Everyone jumped into action. Lane’s first call was to the sheriff’s department, which covered the towns in the area that couldn’t afford their own police force, as well as any county-owned properties and roads. He then notified the other few police departments and got all available hands covertly heading toward Hazard Falls. It was easy for anyone to pick up a police scanner and enter the local radio codes so they could listen in. Finally, he made the second worst call of his life—the first being to a good friend and fellow Marine’s parents after they’d been notified he’d been KIA.
The call rang twice in his ear before it was picked up. “Hey, Lane, what’s up?”
He took a deep breath and let it out. “Shane, I need you to listen to me. Grab Hank and Tuck and get down to the police station. We received a call from Nicole. She and Paige are on a school bus with a bunch of kids, and they’ve been hijacked for ransom.”
There was a long pause on the phone, and, for a moment, he thought they’d been disconnected. “Shane?”
The man’s voice was low and threatening. “Tell me this is a really sick joke, man.”
“I wish I could. All we know is that at the time of the call about ten minutes ago, everyone was unharmed. Nicole said they were all okay for now. Just get down here and keep it quiet. Supposedly they’re listening to the police radios.”
“Fuck! I swear if anything happens to Ari or Paige—Lane, you better cover my ass for the murders I’ll commit.”
Shane disconnected the call before his friend had a chance to answer, and Lane hoped like hell he wouldn’t have to cover the guy’s ass.
About forty minutes later, they were no closer to figuring out where the kids and their chaperones were. Officers and deputies from around the county had responded, and many of them were now in unmarked vehicles, borrowed from the parents of some of the missing children, driving around the area trying to spot the big, yellow bus. A few state troopers had also arrived after being notified their assistance was needed. So far, everyone had kept radio silence unless it had to do with anything other than the hostage situation. Shane, Tuck, and Hank were standing in a corner of the reception area, having refused to wait in the American Legion Hall next door with the rest of the shocked parents. They’d been warned not to contact anyone else and reveal what was happening. As long as the three men stayed out of the way and didn’t hinder the investigation, then the chief was okay with them staying. It helped that Shane was like a nephew to Hughes, who’d been best man at the younger man’s parents wedding long ago.
Lane glanced at the clock. They had about fifteen more minutes, maybe less, before the call they were waiting for came in to let them know where to deliver the money. It hadn’t taken more than three seconds for the mayor to order the bank manager to get the ransom together after finding out his granddaughter was one of the hostages. The police would do everything they could to ensure the money was returned at the end of the day, but with nineteen lives in danger, they couldn’t risk trying to trick the suspects with a bag stuffed with newspaper or clothing.
The front door to the station burst open and the school principal, Marianne Burton, rushed into the police station waving a piece of paper. The forty-two-year-old woman breathlessly called out, “Chief! I may know how to find them!”
Everyone in the room stopped their conversations and stared at her.
Leaving the wall map he’d been using to coordinate the search, Hughes stepped toward her. “How?”
She took a few deep breaths as the entire room waited. “The town bought . . . the bus from another school district. It has a GPS feature and . . . and a panic alarm system in it, but the damn mayor said we didn’t need to activate them. He didn’t want to pay the extra money for the monitoring.” Clearly, she hadn’t seen the man standing in the corner opposite Shane, Tuck, and their employee. Kline, at least, had the decency to look remorseful. “Anyway, here’s the name of the company that monitored it for the school district we got it from. They may still be able to track it.”
Hughes took the papers from her and then kissed her on the cheek. “You’re a genius, Mari! Hopefully, it works.”
The chief hurried over to the closest landline, probably to make sure the department name came up on any caller ID. Within minutes, he had the longitude and latitude of where the bus was currently sitting on the property of an old, abandoned farm that’d been up for sale for years without any interest. It wasn’t far from the road the bus had been taking on its way to the Native American Village.
“How do you want to do this, Graham?” the county sheriff asked, having responded in person along with a bunch of his men.
It wasn’t the first time the sheriff, or other chiefs in the county, had deferred to Hughes when it came to a high-risk situation. Back in the day, the man had been in the Army’s Special Forces. He’d then served Garden City’s police force, as well as their SWAT team, for a few years until he’d taken a bullet interrupting a convenience store robbery one day while off duty. Six months later, after he’d recovered, he’d handed in his resignation and taken the top cop job that’d been offered to him in Hazard Falls. At fifty-four, he was still in excellent condition and sparred with some of his officers on a regular basis.
The chief checked his watch. “We’re too close to the time Nicole said they’d call back. I say we wait until they call with the drop location. It’ll probably be somewhere other than the farmhouse and that means at least one of the suspects will have to leave. We won’t be able to stage a rescue that fast. One less person guarding the hostages will reduce the chances of any of them getting hurt when we go in after them. We can hide a few lookouts along the escape routes and wait until the pickup guy is out of the way. Have a team waiting for him at the drop site. Once he’s out of sight, we’ll do a stealth approach and try to hit the remaining two suspects before they even know we’re there.”
“We’re going with you.” Shane stepped forward with Tuck and Hank right beside him. Rage and fear battled for supremacy on all three men’s face. “Deputize us.”
