True Valor

by Jax Hunter

A perfect day to jump. Hop and pops—quickies, so to speak. Jumping from three thousand feet and immediately engaging your parachute.

  Before taking off, Nic was officially welcomed back by a locker that exploded with packing peanuts and a dousing of IV fluid.

  If anyone was nervous, it wasn’t evident. Matt was first to egress the plane, designated navigator today.

  The rest of Bravo Squad followed. Looked into the wind, stepped off, and pulled his rip cord. There was very little talk as they descended.

  Nic broke the silence. “Hey kid, find us a soft place to land.”

  Others cleared their throats.

  DQ chimed in. “You better navigate better than you ride bulls, Rodeo.”

  The kid laughed. “I ride bulls real good, sir.”

  “As evidenced by your face?”

  “What’s wrong with my face, Sir?”

  The jump went well, except for the freakin’ snow they had to deal with, both in the air and on the ground. Mac flew the Pavehawk to pick them up, and they spent the early hours of the evening drinking coffee to warm up and spreading gear out to dry.

  The triple funeral was planned for late afternoon Monday. Julie wanted it in the morning, but there were scheduling conflicts. A few friends of her folks had stopped by the house and offered to take care of the food and the phone calls. Julie graciously accepted their help.

  She tried hard to not look over her shoulder, but wasn’t entirely successful. Double and triple checking the locks on the doors had become a ritual and she retrieved her dad’s “house gun” from the top shelf of the hall closet. She stuck it in her pack whenever she went out.

  Her cell phone was programmed with all the numbers on Cruz’s card, just in case. Yeah, right, like Nic and Eric could just beam here if she needed help. Batman was good but he wasn’t faster than a speeding bullet.

  “Mixing up your superheroes, again, Jules.” Sorrow lodged in her chest. When had she ever felt so weary? Maybe it was just grief. Still, it sucked to not be able to concentrate. It sucked that all she could think about was…him.

  His arms around her. The twinkle in his dark eyes before he kissed her. That damnable smile. But there was more. The way they’d danced. How he teased her about putting mustard on her fries. His firm grip on reality. The way he’d explained everything at SAR HQ. The way he cared about his team.

  If only’s occupied her every thought. She’d picked up the card Cruz had left her at least three times a day, wondering if Nic would answer the phone if she called the Section.

  What idiocy.

  Once this was all over, she’d get back to Redding and get on with her life. By God, she would never have to learn this lesson again.

  Nic spent the weekend thinking about anything but Julie. And while he was not thinking about Julie, he was snapping everyone’s head off and offending even strangers. Cruz had apparently given up the ship, ‘cause he had said a few choice words and left the house. Batman had been suckered by a sweet face and frightened eyes. And, at the moment he felt stuck in quicksand.

  Sinking slow.

  The funeral of Patrick, Ellen and Jennifer Galloway was well attended by the residents of Lassen County. Julie managed to get through it without a complete meltdown, but walked through fog. The reception following the funeral was held in the basement of the Methodist church, even though the Galloway family had never been members. But it was the biggest place in town.

  Julie felt stiff as she moved slowly through the crowd, thanking people for coming, accepting their condolences. Her mind hitched, though, when she overheard the words sheriff and headlines in the same sentence. She paused to listen.

  “Yes, apparently he never was a Green Beret and, if you can believe it, he lied when he said he was a POW. It’s all in this morning’s paper.”

  Julie let out her breath on a sigh. Maybe the guy would get away with murder. She certainly hoped not. But at least he’d get a bit of what was coming to him. She’d stop and pick up a paper on the way home.

  Her plan was to spend another day or so tying up loose ends before going back to Redding. A meeting with her folks’ attorney was scheduled for early tomorrow morning.

  In the parking lot of the gas station, where she’d stopped to get a paper, she read the entire article occupying the bottom half of the front page, just below the picture of the smiling sheriff wearing his Army uniform. The headline read “Stolen Valor.”

