Beyond Duty

by Stanalei Fletcher

  Chapter Fifteen

  Thirty minutes after Riley called in his report to Northstar, he paced beside the rental SUV in an open field, not far from the location where Chip was kidnapped. Sgt. Zoewolski and his team were mounting the surveillance equipment he’d asked for onto the UAV. Waiting for the drone to be outfitted was frustrating. Every minute in this cool air was another minute they could miss seeing any thermal residue left by those ATVs. Riley itched to be over there helping, but he knew better than to get his fingers in the middle of something he didn’t have the skills to do.

  Instead, he watched a replay of the video that had streamed live a few minutes earlier to Senator Burnsworth and General Anderson.

  The video showed both Fiona and Chip sitting in what looked to be some sort of kitchen. The women were bound and gagged. Chip had a cut on her cheek that was bleeding. Her eyes looked glazed, as though she was still recovering from the blow to her head that occurred when the kidnappers abducted her.

  The video’s chilling message was clear. His wife, along with Fiona Burnsworth, were being used as bargaining chips on the national security gaming table. Right now, he was the one person close enough to the situation to keep them from being cashed in.

  The electronic voice said, “The women are alive, for the moment. But as you can see, one of them has not been cooperative. Were you so foolish to think we wouldn’t recognize General Anderson’s daughter?” He held up Chip’s wedding ring.

  Riley’s heart pounded as he stared at the gold glinting in the camera light.

  “How accommodating of you to bring her to us.”

  The rock at the bottom of Riley’s stomach grew larger. Their cover was blown. The kidnappers knew who Chip was, and they didn’t care that they had the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the country. If Riley could scarcely contain his rage, he couldn’t imagine how General Anderson would maintain his composure. What must it feel like for a man who had armies at his command to be at the mercy of a thief who had stolen his daughter?

  “I’m sure you know what we want. We know the codes you gave us can be changed. So, to make sure there is no misunderstanding, I will explain. General Anderson must stand with Senator Burnsworth and rescind his support. If the bill passes, the general’s daughter and the senator’s wife will die.”

  Riley winced at the brutality of the statement. He vowed right then and there, those words would never come true. He’d do everything in his power to assure Chip and Fiona were safely returned to their families, or die trying.

  “C-SPAN is broadcasting the debate live. We will be watching. We know the general is scheduled to testify in favor of the bill. Instead, he will renounce his support for Senator Burnsworth’s position regarding the sale of surveillance technology to Mexico. Once we see this broadcasted, we will tell you where you can find the women.

  “Make your arguments convincing, or the blood of these women is on your hands.”

  As far as Riley was concerned, this proved the kidnappers were certifiable. They probably found some perverse pleasure leaving Chip and Fiona’s lives in the hands of politicians. If the general testified against the bill at this late hour, it would look too suspicious. Riley didn’t think for one minute the kidnappers would let the women live, even if the vote failed.

  “Remember, we will be watching.” The video screen went black.

  It took all of Riley’s will power to reset the screen back to the satellite feed when what he really wanted was to tear through New Mexico’s countryside and put his hands around the necks of the men who’d hurt Chip. She was his partner, of course, but a part of him knew she was more than that. He didn’t know exactly when his feelings had changed. He’d never denied the physical attraction, but the emotions churned up from seeing her injured made him rage with helplessness. For now, he had to keep his cool and remain objective. It wouldn’t help anyone if he took off too blinded by anger to execute a rescue plan.

  His phone rang, and Riley checked the caller ID before putting it to his ear. “I just saw the video.” He couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice.

  “Then you know what we’re up against.” The director’s anger sounded just as hot. “Let’s find those women.”

  “Working on it.” Riley glanced at his watch. “How long before the vote?”

  “Burnsworth has asked to delay the session until late tomorrow, but the debate will start in about three hours. Now that we know the kidnappers are watching, we can’t cancel it, or they’ll make good on their threat. Even though the vote isn’t until tomorrow, this debate is critical to sway votes.”

