by James Hunt
But there was the quietest echo of a voice in the back of her head. The words it whispered couldn’t be heard at first, but just the tone of the voice made her feel better. It was the voice of her mother. Slowly, she stretched one arm forward, along with one of her legs, and crawled. Her stomach barely lifted off the ground, and it continued to scrape against the dirt as she evaded the men shouting behind her.
Every pull of her arm or leg forward, every time she pressed her shin or forearm into the dirt, she assumed it would be her last. The people hunting her would see the grass move, or she would come across a snake to make her jump and scream, but with every inch her confidence grew. Tears cleared from her eyes, and she quickened her pace.
And the farther she moved away from the chaos behind her, the more her courage grew. Her breathing steadied along with her arms and legs. Every few dozen feet she glanced behind her, making sure whoever it was trying to kill her wasn’t following.
More of the same foreign language echoed over the plains, and Gwen froze when she heard the throaty roar of the car engines crank to life. She slowly craned her neck back around, and between the narrow blades of grass, she saw headlights penetrate the encroaching darkness. The beams of light cut through the field surrounding her to her left and right. And then she heard the soft crunch of the grass as the cars inched forward, searching the field.
Gwen hastened her crawl. She stumbled forward a few times, her chin digging into the hard earth with each fall. But there was no pain with these scratches, no sense of feeling in any limb or vessel of her body. Only one thought propelled her, and it was wedged at the forefront of her mind. If they catch me, I’m dead. She pushed through the grass blindly, foregoing any semblance of camouflage and hoping that her movement of the grass would be mistaken for the wind.
“There!”
She was wrong. Gwen pushed herself off her knees and sprinted. When her head popped up out of the tall grass she didn’t look behind her, or when she heard their shouts, or the gunfire, or even the heavy roar of the engines, which were pushed to their limits off road. She simply ran.
But when the first car circled her and blocked the path to nowhere, she veered left, only to be tackled to the ground by one of the armed men as the rest of the goons circled like sharks in the open water.
A heavy force suddenly slammed into her back, and she smacked face-first into the grass and dirt. At first the vicious hit blocked all sound through the horrendous pain, but the longer her face was buried in the dirt, the clearer the sounds became. It was laughter.
A light tickle of hot breath brushed against her ear when her captor whispered his foreign language, which Gwen now recognized as some type of Spanish. His meaty palm and fingers kept her face pressed against the earth, limiting her view to the roots of matted grass. Twice she tried to free herself, and twice she was rewarded with a punch to the side of her ribs. After the second hit, she submitted. There wasn’t any escape now.
But the longer Gwen was kept there on the ground, the more she grew frightened of what they meant to do to her. What were they waiting for? Were they going to kill her? Take her? Or something worse? She swallowed the fear and tasted the gritty dirt that had made its way into her mouth.
A steady crunch of footsteps against grass grew louder with every step. And Gwen’s limited view of the world around her was suddenly blocked by a pair of old, worn, scuffed black boots. And then darkness.
32
4 Hours Left
The diner off the side of the road looked more abandoned than open, but when Lena and Jake pulled up and saw Ken sitting at one of the booths through the dirty window, it was proved otherwise. Neither Jake nor Lena said a word when they stepped out of the truck and into the establishment. They hadn’t spoken for the past hour, and she didn’t see a reason to start now.
The place was empty except for them, and when Lena and Jake joined Ken at the booth, the waitress walked over, begrudgingly, and cocked her hip out to the left. “What do you want?”
“Coffee,” Lena said.
“Same,” Jake said.
The old crow didn’t bother writing it down and left before they had a chance to order anything, which Lena didn’t mind. She examined Ken, who was white as a sheet, and spoke quietly even though there wasn’t anyone within earshot. “Everything hammered out with the DA?”
“Yeah,” Ken said, slapping down a folder. “Copies made. So they know we’re not bluffing.”
“Good. Then let’s step outside and make the call.” The three of them walked out, and Lena made sure to tell the waitress they’d be back before she had a chance to scream at them. They huddled near Jake’s truck, and just as Ken was about to dial, Lena stopped him. “No. It should be me.”
