It took her only a moment to decide. ‘So what are you suggesting?’
Crozier stared down at his boots for a moment while he paused to take a breath. ‘These men here believe a Native American is responsible for taking the mother and daughter. That struck a chord with me, given incidents that took place out in Corona a couple of days back. I believe a man by the name of Joe Kane is somehow involved, and if I’m right then I also think I know where these two ladies are going to be held. My plan is a very simple one, therefore: we get one young man to hospital and then we go and rescue this man’s wife and kid.’
‘Native American?’ Agent Green said in alarm. ‘Please tell me he’s not going onto the res.’
‘No, ma’am. Not if I’m right. If I am, then we gotta make our way to Ruidoso. We can stop by at the county medical centre and have someone take care of our injured man here, then continue on to where I think the ladies will eventually be held. My guess is that shortly after they were snatched up they were put on a plane or chopper and are currently being flown down here to New Mexico. If they’re not there when we arrive, then someone there will very likely know where they are being held.’
It sounded like a plan. A basic one, the finer details of our end game still to be worked out. But it was enough for me to know that both the sheriff and the agent wanted in on the action. Terry and I had to move on irrespective of what the two law enforcement officers wanted to do, but I would rather have them with us than against us.
‘Sheriff,’ I said. ‘Would you please take Kelper, Vern and Chelsea with you to the hospital. If you can, please arrange to have a couple of deputies close by to guard them. Terry and I need to go and fetch what it is this Indian wants.’
‘Which is what exactly?’ Agent Green asked.
‘It’s a long story, and I’d rather we all just got on the road.’
I could tell she did not like that answer, but she bit down on her irritation. ‘So they are proposing some form of exchange?’
‘Yes. And we could try doing that, except I’ve never known something like this to go well, have you, Agent Green? Too many imponderables. Too many ways for it all to turn to shit.’
‘So why bother fetching it in the first place?’
I shrugged. ‘It may come in handy. There’s a chance we could use it as leverage. Either way, I’d feel better about it being with us when we go in there.’
Whatever we were about to do was better than hanging around for all kinds of law enforcement people to show up and start asking questions neither Terry nor I had good answers to.
It also might be the difference between Donna and Wendy living or dying.
33
Henry McCarty, whose formal alias was William H. Bonney, and who in later life became known far and wide as Billy the Kid, left his mark on New Mexico during his short life. A casino at the Ruidoso Downs racetrack bears the infamous moniker allegedly created by a Las Vegas newspaper. There was also a scenic byway of trails dedicated to the outlaw gunned down at the age of twenty-two by Sheriff Pat Garrett, a long stretch of which ran right alongside the perimeter of the Crow residence overlooking Paradise Canyon.
In amongst the fir, spruce, pine and juniper that spread like a rash across Crow’s land, ran a tall PVC chain-link fence that surrounded the property itself at a distance of approximately one hundred yards in any compass point direction from the house. That much was obvious merely by studying it from a distance. Any external assessment of the quality and prolificacy of the security system relied pretty much on hearsay, but rumour had it that the Judge was better protected than the New Mexico state governor. Certainly he could afford the very best, and intelligence gathered over the years by both the sheriff’s department and local PD suggested the patrols around the grounds were well-manned and dogs were also in use.
All of this Crozier explained to the three of us as we sat in his cruiser going over our plans in alphabetical order. Terry being Terry favoured a pre-emptive strike as his Plan A, with no favour and no warning given. His American colleagues might describe it as shock-and-awe, but to my friend it was just another day at the office. As usual I admired his confidence, both in his own abilities and mine, but I also had to point out that we would be massively outgunned and potentially outmanoeuvred if the security rumours were even halfway accurate. Agent Green, who by this time had insisted we call her Heather, agreed with the sheriff’s own plan to drive up to the gate and request entry.
‘If this Judge character is the man you say he is, and if he has Donna and Wendy in there, he’ll demand a warrant,’ Terry insisted. ‘Do you think you have enough to obtain one? Even if you’re lucky enough to have a tame real judge onside?’
