by James Hunt
All those years in the business, Ken had always been able to hide the moral soapbox that his conscience would try and stand upon anytime he had to do something that felt wrong. But this was different. The ease with which he was able to look the other way had disappeared. And it was beginning to affect not just his mental health, but also his physical. He looked down to his waistband and plucked the slack from his stomach. He’d lost at least ten pounds since being out here, and he’d never felt more tired in his life, which counted all of those late nights at the hospital with his son.
Ken glanced back at the photograph of his family. He’d been able to stomach his actions so far by repeating the mantra that he was doing it for them, that he was doing it to save his boy, but after seeing what Scott did today—all of the blood, all of the fear, the screaming, the begging, the crying—he couldn’t help but think about the family members of the people he’d help hurt. Somewhere they had a son, or daughter, or wife, or husband, someone who cared about their well-being.
What if it had been his own family at one of those houses Scott had visited today? What if he’d seen a man try and beat his wife into a pulp and threaten his son? All for some piece of land that a company had no right in trying to claim in the first place. All for some deal with billionaires in some other country looking to add to the piles of cash already stacked in their vaults.
Ken opened his desk drawer and reached for the oxy that he kept stashed inside. The raging moral storm in his head needed to end, and with the day’s events still fresh in his mind he didn’t think he’d be able to sleep on his own. He popped three pills and washed them down with a swig from the fifth of whiskey he kept in the same drawer.
It wouldn’t take long for the pills to kick in, and Ken leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. The effects of the drugs started slowly at first but gained momentum. He lazily opened his eyes and reached to turn off the lamp on his desk, when he noticed the blinking red dot on his desk phone, signaling a voice mail. He paused for a second, considering leaving it, but the fact that he never had messages on his desk phone piqued his interest.
He pressed the button, and the voice mail played. “Hello, Mr. Lang. This is Diana over in HR. I tried reaching out to you on your cell phone, but you must have had bad cell reception. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Sheriff Cooley stopped by the office today and took a look at Reese Coleman’s records. I let him see them and cooperated just like you told me to, but I know you wanted me to give you a call if anyone decided to look at them. Oh, and he also looked at Scott Ambers’s file as well. If you have any questions, let me know. Have a good night, Mr. Lang.”
The messaged ended with a loud beep, and Ken stared at the phone for a second, his mind processing the information slowly. What did the sheriff know about Scott Ambers that he didn’t? Whatever it was couldn’t be good.
Ken reached for his cell and handled it clumsily. His limbs felt heavy and moved a half second slower than his brain would have liked. He shook his head, trying to curb the heavy coat of drugs that weakened his mind. He dialed Scott’s number. After two rings he got an answer. “Hey, we’ve got a problem.”
Chapter 11 – 24 Hours Left
Lena hadn’t let Gwen out of her arms since Jake brought the National Guard with him to the house. She kept hold of her daughter’s hand while the paramedic treated Lena’s wounds from the fight. A second paramedic examined Gwen, who had fallen into shock.
“Heart rate’s still a little elevated, and her pupils are dilated.” The paramedic removed the blood pressure cuff from Gwen’s arm and stuffed it into his equipment bag. “I’d like to take her to the hospital and run a CAT scan, make sure she doesn’t have a concussion.”
While Lena knew the irregular heartbeat and dilated pupils were from her daughter’s extracurricular activities, she didn’t feel the need to explain that to the medic. “I’d rather she stay close. If anything changes, I’ll bring her in myself.”
The paramedic offered a polite nod, grabbed his bag, then disappeared. Lena wasn’t sure what to say, but with Gwen nearly passed out on her shoulder she didn’t think she needed to speak. She glanced over to Mark, who was being questioned by one of the deputies. Jake had told her that they would be able to get by on self-defense, but Lena’s experience in the courtroom told her that while there wasn’t a jury that would convict Mark of any wrongdoing, it was going to be a long, drawn-out affair.
