by Trevor Scott
But Robin knew there was no guarantee they would catch the men. “I’m guessing they didn’t enter the Boundary Waters like normal campers,” Robin said. “They might have come in like us.”
“Good point. We can have them set up a roadblock closer to Ely, which would catch anyone coming out of the Boundary Waters. Do you still have the SAT phone?”
Robin stood up and helped Kim to her feet. “Not here. We need to let Donny know that they passed us. We can call from there, and then contact Max to let him know.”
Kim groaned as she took a couple of steps.
“Do you need help?” Robin asked, putting her arm around Kim’s shoulder.
“Maybe a little. The ankle stiffened up.”
Together they slowly made their way back to Donny and their makeshift camp.
•
The leader had been faced with a dilemma back at their portage. One of their men was missing. Did he simply walk off on a wrong trail and lose himself in the darkness? Or was the man who had taken their prey messing with them?
After finding scuffle marks in the mud on the trail, the three of them had done a grid search in concentric circles. The search had taken too much time, but they’d had no other choice. When one member of the pack was attacked, then all of them were attacked.
They had found their pack member tied up and still knocked out. He had taken a beating for sure. But he could still be a vital member of their pack. The problem? The bastard had taken two of their paddles. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem, since they had two spare paddles. But they had left their camp in such a hurry, none of them had brought the spares with them. And they sure as hell couldn’t travel back to their camp to get their spare paddles.
It had always been their plan to bug out of camp in a hurry without any of their normal gear. They all had small backpacks with vital items, like guns and knives and ammo, along with some food and water. The rest of the stuff they had left back at camp was insignificant, and could never be traced back to any of them.
Once they got their man back, they had taken up the chase again. But by now they knew they were probably too far behind the man. The leader guessed the man had not acted on his own, and that had been confirmed in a number of ways. They had found the skid marks from two canoes at the other end of their makeshift portage, along with footprints from a number of people, including women.
As they slowly paddled along the dark lake now, the leader thought of their best plan of action. Luckily, he had an ace in the hole. He would find his prey and bring them back to his pack, or they would end up as bear food.
20
As light broke on the horizon, Max was the first to wake to the sound of birds chirping all around them. The two young ladies were huddled together trying to stay warm. He had given them his rain gear once they got to the 142-rod portage. Judy, the 16-year-old, had put on his rain pants, while the two wrapped their upper bodies in his large rain jacket.
Just hours ago, as they had struggled through some of the thickest forest Max had ever encountered, their progress had been halted by a large unseen floating bog. It had shown up on his map and GPS, but had been worse than they suspected, forcing them to go around it to the north. Then they had cut through an equally treacherous alder swamp that ripped at their exposed skin and tore their clothing as they pushed through it.
By the time they found the northernmost point of the lake, they were all beat and ready for some sleep. But the wind and the rain had made that quite difficult. So did the swarms of mosquitoes. Max had shared what he had of his bug repellant, but they were now out and would have to simply put up with their attacks once their current layer wore off.
Max had kept the radio turned off for much of the night. There was nothing to be gained by talking with someone about their plight.
Before he had allowed the young women to doze off, Max had gone to the portage to do some recon. One thing was for sure. The path here to the next lake over was wide enough for his truck to drive down. He guessed this was a major portage route for canoeists.
Kim’s sister Pam woke and smiled at Max. Before saying anything, she wrapped up the younger woman in Max’s rain jacket. Then she stood up and shifted her head for him to move down toward the lake.
They had spent the night on a small hill overlooking both the lake and the portage, from a distance of some fifty yards. If they saw someone coming, they could slip over the top of the hill out of sight until they knew if it was a friend or foe.
“How are you feeling this morning?” Max asked her gently.
“Stiff,” Pam said. “But free. Thank you for rescuing us.”
She had already said this to him a dozen times since he cut them free the night before.
“Thank your sister,” Max said. “She never gave up on you.”
“May I ask how you found us?”
“I followed the shooting,” he said. “Looking at the map, I saw that they had to be back on an isolated lake.”
“I had a feeling that wasn’t smart on their part.”
“What can you tell me about the four men?”
“We had names for all of them,” Pam said. “They acted like a pack of wolves, with a certain hierarchy. The leader was obviously in charge. Then there was a medical guy, a professor, and a salesman of some sort.”
“They called themselves that?” he asked.
“They never used their names,” she said. “The professor would quote famous people. Mostly literary figures in history. He was tall and skinny. The medical guy drugged us. He didn’t say much when he. . .you know. The salesman never shut up. He was the fat guy with the tiny penis.”
“And the leader?”
She shook her head. “He was the largest of them. If you know what I mean. But he also had the lowest sex drive.”
He was amazed how Pam was able to speak about her experiences so freely. But he glanced at the sleeping young woman and guessed that she was having a much more difficult time dealing with her captivity and all that it entailed.
