Without Virtue

by Trevor Scott

  “He’s stuck across the lake,” she said.

  “The Forest Service will be there soon I’m sure.”

  “Maybe. But there are still two men with guns after him.”

  “You said yourself that he can handle himself,” Donny reminded her.

  “You’re right.” Then she thought for a moment. “Do you have any guns?”

  “A hunting rifle and a shotgun. Why?”

  “I don’t know. I have a bad feeling.”

  Donny patted her shoulder and said, “The bad guys are either long gone or dead. There’s no way the police will let them get through their road block.”

  She knew he was probably right.

  Donny called the other girls in to get some pizza. He even cracked a bottle of red wine for those who wanted it, and Coke for the others.

  Robin ate only a couple of slices and then thought about her brother’s truck sitting out back. Max had told her how to find his keys in case of emergency. While the others ate, she put on her rain top and rushed out to her brother’s truck. She found the keys and got in behind the wheel. Her brother carried a veritable arsenal of rifles and handguns everywhere he went. But those were kept in the bed of his truck under the topper, locked in a secure safe. Except for one, she remembered. In the console, Max always kept a subcompact carry handgun with a spare magazine. This was his Glock 43, with six-round capacity in 9mm.

  She picked up this gun and made sure her brother had put a round in the chamber. He had, which meant she would have 13 rounds total. Not perfect, but better than nothing. She slipped the gun and extra magazine into her pocket, locked the truck, and returned the truck keys to the place Max had hidden them.

  Once she got inside, she went to the bathroom and placed the gun inside the waistband of her pants and covered it with her sweatshirt.

  •

  Max had made a slight tactical error. He was running close to shore, but that shoreline curved out into the lake ahead. Which meant that the two men in the aluminum canoe would have a direct shot at getting around the point and he would have to vector toward them to make the same maneuver. This would bring him right in their path on a collision course. Unless he could gain some speed and shoot past them.

  Within seconds, he knew this plan would fail. So, he slowed his pace and let them think they were going much faster. When the men finally realized Max’s plan, they almost came to a complete stop to wait for him.

  Max also stopped and kept his canoe pointed toward the two men ahead. They were now a hundred yards in front of him and slightly to his left. The shore was only a hundred yards away also. He could simply put his canoe ashore and hike down to Donny’s place. Besides, it wasn’t like he could simply lead these men back to the girls. Where were those damn police and Forest Service officers?

  At first Max didn’t see that the men were drifting his way, since he had been trying his best not to give up his location. In a moment of relative silence, Max finally heard his SAT phone buzzing in his backpack. But there was no way he could pick it up now. He guessed it had to be Robin calling, trying to find out his status. For all he knew, she had to think he was still stuck somewhere across the lake at the Disappointment portage. Instead, he estimated he was within a mile or so of Donny’s cabin. Since the road ended at Donny’s place, if Max went ashore, he would have to stick to the shore to find the remote cabin. Luckily, he had put in a waypoint for the cabin. He could even cut across the forest to get there.

  Through his hesitation, Max now realized that he had let the men get too close to him. They were within range of their handguns.

  “Why don’t you just give up?” the man in the stern of the boat yelled. “We can let you live if you simply tell us where to find the girls.”

  “I can’t do that,” Max said. “You’re leaving the Boundary Waters only one way. Just like your friends.”

  Without warning, the two men drew their weapons and started firing at Max with everything they had. Max tried to turn the bow of the boat into the wind, which would turn him quickly to 90 degrees to tack across the waves. But with the bullets flying his way and the wind being much stronger than he thought, the canoe caught the wind hard and he flew into the cold water, plunging deep under the surface until he finally let go of the paddle and got his bearings. Holding his breath and gliding slowly back to the surface, he tried to find his canoe. But it was useless. Instead, he rose up and quickly took a breath as he swiveled his head to find the bad guys. They had drifted away slightly, but they saw him come up. They opened fire again.

  Max shoved himself below the surface and swam toward them. They would assume he would move away from them, and were shooting over his head.

  As he rose up the second time, he drew his gun from his hip and fired three times at the men in the canoe. At least one bullet hit the man in the bow, knocking him into the water.

  The man in the stern started to fire at Max, but his canoe almost capsized, so he was forced to pick up his paddle to stabilize the craft.

  Max shot a few more times, but his bobbing up and down in the lake was cutting down on his accuracy. Also, by now the canoe had drifted farther out of range to the north.

  He was having a hard time staying afloat with only his feet, so Max holstered his gun and used his arms to stay above the surface. With his pack and his clothes completely wet, the weight was becoming a problem. He needed to get ashore fast.

  As he kept one eye on the aluminum canoe floating farther to the north, Max kicked and swam toward shore. By the time he dragged himself ashore, he was dead on his feet. He could barely walk. But he forced himself to disappear into the forest far enough so the last man couldn’t see him.

  Then, out of breath and freezing from the wind cutting across his wet body, Max took a seat on the spongy moss surface in a patch of cedars. Everything in his training told him he needed to build a fire and get out of his wet clothes. But that was impossible, he knew. He needed to take out this last man.

