Cally’s stomach tightened. “What is it? Tell me there hasn’t been another attack?”
Aaron frowned and stood, pulling his jacket back on. “Worse. There’s been three.”
* * *
Town citizens had made three phone calls to 911 in a matter of minutes, according to Leo. Leo was on his way to the call nearest to him, a report of a home invasion. Hatch was on his way to help with the second call, which had come from a citizen who’d foolishly taken his snowmobile out for a drive during the terrible conditions and was apparently trapped underneath a fence with a possible head and leg injury. The third call—about another possible break-in—had come from the church across the road. Power was out across the entire town. According to Leo, the woman on the other end of the phone had sounded terrified and claimed to be hiding in a storage room while she called.
Aaron hesitated to leave the police station unattended, but at the same time, there were people who needed help—and at least one individual was on the loose in town with a weapon that they weren’t hesitant to use.
“I have to respond to a call,” Aaron said, pulling on his gloves and heavy boots again. He shoved aside the wave of exhaustion and prayed that he’d be able to respond effectively to the 911 caller’s needs despite his lack of sleep. “It’s an emergency, and Leo and Hatch are already responding to emergencies elsewhere. It’s a fine time for so many calls to come in, but I guess today is handing over its fair share of inconveniences.”
Cally nodded and started to gather up her things. “Should I stay here? That’s probably safest, right?”
Normally, he might agree with her, but these weren’t normal circumstances. With the power out and the station operating on an emergency backup generator, station security was compromised. Leaving Cally in an area where he wasn’t 100 percent sure of the security was not a mistake he was willing to make again. After all, the spa was supposed to be secured, and yet an intruder had managed to get inside. And even with all the doors locked at the grocery store, the attacker had forced his way inside by shooting the glass.
Not to mention that as a foreign citizen, there could be certain legalities involved in leaving Cally alone and unattended in what was technically a government building. “I know this is normally the most secure place in town, but with the system mostly down, I’m not comfortable leaving you here alone. There are potential legal issues, too, so we need another option.”
“Isn’t there another place you can stash me in here that’s specially locked? It wouldn’t be for a long time, right?”
He sighed, liking this less and less. He needed to make a fast decision and get over to the church to respond to the emergency call. “It shouldn’t be, but the town is still dealing with the fallout of the storm, and there’s always a possibility that either myself or the other officers will get held up. Honestly, I think the safest place for you is in a patrol car. The glass is bulletproof and—”
Cally gathered up her bag and began slipping on her coat and boots. “You’ve got an emergency to respond to and I’m holding you up. You can bring me right back here after it’s all done, but in the meantime you’ll know exactly where I am and can keep an eye on me. I get it. Plus, bulletproof glass is more protection than we’ve had anywhere else so far.”
Within three minutes, they were back in the patrol car. Neither leaving Cally in the empty RCMP station nor bringing her along on a call seemed right, but he figured these were exceptional circumstances, and he could only do so much while Fort Mason was short-staffed. But as Aaron pressed the keypad to lock the police station, the emergency lights inside the building flickered and died, plunging the area into murky gray twilight. Daylight was already fading outside, and it wouldn’t be long before they had to sit inside the station in the dark with plummeting temperatures outside and inside.
Aaron sighed. “Guess bringing you along is the right call after all. I’m thinking snow must have accumulated on a transformer. If it’s not fixed when we get back, I can take a look and see if it’s something we can repair ourselves—or at least find a way to get the generator back up and running again.”
Within minutes, Aaron had pulled up in front of the church. The lights along the front were out, giving the building a foreboding appearance as twilight deepened. With only six hours of full daylight at this time of year, night came quickly and made everything look dark and mysterious. He started to open his door, then glanced back at Cally.
“Stay in here, okay? You’re safest inside this car, and I’ll be just inside the church. If for any reason you need help, use this radio right here. I’ve set it to the same frequency as my radio, so call me first before reacting. If I don’t respond immediately, it might mean there’s something happening inside. Keep trying.”
Cally nodded, her eyes wide. “Be safe.”
His return smile was tight, and he was hit with a wave of nausea as he exited the car and stepped with caution up the front stairs. Leaving her behind was the last thing he wanted to do, but it really was the safest choice.
He knocked on the church door and announced himself, but when no one answered, he pressed on the front door. It swung open into a darkened foyer. He pulled out his flashlight and held it out, searching for the light switch. It wasn’t hard to find, but the power was out in the church, too. He swung the flashlight back and forth instead, seeing nothing but an empty entrance space.
The sanctuary looked just as abandoned, but he wasn’t all that surprised—especially if the person who’d called was hiding in a storage room, thinking someone was still skulking around the church.
“Hello? Anyone here? I’m RCMP Officer Aaron Thrace.” He called into each room as he passed, his anxiety growing with every moment. All the rooms he encountered were dark, and no one responded to his calls. After several minutes, he’d checked every room he could think of and found no one. There wasn’t even an open door anywhere, aside from the front door that had been open when he arrived. He’d descended into the basement to check the rooms downstairs when his walkie-talkie buzzed.