“Did the men cover their faces around you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. That’s how I knew we were in trouble.”
“What happened at your camp on the other side of Disappointment Lake?”
She thought, as if trying to visualize the events in her mind. Then she said, “Is Duane all right?”
He needed her to say what happened to her before he told her what had happened to her former colleague. “Just relay what happened.”
“We had been performing wellness checks on the campers we saw, while maintaining the portages,” Pam said. “We each had our own small personal tent. I woke when I heard something strange. When I got out of my bed and unzipped my tent fly, something overcame me. I realize now that it was the medical guy putting something over my face to knock me out. I later found a spot on the back of my neck where he probably injected me with something else.”
Something had been bothering him from the start. He asked, “How did they target you?”
“I had a lot of time to think about that,” she said. “We came across these men at this very portage. And I remember thinking at the time that they didn’t have enough gear. They had old aluminum canoes that had seen a lot of time in the Boundary Waters. But there were no packs other than smaller day packs. I figured they were camped somewhere close and just heading back from exploring. Not everyone comes to the Boundary Waters to fish. Many just come for the scenery.”
And to kidnap and rape women, Max thought.
“Okay. What happened after you left this portage?”
She shrugged. “It was getting late. The professor asked us if we were heading all the way back to Snowbank that evening. Duane said we were staying on Disappointment.”
“They must have followed you,” Max said.
“Maybe so. Come to think of it, I did see a couple of canoes pass by around dusk. We were busy building our fire and eating.”
He had no choice. He had to let her kno
w what happened to Duane Bong. But he didn’t have to mention the bear eating the man. “They killed your partner.”
She tightened her jaw and said, “I had a feeling. I heard a couple of the men talking about how they had already gone too far. Others mentioned they had done that before, and there was no turning back now. That’s how I knew we were both dead once they no longer found us useful.”
“I hate to bring this up, but law enforcement will do the same thing.”
“You want to know what they did to us?”
“I can see the bruises,” Max said. “I can assume the rest. I just wondered why they went to get the young girl, Judy.”
Pam comforted herself by crossing her arms, her eyes shifting over to the sleeping girl. Then she said, “My period. They were complaining about the mess.”
“I see. Do you know how much longer they planned to keep you?”
She shook her head. “No. I just know I’m glad you came when you did. I don’t know how much more Judy could take, and my bleeding was coming to a trickle.”
Those bastards! Now Max wished he had simply opened fire on the lot of them. Kill them all and let God sort them out. Well, they weren’t out of the woods yet, he thought. Not by a long shot.
“What if they don’t come for us?” Pam asked.
Max found his map in his pocket. He pulled it out and unfolded it enough to see their area. Max ran his finger to a trail and said, “I take it you’re familiar with this trail?”
“The Kek? Of course. I’ve hiked it in both directions. Why?”
“We’re only about a half mile to the trail from this point.”
“You’re right. But it’s also rough terrain like the stuff we went through last night.”
“If we had to, we could do it, though.”
“True. But it would be better to wait here for a ride. This is a major route for canoeists. We’re bound to see some people today. Plus, I thought you said my sister called in to our district office for help.”
“She did.” Max pulled out his radio and turned it on again. He switched through the channels to see if he could hear any chatter. When that failed, he went back to their original channel and tapped the talk button a couple of times.
“Where have you been?” came a woman’s voice. It was his sister, Robin.
“Glad to hear you, too,” Max said. “We’re in place. Where are you?”
“On the way. You should see us rounding the point soon.”
“And the cavalry?” he asked.
“Unsure. Let’s speak in person.”
“Roger that. Over.” Max clicked off the radio and put it back in his pocket.
“That was your sister?” Pam asked.
“Yes. We’re twins.”
“I’m hungry,” came the young girl’s voice from behind them.
They both turned to see that Judy was awake and standing.
“I can filter some more water,” Max said. “And I have some jerky and trail mix in my backpack. Other than that, you’ll have to wait for the others to get here soon.”
Max dug through his pack and pulled out some food, which he handed to Judy and Pam. Then he found his binoculars and slung them over his chest. He put them to his eyes and cast his gaze out to the farthest he could see on the lake. Disappointment Lake angled around and ran mostly north to south, with many hidden bays and inlets. Because of this stretched out structure, one could not see more than a mile at any given time. But Robin had been right when she said they should be there soon. Now he saw the two canoes round a small point and head in their direction. From what he could see, Robin was in the front of one, with Kim at the stern. And Donny was trying his best to keep up on his own.
“Is that them?” Pam asked.
“Yep. Donny’s green Kevlar canoes.”
“Donny Beck is with them?” she asked. “He knows these waters better than almost anyone. He’s a nice guy.”
“Sure is,” Max agreed, pulling his binoculars down to his chest.
“Two canoes and six people,” Pam said. “Not exactly ideal.”
“We’ll adjust the packs and you and Judy can go in the center.”