  As he hugged himself for warmth, he heard his SAT phone buzz again. He took off his wet backpack and sat it between his legs. Then he found his phone and saw that it wasn’t Robin calling. It was his friend from NCIS, Martina Lopez.

  “Yeah,” Max whispered.

  “I’ve been trying to reach you for an hour,” she said desperately.

  “I’ve been a little busy,” he said.

  “Are your teeth chattering?”

  He guessed they were. He quickly explained his situation. “What can you tell me about these men?”

  “I think I found the other names,” she said. “They’re all old high school friends. They were charged with the gang rape of a girl during their senior year in the Twin Cities. A suburb called Roseville.”

  Max glanced out at the lake and saw the canoe with one man in the stern slowly make its way past him some hundred yards off shore. Damn, he wished he had one of his long rifles.

  “There’s just one left now,” Max said.

  “Maybe two,” she said.

  “What? There were only four at the camp.”

  “I know. But there were five friends in high school. We’re still looking into that last person. We think he changed his name. I’ll keep digging.”

  “Alright. I’m heading to Donny Beck’s place.”

  “You know that he was from the Twin Cities before he moved to Ely.”

  “He mentioned that.” He hoped she wasn’t implying that Donny was number five. There was no way. He was too old. Maybe twenty years older than the man in the canoe.

  “Donny has a son and a daughter still living in the Twin Cities,” Martina said.

  “There’s no way Donny is involved,” Max said.

  “No, probably not. But maybe his son?”

  Max didn’t say anything. He couldn’t believe that Donny could have raised a gang rapist.

  “Never mind,” she said. “You need to get to shelter and out of those wet clothes. I’ll call your sister and let her know where you are.”

 
; He agreed and reminded her to meet him in Duluth when this was done. She agreed and then hung up.

  Max returned the phone to his backpack and then swapped out his gun for his spare, shoving the full spare magazines into his pockets. Then he put his pack on his back and hurried off through the forest, following the shore toward the south.

  26

  The warm fire and pizza in their bellies, along with the wine, had most of them in a coma hanging out in the living room of Donny’s cabin.

  Robin had just turned on her phone when a call came in. She went into one of the bedrooms for privacy.

  “Is this Martina?” she asked.

  “Good guess. Hey, I just got a hold of your brother on his SAT phone.” She explained what she knew about Max and what she had told him about the four men.

  “Just one guy left?” Robin asked.

  “Yes. But Max got capsized along the western shore. He’s wet and cold. Maybe a mile north of your location.”

  “Should we go look for him?” Robin asked.

  “No. The other man is heading your way.”

  “He can’t know we’re here,” Robin assured the NCIS special agent. “And the police have a road block set up. There’s nowhere for that man to go.”

  “There’s a fifth man somewhere,” Martina said. Then she went on to explain the background of the four men, along with the fifth one involved in the high school rape case.

  “They’ve been doing this for some twenty years?” Robin asked.

  “I checked on the passports of the two names Max gave me. They traveled last summer to Thailand, along with two more men. That’s how I traced them back to high school. The fifth man must have changed his name, though.”

  “Did you check on anyone else around that same age traveling with them last year?” Robin asked.

  “Just from the Twin Cities area,” Martina said. “I’ll expand that search. The fifth man could have flown from another city and met the four men in Bangkok.”

  Robin thanked her for her help and then hung up. Now she felt justified getting Max’s gun from his truck. Knowing there was still a mad gunman on the loose in the area was disheartening. Maybe she could convince Donny to arm up with his shotgun.

  Kim got up as Robin came into the living room again. She pulled Robin into the kitchen to talk. Robin had wrapped the younger woman’s ankle better after her shower, and she seemed to be walking much better on it.

  “What’s up?” Robin asked. “Your ankle seems much better.”

  “It is, thanks.” She hesitated. “I’ve been texting with my boss,” Kim said. “They got to the Disappointment portage trail and found the two men. But both of their canoes were gone.”

  Robin nodded. “Max took one and the other two men took the other one.” She wasn’t sure how much she should tell this woman. Technically, Kim had hired her and Max to find her sister, and they had done just that. Her obligation was complete.

  “Where did they go?” Kim asked.

  “Out on Snowbank.” Robin explained how Max had talked with his friend in NCIS on his SAT phone. “He was forced to kill another man.”

  “That leaves just one.”

  “Yep.”

  Kim gave Robin a big hug. Then she pulled away and said, “Thanks again for your help.”

  “You need to thank Max,” Robin said.

  “I plan on it.”

  Robin could only imagine how this woman planned to thank her brother. But she didn’t let her mind go there. Besides, Max was a big boy.

  Suddenly, a knock on the door startled them both. Robin almost drew her weapon, but then recognized the man at the door.

  “How did he find us?” Robin asked.

  Standing on the stoop was the Forest Service law enforcement special agent, Wayne Cranston.

  “He knew we were with Donny,” Kim said, heading toward the door. “My old boss must have given him directions.”

  Kim unlocked the door and let the man inside. “Did you find the last man?”

  Cranston shook his head and said, “You mean the last two.”