  Not only was Sheriff Raines not a Green Beret in Vietnam, not only was he never held captive there, but the Distinguished Service Cross that graced his uniform was not authentic. Though the investigation was ongoing, there was, at this point, no evidence that Raines had ever been in the military. The reporter speculated that he might have bought the medal in a pawn shop somewhere.

  Smiling, Julie fished the cell phone from her purse and dialed. Her mouth went dry when Cruz answered. It took a moment to realize she’d gotten the answering machine.

  “You’ve reached Batman and Hollywood. Please leave a message, and if we’re not too busy saving the world, we’ll get back to you.”

  She almost hung up. But maybe the answering machine was better, anyway.

  “Nic, Eric. Just wanted you to know that your fake-SEAL tracker came through. It’s all over the front page of the paper. Thanks for all your help.” She quickly disconnected before “I miss you,” or “I love you,” tumbled from her mouth.

  For the rest of the drive home, Julie continued to glance over at the paper, her attention drawn to the smiling face featured there. It might have been her imagination—hindsight is twenty twenty—but there sure looked to be mocking in his eyes. As she pulled up in front of the house, she wondered how he would react to his change of fortune.

  And when she twisted the dead bolt after shutting the door, the soft laughter behind her made her wish she’d thought about that question a bit more seriously.

  Nic tugged off his maroon beret and tossed it, along with his keys, onto the kitchen counter. It was good to be back to his life. He pulled a bottle of water from the fridge, twisted off the cap and drained it. Then, he shot the bottle across the room to the trash and turned toward the living room.

  If he’d stayed late at work, like Cruz did, he wouldn’t be home now. If he’d sipped the water, he’d still be in the kitchen and wouldn’t have come into the living room to see the blink of the answering machine. And if he hadn’t seen that blink, he wouldn’t now be standing here mutely, stung by the voice on the tape and suddenly panicked by the message.

  Before the message ended, he fished his cell from the thigh pocket of his flight suit and dialed Cruz.

  “Pick up, damn it.”

  An eternity later, he did. “Cruz.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Just about to leave the section.”

  “Well, book it. We got big problems.”

  “What’s up?”

  “As of this morning, Raines has nothing to lose.”

  The soft click of a revolver being cocked. Warm breath on her neck. Julie froze. Then the whisper, hot in her ear.

  “Last time we met in this house, you kicked the shit out of me, Julie. I won’t let you do that again.” A deep guttural laugh.

  “Put your hands behind your back, sweetheart.”

  She pushed back against him. But there was little room for leverage. He shoved her hard into the door, his shoulder in the middle of her back.

  “Put your hands behind your back.” He slid the gun up to her neck.

  When she did so, he slapped cuffs on her.

  Damn. She pushed against the wall with her legs, desperate.

  But he simply stepped aside and she landed hard on the floor, scraping her cheek on the off-white carpet.

  An unwanted groan escaped her lips before he leaned down and slapped duct tape over her mouth. Raines crouched beside her, a nicely printed piece of paper dangling from his hand.

  RESTING—PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB—JULIE

  Again, he laughed with a l
ow rumble. He pushed to his feet, opened the front door a crack and taped the note to the door. Then closed it quietly as he spoke.

  “Poor Julie. She’s just buried her entire family. And now, she’s resting. We won’t disturb her today.”

  He reached down, manhandled Julie to her feet. Pain screamed through her shoulders and she bit down on a cry.

  Holding her from behind, he whispered in her ear.

  “Sweet Julie. Taekwondo Julie. We’re going to hang out here until later tonight. Then we’re going to the cabin. You know…where you killed my deputy.”

  Julie shook her head violently. That earned her a blow to the back of the head that staggered her.

  “Shall we go into your parents’ room? Hmmm?”

  Again, she shook her head, this time pushing back with her feet.

  “Don’t wanna go in there, sweet Julie?”

  He turned her to face him. “I know the cleaning crew’s been here. Surely, all the blood is gone?” The light went on in his eyes. “Oh, it’s not that, is it? You just don’t want to get down and dirty in the bedroom, huh? Well...”