  “Three hours,” Riley repeated. “Less than half that time before the malware is triggered.” The need to save the women seeped under his skin and burned with a fury. “Let me know when we have a go from the general.”

  Riley hung up after his father’s quick good luck wishes. He rounded the front of the car and set the tablet on the seat. As much as he tried to focus on the tasks ahead, his mind churned with all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

  He had a hard time believing it was coincidence that Chip had been kidnapped during the exchange. He wondered if the kidnappers had been two steps ahead of them all along. None of that mattered anymore. Chip’s and Fiona’s lives depended on the action he was about to take. He had to get Chip back. And not only for the general’s sake.

  He checked his watch and scanned the night sky. The clouds had completely dispersed, leaving a clear and cool night. Off to his left, Sgt. Zoewolski and his men were still working on the UAV. Riley was damn glad to have that group of soldiers on his side. They may not have been able to prevent Chip’s kidnapping, but they were here now, and ready to do whatever was necessary to get her back.

  A tone sounded on his tablet and he picked it up to see a text from Allison that the satellite connection was live.

  “Sergeant,” he called.

  Sgt. Zoewolski looked up and Riley waved him over. “I have the uplink to the satellite images.”

  Zoewolski said something to the corporal next to him and then jogged over. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

  Riley keyed in his user ID and password to access Northstar’s secure Intranet site. An alert popped up as he logged in, letting him know the feed was ready. He tapped the link connecting him to the satellite reconnaissance. He would have to settle for a standard live feed display as he didn’t have the authority to manipulate the uplink and redirect the satellite wherever he wanted.

  The live feed would be helpful once they’d pinpointed the location where Chip and Fiona were being held. Right now, he accessed a recorded data timeline, which allowed him to review photographs taken over the past twelve hours by the orbiting satellite. He knew the images would be of this specific area in New Mexico—that order came from the general—Riley hoped the data would give them the details they needed.

  A blip sounded, and pictures of the resort and surrounding area appeared on the screen. Riley zoomed in and fast-forwarded through the files to the approximate timeline when he and Chip watched Lorraine’s rescue from this morning. Carefully working the zoom, he narrowed the view to the surrounding area. Amazingly, he was able to see images of the troops as they moved through the open areas between the buildings.

  “There.” Riley pointed to a grouping of trees behind the building. “That’s where you guys came in.” Riley checked the timeline and then his watch. “I want to fast-forward to the last hour.”

  “Fine by me.” Zoewolski looked at his watch and then at the sky. “I want to get this bird in the air before the night turns too cold and we lose that residual heat.”

  “I was hoping the equipment would be sensitive enough to pick up any heat signature.”

  “It is.” The sergeant grinned like a kid who knew what he was getting for Christmas. “But there are a lot of critters wandering the night, too. Once we get a direction to search, it’ll make weeding out the non-relevant signatures easier.”

  “Let’s hope i
t works as advertised.” Riley returned to the display on the tablet and fast-forwarded to the last hour. That would be the starting point for the search.

  There!

  He spotted their SUV as it traversed the highway toward the first meeting location. He zoomed in and cleared up the resolution to see the Valle Caldera National Preserve. Then he zoomed out and fast forwarded another twenty minutes and gauged the location of the second meet. The timeline on the photo read 17:40—five-forty p.m.

  He rolled his shoulders to release the building tension. He knew what he should see, but wasn’t sure if he was ready to relive that awful moment when he lost Chip. Only a few minutes had passed since the kidnappers sent the video. Knowing that he should have prevented Chip’s abduction ate at him like no other failure he’d experienced.

  Riley tried to keep his mind on the things he could do to get Chip back, but a sense of impotence threatened to overwhelm him as time raced on. He had to remain focused and find clues that would bring his partner home. He had to move beyond the ache in his arms where he longed to hold her and convince himself that she would come out of this alive.

