by K. J. Dahlen
“Let’s get her back.” Sable said as she stood and reached for her weapon.
Chapter Nine
Mason shut off the lights as he turned into the driveway of the farm. The house was straight ahead and there weren’t any lights on inside. They coasted in the last few hundred yards, silently opened the doors, and approached the house with their weapons drawn.
Once they gained entrance to the house, they split up and searched the rooms one by one. They found no sign of anyone but did find signs of a struggle in the living room and the kitchen. Mason, Nick, and Sable met in the kitchen after searching the rest of the building.
Sable snapped on the kitchen light. It was getting dark outside as twilight blended into nighttime. When the light revealed the room, they could see the mess that was left. There were chairs overturned and spilled oranges everywhere. Sable found the wooden bowl upside-down on the floor. They also found signs of bloody wash rags and a bowl of reddish water on the table.
She found a smear of blood on the refrigerator and another on the door jam. “Let’s check the barn and out buildings.”
All three headed for the outside buildings. Sable slipped into the barn and slowly made her way through. When she didn’t see or hear anything, she snapped on the lights. She wandered around the lower level checking things out. Near the empty calf pens she found a smear of dried blood. She followed it to the other end of the barn.
This end of the barn was dark and she could barely see what was in the pen ahead of her. She heard a rustling then silence. She turned on a flashlight and carefully scanned the area. She could hear a scurrying sound in the pen ahead of her. Scanning with the flashlight in one hand and her weapon in the other, the light revealed a pair of eyes. She looked again and the she noticed the eyes belonged to a pair of calves. Sable could feel the adrenalin rushing through her body.
She thought she heard a crunch of footsteps behind her and she spun around to find Nick and Mason standing by the door. She raised a finger to her lips and pointed up to the loft area. Nick nodded and walked to the ladder. Sable climbed up the ladder on her side and they reached the top at the same time.
There was no sign of anyone in the loft. Sable holstered her weapon and turned to Mason. “Did you find anything in the other buildings?”
“No, but we did see tire tracks in the machine shed. They seemed to go out into the field, but it was too dark to see clearly which direction they went. We may have to wait until morning for that.”
“What do you think we should do now? Wait or go back to town?” Sable asked.
“I think we should stay here,” Nick said.
“Why?” Mason asked. “What more can we do here?”
“Marie is a trained officer, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if she has an opportunity to get free she might come here. Noah has to get to his things in town. He can’t do that with police everywhere. We found signs they came out here but he doesn’t know that. I think we should stay here and see if she turns up,” Nick reasoned.
“Ok, we’ll wait,” Mason agreed.
Fifteen minutes later they waited in the house. Sable lay down on the sofa and was resting while Mason kept watch in the master bedroom. Nick stretched out on the floor.
Sable closed her eyes but there were too many things going through her mind for her to really rest. The day had been an eventful one and not all of the events had been pleasant. She felt very close to tears but knew she couldn’t give in to the urge she had to cry. She had to put her feelings on hold, at least for a while. She laid there staring at the ceiling. Finally she knew she couldn’t lie there any longer. She got up and went to the kitchen.
Drawing a glass of water she looked out over the yard. The country was too quiet for her. There were no city noises like traffic or neighbors. Here you could almost hear the corn grow. She looked out to the cornfield just beyond the front yard.
At first she didn’t see or hear anything but the longer she stood there it became clear there was something or someone in the cornfield coming toward the house. Sable rushed to where Nick was and shook his shoulder. She placed a finger on her lips and motioned for him to follow her. She called Mason’s name softly at the door to the bedroom. When they were all assembled in the living room, Sable told them, “I noticed something coming through the cornfield. Whatever is out there is coming straight to the house.”
“I’ll go out the front and come around from the left,” Mason said
“I’ll do the same but come around from the right,” Nick said as he looked at Sable. “You stay here and see if they come into the house.”
Sable watched as they left the house and blended into the night. Her heart was pounding in her chest a little faster as she positioned herself in the dark kitchen. Time dragged slowly as she strained to hear anything outside. She waited anxiously for a few minutes then she heard the screen door on the back porch open.
Sable held her breath as the kitchen door opened and a shadow came into the room. She brought her weapon to firing position. “Stop where you are.”
She saw whoever was standing there raise their hands.
“Who are you?” a female voice asked.
“FBI agent Sable Quinn,” Sable answered.
“Thank god.” The hands lowered.
Sable recognized the voice and she reached over to snap on the light. “Marie,” she called out.
Marie lifted her head and Sable could see she was hurt. There was blood smeared around her mouth and a bruise darkening her right eye. She was disheveled and her pants were torn just below her knee. Blood was running down her leg.
Sable lowered her weapon and rushed to help Marie to a chair. Once Marie was seated, Sable went to the light switch and flipped it on and off. She waited a few seconds then flipped it on again. She knew Nick would know the signal.
She squatted beside Marie and had a better look at her injuries. Her lower lip had been split a few hours before and her eye was almost swelled shut. Her wrists were bruised and bloody from rope burns and there were twigs and long grass bits in her hair.