“Absolutely not, Shane,” Hughes responded, his voice filled with sympathy and authority. “I know Ari, Paige, Joey, and Nicole are in danger, along with all the others, but that means you can’t be objective on this. I trust that every shield in this county will do whatever they possibly can to get every single hostage back unharmed. Let us do what we’re trained to do.”
Lane knew it took a lot of faith and strength, when after a few moment’s hesitation, Shane, Tuck, and Hank backed down.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“I have to go to the bathroom,” one of the boys whined from the back of the bus, and Paige silently agreed with him. They’d been inside an old barn for over an hour, and she’d been crossing her legs for the past fifteen minutes, trying not to pee her pants. She hadn’t wanted to ask if she could get off the bus and step into one of the stalls to make use of a corner to relieve herself, but she was going to have to soon.
Nicole had made the second call at gunpoint and given the police chief the location for the money to be dropped. Minutes later, the third creep, named Eddie, who’d been driving the Cadi earlier, left in the vehicle to retrieve the ransom, after Ty had repeated several warnings about watching out for an ambush at the drop site. That left just Ty and his buddy, Derek, outside the bus.
Sunlight poured through openings where several boards were missing in the roof and a loft window. Nicole had said earlier she knew what abandoned farm they were on, but she hadn’t been able to think of a clue to give to the police to help them locate the hostages. Her one attempt at giving more information than she was supposed to had resulted in getting her head yanked back by her hair and a gun thrust into her face, while her terrified daughter and the others had looked on. Now, she sat with Joey on her lap and waited for whatever was going to happen next. Ari was tucked under one of Paige’s arms while Brooke hung on her other one. The little girl was sucking her thumb and would freeze anytime her sister’s boyfriend yel
led anything or came back on the bus.
The other children were huddled together in the seats throughout the bus. Clem was looking paler and diaphoretic, and kept rubbing his sternum. He’d started getting sharp chest pains about ten minutes after they’d arrived at the barn, but the three punks had been unsympathetic. Melanie was doing her best to keep both her husband and students calm. Paige and Nicole had joined her in taking turns walking to the back of the bus and checking on the children every few minutes. Some were sitting in silence, with dried tear tracks on their cheeks. Others were talking softly to each other, and a few had fallen into a restless sleep after having an adrenaline crash.
Paige and Nicole had done their best to find some sort of weapon they could use but resources were limited on the bus. Ty and his friends had taken their cell phones and those that any of the kids had. The only thing the women had on hand was a small pocket knife on Nicole’s keychain, that’d been overlooked by their kidnappers. And small was an understatement. While it was sharp, it wouldn’t cause enough damage to someone unless she shoved it in their eye. However, Nicole kept it handy just in case.
“I have to go to the bathroom too,” another student, this time a little girl, cried.
Soon the others would start whining and crying and that might piss off their captors. Paige had to prevent that from happening. Patting both Ari’s and Brooke’s arms, she stood and reassured them. “I’ll be right back.”
She moved to the front and slowly descended the steps, her heart pounding in her chest. When she reached the bottom step, she stopped and cleared her throat. “Excuse me.”
Derek and Ty brought their guns up from where they’d been standing a few feet away. The latter snarled. “What?”
“W-We need to go to the bathroom, especially the children. If they pee in their pants, it’s going to smell, and they’ll really start crying.”
Ty waved his hands around. “Do you see a bathroom in here, you fucking cunt? Go sit down.”
She stood her ground. “Please. I’m trying to keep them from getting on your nerves and that’s what’s going to happen if you don’t let them go. I can take them into those stalls over there, one or two at a time, and they can pee on the floor. They’ll be a lot quieter if they’re comfortable.”
Seconds passed as he just glared at Paige.
Derek broke the silence. “Let ’em go, Ty. They can’t escape, and it’ll keep ’em quiet. I don’t want to listen to a bunch of brats whining.”
There was another moment’s hesitation, before he strode over to the stalls she’d pointed to, looked in one of them, then came back. “Fine. No more than two at a time. Make it fast then get the brats back on the bus and tell them to keep their traps shut.”
“Thank you.” She turned and hurried back up the stairs. “Okay, kids. I’m going to take two of you at a time to go to the bathroom. Try to hang on until I get to you. Ari, Brooke, come with me.”
The two girls stood warily and took Paige’s outstretched hands. She kept her body between them and the two men as she hurried them over to the old horse stalls. Pointing to two corners, she said, “Go squat and urinate over there. Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone come in while you’re going.” She didn’t know if either punk was a pedophile, and didn’t want to find out, but there was no way she’d let either of them watch the children while they were exposed.
It took a few moments for the girls to relax enough to do their business after they’d pulled down their shorts and squatted, but soon they were done, and Paige hurried them back onto the bus. Two by two, she escorted the children to the makeshift restroom and then back again. After the first couple of times, Ty and Derek ignored them. They went back to checking the doors and looking out any opening they could find in the dilapidated barn. On the third trip, Paige ducked her head into the stall next to the one the children were using and spotted a pitchfork within reach. She quickly moved back when she heard one of the kidnappers approaching, then continued escorting her charges. Once they were all taken care of, Paige would watch the stall’s doorway if Nicole and Melanie needed to go, then have one of them stand guard while she relieved herself.