  He put his hands on her butt and pulled her close, grinding his groin into her. “Now that you mention it.”

  Her stomach roiled with panic. Please, God. No. If she’d had even an inch...

  But her eyes must have shown what she was thinking. This time, he hauled his fist back and cold-cocked her. The world went black on her way down.

  When Cruz burst into the house, Nic had already pulled up the newspaper article on the computer. He’d called DQ and gotten permission to fly to Susanville, taking Cruz and any volunteers from Bravo Squad he could find. They’d call it a training mission. But the LT warned that nobody better get hurt or arrested. Heads would roll.

  At Cruz’s questions, Nic simply pointed him in the direction of the computer. While Cruz read, Nic dialed information and got the Galloways’ home number. He’d already tried calling the number from which Julie had left the message. There was no answer. Dread squeezed hard in his gut.

  The phone rang. It was completely dark. The mammoth headache, though, brought Julie back to the present, even though it took a minute to figure out where she was.

  And the phone continued to ring.

  She was in the tub. The bathroom door was closed and there was no window to let in light. Her hands were still cuffed behind her back, and the duct tape was still on her mouth. But now, her feet were taped as well. If there’d been water in the tub, she’d have drowned.

  Her heart raced and she struggled to catch her breath. Calm down. You know how to do this. Calm the heck down.

  Finally, the ringing stopped and Julie moaned behind the gag.

  They were all at the house. Well, all but Quillen. They’d heard the details of the past few weeks and had an update on the current situation. Cruz and Nic were flying up north. No one else was obligated to do so.

  Hell, the whole thing might be a false alarm.

  “Yeah, right.” Chris Gabriel leaned against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed. He’d come from work and still wore his flight suit. So did Will.

  Matt was first to jump in. “Well, hell, I’m in. Action is action.”

  When all was said and done, none of them were willing to be left behind. Once Cruz made a few calls—his plane wouldn’t safely carry them all—he would have a meeting time and place. Meanwhile, Nic made arrangements to rent a vehicle big enough to carry them and their gear at the other end.

  If Raines was still in the house, there was no evidence of it. The phone rang again and again, torturing her. What was even worse was laying completely helpless. Nothing didn’t hurt. There just wasn’t enough room to maneuver to a standing position. On top of that, the ceramic that surrounded her was cold. By the time the phone began ringing for the third time, Julie couldn’t stop shivering.

  An eternity passed. But then, she heard him coming. The door opened and Raines paused, silhouetted in the doorway. Julie blinked when he flipped on the bathroom light.

  He no longer wore his uniform, but was dressed instead for the cold. He looked bigger than Julie remembered. His face was drawn, lines etched in stone. There was no light left in the man. It was truly frightening.

  He roughly dragged her to her feet and pulled her out of the tub.

  “Time to go, Julie.”

  It was full-on dark as Raines hauled Julie to his car parked in the alley. She mentally calculated. It had to be at least five o’clock. What was the latest Nic or Cruz would get her message? It could be days. Nic’s life wasn’t lived by the clock.

  And what if they did get the message? She hadn’t been alarmed when she’d left it. Why would they be? Her parting words to Nic wouldn’t encourage him to play Batman again.

  Even if they did come, would they be in time? Would they die trying to save her?

  For the next hour, Julie lay on the back floor of Raines’ Bronco. The man droned on and on. He’d done it first to make his mother proud. His older brother had died in ‘Nam—a war hero. And he’d been invisible.

  What was the big deal, anyway? Those bastards got all the glory. They weren’t that special.

  Julie couldn’t help but wonder at his logic. Let’s face it, Vietnam veterans didn’t get all that much glory.

  And on he prattled. The story had just grown in time. He hadn’t meant to embellish it. He wasn’t taking money from the government, so why the uproar? He’d been a good sheriff. And the town had fired him.

  Well, he’d show them. Tomorrow was his birthday. He’d go out in style.

  Julie’s breath came out in a whoosh, as if she’d been punched. She had ‘til morning.

  Chapter Twenty Six