An Unsettled Past

by C. L. Brees

  “That’s good; we don’t need to spook anyone. You do know that he son has been kidnapped as well, right?”

  “No, we hadn’t heard that. All we knew was that a shooting took place at her home. I mean, if her son has been kidnapped we can assume that she has been as well. Sergeant, could you use any additional resources up there? I think I can break away, and I’d love to come assist on this one.”

  “Absolutely. We can use all the help we can get. The command post is set up outside of the Apple Valley subdivision off of Valley View Boulevard. Its right on the edge of town and you can’t miss it with all the cruisers out here.”

  “Sounds good. Give me like forty-five minutes or so…I take that back. With all of this crazy weather, let’s say an hour.”

  “Alright, if you get lost just phone me. And Sergeant Simpson…be safe.”

  Mike steadily drove down highway 36 towards Lyons. He arrived at the intersection of Colorado 66 and Highway 36 and stopped at the traffic light. Just as he expected, his cell phone rang.

  “Yes, right on time.”

  “It looks like you can follow direction well after all. Take a left towards Lyons and continue on for thirty minutes until you get to Estes Park. We will call you back once you arrive.”

  The phone call abruptly ended, and he stared at the phone in his hand. Mike thought to himself, I sure hope someone figures out that I’m missing otherwise this is not going to end well.

  Back in Ridgewood Hills, Sgt. Reed’s mobile phone rang again. Fumbling in his pocket, he grabbed his cell phone. It was Detective Scott.

  “About time. What have you found?”

  “He’s been here recently. There is water on the floor as if someone had just showered recently.”

  “Are there any signs of foul play? Any forced entry?”

  “None, sir. I had to break the door in.”

  “Alright, have an officer secure the apartment. I need you back here with me. I just found out that Carol Jones could have also been kidnapped.”

  “How do you know that?” he inquired.

  “Sergeant Simpson from the Denver Police just contacted me. He says she punched in her distress code when she left the hospital tonight.”

  “Distress code? I’m confused.”

  “She works in a high risk hospital. For added protection they have the doctors code out when they leave to ensure they are safe.”

  “Shit—that probably means that Mike has been kidnapped also. I’m on my way back now.”

  Hanging up the phone, Detective Scott stood in the doorway of Mike’s apartment in shock at the conversation he just had. He approached an officer in the parking lot.

  “I need you to secure Temple’s apartment. I am heading back to the command post.”

  The officer acknowledged the request with a simple nod of his head. Detective Scott rushed back towards his car and drove off.

  As the detective was racing back, Mike was still driving down the two-lane deserted road in the middle of nowhere. He couldn’t shake the feeling of what he was heading into. He still had no clue as to exactly what was going on, and the feeling of the unknown was gnawing away at him. Reaching for his service weapon strapped to his ankle, he set it next to his phone in the passenger seat. He knew that he’d be searched immediately upon his arrival. He pondered keeping it with him, but knew he couldn’t give the kidnappers any more fire power than they already had. He reached for the glovebox and slid the weapon inside.

  Just a short ten miles ahead on the same desolate mountainous road, Carol and her kidnapper were driving in total silence. Nervously, Carol glanced to her right and saw the gun still positioned at her direction. Tired of the silence, she found the courage within to speak up. “You know you’ll never get away with this.”

  “I’ve been plotting all of this down to the last detail over the past year. Oh, trust me. I’ll get away with all of this. You’re going to give me what I want, or you’ll all die.”

  “All? What do you mean?”

  “Oh, we have your son and his boyfriend also.”

  “You cold-hearted bitch. He has nothing to do with any of this. Leave Alex out of this mess.”

  “Too late—the wheels are already in motion.”

  “And to think I felt concern for you. You deserve a freaking Golden Globe award for your acting skills, that much I can say.”

  “I had to play a part in order to get close to you and Alex,” she said as her cell phone rang.

  Listening to the kidnapper speaking in Russian to whoever was on the phone, Carol redirected her thoughts to her late husband. She knew that he was harsh on a lot of people during his career with the FBI, even to the point that the Marshals decided it was a good idea to go into the witness protection program; but never could she have imagined that in spite of the protection of the Marshal service that the people who murdered him would ever find the two of them. She knew she had to do something to escape the situation but she also knew that any sudden moves would put her life in jeopardy. The risk was too great, and she knew there was much more at stake than just her.

  Standing next to the guard shack supervising the evidence collection process, Sergeant Reed looked up at the sky. The clouds were beginning to thin, and the illumination of the moon began to peek through. In the distance he could see Detective Scott erratically driving down the lane. He was beginning to become impatient with waiting on Stevens to get back to him with a location. Just as he was about to lose his temper, his cell phone rang from inside his jacket pocket.

  “Jesus, Stevens, what took you so long? You better have some good news for me,” he barked.

  “With all due respect, sir, it takes time to do this. This isn’t Law & Order you know.”

  “Enough. What did you find out?”

  “We were able to triangulate his last location just outside of Lyons.”

  “Lyons? That’s like thirty minutes north of here. What in the world is he doing all the way up there?”

