London Carter Boxed Set: Books 1 - 3

by BJ Bourg

  “What is it? What do you want to say?”

  “Am I going down for this?”

  “We’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out.”

  “Look, I know who beat the old man to death.”

  My eyes narrowed. “You already told us Wilton did this. Was that a lie?”

  “I told you I didn’t think Wilton had the balls to do the murder, but I know who did.”

  “And how would you know that?”

  “I’m not saying another word until you talk to the DA for me.”

  “I already told you there will be no negotiations, no request for immunity, and no special deals.”

  “I showed you I’m for real.” Cade nodded for emphasis. “Now, I want protection and I want immunity, or I won’t say another word.”

  I studied his face for a long moment. Something told me he was being sincere. I finally sighed. “I’ll talk to the DA and see what they can do, but I want a name first.”

  He shook his head. “Not until I get a deal…and I want it in writing.”

  “And what will I get in return?”

  “You’ll get the name of the boys who killed that old man, and they’re the same people who killed Wilton.”

  CHAPTER 31

  As rain drops started to trickle down through the leaves above and the thunder rumbled closer, I pulled two tarps from my survival bag. I handed one to Stella and instructed her to use it as a tent to keep her, Kevin, and Cade dry. “The three of y’all can fit under it if you get close enough. It’s either that or get wet.”

  As though on cue, thunder clapped overhead and the skies opened up, dumping a torrent of rain onto the area. The large oak tree served as an umbrella of sorts, but it couldn’t keep all of the water away.

  Stella grunted, but reluctantly took the tarp. “You’re getting next to Cade,” she told Kevin, who begrudgingly agreed. “And if there’s any hanky-panky, I’m going to pop a cap in somebody’s ass.”

  I spread the second tarp over the body bag and secured the corners with logs I’d gathered from near the tree. I then returned to my rucksack to retrieve my poncho, handed it to Dawn. “You can have this.”

  “It’s big enough for two.” She took my arm and pulled me close to her, and we both sank to the ground near the trunk of the tree, sliding under the poncho just as more rain poured through the branches. The temperature suddenly dropped and the wind began to pick up, causing the branches overhead to squeak as they rubbed against each other.

  Huddling there beside Dawn, I got on my radio and called dispatch, letting them know we had located the body. “We’re stuck in a storm at the moment,” I said, “and I don’t know how long we’ll be out here. Let the jail know we’re code-4”—meaning everything was okay—“but there’s a chance we might not make it back tonight.”

  Once that was done, I got on my cell phone and called Ben Baxter. He answered immediately.

  “London, old boy, what’s going on?”

  After explaining what had transpired up to that point, I asked him if he could pick up the body once the storm blew over.

  “Hold on a minute while I check out the radar.” I could hear him moving around in the background and it sounded like he was typing on a keyboard. Finally, he returned to the phone. “Where are you again?”

  “In the back of Ender’s Lane, just north of Dead Man’s Canal.”

  He whistled. “Son, you’re in the middle of a tornado warning. You need to find shelter ASAP.”

  I pushed my head out from under the poncho and took a look around. The light was dim, but it was easy to see that the tall weeds surrounding us were bent sideways under the force of the wind. We could make our way back into the forest, but we’d never see a tornado coming. At least out here we might have a running chance. “How long will it last?”

  “It’s a slow burner. According to this, the warning won’t be lifted until three in the morning.” He took a breath and blew out forcefully. “Look, I can try to come out there and get y’all tonight, but it’ll be mighty risky.”

  “We’ll be fine,” I said. “If you can meet us here at daybreak, that’ll be great. I’ll send the GPS coordinates as soon as I get a minute.”

  “Be safe, my friend.”

  Although I knew he couldn’t see me, I nodded and slid my thumb across the glass to end the call.

  “What’s going on?” Dawn asked.

  “We’re under a tornado warning,” I whispered, not wanting the others to hear the news. “And it’s going to last throughout the night.”

  The thunder began clapping with more frequency and lightning struck all around us. I felt Dawn push even closer to me. “I’m not so sure about this,” she said. “I mean, I don’t mind bad weather…as long as I’m inside a building.”

