Hunter's Find

by June Kramin

  “You stupid little shit,” Mandy said as she stood up. She wiped the knife on his pants and went over to listen by the door. Hopefully the fall hadn’t woken up Craig. After waiting for a few minutes and hearing nothing, she thought the coast was clear and headed out of room.

  She walked cautiously down the long hallway and toward the kitchen. She could tell they weren’t in the same cabin, but it was close to the same layout. She stuck close to the walls, trying to keep any floor squeaks from giving her away. When she reached the kitchen, she could make out a figure past the counter in an overstuffed chair in a sitting room. He was hunched over; either sleeping or knocked out. It had to be Hunt. Mandy had to resist the urge to run to him. Craig was still around somewhere.

  She tiptoed through the kitchen and walked over to the chair. She was surprised when she found it wasn’t Hunt. It was Roy. Just as she gasped, an overhead light came on. Jumping upright and holding the knife in front of her, she spun around to Craig standing there, holding a gun to Hunt’s side. He was gagged and his hands were bound behind his back.

  “Let him go,” Mandy demanded. “I’m who you want. Just let him go. I don’t want my daughter raised an orphan.”

  Craig laughed. “You think I give a rat’s ass about your kid? Only you could manage to get knocked up while you’re on your way to a murder. You really are something else. Sit down, Amanda. Your old boss will be here soon enough to take care of things.”

  Hunt shoved against Craig with all his might and sent them both to the ground. Mandy seized Craig’s gun and aimed it at him. Craig lay flat on the ground with his hands at his side. Keeping the gun pointed at him, Mandy hurried to Hunt and cut through the zip ties that bound his hands. As much as Mandy wanted to hug him, she resisted to keep an eye on Craig. Hunt took care of his gag.

  “Keep him covered.” Hunt said as he walked over to check on Roy.

  “How is he?” Mandy asked.

  “Just knocked out. He’ll be okay.” Hunt took the knife from Mandy and cut him free. Roy didn’t even blink as Hunt laid him back in the chair again.

  “How did he get here?” Mandy asked.

  “We were supposed to meet in town and start searching the homes around the lake for starters. I guess he found this place—”

  “And I found him,” Craig said, interrupting. “Not bad for a hick town cop. I wonder if he could be bought.”

  “Don’t bet on it,” Hunt growled.

  “Where’s Hannah?” Mandy asked.

  “She’s safe. She’s with my parents. Keep the gun on him. I’m going to call the local PD.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  They spun at the sound of the voice Mandy recognized well. She refused to drop her gun.

  “Drop it, Amanda,” Vince demanded. “I don’t appreciate having to take care of my own dirty work.”

  “Don’t I know it,” she said, cocking back the hammer on the gun.

  “Mandy, don’t,” Hunt pleaded.

  “Is this him?” Vince asked Craig, who was getting to his feet.

  “That’s him. Don’t look like much, does he?”

  “Enough that it appears he pulled one over on your sorry ass. Did you fail everything in FBI school?”

  “I brought her here. That’s more than I can say for your boys over the past year.” The gun was still pointed at Vince, but she was looking at Angelo.

  “You really do fall for every sucker, don’t you?” Vince said. “Drop it or I’ll shoot him.”

  Mandy aimed the gun at Angelo. “You kill Hunt and I’ll shoot your son.”

  “We know you won’t. Drop it, Amanda.”

  She couldn’t even pull off a bluff. She dropped the gun to her side. Craig quickly took it from her. “Pussy.”

  She punched him, sending him backward. Hunt rushed over but Vince yelled, “Stop!” and Hunt froze. “Both of you sit.” He pointed to the dining room chair. “Angelo. Bind their hands.”

  “Yes, father.” He ran to the kitchen closet and came back with a container of zip ties.

  “You like to keep stocked up I see,” Hunt said sarcastically. That earned him a smack on the back of the head with the butt of Craig’s gun.

  “Stop it!” Mandy cried. “You kill him and I’ll never tell you what you want to know.”

  “So you do know something,” Angelo said as he stepped forward. “I never would have thought you would have stooped to stealing, Mandy.”

  “I didn’t steal anything. It’s right where Lonny left it. If I wanted it, I would have gotten it long ago. I wasn’t even aware it was still an issue until Dan told me about it.”

  “And I’m supposed to believe this?”

  “Why would I lie? You’re only going to kill me anyway.”

  “I don’t want to, but I’m sure you’re more than aware of our rules by now.”

  Hunt groaned. “Can I go to him?” Mandy asked.

  Angelo motioned the gun toward Hunt. She took that as a yes and went to his side.

  “So what do you want to do with your friend now, Angelo?” his father asked.

  “Let me take her to go get the money. I’ll come back and we’ll do what we need to do.”

  Vince held the gun toward Hunt. “No sense waiting to shoot anyone until later.”

  “No!” Mandy bolted to her feet and spun around, blocking Hunt. “He comes with me or I don’t go. The second I’m out that door you’ll kill him.”

  “We don’t barter, Amanda,” Vince said. “You’ve learned that if nothing else by now.”

