Hostage Pursuit

by Jenna Night

  Sometimes her targets were connected to more sophisticated drug distribution rings. Particularly the ones who lurked around the university. Oftentimes those bail jumpers had the smarts and the means to spirit themselves out of town, and they ended up on some other bounty hunter’s capture list in their new destination.

  A few fugitives, typically from other regions of the country, seemed to think they could hide out in the wilderness until people gave up looking for them. As if Daisy or any other Montana-based bounty hunter couldn’t follow them into the surrounding mountains or forest. Those were the hunts where Martin’s expertise came in especially handy, and he’d pop over to Jameson, with perhaps another hunter from Rock Solid Bail Bonds in nearby Idaho, to help her out.

  In the end, with the wilderness hiders, if they weren’t a serious threat to public safety, it was often better to just play the long game and wait them out. Winter was a real force in Montana. And when people got hungry and cold enough, they came back into town.

  Daltrey and Bunker, compared with her past targets, were a pair of wild cards. Completely out of the ordinary. Smart, with a unique strategy. They were dangerous fugitives who’d kidnapped her mom. Daisy’s worst nightmare had come true. Her job had put a member of her family in danger. And right now, she was absolutely stumped about what to do next.

  “Dear Lord, please guide, strengthen and protect us,” she prayed softly, while continuing to scan the area around them, keeping her eyes open while she prayed in case Daltrey and Bunker had somehow escaped detection and were about to launch a surprise attack. “Please protect my mom. And help her to remember that You’re there with her, even if it doesn’t feel like it. Amen.”

  “Amen,” Martin affirmed.

  Daisy’s phone chimed. The thugs had sent another video. This one showed Shannon, looking ashen and staring toward the camera. This time she didn’t have a gag in her mouth and she didn’t look like she was tied up. The focus widened to show that her mom was seated at a table in a public place, with people walking behind her. Ivan Bunker sat very close to her. The shorter of the two fugitives had his right arm around her shoulder and his left hand below the tabletop and out of sight. Probably pressing a gun against Shannon’s side. His reddish hair had grown out since his official booking photo had been taken and he wore a smirk on his face.

  Daisy had seen those white, metal, bistro-style tables before. Two neon signs shone behind them, one advertising pizza and the other offering Chinese food. “They’re at the food court inside the mall,” she said.

  The video abruptly ended, and by that time a text from the criminals had arrived. Enter through the north entrance at the food court. Hands held away from your body so we can see them. You have five minutes.

  “Makes sense they’d want to do the exchange there,” Martin responded. “Lots of innocent people around, including children. Daltrey and Bunker know we won’t shoot or do anything to risk hurting the civilians. Meanwhile, they won’t feel the slightest bit constrained. They won’t think twice about putting people in danger.”

  While Martin talked, Daisy drove toward the north side of the mall.

  “Let me go in first,” Martin said as Daisy parked the SUV. “Give me a minute to get into place. I’ll head for one of the food counters close to them. After the exchange, when your mom is in the clear and they’re taking you out the door, I’ll come up from behind and we’ll jump them.”

  They hurried toward the mall, stopping just out of sight of anyone who might be inside looking through the glass doors. After taking a deep breath, Martin slowly resumed walking toward the entrance, glancing around as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

  Daisy’s heart thundered in her chest. It wasn’t only her mother who was in danger now. Martin was, too. Once he made his move, anything could happen.

  The three minutes she waited outside, where she remained out of view from the inside of the mall and couldn’t see what was happening, felt like the longest three minutes of her life. The familiar shot of adrenaline in anticipation of a capture coursed through her body, making her hands tremble slightly. She wanted to rush in, rescue her mother and bust the two fugitives right now. But she’d agreed to let Martin have time to get into place. And she’d disciplined herself to be patient early in her bounty hunting career when she saw how often that paid off. Still, she had to keep checking the time on her phone to make sure she didn’t jump the gun.

  Finally, she took a deep breath and then headed for the door. Her hand was steady now as she reached for the handle. Once inside, she immediately spotted her mom. Ivan Bunker was still seated with his arm around Shannon, like he’d been in the video. Beau Daltrey stood beside the table.

  She fought the temptation to look around for Martin, aware that such an action might tip off the bad guys that she had someone helping her right there in the food court. Daltrey, a tall, skinny guy with a horseshoe-shaped ring of blond hair atop an otherwise bald head, glared at Daisy. He gestured toward her hands, and she immediately held them away from her body so he could see she wasn’t carrying a gun. Not in her hands, anyway. She did have one tucked into the waistband at the small of her back.

  She shifted her gaze to her mom, who was looking at her with eyes rapidly filling with tears. Shannon locked gazes with Daisy and then shook her head, mouthing the words, No, don’t do this.

  Shannon did not want her daughter to trade places with her. She must have overheard Daltrey and Bunker as they talked about their plans. And her mom would have recognized Martin when he walked in and guessed what was about to happen.

  Daisy knew her mom’s heart. Shannon Lopez would not want anyone else to be put in danger for her sake. But Daisy didn’t always follow her mom’s directions. Sometimes life forced a person to make a tough choice among options, none of which were ideal. Daisy had faced that dilemma several times since she’d become a bounty hunter. That didn’t mean she was comfortable with it, but she did have experience at steeling her resolve and doing what needed to be done.