Ken pulled up Scott’s number and then extended the mobile to Lena. She pressed call and waited for the answer. It rang three times, and then he answered.
“Where are you?” Scott asked. “The execs are waiting for you to start the press conference.”
“There isn’t going to be a press conference,” Lena answered. “Not unless you want it to be about the illegal dumping, or the extortion used in your land acquisitions.”
Scott paused before he answered, and when he finally did speak Lena could have sworn that there was a smile to his voice. “Is that what you have scheduled for this evening, Mrs. Hayes? A tall tale for our friends in the press?”
“Cut the shit.” Lena snarled and tightened her grip on the phone. “I know you have my daughter. I know it was you who took her, so I suggest that if you don’t want me to end you and your boss’s pathetic little mafia scam, you let her go.”
“And you think you can trust Ken to follow through on whatever deal you’ve made with him?” Scott laughed. “The man switches sides faster than Benedict Arnold. You can’t trust him.”
Lena felt her eyes shift to Ken, doing her best to ignore the doubt that she had been struggling with. “One more reason to give up my daughter. You never know what side of the coin will land face up. And I don’t think it’s something that you or your employer want to risk.”
“You want your daughter in exchange for all of the evidence you have against New Energy? But what about your bill? Had I known you were so willing to throw it all away over the life of a stupid little girl, I would have done this a long time ago.”
“I’ll text you the coordinates of where and when we’ll meet.”
“No!” Scott yelled the response. “It will be on my terms. And it will be somewhere you and your brother are far away from any help. And if you think I’m not in a position to negotiate, then I suggest you remind yourself who has your daughter.” The call clicked dead, and Lena felt her gut churn at the words.
A few seconds later the phone buzzed, and the coordinates and time that Scott had promised appeared on the screen. She tossed the phone back to Ken and then opened the passenger-side door of the truck. “Let’s go.”
The ride there was quiet, nothing but the hum of the road to fill their ears. Halfway through the trip Lena felt a sharp pain in her left thumb and realized that she had chewed it raw. She lowered her hand and scratched the crook of her arm.
The wide-open landscape that surrounded them passed but never seemed to change. It was a constant that had been there for thousands of years and would be there long after she and everyone in that truck was dead. It was an odd thought, but one that she couldn’t get out of her head.
When they were a mile out from the coordinates Scott had sent, Jake slowed the truck and pulled off to the side of the road per Lena’s instructions.
“All right,” Lena said. “Jake, you’re the best shot out of all of us. I want you to hang back and keep an eye on the exchange with your hunting rifle.” She handed him her phone. “Call Longwood. Have him on standby.” Lena gestured to Ken and herself. “If something happens to either one of us, have Longwood send the calvary.” She swallowed and drew in a breath. “At that point it’s trying to get to Kaley as fast as possible before the
y can hurt her.” She prayed it wouldn’t come to that, but there wasn’t any guarantee they would be successful. As far as she was willing to go to save her daughter, she knew the oil company was willing to go even farther.
“I’ll drive up ahead,” Jake said. “Even if they see me, they won’t recognize my truck.” He reached behind him on the back floorboard and grabbed a duffel bag. He unzipped it and pulled out two walkie-talkies. “I don’t know how good cell reception is going to be out here, but these are certified for up to five miles. Wait until I give the all-clear before you guys go forward, all right?” He then reached into the bag and pulled out two pistols, which he handed to her and then, reluctantly, to Ken. “Make sure you keep those in your hands when you get close. Make sure Scott sees them. If he thinks you’re armed, then he might not suspect I’m with you.”
Lena gripped the pistol in her hand, and the metal and composite felt oddly cool. She tucked the weapon behind her back in her waistband and reached across the seat and gave her brother a hug. When she pulled back she placed both hands on his face. “It doesn’t matter what happens to me, just what happens to Kaley. Get her. No matter what.”