“I’ve been tied to a tree for days,” Pam said shaking her head. “I need to paddle. Besides, I’m guessing I’m much more experienced than your sister.”
He couldn’t argue with her on that point. Instead, he pulled out his map and unfolded it. “What’s the fastest way back?”
Pam ran her finger across the map. “We take the single, longer portage. Terrain is similar, but we save time by not having to load and unload canoes.”
Just then, Max thought of something. “I forgot to tell you about your sister’s injury. She hurt her ankle pretty bad falling from a rock ledge.”
“Doesn’t seem to be impacting her paddling,” Pam said.
“Right. But she’ll be limited at the portage.”
“I can help,” Judy said between bites of jerky.
“Awesome,” Max said. “The extra people will help there.”
“Did Donny bring extra paddles?” Pam asked.
“Two extra.”
“Center person can paddle from her knees.”
By now, the canoes had gotten close enough to make out each person without using the binoculars. Kim and Robin seemed to be going all out with their paddling, leaving Donny even farther behind.
The three of them wandered down to the portage at the water’s edge. The canoe with Kim and Robin came in hard to the sandy edge, driving onto the shore farther than normal. Max held the front of the canoe as Robin and Kim scurried out of the canoe.
Kim rushed to her sister and the two of them embraced and kissed and cried.
Robin went directly to the young girl and took her into her arms. Then she introduced herself as Max’s twin sister.
Finally, Donny pulled his canoe alongside the other one. Max held the canoe tight as Donny climbed out. He went directly to Kim and Pam, holding them both tight.
21
They didn’t waste too much time at the portage. Donny knew his canoes better than any of them, so he repositioned packs and estimated the weight of each of them. In the end, he came up with a reasonable accommodation. He would control the stern of his canoe, with Robin in the bow and Judy in the center. Pam would take the bow of the second canoe, with her sister in the center and Max at the stern.
Max got his SAT phone back and noticed there had been a couple of calls missed. He made a quick call to his friend Martina Lopez with NCIS.
“My favorite former federal agent,” Martina said. “You don’t answer your phone now?”
Stepping away from the others for privacy, Max said, “It’s a long story. What do you have for me?”
Martina quickly told Max what she knew for sure and what she suspected.
“Thanks for the help,” Max said. “Could you do me a favor?”
“Another one?”
“I’ll make it worth your effort,” Max said, glancing over his shoulder at the others in their group.
“Yeah, you will. What’s up?”
“I need you to contact the local police chief in Ely, Minnesota. His name is Bram Simmons. Let him know we found Pam Joki and Judy Walker.”
“I had a feeling if anyone could find them you would,” Martina said. “Anything else?”
Max gave her his current GPS location, along with their path out of the Boundary Waters. Then he found the wallets of the two men, giving her their names and addresses. “These are two of the dirtbags that took the women. It shouldn’t be hard to track down the other two.”
“I’m on it,” Martina said. “When are we getting together again?”
“I could drive to Florida from Minnesota,” he said.
“Or, I could fly there to meet you. I’ve never seen Lake Superior. And I have a lot of vacation on the books.”
“Then it’s settled. Fly into Duluth and we’ll stay somewhere up the shore on Lake Superior.”
“Roger that. But first I nee
d to bail your ass out again.”
They both cut off their call, and Max zipped the phone into a pocket on his wind breaker.
He headed back to the others and Robin gave him one of her concerned, motherly glares. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
Then they settled into the canoes and shoved off, starting their long trek back to the entry point of the Boundary Waters.
The first part of the lake was fairly easy paddling. But just as they hit the widest part of the lake, the wind started to pick up and the dark clouds ahead indicated a storm brewing.
“Looks like the wind will be from the west,” Donny said. That won’t be too bad on this lake, but once we hit the massive Snowbank Lake, we could be in trouble.”
Max understood what Donny was talking about. With the extra weight in the canoes, they were sitting low in the water. They would be more stable, but the waves could break over the sides and fill them with water.
Shortly they cruised past a long point.
Donny said, “We stayed in the woods there last night. Your sister and Kim saw the men pass by on the other side.”
Robin had already told him about that, including the part about them only having one paddler per canoe.
“Good thing we have their extra paddles,” Max said.
“That was a brilliant idea on your part,” Donny said.
“Well, shooting holes in their canoes didn’t stop them.”
“Those old aluminum canoes are hard to kill,” Donny assured him.
In a few minutes they came upon the old campsite used by the group of troubled girls. Two people were standing on the shore waving at them.
Max put his binoculars to his eyes and saw that they were two young men in their early twenties. “Looks like they might need help,” he said.
“Are you sure it’s not the men who took the girls?” Donny asked.
“Positive,” Max said. “But let me go in and talk with them.”
Max turned his canoe toward shore, but he didn’t come all the way in—just close enough to see the men and hear them speak.