He picked it up, hoping for good news. “Aaron here.”
“Hey, it’s Leo. Are you at the 911 call at the church?”
“Yeah.” The space upstairs was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and nothing in the sanctuary had appeared to be missing. None of the offices had looked broken into, and there wasn’t any sign of life down in the basement, either. Maybe someone had been hungry and stolen from the food bank donation boxes? In which case, he couldn’t blame them for coming inside. He’d rather someone steal food from a donation bin than go hungry. “I haven’t found anyone yet, not even the caller. I don’t know if she left before I got here or if I’ve missed a room. It took about seven minutes to get over after you called.”
“Well, that settles it.” Leo sighed. “Something isn’t right about this. When Hatch got to the supposed scene of the snowmobile incident, no one was there. He’s double-checking the location in case he got it wrong, but I’m starting to wonder. The call at Mrs. Henderson’s was a dud—I found no evidence of a break-in and she didn’t remember making the call. Mind you, she doesn’t remember a lot these days, but—”
A chill washed over Aaron’s body. “Are you telling me that all three of us haven’t found evidence for the 911 calls we received? They’ve all turned out to be nothing so far?”
“Yeah, I am. They can’t all be fake, though. I mean—”
Fake phone calls meant occupying all of the RCMP officers in the town, isolating the one person who was actually a target.
And they’d played right into it.
NINE
Cally hunkered down inside the patrol car, wishing she’d brought a book to keep herself distracted from her own thoughts. She had a few digital magazines on her phone, but they weren’t holding her interest. She alternated between reading and watching the snow outside, which fell so lightly now that it almost looked
pretty—though she figured she’d be better able to appreciate its beauty if she’d hadn’t spent a good chunk of the day trekking through knee-high snowdrifts. As much as she enjoyed the winter aesthetic, she’d had about enough of snow for a little while.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the seat. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was better than sitting in a pitch-black police station and slowly turning into an icicle. Aaron had left the patrol car running so she could stay warm—and she was getting warmer by the moment. She placed her phone on the seat next to her and began to unwind her scarf, sliding off several layers of now-stifling winter gear. As a mountain of fabric accumulated on the passenger seat, she accidentally knocked her phone onto the floor. With a huff of frustration, she leaned down to grab it. Her eyes naturally drifted out the window as she sat upright.
She slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream. A white-clad figure stood less than a block away, looking as though he was trying to blend into the snow-covered exterior of a brick building. Although the snow wasn’t falling nearly as heavily as it had been before—so the person couldn’t hide in the reduced visibility—the haze of twilight made it easier for the person to slip in and around the lengthening shadows.
She yanked her eyes away from the window. She needed to call Aaron and let him know. Her immediate instinct was to get out and run as far away as possible, but Aaron had made a strong point about the patrol car being the safest place for her. It had bulletproof windows, and she’d locked it from the inside. No one could get in unless they had the key, and no one shooting at her would hit her inside, either. She didn’t actually know how many shots bulletproof glass could take before it cracked, but if someone started shooting, she had a pretty strong hunch that either Aaron or one of the other RCMP officers would hear it and come running before that happened.
Cally unlocked her phone and fumbled to hit the correct icons to call Aaron, but her fingerprints weren’t registering on the device. She wiped her hand on her pants and tried again. He’d told her to use the radio, but she’d have to sit up to do that, putting her in full view through the window.
Her heart thudded in her chest and she sank down in the seat, trying to make herself as small as possible. She glanced out the car window at the place she’d last noticed the white-clad figure. The person was no longer there, and for some reason, that made her even more nervous. She took a deep breath as her call connected. Aaron answered on the first ring, but the crackle of static filled the receiver.
“Cally? What’s going on?” His voice sounded distant and kept cutting out. “Why aren’t you using the radio?”
“Hello? Aaron? Can you hear me?”
“Cally? I’m in the basement of the church. Is everything all right?”
“I’m not sure. I might have seen the attacker from the grocery store again. My eyes might be playing tricks on me, but someone was down the street, wearing white. I tried to keep an eye on the figure but the person disappeared. I don’t know if they went inside the church, or if they’ve gone, or—”
A shadow crossed in front of the passenger-side window and she screamed.
“Cally? Cally! What’s happening!” Aaron shouted through the phone.
Cally slipped between the seats, lowering herself onto the floor between the rear passenger seats and the back of the driver’s seat. She stared at the window, her entire body beginning to shake—and then the shadow became the torso of a person dressed in white as the visitor walked around the vehicle. The driver’s-side handle rattled as the intruder attempted to open it. The person tried both rear doors. Then the front passenger door. Cally kept one hand pressed against her mouth and brought the phone back up to her ear.
“He’s here,” she whispered. “Circling the car.”
“I’m on my way,” Aaron snapped. “Don’t move.”
She didn’t plan on it. But as the person circled the car again, as if trying to figure out how to get inside, Cally’s fear shifted into something else. Anger. Frustration. Why were they bothering her? It made no sense.