Jake offered a stiff nod, and Lena exited the car. She clipped the walkie-talkie to her belt, and she and Ken started their trek away from the road, just in case Scott hadn’t arrived yet. Lena felt her eyes glancing over to Ken, and each time she saw him shiver. It wasn’t cold out, and there was virtually no breeze to speak of, but he wouldn’t stop shaking. “You think he’s going to kill us?”
“I know he’s going to try.” Ken looked down at the weapon in his hand, which he held awkwardly at his side. “I’ve seen some bad men in my life. In my line of work it’s unavoidable. But it’s rare that you come across something evil. Really evil.” His voice grew softer. “I didn’t realize what I’d gotten myself into until it was too late.”
“Yeah,” Lena said. “Me too.”
They both stopped when the road behind them was nothing more than a sliver of a tract and then crouched low in the tall grass, Ken with his eyes on the ground. The radio on Lena’s hip crackled, and she pressed it to her ear. “Say again, Jake?”
“I see one truck out in the direction of your coordinates, just north from where I dropped you off. There’s a structure out there that looks like an old shed. Looks like there’s only one person in the truck, but there’s no way to tell if there are more people laying down in the back or in the shed itself.”
Lena’s heart nearly leapt from her throat. Kaley. “Me and Ken are heading over. Keep an eye out.” She tucked the radio in her waistband at the back and untucked her shirt to cover it. “Let’s go.” With the possibility of Kaley being so close, she had to keep herself from sprinting, and she fought that urge the entire way.
Lena removed her pistol and extended both arms out to aim as she stepped forward, and Ken did the same. She kept her eyes peeled for anything suspicious, but the closer the two of them moved, the only visible markers in her line of sight were the truck and the shed. But when the door to the truck opened and Scott stepped out, she fought the urge to gun him down then and there.
“Mrs. Hayes,” Scott said, his voice carrying over the open plains, “I’m surprised you showed up.”
Lena focused her willpower not to eye the old shed with too much eagerness, but she struggled. “It’s over, Scott. You and the people you work for have backed yourself into a corner. You don’t have any moves left to play. You give me my daughter right now, and I make sure the North Dakota DA doesn’t tear you and your employer a new one. It’s that simple.”
Ken cowered next to her and then looked to the ground when Scott’s eyes fell upon him. The sight made him laugh. “And I suppose this is your source?” Scott asked, pointing to Ken. “I could kill the both of you right now and bury you out here without any remorse.” He squinted to the west, where Jake had parked his truck. “Though I suppose your brother is out there somewhere watching us right now.”
Lena tightened her grip on her pistol and moved her finger to the trigger. “You kill us, and the DA does a full-court press.” Lena motioned to Ken who tossed the folder in the grass between them. “It’s all on paper. You can take that one if you want. Don’t worry, we have more copies.”
Scott smiled. “I’m impressed. With everything I read on you and your campaign after I was hired by New Energy, I thought you would be an easy nut to crack. But you’ve proved me wrong.” He backtracked toward the shed, spreading his arms wide. “I mean, I tried to run you off the road!” He laughed. “I planted the thought of trying to kill you into Jim Foreman’s head.” He turned around and didn’t stop until he reached the shed door. “But did I take Kaley?” He shrugged.
“No more games!” Lena pointed to the folder still in the grass. “You want that to go away? You give me Kaley, now.”
Scott placed his hand on the door handle and smiled. “You’ve showed your hand, Mrs. Hayes. Now, I would like to up the ante.” The door slammed against the side of the shed, and Scott pulled a body wrapped in a tarp out of the shed. It was big. Too big to be Kaley. “You see, the problem with people like you, Mrs. Hayes, is that you never think you don’t have any more to lose.” He stepped around to the head of the body, and bent over to grab the edge. “But people like you always do.” He flung the tarp and revealed Mark’s bloodied and beaten face.
“NOO!” Rage pulled the trigger, but with the pumping adrenaline Lena’s first two shots missed as Scott darted around the shed. She gave chase, but Ken pulled her back behind the cover of the truck. When she tried to get away he pinned her arms down. “Your daughter’s not here!”
