by Jonas Saul
Daniel checked in next from where he was out on the old access road on the east side of the barn.
Then came Parkman, who stationed himself on the south side of the property in case the killer made a run for it through the field toward the bushes south of the property.
Next came Benjamin, who had reluctantly joined the outing only after he found out Sarah and Detective Hunter were going to a meeting without weapons. There would be no guns whatsoever, so he came. He had positioned himself on the north side of the property, crouched behind a large tree.
And finally Alex checked in. That man had arrived dressed in some black ninja outfit and had crawled all the way to the edge of the barn as soon as it got dark. It was slow going—like a turtle edging across the land—but he did it to be in position in case someone needed to be close. Disco was certain a trained agent could walk inches from that little fucker and not know death crouched beside him.
Disco had almost a dozen years as a hired gun, with more than half of those in martial arts training and hand-to-hand combat. He thought of himself as a boxer, and fast brawler—get in, get out. Most of his fights were ten- to twenty-seconds long, as he prided himself in being that good. Not many men scared him, but Alex did—and he was half his size.
The Hummer was large and obtrusive, and would easily stand out wherever he parked it, so he decided to get off the highway a kilometer back on the south side, then went over land and crawled into a copse of trees that were in a slight depression at the edge of a farmer’s field. Once he killed the lights about an hour and a half ago, it was virtually impossible for anyone to see the Hummer from the farm or the highway—he was completely hidden.
The range for the listening devices was clear and easy to pick up from his position. Hopefully Sarah would get in and get out, too. He would hate if anything happened to her or any of her crew. Disco took most of the jobs he got, but when Darwin called about Sarah and her team, he always said yes. It was more like, when and where? Even if the pay was reduced, he’d do it. Something about this team drew him in. Like he was part of a family—similar to a crime family, but doing great things. It had to be that way because the honor and lack of ego was as high among this team as it was in Italian crime families.
“They’re approaching on the highway now. All units remain in position. Radio silence unless reporting on Sarah. I repeat, no chatter and no unnecessary responses.”
Disco listened intently as Sarah whispered, “Hope you guys can hear me.” Then, after a moment, she whispered. “No indication you’re out there?”
“All units, Sarah has asked for an indication we’re out there, but I will deny revealing any of your positions. Remain in hiding. She knows we got her back.”
“Getting out now to walk to the farmhouse with Detective Hunter.”
“Units, I can confirm she is exiting her vehicle now. Be ready for anything gents.”
Disco adjusted the volume on his listening device and focused on her breathing as she crossed the field in case it changed suddenly. Roughly eight minutes later, it sounded like she had stopped. Then he detected muffled whispering.
Hunter and Sarah had to be talking directly into each other’s ears, because Disco couldn’t catch a word of it.
“They’ve stopped by a door at the side of the barn,” Aaron reported in. “Hanging back twenty feet.”
“Copy that,” Disco said. “Have you got them in your sights, Alex?”
There was nothing at first, then Disco heard a soft tap on his mic. Instead of acknowledging audibly and giving up his position, Alex had tapped the earpiece with his finger twice.
“Copy that, Alex,” Disco whispered into his mic.
“They’ve entered the barn,” Aaron said. “Will remain out of sight and listen.”
The tension was at an all-time high for Disco. He needed to listen to Sarah in case she got into trouble, but also the boys in the field. He felt like a dispatcher at a celestial taxi company, waiting for the call to send in the vehicles that would transport people to Heaven or Hell.
After a few seconds, Sarah whispered something. He strained to hear what was happening inside the barn, but then jerked at the sound of rugged breathing.
One of Darwin’s men had moved rapidly.
“All units okay?” he asked.
Sarah said something he missed as he listened to his units.
“Someone,” Aaron whispered so low he could barely detect the man’s voice. Disco hurriedly adjusted the volume higher. “Is crouched low. Approaching the barn. Close to me. Ten feet. Five …”
A grunt followed, then an exhalation of air, followed by a violent thump.
