by Ty Patterson
During the evening, Clare saw a man waiting outside the bar, a man who seemed to become part of the street, around whom pedestrian traffic bent itself and flowed.
Cassandra saw Clare’s glance and laughed. ‘That’s my superhero brother, Zeb, waiting for me,’ she explained when she saw Clare’s raised eyebrows. ‘Zeb was Special Forces. He’s now a private military contractor, does security consulting, and he wouldn’t like me mentioning anything more.’ She laughed again when she realized how ridiculous that sounded. Clare had the highest security clearances and reported only to the President.
An intrigued Clare pulled Zeb’s file, whistled at the clearances required, and sobered when she read the contents of the file. She asked around discreetly and heard that he worked by his own rules, a tight moral code that meant he did not wage war on women and children, and didn’t accept any assignments that went against the country’s interests.
She asked him to join the agency the next day.
Zeb refused and counter-proposed that he form a team of elite operatives that the agency could call on. She mulled it over only for a few moments before green-lighting it, trusting in Zeb’s judgment to pick operatives who had a similar code to his.
The agency was born.
The President had once, in jest, referred to her team as her Warriors. The name stuck.
Zeb saw that the women had distrust back in their eyes and told them his cover story. ‘Most of the people or organizations I work with are high profile. I advise them on how they can reduce risk as they go about their life or work. Guarding them is only part of it.’
Meghan looked past him at the body. ‘You’ve done this before?’
Zeb shrugged. ‘You do what you have to while on a job. What about you two? What’s your backstory?’ He looked at Beth. ‘You’ve really lost your memory?’
She nodded, her eyes searching his to see if he believed her. ‘Yeah, like I said, why else would I spin such a story?’
He didn’t push it, allowing them to tell him in their own time, their own way. If they felt like it.
‘How did all this happen?’
Meghan frowned. ‘I’ve been thinking about that. We came to the park yesterday afternoon, with a group of people we knew, via the south entrance. We split away from them and came here; they proceeded ahead. They were going to rendezvous with some others near Lower Geyser Basin. We know this spot well; have been here before with our folks several times. We made camp by evening and didn’t see anything suspicious. I don’t know if we were followed.’
‘Late at night, I had to go… about two or three hundred feet away. When I was away, I heard the sounds of running, more than one person, and after a while the sounds faded. I rushed back to camp and saw Beth was gone. I hollered and searched around the camp, found nothing. Started searching in widening circles – Dad taught us that – still found nothing, and then I heard shots.’
‘I made a beeline to them. I was maybe halfway there or so, I heard her running back, and before I could call out to her, I saw her heading back. The way she was moving, I thought someone might be following her, so I held back from calling out.’
I didn’t detect her. If she was a hostile, I’d have been toast.
‘You haven’t seen these guys before?’
Both of them shook their heads.
Meghan looked at her sister. ‘What happened when they took you?’
‘I was sleeping one moment; the next moment, when I woke, one guy had a hand over my mouth and had flung me over his shoulder like a sack. I didn’t have time to shout or struggle, and by the time I realized what was happening, these guys were covering ground fast. I struggled and punched the guy carrying me, with my elbow, the other guy just hit me with his gun, and I passed out.’
‘Next thing I know, I’m in a Jeep, two guys ahead of me, one beside me in the back. The Jeep must have travelled for fifteen minutes or so and stopped in a clearing, where I was dragged out.’
She turned to Zeb. ‘That guy Steve, he dragged me from the back, when I jumped at him, kicked him in his balls and ran.
‘I was just running blind, and when they shot a few times, I changed direction and ran. When I reached darkness, I checked the compass on my watch and headed to camp; that’s when you grabbed me.’
‘Twice,’ Zeb said.
‘What?’ Meghan asked, not comprehending.
‘They shot twice. I don’t know if they shot to miss, but obviously they did.’
‘Shooting in the dark isn’t easy, especially at a moving target,’ Meghan replied.
And just how do you know that?