  “We’ll be fine.” While I said it with confidence, I’d seen firsthand what a tornado could do to a human body and it wasn’t pretty. I didn’t want Dawn or the others out in that weather, but there was nowhere else to go.

  “If lightning strikes this tree, we’re all dead.” Dawn’s tone was sorrowful. “I worked that lightning strike fatality three months ago in Seasville. The lightning blew chunks of flesh out of that woman’s—”

  “This is an ancient tree,” I said, interrupting her. “If it hasn’t been hit by lightning in all of these years, it never will.”

  Just as the words left my mouth, a flash of light blinded us—even under the poncho—and thunder exploded in our ears. I heard a shrill scream from the other side of the tree, and I was sure it was Cade.

  Dawn shuddered beside me and I asked if she was okay.

  “I have to live long enough to see my mom before she dies.”

  CHAPTER 32

  Darkness fell fast, but the storm didn’t dissipate. Each time a violent gust of wind ripped through the area, I lifted my head from the poncho to survey our surroundings. I wasn’t sure why I did it, because even if I did see a tornado coming, there was nothing I could do about it except gather up the group and run in the opposite direction.

  The only good thing about the wind was that it kept the mosquitoes at bay. The bad thing was that we had to clutch onto the corners of the poncho or it would fly away. Every now and then the wind would whip up a corner of the poncho and a blast of rain would shower us in its wet coolness. Each time it happened, Dawn tried to scoot closer to me.

  “You’re warm,” she said after one of the times we got sprayed.

  I couldn’t see her, but when she spoke I could smell the spearmint on her breath from the gum she was always chewing—it was something we had in common. Normally, she’d park the gum in a corner of her mouth, making it hard to tell she was even chewing a piece, but I could hear her jaw working and I knew she was nervous. I’d never seen her like this and I wanted to protect her.

  “We’re going to be fine,” I said after she jerked in response to a nearby lightning strike.

  “That’s what I keep telling myself, but I’m worried Karma’s going to screw me over for not visiting my mom sooner.” She sighed. “Wouldn’t that be a bitch?”

  I was astutely aware that death was not opposed to showing up at the most inopportune time and it didn’t care about anyone’s plans, but I wasn’t about to agree with her. “You’re going to make it out of here and you’ll get to spend time with your mom—just wait and see.”

  “God, I hope you’re right.”

  Wanting to get her mind off of dying, I asked if she thought Wilton’s murder was related to the dead guy in the body bag.

  “Beats the hell out of me,” she said. “He was definitely murdered. If we believe what Cade’s saying, Wilton had something to do with it.”

  “Hey!” Cade called over the driving rain. “I heard my name.”

  “Go to sleep,” I hollered, “or I’ll chain you to the dead guy.”

  Stella told Cade to shut up and Kevin mumbled something I couldn’t understand. It sounded as though he woke up from a nap.

  I started to open my
mouth to talk more about Wilton’s case when Dawn shot straight up. “What the hell’s that noise?”

  I cocked my head sideways, trying to hear over the soft pattering of rain on the plastic poncho. “What noise?”

  As I listened, the water drops began falling harder and harder, until a hard object smashed against my head with a thud. More of the hard objects peppered us and realization quickly set in—it was hail!

  “It sounds like a freight train.” Dawn then jumped to her feet, clawing at my arm to pull me up with her. “Holy shit…it’s a tornado!”

  I shook free of the poncho and stood in the pouring rain beside Dawn, staring wildly about.

  “Stella, Kevin, get your asses up!” I said. “A tornado’s coming!”

  Lightning was striking with enough frequency that we could see our surroundings. While it came in disco flashes, we could still make out what was happening. Kevin jerked Cade to his feet and we all tried to get a bearing on the tornado.

  “It’s coming from there.” Stella pointed toward Dead Man’s Canal. “I can hear the trees breaking.”

