Gateway To Chaos (Book 3): Seeking Justice

by Payne, T. L.

  Where the hell are Jim and Aiden?

  Chapter 21

  The back end of the Land Rover lurched as Russell attempted to speed up. Scott glanced over to the speedometer. They were traveling fifty miles-per-hour. The vehicle did pretty well in the wet snow, but Russell was pushing its limits.

  “What the—” Russell yelled.

  Russell pulled to a stop, and they all jumped out. The lead vehicle had careened down an embankment and struck a tree. The man in the red SUV was already halfway down the hill toward the vehicle. When he reached it, he wrenched open the door and hauled the driver out.

  “Buddy, how is he?” Russell yelled down.

  “I’m fine,” the driver said. “The fricking tire blew.”

  Buddy walked around to the other side of the Blazer. “Both tires,” he said.

  “He hit a spike strip,” a voice called from their left. “Someone put down spike strips across both lanes.”

  Buddy pulled a pistol from a holster on his hip and crouched beside the Blazer. Russell ran back to his vehicle. Scott followed him.

  “Watch for snipers,” he said as he opened the back hatch and reached in. He retrieved a rifle and pulled it to his cheek. He scanned the tree line on both sides of the road before declaring that he saw no one.

  “What do you think that was about?” Russell said as Buddy climbed the embankment.

  “I think the cartel doesn’t want company.”

  “Where would they get spike strips?” Russell asked.

  “Who do you think? They bought the sheriff. He has a few sets, doesn’t he?”

  Russell nodded. “I just hate to think that the sheriff could be bought like that.”

  Buddy opened the back-passenger door as two men lowered the driver of the crashed vehicle onto the seat. “I told you he was scum,” Buddy said.

  “Yeah. This would be all going down differently if you’d just agreed to be sheriff. You can’t complain about the job he’s doing now. Especially since you knew what he was,” Russell said.

  Buddy pointed at Russell. “You know I don’t have the temperament to be sheriff. I’m allergic to bullshit. I can’t play nice with the county commissioners.” Buddy held up his hand and made a circle in the air. “Let’s move out, but keep your heads on a swivel for snipers and other spike strips.”

  The convoy hadn’t made it more than a mile before encountering more resistance. How news traveled so fast among this community's members without telephones or internet baffled Scott.

  Three vehicles blocked the southbound lanes. The red SUV stopped in front of them. Russell slowed and pulled in next to it. He rolled down the passenger window and leaned toward it. “What do you think, Buddy?”

  “I think someone needs to have a frank discussion with the sheriff and help the man find a set of balls,” Buddy said.

  “You volunteering?”

  “I don’t think anyone wants me to do it.”

  “Russell. You and your kin need to just go on back home and let me handle law enforcement in my county,” a voice boomed from a bullhorn.

  Buddy stuck his head out of the driver’s side window. “You and your boys plan on making me?”

  “I don’t have a beef with you, Buddy. But I can’t have you boys running around the county stirring the pot and causing trouble.”

  Buddy opened his car door and put one foot out. A shot rang out. It struck the vehicle parked behind the red SUV, and someone yelped. For the next few seconds, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Scott grabbed Raine and shoved her head into her lap. He covered her with his body as rounds struck the vehicle. Scott was vaguely aware of Maggie opening her door. He turned his head in time to see her pull a pistol from a holster on her hip. She fired as she walked backward. The back hatch popped open.

  “Keep your heads down. We’ll take care of this and be on our way in a moment,” Maggie said from behind him.

  Scott unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for the rifle wedged between his leg and the door. He felt like a sitting duck in the back seat. A second later, an enormous boom was followed by another. Scott raised his head and looked out the windshield. One of the sheriff’s vehicles was on fire.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here,” Scott said as he unbuckled Raine’s seatbelt. He pulled on the door handle, opening it only an inch before reaching for his rifle. With his right foot, he pushed open the door then slid to the ground. “Hurry. This way.” Scott took Raine’s hand, and they made their way between the vehicles onto the shoulder of the road.

