by Payne, T. L.
Scott rushed over and placed a hand on Raine’s leg. “Let me help you down. Step on my shoulder and I’ll lower you to the ground.”
“Are you sure they're all gone?” Raine whined.
“Yeah. And if not, Maggie’s watching for us. She’ll have our backs.”
Raine lowered herself. Scott grabbed her hand, and she slid down into his arms. Once safely on the ground, Raine sobbed into Scott’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair. Long strands had pulled out of her ponytail. He tucked a strand behind her ear.
“It’s okay now. They’re gone and you’re safe,” Scott whispered.
“Thank you for coming for me,” she cried. “They were going to eat me.”
“We need to find you a pistol. The rifle is good for long-range, but if you would have had a pistol, you could have protected yourself better,” Scott said.
Raine looked up. Tears still streamed down her cheeks. “I need one bad. I never want to feel that helpless again.”
“We should get back. Buddy should be getting back soon,” Maggie said, placing a gentle hand against Raine’s back.
Scott released her, and Maggie placed her arm around Raine’s shoulders. “When we get back to the Land Rover, I’ll have Russell get you a pistol,” Maggie said.
When they’d made their way back to the vehicles, Buddy still hadn’t returned. Scott feared that something had gone wrong and that David and the cartel had been alerted to their plan. Scott stared into the woods where Buddy had disappeared as Maggie and Russell instructed Raine on loading and unloading the pistol Russell had given her. Raine laughed, and Scott turned toward them. He watched as Russell placed his hands on her shoulders, showing her the proper firing stance. It struck him that they’d just met these people a few hours before.
After all they’d experienced at the hands of evil and desperate individuals over the last few weeks, he found it hard to believe that people like these still existed in this new and dangerous world. How could they be so trusting—so willing to help strangers? He feared that they might be the last of a dying breed. He hoped that wherever Vicki and his daughter were, they’d found good folks just like Maggie and Russell. He swallowed hard and fought back tears.
“How much ammo you got for the rifle?” a voice called behind him.
He twisted around to face the tall man from earlier. “I only have the one magazine. We stole this off an enemy in St. Louis. We’ve used up all the ammunition that we found with them.”
“Come with me. I’ll get you geared up,” the man said, turning toward his vehicle.
“James. Will you find a holster for this Glock?” Maggie yelled.
James threw a hand in the air and kept walking.
Ten minutes later, Raine and Scott both had holsters and ammunition. In addition, James provided Scott with a SIG Sauer 1911.
“How accurate is that scope?” James asked, pointing to Scott’s rifle.
“To tell you the truth, I haven’t had time to sight it in.”
“Well, we can’t do that out here. Take this,” James said, handing him an AR-15 with a tactical night vision scope.
“Sweet!” Scott said as he removed the magazine and pulled the charging handle, ejecting the round in the chamber. After clearing the rifle, he reloaded it with a fresh magazine.
“I want that back after we take down this cartel. I traded my wife’s favorite milk goat for that thing, and if I just gave it away, she’d make me sleep on the sofa for a week. I can’t be doing that. I got a bad back.”
“Sure thing. I appreciate you loaning it to me. I’ll take good care of it,” Scott said as he clipped on the two-point sling.
Scott was at the rear of the Land Rover with Raine showing her how to use a mag loader to load ammunition into empty magazines when James ran up. “Buddy’s back and he ain’t alone. Get down beside the front fender until we figure out what’s going on.”
Raine’s eyes widened.
“Grab the ammo can,” Scott said as he slung the rifle over his shoulder.
Scott placed Raine behind the right front tire. He crouched on one knee, placing the barrel of the rifle on the part of the front bumper that extended around to the side panel, pointing it at the trail into the woods. He waited, eyes glued to the bushes close to the road.
“Stop right there,” Russell called out.
Scott leaned forward and peered through the rifle’s scope. He scanned what he could see of the trail. He caught a glimpse of a man dressed in jeans and a brown jacket and then a black knit hat of a second man.
