But Not Forsaken: A Clint Wolf Novel (Clint Wolf Mystery Series Book 3)

by BJ Bourg

  “What the hell are you doing?” Amy asked out loud.

  From her open window, Amy could hear the driver rev the engine. She glanced around to see if there were any other cars or people in the area. Nothing. Can they see me? Are they trying to get my attention?

  After a few seconds, the car began moving slowly forward and then turned in Amy’s direction, blinding her with its headlights. She tensed up, wondering if she should get out of her spot. Before she could make up her mind, the engine on the car roared and it lurched forward, heading straight for her.

  Amy jerked her pistol from the holster on her gun belt and aimed it through the front windshield. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, the car came to a skidding stop in the gravel several feet in front of Amy’s cruiser and sat there, the driver massaging the accelerator as though taunting her.

  Amy’s heart pounded in her chest. Keeping her pistol leveled at the car, she reached down with her left hand and flipped on her own headlights. Still unable to see the occupants, she switched on her bright lights, but it was no use. Their elevated position gave them the advantage. Not only was she trapped in her spot, but she was blind. Fear wrapped its icy fingers around her heart and squeezed until she felt she couldn’t breathe.

  The Crown Victoria shook violently and a plume of smoke spilled from the exhaust as the driver smashed the accelerator and held it down. Her hand shaking, Amy keyed up her police radio, yelling to be heard over the roaring engine, “Melvin, where are you? I need backup near the bridge on Main!”

  The noise suddenly stopped as the driver released the accelerator and a deathly calm fell over the scene. Amy sat breathless, waiting, wondering what would happen next. She leaned toward her left and kept her pistol trained on the car. There were no sounds other than the steady humming of both car engines.

  “Amy, what’s going on?”

  Amy jumped in her skin when Melvin’s voice blared through the speaker, and the barrel of her pistol smashed into the windshield. “Shit!” Frazzled, she snatched up her mic. “A suspicious vehicle has me boxed in near the bridge. I need backup ASAP.”

  “Do you have a description?”

  Amy opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when the headlights on the Crown Vic went dark. She blinked to get back some of her night vision and squinted to see inside the vehicle. She was able to make out two shadowy figures in the front seat, but couldn’t tell anything more.

  “Amy, what do they look like?” Melvin asked, his voice laced with concern. She could hear his siren blaring in the background and she knew he would be there soon.

  “Stand-by,” she said, leaning forward to try and get a better view of the two passengers. It was no use—her headlights were at the wrong angle and it was too dark. Taking a deep breath, she eased her car door open and placed one foot on the ground. There was no movement from the car, so she stepped out, keeping her pistol pointed forward. As she stood there wondering if she should step out from behind the protection of the car door, the interior lights on the Crown Victoria came on and she gasped when she realized both figures were wearing dark ski masks. The driver smiled when he recognized the look of fear on her face and, even from that distance, she could see he was missing his front left tooth.

  CHAPTER 9

  Mountain Bear Inn, Ridgeview, TN

  It was almost one in the morning when I turned into the parking lot of one of the few hotels in Ridgeview. I stepped out of my Tahoe and stretched, happy to stand up after driving for ten hours. After bringing Susan home earlier and getting Damian’s address from Amy, I’d stopped at my house to feed Achilles and pack some things for the trip. Chloe hadn’t been home, but I’d called to let her know where I was going and asked her to look after my dog. She sounded upset on the other end.

  “You mean I won’t even get to see you before you leave?” she had asked.

  “Time is my enemy,” I’d explained. “I need to know why Bill hates Isaiah and I have to find out like yesterday.”

  After complaining a little about the short notice, she had finally offered to get more involved—to do some digging around town—but I told her I was sure Conner held the key to everything and I needed to speak with him in a hurry. She said her intern hadn’t turned up anything of substance, but she was still searching old film. We said our goodbyes and I’d headed out of town. Mayor Dexter Boudreaux had sanctioned the trip without hesitation. He agreed it was our only lead and our best chance of freeing Susan. Right at that moment—700 miles from home and breathing in the cool mountain air—I wasn’t so sure and I was hoping I hadn’t steered my boss wrong.

