Jessica studied the screen and saw that there was a second window open; after bringing it up, she read the heading with a puzzled expression.
“The human anatomy? Why were you doing research on that?”
He swiveled around in his seat and stared at her.
“It’s doubtful it will happen since he’s holding all the cards, but if I get the chance to get my hands on him... I’ve got plans for Jack.”
Jessica looked down at the screen and then back at him.
“Tell me your plans.”
He did so, and when he was done, she had a troubled look on her face.
“That’s... distasteful?”
“Yes, but nothing less than he deserves for killing that child.”
Jessica’s face hardened. “He deserves the fires of hell for that.” She grabbed another chair and sat beside him. “Let me help, I’ll describe to you exactly what to do.”
***
As Kevin was at the back of the cabin waking Samantha, Harry was at the front, sitting in a corner of the front porch and brooding. To his astonishment, two men appeared from the trees and began creeping toward the side of the cabin. One was clean-shaven, while the other wore a long beard. The bearded man was carrying a gun in his right hand, a revolver.
Harry’s pistol, a Ruger 9mm, was lying atop a table beside the bottle of beer he had been drinking. As the men moved closer, Harry slowly leaned over and stretched toward the table. The beardless man spotted him just as his hand closed upon his weapon.
“There’s one on the porch,” the man shouted to his friend.
The man with the beard gawked at Harry, but then brought the gun up to fire as Harry did the same.
Both men fired once, and Harry felt the bearded man’s bullet slam into his midsection, even as he watched the man’s friend topple backwards from a head wound. He had actually been trying to kill the bearded man, but a hit was a hit.
Harry scrambled to his feet, while letting out a grunt of agony from the pain of his wound, and just as he opened the cabin door, a second bullet struck him in the right side of his neck and exited in a mighty spray of blood. As he fell to the floor in the doorway, he knew that he was seconds away from death, and his final act on earth was to curse the day he met Jack.
***
Samantha and Kevin’s eyes both went wide when the first two shots sounded. A moment later, and a third shot came, followed by the sound of something heavy, most likely a body, hitting the floor with a thud.
When Jack’s voice called out, “Harry?” Kevin knew that the element of surprise was over and he began ripping away the boards from the window. Once he reasoned that the gap was big enough, he reached inside and plucked Samantha from the room.
Kevin pointed toward the trees.
“There’s a pickup truck parked up and over that hill, just keep going and you’ll find it. When this is over I’ll come get you.”
Samantha grabbed his sleeve.
“Why aren’t you coming with me?”
Kevin stepped over the windowsill as he squeezed between the boards.
“I’ve got to help my friends.”
***
Jack was out of bed with gun in hand, after the sound of the first shots. He was naked, as was Cinda, who sat up in bed and rubbed sleep from her eyes.
“What’s going on?”
“Trouble, what kind, I don’t know.”
“Is it the FBI?”
“No.”
“How can you be sure?”
“If it was the feds we would be on the floor handcuffed by now. Grab your gun and wait here, if anyone comes to the door that’s not me or Harry, shoot them.”
After saying that, Jack opened the door and stepped into the short hallway, as he peeked around the corner, he could see Harry lying face down in the open doorway, beneath him was an enormous pool of blood.
A lamp was on atop an end table. Jack rushed into the living room and pushed it from the table, as the lamp hit the floor, its bulb shattered and plunged the room into near darkness, as the only illumination now came from a nightlight in the hall.
Jack then crouched behind the end of the sofa and listened intently for the sound of movement, what he heard instead was weeping, as outside, the bearded man wept over the corpse of his friend.
CREAK!
Jack spun around at the sound of the creaking floorboard and saw a bald man standing in the entrance to the hallway. He fired three quick shots, and the bald man cried out in pain before fleeing back down the hall. As Jack rose to follow him, a man with a beard came in through the open doorway. He called to the bald man running down the hall.
“Kevin! Kevin, Bobby’s dead, but I killed the bastard that shot—”
The bearded man stopped talking in mid-sentence as he spotted Jack. He raised his weapon and began firing as Jack did the same. When the shooting ended, both men had empty guns.
As each man checked himself for wounds, they both came to the realization that their shots had all missed.
***
Kevin had been struck in his right arm by one of Jack’s shots.
As he was running away back down the hall, he heard his name called and turned to see his bearded friend enter. Before he could issue a cry of warning, the bearded man and Jack began trading shots. Miraculously, his friend avoided injury, and as the sound of Jack’s gun clicking away at an empty chamber reached his ears, he smiled and started walking back towards the living room.
He had taken his first step when he saw the naked woman walk out of the bedroom. She was holding a gun at her side, and after spotting the bearded man, she stood there and stared at him.
As Kevin began creeping toward her, she suddenly raised her gun and fired several shots, one of which struck the bearded man in the left eye, causing him to fall back dead against the opened door and slide downward, and as the blood poured out from the wound, it turned his graying beard, blood red.