Sable stood and poured another glass of water. She gave it to Marie and walked to the bathroom. Then she soaked a washcloth and carried it back to the kitchen. Handing it to Marie she asked, “Are you okay?”
Marie lifted her eyes and stared at Sable. She lifted the cloth to her eye and hissed when the cool cloth touched her bruised skin. “Yeah, I’m ok. After he clocked the guard, he slapped me across the mouth then he hustled me out the service entrance. He had a car waiting and he drove to a warehouse on Third Street. He slowed down like he was going to turn into the parking lot, but when he saw all the police cars, he hit the gas and drove away. He drove to the north side to another warehouse and he didn’t even stop. The police were there as well. Then he drove to my house but the police were there too.” She paused to drop the cloth to her mouth. “It all happened so fast I didn’t have time to react. He stopped at the stop light on Losey Boulevard and I reached for the door handle, but he must have anticipated my move. He hit me before I knew it was coming.”
Nick and Mason entered the kitchen and Mason came straight over to Marie. When he saw what Noah had done to her, he swore. He looked at Nick. “If you don’t get that bastard, I’ll save the state the expense of a trial.”
Sable looked at Marie. “Tell us what happened when you got out here.”
“He stopped the car down the road and dragged me up to the house.” Marie patted the wet cloth on her mouth before she went on. “He made me clean the wound in his side. My dad got him good. There was a four inch wound on his left side. He forced me to stitch it up. Then he kept wandering from the kitchen to the living room and back. It was almost as if he were talking to someone under his breath. He seemed to get more agitated the longer we were in the house. He kept saying the walls were closing in on him. As soon as we were clear of the house he seemed to breathe a little easier.”
Marie paused to take a sip
of water. “We went out to the barn but he didn’t want to stay there either. He took my Dad’s Tracker and drove out through the fields to the tree line. Then he tied me up and said he would be back in the morning. He said he had some hunting to do tonight.”
Sable glanced up at Nick. They both knew what or rather who he would be hunting. “We have to go back to the hotel.” She turned back to Marie. “How did you get free?”
Marie smiled slightly. “My Dad taught me a long time ago to always be prepared. He also gave me this.” Marie reached in her front pocket and pulled out a small knife. Folded in half it was barely the size of a cigarette lighter. “It took me awhile to cut the ropes, but when I got free I came back to the house. It was over a three mile hike. It’s a good thing I know my way around this place; anyone else would have been lost.”
“You said earlier he kept talking to himself. Did you hear what he was saying?” Nick asked.
Marie shrugged. “Personally, I thought he was losing his mind. He kept asking himself what Micah would do in this situation. Then he would answer Micah would never get caught up in this situation. He would have everything all planned out, even an escape route in case he was caught.” She glanced over at Sable. “Who is this Micah character?”
Sable took a deep breath. She remembered Marie left Mason’s office before Mason asked the same question. “Micah is the man that taught him to murder. He also told him the knife was part of his birthright.” She turned to face Nick. “He’s going back to the hotel for the knife.”
Nick stood and announced. “I’ll warn Quentin.”
“Tell him to get out of the room. Tell him not to play the hero and try to take him. Let him get the knife,” Sable told him.
Nick frowned, “Are you sure?”
Sable agreed. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Ok,” Nick said as he reached for his phone.
Marie reached out to touch her hand. When Sable looked at her, Marie said, “You know he won’t go far don’t you? He’s not leaving the area until he gets both you and me. He’s going to kill us both now.”
“He’s going to try but what he doesn’t know is I have what he wants and he’s going to have to come and get it. He thinks he’s tough and scary but so am I,” Sable said.
“What does that mean?” Mason asked.
“He’s going to realize killing me isn’t going to be all that easy. Hell, my father tried and failed twice and both my brothers tried and failed. I’m stronger than I look and I’m going to win this battle.”
“How do you know that?” Marie asked.
“Because I can’t see it any other way. Noah thrives on fear and intimidation. I’m not afraid of him and now he knows it. He can’t intimidate me either and he knows that as well. That alone gives me the edge over Noah. He may get the knife but I have something more valuable than a knife,” Sable told them as she reached for the key on her necklace.
“Let’s get back to town and check on Quentin,” Nick suggested. “Besides, I’m sure Marie needs medical attention and her parents are probably worried sick about her.”
They all got up and headed for Mason’s car. The short ride back to La Crosse was done in silence. Mason radioed ahead and had an officer meet them at the entrance of the emergency room. Once he turned Marie over to the doctor’s care, he joined Nick and Sable again. “Let’s go check on your guy and see if Noah has paid a visit.”
The ride to the hotel took but a few minutes. As soon as they got there they all took the elevator to the fourteenth floor. As they approached the door to their suite Sable drew her weapon. She noted the door was wide open. Seeing the broken latch and doorframe it appeared Noah had kicked it in.
Entering slowly she swept the room. Noah had made a mess of things. Broken furniture and smashed glass littered the floor. His clothes and items she had looked at earlier were gone. Going to the bedrooms, Sable noticed the disarray there as well. Each room had been torn apart.