“Stand down, Russell. It’s me,” Buddy yelled.
“Who’s that with you?” Russell asked.
“These two say they’re related to that girl being held by the cartel.”
“Jim and Aiden?” Raine whispered.
“Must be,” Scott said without taking his eyes off them.
“And who is that third one, then? James shouted.
“Oh, him. He’s our dinner guest. He’s gonna be the entertainment.” Buddy laughed and shoved the man forward. Scott saw a flash of him as he fell to the ground.
“What the hell, Buddy? You were supposed to get intel. Not bring back prisoners,” Russell said, stepping out from behind the red SUV.
“Hell, Russ. I needed someplace quiet to have a little sit-down with the fella.”
“What if they miss him and round up a search party?” James said. He walked around the side of the vehicle and approached Buddy.
Scott stood and stepped around the front of the Land Rover. Jim and Aiden emerged from the woods, each holding an arm of a Hispanic man in his late twenties. He looked up and locked eyes with Scott. Scott recognized the man. He was indeed one of the men who’d held him and JJ. The man lowered his gaze.
“He was there—in that house where they held us. He helped restrain me while they zip-tied me,” Scott said.
“We need to hurry before they miss him,” Jim said.
Buddy nodded toward the barn. “James. You and your boys take him in there and make sure he’s comfortable while I fill Russell here in on what I found.”
James and three others grabbed the prisoner and headed for the old weathered barn. Scott eased up beside Russell and Raine slid in next to him.
“Hi, Jim. Aiden. I was worried about you two,” Raine said.
Jim smiled. “It got a little dicey with that sheriff and his men. It turns out they aimed to prevent us from finding JJ, not help.”
“We met some resistance from him ourselves. Maggie there took care of that, though,” Scott said, nodding toward her.
Maggie smiled and stepped forward. “Did you fellas find where they’re holding your daughter?” she said, holding her hand out to Jim.
“Yeah. That place is more fortified than Fort Knox,” Jim said.
“Howard Kirkman is a paranoid millionaire that thinks everyone was out to get him,” Maggie said.
“What do you think, Buddy? How hard is it going to be?” Russell asked.
Buddy removed a bottle of water from his pack and took a drink before answering. “Not as hard as it would have been. That old boy in there is our ticket to getting inside.”
“You think he’s going to get us in?” Russell asked.
“Not us. Me.”
Russell scowled. “This isn’t a solo mission.”
“Yeah,” Jim said, raising his voice. “That’s my daughter in there. I’m not staying outside, twiddling my thumbs.”
“Never said you would.”
“Then what’s your plan?” Jim asked.
“I go in and take out their eyes and ears. Once they’re blind, we set off a diversion and then hit them hard.”
Buddy made the plan sound so simple, like he’d done the maneuver a dozen times. Scott knew that so many things could go wrong. He prayed these fellas really did know what they were doing, or they could get them all killed.
Jim turned to Aiden. Aiden smiled. “Great minds think alike.”
“You
had something similar in mind?” Russell asked.
Aiden nodded. “We found a stash of fireworks in an abandoned house we hid in after parting ways with the sheriff.”
Buddy rubbed his chin, then removed his cap. He ran a hand through his hair and said, “Fireworks. That’ll do nicely.”
Chapter 23
Raine stood in the doorway of a weathered old barn. It leaned to the left, and the doorframe was bent. Snow drifted in from the holes in the roof. The wind had picked up and big flakes were blowing through the open door.
Buddy faced the short, Hispanic man suspended by his hands from a thick rope flung over a one of the barn’s rafters. He’d been stripped of his clothing, except for a pair of gray boxer shorts. He was shivering from the cold and fear.
James was seated on an old, rusty, upturned bucket and leaning against one of the sidewalls that were still intact. Jim and Aiden stood off to Buddy’s right. Raine glanced to her left. James leaned over the railing of one of the barn’s stalls. She looked around the space for Scott, Maggie, and Russell. They were not in there.