In defiance, she held up the phone. “Police are almost here,” she said, uncertain whether the individual would be able to hear her or not. “You’re not going to get away with this much longer.”
She wasn’t sure if the person had heard her through the thick glass, but her visitor circled the car to stand at the opposite side from where she’d crouched between the seats—and then raised a gloved hand to point directly at her. A second gesture was a slice across the person’s throat, then a hand pointing at Cally again. In that moment, she was struck by a horrifying revelation.
This person wants me dead, and won’t stop until the deed is done.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” she cried. “I’ve done nothing. I’m worth nothing. Leave me alone!”
The person’s hand tightened into a fist and, in a futile gesture of frustration, punched the window. The slam resounded with a painful-sounding thunk, and the white-suited figure backed up, shaking their hand. Cally felt a momentary surge of triumph that was almost immediately quashed when the person drew a gun out of their pocket and, without a second’s hesitation, fired three rounds into the window.
Cally squeezed her arms against her chest and made herself as small as possible. The screams she heard were her own, but she couldn’t stop them—and then the world fell silent, save for the echo of the bangs in her ears. She’d shut her eyes tight, unable to look, fearful that she’d glance up and see holes in the window or a cracked pane ready to cave in.
Please, God, protect me. Keep me safe, keep Aaron safe. Help us through this.
The instant she lifted up the prayer, she felt guilty. She hadn’t talked to God for how long, and now here she was using Him for help? That didn’t seem right.
I shouldn’t talk to Him at all, she thought. What’s He going to do for me anyway?
Footsteps crunched near the car, and a thud against the side door made her shriek in fright again. But when she opened her eyes, Aaron had unlocked the car. He slid into the back seat and closed the door. He immediately gripped her under the arms and pulled her up onto the seat proper. His voice was muffled in her ringing ears.
“Cally. Hey! Are you all right?”
His stare was intense and the most serious she’d ever seen on him. She opened her mouth to respond and found that nothing came out—and then she realized that her hands were shaking so hard that she could no longer control her movements. No, not just her hands. Her entire body was shaking, and she couldn’t stop it.
“I...the gun...we...”
“Gone. The immediate danger is gone. You’re safe.” Aaron pulled her into a hug. He squeezed her tightly, and although she knew she was still trembling in his arms, there was a deep sense of comfort in the gesture of human contact. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been hugged like this, securely and sincerely. The utter terror she’d felt when the gun had been pointed at her began to abate.
She didn’t know how long they stayed that way, but eventually Aaron released her and she sat with her head leaning against the seat, breath still coming in shallow gasps—but she no longer shook uncontrollably.
“I threatened that the police were on the way. The person got angry and shot at the window and then must have run off so as to not get caught. I’m so sorry. I should have stayed quiet. It’s my fault you weren’t able to catch the attacker by surprise. I know you said the glass is bulletproof,” she said, talking as much to herself as to him, “but the person was right in front of me, and when that gun came out, all I could think was—”
The recollection made her shake again. Aaron pulled her toward him a second time and, most inexplicably, kissed her forehead. She reeled back in shock. His lips parted in surprise, as if he hadn’t realized what he was doing.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, the words fast and clipped. “I wasn’t thinking. You’re n
ot a child. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s okay,” she said. Truthfully, she wasn’t upset—just startled at his outward show of affection.
“Look,” he continued without meeting her eyes, “we’re going to make our way back to the police station and get the generator back up and running until the main power comes on again. The 911 calls were all fake. A tech team in Fort St. Jacob is going to work on figuring out where they originated from, but it seems as though someone was actively trying to isolate you from law enforcement. I don’t know if they intended to break into the police station or what, but this person or people are desperate to get to you.”
Cally squeezed her hands into tight fists, nails digging into the flesh of her palms. “Why me? What is the point to all this? Shooting at a police car, no less! Do they not value their own life at all? Why risk you coming out to stop them?”
Aaron didn’t respond and she groaned.
“I wish there was some way to communicate. Some way to let them know I’m not worth whatever they think I am. I don’t want to go through this anymore, and to be quite honest, I was personally fine until this moment, but now...I don’t know why I bothered coming to Canada. I wish I’d never gotten on that plane at all. I wish I’d stayed in Amar.”
* * *
Aaron’s heart broke in two at Cally’s admission. He listened in silence while she recounted the entirety of what had just happened as she sat in the car. Of course she was questioning why she’d come to Fort Mason—everything had gone completely wrong since the moment she stepped off the plane at the Rocky North Regional Airport. If only he’d been able to get out of the church faster, he might have been able to stop the attacker, but by the time he’d bounded up the steps from the basement, navigated through the darkened building and made it outside again, the person was gone. He might have taken off in pursuit—there were several sets of footprints around, and a few moments of deduction might have told him which ones to follow—but one look into the back of the patrol car at Cally told him that she needed him the most.
Christmas Under Fire Page 9