by Scott Blade
Keagan asked, “What can I help you with?”
Keagan glanced down and saw her keys were hanging out of the lock on the drawer where her gun was.
The guardsman asked, “Are you the one working on the case of that drowned private investigator?”
Keagan said, “Step into the light, Seaman so I can get a better look at you.”
The guardsman stayed where he was. In a nervous voice, he said, “The guys they arrested for it. Our guys, they’re innocent.”
Keagan repeated, “Come on in and tell me about it, Seaman.”
The guardsman said, “I’ve got proof, ma’am.”
Sensing that he was nervous, Keagan moved. She stepped out from behind the desk and stepped closer to the doorway to her office. She still couldn’t make out his face.
She said, “Why don’t you come on in? Sit with me. We can talk about it. Tell me what you got?”
The guardsman stayed where he was a long second, like he was contemplating doing as she asked.
Keagan didn’t want him to leave, but she also didn’t want him disobeying her direct orders. In this situation, in this room, she outranked him. She knew that much without seeing his rank. So she said, “That’s an order, Seaman. Come on in. I’m not going to hurt you. If you know something, come on in and speak up.”
The guardsman stayed where he was and fidgeted with his hat. Finally, he put it back on his head and said, “Never mind. I can’t. This is a mistake. I’m no rat.”
He turned around and walked away, fast and hard. She heard his wet boots moving back down the corridor like he was fast-walking.
She called out from behind him, but lightning struck someplace outside again, and the windows lit up with a white flash and a loud thunderclap boomed again. The sound muted anything she was calling out to him. He couldn’t hear her.
Keagan didn’t want to lose a potential witness, so she ran after him. She hoped she could catch him before he vanished into the rain. She chased after him and ran through the bullpen and into the hall. She turned the corner just in time to see the door to the building flap shut. She ran down the hall, slipping and sliding a bit because he left massive wet boot prints everywhere.
She ran harder. She reached the door at the end of the hall but didn’t slow her speed. It had a push bar on the inside of it. She slammed right into it, barreling out into the rain and wind. She stepped out onto the concrete and under the covering. Rain pounded on the covering’s metal roof.
She turned to the direction of the parking lot and walked down the concrete ramp to the end of the covering. The rain was really something. It poured so hard that she could barely see her own truck in the lot. The lights from the base were dim, with concentric circles of light coming off the light poles over the parking lot.
Keagan strained her eyes to see the guardsman, but she couldn’t. She saw a second vehicle parked to her left. It was a four-door sedan. It was in the first spot, pulled up close to the side of the building. The headlights were on, and the rear lights were on, but not the brake lights, indicating that the car was in park. The engine was idling. She saw the car was empty and the trunk lid was ajar.
Confused, she turned back around, and the guardsman stood there. He was right in front of her. Up close, he was even bigger than she had thought. Before she could react, before she could say a word, the guardsman clobbered her across the face with a vicious right hook. She twirled and stumbled off the walkway out into the rain and hit the gravel. The guardsman stepped behind her. She heard his footsteps on the gravel. The rain pounded on his uniform. He knelt fast and put a knee in her back. He pinned her. She struggled, but his weight was too much. Before she could scream, he jabbed a needle in her butt and plunged the contents into her bloodstream.
Within seconds, Keagan was out like a light. The guardsman tossed the needle out into the gravel lot and took his knee off her. He knelt again and scooped her up and carried her in the rain toward the tail of his car. He lifted her and dumped her down into the trunk and stepped back and closed the lid.
The guardsman returned to her office and took Garret’s files. He left her keys dangling in the lock to the drawer with her backup gun. The guardsman returned out into the rain and got into his sedan and drove away. He headed back out the gate he came in past the guards.
