Chapter 21
As the men dashed out of the courthouse door, Jacobs shouted, “Catfish? Cut the tires on the patrol cars. Be sure you get at least two on each one. I don’t want anyone following us.”
Blake pointed to the employee parking area. “Jacobs and I will get those.”
Catfish sprinted to the first car, pulled a pocketknife and stabbed the tire. Ed Barton ran past him to the second car and did the same. As Blake and Jacobs worked the private cars in the employee parking area, Blake yelled, “Barton is an FBI agent? I wonder what he’s doing in West Creek County.”
Jacobs, while cutting a three-inch gash in a one hundred dollar tire, said, “I don’t know. Probably has something to do with the drug dealers.”
Catfish raced past Barton patted him on the shoulder and said “Old man Hanister down at the tire place is gonna’ get rich from all this here commotion.”
“Yea boy, Catfish, remind me to call my broker and buy more stock in Michelin.”
Blake yelled at Jacobs. “How’d you know I was arrested?”
“I didn’t. I showed up ahead of you, pure luck. They already had Barton. He’s the one who was telling me what Brooks was planning for you, him and me. At about that time they showed up with you.”
“I wonder how they found out Barton is a Fed.”
“I think they got suspicious when he showed you Matt’s car.”
Blake motioned. “Come on, that’ll hold them for a while. Let’s get out of here.”
While running back toward the main parking area, Blake put two fingers between his lips and issued a shrill, piercing whistle. “Catfish? Barton? Let’s go. Let’s go. That will have to do for now.”
The two men came running across the parking garage. Barton jumped in the rear of the patrol unit, Catfish slammed the door and then moved to the driver's door and leaned down and said, "I'll get the truck."
"Wait, here, take this walkie talkie. It's on frequency two. I don't think they'll be monitoring it. Stay with me on that thing and stay close."
Catfish nodded and stepped back as Jacobs backed the car out of the parking space and stomped on the gas, aiming at the exit ramp. The police car hit the gate and bounced over a speed bump throwing sparks from the chassis, turned left on Main Street and shot away from the courthouse.
Blake waited a few moments then took the mate for the walkie talkie Jacobs had handed Catfish. He keyed the switch and asked, "Catfish, you got that thing on yet?"
A pickup truck skidded around a corner half a block behind them, straightened up then the radio crackled, "Got it on, good buddy. I'm on your six and readin' you loud an clear."
"Who is watching after Gail out at Matt’s place?”
“Chuck and Edie showed up about an hour ago driving that blue Lincoln of hers.”
“Are you sure it was Edie and not Max?”
“Shoot yea. Max Pary wouldn’t go to the outhouse unless he was driving that gray ‘Vette of his. I’m positive it was Edie and Chuck. I saw all three sittin’ at the table, looking friendly and everything.”
“How’d you know Walt arrested me?”
“Clark showed up at Matt’s place and told me something was up, that a whole parade of Sheriff Cars was heading out of town toward the mill. Since Chuck was with Gail, I decided we better get out there and see what was going on. We drove on over to the mill and seen the Sheriff and all his monkeys hauling you off in the back of the p’lice car.”
Jacobs said, "Ask him where Clark is right now?”
Blake relayed the question and Catfish came back. “I don’t know. I was watching for him when I went past that gas station back yonder but he wasn't there. We made us a plan to spook everybody out of the jailhouse so I could get in and bust you loose. Clark was supposed to make a phone call telling them he was holding old lady Pary at gunpoint and wanted five thousand dollars.”
Jacobs looked at Blake. “Five thousand, is that all?”
“It’s a fair bit of money to be askin’ for an old lady, don’t you think?”
Jacobs sighed. “Yea in Catfish's mind it is. Tell him we'll swing back later and find Clark.”
Blake repeated the message into the radio and Catfish said, “Okay, but he was supposed to meet us along the street back yonder. I told him to be walking along and we could pick him up. I guess he never got to call or our little plan didn’t work on that end. Did somebody call in while ya’ll was inside?”
Jacobs turned left on the county road north and pointed the car away from town. Catfish followed. Blake replied on the radio, “I don’t know Catfish. I was somewhat busy there for a while. As for Edie Pary, I still have my doubts about that woman. I sure hope she isn’t up to something.”