  “I can’t answer that. I gave you what you needed; what you do with the information is up to you. Will that be all? I have evidence sitting here that isn’t going to process itself.”

  “Actually, I want you to do the same thing for Carol’s phone as well.”

  “Carol Jones, I assume?” he smugly asked.

  “Yes, smart ass, Carol Jones. Call me once you get an answer,” he said harshly as he ended hit the “end” button on his phone.

  He walked back inside the trailer as several investigators were standing around a large table with a regional map of the area sprawled out upon it.

  “Listen up, people. We were able to find Mike’s last coordinates, and he was in Lyons around fifteen minutes ago. He was travelling along U.S. 36 northwestward. If my hunch is correct, he should be arriving in Estes Park in about fifteen minutes. I need someone to get on the phone with the local police and alert them of this,” he ordered, just as Detective Scott walked in.

  “Sergeant, what do you need me to do?” he asked.

  “You’re with me. I’m waiting on Stevens to get me the coordinates of Carol Jones. I need you ready to go at a moment’s notice if it turns out they are in the same area.”

  “Sounds good.”

  They stepped out of the trailer and stood under the canopy. Out of the corner of his eye, Reed noticed a black unmarked SUV with U.S. Government plates approaching the security gate. He turned his head towards Det. Scott who had stepped away to take a phone call, but as he turned his head back around he saw two tall, broad shouldered, corn-fed Midwestern men dressed in black wool trench coats stepping out of the SUV. The tallest man was middle aged, probably in his early 40’s, and was white with medium brown hair. The other man was younger, possibly in his late 20’s.

  As they began getting closer to him, Sergeant Reed began processing slowly in his mind what was happening and who these two government officials approaching him were. He thought inside his head, who are these guys? And furthermore, what do they want with us?

/>   He blinked his eyes twice, as if he were trying to wake himself up from a gruesome dream; but he soon realized that none of it was a dream. The men reached the perimeter of the crime scene, which was taped off with yellow tape. They were abruptly stopped by an officer who was tracking the personnel who were entering and exiting the scene.

  Detective Scott glanced and saw the two men, and quickly ended his phone conversation. He raced back towards Reed, who had just begun inching his way towards the men. Just as Reed came into earshot, the taller man flashed his badge.

  “United States Marshal Service. Who’s in charge here?”

  “That would be me. You gentlemen look lost,” Reed announced as he finally joined the group.

  “Good evening, sir. My partner and I are with the Marshal Service. We have it under good suspicion that you are investigating the disappearance of two of our witnesses,” he said.

  “Ok, let’s start over. I’m Sergeant Reed and this here is Detective Scott. Maybe you can start again by telling us your names?”

  “Oh, right; sorry about that. I’m Special Agent Tanner and this is Special Agent Miller. Carol and Alex Jones are part of the witness protection program. We’ve been protecting them for the last thirteen years, ever since her husband was assassinated in Colorado Springs,” Special Agent Tanner said.

  “Witness protection? Maybe we should start over at the beginning. You can let them in,” Sgt. Reed said. The officers lifted the crime scene tape, allowing them to enter as he jotted their names down on the entry/exit log.

  They all walked towards the command trailer and entered the door. Inside there were several investigators talking and reading through files. Reed slammed the door shut behind him. “Everyone out. This is the U.S. Marshal Service, and we all need to have a classified conversation for a few moments.”

  Everyone gathered their things and without saying a word marched towards the door. Reed motioned for the two agents to take a seat at the rectangular table.

  “So, Agent Tanner what you’re telling me is that Carol and Alex Jones are federal witnesses you have been protecting after her husband was murdered. I’m going to need you to tell me step by step how we ended up at this point.”

  “Let me start from when it all began. In 1986 there was an FBI agent by the name of Robert Stahl working out of the Denver field office. He was working undercover within an organized crime ring that was based out of Russia but had set up shop in Denver. Now, I apologize in advance, but I can’t go into the specifics about exactly what Agent Stahl uncovered. But we became involved soon after he testified against the three main men and they were sent to federal prison for twenty-five years each. Mr. Stahl, against our advice, refused protection and it wasn’t even a week later that he was assassinated in front of his home in Colorado Springs in broad daylight,” Agent Tanner explained.

  “That sounds pretty crazy,” Detective Scott chimed in.

  “It was definitely done in cold blood. Carol, whose real name, by the way, is Denise, held her husband as he died,” he recalled as he momentarily paused to clear his throat.

  “So, they’re federal witnesses—please explain to me how we got to where we are today?” Reed jumped in before Agent Tanner could begin speaking again.

  “Well, so far intelligence shows that two of the men who were sent away had daughters,” he stated, as he began pulling photos from the accordion folder that sat on the floor next to him.

  He removed photos of the two daughters and laid them out on the table for Reed and Scott to examine. Scott homed in on one of the photos and picked it up off the table.

  “This girl here—I hate to say this but I know her. She lives right here in Apple Valley and she’s the missing girl who we’ve been searching for during the last twenty-four hours.”