Kevin gasped in shock, and the woman spun around and aimed her gun at him. He turned and bolted into Samantha’s room, where he propelled himself at the window, to crash through the remaining boards and land outside in a heap upon the grass. An instant later, he was up and running toward his truck, even as the woman fired her last shots at him.
***
Samantha had found the pickup truck, and rejoiced when she discovered the cell phone lying atop the dash, but her joy was short-lived when she realized that she couldn’t get a signal.
The clamor of sporadic gunfire had serenaded her all the way to the truck and when the shooting stopped, its sound was replaced by the noise of someone running her way, while breathing heavy.
It was the bald man. He had been shot in the right arm, and as he reached into his pocket for the truck keys, Samantha could tell that even that simple act had caused his wounded arm great pain.
Kevin climbed into the truck, his face streaked with tears.
“What happened?” Samantha said.
“My friends... my friends are dead.”
“And Jack?”
“Jack? Is he the one that, that...?”
“Yes, he’s the one that killed Maria.”
“No, he’s still alive, and so is the woman, but the other man is dead.”
Kevin finally managed to fumble the key into the ignition and start the engine. When he shifted the truck into first with the gear shifter, he nearly cried out from the pain of his wound. His right arm was barely functional, but he would have to suffer through the pain until they could reach an area that had cell phone service.
Kevin looked over at Samantha.
“Hold on, honey, these back roads are a little rough, but I’ll soon have you home safe.”
Samantha nodded as Kevin began driving, and as she waited for the phone to become operative, she fed it the phone number of Mr. White.
CHAPTER 13
Jack stood out on the porch and listened to the sound of Kevin’s truck driving away.
When he went back inside, he watched a
s Cinda fell to her knees beside her brother’s body.
Cinda looked up at Jack with a wet face.
“He’s dead.”
“The girl, did the bald man take her?”
Cinda didn’t answer.
“Cinda! Did he take the girl?”
“Yes...yes, she’s gone,”
Jack rushed into the bedroom. He reloaded his gun, dressed quickly, and sprinted from the cabin.
Cinda called after him.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ve got to get the girl back before he can call the police.”
“Jack, let me come with you.”
Jack didn’t answer her; he was already past the cabin and headed for the van.
When he reached the van, he leapt into the driver’s seat and turned the key.
Nothing.
After checking to make sure that the van was in park, Jack tried again, and again, heard nothing. The engine didn’t start; it didn’t even make a sound.
He popped the hood, jumped out, and ran around to the front to stare in at the engine. Although his cell phone couldn’t get service, it still lit up, and he used it as a flashlight to peer under the hood.
“Son of a...” Jack muttered, as he beheld the damage that had been inflicted upon the van’s wiring. It would take hours to fix the damage.
The van was useless.
Jack slammed the hood in anger, but a moment later, he broke into a wide grin and rushed to the rear of the van. He opened the doors and looked inside, where a high-powered dirt bike sat. The bike was a part of Jack’s earlier plans to gather the ransom, but now he would use it to retrieve his captive.
He straddled the bike and started the engine, whose roar echoed through the trees. Next, he was riding up a hill, headed for the highway.
***
Kevin let out a moan and Samantha studied him.
“Your arm hurts a lot, doesn’t it?”
“It hurts like the dickens, but I’ll handle it. Hey, how’s that phone, any bars yet?”
“No.”
“Well, keep checking, I usually pick up a cell tower within a few miles of here.”
“Was that your cabin?”
“It was my sister’s.”
“Where is she?”
“That man, that Jack, he... he killed her and her husband.”
“Jack needs to die,” Samantha said.
Kevin turned his head and stared at her.
“That’s not something you should think about. Now listen, once I get you to safety, the police will handle him and he’ll never bother you or anyone else again.”
“The only way to ensure that is to kill him.”
Kevin stared at her again, and this time Samantha caught the look in his eye. She had said too much, had revealed too much of herself. She reached over and placed a tiny hand on Kevin’s massive paw.
“I’m scared, mister,” she said, in a trembling voice.
The odd look on Kevin’s face morphed into sympathy, and he smiled down at her.
“Don’t be scared, honey, that man will never bother you again.”
Samantha peeked out the back window.
“He could be following us; I thought I saw a light back there.”
“If you did see a light, it’s not him. My friends fuc—um messed up his van’s engine. He’s got no way to follow us.”
Samantha checked the phone again, and again found that it had no signal.
“Keep checking that phone, honey, and as soon as you see even one bar, dial 911.”
Samantha nodded in agreement, but she had no plans to call the police. The police would arrest Jack and coddle him inside a warm prison cell. He didn’t deserve to live. He needed to die.
She brought up the number for Mr. White that she had programmed into the phone and kept her thumb ready above the call button.
CHAPTER 14
Jack sat atop the crest of a hill and searched the night with the help of a full moon.
The surrounding terrain was awash with rolling hills that bordered short stretches of flat land. Behind him and to his left, a group of white-tailed deer wandered about, their eyes shining in the lunar light.