It took a second for what Ken was trying to say to sink in. If Kaley wasn’t here, then that meant Scott really didn’t take her daughter, or he was holding her somewhere else. “Then I’m going to go and find out where she is.” She shoved Ken backward and leapt up from behind the truck, pistol aimed at the shed, but her eyes were on Mark’s body. Her eyes reddened. Phlegm and tears gained momentum with every step forward, and rage continued to burn through walls of fear and anxiety.
“You want to come out of this alive?” Scott asked, shouting from behind the shed. “Then you give me confirmation that your evidence is destroyed. If you don’t, I make a call to a friend, and one of your girls dies.”
“I’m going to rip you apart!” Spit flew from Lena’s mouth between the angered shouts. But as she moved closer to the shed, slowly circling the perimeter, she couldn’t keep the pistol steady.
“But I’ll tell you what,” Scott said, his voice growing closer, and Lena swiveled from left to right then back again, trying to pinpoint his voice’s origin. “I’ll let you pick which one dies first.”
The gunshot sounded from behind her, and Lena spun around to see Ken sprint from behind the truck. “He’s heading around back toward you!”
But when Lena turned around Scott was already there, tackling her into the dirt, the vicious blow knocking the wind from her lungs. Choking for air, she became aware of two things: the first was that she no longer held the pistol, and the second was Scott’s hand around her throat.
“The last thing you’ll see on this earth is my face, you fucking bitch!” Scott rammed his fist into her face, and she felt her body go numb. But just when he raised his hand high again, another gunshot rang out, and this one knocked Scott to the ground.
Lena rolled away from him, her cheeks a purplish red as she hacked and coughed between large gulps of air. She looked over to see Ken holding the weapon in his hand, and then saw where her pistol had landed in the grass and picked it up from the ground.
She stumbled to where Ken lay on his back, his breathing quick and shallow, and a bloodstained patch of grass to his right. She swayed as she aimed the pistol at his head. “Where is my daughter?” Scott coughed and spit up blood, trying to raise his head. When he made eye contact with Lena he smiled, his teeth stained crimson. The next words were slow, making sure she didn’t miss hear him like she did earl
ier. “Daughtersssssss.” He hissed out the last annunciation until it was cut short by another gargle of blood.
The realization slowly broke through the blood lust. They have Gwen. Lena dropped to her knee and pressed the pistol into Scott’s head. “Where are my daughters?” Her face reddened as she screamed, the tears dripping from her eyes burning up on her flushed cheeks. But before he answered a gunshot sounded to the west, stealing her attention.
“Ah, and that would be another member of your family to die, Mrs. Hayes.” Scott gargled the words through thick globs of blood. “And it’s going to continue to happen. Your husband. Your brother. Your offspring.”
Lena dropped the pistol and curled her hand into a fist, raising it high before slamming it into Scott’s face, cutting short his laughter. Each hit bathed her hand in the warm claret, which splattered over her chest and face. She screamed, pounding Scott’s face repeatedly, each blow faster and harder than the previous one.
Even after Scott’s body went limp, Lena continued to hit him. She felt a pair of hands on her, trying to pull her away, but she fought them off, not wanting to end her assault on the man who had caused so much pain to her family. She wasn’t done yet.
“Lena!” Ken lifted her face with both hands and then thrust the radio into her chest. “Jake!”
Slowly, Lena became more aware of the gunshots popping in the west. She looked over to Mark’s dead body and then picked up the pistol and fished the truck keys out of Scott’s pocket. She climbed behind the wheel and started the engine, leaving Ken, Mark, and whatever was left of her conscience behind.
Once the call to Longwood had been made, Jake planted both elbows on top of the hood of his truck and peered through the scope of his rifle, watching Lena through the lens on her approach every step of the way. His finger was extended beyond the trigger but remained only a quick jerk away from being able to squeeze it. He chose a distance far enough away to stay hidden but close enough to where he was confident he could still be accurate.