  All eyes shifted on Detective Scott as Agent Miller asked, “You know this girl?”

  “I think I do—that’s Heather Burgess, isn’t it?” he asked.

  “Well, that’s her name now. Her former name is Anja Petrov, but yes, after her mother remarried about five years ago to Frank Burgess, he adopted her and had her name legally changed.”

  Reed jumped to his feet, “How in the hell did this happen? I thought you were supposed to be protecting them, but instead you let these people move right down the street from them?” Hanging his head towards the ground Agent Tanner explained, “Honestly, Sergeant, we never suspected anything until our office received a call from Carol a few hours ago stating that she felt her family was in grave danger and asking us to come out to check on Alex.”

  In a rasping tone Detective Scott stood up, pointing his finger in Reed’s face, “Stop right now. Yelling and blaming each other isn’t going to help us solve this mess. Let’s not focus on how we got here and instead focus on how we’re going to get out of this. The only way I can think of is to figure out where these people were taken, and once we figure that much out we can blame each other later,” Detective Scott yelled with a sigh of irritation.

  “You’re absolutely right, Daniel. Let’s move on and save the finger pointing for later, after we find these bastards,” Reed calmly said as he stomped away towards the trailer door.

  Agent Miller leaned in towards Detective Scott. “Is he always so feisty?”

  “He’s usually pretty nice until shit gets messed up—and once that happens you better watch out.”

  11

  Standing up from the table, Detective Scott walked outside to attempt to calm his superior down. As he approached, Reed was pacing back and forth, red in the face. He approached him cautiously as to not induce further anger. Closely behind him was Agent Tanner, who had followed Scott from the trailer. Apprehensively, Agent Tanner interjected as both men stood at the edge of the trailer.

  “What do you want now?” Reed asked.

  “My partner was hoping that he might have an opportunity to speak with your shooting victim at the hospital.”

  “Do what you like—you federal agents always do anyhow.”

  “I was hoping that Detective Scott would be gracious enough to escort him there. We don’t know the town very well, and I’d hate for him to get lost as he usually does,” Tanner lightheartedly joked.

  “Sure, I don’t mind. I mean if that’s alright with you Sergeant?”

  “If you think it’ll help, by all means get out of here and help them out.”

  As the two men walked towards the black SUV, Tanner and Reed returned to the protection of the trailer. Tanner stood there for a few moments in the small, claustrophobic room studying the sergeant who was still pacing around in small circles, mumbling to himself.

  “Excuse me, Sergeant. Can you please take a seat? Look, I don’t want to piss you off or take this case from you. I am merely here to help answer any questions you may have. Did we screw this one up? We absolutely did. However, I can say that in my nearly thirty years of working with the Marshal service, my team has never lost anyone.”

  Sitting down across from Agent Tanner, Sergeant Reed looked him square in the eye. “That’s all great and wonderful Agent Tanner, but it doesn’t do me much good at this point. There’s a first time for everything, you know. Nevertheless, I have one of my men out there who has somehow become involved in this drama, so you’ll excuse me if I don’t take this shit lightly.”

  “There’s no need for an explanation. I’d probably be the same exact way if something happened to one of my agents,” he insisted as Sgt. Reed’s posture became more relaxed.

  “We have to find a way to work together as a team and put the politics aside. We have Detective Scott and Agent Miller on their way to Memorial Hospital to speak with John Davidson. Hopefully he’s out of surgery and can shed more light on the case,” Sgt. Reed remarked as he stood from his chair and walked over towards the coffee maker. “You care for a cup of coffee?”

  “That would be great, thanks. I take mine black.”

  Smiling for the first time in hours he replied, “Well, then. You and I will get along just fi
ne.”

  ***

  Thirty minutes had passed, and Alex and Amy were still sitting next to the fireplace—now drenched in sweat. Just moving the chairs ten feet drained him of whatever energy that he had left inside of himself. He knew, though, that he couldn’t waste any more time. At any moment the kidnapper could return to the room and find them plotting their escape. As long as he could free himself, Alex knew he’d have a fighting chance of defending them both. He could hear soft, muffled voices coming from the other side of the door; it was as if they were yelling at one another, but it all sounded foreign to Alex so he paid no attention to it. If he did, he would spend more time concentrating on that instead of keeping his mind focused on that task at hand.

  “I have my energy back. When I say “go,” I need you to lift up again, only this time we need to end up on top of this hearth.”

  “What in the world for?”

  “I’m going to try and cut this rope off of us by rubbing it against the stone,” he said.

  “I really think you’ve completely lost it. They’re going to kill us; can we just face the truth for once in our lives?”

  “I need you to change your attitude about this. I made you a promise that I was going to get us out of here alive. I need you to work with me to help keep that promise. If we do nothing, then yes, they are going to kill us.”

  “Alright, alright I’ll give it one last shot. I don’t know how you got your energy back. This heat is draining mine.”

  “Just this last time, and I should be able to get us out of here,” he said.

  He said “go” and they lifted the legs off of the floor and as quietly as possible made their way on top of the stone hearth that was elevated above the floor by at least a foot.