  “You also learned that even though I was undercover, I still had a certain amount of loyalty to you. Especially to your son. You treated me like family and don’t think I forgot it. I didn’t want your money then and I don’t want it now. Leave Hunt out of this. I’m who you want. Just let him go. I’ll tell you where the money is.” She turned to his son. “We don’t need to drive there, Angelo. You can have one of the guys go get it. Should be easy enough to bust into his safe.”

  “We’re not that stupid,” Vince said. “You think we wouldn’t have searched his home?”

  “It’s not at his home. It’s at the store. He had his own put in. Not even Joey knew about it.”

  “How did he manage that?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it has been there since before Joey owned the place. I walked in on Lonny one day. He threatened me to never tell anyone about it.”

  “I thought your loyalty was to me?” Vince said.

  “I didn’t want you killing Darci’s father. It wasn’t my business where he kept his stash. He swore it was his money and not yours.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Believe what you want. You want to know where it is or you want to just kill me and never find it?”

  “You’ve already told me where it was. Not too smart on your part, Agent Smith.” Vince pointed his gun at her head.

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Angelo cried out, “No!” as he shoved his father against the wall. Vince’s gun went off, waking Roy out of his drugged stupor as the bullet grazed his left arm. Roy instinctively reached toward his calf in all the commotion. Mandy couldn’t imagine them not searching him well, but when his hand came up, it held a small revolver. He aimed it at Angelo and it was Mandy’s turn to cry out. Diving on Roy before he got a shot off, the bullet went wild and hit Vince high in his chest.

  Hunt stood and tried rushing Vince, but he was hit in the shoulder by a bullet from Craig’s gun. He was slammed into the wall and slid to the floor.

  “No!” Mandy shouted. Things were falling apart fast. She took Roy’s gun and spun around, sinking three bullets into Abbey’s chest before he could blink. Looking over to Angelo, she knew he was no threat. He held his hand against his father’s wound and repeatedly apologized.

  Mandy rushed over to Hunt. “I’m fine,” he said with a wince. “You agents use pussy guns just like the bad guys.” He tried to laugh, but a cough came out instead. “Go get his gun. Bastard prob
ably has Kevlar on.”

  Mandy walked over to Craig and rolled him over. She took his wrist to check for a pulse. It was there, but faint. She ripped his shirt open. He had lightweight body armor on, but one of her bullets had gone right below his neck. He wasn’t going to last.

  “Why, Abbey?”

  “On my deathbed you can’t call me Craig, sweetheart?”

  Mandy couldn’t explain the tears she was fighting. She respected Abbey with everything she had. She’d almost had a school teacher crush on him in the beginning, but he always kept it professional. There was no one better in her eyes than him until Hunt came along. Even then, she thought the scales were hard to tip to who was a better cop.

  “Why?” she said again.

  “Why else?”

  “Money? You sold your soul for money?”

  He reached up and held her face with his blood soaked hand. “I’m sorry I got you involved in all of this. I needed to stall the high ups on this case. I figured I’d throw you in and keep them at bay with bullshit reports.”

  “You never thought I’d succeed?”

  “I thought you were good enough to think you were getting somewhere, but not really become anything. Especially after marrying Gerard. I didn’t think you had it in you, kid.” Abbey winced in pain. “I…I never wanted you killed. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too…Craig,” Mandy said before he faded away. She allowed a tear to fall for him before she returned to Hunt.

  He again reassured her he was fine. Mandy walked over to Angelo and Vince.

  “How is he?”

  “He’ll be all right,” Angelo said. He gently stroked his father’s cheek with one hand while he held pressure to his wound with the other. Mandy called 911 then returned to the room. Hunt and Roy were sitting up and fine, except for their bruised egos. Angelo stayed at his father’s side. He couldn’t meet Mandy’s eyes. “I couldn’t let him shoot you.”

  Mandy placed her hand on his shoulder. “I had to save you from drowning first, too. You always knew I would.”

  He finally looked up at her and smiled. “I loved you like no one I ever have loved, Mandy. Not a lover or a best friend, not a sister or even a mother. It was so much more. I hate what you are.”

  “And I hate what you are. I wanted so much more for you. You don’t have to stay where you are, you know. I can help you.”

  Again his eyes fell to his father. “You know that’s not true. I can’t change who I am.”

  “But you can change what you choose to be.”

  He could only shake his head and look down at her pendant. “Just pray for me, Mandy. I’ll keep praying for you.”

  Mandy returned to Hunt. Within a few minutes the police, EMTs, and fire department stormed the cabin. Even wounded, Hunt took charge of the situation and filled in the town sheriff on what went down and who the men were. As Angelo was cuffed, Hunt added, “He’s been nothing but cooperative and saved my wife’s ass. Go easy on him.”

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  The scene was too familiar. Mandy was covered in a blanket by the fireplace while the County police swarmed around the mass of bodies. Roy was on his way to the hospital, but Hunt refused to go right away. After giving the story over and over, he finally settled by his wife and let an EMT tend to his wound. He placed his good arm around Mandy. “You okay, babe?”

  “I want to get out of here. I want Hannah,” she said, not looking away from the fire.