  The chat program on the tablet pinged. Two messages from Northstar popped on the screen at the same time. The first message was from Allison, and had two attachments. When Riley clicked on the first attachment, he saw a list of names. All were from a cartel called the El Rey del Sur, King of the South. Riley snorted. That was certainly pretentious.

  Three names had asterisks denoting people who’d been in contact with Dean Weston over the last six months. Finally! A substantial link between Weston and a drug cartel. It appeared they were on the right track, after all.

  The second attachment was a graphic showing cell towers that pinged on the latest video. The closest cell tower was just fifty miles from their present location. Hope bloomed in Riley’s chest. Chip was closer than he’d first thought.

  The next message was from his father. It confirmed General Anderson was standing by to review the plan. Byron also hoped to have confirmation that they were indeed dealing with the El Rey del Sur cartel. The message closed by asking if Riley had found anything on the satellite photos.

  “Damn!” Sgt. Zoewolski said over Riley’s shoulder as he read the missives. “I don’t know who you work for, man, but you guys have some unbelievable intel.” He looked at Riley. “You trust this stuff?”

  “With my life,” Riley replied. “More importantly, the lives of Lieutenant Anderson and Fiona Burnsworth.” He typed that he’d found a starting timeline, and had identified the GPS location of the last meet. At the end of his message, he added: I believe someone knew how to get to us. The abduction was too well executed. I’m worried about a leak. Then he hit SEND.

  “Seriously?” Sgt. Zoewolski stared at him. “You believe someone is setting us up?”

  “It’s a gut feeling.” Riley gave the sergeant a grim smile. “I hope I’m wrong.” He returned to the satellite photos and forwarded until he spotted the rental car. Then he saw the pictures with the spotlight shining out of the brush. He moved through the timeline to when Chip was struck unconscious and taken, hesitating on that image only a moment before forcing himself to search for the ATVs. Fast-forwarding in ninety-second increments, he got a good feel for the direction the ATVs headed and passed the coordinates to Zoewolski. At the same time, a shout from one of the troops alerted them that the drone was ready. He glanced at his watch. Seven p.m. About. Damn. Time.

  His cell phone rang. Even though he was expecting the call, he jumped as the sound shattered his concentration. He didn’t let the phone ring a second time.

  “How could you let this happen?” The general’s shouts echoed through the phone. “You were there to protect her!” The man was understandably distraught.

  Riley accepted the blame. How could he justify his actions to anyone else when he couldn’t justify them to himself? He offered the only response he could. “General Anderson, I will find your daughter. I will bring her back if it’s the last thing I do. After that, I will hunt down whoever is responsible for this. You have my word.”

  There was a long pause, then, “Thank you, son.” Something in Riley’s promise must have consoled the general. He seemed to have calmed down.

  “Don’t thank me yet. There’s still work to do. But I will find Chip and the senator’s wife.”

  There was another long pause before the General spoke again. “Your father assures me you are most capable. I’ve seen your situational assessment. It looks risky, but I think it’s a good one. The troops there are more than capable of executing the plan. You know you don’t have to personally engage this enemy.”

  Earlier, his father had tried to persuade Riley to let the troops go after Chip and the senator’s wife while he stayed back. He refused. Chip was his responsibility. He wasn’t going to trust her safety to anyone else. “I understand that I’m a civilian, but I’ve trained for this type of exfiltration. I promise not to get in the way of the troops, but I am going in, sir.”

  “Very well.”

  Riley was glad he didn’t have to further argue his case. Even though he was a civilian, he didn’t want to piss off a two-star general by disobeying a direct order. “Have you confirmed that the search-and-destroy task force will hold off until we have a rescue?” Whether they would or not, Riley was still going in.

  “They will hold off until after the debate,” the General confirmed. “And Riley, there’s one more thing you should know.”

  “What’s that, sir?”

  There was a brief silence that made Riley’s blood run cold.