Then nothing.
“Aaron, report in,” Disco nearly shouted.
“One more with a weapon strapped to his person is down. Wasn’t sure if there was another.”
Someone else gasped, grunted, then more breathing sounds filled his earphones.
“Report in,” Disco ordered. “Who’s breathing so hard?”
“Two men down,” Alex whispered. “Two more coming my way.”
Disco stared off into space. Who the fuck was approaching the barn armed in such a way? Wasn’t the murderer working alone?
“Hunter brought backup,” Parkman whispered into the mic. “These men are trained cops. This isn’t good. Stop them at all costs. Sarah’s life depends on it. They cannot storm that barn. They are not here just for the perp. Do not allow a single tactical officer near that barn and do not let them see your face. Move in stealth, leave them unconscious, then find a new position. All units, go. You have your orders. No one goes inside that barn unless Disco orders it.”
“Holy shit,” Disco whispered to himself. “We’re attacking a SWAT team now. How the hell does this stuff happen?”
One more lone voice whispered into his mic.
“For fuck sakes.” It was Benjamin in the northern position. “One down here, and he was armed. I thought there weren’t supposed to be any guns tonight. Fuck!”
Then Disco flipped a switch and turned back to listening to Sarah inside the barn.
Chapter 27
Sarah stayed behind Hunter as they approached Beverly in an effort to not startle her when she saw them.
The poor girl looked pretty beat up, like someone had punched her repeatedly.
When Hunter stopped, Sarah edged around him. They both bent down to look in Beverly’s face. She was still breathing, which was a good sign.
“Baby,” Hunter whispered.
Beverly’s eyes fluttered, then she opened them and tried to focus. The girl’s face was bruised all up one side of her cheek. Blood stained her shirt and right arm, which was tied to her left behind the chair. Even her ankles were secured to the base of the chair.
“We’re going to get you out of here,” Hunter said.
“No,” she whispered. “We’ll all die.”
Hunter and Sarah exchanged a look.
“Where is the person who did this to you?” Sarah asked.
Beverly tried to lift her head and look at Sarah, but winced in pain and stopped moving.
“This your new girlfriend?” Beverly asked, her voice subdued with pain. “You move fast.”
“We’re here for you,” Hunter tried to explain. “Look, where’s the person who did this, Bev?”
“Outside. Watching.”
Sarah couldn’t help herself. She glanced over her shoulder, worried about her team. They were out there somewhere, too.
“Your instructions are over there,” Beverly said, nodding once. “Then she’ll let me go free.” Beverly started crying, her shoulders hitching. “Please, Donovan, do what it says.” Her head hung low as tears ran down through the dirt and blood on her cheek.
To the right, slightly hidden under a piece of wood, was a small notepad. Sarah retrieved it and handed it to Hunter.
He opened it, read the words, then he handed it to Sarah.
She was supposed to tie up Hunter, binding his wrists and ankles with the r
ope provided on the support beam.
She glanced over her left shoulder and saw the rope hanging from an iron hook on the beam.
“Fuck that,” Hunter said. “I’m untying Bev and we’ll make a run for it.”
“Hunter,” Sarah whispered. “Even if you make it back outside, the perp could mow you down. Whoever it is wants you tied up so you’re not dangerous.”
“What?”
“They want to talk. Once you’re tied up, they will enter and we can at least see who it is. If they wanted you dead, they would’ve already shot you.”
“No fucking way.” He moved behind Beverly to start untying her.
“Wait,” Sarah said.
Hunter stopped.
“You untie her, and whoever is outside comes in here, we could all be killed. We don’t have any weapons. I say we do as we’re told and meet this person. Hear what they have to say.”
“Easy for you. You’re not the one they want to jam a coat hanger up your ass.” He bent to work on Beverly’s ropes.