30
Widow heard the same thunderclaps and heavy rain that Keagan heard. He just didn’t know it. He waited at Tessa’s bungalow for two more hours. He stayed outside until the rain became too hard and the air got too cold. He moved indoors and sat on the sofa in the living room. Widow got pretty bored waiting around. He thought about turning on the TV, but he hadn’t watched a TV on purpose in over a decade. Plus, he didn’t know what the etiquette was for him in this situation. Was it okay for him to watch a strange TV in someone else's house?
He wished he had kept his paperback copy of Into the Wild. He could reread it, not that he thought it was the bee’s knees or anything. He just was that bored. Widow ended up playing Solitaire with a deck of playing cards he found in a drawer in the kitchen. He was at the kitchen table playing a second round of Solitaire when the phone in the cradle rang. He jumped up and stumbled around, trying to thread his way through a tight space of dining table chairs and barstools until he got to the phone. He scooped it up and clicked the button and put the phone to his ear.
He said, “Hello?”
“Hello?” a gruff old man’s voice said.
“Yeah?”
“Who is this?” a gruff old man’s voice asked.
Widow recognized the voice. He asked, “Garret? Is that you?”
“Widow?”
“Yeah, it's me.”
Garret asked, “Where’s Tessa? You found her okay?”
“No. Actually, we’ve not found her yet.”
“Why are you answering her phone?”
Widow said, “I’m at her Airbnb. I’m waiting around for her to return. She wasn’t here when I got here.”
“How did you get into her place then?”
Widow said, “Slider in the back. It wasn’t locked.”
“Huh? That’s not like her. She’s usually pretty careful. So, where the hell is she?”
“I don’t know. I figured she went out for pizza or something. But don’t worry. There’s no sign of break-in or a struggle here. And I don’t see her wallet, cell phone, or her keys. So she probably stepped out. She’ll be back.”
Garret was silent for a long beat, like he was imagining all the worst-case scenarios about his adopted daughter’s whereabouts.
Widow sensed Garret’s worry and said, “Buck, don’t worry. She’s okay. I’m going to find her and protect her. You have my word.”
Garret said, “Okay. But she missed our phone time.”
Widow said, “How did you get this number? I thought you said you only had her cell phone number?”
“No. I said she turns her cell phone off. You never asked for this number. But that’s not why I didn’t give it to you. I forgot I had it. I actually do forget things, you know? It’s just not as bad as I let on.”
Widow said, “Well, don’t worry. She’ll turn up.”
Garret asked, “Okay. Well, you guys can answer your phone every once in a while.”
“What phone?”
“Keagan’s phone. The number she gave me to call. I’ve called it like four times. I left two voicemails. She still hasn’t called me back. I was getting worried.”
Widow listened and thought that wasn’t good news. He realized that Garret probably thought Keagan was with him.
He said, “Okay. I’ll tell her to check for your voicemails.”
“Okay. Call me as soon as Tessa is safe and sound. Okay?”
“I will,” Widow said, and he clicked off the call. He then dialed Keagan’s number from memory and listened to the phone ring. It rang and rang and finally went to voicemail. He heard Keagan’s voice.
“This is Keagan. I’m not available. Leave a message.”
<
br /> Widow stayed quiet a brief second, debating on if he should leave a message or not. Then he said, “Chelsea. It’s me, Widow. I’m worried about you. Call me back at this number.”
He clicked off the phone and set the portable phone back in the cradle and turned his back on it. He went back to the kitchen table. He picked up her SIG Sauer and put it in his front pocket. It was heavy, but he was used to it.
Suddenly, the phone buzzed and rang in its cradle. It was an annoying sound. He turned back to it and walked over and scooped it up. There was the number of the caller showing in a little digital box on the back of the phone. It was Keagan’s cell number. He clicked on the call and put the phone to his ear.
He said, “Keagan? Where are you?”
A voice that sounded like a broadcaster, like Dan Rather, spoke. The male voice on Keagan’s phone made Widow think he must’ve read the caller ID wrong. It wasn’t Keagan.
The Broadcaster said, “Hello. Who is this?”