Jake walked over and placed a gentle hand on Gwen’s cheek. “How are you doing, kid?”
“Okay.” Gwen’s words escaped in a whisper, like a child who had just gone through a nightmare and woken up, not realizing it was over.
Lena watched Mark get in the back of the squad car, free of handcuffs at least, and the two locked eyes just before he ducked his head into the backseat. “Is he going to have to stay at the station?”
“Yeah, at least for tonight.” Jake examined all of the bullet holes that had turned the front of their home into Swiss cheese. “Forensics will take some samples and put together the story of what happened from a scientific standpoint. It shouldn’t take long. We’ve already got testimony from most of Jim Foreman’s goons that it was his idea to come over and do this. They turned on him pretty quick once they learned what was going to happen to them if they didn’t point the finger. They’ll still do some jail time, though.”
Lena kissed Gwen on the forehead and slid out from under her daughter’s weight. “You stay right here, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.” She helped Gwen lie in the back of the truck and grabbed some spare sheets from a compartment so her daughter would have a pillow. She led Jake away from the crowds, out of earshot. “This is the second time people from the oil company have tried to kill me. We have a case against them now. I don’t need the bill to shut them down anymore—I can tie them in for conspiracy and extortion.”
“None of the guys mentioned anything about having received orders from anyone at the company,” Jake said, shaking his head. “And you’re in no position to go after them. From a press standpoint it’ll just look like you’re a grieving mother out for revenge.” The moment Jake spit the words out Lena knew he regretted it. “Lena, I didn’t mean—”
“You didn’t mean to say that you think Kaley is dead? Is that it?” Lena distanced herself from the lights of the ambulances and submerged herself in the darkness of the open fields that surrounded her property. A light wind stung the open cuts on her cheek, and she closed her eyes, wondering where her youngest daughter was and how scared she must feel, and thinking of all the things she’d do to the person who’d taken her.
“That’s not what I meant.” Jake placed a hand on her shoulder and slowly but forcefully turned her around. “You know I think she’s still alive. We’re still well within the forty-eight-hour mark. I told you I’d get her back.”
When her brother wanted something, it was very rarely that he didn’t get it. It’d been that way since he was a kid. There was always an arrogance to his tone and the way he conducted himself. She’d learned to live with it and even found it amusing. Their parents were a different story. “It’s just this…” She gestured to the house, the camera crews at the end of their drive, the police cars. “When I started the civil suit against New Energy two years ago I knew it would be hard. Whenever big money is involved it’s always hard. I never thought it would cost me my family.”
“It won’t.” Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out a notepad. “I traced the bullets that killed my deputy who was on duty when Kaley was taken. There’s only one store in Bismarck that someone would buy those bullets from. And I’ve got some more information on Scott Ambers.”
“The rig manager?”
“He’d never worked in the oil business before. He’s a contract for hire. A thug who provides muscle for companies that need to push certain transactions in their favor. He worked for some crime boss just before New Energy hired him.” He waved the pad in the air. “We’ve got enough to cause the company trouble,
and you’re right.” He looked back to the destructive scene of the house. “We combine that and all of the violence against you, and we’ve got leverage.”
Leverage. She’d used that term in many of her court hearings and speaking with clients, but she never thought she’d be using it to save her family’s life. It could have been the shootout, it could have been the sight of her husband being taken to the station, or it could have been the fact that she nearly lost another daughter today, but an unimaginable desperation begged to be released. It was as if she were stranded at sea, and the storm around her had worsened in the night. She clung to the narrow piece of driftwood with what was left of the strength in her fingers, but fatigue was setting in, and that primal sense of survival had kicked in to help keep her afloat. “I need her back.”
Jake pulled her close, and Lena allowed herself the moment of weakness. There were only a few quick sobs, and once it was out of her system, once she let herself feel it, she felt better. But the peaceful moment was short lived.
A few of the officers by the cluster of squad cars suddenly sprinted across the lawn toward Jake. “Sheriff, I think we have a hit on one of the Amber Alerts.”