“Okay. Let’s try this again. How many men are at the compound where we found you?” Buddy asked.
The man continued to stare at the ground. Buddy took two steps forward, grabbed the man by his hair, and yanked his head up.
“How many men do you have guarding the compound?” Buddy asked him.
Silence.
“We’re going to get the information from you. You can decide how that happens. Easy or hard. I don’t care either way.” Buddy said.
The man spat at Buddy.
Buddy brought his fist down, striking the man across the face. The prisoner’s head snapped back, and blood spurted from his mouth. He raised his head and defiantly glared at Buddy.
Ten minutes went by, then twenty, with the man appearing more and more determined to remain silent. She flinched with every blow. Raine couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just tell Buddy what he wanted to know to stop the beating. She wasn’t sure how much more he could take. Already his face was nearly unrecognizable. Raine stared at the ground below the man and watched the blood drip onto the dirt floor. Raine glanced up at Buddy. He rubbed the knuckles of his right hand against his thigh as he stood next to the man.
“Those fellas back there…” Buddy pointed over his shoulder to Jim and Aiden. “Those fellas are the girl's father and brother. They’re in a hurry to get her back. So, you see. You need to make it easy on yourself and just tell me what I need to know now before I walk out and let them ask you.”
The man’s eyes grew wide. He was scared. Raine could tell. She saw no signs of defiance remaining in them. He reminded her of the man they’d interrogated in the Home Depot that Abby’s men had captured. JJ had at first thought him to be with the cartel. It turned out he wasn’t. But she was right to be concerned. This man was indeed with them, but he might be more afraid of his cartel bosses than Buddy or Jim.
Jim walked behind the man and grabbed him by the hair. He yanked the prisoner’s head back. In his right hand, Jim held a knife. Raine stiffened. Her mouth dropped open.
“The man asked you a question. I’m running out of patience. My little girl is in that compound and I aim to go in and bring her out even if I have to kill every one of you with my bare hands to do it. Now, you’re wasting time that I don’t have. If you aren’t going to talk, then you are of no use to me.” Jim pressed the tip of the knife under the man’s left ear. The man yelped. He moved the knife to the man’s chest.
“Are you going to talk?” Jim asked.
The man said nothing.
Jim shook his head and slid the knife across the man’s bare chest.
Raine whipped her head to the right and closed her eyes. She didn’t have the stomach for this level of violence. She understood why it was necessary, but she just couldn’t bring herself to watch. Raine turned and started to leave.
“I’ll talk. I’ll tell you,” the man yelled. “Ten. There are ten men at the compound.”
Raine turned around. His eyes were wild, but he looked relieved as Jim backed away and placed his knife into its sheath on his belt.
James brushed past her. “We need to get ready.”
Raine followed him to the vehicles. Maggie and Scott were still loading ammunition into magazines. James continued past them.
“Did he talk yet?” Maggie asked.
James stopped and turned. “Yeah. There are ten guards at the compound.”
“That’s a few more than I thought, but I think we’ll have enough.” Maggie pointed to the crate full of rifle magazines.
“Should be,” James said, giving her a thumbs-up.
James walked over to his vehicle, opened the back hatch, and grabbed a camouflage print backpack.
Russell held his rifle pointed toward the woods as he walked back and forth near the trail where Buddy, Jim, Aiden, and the prisoner had emerged.
“You think they were followed?” Raine asked as she approached him.
“Could have been. Best to not take any chances.”
Raine looked over her shoulder toward Maggie and Scott. Scott was loading the magazines into an olive drab duffle bag. He lifted it over his shoulder, then placed it on the ground by the back tire of the Land Rover.
“Do you think we’ll be able to sneak up on the compound without being spotted?” Raine asked.
