While Brice was speaking to his men, he had already taken Jessica by the hand and was leading her upstairs, because he too was going on a manhunt.
CHAPTER 15
Samantha ran into the woods while wiping her face. When she looked down, she saw that her hands were red, with here and there, tiny bits of white that appeared to gleam in the moonlight. Kevin’s blood and brains had splattered upon her as Jack killed him.
She knew that she couldn’t outrun him, but could only hope to elude him by finding a place to hide, however, time was running out, as the sounds of Jack’s pursuit grew nearer with each passing second.
She stopped running and looked around the clearing she was standing in. There was nowhere to hide except behind a tree, and each movement of her feet stirred the dead leaves and sent their dry, crackling sound echoing throughout the forest.
She looked about desperately as Jack drew nearer, determined not to be taken hostage again, but stymied by the lack of a place to seek concealment.
When the answer came to her, she smiled, and moments later, as Jack entered the clearing, she was nowhere in sight.
***
The FBI chopper landed on the roof of the Ryan estate and was immediately boarded by Brice and several of his men.
Jessica and her husband stood in the wide circular driveway and watched the helicopter lift off, before climbing into their car and heading for the highway.
Jessica spoke to him as he drove through the night.
“Is there really any point in going to the scene? Brice will reach the area long before we do.”
“He won’t find, Jack.”
“Why are you so certain of that?”
“I don’t know. I just know that I don’t want to sit here and do nothing.”
While they were waiting for the chopper to arrive, Brice’s people had determined which Kevin Beck they had spoken to by cross-referencing property records with the name and discovering that a Delores Beck Jones owned a cabin just miles from Samantha’s last known position.
Jessica finished programming the address into the GPS and sat back in her seat.
“I’ve fed in the address for the cabin.”
“Good, but first I’m going to the spot on the highway where the call came from.”
“What’s the point? Jack must have grabbed Samantha again after he murdered that man Kevin.”
“Maybe, maybe not, as you know, Samantha is more formidable than she seems.”
Jessica stared out the window. “I hope you’re right.”
***
Cinda was walking along the highway, struggling along with Jack’s heavy backpack strapped to her shoulders.
Jack probably wanted her to stay at the cabin, but she couldn’t stand being near Harry’s body for another second, and she also began to think that Jack was not coming back.
It turned out to be a wise move, as a police car zoomed by her on the road to the cabin. The cruiser’s lights were blazing, but its siren was silent. If she hadn’t been warned by the flashing lights, she might have been captured, as it was, she had just enough time to dart behind a tree.
Before she could even step back out onto the road another cruiser flew by, and like the first, its siren was mute.
After that, Cinda thought it best to stay to the trees, and it was thanks to this that she spotted the motorhome sitting amid a patch of treeless land not far from the road.
Cinda walked toward the mammoth vehicle, while wondering if she would ever see Jack again.
After knocking twice, an old couple came to the door in what looked like actual matching pajamas.
“Did your vehicle break down, young lady?” the old man asked, as his wife looked at Cinda with a grandmotherly smile.
Cinda smiled back, even as her grip tightened on the gun in her purse.
***
Jack was mad enough to kill, only he had no one to kill.
Samantha had escaped him by hiding somewhere, he was certain of it. He had been chasing after her one moment, and the next, she seemed to vanish.
She couldn’t have gotten away by running, I would have seen her, or heard her, but where the hell is she?
He had spent the last few minutes darting among the trees, looking to see if she was hidden behind one of them. She wasn’t; she was nowhere to be seen and Jack was rapidly running out of time.
Through the trees, he could see the flashing blue and red lights of a police car on the other side of the hills and knew that it was headed his way.
Everything had gone to shit thanks to the bald man and his friends. Now Harry was dead, Cinda most likely captured, and five million in diamonds was gone, just like that.
However, he still had hope; if he could find the girl he would be holding all the cards again and could trade her for not only the diamonds, but also for Cinda’s freedom.
Jack let out an exasperated sigh.
Where the hell could the kid be? There’s nothing out here but a bunch of trees and dead leaves.
He grinned then, as the answer came to him. An instant later, he was crouched down low and scrutinizing the bed of leaves that seemed to cover every inch of ground. When he saw the slight hump fifty feet away, he ran over and kicked at it.
“Nice try, kid.”
Samantha jumped up from her hiding place beneath the leaves with a yelp.
When Jack leaned over and reached out to grab her left arm, she spun around and raked her nails along the side of his throat.
“Bitch!” Jack shouted, as he punched her on the chin, and if he hadn’t pulled his punch at the last instant, the blow might have killed her.
Jack stared down at the now unconscious child, and after checking her pulse, he quickly bound her wrists and ankles together by using her own shoelaces. Afterwards, he tossed Samantha over his shoulder and walked out to the highway.
The flashing lights of a police car appeared, and as the cruiser came around the bend in the road, Jack took out his gun, and wondered if he would ever see the dawn.