Lena grabbed the deputy by the collar, nearly wringing his neck. “Who?”
The deputy glanced between Jake and Lena, his voice slightly trembling. “A girl matching Kaley’s description was seen ten miles away in Loredo, coming out of a gas station. The guy didn’t get a good look at the car but said it was a sedan, which matches the description of the car that took the Foreman girl.”
Lena let the deputy go and started marching toward Jake’s truck. “I’m coming with you.”
“Lena, you can’t—”
“If you want me to stop, then you’ll have to handcuff me to the house.” Jake’s hesitation made her think he considered it, but when she watched the hard lines creased in his forehead soften, she relaxed.
“You do not get out of the car,” Jake said, the two jogging to the truck amid the cluster of deputies heading for their vehicles. “And you do everything I tell you to.”
“Whatever gets my daughter back.” Lena found Gwen on the way over and kissed her daughter one last time. “I’ll be back soon. Stay at the house.” The truck door rattled when she slammed it shut. She rolled down the window, her eyes still locked on Gwen. “I love you.”
But before she heard a response Jake peeled out of the front yard, speeding down the dirt road that led to the highway, flipping on the lights. Her heart skipped a beat when he turned on the siren, which scattered the reporters still camped out on the side of the road, and her mind and heart were suddenly flooded with something that she hadn’t felt in a very long time, probably since before she was elected into the state assembly. It was hope.
Chapter 12 – 24 Hours Left
Jake’s rearview and both of his side mirrors reflected the blue and red lights of the dozen squad cars that were behind him. The landscape passed in a blur, and when Lena looked at the speedometer of his truck she saw the needle tip past one hundred miles per hour. She squirmed in her seat, unable to sit still, scanning the night horizon, but saw nothing except the black asphalt that blended seamlessly into the night sky. “How much farther?”
“We’re only a few miles from the town.” Jake pivoted the GPS stand on his dash toward Lena and pointed to an approaching east-west highway that intersected their path. “The gas attendant said that the car with the girl turned west here. The call came in ten minutes ago, so with their head start they’re probably somewhere around here.” His finger barely moved, but the half inch in lateral position looked to be ten to fifteen miles. “I’ve got Stark County setting up a road block thirty miles out, so if they see anything, we’ll know about it soon enough.”
The large red dot on the screen that represented their position pulsed and crawled much slower along the map than their actual speed suggested. Lena looked to the horizon once more and saw the faint glow of a town up the road. She wondered what Kaley was wearing, if the kidnapper made her change, or cut her hair, or— Stop it. She shook the thoughts out of her mind.
The radio crackled, and a grainy voice echoed through the speaker. Jake snatched the receiver up and clicked the talk button. “Say again?”
“Stark County officers have a car that spun around when it saw the road block. It’s a light-blue Ford Taurus heading east on Highway 9.”
The intersection to the highway was ahead, and Lena watched the same car speed past in a blur, followed by a large cluster of police vehicles in pursuit just a few seconds later.
“Copy that!” Jake tossed the radio’s receiver down and turned the steering wheel hard left. Lena’s shoulder slammed into the inside of the door paneling, and she clawed the dashboard to pull herself forward.
The engine to Jake’s truck revved loudly as he passed the squad cars. The dotted lines that separated the sides of the road blurred beneath them in a single yellow line in the glow of the headlights and passed beneath them quickly to the left, then to the right, Jake swerving to get to the front of the pack.
It didn’t take long before they saw the taillights of the light-blue sedan, the vehicle dented and dirty. Headlights shined off the license plate, and Lena squinted, swiveling her head to try and get a better look into the fleeing car’s rear windshield. But despite her efforts, she saw nothing. She slammed her palm on the dash once they reached the front of the pack. “Can’t we blow the tires?”