Barton shook his head. “No she’s not up to anything Jacobs. She and Matt have been seeing each other quietly for a while. I use to spot them every day or so up near the creek, couple times having little picnics and stuff. They were being discreet and didn’t want anyone to know.”
Blake said, “That was because of her brother and Aunt I think. Matt never said much too me about Edie but I could tell he had something going with her. If she was using him then she’s a good actor.”
Jacobs, checking the rearview mirror, asked, “Where do we go from here?”
Blake said, “We better pick up Chuck, Gail, and I guess Edie Pary, at Matt’s house. It might be safer for all of us if we get out of town for the night, head toward Macon or Atlanta. They’re trying to kill us so we need to keep our heads down, stick close together, and wait for the cavalry to arrive.”
Catfish asked over the radio, “Anybody know where Max Pary is tonight? He’s the head of the snake that we need to cut off.”
All eyes in the car looked around but no one answered. Blake keyed the radio. "Nobody knows, Catfish."
Barton finally said, “I need to contact my office and bring them up to date on what’s happening. I can get some help rolling this way too, my cover’s blown so it doesn’t matter if they know I’m FBI or not, but if the Sheriff puts out a state wide APB on us then we are going to need all the help we can get and fast.”
Jacobs shook his head. “I don’t think Max Pary will let Brooks do that. They don’t want to risk outside cops in the area right now. Before I left the house tonight, I called a friend with the GBI. He’s coming down tomorrow. I need to call him back and get him moving this way right now. Maybe we need to worry about just a place to hide until tomorrow but let’s stay in town.”
Blake said, “For now let’s head to Matt’s place and we can decide then, you two can make your calls from there. I never wanted a damn cell phone in my life, until now.”
“No problem.” Barton said from the back seat. “I don’t want to wait until tomorrow either and Jacobs, your friend at the GBI, no offense, mind you, but this case might fall under my jurisdiction and not theirs.”
Jacobs shrugged. “I got no problem with calling in more help and I don’t care whether the state or the Feds take the case, just so long as somebody takes it. But come to think of it, the drug running does make it Federal.”
Barton said, “Maybe, but right now it doesn’t matter. Let’s just wrap this town up with cops of any brand or creed. As of right now, I don’t have much proof of anything that would involve the FBI taking down Max Pary. Sheriff Brooks and Thompson I can nail to the wall.”
Blake keyed the walkie talkie again and asked, “How long will it take them to get those cars going?”
“They’re gonna need a truck load of new tires so I’d say three to four hours unless some of them gets smart and takes all the good tires and put them on one car.”
Blake looked at Jacobs. “When did Chuck get out of the hospital?”
“Not too long ago I’d guess. He was there when I talked to him on the phone about ten o’clock tonight. He told me that Edie was going to pick him up.”
Blake snapped, “And you didn’t try to stop him?”
Jacobs glared at Blake but said nothing.
&nb
sp; Once on the open highway, Bill pushed the car up to speed quickly and again checked the rear view mirror. Johnny's truck was pacing a quarter mile back, otherwise, there were no lights following as far as he could tell.
Five minutes later, he braked the car harshly and made a quick turn onto the dirt road. “Maybe we should have stayed at the jail and placed them under arrest. I wonder how long it’ll be before somebody finds them locked up in the back.”
Barton shook his head. “Not long. Another patrol unit was over on the east side of the County on a call. They’ll probably try to contact the dispatcher and when they don’t get an answer, they’ll come running.”
“I guess so,” Jacobs said. “We’ve sure got little proof. There are too many loose ends, so who knows whether Walt can cover most of their tracks or not and right now, except for our own testimony, we just don’t have a whole lot of solid evidence against them.”
Barton added, “We could make a case with what they’ve done to us already but it wouldn’t be much compared to what it should be. The only way I can figure to tie Pary into this deal would be to prove that he murdered Matt and right now we can’t even prove that Matt is dead. It would be easier if we had a body.”
Several hundred yards from the driveway to Matt’s house, they spotted a dark blue, pickup truck parked by the edge of the road. The cab was empty. Barton said, “This is not good.”
Blake keyed the radio and said, "Catfish, listen up real good. We are going to make a few changes to plans."
The Beginning (Whispering Pines Book 1) Page 44