Not My Solution

by T. E. Killian

  He spent a few minutes telling her about his childhood then turned to the rest.

  “Well, I was one of those who couldn’t wait to graduate from high school so I could escape from the farm and this small town. I joined the Army right away and became a Ranger.”

  “Oh. One of those.”

  He laughed. “Not quite like you think. I was never in any type of special ops type of group. I was just in a regular Ranger unit. And yes, I did jump out of airplanes.”

  She laughed. “That was my next question.”

  He laughed with her. “I spent a year in Afghanistan and I only saw action a half dozen times over that year, never anything really bad.”

  “And then?”

  “You’re not going to let me off easy, are you?”

  When she shook her head, he went on. “As soon as I was discharged, I went to college.”

  He gave her that sheepish grin again. “You’re not going to hold it against me that I went to the University of Missouri, are you?”

  She laughed. “No. I really didn’t want to go there. Go on.”

  “I went on to law school. Then I spent two years at a big criminal law firm in Kansas City and that was enough to burn me out not only on big law firms but the city as well.”

  He held out his hands in the air between them. “And that’s when I came back to Crowleyville and opened up my own law office.”

  They talked about general things for a while then Nicole decided she needed to get home and spend some time with Nick.

  She looked up at Roger and caught him looking at her in a way she’d always dreamed someday a man would look at her. Great!

  “Well, Roger, I hate to leave but I think I need to get home and spend some time with Nick. Knowing him, he’s probably getting hungry about now.”

  “I thought you said he likes to cook.”

  “He does. But if I’m not there to protect my kitchen, it’ll take me the rest of the day to clean it up.”

  They both laughed then Roger gave her a serious look. “I’m going to follow you home to make sure you get there okay.”

  Her old stubborn, independence almost flared up until she realized it was not because he doubted her but because he loved her. That was totally new to her, but it was also a wonderful feeling. One she was going to enjoy getting used to.

  “Okay. But what about you coming back home? I think those shots before were aimed at you, not me.”

  He just shook his head. “You may be right, but I am still following you home. That’s just the way I am, so get used to it.”

  She couldn’t get angry with him over that declaration with him grinning that crooked grin of his at her.

  She laughed. “Well. If you can be stubborn, then so can I. I want you to call me as soon as you get home.”

  He laughed with her. “Okay. I can live with that.”

  So, she let him follow her home.

  Snowball met her at the door as usual and rode in Nicole’s lap into the living room where Nick was watching a football game on TV.

  She climbed into her recliner and waited for Snowball to get re-situated on her lap.

  “Hey Laine, the game’s almost over and it’s close. Can we wait to talk for a few minutes?”

  She smiled at her brother who was a hopeless sports fanatic. She was happy to sit there silently for a while. She needed to think about all she and Roger had said to each other that long day and the fact that Darla seemed to have changed for the better. Interesting.

  A few minutes later, Roger called, and Nicole turned her Captioned Phone screen to where Nick couldn’t see it.

  She was glad she did when the first thing Roger said that came up on the screen was, “I love you Nicole Fuller. I’m home safely.”

  She smiled. “I love you too.”

  They disconnected then since they’d each said about as much as they possibly could for one day.

  When she looked up, Nick was giving her one of those looks.

  “So, you two are out in the open with your feelings for each other now?”

  “Yes, we are.”

  “Great.”

  With that, Nick turned back to his game, and she sat there with a silly smile on her face.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Monday morning, Nicole awakened with one of those feelings of dread that she got sometimes. She shook it off as a reluctance to follow through with her promise to pick Darla up at the hospital. She would still do it, but she was at least dragging her feet mentally.

  She remembered to call county dispatch to tell them when she was leaving for school and as she backed out of her garage, she saw a county patrol car sitting there waiting for her. She noticed right away it was a woman. Good.

  Even though she knew she could take care of herself in most situations, it was still a comfort to know a deputy was back there following her all the way out to the high school. When Nicole turned into the parking lot, the deputy waved and drove away.

  Her first two classes went well and when she was checking out at the office, Shelly stopped her for a moment.

  “Oh Nicole. I’m so happy that you and Roger are getting together. You don’t know how much the whole family’s been praying for him to finally find a nice woman.”

  She grinned at Nicole. “And I can’t wait to have more nieces and nephews.”

  Nicole didn’t answer that but turned away to leave, thus cutting off anything else Shelly might have said. She knew the doctors had said she could have a baby, but it would be considered to be a high-risk pregnancy all the way. Well, that wasn’t something to think about right then.

  As soon as she was out in the parking lot, she realized she probably should have called county dispatch to have someone follow her. But she shrugged it off thinking that whoever wanted to do harm to them wouldn’t expect her to be out and about at this time of day.

  She was disappointed that Darla wasn’t waiting for her at the hospital entrance. Oh well, the van-handicapped parking space was right next to the door, and it was empty.

  Once outside and her lift was back up, she started to lock the van when she saw Darla in a wheelchair being pushed by an aide. So, she moved up to the door and waited there.