Jake had both arms locked tight and rigid from wrist to shoulder, with his palms pressed hard against the wheel, trying to keep them steady at their dangerously high speeds. “We try and pull out the spikes on them, or run them off the road at this speed, and we could seriously hurt the people inside.”
With the highway flat and straight and the sedan’s speed topped out at 110 miles per hour, there was little they could do but either wait for the car to stop, or have them run out of gas. But when Lena felt her chest tug against the seat belt she looked to Jake. “They’re slowing down?”
“Yeah.” Jake reached for the radio, the color of his hands and knuckles drained from the prolonged grip on the steering wheel. “All units, be advised the suspect is slowing. I repeat, suspect is—”
When he cut himself off Lena furrowed her brow. “What is it?” He was staring at something ahead, and when Lena followed his line of sight she saw it too.
“There is a structure ahead, looks like an old barn,” Jake said.
The sedan veered left and pulled onto the grass, bouncing wildly over the uneven earth on its projection toward the dilapidated building. Jake pulled off the road in pursuit, evading the blinding dust kicked up from the sedan’s tires.
Lena clutched the door handle with her right hand and the dash with her left as she tried to steady herself from the harsh vibrations of the rough terrain. The barn doors were open slightly, and when Lena noticed the car wasn’t slowing she lunged forward, the seat belt stopping her advances. “No!”
Wood splintered and dust erupted in the collision as the sedan burst inside the barn. Jake slammed on the brakes, and the truck skidded to a stop less than twenty yards from where the sedan entered. He reached for his seat belt and unbuckled it. “Stay in the truck.” The hinges rattled when he opened the door, but despite the order and her agreement to do exactly what he said, Lena unbuckled as well.
Dust swirled in the glow of the dozens of headlights from the police vehicles that surrounded the barn on all sides. Deputies drew their pistols and sought cover behind their car doors. Lena felt hands on her shoulders yank her back to the truck, and though she resisted, the arms overpowered her.
Jake pinned her against the side of the truck and thrust a finger in her face. “Don’t. Move.” He let her go and reached for the radio inside his truck. “Get air support out here immediately in case they decide to make another run. I want to be able to track them. And no one shoots unless I give the order.” A series of confirmations echoed back, and he tossed the radio aside, pulling his o
wn weapon.
Lena wiped the sweat from her eyes, an overwhelming heat consuming her body. She paced frantically, watching the barn and listening to the sporadic radio chatter echo through the open doors of the squad cars. She tried squinting through the warped wooden boards of the barn walls to see inside, but she was just too far away.
After a few minutes of no movement, Lena watched Jake reach for the radio once more, and his voice blared from the PA system of his truck. “This is Sheriff Jake Cooley of Dunn County. You are surrounded. We have air support en route. All we want is a peaceful resolution to this. And in order for that to happen I need everyone to come out of that building, unarmed, with their hands in the air.” He clicked the radio off, and a quick burst of feedback squealed into the night air.
Lena stepped next to Jake, her eyes glued to the broken entrance of the barn doors. The silence after the announcement eroded what was left of Lena’s patience, and she snatched the radio from Jake’s hand. “This is Lena Hayes.” The radio blared her voice, and she winced from the volume. “If you have my daughter, please, let her go.” Jake tried to take the radio from her hands, but she blocked his arms, and he eventually let her be. “If you’re so concerned about the bill, then take me in her place. I’m more valuable. I’m the one who created it. I’m the one who helped get it to pass in the town hall. It’s my responsibility. Please.” Her hand ached from the prolonged tight grip, her fingers curled around the small black receiver. The longer the silence from the barn lingered, the deeper Lena’s heart sank. Her shoulders sagged, and her arms hung limp at her sides.
“Lena comes in!” The voice was faint and was quickly swallowed up by the night sky, but it was there. “She comes in alone! No one else!”
Without a word Lena stepped forward, but Jake pulled her back. “No, I’m not letting you go in there alone.” He glanced around to the deputies that surrounded them. “There isn’t anyone here that wants this to end in a bloodbath. We find another way.”