  The blinking sign in front of the hotel said there were vacancies, but when I looked through the window I couldn’t see anyone behind the counter. I shrugged and tested the door, expecting it to be locked. It wasn’t, so I pushed through and found myself in a clean lobby that smelled of disinfectant and air freshener.

  Before I could close the door, I heard shuffling feet and a middle-aged man appeared from the darkness behind the counter. He was shoving eye glasses in place over a crooked nose and it appeared I had disturbed his sleep. “How can I help you?” he asked.

  I told him I needed a room for the night and I didn’t care what kind. Without saying much, he pulled out a ledger and started setting me up. He charged me eighty bucks and handed me a key. “It’s around the side, near the ice machine.”

  I thanked him and found the room with no problem. After unloading my stuff, I kicked off my boots and pulled a bottle of vodka from my bag before settling on the bed. I stared at the bottle for a long moment before twisting off the top. Losing Abigail and Michele had changed my life forever. It seemed as though I was stuck in a perpetual nightmare. No amount of time or distance could ease the pain I felt and I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing Abigail’s lifeless face. I would often wish for a day when I didn’t need the booze to sleep, but it had become such a part of my life now that I didn’t think I could go on without it—even if I could sleep without having the nightmares.

  I removed the cap and took a long drink, sighing as the warm liquid moved down my throat and burned my chest. My phone rang and I fished it from my pocket. I put it to my ear and said hi to Chloe without looking at the display screen.

  “Did you make it?” she asked.

  I told her I was there and gave her the name of the hotel I checked into. “It’s not bad for a small town,” I said. “They actually have electricity and running water.”

  Chloe laughed and we made small talk while I pulled from my bottle. My eyes were starting to get heavy and I told her I needed to get some sleep. She didn’t answer immediately and I asked if everything was okay.

  “I’m…it’s just that I’m a little worried,” she said.

  I frowned. “About what?”

  “You.”

  When I asked why, she told me she was afraid the Parker brothers would be coming after me. “You did kill their brother and I heard they sent a message through a stranger saying they were coming for you—and now they’re out.”

  “Who told you about that?”

  “I have my sources.”

  While she did have sources for work, I was surprised she’d found out about the threat. I had intentionally withheld that bit of information from her because I knew it would only make her worry, and I didn’t need her worrying about me more than she already did. “Well, you don’t need to worry about me—you should be worried about them. God help them if they make the mistake of coming into Mechant Loup.”

  Chloe didn’t say anything and things got quiet for several moments. I’d finished the bottle and it was dangling from my hand. My eyes were growing heavy and they started to slide shut when her voice cut through the dullness. “Well, I guess I’d better let you get some sleep. I love you, Clint.”

  “I love you, too, Chloe,” I mumbled. She hung up and I turned my phone on silent before letting it fall to the floor.

  CHAPTER 10

  Mechant Loup, LA

  Am
y immediately retreated toward the back of her cruiser, but the subjects in the Crown Vic didn’t move. She dropped low and made her way to the passenger’s side of her squad car, stopping near the back bumper to peek over her car, ready to shoot it out with the two strangers if necessary. Off in the distance, she could hear sirens and she knew Melvin was closing in on her location.

  As Amy watched, she saw the driver turn toward the man beside him. She couldn’t tell if he said anything because the mask was covering his mouth, but the man nodded and pointed over his shoulder. Suddenly, the headlights on the Crown Victoria came on again—blinding Amy—and the engine roared to life as the car shot in reverse. She hurried to the driver’s side of her car just in time to see the vehicle whip around and speed off on Main Street, disappearing around a curve in the road.