  After she was outside the entrance, Darla stood and walked toward Nicole. She looked good considering all she’d gone through. But the knife hadn’t hit anything vital and her head injury hadn’t been as bad as the doctors thought at first.

  Together, they went around to the passenger side and Darla climbed in the front passenger seat and Nicole punched the remote to open the sliding door. And the lift.

  Once inside, she started to close the lift and door but before the lift could go up into position, Vance Robertson climbed in and he had a gun in his hand. It was pointed right at her.

  He waited until the lift was up and the sliding door closed before speaking. “All right. I couldn’t have hoped for a better situation. I’ve got you both right where I want you.”

  He pointed the gun at Darla. “You know too much so I’ve got to take care of you.” He pointed the gun back at Nicole. “And your boyfriend will gladly drop out of the race to save you.”

  Nicole’s police training kicked in. She knew not to say anything until she needed to. Let him talk and she’d find out what he was planning to do that much quicker.

  “Drive out onto the street and take a left. We’re going out in the country.”

  Nicole did as he told her. She knew she couldn’t get to her M9 before he could shoot her, so she waited for a better opportunity. She prayed that he didn’t search her first. Hopefully, he hadn’t heard that she had been an MP.

  Robertson had her drive west on the state road and they were soon out in the country and Nicole was beginning to wonder how far he meant for them to go.

  She had mentally noted the mileage on her odometer when they left the hospital which was on the west side of town. After they’d gone fifteen miles, she was wondering if Robertson meant to take them out of Crowley County. If he t
ook them all the way to Springfield, she might have a better chance to distract him long enough to get her gun out and subdue him.

  But that wasn’t to be. Just when she saw the sign for the next county up ahead, Robertson spoke for the first time since they left the hospital.

  She didn’t know he spoke until Darla waved at her and repeated what he’d said, “Turn right up there at that dirt road.”

  She looked at her odometer and saw that they had gone seventeen miles from the hospital. That would be important to know if she could somehow get a message out to someone.

  She took a quick look at Darla as she’d done several times already and saw that the poor woman looked too frightened to be in on this with Robertson. She looked to be just as much the victim as Nicole.

  When Nicole turned the van down the road, she soon realized it was only a farm road and probably went back in the hills to as many as three or four farms. She hoped someone might see them going in.

  She had her answer soon enough.

  Darla kept relaying his messages to her.

  “Turn left down that lane.”

  She hoped there were more farms down the road they were on since their destination seemed to be down at the end of this almost overgrown lane. Weeds were brushing the bottom of her van and she hoped she wouldn’t hit something that could damage the vehicle.

  The narrow lane kept going through the woods and around a hill and finally ended in a small clearing where there was nothing but an old rundown cabin. There was also an old pickup sitting in front of the cabin. She hadn’t seen utility lines going in, so it probably had no electricity.

  Darla got her attention again. “He said to turn the motor off and sit still.”

  Robertson seemed different to her, strangely different. She could only hope she could get the drop on him soon or they might both be hurt or even killed.

  Darla relayed Robertson’s command. “Open this contraption.”

  He was pointing his gun at her lift and door combination. So, she pressed the remote. The door slid back, and the ramp opened out. Robertson went to the opening and backed to the edge, keeping his gun on them. Then he jumped off backwards.

  “Chadwick. Get out slowly and keep your hands where I can see them.”

  Darla did as she was told, and he motioned for her to stand to the side of the lift.

  “Now you Fuller. Get on this thing and join us down here.”

  He didn’t have to tell her to keep her hands where he could see them since they both had to be on her wheels to maneuver her way out of the van.

  As soon as Nicole was on the ground, Robertson motioned to Darla with the gun again. “Push her up to the cabin and Fuller, I want to see your arms straight out at your sides all the way.”

  Once Darla pushed Nicole into the cabin, she was surprised to see that the inside had been recently renovated and it looked much more habitable than the outside made it look.

  Robertson produced two lengths of rope. “Chadwick. Tie her arms down to the arms of her chair. And tie them tight too.”

  Nicole’s spirits sank at that command. How would she ever get to her gun now?

  Then she remembered that she’d given Floyd the information on the GPS tracking software she’d had installed in her van. Hopefully, Shelly would call Floyd as soon as she and Darla failed to go back to the school.

  After Darla finished tying Nicole’s arms down, Robertson checked them for tightness. Then he motioned to Darla to sit in an old wooden chair nearby.

  “Sit there so I can tie you to it.”

  After he tied Darla to the chair, he left the cabin. A few seconds later Darla turned to her. “He got that old truck started, and it sounds like he left.”

  Now what?

  * * *

  Roger’s morning had been busy. He’d been helping Gina and Nick get Nick’s office set up as well as working on several cases and meeting with two clients.

  Nick’s furniture came right at nine and he’d been busy carrying in all his files and books from his car. Gina was as busy if not busier than either of them since she was already doing things for both of them.