Russell turned to face her. “Buddy will go in first. We’ll hang back far enough that the guards can’t see or hear us until we’re ready to set off the diversion. It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
Raine was worried. She was extremely worried. The rest of them looked so confident and assured of the success of the mission. Raine looked at her trembling hands. She was in way over her head.
“You’ll hang well back during the attack. You’ll provide suppressive fire and cover our advance. Once we’re inside, you’ll stand guard and warn us if reinforcements arrive,” Russell explained.
He made it sound so normal. But all of this was anything but. She just hoped that she wouldn’t get anyone killed.
James walked up beside her and held a green backpack out. “Here. You’ll need this.” Raine took it from him and stared down at the pack. She wasn’t sure why she’d need one. She didn’t have anything to carry.
“Maggie will get you loaded down with ammo. Grab a couple of bottles of water, one of the radios, and a med-kit,” James said.
Med-kit? They’d need a good trauma kit. If anyone was shot, there wouldn’t be a lot that could be done for them without a hospital and surgical team, but a med-kit could help. Her stomach lurched at the thought of seeing more people wounded and possibly dying.
Maggie took the pack from Raine, unzipped it, and began loading things inside.
“I’m putting the med-kit on top in this pouch here,” she said. Raine nodded, acknowledging where it would be located. She thought that was likely the only item in the pack that she knew how to use. James walked behind her and strapped a belt around her waist. Raine looked down and stared wide-eyed at the number of rifle magazines attached to it. It weighed a ton and she didn’t know how she was going to walk with it and the pack on, let alone run.
“Slide your arms through the straps,” Maggie instructed her.
Raine slid her arms through and Maggie pulled down and tightened the straps. She walked behind her and pulled on the pack. Raine nearly fell backward.
Scott handed Maggie a pistol. “Wait. Why do I need all this? Russell said I was hanging back and covering you guys,” Raine said as Maggie knelt and strapped the holster around Raine’s right thigh.
“You are. Best to be prepared,” Maggie said.
Raine slid the pistol into a holster. Even with all the gear strapped to her body, she felt anything but prepared. Scott slung the strap of a rifle over Raine’s head and handed it to her.
James stood in front of her, looking her up and down. He looked over her shoulder and gave Maggie two thumbs up. “You're going to stick clos
e to Russell and me. We’ll haul in all the ammo cans. When we hit the guards on the outside of the house, you’ll need to make sure we are supplied with ammo from those cans.”
“Wait. What? I can’t do that. I’m not…”
“All you have to do is run ammo back and forth as people call out. You can run, can’t you?” James asked.
“Yes, but…”
“Then you’re more than qualified.”
Raine swallowed. Qualified? What the hell have I gotten myself into? Raine pictured JJ. Beaten. Scared. Alone. She wanted to be brave for her. She wanted to be as brave as she knew JJ would be if the tables were turned. But JJ was older and wiser and had experience with weapons.
Scott placed a hand on her shoulder. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I think these guys know what they’re doing, Raine.”
Raine looked up at him. “I hope so.”
Chapter 24
Scott handed Russell two olive drab-colored ammunition cans, each filled with twenty loaded thirty-round magazines for the AR-15s. He turned and handed one to Raine.
She took it and clutched it to her chest. “It’s heavier than I thought it would be.”
“Can you carry another?” Russell asked her.
She said, “yes,” but her expression said no.
Scott, Maggie, and Russell each took two ammo cans and fell in behind Buddy and James. Russell’s son, Daniel, and the two other men followed close on their heels. Scott looked behind him. Jim and Aiden were at the rear. Scott was impressed that the two had allowed Buddy and his group to run the mission. He imagined it must be hard to trust the life of his only daughter to strangers. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to do that if it were Lily. But Buddy was the one with the weapons and ammo, so he imagined that it had contributed significantly to Jim’s decision.
As Scott feared, Raine struggled to keep pace, being weighed down with all the gear and ammunition she was carrying. He was impressed with how well Maggie was doing. Scott dropped back and kept pace with Raine. He leaned in and whispered, “It will be over soon.”