CHAPTER 16
Brice was four minutes from the spot on county road 453 where Samantha had last been. When he checked the status on the ground, he was told that a state trooper was just then arriving on the scene and would be reporting in shortly.
As fast as the chopper was, it felt to Brice as if they were crawling rather than flying, and he spoke to the pilot via the headphones.
“Faster!”
The man sent him a thumbs up and Brice heard the harsh whine of the engine increase.
***
After rounding the curve, the state police cruiser skidded to a stop, and Jack slid behind Kevin’s pickup and laid Samantha on the ground, even as the officer inside the car opened his door.
As the trooper placed a foot outside the car, a set of bright lights came careening around the curve and slammed into the back of the cruiser, sending it tumbling sideways down the embankment at the side of the road.
Jack walked out from behind the pickup and stared with an opened mouth gaze as the police car smashed into a group of trees at the bottom of the hill, to the right, the door on the motorhome opened and Cinda emerged and ran to him. When she was five feet away, the smile left her face and she skidded to a stop, while pointing at Samantha.
“Jack, you didn’t... she’s not...?”
“She’s just unconscious, but tell me, did you bring the backpack? Everything I need for the plan is in there.”
“I have it. It’s in the motorhome.”
“Good, good,” Jack said. He returned to Samantha and threw her over his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
When he reached the stairs, he looked back to find Cinda still staring at the wreck.
“Cinda?”
She pointed at the police car, which was now spouting fire from beneath its crumpled hood.
“I didn’t mean to do that... I just couldn’t stop in time.”
“It’s all right, baby, it was him or us anyway, now come on, we’ve got to get out
of here.”
Cinda ran to him, and as Jack entered the motorhome, he saw the elderly couple lying bound and gagged atop a bed at the rear of the home.
“I see you’ve been busy, that’s my girl, now drive us out of here.”
And as they rounded the next curve, they heard the explosion as the state trooper’s car went up in flames and lit the night.
***
Brice came upon the scene two minutes later. He lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes and saw the flames, and moments later, jumped from the chopper before it had even fully landed. He called over his shoulder to one of his men.
“Rosario, follow me,”
As Brice raced towards the fire with his man following behind, the other three agents with him set about securing the scene and checking Kevin’s body for any signs of life.
The man was slumped across the front seat of the pickup with the back of his skull obliterated, but the protocol demanded that they check for a pulse, and so they checked, and found none.
“Where the hell are we going, John?” Rosario said. “There’s no way that the cop is still alive in that inferno.”
Brice pointed at the cruiser.
“The driver’s side door is open; he might have gotten out in time.”
The two men heard a moan and looked up the hill. Halfway up and ten yards over from where they had come down was the state trooper.
The man was in agony. He had several broken bones and a mangled left foot, but he was alive, and he was talking.
“Motorhome... slammed into me... white motorhome,”
“I understand, now hold on Trooper and we’ll get you to a hospital.”
Brice called more of his men down and they carried the man as gently as they could upon a blanket that they used as a stretcher. It took longer than it should have because the full moon picked that time to hide behind the clouds and the hilly terrain was rocky and uneven. Finally, they reached the road and laid the officer in the chopper.
As the helicopter took off, Brice put an APB out on the motorhome.
Rosario walked up to him.
“Think we’ll catch Jack?”
Brice gave a small shrug.
“I hope so, but he’s getting farther away each second.”
“Shit!” Rosario said. “If not for the injured trooper we could have used the chopper to track him down.”
“When is the helicopter due back?”
“ETA eight minutes, the hospital’s not far away, and the rest of the men will be here soon with our vehicles.”
“Good, but I want the helicopter back; it’s our best bet to find Jack.”
***
Jack abandoned the motorhome inside the mouth of a defunct tunnel that had suffered a cave-in decades ago. The entrance was boarded over, but the rotted wood broke easily before the onslaught of the heavy vehicle’s weight, as Jack gunned the rear of the motorhome against it, and parked at a canted angle atop stones left behind from the cave-in.
They left the old couple lying on the bed and he draped a still unconscious Samantha across his right shoulder and walked over shattered wood and random chunks of rock to the edge of the road.
“Where are we going?” Cinda said.
Jack pointed south.
“On the other side of these woods is a town with a shopping center. There’s a supermarket there, and probably a night crew stocking the shelves. We’ll carjack one of them and hide out at their place.”
Cinda frowned.
“That sounds risky,”
“It is, but not as risky as staying on the highway. As soon as we’re safe, I’ll call Brice and put the plan back in motion, no harm, no foul.”
“Harry is dead, Jack, I’d call that foul.”
“I know, baby, and I’m sorry. Now let’s go, if we hurry, we should make it there by dawn.”
***
After a fruitless search for the motorhome, the helicopter touched down in a field overlooking the cabin and Brice jumped out of it and ran to the nearby Sheriff’s car.
The cabin was in a separate jurisdiction from Samantha’s last known location and was policed by the town’s Sheriff’s office.