  Kim said, “No. Just one left. Her brother was forced to kill another one.”

  The special agent glanced at Robin with interest. Perhaps too much, she thought.

  “I need to talk with your sister and the young girl while everything is fresh in their minds,” Cranston said, and then tried to move into the room.

  Robin stopped the man with a hand to his chest. “That can wait. They’re tired and need their rest. They’ve been through hell.”

  “Who are you to them?” Cranston asked while he glanced down at her hand on his chest.

  “A friend,” Robin said. “And their lawyer.”

  She felt the man press forward against her hand for a second before backing off.

  “I guess it could wait until morning,” the special agent said with a glowering smirk. Then he turned to Kim and added, “Bring your sister and the girl by the district office at zero nine hundred.” This came out as an order, not a request.

  Then the Forest Service law enforcement special agent reluctantly put on his hat and backed out into the light rain and gloomy darkness of late afternoon.

  Robin locked the back door and turned to Kim. “What did Max call that guy?”

  Kim laughed. “A tool. But I think he needs to reassess that assumption. Most tools at least have a purpose.”

  “I guess in theory the man is partially right,” Robin said. “Most crime victims should be interviewed as soon as possible. But my brother has already identified the men involved with the kidnapping and rape of your sister and Judy.”

  “Right,” Kim said. “And three of them are dead. It’s only a matter of time before they catch number four.”

  She had a damn good point, Robin thought. There was no good reason to interview the girls yet.

  Donny came from the living room and said, “Who was at the door?”

  “Forest Service Law Enforcement,” Kim said.

  “Junior park ranger,” Donny said with a smirk. “What’d he want?”

  “To interview the girls,” Robin said. “I told him to piss off until tomorrow.”

  “Good for you.” Donny found a beer in the refrigerator and asked Kim and Robin if they wanted one. Neither did. He twisted open the top and took a long draw. Then he said, “What’s the plan?”

  “I was hoping we can stay until my brother gets here,” Robin said.

  “You ladies can stay as long as you like,” Donny said. “It’s nice having some people in this old cabin.”

  Perfect opening, Robin thought. “You have a son and daughter, right? Where are they?”

  “My daughter is in Burnsville and my son is in Golden Valley.”

  “I’m not familiar with those places,” Robin said.

  Kim broke in. “They’re suburbs of the Twin Cities.”

  “And you lived there until moving to Ely?” Robin asked.

  “Yeah,” Donny said. “Why all the questions?”

  Robin hunched her shoulders. “Just trying to figure out what makes a man move his family out of the big city to a remote place like this.”

  “Easy,” Donny said. “Although we lived on a lake in the north suburbs of St. Paul, we used to come up to the Boundary Waters in the summer. We fell in love with the place.”

  “That’s understandable,” Robin said.

  “I really miss living here,” Kim said. “I’m hoping to someday come back and take over the district.”

  The three of them went back into the living room overlooking Snowbank Lake down the hill from Donny’s cabin. Robin stood before the picture window and wondered where her brother was at that moment. What was taking him so long? She trusted Max with her life, but he had a tendency to take unnecessary risks. He would call them ‘calculated ventures.’ But she had been forced to chastise him so many times over the years for putting himself in danger that she felt her words were not getting through his thick skull. She could have called his SAT phone, but she di
dn’t want to disturb him if he was tracking down the last man.

  As she glanced at the storm crossing the large lake, she prayed to God that Max wasn’t still out on the water somewhere. Hopefully, he would have enough sense to get off the water during a lightning storm.

  Just as that thought crossed her mind, the sky filled with shards of lightning streaking through it. Thunder roared and shook the windows. Then the lights went out.

  “Don’t worry,” Donny said. “I’ve got candles, flashlights and a generator. But it doesn’t kick in automatically. I’ll need to go out and start it.”

  Robin waited for her eyes to adjust to the relative darkness. Luckily, they were a few hours away from the real blackness of nightfall.

  27

  Max had been heading toward hypothermia, but there wasn’t much he could do about it until he got to a warm, dry location. He found a spot relatively safe in the woods at the base of a point with a view of Snowbank Lake to the north and the south. By the time he got there, he couldn’t see the last man in the canoe. Perhaps the guy had gone out farther into the lake toward one of the southern Boundary Waters entry points. That wouldn’t have been smart, of course, since he had to believe the police and Forest Service would be there waiting for him.

  Finding the protection of a cluster of thick cedars and pines, Max built a fire and stripped off his clothes to let them dry. He huddled in a space blanket close to the fire long enough for his clothes to dry and his body core temperature to rise back to a normal level.

  Just as he got his clothes back on and covered them with his quiet raingear, he heard his SAT phone buzz in his backpack.

  He found his phone and said, “Yeah.”

  “You’re still with us?” Martina Lopez asked.

  “Barely. What’s up?”

  “I’ve been on the phone with law enforcement all over the place this afternoon, from the Twin Cities to Thailand.”

  “Okay. And?”

  “The young woman raped in Minnesota some twenty years ago died of an overdose before the men could go to trial. The prosecutors were forced to drop the case without her testimony.”