  “The vote will pass. No one is making any concessions.” General Anderson spoke with the conviction of a man who had been forced to make hard decisions. This time the sacrifice was personal. Riley didn’t reply immediately. He’d just been told that if the rescue was unsuccessful, in all probability, Chip and Fiona would die.

  “I understand, sir. I—we—won’t fail.”

  ****

  Sometimes it was good to have a powerful man on your side, Riley thought as he climbed inside the Humvee with the squad. General Anderson was that sort of man. The transport vehicle was large enough to carry the squad of six, plus Riley. And it would be their transport to safety once they secured Chip and Fiona.

  As they took a southeast heading along a dirt road, Riley set his phone on silent mode and slid it into his jacket’s side pocket. He didn’t want to be reconnoitering and have it go off, alerting the kidnappers to their presence. Next, he took the night vision headgear and followed the sergeant’s instructions on how to use the equipment.

  Up front, screens displayed the drone’s video feed and would show any thermal activity on the ground. After making sure he had a good view of the screens, Riley returned his attention to the topo-map on his tablet. According to the coordinates, the drone should be right above the location where the ATVs disappeared. He passed the map over to the man piloting the drone, pointed to the location, and then made a motion for him to circle the area first to see if they picked up any thermal signatures.

  After establishing the search grid, all he could do was sit back and let the experts do their job. It felt like a lifetime ago that he and Chip had started this investigation to find the kidnappers. Now he was in a race for her life.

  He carried a backpack supplied with water, a flashlight, two extra jackets for the women because the night had turned cool, and his Glock. He’d already smeared his face with black greasepaint to dull the gleam of his flesh. To complete his concealing outfit, he was dressed in a black pullover and black cargo utility pants.

  Looking over the horizon, he spied the nearly full moon cresting over the canyon ridge. A light breeze from the open windows captured the smells of autumn. It was a perfect night for a stroll under the stars. An unexpected desire to have Chip by his side welled up inside him. The pain of her absence shot through him like a bullet, and his mood became as black as the shadows outside the Humvee. Someone would pay dearly for ta
king her away from him.

  Riley glanced out the window. Through the night-vision goggles, he saw a dirt service road veer off from the main pavement. The trees were thick through here, and branches stretched across the road effectively blocking his view.

  He recalled the road from his study of the map. It disappeared into the terrain. But that didn’t mean it was totally impassable. The ATVs could have used it. There were other roads farther down on the map, but this one was in that fifty-mile radius from where the video call pinged. It felt right. He hoped for Chip’s sake his hunch was correct.

  He was glad he’d thought of using thermal imaging to pick up the heat signatures from the ATVs. At least part of his tactical training was working for him. Had he been firing on all cylinders, Chip wouldn’t have been kidnapped.

  Riley mentally kicked himself. He couldn’t continue to brood over the mistakes he’d made on this assignment, or he’d get everyone killed. He’d watched that happen with Caitlin Malone, one of Northstar’s rookie agents who had made a serious miscalculation on an assignment with Sloan Cartland. It wasn’t pretty when his best friend, Sloan, ended up in a sling. If even a hair on Chip’s head was harmed because of one of Riley’s mistakes, he’d never forgive himself.

  As the UAV traversed over another hillside, Riley spotted a dull glow on the screen. Anticipation increased his heart rate. He pointed at the location. Sgt. Zoewolski nodded and instructed the pilot to get as close as possible without alerting the occupants of the buildings on the ground. Even though the drone was equipped for quiet running, a clear cold night would carry sound easily.

  Surprise was the squad’s primary advantage for apprehending the kidnappers and rescuing Chip and Fiona alive. But their first priority would be to confirm they had the right place. Civilians frowned on their homes being assailed by strangers.

  As the UAV hovered over the glowing objects, Riley realized if he’d been looking for this place in the daylight, he would’ve been almost on top of it before seeing it. The building was well concealed deep inside a ravine and surrounded by thick brush. A faint light from the windows had made it visible without thermal or night vision. The UAV made a high circle. Then the pilot tapped Riley on the shoulder.