  Amy punched the shift in gear and smashed the accelerator. Her tires spun on the loose terrain and gravel popped against the undercarriage as the Charger strained to give chase. When her rear tires hit the pavement, they screeched loudly and she shot forward with such force that her head hit the seat rest behind her. Within seconds she was closing in on the suspect’s vehicle. Her lights flashed brightly and her siren blared, but they had no effect on the suspects. Snatching up her police radio, she keyed it up to tell Melvin she was in hot pursuit, giving him her direction of travel. Melvin asked her to repeat her traffic several times and she tried, but he didn’t seem to understand what she was saying over the siren and wind gushing in through her open window.

  Amy could no longer hear Melvin’s siren above her own. She glanced down several streets as she drove—hoping to see his flashing lights—but it was no use. He was nowhere to be seen. She dropped her radio to reach for the window button, but the suspect vehicle suddenly swerved around a slow-moving car and she yelped, clutching the steering wheel with both hands. The suspects had sped up and were now traveling over a hundred miles per hour—too fast to be distracted. She was thankful the chase was not occurring during school traffic, but Main Street was no place for a police chase at any hour, and she was one wrong move away from certain death.

  Within a minute, Mechant Hotel and Mechant Groceries blurred by and they left the lights of town in their rearview mirror. Amy’s heart pounded in her chest. Where were they leading her? What were their intentions? Should she back off and wait for Melvin? At that very moment, all he knew was that she was in pursuit in the area of the bridge and he didn’t know her direction of travel. For all he knew, they could be heading north.

  Just as she decided to slow down and call in her location over the police radio, she saw headlights in her rearview mirror. Relief flooded over her as she realized Melvin had caught up to her. The odds were even now! She was about to accelerate again, but the brake lights on the Crown Victoria lit up the road in front of her and the car slowed abruptly. She applied her brakes and matched the car’s speed, which was now moving about twenty miles per hour. Melvin was still approaching at a high rate of speed and she thought about radioing for him to slow down, but she caught her breath when she realized something was missing—blue police lights!

  Amy’s reaction time was superb, but it was not fast enough to move completely out of danger. She had jerked her steering wheel to the right, shooting to the shoulder of the highway, but the speeding car crashed violently into her rear bumper and spun her Charger around in the roadway. Her head jerked from side to side as the car spun out of control and airbags exploded. The seatbelt locked her into the driver’s seat, but she lost her grip on the steering wheel when the Charger came to an abrupt halt after hitting a tree on the southbound shoulder of the road. Dazed and confused, she choked on the powder from the airbags and strained to see through the smoke.

  The lights on her cruiser were no longer flashing, but her siren still wailed. The noise pierced her eardrums, but she didn’t have time to turn it off—she had to get out of there and find out who hit her and why. With hands that shook, she released the lock on her seatbelt and grabbed for the door handle. She tugged on it, but nothing happened. Grabbing the top of the door frame, she pulled herself up from her seat and started to squeeze out of the window. Before she could get outside, rough hands grabbed her by the arms and hair and ripped her from the opening. She heard several gunshots and her siren faded to a low murmur.

  “What the hell are y’all doing?” she hollered, kicking out with both legs. It was dark and things were happening too fast for her to see what was going on, but she knew there were at least two people grabbing on her—and they were large and strong. Without warning, they flung her violently to the blacktop. She landed on her back and her head smacked the hard surface with a thump. Dazed and in pain, instinct kicked in and she tried to take in as much of her surroundings as possible. In the pale light from the moon and stars she saw two figures standing over her. Based on their shapes and the grunting sounds they made, she figured they were men.

  They’d already crashed into her with a vehicle and they hadn’t apologized yet, so she knew she was in trouble. She didn’t know what they had planned for her, but she knew she couldn’t wait to find out. Taking a deep and silent breath, she reached for her pistol with her right hand, moving as fast as she could. Just as her fingers wrapped around the grip, the first man lunged forward and planted a heavy boot on her wrist. She cried out in pain and twisted to her right, grabbing at the boot with her left hand in an attempt to free her wrist. The harder she tried to push the leg off, the harder the man scrunched his boot on her wrist. She felt a burning sensation as the rough blacktop ripped at her flesh. “Get off of me, you prick!” she said, punching at the leg in the boot. It felt like a tree trunk and hurt her knuckles, but she punched at it again.