  Scott pointed. “Down there.”

  “What about you?” Raine said, placing her rifle’s sling over her head.

  Scott nodded toward the rear of the nearby vehicle.

  “I’ll be right there.”

  “No, Scott. Don’t,” Raine cried.

  “It will be all right. Just keep your head down.”

  Another explosion sent Scott to the ground. He scrambled over to the SUV, poked his head up, and peered through the front glass. Another of the sheriff’s vehicles was on fire. He and his men were retreating.

  “We can’t let them get away. They’ll alert the cartel,” Scott yelled as he stood and ran toward them.

  “Don’t worry. They won’t get far,” Buddy said. He turned to his right and gestured with his hand. “Go get’em, Clive.”

  Three men stood and ran after the sheriff and his men.

  “You think they can catch them before they reach the cartel?” Scott asked.

  “Those boys are like bloodhounds. They won’t stop until they round them all up.”

  Buddy jumped into the red SUV and started its engine. He poked his head out of the open window and said, “Clear the path, Russell.”

  Russell hopped in the Land Rover and eased up to one of the burning vehicles. With the front of the vehicle, he shoved the flaming wreckage into the ditch before returning and doing the same with the second burning mass of metal.

  Scott helped Raine out of the ditch and stood by Maggie. In her hands, she held an AR-15 with a grenade launcher attachment.

  “You okay, Raine?” she asked, leaning around Scott.

  “I’m all right. That was something,” Raine said, pointing to Maggie’s rifle.

  “Where did you get that?” Scott asked.

  Maggie smiled. “I have sources.”

  Scott’s eyes grew wide. “Really?”

  Maggie bobbed her head up and down.

  “Oh. Okay. One of those I-know-a-guy things?”

  Maggie chuckled. “You could say that. I know a few of them.”

  Russell pulled up beside them. Scott opened the door and helped Raine in before rushing around to the back and opening the hatch for Maggie to stow the weapon back in its case. He smiled at their good fortune to have turned down the right drive at the right time. Maggie not only gave him hope of saving JJ but hope in humanity. Her willingness to help strangers warmed his heart.

  “Let’s go kick some cartel butts,” Maggie said as Scott closed the hatch.

  Scott kept his head on a swivel as they continued south. He saw no one out but had the sense that eyes were watching them. It concerned him that the sheriff knew they were there so soon. How many more traps did they have for them? Had they already alerted the cartel? If so, they could have moved JJ by now.

  “Do you think that the sheriff and his men did something to Jim and Aiden?” Raine leaned over and whispered.

  Scott shook his head. “I don’t know. We can be fairly certain that he didn’t take them to JJ.”

  “I hope they got away,” Raine said.

  Scott pictured them shot in the back of the head execution-style.

  “You think they might have handed them over to the cartel? They could be with JJ right now,” Raine went on.

  “It’s certainly possible. It makes sense. She’s more likely to give up the location of the money with them using her dad and brother as leverage,” Scott said.

  Raine screwed up her face. “How long do you thi
nk they’d let them live if she told where it is?”

  Scott thought for a moment. He didn’t know where JJ had stashed the money but figured her ex-husband would want to verify she was telling the truth before he killed her and her family. That could buy them some time. Scott recalled the black duffle that JJ had been so intent on retrieving from her wrecked Jeep.

  Where did that go?

  “I hope we make it there in time,” Raine said.

  Scott nodded. “We will.”

  The vehicle in front of them turned off the highway down a narrow gravel road lined by pine trees on both sides. The snow was still deep there, where the sun likely never shined. The sun was completely obscured now, and the dark sky looked as if it was intent on dumping another foot of snow at any moment. That could work in their favor. It could deter the cartel from patrolling as much and impede their visibility. It would work to obscure Buddy with his white suit. He may be able to get even closer to the house to confirm where they were holding JJ.