Widow thought, You first, pal. But he didn’t say that because he didn’t know if it was just a guy calling for Tessa. She was a thirty-year-old grown woman and not a kid. She could have gentleman callers. It wasn’t illegal, and he wasn’t her father.
Widow asked, “Are you calling for Tessa?”
“No,” the Broadcaster said. He lingered on the word like he was teasing Widow.
Widow said, “Oh, then maybe you got the wrong number?”
“I don’t think so. I know who Tessa is. I know where she is. I’m asking who you are?”
Widow stayed quiet.
The Broadcaster said, “So, who are you?”
Widow thought for a moment. Held his breath and then let it out. He asked, “Is this Efrem? Efrem Voight?”
“Hey. You got my name. Very good,” Voight said.
“Where’s Tessa?”
“Don’t worry. Everyone’s safe and sound for now.”
“Everyone?”
“Yeah. I got all of our pals: Ruffalo, his daughter, and your friend.”
“My friend?” Widow asked. He felt his fist clench Keagan’s gun tight. His index finger danced around the trigger guard like he might slip it in and start shooting.
Voight took a moment and spoke like he was reading off an ID, his broadcaster voice making it sound like Widow was getting a lecture from a Harvard-educated newsman.
Voight said, “Junior Officer Ensign Chelsea Keagan of the United States Coast Guard. Look here, she’s an investigator with CGIS.”
Widow clenched his fist around the gun even harder. He squeezed his eyes shut. He felt rage coming on. But he breathed in and breathed out. He composed himself, kept his cool.
He asked, “Is she okay?”
Voight said, “Don’t worry. They’re safe and sound. Whether or not they stay that way depends entirely on you.”
“What do you want? The files on you? That’s with the Feds by now.”
“No. It’s not. I have Garret’s so-called evidence. The only thing I need now is the last loose string to be tied off. Can you guess what string that is?”
Widow said, “Me?”
“Yes. That’s right. You’re the last loose string. Well, you and that pesky old sheriff, but no one’s going to believe him.”
Widow said, “Come get me.”
“If I knew exactly where you were, I would’ve already.”
Voight didn’t know he was at Tessa’s bungalow. Maybe they didn’t even know where it was or that she had one, which told him they hadn’t tortured her yet. Widow realized she must have gone out to Liddy’s lodge on the other side of the main island in Bell Harbor. But was she still there?
Voight asked, “Widow, are you listening to me?”
“I’m listening.”
“Good. Here are the rules. If you deviate from them, Tessa, Liddy, the lovely Ensign Keagan, they all die. And Widow, when I say they die, I don’t mean a quick and fast bullet to the head. Do you understand me?”
Widow said, “Yes.”
“Good. First rule: no cops! Got it?”
Widow said, “First rule: no cops.”
“Good. Second rule: go to the same dock where Peter left you. He’ll pick you up there. Got it?”
“Yes.”
Voight said, “Repeat it back to me, please?”
“Second rule: I go to the same dock where Peter left me.”
“Excellent. Now, the third rule is leave any gun you have behind. Got it?”
Widow stared at Keagan’s SIG Sauer and said, “I got it.”
“Widow, if Peter finds a gun on you, I will kill them all. Do you understand?”
“I said I got it all,” Widow said. “I don’t have a car. So I gotta walk. It’ll take me some time. I’m outside of town.”
“You’ve got forty-five minutes. Get moving,” Voight said, and he clicked off the phone.
Widow immediately dialed Garret’s phone number. He told Garret about the call and that he would take care of it. He told him to get into his truck and go stay at a motel. He left off the part about Tessa being captured. He told him that she was hiding out and not to worry. No reason to spook the old guy to death. Widow wanted him focusing on his own safety.
After that, Widow hung the phone up, took the SIG Sauer, and left it in the bungalow’s mailbox at the end of the drive. He turned left on the dead-end road and started walking in the rain back to Kodiak and the docks where Peter had left him two days earlier.
