door and scream at whoever was in charge of the operation outside to back off and not press Griffith. He was unstable enough to begin with and they were just making things worse. Normally he didn’t share the enmity that a lot of the bureau personnel had for state and local forces, but today he knew how that kind of stuff got started.
“Maybe I’m ready to die. Did you ever think of that?” Griffith challenged him, keeping the wire in his hands. “Maybe having one of those guys out there shoot me, nice and clean, is better than anything else that could happen. And if I kill either of t
hese two that will happen.” He gave a humorless laugh.
“If I kill one of them, or even just hurt them badly, I imagine you’ll kill me yourself, before the others out there can get to it. Is that right?”
“It could be. But I don’t want to have anybody else hurt today, whether it’s you or Jasmine or Kyra or even me. And I think you’d really regret dying today in some kind of battle with those guys. Think about Diana and Sarah. Even if you’re ready to go, don’t they deserve better than to carry that image the rest of their lives?”
Gary appeared to be wavering. The wire was only in one hand now and his words may have been tough, but they came out hesitantly. “Maybe they wouldn’t ever see what goes down. Besides, Sarah’s just a little kid. She’ll never know what is happening. Her mom will see to that.”
“Her mom might not have any choice. They’re out there, Gary, less than a mile from here. Any ambulance or morgue vehicle that gets in here or leaves will have to pass right by them.”
Gary’s shoulders drooped. Josh felt as if he almost had him. Then something sailed through the open door and thumped to the floor inside. “That is not a bomb or any kind of incendiary device,” a voice called from a bullhorn outside. “We just want to talk.”
The package looked like a cell phone wrapped in layers of bubble wrap to cushion its fall. It lay on the barn floor between Josh and Gary. After a few moments it started ringing and vibrating, making the package seem alive.
“You. Pick it up,” Gary directed Josh. “Make sure they get the full picture. Tell ’em I’m not coming out now and I’m not sending anybody else out until I talk to Diana and she tells me that she and Sarah are away from here.”
“Okay.” Josh walked slowly to the package and picked it up. He’d moved about ten feet closer to Gary in the process and he didn’t move away once he had the phone. Gary either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“This is Special Agent Joshua Richards. Who am I speaking to?”
There was a brief pause. “All you need to know is that I’m the one in charge of at least twenty state troopers ready to blow Griffith’s head off. If you’ll move out of my SWAT team’s sight line we could do just that.”
“I’m afraid not, Commander,” Josh told him. “Mr. Griffith has a length of piano wire around the throat of one of his hostages and he’ll use it. Even a reflex movement would be deadly. He’s prepared to agree to your demands if you can have his wife call him and assure him that she and his daughter are in a remote location where they won’t be able to witness any arrest or its…aftermath.”
“You know I can’t do that. Tell Griffith that he’s got two minutes to start sending people out or we start sending in tear gas canisters. Hope you don’t have any breathing problems, Agent Richards.” The phone went dead and Joshua felt like throwing it in frustration.
“Well? I told you nothing good was going to happen, didn’t I?” Gary pulled nervously at the wire, which he grasped in both hands again. “What did he say?”
“Not much. And he said he couldn’t meet your one demand about Diana and Sarah. I’ve got a bad feeling about that.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got a bad feeling about pretty much everything. What’s left of my life is going to be ugly.” Griffith looked down at the wire in his hands.
Josh knew he had to do something soon or Jasmine might die. In fact, if he wasn’t fast enough she and Kyra could both be in danger. It took only seconds for someone to kill another human being with wire and a little hand strength. Even though he kept himself range-qualified all the time, Josh wasn’t sure enough of his shooting skills to be able to make the right shot in conditions like this.
What am I supposed to do? He asked in silent distress. It was probably a sin to be this angry with God for letting this whole thing happen this way. He could try to rush Griffith and overpower him, but not without huge risk to Jasmine.
Before he could do anything else, the voice on the bullhorn blared again. “Griffith? Your time is up. Thirty seconds and we throw in the tear gas.” It didn’t feel like anywhere near that long before a canister was lobbed through the door opening. Above them in the loft of the barn, Josh heard a soft thud that must have been another container. In quick succession he heard two other sounds that made his entire body freeze in shock. The first was a whoosh from the barn loft that mixed the sharp smell of smoke with the acrid scent of the tear gas, and the second was even worse. From the darkened far corner of the barn came a high wail. “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” He didn’t know how, but somehow Sarah had gotten into the barn.