  As the first snowflakes fell, Scott prayed he was right and that it did give them an advantage. They needed their luck to change.

  The convoy wound back and forth down dark narrow lanes. Scott realized after the third turn that he was hopelessly lost. If anything happened to Russell and the others, he and Raine would never find their way back to the farm.

  Scott stared out the window, trying to memorize landmarks. They passed a tiny rundown house with several junk cars parked on the lawn. A young girl and boy were playing in the snow. Scott thought of Lily for the first time that day, and he felt like someone had kicked him in the gut. He should have been there by now. She needed him. He felt it in his bones. His little girl needed him, and he was hundreds of miles away, risking his life for someone he barely knew.

  The convoy stopped in front of an old barn that had seen better days. Half of its weathered boards were missing, and the roof’s tin had peeled up in many places.

  “Wait here,” Russell said as he slid out of the driver’s seat.

  Scott wasn’t comfortable being left out of the planning. These people didn’t know JJ. He couldn’t be sure that they had her best interests in mind.

  Scott opened the car door and stepped out. “I’ll be back.”

  “It’ll take me a couple of hours to get close and another hour to locate a path to the house. When we move out to attack the compound, you’re going to follow in my tracks. Do not deviate. I’ll try to sweep a five-foot swath, where possible, but don’t count on it. I’ll radio you with a rendezvous point. Then you’ll wait for my signal,” Buddy said as he put his left leg into the opening of a pair of white coveralls. Scott watched as he pulled a white hood over his head. Only the man’s eyes were exposed. Into a white pouch, Buddy placed a monocular and radio.

  “Looks like he’s done this before,” Scott whispered.

  “A few times,” a younger version of the man standing to Scott’s right said.

  “Was he military or something?”

  “Or something,” the man said.

  Scott was feeling better about the situation but was still concerned about their commitment to rescuing JJ—alive.

  “Excuse me,” Scott said, stepping over next to Buddy. “How will you confirm that my friend is at this place?”

  The man stared down at Scott. Is he trying to intimidate me?

  “I’m not questioning your abilities or anything. I’m just concerned for my friend’s safety.”

  “I’m going to try to get eyes on her. If I can’t get close enough for that, I have other ways,” Buddy said.

  “Buddy knows what he’s doing. You can trust him,” Maggie said as she walked up behind Scott. “We know you are just concerned for the girl.”

  Scott nodded. “I am. Very.”

  Buddy turned to Russell and shook his hand. Russell slapped him on the back and said, “See you in a few.”

  Russell walked back to the vehicle as Buddy sprinted down the road then disappeared into the thick woods.

  “Now what?” Scott asked.

  “Now, we wait for Buddy to gather intel.”

  Chapter 22

  The snow continued to fall as an hour passed with no sign of Buddy.

  “You think we should go find him?” Scott asked.

  Russell pulled his sock hat up and opened his eyes. He raised his head from his seat’s headrest and turned toward Scott. Scott didn’t know how the man could nap with his brother late getting back.

  “He’s fine. It’s not dark yet.”

  “What if he doesn’t make it back by dark? How are we going to find our way out there?” Scott said.

  Russell ran his hands up and down his face. “He’ll be back in plenty of time.” He leaned his head back and pulled his hat down over his eyes again.

  Scott tapped his fingers on his knees and scanned the tree lines on both sides of the road. He didn’t understand why Russell and the others didn’t seem vigilant or concerned about the sheriff’s men or the cartel finding them there. Raine chewed on her thumbnail. Her eyes darted from left to right. She appeared to be as nervous as he was.

  Russell’s teenage son opened the vehicle’s door. “I’ve got to take a leak,” the boy said.

  Raine leaned over. “So do I.”

  Maggie opened her door and said, “Me too. Come with me.”

  As Raine and Maggie headed off behind the old barn, Scott got out to stretch his legs. The four men in the third vehicle were huddled around the back of their SUV smoking and talking. Scott decided to see if they were a little freer with information than Russell and Maggie.