31
The rain battered the pavement around him. Widow walked the dead-end road until he got back to the main two-lane road, which he followed for a long time. He feared he might not make it in the forty-five-minute time frame that Voight had given him. He started jogging, which was hard in the weather, the harsh conditions, and the fact that he hadn’t kept up with his SEAL PTO. However, he got lucky and got a ride from two old guys in a truck that was as old as they were. The back had a camper on it, and the bed was empty. Since Widow was soaked from head to toe from the rain, the old guys told him to climb in the back, and they’d drop him off downtown, which was close enough. They dropped him off near Kodiak Espresso, where his love for coffee felt like it was thrown into a cage match with his relentless thirst for justice, because he was sorely tempted to go inside and get a coffee. He knew the right thing to do was to keep on, but his addiction to coffee seriously made him stop and pause a beat.
Of course, he went on foot to meet Peter at the docks. He came walking down the wharf to the place where Peter had landed Liddy’s plane two days before. He saw Peter standing in the rain in front of the same red seaplane from before.
Widow walked out of the wet darkness and stopped ten feet from Peter. He shivered in the rain.
Peter stood there in a rain poncho, the hood pulled over his head. He called out loud because the hammering raindrops on the wharf muted normal speech. He said, “You barely made it.”
Widow said, “I’m here.”
Peter said, “Put your arms out.”
Widow raised his arms and held them out. He shivered in the wet, cold air, despite wearing a warm coat.
Peter went over to him and patted him down. He found no weapons, no gun, no knife—nothing but Widow’s passport, the postcard for Gray, and some cash money. He left all of it on Widow and gestured for Widow to get in the plane. Widow did and Peter followed.
The waves rocked the plane pretty hard. Peter shut his door and lowered the hood of his poncho.
Widow asked, “Is it safe to take off in this weather?”
Peter said, “No.”
He started the engine, and the propeller fired to life. It spun hard and fast. The engine spurted and then hummed normally. Peter reversed the plane, and within seconds, they were speeding out to sea. Widow gripped the seat beneath him hard. The seaplane started bouncing on the waves until it took off and was airborne.
Peter piloted the plane up and up. It climbed up to the low clouds and a little above. The plane climbed until the weather was safer. Peter leveled
the plane off and flew northwest. Widow didn’t stop gripping the seat.
Between Widow and Peter, on the ceiling of the cockpit, there was a CB radio. It suddenly clicked and sputtered to life. Widow listened to the radio chatter. It sounded like the US Coast Guard. Two coastguardsmen talked to each other. There was nothing about Widow’s situation or Keagan missing from base.
Peter reached up and switched the radio off. They flew in silence until about halfway there, when Widow spoke first.
He asked, “How long have you babysat Liddy?”
Peter stayed quiet.
Widow said, “Might as well talk to me. Especially if you think Voight is going to kill me.”
Peter spoked but didn’t look at Widow. He kept his eyes forward on the rainy sky. He said, “He is going to kill you. I can’t even understand why you volunteered to come back.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“No way! Not if I knew that I was walking to my own death.”
Widow paused a beat and asked, “Not for anyone?”
Peter said nothing.
Widow asked, “Not even for Liddy?”
Peter glanced over at him. It was a quick look, like a take just to make sure Widow was still seated there. Peter said, “Maybe.”
Widow asked, “How long have you been with him?”
“Ten years, now.”
“What did you do before?”
Peter said, “I was in the clink.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Also ten years. When I got out, Mr. Voight found me. Gave me a job, a life, and a fresh start.”
Widow asked, “You military?”
“Once.”
“Is that how you learned to fly?”
Peter said, “Yes.”
“Did you do time in military prison or civilian?”
Peter said, “I was in civilian prison. Armed robbery gone wrong.”
Widow didn’t ask any more about it. He said, “You know, Voight will kill Liddy too. Probably tonight.”
Peter shot Widow a sideways look. He said, “No he’s not.”
“I bet he does. Honestly, I don’t know why he kept him alive this long?”