  “Wait, just listen,” Dawn said. She stepped away from the tree and I followed close behind her, ready to wrap my arms around her if necessary. She suddenly turned toward the trail from which we’d traveled earlier. Her mouth fell open and she just stared. I followed her gaze and sucked in a mouthful of air when a flash of lightning lit up the sky. For a brief second, I saw a dark funnel cloud about five hundred yards away. It was heading straight for us and was ripping whole trees from the ground and tossing them into the air like match sticks.

  “Get the hell out of here!” I hollered, pushing Dawn toward Dead Man’s Canal. I then grabbed the straps on the body bag and ran backward with it, dragging it toward the grave we’d uncovered, knowing it would be the safest place for the old man’s body. Against my protest, Dawn had taken hold of the straps on the opposite side. Once we reached the hole, we shoved the body bag inside. I turned to Dawn. “Go! Get out of here!”

  She hesitated. “What about Cade?”

  “I’ve got him. Just get Stella and Kevin to the canal!” Still, she hesitated. I leaned forward and touched her wet face. “I’m right behind you…I promise!”

  She spun around, but Stella and Kevin had already disappeared in the darkness, leaving us behind. Cade was hobbling after them, only able to move eight inches at a time. I ran up to him and grabbed him by the collar. Spinning him around, I bent forward and threw him over my shoulder. As I straightened and broke into a stumbling run, I felt intense pressure build up in the air around me and my ears popped.

  The ground beneath my feet shook as the tornado barreled toward us. The roar was deafening. I could feel it breathing down my neck and I wanted to look back to see if it had changed course, but to do so might cause me to lose my balance. If I fell, Cade and I were both dead. If the tornado changed course and followed us, we were all dead. Our only chance was for it to keep going straight and for us to reach the safety of the canal before it sent trees flying in our direction.

  Rain pelted my face as I ran through the tall weeds and I blinked the water away, straining to see through the downpour. I knew we had to be close to the canal, because I could no longer see Dawn against the intermittent flashes of lightning.

  Cade began squirming and yelling that his ribs were hurting.

  “Shut up and stop moving!” I yelled. “If I drop you, you’re going to die—”

  A brilliant flash of lightning suddenly lit up the path before me. I grunted and tried to stop in my tracks, but my boot slipped against the wet ground and my feet went airborne. Cade screamed as he went down with me, but his cries were cut short by the dark water that enveloped us and shut off our air supply.

  I sank deep and fast into the canal as Cade’s dead weight pushed me rapidly toward the bottom. Because his hands were cuffed to his waist, he was unable to do anything to save himself and he wriggled violently about. Before I could push him off of me, my back made contact with the bottom of the canal. I reached out and tried to push off, but my left arm sank to the elbow in the soft mud.

  In that instant, I knew the danger I was in. I was going to die if I didn’t do something immediately. I became very calm and everything seemed to slow to a crawl. Cade was still struggling and his movements were pushing me deeper into the deathtrap. I felt the mud embracing my shoulders and legs, threatening to bury me alive. My lungs were screaming for air and I had to resist the urge to attempt a breath, knowing it would accelerate my demise.

  Still struggling to free my left arm, I wrapped my right arm around Cade and pushed him toward my left. He resisted and I had to use my legs to sweep him over. Once he was off of me, I pushed against his chest with my right hand and jerked my left hand free from the mud. It worked, but it shoved him deeper into the slop. I clutched on to the chain around his waist and jerked on it, but it was no use. He was stuck. I tried several more times, but the suction was too strong to break.

  Unable to hold my breath any longer, and knowing his only chance of surviving was if I did, I pushed off of him with my boot and shot to the surface of the canal.

  As soon as my head broke free from the water, I sucked in a lungful of air and then another. I took a third breath and held it, then plunged back under, heading straight for Cade’s location. When I got to him, I immediately realized he wasn’t moving. I grabbed the chain around his waist and gave it another jerk, but it only served to pull me into him.