  “Anyone have an extra one?” Scott said, pointing to the cigarette in the tallest man’s hand even though he didn’t smoke. He hoped to strike up a conversation and make small talk before asking too many questions about the plan to hit the cartel and rescue JJ.

  A barrel-chested man in his mid-thirties pulled a pack of Marlboros from his inside jacket pocket and handed it to Scott. A second man, who looked an awful lot like the first, provided him with a light while the three other men continued their conversation. Scott tried to seem interested as they discussed ammunition and the attributes of different calibers of firearms. It struck Scott that none of them appeared especially nervous about what they were about to do.

  “So...” Scott started. “What kind of firepower do you think we will be up against with this cartel?”

  The shorter of the men looked up at him. “You didn’t see what type of weapons they had while they held you?” Something in the man’s tone was accusatory.

  “I only saw a couple of them and only briefly. I didn’t have a chance to see their weapons.”

  The man bobbed his head up and down. “And they just left you behind?”

  “They came under attack and fled. They weren’t concerned about me,” Scott said. He scanned the circle of men. They were avoiding making eye contact with him. “I was tied up,” he said defensively.

  “You know, Jared,” the tall man said, turning his back to Scott, “Brody Wilson has a TAC 338 he wanted to trade. I bet you could pick that thing up cheap now.”

  “Oh yeah. What do you think he’d trade for it?” the shorter man asked.

  Scott could see that he was not going to get anywhere with these men. For some reason, unknown to Scott, they thought bad of him for escaping from the cartel without JJ. Scott hung his head and walked back to the Land Rover. It wasn’t like he didn’t feel bad enough about that himself. Could he have done more to save her? Likely so. But he was there now, and that had to count for something. Just not with this bunch. Scott turned his back to the vehicle and leaned back. He reached up and placed his hands behind his head and watched fat snowflakes spiral to the ground.

  His brooding was interrupted by the sound of dogs barking followed by a bloodcurdling scream. “Raine,” Scott yelled as he ran toward where he’d seen her head behind the barn. The barking and screaming continued as he rounded the barn. Maggie was attempting to pull her pistol from the holster
attached her belt that was now down around her ankles. She flashed a naked butt his direction as she whipped around and aimed.

  Scott scanned the undergrowth behind the barn and saw nothing. From the sound of things, Raine and the dogs were heading through the woods. Scott brought his rifle up and looked through its scoop. He caught movement but couldn’t tell how many dogs there were. He ran past Maggie and down a trail, attempting to catch up with them.

  “Raine! Hold on. I’m coming,” Scott yelled over the barking.

  Scott ran across a half-frozen creek and up a hill. When he reached the top, he spotted them. Twenty yards ahead, the dogs had stopped and were standing on their back feet barking up a tree. One of the dogs was leaping into the air, lunging, trying to take a bite out of Raine’s dangling leg. She held on to a small branch while attempting to find a foothold to boost herself higher.

  Raising his rifle, Scott fired into the air, startling the dogs. Three of the dogs fled in the opposite direction while a fourth turned toward Scott. He growled and showed his teeth.

  “Please go, doggie. I don’t want to shoot you. Really.”

  “Go away! Go away!” Raine screamed. She was crying hysterically. Her eyes were wide with terror. Scott could understand her fear. The canine looked ferocious. Scott was just about to squeeze the trigger when he heard something crashing through the woods behind him. He looked over his shoulder. Taking advantage, the dog raced toward him.

  Maggie stepped in front of him, stomped her foot, and yelled, “Get on out of here!”

  The dog complied and ran off in the direction of the rest of his pack.

  Scott turned back to Maggie. “Thanks.”

  “I sure wish people would keep their animals under control. I don’t blame the dogs. I blame the owner for not taking better care of them. They’re likely starving. Who knows when they were last fed,” Maggie said.

  Maggie looked up into the tree, “You okay, Raine?”

  Raine sniffled. “I-I think so.”