  Daisy continued to move toward them. From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Martin at the counter of the pizza place just a few steps away. At Daisy’s approach, Ivan Bunker, the shorter and stockier of the two hit men, got to his feet, pulling Shannon up with him.

  Daisy’s muscles tensed as the moment neared when Bunker would set her mother free. Daisy would walk with Bunker and Daltrey outside, pretending to be their new hostage, until Martin came out behind them. At which point the two bounty hunters could make their move and arrest the thugs. And this nightmare would finally be over.

  She was nearly within reach, just about to the point when Bunker could let go of her mother and grab hold of Daisy at the same time, when a male voice yelled out, “Daisy! Daisy Lopez! A lot of people are looking for you.” It was Kevin Bosanko, a Jameson emergency medical technician whom Daisy had interacted with many times in the course of her work.

  Several patrons in the food court turned in her direction. The EMT shifted the trajectory he’d been walking and started heading directly toward her.

  Ivan Bunker’s eyes widened. He frantically looked around while tightening his grip on Shannon’s arm and yanking her closer to him. “Stay away!” He raised the gun he’d been hiding beneath his coat, pointing it toward Kevin. Daltrey also drew a handgun, waving it at the small crowd watching them. He shoved over the bistro table and tossed the chairs toward Kevin, creating a small, temporary barricade. Kevin froze in his tracks. Daltrey and Bunker started backing toward the glass doors, forcing Shannon to go with them.

  Daisy looked to her mom, so close, but still out of her reach. “Let her go, and we’ll let you go,” Daisy called out.

  Martin was already on the move, rapidly cutting a diagonal path toward the exit that could put him behind the gunmen where he might be able to get the jump on them. She and Martin were going to have to do something, now. The gun at the small of her
back felt especially heavy. She was tempted to reach for it, but there were too many innocent people here, many of them very young children. She couldn’t risk escalating the situation.

  Before Martin could get into place, Bunker caught sight of him and pointed his gun in Martin’s direction. He obviously didn’t want anyone getting behind him. Martin stopped in his tracks.

  The two kidnappers made it out the door with Shannon. Martin was right behind them, with Daisy hot on his heels. A trio of shoppers unwisely followed them outside, two of them yelling into their phones, describing what was happening, while the third appeared to be videotaping everything.

  Daltrey and Bunker were nearly to their truck, each of them clutching one of Shannon’s arms and forcing her along with them, when Daltrey spun and fired toward the civilians.

  “Get down!” Daisy shouted to the shoppers as she and Martin took cover behind a parked car. She heard the truck peeling out of the parking lot, and stood up in time to watch it turn onto the road and disappear from sight.

  Martin was already on the phone with 9-1-1, calling in the emergency and giving a description of the truck and its plate number. Daisy listened to his call while a wave of numbness and despair overcame her. She’d had this one chance to save her mother’s life, and she’d blown it.

  * * *

  If there were a way Martin could remove the burden of heartache and fear that Daisy was carrying and place it on his own shoulders, he would do it.

  Eight hours had passed since the shooting at the shopping mall. Daisy and Martin were now at the Peak Bail Bonds office. The local TV news stations were covering the story of Shannon’s kidnapping and the altercation at the shopping mall, including showing mug shots of Daltrey and Bunker. That might ultimately help with the bail jumpers’ capture, but in the meantime, there’d been no reported sighting of them or the truck they’d escaped in. And no confirmation that Shannon Lopez was still alive.

  Daisy had sent several texts to the criminals and had tried to call them, but they had not responded. The authorities had pinged the phone’s location, which sent them to a neighborhood a couple of blocks away from the mall. A search of the area, including door-to-door canvasses of the residents, had turned up nothing. Martin figured the thugs had likely flung the phone out the window while fleeing so that the cops wouldn’t be able to find them. It was probably lying undiscovered on the ground somewhere in the vicinity, maybe under some bushes, or perhaps it had slid into a storm drain.

  “Given the situation, I can’t honestly say that I would have done things any differently than you did today,” Sheriff Grace Russell said to Daisy.

  Martin was standing near Daisy. He’d made a point of staying by her side as the investigation of the day’s events dragged out during a seemingly endless afternoon and into the early evening.

  “But leaving the scene after finding a dead body is not the right thing to do,” the Beckett County sheriff continued. “It’s especially egregious for a bounty hunter who is working a case. You have responsibilities that go with your job. You understand that, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Daisy answered quietly.

  The sheriff went on to make eye contact with Martin, Alvis and Millie Carter, pausing to get a verbal affirmation from each one of them indicating that they understood her directive. She hadn’t come down as hard as she could have on Daisy. But she obviously also wanted to make sure everyone knew exactly what her expectations were in a situation that resulted in a fatality.

  They were standing in the lobby of the bail bonds office. The business was housed on the bottom floor of a three-story Victorian-style house. The second floor had been partitioned into two studio apartments. Daisy rented one of the apartments. The other one was currently vacant. Owners Alvis Carter and his wife, Millie, lived on the top floor.