He was looking for the headlights of the pickup truck, and was fairly certain that it would be the only other vehicle for miles.
He had chosen the cabin in the first place because of its remote location. Other than the cabin, all that inhabited the area were a few scattered old farms. Many of the farms had been in existence before the founding of the country and had seen better days.
The last few generations were turning their backs on their agrarian heritage and heading into the cities, leaving their land behind to be farmed by someone else on a surrogate basis, and without doubt using their share of the meager profits to help fund their lifestyles in nearby metropolises.
To his right, Jack caught a flash of light as a vehicle rounded a curve below and two miles to the south, a vehicle that looked like it might be a pickup truck. The curve wound up a hill and whoever was driving was having trouble shifting gears, even from his position, Jack could hear the gears grind as the vehicle struggled upward. A moment later and the lights vanished as they crested the hill and curved left.
Jack revved the throttle on his dirt bike, sending the deer scattering, and headed downhill, determined to intercept the truck before its owner could make the call that would ruin his entire plan.
***
Kevin was in agony. Judging by the pain in his right arm, he now suspected that the bullet had broken at least one bone, and on top of that, the slug was still in his arm.
He had to struggle not to pass out every time he shifted gears and was gritting his teeth so hard that he thought he might crack one. After wiping sweat from his eyes, he looked down at Samantha.
“Any bars on that phone yet?”
“Not yet, but—wait! Two bars just popped up.”
Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and, after traveling a few hundred more feet, he pulled the truck over to the side of the road.
When he checked, he saw that Samantha had already dialed, and could even hear the sound of a phone ringing through the cell’s tiny speaker.
***
1:21 a.m.
The sound of the phone call woke him, as Jessica also began stirring beside him.
He checked the caller I.D. and saw an unfamiliar phone number displayed. He answered, despite the fact that he was certain it must be a wrong number.
“Hello?”
“Mr. White!”
“Samantha? Where are you?”
At the mention of Samantha’s name, Jessica sat up.
“Is it really her?”
He covered the phone and answered her. “Yes.”
“Mr. White, a man named Kevin got me away from Jack, but Kevin is hurt, shot, and I’m not sure that he can keep driving.”
He was only wearing a pair of boxers, but he rose from the bed and headed out of the guest room to go find Agent Brice, as behind him, Jessica put on a white terrycloth robe and followed along.
“Are you all right, Samantha?”
“Yes, kind of, I mean I’m not hurt, but...”
“I understand,” he said.
“Is that the police?” Kevin said.
“No, it’s my friend, Mr. White.”
“Samantha,” he said. “Is that Kevin? Let me talk to him.”
Samantha passed the phone and he heard Kevin say, “Hello?” just as he made it downstairs and into the living room, where Brice was asleep on a sofa, near the communications equipment.
He shook him. “Agent Brice?”
Brice awoke with a start and stared up at him.
“It’s Samantha Ryan, a man named Kevin helped her to escape from Jack.”
As he spoke to Brice, Kevin once again said, “Hello?”
He spoke into the phone.
“Hold on sir, I’m putting you on speakerphone so that Special Agent Brice of the FBI can hear you.”
“Hello,
this is Agent Brice; please give us your location and full name.”
“Well, uh, my name is Kevin Beck and we’re on county road 453 south right now, but the little girl was being held captive at my sister’s cabin out in Rainesville.”
As Kevin spoke, Brice wrote down the info on a pad lying atop the coffee table, deeply asleep just seconds ago, he was now wide awake. He looked up at Jessica.
“Dr. White, please go knock on the door of that back room off the kitchen and rouse my men.”
Jessica nodded agreement and walked off to wake the other agents.
“Mr. Beck, I need your exact location. Where can we meet you at?”
“I was wounded and my right arm’s pretty much done, so you best come to us. We’re at... um ...mile marker 11.6 on county road 453, headed south.”
“Is anyone pursuing you, sir?”
“No, we left that bastard far behind.”
“Wrong asshole!” said another voice.
It was Jack. He had spotted the truck parked at the side of the road from an overhead ridge and had scampered down on foot to confront its driver.
Kevin stared at Jack in astonishment.
“How the hell did you get here?”
He would never know the answer to that question, as Jack fired a bullet into the center of his forehead.
***
In the living room of the Ryan estate, he and Brice listened to Jack murder Kevin Beck. The blast of the shot was followed by Samantha screaming and the sound of a truck door opening.
Jack’s voice came over the line.
“Come back here, you little bitch!”
Then the sound of running feet, followed by silence,
Brice listened for just a moment more, before taking out his phone and dialing. When his call was answered, he talked rapidly but quietly, while keeping an eye on the cell phone still lying atop the table.
He ended his call just as his men appeared, with Jessica following behind.
Brice stared at them.
“The chopper’s coming, wheels up in ten, we’ve got a little girl to save and a man to hunt. This time Jack is going down.”
The TAKEN! Series - Books 5-8 (Taken! Box Set Book 2) Page 15