‘They must have spotted our camp, two women alone, and decided to have some fun,’ Beth decided.
‘Nope,’ Zeb countered, but his reply was lost in the clatter of a helicopter.
Chapter 4
The chopper circled twice, landed in a clearing a short distance away, and unloaded four people who ran over to them. Three of them were wearing ranger uniforms; the fourth was in a suit.
‘District Ranger Mitch Ketchum and FBI Special Agent John Connor. Connor is based out of Salt Lake City and has jurisdiction over the park. He caught a chopper as soon as he heard what had gone down.’ Ketchum introduced himself and the man in the suit to all of them. The other two rangers had headed to the body and were walking around it, taking photographs. Connor had short bristly hair on his head and dark piercing eyes.
‘Those two are Grant Parker and David Heppel.’ He didn’t mention their titles, and Zeb suspected they were from the law enforcement division of the park rangers.
Ketchum pushed back his hat, scratched his balding head, and drawled, ‘Gotta tell you guys, this is not the kind of history the park wants to make. There haven’t been any shootings like this in a long time, maybe for decades. Now why don’t y’all tell us just what happened?’
Zeb saw his eyes were alert and sharp, taking in the scene, taking them in. The homely attitude had a whip-smart mind behind it.
Zeb turned to the women, allowing them to start, knowing it would be hours before they all finished.
By the time Meghan and Beth had finished telling their side, it was midday, and they took a break to water themselves down.
‘Now, sir, what about you? How do you fit into all this?’ Ketchum looked at Zeb.
Zeb introduced himself and felt Connor’s stare on him when he heard Zeb’s name. Connor and Ketchum were soon joined by Parker and Heppel; they made Zeb and the women go over their stories repeatedly, till they were satisfied. Zeb drew a rough map of the area, marked his camp with an X and the route he’d taken to track down Beth Petersen, both ways.
‘My bedroll should still be at my camp,’ he added, handing the map over to the District Ranger.
‘You can lead us to this place?’ Ketchum asked him.
Zeb nodded, and after half an hour, he, along with the women, led Parker and Heppel back to the spot he’d come across Beth, his camp, and the trail he’d followed, going in and coming back.
He took them to the clearing where he thought the Jeep had taken Beth. She nodded slowly. ‘This could be it. It was night, and I wasn’t thinking clearly, so I could be wrong, but this certainly looks and feels like it.’
One of the rangers snapped away with his camera while the other measured and made casts of tracks where the earth was damp and soft.
When they returned to the camp, Zeb could see a relaxation in Ketchum and Connor.
‘Let’s head to Park H.Q. in Mammoth,’ Ketchum told them. ‘We can take this forward there.’
He addressed the women. ‘Ladies, you should have told us who your dad was, right off. We’ve all heard of him and what happened.’
On seeing Parker’s and Heppel’s bemused looks, he explained, ‘Their father was Jackson Hole SWAT Team Leader Bud Petersen.’
Parker’s face cleared, and he hurried forward to shake their hands. ‘The name sounded familiar, but then there are many Petersens around. I was privileged to meet your father a fe
w times when the rangers and Jackson PD did some joint training.’
He lingered over Beth’s hand. ‘I don’t know how to express this without making a fool of myself, but I’m sorry for what happened to you, ma’am.’
He blushed when Beth leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
Ketchum laughed. ‘That should give you enough memories to light up your winters, Grant.’
He caught Zeb’s blank face. ‘Carter, I don’t know if you remember this. Six years back, there was a shoot-out at the university the girls were going to. Four gun-crazy students ran down the halls shooting at whoever they saw. They had killed ten students by the time a SWAT team arrived, led by their father. The four students split up and holed up in four classrooms, where they held several students hostage.’
He paused, the still air listening to his words. ‘The SWAT team split up, too, and began negotiations, when those negotiations went nowhere – these crazies didn’t want to talk, they wanted to kill – they went in and started clearing the rooms. All those guys were killed – surrendering wasn’t on their agenda – but in the firefight, Bud Petersen lost his life.