  Justine DePaul and Steve Reynoso, both of whom worked part-time at skip tracing and general office work, were still seated at desks nearby. The nature of the bail bond business led to office hours that typically started later in the day and ran until evening.

  From local law enforcement’s point of view, the Daltrey and Bunker crime spree had started with the kidnapping of Shannon Lopez from her home outside the city limits. That put it under the jurisdiction of the Beckett County Sheriff’s Department. The Jameson Police Department would be supporting the investigation.

  The sheriff was a tall woman with platinum blond hair tied back in a severe bun. She’d worked her way up through the ranks over the years before finally being elected sheriff, and she was known for her straightforward manner.

  She turned her sharp gaze on Daisy. “I do realize that you chose your course of action because you were worried about the safety of your mother. I want you to know that we’re doing everything we can to find her, including working with multiple law enforcement agencies and using all available resources. Please keep us apprised of everything you are doing to find your mom. And if the kidnappers contact you again, let us know. We need to work together.”

  “I understand,” Daisy said. Which, Martin noted, wasn’t exactly an agreement to do what the sheriff had asked. Sheriff Russell tilted her head slightly, and Martin figured she’d picked up on that small detail, as well.

  The sheriff strode to the door and stopped. “I probably don’t need to say this, but I’ll say it anyway. Keep all the doors and windows on this place locked tight. I’m sure you’ve got some kind of security system. Double-check that it’s working properly. Given the stunts our two fugitives have already pulled, there’s no telling what they’ll do next.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Alvis said.

  The sheriff put on her cream-colored Stetson hat before bidding everyone a good night and walking out the door.

  At that point, Millie sent Justine and Steve home and started closing up the office. “It’s been a long day, for you most of all,” she said to Daisy. She glanced at her husband and then at Martin. “But I’m sure all of us could use some rest. This is a good night to turn in early.” She turned her attention to Daisy again. “We’ll get back on the hunt first thing tomorrow. And remember, while you’re sleeping, law enforcement is out looking for your mom. They’re doing everything they can to find her.”

  Martin gestured toward the leather couch in the small lobby. “I’ll sack out here for the night.”

  “You don’t have to stay,” Daisy said.

  She’d seemed oddly detached in her interactions with people since the shooting at the mall. Even her voice sounded different. Unemotional almost to the point of sounding robotic. Martin figured it was due to shock, or trauma, or fatigue. Or maybe all of the above.

  He looked at the lost expression in her eyes and wanted to take her in his arms so badly he could hardly restrain himself. But each time he’d tried to hug her today, or tried to wrap an arm around her shoulder in a side embrace, she’d withdrawn ever so slightly.

  Her reaction had stung, but once Martin realized what she was doing, he’d held himself back. She’d been through so much. He could only imagine what she was feeling. If she wanted him to give her some distance, he would do that. He’d back off. But he wouldn’t leave her side. He’d sleep in his truck out in the parking lot if he had to.

  “The second apartment upstairs is empty. You’ll stay there,” Millie said matter-of-factly. After one final check of the first-floor locks on the doors and windows, along with the alarm settings, she and Alvis started up the stairs toward their own living quarters at the very top of the building. “I’ll bring some bed linens and towels down to the empty apartment for you,” Millie called back to him.

  With a heavy sigh, Daisy started up the stairs and Martin followed her. At the second-floor hallway, he watched her walk to her apartment door, open it and flick on an overhead light. But then she came back and stood at the threshold, waiting there with Martin until Millie came back down with an armload of linens. Millie insisted on gettin
g things set up for Martin and disappeared into the apartment.

  “I can’t believe all of this is happening,” Daisy said after a couple of minutes of silence.

  “Me, neither,” Martin said. “But we’ll get your mom back. Or the cops will. Everybody’s looking, and there are only so many ways to get out of Jameson.”

  She nodded.

  “Right now, the best thing you can do is try to get a little shut-eye,” he added, knowing that she probably wouldn’t sleep very well. “Tomorrow, we’ll pick up their trail.”

  Martin had already gotten Millie to forward to him all of the information Peak Bail Bonds had received from the bail bondsman in Florida who’d requested their help to capture Daltrey and Bunker. He planned to spend the night poring over everything and learning all that he could about the two men and their organized crime connections.

  Millie came out of the apartment a few minutes later. “Everything’s ready for you,” she said to Martin. Then she stepped across the narrow hallway to give Daisy a hug followed by a kiss on the cheek. Martin couldn’t help noticing that Daisy didn’t pull away from her. “Don’t you lose hope, honey.”

  “No, ma’am,” Daisy said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “I won’t.”

  “Good night.” Millie went back upstairs.

  Daisy looked across the hall at Martin, her face becoming flushed and tears starting to roll down her cheeks. She gave him a quick nod before she stepped back inside her apartment and closed the door.

  With a heavy heart, Martin went into his own apartment and shut his door. As time passed, the odds of recovering Shannon Lopez alive faded. While Daisy, hopefully, got some rest, he would open the case files and get to work reviewing them, praying all the while that he would notice some detail that would lead to the fugitives’ capture and Shannon’s rescue.