‘I doubt it,’ Crozier acknowledged with a sigh of regret. ‘But the threat of one might make Crow react positively. At the very least he may squirrel the girls away somewhere and invite us in. He doesn’t have to know about you two, as we’ll do some squirrelling of our own with the pair of you in the back of my vehicle.’
‘But what if he doesn’t? At that point you have forewarned him, and you can never wrestle back the advantage a surprise assault will offer us.’
‘I think you’re forgetting one significant detail,’ Heather said. She sat alongside Crozier in the front, the vehicle itself located high up in the hills on a dirt track that petered out to a small empty plot of land encircled by trees and vegetation. From there we could see one of the gabled parts of the roof to Crow’s home, and its woodland surroundings. She waited until she had drawn our attention before continuing. ‘The sheriff and I are law enforcement. We can’t go in there all guns blazing without a legal imperative. We have to try official means at first. That’s not even open to debate as far as I am concerned.’
‘And risk having your own Ruby Ridge or Waco to deal with?’
‘Sure, creating an armed stand-off is always a possibility. All I’m saying is we have badges, which means we have rules, so we cannot go in firing first and asking questions later.’
‘Okay.’ Terry nodded, thinking on that. ‘So you and Sheriff Crozier try the front door approach, while Mike and I go via the back door. You don’t need to tell anybody about this discussion, nor that you had any idea what we were going to attempt. For that matter, you don’t even have to acknowledge that you even know us or spoke to us beforehand. Fact is, it’d be better for all four of us if that was how this played out. Mike and I really need to hit and run.’
‘So you go in and snatch up the hostages and we have to sit there afterwards and lie to our own people?’
‘Well, yes. Tell me, Heather, exactly how did you imagine this would go? Did you really think you could take revenge for the death of your partner and not have to lie about your motivations or actions afterwards?’
Agent Green was silent for a moment, her eyes wandering as if she were reading something written across the front of her mind. ‘I suppose I didn’t think that far ahead,’ she admitted, offering a small shrug. ‘But if this goes sideways, it could end my career. That won’t be much of a homage to Eugene, will it?’
‘You could always leave,’ I said. ‘Nobody knows you are here right now. We can drop you off at your own vehicle and then you can head back to the sawmill. Yes, if you don’t want to blow any chance we have here then you will still have to lie to your bosses, but at least you won’t be a part of this if it all ends up going pear-shaped. Which it undoubtedly will. That way, you say only what you need to, the job here gets done, and you are miles away when it all goes down. You can live with that, can’t you?’
She shook her head. ‘That’s just it, I’m not sure if I can.’
‘Which part? The driving away or the lies you have to tell?’
‘The first. I go and that leaves you one person and one gun down. You’re already outnumbered if what the sheriff says about Crow’s security detail is accurate. Plus, if the sheriff here can get us onto the grounds and in to see Crow, then an FBI presence is crucial. My being there steps it up from a co
unty to a federal matter.’
‘Then you have to make up your mind,’ Terry said in a low voice that I knew was the most soothing and understanding he was able to muster. ‘Because whatever plan we agree upon, we need to do it right now.’
‘Sheriff,’ I said, leaning forward so as he would not have to turn all the way around to respond. ‘Do you know if there is any point between the gates and the house where your vehicle would not be seen? Somewhere you could stop to let us out?’
Crozier gave that some time. He nodded as he thought about it. ‘I visited him once to introduce myself. I felt he and I should meet, but I also wanted to get a feel for his property. There are plenty of places hidden from view of both the entrance and the house as you drive around, but it’s the security cameras I can’t be sure of. I doubt they are all monitored all of the time, but I’m guessing they are whenever someone they let through the gates drives in.’