  Once, while he was taking a short coffee break, Roger reevaluated the situation there in their office. He could tell already they were going to need to hire another person at least part-time to keep from overworking Gina. He was sure Nick wouldn’t have a problem with that. Nicole had assured him that her brother had plenty of startup money and not to worry if the office expenses rose above what they’d originally planned. That was a relief.

  And what was more of a relief was that this time he wasn’t going to be the one hiring the new person. He planned to let Gina do that since the new person would essentially be working for her.

  He was just getting back to work when he looked up at the clock and noticed that it was already twelve-thirty. He decided to go next door and see if Nick wanted to go somewhere for lunch. Maybe he could mention the probable need for another office person to Nick then.

  He was out of his chair and rounding his desk when his cell phone rang. It was Shelly.

  “Roger. Nicole left here to pick up Darla at the hospital at about ten-forty and they never came back. I already called Floyd, and he’s checking the hospital to see when they left there.”

  “Thanks Shelly. I’m on my way to the SO then and I’ll have Nicole’s brother Nick with me.”

  He slipped the phone in his pocket as he ran out of his office. When he reached Nick’s doorway, he yelled. “Nicole should have been back at the high school after picking up Darla Chadwick by eleven or eleven-thirty at the latest. They haven’t made it yet.”

  Nick was out of his chair and running after Roger as he shot through the outer door. He figured Gina heard enough to know what they were doing.

  When they hit the parking lot, Roger headed for his Jeep. “Let’s take my Jeep. Who knows where we may end up having to go?”

  Nick didn’t break stride as he changed direction and was seated in the Jeep’s passenger seat when Roger started the engine.

  “Where we going?”

  “Sheriff’s office. We need to know what Floyd is going to do and I plan to be there with him when he does it.”

  “Me too. Let’s get over there.”

  They went through the front door of the sheriff’s office at a run and when Bev saw them, she hit the buzzer to open the door for them.

  Roger kept running down the long hallway to his brother’s office. When they got there, he could hear Floyd talking on the phone. He didn’t stop the way he normally would have. He kept going and was soon in the large office with Floyd and his chief deputy, Hal Lewis.

  As Roger was catching his breath, Floyd hung up the phone and looked at them. “That was the GPS tracking service that installed one of their systems in Nicole’s van. They said it’s stopped right now, and it’s about eighteen miles west of here. Let’s get going. They’ll call me if the van moves again.”

  That was the first Roger had heard about the tracking system on Nicole’s van but he sure was glad she’d told Floyd about it.

  Roger followed Floyd and Hal out the back door into the compound and up to Floyd’s Tahoe. They all climbed in and barely got seat belts on before Floyd was racing out of the compound.

  He ran code through town and then turned the siren off once he was out in the country but hit it briefly once in a while to get someone out of his way.

  Roger was sitting in the back seat opposite the driver and he could see the speedometer and hung on a little tighter. He wasn’t about to complain about the speed. They were all certain that Robertson had Nicole and probably Darla Chadwick too since the hospital said they left the building together.

  It didn’t take them long at the speed Floyd was traveling to get close to where the GPS tracking company said the van was parked. It still seemed like an eternity to Roger and one look at Nick and he knew Nicole’s brother was feeling the same way.

  He’d just found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of hi
s life with and he wasn’t about to let her slip away from him now, no matter what.

  Roger was watching the road ahead when Floyd flipped the switch to turn off his emergency lights. Then he pulled over to the side of the road and pulled out his cell phone.

  Roger couldn’t hear what Floyd was saying on the phone but when he disconnected, he pointed to a dirt road up ahead.

  “They went down that road about three miles then turned off on a smaller track and they’re about two miles down that road.

  As they sat there, two more patrol cars pulled up behind them. Roger noticed that Floyd hadn’t used his radio the whole time and now he rolled down his window and waved at the other cars to follow him. That made sense. Robertson could have a scanner.

  As they turned down that road, Roger did something he’d only done one other time in his life. He prayed! He prayed for Nicole’s safety and also that of all those with him.

  * * *

  Nicole waited at least a full minute after Robertson left the cabin to look over at Darla. The poor woman was frightened almost to death. She was even shaking a little.

  “Don’t worry Darla. We’re going to get out of this. I’m sure glad Robertson didn’t notice that you tied my arms in front of the bar. That was quick thinking on your part. I should be able to work the ropes over the end if he’ll just stay gone long enough.

  She began working her arms trying to loosen the ropes. After at least ten minutes, she decided she wasn’t getting far enough trying to loosen both ropes at the same time. Then she decided to concentrate on her right arm and if she could get it free, she should be able to untie the other one. At the least, with her right hand free, she could get to her M9.

  She worked for another ten minutes on her right arm and finally loosened it enough to where she thought she could slide it down the chair arm and off.

  She wiggled back and forth for another five minutes with the rope slowly inching its way toward the end of the chair arm.

  Finally, the rope slid off the chair and she shrugged it off her wrist. Then she turned her attention to the other chair arm but hadn’t been working on it long enough to make any progress when Darla bounced her chair to get Nicole’s attention.