The sheriff was named Cage, and coincidentally had the first name of Jack, and Brice was heartened to see that the sheriff seemed to be a competent man. Cage was six feet tall with close-cropped graying hair and an athlete’s build. His boots shined brightly and his tan uniform was crisp.
“Special Agent Brice we went into action as soon as we received your call and my deputies and I have cordoned off the only road that leads to the Jones’ cabin. I’ve also got men fanning out in the surrounding woods, just in case anyone attempts to leave on foot.”
“Good work, Sherriff, what have you learned so far?”
“We’ve got at least three dead at the scene. There’s one body, a male lying outside the cabin, and two more male bodies sprawled in the open doorway. I was waiting for further orders from you before attempting to enter the cabin.”
“Are you wearing a vest?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good, why don’t you and I take point?”
The sheriff grinned.
“It’ll be a pleasure.”
***
They arrived at the scene just as the sun came up and the State Police stopped them at the barricade, but Agent Rosario recognized them, and they were escorted over near Kevin’s pickup.
Rosario was thickly built with a bald head. He was apparently Brice’s second-in-command and seemed to be in charge of the crime scene.
Rosario filled them in about the further chaos that had taken place that morning, and relayed the news that the injured trooper was expected to live. He then held up a plastic evidence bag that contained a cell phone.
“This is the phone that Samantha Ryan used to call you. As you can see, Mr. Beck’s body has already been taken away and now we’re just waiting for the tow truck to come and drag this vehicle back to the state police lab.”
“Has there been any sign of Jack or Samantha?”
“No, Doctor, not since he escaped in the motorhome.”
“In that case, I would expect a call soon, as long as he has Samantha, he still has a chance of getting the ransom.”
“We know, and our techs are setting up base in a mobile command center right now.”
“Where’s Brice?” he asked.
“John is investigating the cabin, once he gives the all-clear, I’ll escort you there.”
“Good, as far as we know, Jack still expects me to make the ransom drop, when he does make contact; I should be as close by as possible.”
Rosario searched him with his eyes.
“Is something wrong, Agent?”
“No sir, it’s just that I’m impressed that you’re still so eager to be involved. After viewing this carnage, I’d think that most civilians would want to run the other way.”
“My wife and I have both faced our share of danger over the years that we’ve consulted with law enforcement, we don’t seek it out, but we don’t run from it either.”
Rosario’s phone beeped and he excused himself to answer it. He walked a few feet away to talk in private, and when he returned to them, he was smiling.
“A state trooper found the motorhome, there was no sign of Jack or the child, but the elderly couple that owned the vehicle were found safe inside. They also told the trooper that they heard no other vehicles near the scene, so it looks like Jack is on foot.”
“We need to send a search team into the area.” Jessica said.
“It’s already being formed, with mounted police and tracking dogs included. Now why don’t you two wait in your car and I’ll join you soon and escort you to the cabin.”
They thanked Rosario and walked back towards their car.
Once there, Jessica sat inside, as her husband paced back and forth along the length of the car.
“I know you wish that there was more you could do to help Samantha, but for now, all we can do is wait.”<
br />
“She’s not a monster, you know? She’s done monstrous things, but she’s not responsible for what she is any more than I am. She and I, we’re simply... different.”
“You feel a kinship towards her?”
“Yes.”
“And she for you, that’s why she calls you?”
“Yes, I see her for what she is, not the child she pretends to be.”
Jessica stared at him, intrigued.
“And what is she? What are you? And what is this kinship you share?”
He stopped pacing, leaned upon the doorframe, and peered in at her.
“We’re predators, she and I, predators,”
“And Jack?”
“He’s prey, clever as a jackal, but prey nonetheless,”
“And once you have his scent?” Jessica asked, while noting that her husband’s intense eyes never looked fiercer than they did at that moment.
He straightened up as he answered her.
“Given the chance, I’ll devour him whole.”
CHAPTER 17
Derek Heller yawned as he walked out the rear entrance of the Stopping & Shopping supermarket and blinked at the freshly risen sun.
He had been stocking shelves all night and now he had to get home, take a quick shower, grab a bite to eat, and head off to his day job of mucking out the stables at the Cooperman farm.
He was bone tired most of the time, but if he could just endure one more year of drudgery, he would have the nest egg he needed to head for Hollywood, where he hoped to make his living as an actor.
He had been born and raised in this town and thought that he would die of sheer boredom if he didn’t escape someday. He craved excitement, and whether he succeeded or failed in Hollywood, he knew that it would be anything but boring.
He spotted the girl as he walked toward his car, which wasn’t difficult to do because she was leaning against the fender. The girl was hot, with long, reddish-brown hair and light-colored eyes. She was wearing a short dress and the legs flowing out from beneath it made Derek’s heart beat faster. As he reached her, the girl smiled.
“What’s your name?”
The TAKEN! Series - Books 5-8 (Taken! Box Set Book 2) Page 16