‘His girls, twenty-two years old then, were on the campus that day, and one of them was shot in the head by one of the students.’ He looked searchingly at the two women before his gaze settled on Beth. ‘That’s how you lost your memory, wasn't it?’
Beth nodded once. Clearly it wasn’t something she wished to talk about. She moved closer to Meghan, who put an arm around her.
Ketchum caught on and changed the topic. He pointed at the dead man. ‘That feller there, Pete Bryce, was a hitter for a ruthless meth gang in Wyoming, a gang which is also active in the neighboring states of Utah and Colorado. He had two outstanding warrants, one for holding up a car and another for drug peddling. That gang has a guy called Steve, might be the same Steve you heard, a nasty piece of work who’s got outstanding warrants himself. This gang has about fifteen-twenty people and operates statewide, but they also work with other gangs in the western parts of the country. They’re into drugs primarily, meth, but also have known to take a hand in prostitution, the odd kidnapping, and rape.’
‘Looks like Bryce wanted to kill you and grab the women,’ Ketchum said, looking at Zeb.
Parker chimed in. ‘Ladies, way I figure it, you got lucky that Carter butted in.’
Ketchum turned to Zeb, his eyes full of curiosity. ‘Carter, you seem to get around a lot. It looks like many people in law enforcement know or have heard of you. Your name rang a bell with me, but I couldn’t place you at the time. The moment we mentioned your name and details, flags lit up all over the place.’
John Connor broke his silence. ‘Director Murphy’s office came back pretty fast as soon as your name went in the system, vouching for you.’
He looked askance at Zeb, waiting for an explanation.
None came. Zeb had donned shades, and all they saw was their own selves reflected in his glasses.
Two pairs of green eyes added their weight to the curious looks.
Zeb shrugged. ‘I’ve met the FBI Director a couple of times. Nothing more to it.’
Ketchum snorted. ‘Nothing more to it, the man of mystery says.’ He held a hand up in peace. ‘All right, we’ll go with that. In any case, we were told not to ask for too many details from you. None would be forthcoming was what the powers that be said.
‘Carter, we’ll take the women along with us to H.Q., and then come back for you. Work for you?’
Zeb nodded. ‘I’ll get my bedroll and be back by then.’
The park’s headquarters were at Fort Yellowstone, in Mammoth, first built in 1891. Back in 1886, the park’s civilian management was unable to protect the park and turned to the Army for help. The Army deployed men from the cavalry, who built Fort Yellowstone, which then became the park’s headquarters. The cavalry managed the park till as recently as 1916 and, after a short spell away, returned to manage it till 1918.
Ketchum led them to a warm, friendly office, where they spent another couple of hours completing all the formalities.
He had a troubled expression on his face when he went through all the details yet again. ‘Ladies, it doesn’t look like this was a random event of some gangbangers finding two women alone. They were specifically looking for you. The comments Carter overheard show that. Is there something that either of you, or both of you, came across that could be gang related? Maybe you saw something or heard something?’
Meghan and Beth shook their heads in frustration. ‘We’ve had a lot of time to think, but nothing jumps out. We’ve detailed our movements for the last week to Parker. We’re no longer even based in Jackson… Boston has been our home for the last three years. We can’t see how we could have come across this gang.’ Meghan blew hair out of her eyes in a tired sigh.
He drummed his fingers on his desk briefly. ‘You’ll let us know if you remember anything.’ It wasn’t a request. He continued, ‘I don’t think this will get resolved very quickly. I would recommend that you cut your holiday short and head back to Boston. If that’s not possible, I would urge caution… try not to be alone, especially in the dark, keep to crowded places. I’m sure your dad would’ve drilled all this into you.’
Meghan nodded reluctantly. ‘We were looking forward to this and had been planning it for so long, but I guess it makes sense for us to leave the park.’