In that moment everything changed. Josh used Griffith’s momentary shock to charge him, pushing his shoulder into the man like a battering man and driving him backward. A shriek from Jasmine stopped his motion and he dropped to his knees between her and Griffith.
“Hold on, Jasmine. You’re going to be okay.” Josh groped in his pocket to find his small pocket knife and open the blade. As quickly as possible he cut the plastic restraint holding her wrists together and moved her away from the pole.
“It hurts. It hurts so bad.” With her freed hand she clutched her throat where the wire had made a small cut.
The tear gas and the smoke were threatening to overwhelm him, but Josh tried to focus on Jasmine instead. Improvising, he helped her pull off her jacket and press it to the two-inch cut on her neck. “It didn’t hit a big vein, but we need to get you out there where they can take care of you before you pass out or anything. Can you walk?”
She tried to rise, but shock and stiffness made it a difficult effort. Josh scooped up her long-legged body and mostly carried her through the barn to where the lighter space of the open door stood across the building. “Put the edge of your jacket over your mouth and nose until you get outside,” he told her. She nodded in understanding, coughing from the fumes.
“Hostage coming out,” Josh yelled as loudly as he could while fighting the smoke and gas. “Get her to an ambulance.” All his body wanted to do was stand in the doorway, gulping the cool, sweet air. But Kyra was still back in the barn along with Griffith and Sarah.
He plunged back into the barn, expecting that some of the troopers would follow him by now. But he couldn’t see anyone in the smoky atmosphere besides Griffith, stumbling in the far corner of the barn. “Sarah? Where are you, baby? What are you doing here?”
“Daddy?” Her call was followed by deep coughing. “I can’t find you.”
Josh heard other coughing and used it to locate Kyra. “Keep your arms still while I get you loose,” he told her, fumbling again for his pocketknife. He kept his hand between her skin and the blade so that if he slipped he wouldn’t cut her. “There. Can you find your way to the door?”
“I think so.” He helped her up, catching her when she stumbled. Once she righted herself, he made sure she was going toward the door, then he headed toward the corner where he could hear Griffith choking. Almost all the way to him, Josh felt something on the barn floor and knelt down. Under his fingers was the soft texture of a child’s hair.
“Griffith. Over here,” he called as he picked up Sarah’s limp body. Gary struggled over to them and took Sarah from his arms. “Come on. We’ll go out there together. This is what Sarah will remember…her father bringing her to safety.”
Now Josh’s eyes stung from the tear gas and smoke, but also from memories of the worst night in his own childhood. He realized that somehow he’d been given the gift to keep another child from that kind of trauma. Shoulder to shoulder he pushed through the doorway with Griffith and went outside. “We’re coming out and we’ve got Sarah.”
FIFTEEN
“I don’t need to be checked over,” Kyra said, sitting on the edge of a gurney. “Just get Jasmine to the hospital and send somebody out to look at Sarah and maybe Agent Richards.”
“He’s refusing attention, too,” the paramedic told her. “I think he should be in the ambulance with the young lady, but he sees it differently.”
“Probably because he’s
not going to let go of that child until either her mother or a doctor takes her,” Kyra told the paramedic as she watched Josh across the clearing. When he and Gary had come out of the barn together, she noticed that he’d stayed close enough to the other man that there wasn’t any chance of anybody taking a shot at either of them. When the troopers rushed them, Gary turned to Josh and handed his daughter to him.
“Take care of her,” she heard Gary tell Josh. Then Gary turned back to the troopers who surrounded them and held out his arms to the closest one. “I’ll do anything you tell me. Just remember that this is my daughter watching.”
Kyra wanted to shout at that moment that he should have remembered his daughter before he abducted someone else’s child, before he committed the terrible things that she was sure he had done. But then she saw the moment for what it was; a short, clear moment of sanity for a deeply troubled man. His illness didn’t excuse the murders or make him less responsible for them, because Kyra had known other disturbed individuals who didn’t harm others.
Apparently Gary’s statement had some small effect on the troopers because they quietly handcuffed him, read him his rights, and two officers drove away quickly with him in the back of a car. Now, maybe fifteen minutes later, Josh still held Sarah, who clung to him until another unit pulled up and her mother nearly leaped out of the car. Diana seemed to be using every ounce of self-control she possessed to hold herself back from being hysterical.
“Where did you go? Why did you slip away from me?” she asked Sarah, who just shook her head and buried her face in her mother’s shoulder as Josh released her. Once the child was in her mother’s arms, she allowed an EMT from a second unit to check her out. While that was happening, Kyra stood up off the gurney in order to go over and talk to Josh, but she didn’t get far.