Sable slipped into her room and went directly to her suitcase. It had been tipped upside down and her clothes were scattered all over the place. She tipped it right side up again and flipped through the items. The knife was the only thing missing.
Glancing over at the door, she found Nick surveying the mess. “Well, he got what he came for.” She rose to her feet. “Where is Quentin?”
“He escaped the room before Noah arrived. He used a room down the hall. He said Noah seemed really pissed.”
Sable agreed, “I can tell that.”
“So, why did you finally give him what he wanted?”
Sable looked at Nick and said. “Remember the key I found? There are four numbers etched on it. I think the numbers open a safe we have yet to find. I’ve got the key so all Noah got was the knife. He’ll be back.”
Chapter Ten
Sable joined Nick, Mason and Quentin in the conference room a few minutes later. She was feeling very frustrated at always being one step behind him.
“I’ve about had enough of this,” she said.
“What do you suggest we do about it?” Mason asked. “We don’t know enough about this creep to determine what he’s going to do next.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” Sable said. “I know exactly what he’s going to do.”
“Then tell us so we all know,” Mason said.
“If I were him, I’d be headed out of town. He knows he can’t go far, just far enough to heal. He has what he thinks is the key to his birthright; the money his father and Micah stole all those years ago. But all he has is the knife his father used.” She turned to Nick. “We have to find the safe. If it’s anywhere, it will be at the warehouse.”
“What makes you think so?” Mason asked.
“I know Micah. I know how he thinks,” Sable told them. “He would have put the safe in the house he kept secret. He would have hidden what he valued most in plain sight.”
“Ok let’s find the damn safe,” Mason agreed. He hesitated. "Won’t that piss Noah off, I mean, if we find the money before he can?”
“I hope it does,” Sable said. “That may be the key to winning the battle.”
“Are you looking to piss him off on purpose?” Mason asked.
“If he flips out, he looses the edge,” Sable said. “One of the key rules in any battle is 'keep the edge'.”
Twenty minutes later they were searching every inch of the warehouse. They broke into three groups, each searching a different area. Sable and Nick choose the main living area.
Sable began tapping the walls. The knocking sound echoed back a hollow wall. Moving slowly and methodically she circled the room. She didn’t find anything. Nick had been checking out the kitchen. They came together in the middle of the room. Nick pointed to one of the bedrooms and Sable went to the bedroom she thought belonged to Micah.
She took a moment to look at the surroundings. In the middle of the room was a queen size bed. The bare mattress looked old and there were drawers under the frame. Sable decided to start there. She pulled the bottom drawer out, but something about it didn’t seem right. The drawer was too shallow. She pulled it out completely then reached for the second drawer. Neither drawer had anything in them. Shining her light into the cavity, the light was blocked by something.
She tried to reach inside the hole but her fingers hit a metal object. Her heart skipped a beat. She stood up and searched the bed for a hidden area. She reached down and pulled the mattress off the bed. She leaned it up against the wall. The box spring came next. She was left with the box Micah built around the drawers, along with something totally unexpected. There, in the middle of the drawer, was a large safe. Lying on its back the door was showing between the four drawers.
“Nick, Mason, I found it,” Sable called out.
As they walked into the room they looked stunned. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Mason said. “All this time I never thought you’d actually find it. I never thought it really existed.”
Nick tore his gaze away from the safe. “Do you have the
combination?”
Sable grinned. “Oh yeah.” She reached for the necklace and the key. When she leaned over the safe and worked the lock, she heard the final click of the tumblers. Reaching for the handle, she snapped it down and tried to lift the heavy door. Nick and Mason helped her and as they let it down gently, all three looked inside the lead box.
They saw row after row of bank wrapped money bundles in the bottom of the safe. The top two shelves held small cigar boxes, one stacked on top of the other. Sable reached for one small box and opened it. Inside were gold coins and silver bars. She looked up at Nick and handed him the box then grabbed another small box and opened it. Inside this box was jewelry. Sable tried to count the boxes but there were too many.
“Wow, what a retirement account,” Sable said.
“It will take us weeks to find the owners of this stuff,” Nick said.
“Some of this was taken over twenty years ago. We may never find the real owners,” Sable commented.
She looked down at the inside of the safe then she looked up at Nick. “We have to move the money and jewelry. When Noah comes back, and he will, I want him to find an empty safe. I want to take everything he feels is his away from him. I want him so full of rage he can’t see straight.”
“That might backfire, you know,” Mason told her. “You might give him the one thing he doesn’t have now. You might be making him stronger, not weaker. He might not feel he has anything left to lose.”
Sable stood and faced them. “That’s a chance I have to take.”
She turned to face the window in time to see the dawn breaking from the east. She was elated yet so very tired. “I don’t know about you guys but I need some sleep.”
Mason glanced at Nick. “You can take her back to the hotel. I’ll take care of moving the money. I’ll call you in a few hours.”
“When you take the money out of the safe, be sure and close it again, but don’t lock it,” Sable said. “Make sure you put the bed back the way it was too. Maybe we can get Noah to think there wasn’t any money in the first place.”