  Both men laughed and the second man leaned over her and jerked her head back by the hair. “You’re a feisty little bitch, ain’t you?” He laughed in her face and she gagged when she caught a whiff of his breath.

  “Get your filthy hands off of me,” she ordered, trying to see his eyes in the dark. She thought she might be able to shove a thumb through one of the eyeholes in the mask, but it was too risky. She was in a vulnerable position and didn’t want to do anything that would provoke them into hurting her more than they had already. Melvin would be there soon, so all she had to do was remain healthy enough to stay in the fight once he arrived. Ignoring the pain in her wrist, she asked, “Who are you? What do you want with me?”

  “Oh, we don’t want you,” Rancid Breath said. “We want Clint Wolf.”

  The blood in Amy’s veins turned to ice as realization kicked her in the gut. These were the men who killed Clint’s wife and daughter—they were the Parker brothers! Clint had warned them the Parker brothers might come looking for him, and he made it clear their fight was with him. He didn’t want any of his officers getting caught up in his mess and he had ordered them to steer clear of the Parker brothers if they showed up in town. Although she was scared and her future was uncertain, Amy smiled in the darkness. I guess I don’t listen very well, do I?

  Rancid Breath saw her smiling and asked her what was so funny. “You think we’re playing with you?” he asked. “You think this is a joke?”

  Amy’s hand was getting numb and she knew she had to get that boot off of her wrist soon. Clint had posted mug shots of the three Parker brothers and she remembered that Simon Parker was missing his front left tooth—just like the driver of the Crown Vic. They were wearing masks, so it was possible they preferred not to be identified.

  Trying to throw them off of their game, she said, “Simon, why don’t you let me up and we can talk about this. The department has insurance to cover the damage to the car and no one got hurt, so it looks like we’re all good here.”

  The boot moved slightly and the man on the other end of it sucked in his breath. Good—a reaction.

  She could hear sirens in the distance. Although they were faint, they seemed to be getting closer. It was only a matter of time before Melvin would think to check the road south of town.


  “Come on, Simon, what do you say we put an end to this party?” Amy was terrified, but she didn’t want them to know it. “Why don’t you get your boot off of my wrist and I’ll draw my gun and shoot you in the face—maybe knock out your other tooth.”

  Simon laughed. “This party will be over when I say it’s over. Clint Wolf isn’t in control anymore…we are. And he’s going to pay for killing my little brother. He’s going to pay with his blood and the blood of everyone close to him.”

  Amy could feel her pressure starting to rise. “You killed his innocent wife and daughter. How dare you cry about the justifiable homicide of your piece of shit criminal of a brother. I think it’s you who’s going to pay—”

  “Shut your filthy mouth, pig!” Simon said, raising his voice and digging his boot deeper into Amy’s wrist, bringing tears to her eyes. “You’d better watch what you say about my little brother. I’ve got no problem shooting you right here!”

  Amy winced in pain, her mind racing. She knew she had to keep him talking so he wouldn’t hear the sirens and catch on that backup was en route, but she didn’t want to push his buttons too hard. She wasn’t ready to die. “Look, we can work something out, I’m sure. If you just walk away, I’ll forget this happened. I’ll say it was a hit and run and no one will be the wiser.”

  “And what do I get?” Simon wanted to know, easing up on his boot just a little.

  “You’ll get to keep your freedom.”

  “I’m never going back to prison. They’ll have to kill me first.” Simon leaned so close to Amy she could detect the smell of stale cigarette smoke on his breath. “I tell you what, if you want to make a deal, I’ve got one for you.”

  Trying not to inhale Simon’s stench, Amy asked him what he proposed.

  “I hear Clint has a blonde lady friend.” Simon paused and Amy could see him smile in the darkness. “If you tell me where I can find her, I’ll let you go. I’ll need your pistol, but you can just walk—”