“All right then, I’ll tie you up, but I’ll leave it loose enough so you can get out. If shit goes sideways, you’ll still be able to defend yourself.”
Hunter stopped what he was doing and stood back up. “You have a point.” He stared down at the top of Beverly’s head, then met Sarah’s gaze. “Whoever did this to my Bev will pay. I won’t stay tied for long.”
“Deal.” Sarah nodded, knowing her team could hear her every word. “Let the killer expose themselves, step out into the light. Then we deal with them.”
Hunter grabbed the ropes, dropped to the floor, then tossed one around his ankles, loosely securing them. He handed Sarah the other rope and rolled onto his stomach, bringing his hands together behind him.
She had his wrists secured in seconds, tightening the rope, but allowing for play around his thumbs.
“There, that should do it.”
Hunter rolled onto his side and stared up at Beverly. “Now what?”
Beverly turned slightly to look at him, then up at Sarah. Her crying had abated, but Beverly looked so sad Sarah had an urge to untie her and hug her. How could people be so cruel?
Beverly blinked away the tears. “She said Donovan’s partner is supposed to go to the door and look outside. If Donovan brought anyone else, she said we’d all die.”
Sarah moved away from them and started for the door.
Halfway there, Hunter grunted as if his positioning was bothering him.
Could he have brought backup? Was he risking their lives? Was that smart, though? Or stupid?
She slowed as she neared the door, something catching her attention. Somewhere, out there in the night, she could’ve sworn she heard a heavy breath, or a boot slipping on gravel. Something brushed against something, making a subtle sound.
So the perp was out there in the dark, ready to bolt at the smallest sign of trouble, and unless that was Sarah’s team—which she doubted as they’d be extremely quiet—then it was the person who had killed Hunter’s friends.
Or, it was Hunter’s backup.
What the hell is going on, Vivian?
Sarah lowered to one knee and leaned into the wall beside the door. Then she edged around the doorframe and peeked outside into the darkness.
Nothing but the blackness of night out there.
She eased backward, pushed up to her feet using the wall, and turned back to Beverly and Hunter.
Rarely was she as surprised as she was in that moment.
And then it all came together. Everything made sense.
How come she couldn’t see it before?
Sarah took one step, then another, and rejoined Beverly and Detective Hunter under the single bulb inside the barn.
Chapter 28
“All units report in,” Disco called out over the radio.
Each one reported in but Benjamin. He waited an extra moment, listening to Sarah in case she called for help, but he still couldn’t confirm Benjamin had called in.
“I need the unit in the north to confirm their status.”
After radio silence from Benjamin, Disco worried something had happened to him.
“All units, I need someone to navigate north and locate our lookout up there. He’s not responding.”
“Copy that,” Daniel said. “En route.”
“Confirmed,” Aaron called in. “I’m available and ready if needed.”
“Copy that,” Daniel replied to Aaron.
“Back to radio silence until north is located.”
Disco switched over to listen to Sarah. They were debating tying up Hunter as far as Disco could tell. Tying up the detective? What the hell was going on?
He listened with the volume on high in case they whispered.
“There, that should do it,” Sarah said.
“Now what?” Hunter’s voice.
A woman said, “She said Donovan’s partner is supposed to go to the door and look outside. If Donovan brought anyone else, she said we’d all die.”
Yeah, that’s why Disco’s team was holding back and dropping the SWAT guys like amateur night at the boxing arena.
He pumped his fist in the air, proud his team was as reliable and unbelievable as ever.
“East checking in,” Daniel said over the mic.
Disco fixed his attention on the team’s microphones. “Go ahead.”
“Found north. All okay. Two of Hunter’s men are sleeping peacefully. During the scuffle, our north unit lost his earpiece in the dirt. Too dark to locate. Will remain with him for coms.”
“Confirmed.” He breathed a sigh of relief, as he figured Aaron, Parkman, and Alex all did as well.
Benjamin dropped his earpiece, that was all that happened.