Paige was just about to head back to the bus with the last, lone boy, when, from the other side of the barn, Ty shouted, “Derek! Someone’s out there! It’s the fucking cops!”
“Shit! How’d they find us?”
Temporary relief flashed through Paige, but she knew they weren’t out of danger yet. Pushing the little boy back into the stall she reached into the other one and grabbed the pitchfork. When Derek ran from the front of the barn, past what had once been a tack room, his gun was up, looking for a target. Paige didn’t hesitate, thrusting the large, pointed tool forward as hard as she could, catching him in the gut. He froze in confusion, then disbelief, before glancing down while stumbling backward. Paige let go of the handle as he fell to the floor, bleeding from his deep wounds.
In shock, Paige stepped back a few steps, her hand over her wide-open mouth. The little boy moved from the stall to her side, staring at the dying man, with bulging eyes.
“You bitch!” Ty had rounded the front of the bus and stopped in front of the vehicle’s door. Rage covered his face as he raised his gun hand.
Paige had nowhere to go. All she knew was she had to protect the boy next to her. Pivoting, she shoved him as far as possible, so he’d be out of the line of fire. There was a violent boom and a brutal force slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Her breath left her lungs with a whoosh and pain exploded in her head. The last thing she heard before her world went black was screaming.
Shane paced back and forth in the ICU waiting room, trying hard not to punch a wall in front of everyone. It’d been four hours since Paige had been airlifted, unconscious, to St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City, the closest facility needed for her head injury. The cops had also gotten a second helicopter to transport Clem for what had turned out to be a heart attack. The man was stable in the CCU with his wife and children by his side.
The children, Nicole, and Melanie had been driven back into town, where they’d been greeted by a crowd of relieved and grateful parents. Once they had Arianna safely in their arms again, Shane and Tuck had buckled her in Shane’s truck and made a beeline for the hospital, an hour away. Their little girl had fallen asleep after only ten minutes on the road. Seth was holding down the fort at the ranch where the Triple-R employees were anxiously waiting for news on Paige.
Hank, Nicole, and their three children had driven to Garden City as well. Nicole said she needed to be there for her new friend after everything they’d gone through, but she couldn’t let Joey out of her sight just yet. Hank thought it was best to keep his entire family together until everyone calmed down.
Also in the waiting room were Lane, Lila, Gavin, Betty Lou, and a few of Shane and Tuck’s other friends. Tuck’s parents were on a plane from Arizona to Kansas, despite their son’s insistence they stay out west. Paige was important to Tuck, Shane, Ari, and Lila, so therefore, she was important to Zach and Emily Jones. Gavin had offered to go to the airport and pick them up when they arrived, and Shane had thanked him—it was one less thing he had to deal with right now.
He glanced around the room. They weren’t the only family waiting for a doctor to tell them how their loved one was doing, but they did have the most people supporting them. Ari had fallen back to sleep on Lila’s lap as she spoke in low whispers with Gavin. Lane had his head in his hands, and, surprisingly, Lou was sitting next to him, rubbing his back with her hand in moral support. The man had been blaming himself for Paige’s condition, and no amount of reassurance from Tucker, Shane, and Nicole had eased his perceived guilt.
From what Shane had learned, all hell had broken loose when one of the kidnappers had spotted the cops advancing on the barn. Unfortunately, it was a risk they’d had to take because there’d been very few places to conceal themselves as they approached. Lane and another officer had managed to silently climb through a paneless w
indow in an old tack room, moments before the alarm had been raised. Before either man could get out the door, Paige had stabbed one of the hostage takers with a fucking pitchfork, of all things. Although he wished she hadn’t needed to do it, he was damn proud of her. The bastard had died on the barn floor before medical help could arrive.
But after she’d eliminated the one guy, the other had appeared and pointed his gun at Paige. Not thinking of herself, she’d tried to protect the young boy who’d been standing next to her. Unable to shoot because of the kids and adults on the bus, directly behind the threat, Lane had done the only other thing he could think of. He’d tackled Paige to the ground. When the gun had gone off, the bullet had lodged into an upright beam, right behind where Paige had been standing. Unfortunately, as Lane landed on top of her, she’d hit her head hard against the floor and been knocked out. In the meantime, one of the cops, who’d come in through a backdoor they’d kicked in, had shot and killed the suspect before he could fire his weapon a second time.
The third kidnapper had been arrested at the money drop-off point. According to him, the whole plot was a Ty Eldredge’s idea after he’d overheard Brooke talking about the field trip a few days earlier while Brenna had been babysitting her. The three men had staked out the school. Once they were certain of the bus’s route to its destination, they’d taken a dirt-road shortcut and came out ahead of it. After that, it was just a matter of positioning their car, waiting in the ditch, and hoping the bus driver would stop to check on the “disabled” vehicle.
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