  “She’s safe. We’ll go straight to her.”

  “No. You’re going to the hospital.”

  “And risk you taking off? Not on your life.” He took her chin in his hand and gave her a kiss.

  “My boobs are killing me.”

  “Full?”

  “And then some.”

  “Want me to help with that?”

  “If we could be alone for two minutes, I’d consider the shit out of that.”

  He chuckled. “We really need to cut the drama. Maybe I need to accept a nice meter maid position.”

  “Maybe we ought to move to Florida.”

  “Hang out with retired folk and live humbly on a fixed income? Sounds good to me.”

  “Could you give us a second?” Mandy asked the EMT. He closed his case and walked over to his teammate. “Let’s just say, I could have us covered,” she said to Hunt when they were alone.

  He took her by the biceps. “You have mob money?”

  “I know where I can get my hands on it. Yes.”

  “Don’t even do this to me, babe. You were so not on the take, too.”

  “Of course not, you jackass. I know of a big deal that didn’t go down thanks to Gerard trying to kill me, and I know where the stash is.”

  “That’s what this was about?”

  “Parts of it. The rest was plain old revenge. They found me out and I had to get taken care of. I don’t know if this is it, Hunt. I never would have suspected Abbey as crooked.”

  Hunt took a step closer to her. “Did it bother you what he said about Gerard? About him truly loving you?”

  “I knew he loved me, Hunt. You know I loved him. But it was never going to last. I only fooled myself, and I’m not so sure I ever did that that convincingly.”

  “Did you know a bullet would end it?”

  “For either one of us. Yes.”

  Hunt closed the gap between them and wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. “You know I’d kill for you.”

  “You proved that. You know I’d kill for you.”

  “You proved that, too. What I can’t do is run away with mob money. I can’t live with that, Mandy. If you don’t want to stay in Vermont, we can move. But I won’t do it that way.”

  A smile broke out over Mandy’s face. She tiptoed up and kissed Hunt. “That is so the right answer, my love. There is no money. I gave it all to Sue.” She took her index finger and poked by his wound.

  “Ow!”

  “Now get your ass to the hospital. I’ll get our daughter and see you there, hot shot.” She turned to the EMT. “The oaf is ready now. Take his ass in before I kick it all the way there.”

  The EMT hurried over. “You two act like you’re married or something.”

  They both replied. “We are.”

  “FBI meets small town Sheriff? This ought to be a good story.”

  “Oh, it is. Trust me. It is,” Hunt said before kissing Mandy goodbye.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  A year later, Mandy delivered Hunt a beer then sat next to him with her iced tea. They were spending a relaxing day, poolside, at their Florida home. She placed her cell phone on the small table between them.

  “How is Sue doing?” Hunt asked.

  “We didn’t get to talk for long. She was on a gondola.”

  “She’s still in Venice? I thought she would have had enough of the Italians.”

  Mandy laughed. “She loves it there. Paulo is still in the picture. I think she finally found love again.”

  “Good for her.” Hunt joined Mandy on her reclining chair. “We really have to go eat on Main Street again?”

  “Hunt. Half the fun of living in Celebration is being so close to Disneyworld.”

  “Hannah is too young for a vote in this. I know it’s your doing.”

  “You see how she lights up at the characters.”

  “You think she’d be afraid of the six foot rat.”

  Mandy playfully crossed her arms as if in a pout. “If you don’t want to take us, I’ll just go without you.”

  “Oh, no you don’t. I didn’t take a transfer and a pay cut to play bachelor.”

  “You took a transfer because you were as sick of the winters as I was.”

  Hunt leaned in closer. “Come on, babe. Do me.”

  “My pleasure, dearest. It will have to be quick though. Your parents will be here in an hour.”

  “Again?”

  “You know I can’t tell your mother no. They’re great grandparents to Hannah.”

  “When I agreed to mo
ve here, I didn’t realize it would be like moving back into my parents’ house.”

  “Come on, you big baby. It’s not that bad.” They stood up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re down to fifty-eight minutes.”

  He placed his hand on her stomach. “Let’s work on having to extend our family pass by one member.”

  She smiled at him. “Really? Already?”

  “Really. I missed out on the first time. I want to be there for you every step of the way this time.”

  Mandy took his watch and looked at the date. “The timing is actually pretty good.”

  “If it isn’t, we’ll have fun trying again.”

  She pointed to his watch again. “Fifty-six minutes.”

  About the Author

  June, who prefers to go by Bug, was born in Philadelphia but moved to Maui, Hawaii when she was four. She met her “Prince Charming” on Kauai and is currently living “Happily Ever After” on a hobby farm in a small town in Southern Minnesota.

  She enjoys riding her Paint horse, Ringo, around the small ghost town they are playfully reestablishing with the neighbors, making gifts for her friend’s children with her embroidery machine, and playing in Photoshop. Her son and daughter are her greatest accomplishments. She takes pride in embarrassing them every chance she gets.

  Look for Hunter’s Find 2: Amanda’s Return coming soon from Musa Publishing

  http://www.junekramin.com/