‘I tend to agree,’ Terry said. ‘We can’t take that chance. The best approach me and Mike could take would be to use an overhanging tree branch to gain access beyond the fence to the rear of the house. In my kit bag I have a device that seeks out Wi-Fi and electromagnetic fields, so in a more stealthy approach it should give us plenty of advance warning in terms of cameras. Human patrol guards will cause us no bother – if they are out there walking around some rich bloke’s property then they are not going to be top notch, and I doubt they’ll be brave enough to risk their lives, either. My biggest concern would be the dogs; they will sniff us out quicker and from further away than we will them.’
‘Looks like we’re all dressed up with no place to go,’ Crozier said, stroking his moustache.
‘And there is also the elephant in the room to talk about,’ Heather said. ‘It’s all very well you two talking about carrying out an assault in there and rescuing the hostages, but you seem to think that’s our only way to address this situation. You’re forgetting that you now have what this man wants.’
She was right about that. The moment Vern told us he had buried the disks out in the desert and where, I knew who had them. I instantly recalled Everest’s metal detector, and Vigo’s bumper sticker. Had to be one of them. I called the number Vigo had given us. She took some persuading, but when I explained that her life could be in danger if she held on to them, and that the lives of my ex-wife and daughter were in danger right now, she admitted to having uncovered them. After that, convincing her to hand the disks over to us was easy.
To save time we arranged to meet halfway. She gave us a suitable location and hung up. We took her at her word. She would either turn up or she would not.
As things worked out, Vigo kept her word. She handed the disks over with obvious reluctance, and the moment she let go she asked me to tell her the truth.
‘Delta,’ I told her. ‘You made the right decision. You’ll never know what was on these disks, but believe me when I say you should be glad of that. Some very bad people would have done some very bad things to you just for having them. Make sure Dale knows that, too. If people come looking in days to come, say nothing about it. Oh, and one last thing. Over the next few days, a package will be delivered to your local post office. It will be in your name as well as Dale’s. You digging up those disks may have saved a life or two, so you’ve earned yourselves a finder’s fee. I’ll see that you receive it.’
When we drove away from the edge of a town that was smaller than a one-horse and whose name I could not pronounce, the woman was standing by her truck staring at us. She would never know how close she had come to real danger, though my guess was that Dale Everest would never let her hear the last of it for having given up their treasure.
On our way to Ruidoso to meet up with the sheriff and FBI agent, I called Drew and then waited for him to do his part. When he called us back he told us the instructions were for one of us to drive out to the Alto Reservoir, where we’d be met and further instructions provided. We were to come alone and to bring the package with us.
‘It’s a set-up,’ Terry said immediately.
I agreed.
I thought about this as Heather’s words tumbled around inside my head. It was not something I could easily ignore. ‘I’ve considered the option of simply handing over the package as instructed. Believe me, there is nothing I would like more than to resolve this peacefully. But let’s get real. This man down in that house had someone out hunting for Vern, had people watching the house back in LA, and then thought nothing of abducting a woman and a kid and holding them for ransom. Do either of you genuinely believe he’s the type of man to carry out a fair exchange and allow us just to drive away afterwards?’
Crozier took a long, deep breath. As he exhaled he shook his head and said, ‘Mangas Crow has a reputation that I understand is well-earned. He’s known to act swiftly, and often with a terrible degree of finality. I think he has your ladies, Mike. And I don’t believe he intends letting them go.’
‘Heather?’ I said, forcing her to meet my steady gaze. Her eyes glistened still, the lids red and swollen. Though overflowing with sadness at the loss of her agent partner, they were nonetheless captivating.
‘Okay. In all honesty, if it were me, there is no way I would walk into that meeting at the reservoir. The most likely result of that would be I’d end up dead and the package would be heading back to this Crow asshole.’
‘Can you get your SWAT team down to the reservoir? Surround the place and take down whoever Crow sends to collect the package?’
Nodding, Heather said, ‘In all honesty I should be calling in HRT right now as well. I’m out of my depth, and this is their speciality.’
‘Mike and I are not out of our depth,’ Terry said firmly. ‘I don’t want a Hostage Rescue Team handling this while we have to melt into the background.’