A nervous laugh escaped his lips. To have one of the Sarah’s men captured by the authorities wouldn’t be a good play, versus disappearing into the night when this was all over.
He switched back to Sarah’s listening device.
Then he heard something that shocked him.
His mouth dropped open. He stared at nothing as Sarah talked inside the barn, making sense of all the murders around Toronto over the past few days.
Disco leaned down into the mic that the team would hear. “No one, I mean no one goes near that barn until Sarah gives the okay. I will call it out. Radio silence until then. Hunker down and wait.”
“When these SWAT guys don’t report in, more might come,” Parkman said.
“Stay ready, gents, stay ready.”
Chapter 29
“It was you?” Sarah asked. “All this time? Why? How could you?”
Beverly had untied herself—she probably wasn’t actually tied up in the first place, only giving off the appearance of being bound—and was now standing beside the chair she had inhabited moments before, a gun that resembled a Glock in her hand.
She had the weapon pointed at Detective Hunter.
His expression had turned from one of worry for Beverly, to one of anger. His neck and cheeks were red, lips drawn back, and his eyes raged as he stared up at her. A muscle near his right temple kept twitching.
“Come join us,” Beverly said, wiping at her face. The bruises from moments before were smearing.
Makeup, it was all makeup. Cheap stuff anyone could buy for a Halloween costume. The blood, too—although the tears looked real.
How could she have missed that detail? She’d seen enough blood in the past to know the difference. Had to be the lighting.
Beverly moved the chair half a dozen feet from Hunter, then motioned with the gun for Sarah to sit.
She stared at Beverly as she lowered into the chair. “This is a joke, right? Some kind of lover’s quarrel that turned nasty?”
Beverly shook her head, her hair flying up around her shoulders.
“Put the gun down, babe,” Hunter said, an edge of steel in his tone.
Beverly took a step forward, reared back with her right leg, and drove it into Hunter’s stomach.
“Don’
t call me, babe, ever again,” she shouted. “You worthless piece of shit.”
Sarah lifted off the chair, but Beverly spun around, the gun up.
“Sarah, don’t.” Beverly’s voice was firm, controlled. The woman may be mad, but she was losing her shit in a calculated manner. “I wanted you in on this for the ride because you inspired me.” She turned back to Hunter with the gun as he gasped, trying to catch his breath. “This devil in front of us took away my life and killed my parents when they tried to stop him. Jamie Morgan died twenty years ago and I started a fresh new life.” Beverly brushed hair out of her face, and stepped back, keeping Sarah and Hunter in her view, the gun aimed at the floor now. “When I met Joanne Stevens at the club, she inspired me to go to court, to tell my story. Have this fuckhead arrested for what he had done.”
“What’s your story?” Sarah asked in a soft voice. “Court is still an option.”
“Yeah, right.” Beverly guffawed, then choked on her laugh. She coughed twice, lifted her weapon and her finger entered the trigger guard.
“Bev, wait,” Sarah pleaded.
She lowered the weapon a notch, her face a mask of tears when she looked at Sarah.
“Tell me about Joanne.”
“You know what they did to her. She was murdered. Her breasts were cut off and the knife was shoved up her pussy.”
Sarah nodded, knowing Disco was listening and hoping he had discretion enough to not be repeating these words to the others. Aaron didn’t need a retelling of his sister’s murder from over a decade ago.
“Who’s they?” Sarah asked. “You said they.”
“Men, and all their disgustingness. It was men who killed my family, men who raped me repeatedly. Horrible sick, depraved men who fucked me until I was nearly dead, then thought I might get pregnant because they didn’t use protection—”
Her crying overtook her voice, and she staggered, almost falling to her knees. One swipe of her face, and she was standing again.
Shock took Sarah’s voice from her momentarily. She had figured there was more to Hunter’s story, and now she understood what he’d been holding back. Him and his friends didn’t just beat up that girl twenty years ago. They’d gang raped her.