Beth asked her, ‘Why don’t we spend a few days in Jackson? We stayed there when coming in, but that was too short.’
Meghan brightened. ‘Let’s do that.’
‘And you, sir? Will you be hanging around in the park?’ They all swung toward Zeb.
‘I was planning to leave in a day or two. I might as well follow the ladies out.’
‘And where exactly are you heading?’ Connor asked him.
‘I’m heading to New York, but am in no particular hurry.’
Ketchum, Parker and Connor drew Zeb back as they were heading out. ‘If you too are heading in the direction of Jackson Hole, we’d appreciate it if you could keep an eye on them till they get there.’
‘Was planning to.’
A thought struck him. ‘The phone that guy was carrying? Did it get any calls? There was a number on it.’
Parker grimaced. ‘It ran out of juice pretty soon. We’ve given the number to Jackson P.D. to track it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a disposable number. I think by now the gang will know something has happened to their guy. If they have sophisticated police scanners, they might know all the details. They might hunker down for a while till the heat dissipates.’
It was getting dark by the time Zeb and the women reached the women’s camp.
He watched them for a while, and when Beth flashed a smile in his direction, he said, ‘Ma’am, I think it will be best if you head out in the morning. I wouldn’t advise driving in the dark.’
She laughed. ‘Meg’s the boss here, as you might’ve noticed. I’ll ask her.’
She headed inside the tent, he could hear them murmuring, then they both walked out.
Meghan looked at him appraisingly for a long time before saying anything. Beth and she had discussed Zeb at length and had concluded that he wasn’t just a security consultant. The way he glided in the air, the perpetual stillness around him, and the way he’d handled his gun were similar to some of the best SWAT members they had come across. ‘Maybe he was a SEAL. You noticed that card he showed us was a Medal of Honor recipient card,’ Beth had breathed softly.
‘Thank you for all that you’ve done,’ Meghan said, and after a long pause, continued in a lower tone, ‘It’s frightening to know there’s a gang out there who’s hunting us for some reason we don’t know. We can deal with most things, and even if you hadn’t turned up, I’m sure we would have done a lot of damage to them. But this, a faceless gang shadowing us… this is different.’
Her shoulders slumped as the day took its toll, and she leaned back into her sister’s hug. Her eyes were glistening as they lo
oked at Zeb. ‘We would appreciate it if you moved your camp closer to ours for the night.’
Zeb inclined his head and walked away without a word. He’d been planning to do just that.
He felt their presence as he was rolling out his bed on the ground – he preferred to sleep under the open sky whenever possible – and turned around.
Beth offered a plate on which were neatly sliced sandwiches. Meghan was beside her, watching him lay out his roll.
He took one sandwich, bending his head silently in thanks.
‘You’re the most incurious man we’ve met.’ Beth half laughed. ‘Most people, Ketchum, for example, would be curious about what happened to me, how it felt, how I’m coping. You, on the other hand, are not in the least interested. It feels as if it hasn’t even registered with you.’
Zeb took a large bite, enjoying the smell and the flavor of the freshly made sandwich. It was a mere sandwich, but to him – accustomed to eating alone most of his life, off his own preparations – it felt like much more.
‘Ma’am, way I figure, it’s your life. Who you choose to open the door to is your prerogative. Curiosity is not the same as right to know.’
Meghan said wonderingly, ‘Dad used to say something like that. He used to say the past should never define our future. He was the one who taught us to handle a gun and the Krav Maga moves.’
‘He sounds like one real man.’
‘He was. Our mom died a couple of years before the shooting, after a long battle with breast cancer. Dad just stepped in and stepped up. Two headstrong college-going daughters, a cop’s life… he juggled everything and gave all of himself to us.’
She gripped Beth’s shoulder, her knuckles showing white in the dark. ‘Beth will have a full life.’
Beth patted her hand and smiled at him. ‘You’ll have to excuse us, Mr. Carter. It’s not every day that we get hunted and kidnapped by a gang. Meg will be back to normal tomorrow.’