‘You call them in, Heather,’ I said, ‘and it’ll be over before they even arrive. That’s my ex-wife and daughter in there. I’m not putting their lives in the hands of anyone else other myself and Terry.’
With great reluctance, the agent nodded.
‘Good,’ Terry said. ‘Then that at least is settled. We have to get them out of there some other way. So we need to settle on a plan right now.’
The sheriff made no reply, his attention elsewhere at that moment. I followed his gaze and nudged Terry, nodding for him to do the same. As we looked down upon the Crow residence, black clouds of smoke plumed out from the land beyond the house, deep orange tongues of fiery flame at their core. Crozier had his window down, and we could hear the crackle and pop of sap and burning wood from our vantage point.
‘Damnit! Looks like someone beat us to it,’ I said.
I thought of finding only Barclay back at the sawmill and wondered how Garcia had fared. Had he escaped only to carry out an assault of his own on the Crow house? Then my mind shifted immediately to Donna and Wendy. The level of danger they faced had risen exponentially with this unexpected turn of events. Before this, I was concerned at how Crow might react the moment he realised he was under attack, but also that my girls could get caught up in the resulting inevitable crossfire. Now that crossfire was a three-way split, and we were not in control of how it would play out.
Terry nodded. He tapped Crozier urgently on the shoulder. ‘Let’s make the most of the distraction, sheriff,’ he said. ‘Get us down there.’
34
As Crozier sped down the pot-holed road towards the Crow residence, Terry and I geared up. As the SUV cruiser burst out onto a more even surface we saw the entrance to the property straight ahead. Its wrought-iron gates yawned open. The crackling sound of rapid gunfire came to us on the smoke-tainted breeze. My guess was that the gates had been opened up by fleeing security guards.
‘Don’t stop!’ I called out. ‘Get us in there, as close to the house as you can.’
I thought that if all kinds of mayhem were being let loose inside, our chances of a successful entry improved if we hit the place at speed and made our way as deep into the wooded land as
possible before having to leap out of the vehicle. The way Terry regarded me, he did not disagree. I thought of my ex-wife and Wendy trapped inside the property, knowing it was under attack, fearing for their lives. It ate away at my insides like acid.
The sheriff clipped the gate on the left-hand side as we hammered through the gap, breaking off his door mirror in the process. The drive had a serpentine curve to it; right, left and then a final right, taking us up to a wide turning circle with a round pond surrounded by rocks and plants at it centre. Amazingly we took no fire at all as we made it all the way up to a fleet of vehicles parked up outside the house. Flames in the distance were all but concealed by dense, black smoke. If this had been high summer then the whole lot might have already gone up by now, but the recent moisture in the air and the thin layer of snow that had passed through meant the trees were taking their time to burn, and winds were light so the fire would not spread quickly. What it had done was cause mass confusion, and that would be our ally.
The four of us exited the SUV as one, weapons drawn. Terry’s constant mantra to me in the heat of battle was to always expect the unexpected, and I was in the zone now where nothing would take me by surprise.
‘Sheriff, Agent Green, you take the front door,’ Terry commanded them, moving forward quickly. ‘Mike and I will find another way in.’
‘Crow will have his best men surrounding him,’ Crozier said. ‘What do we do when we all catch up with one another?’
‘Show them your badges. Tell them that they’re under attack and you’re there to help get them out alive.’
The sheriff nodded his approval. Heather said nothing, but she matched him pace for pace as they headed towards the semi-circle of stone steps leading up to a wooden deck and two heavy oak doors set into a porchway. I followed Terry as he hustled around the side of the house which was built right into the hillside, its front elevation much larger than the rear, where there was also a triple garage leading to a deep lawn and the woodland beyond. As we edged our way around the side of the stone and wood-clad building, Terry suddenly crouched low behind a trio of different coloured wheelie bins and raised a single clenched fist. I hunkered down behind him, peering over his shoulder.
Cold Winter Sun Page 22