  Careful not to bury my foot, I began pressing against the bottom of the canal with my sole, feeling for solid ground. After what seemed like entirely too long, I located a thick tree branch stuck in the mud. My lungs were screaming again and I scrambled to get both feet positioned solidly on the branch. Once they were, I grabbed the chain and jerked as hard as I could. Cade’s body broke free from the mud and I pulled him around until his back was against my chest. Wrapping my left arm around his neck in a rear-naked choke, I shoved off of the branch, propelling us upward. Kicking with my legs and paddling with my right arm, I fought desperately to get him to the surface. I knew every second counted. If he was deprived of air for too long, there would be no resuscitating him.

  When I thought I could no longer hold my own breath, I finally broke the surface of the water. I was disoriented and began staring around, searching desperately for the nearest shore.

  “London! Where the hell are you?”

  The voice, which sounded a lot like Dawn, broke through the fog in my brain and I realized it was coming from behind me. The rain was still falling in sheets, but the lightning was flashing less frequently. I spun around in the water, trying to see through the darkness.

  “I’m here!” I lunged forward, swimming toward the shore and dragging Cade along with me.

  “Kevin, grab a branch and get over here,” Dawn called. “Keep coming toward my voice, London. You’re almost here.”

  “I don’t see any branches,” Kevin said.

  “To hell with it…” I heard a splash of water and within seconds Dawn was beside me. She wrapped an arm around Cade. “I’ve got him. Get to the shore and help me pull him out.”

  I released my hold on Cade and swam toward the bank, careful not to put my feet down in the sloppy bottom when I reached the shallows. When I was close enough, I reached for the bank and tried to pull myself up, but I slipped and fell back into the water.

  “Here, take my hand,” Kevin called from somewhere in the darkness directly in front of me. Lightning flashed and I finally saw him kneeling just to my left. I grabbed his hand with one of mine and clawed at the bank as he pulled me to the shore.

  As soon as I was on solid ground, I spun around and reached for Dawn, who had made it to the bank. I hollered at Kevin to grab Cade, and he did. Once we were all on the shore, I rolled Cade to his back and began pumping his chest.

  Kevin stabilized his neck and tilted his head back, waiting for his turn to give rescue breaths. Once I gave him the signal, he went to work. Cade’s
chest rose with every breath he gave and I was encouraged. When he was done, I performed more chest compressions, and then leaned back so he could deliver more rescue breaths. We continued taking turns and performed CPR for what seemed like an hour, stopping every now and then to check for a pulse. The rain had stopped and the clouds parted, allowing the moon to coat the area in a dim glow. It offered us just enough light to see what we were doing. During one of my breaks, I stole a glance at Cade’s face. It looked pale and lifeless.

  CHAPTER 33

  “He’s gone, London.” Dawn grabbed my shoulders and pulled on me. “It’s over.”

  “No! We’ve got to keep going. We have to revive him.” I leaned back over Cade and began pushing against his chest. “Come on, Kevin, give him some more breaths.”

  In the pale glow from the moon, I could see Kevin frown. “She’s right, London. He’s dead.”

  I sank to a seated position and stared down at his lifeless body. I felt a sense of disappointment that was mixed with anger and frustration. The fact that he was dead wasn’t the real issue. I’d responded to countless death scenes throughout my career, but those deaths had taken place before my arrival and were out of my control. I’d also taken a few lives in the line of duty, but those killings had been intentional—and necessary.

  Cade’s death was different. Not only had I not intended for him to die, but I’d tried my damnedest to keep him alive and I’d failed. His life was in my hands and I let him down.

  I began second-guessing my actions. What if I’d tried something different? Would the results have been the same, or would he still be alive?

  “Damn, I really screwed up,” I said. “I thought I could bring him back.”

  “Don’t you say that,” Dawn said. “It was an accident.”

  “No, it was a bad plan. I was pinned to the bottom by his weight, so I flipped him off of me and used him as a springboard to get out of the water and get some air to go back after him,” I explained. “While I was getting air, he drowned down there—like I figured he would—but I thought I’d have enough time to get him to shore and revive him. I miscalculated how long it would take to get him out of the canal. I should’ve stayed down there longer before coming up for air. Now he’s dead because of it.”