When everyone was asleep, Patton snuck out of the barn and into the Harris’ home. While in the living room the night before he noticed a landline phone. As he suspected, the front door was unlocked. He turned the knob quietly and entered the room. The reason for all the subterfuge was the doctors’ orders—the patients were to do nothing aggravating. Furthermore, they were told they shouldn’t leave the Harris ranch for at least a week. Patton was about to do something that broke both orders.
Patton found the phone and dialed the number he knew by heart. It rang a few times but there was finally an answer.
“Wildcat, this is Patton.”
“Patton?” replied the groggy voice.
“Listen, all hell broke loose after you left. They kidnapped Jennifer. They’re holding her in prison. I got away from town but I have to go back. I have to find her.”
“Slow down, man,” Wildcat said, trying to wake himself.
“Sorry, bro. Look, they took Jennifer. They’ve had her for about two weeks I think. Anyway, I need you here. I need your help.”
Patton’s burly friend sat up in bed, careful not to wake his girlfriend.
“You need me where exactly?”
“Here. Back in Utah. When can you catch a flight?”
Wildcat sighed and looked at the clock on this nightstand. He was a frequent flyer so he knew most of the flights out of LAX by heart. There was a red eye to Salt Lake City, but he wouldn’t be able to make it in time. The earliest morning flight was at six in the morning.
“Patton, I can be on an early flight, but I wouldn’t have everything I need. You got some gear there that I can use?”
Patton did a quick mental inventory of weapons and supplies he had remaining.
“I’ve got some guns, but not the right gear. I can go get that in the morning, though.”
“Alright,” Wildcat said. “I’ll catch a morning flight and rent a car and drive up. I’ll call you when I get there. Is this number good?”
“No,” Patton replied, “and my cell phone was destroyed on the way out of town. I’ll have to get a phone in the morning and call you from it in the morning.”
Wildcat agreed and ended the call. He set his phone down and tried to get back to sleep.
After hanging up, Patton heard the kitchen faucet running and a man coughing. A dim light then turned on. Patton leaned his head into the doorway. Mr. Harris was looking right at him while drinking from a large tumbler of water.
“Hello,” Patton said awkwardly.
“Hello,” Harris replied. “So you’re leaving us already?” he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
Patton didn’t respond at first. An awkward silence passed between them. Finally he said, “Yes. I need to find my wife.”
Harris nodded solemnly. He’d never been in the man’s shoes, but he could imagine how he felt. The doctors’ orders had been clear—no one was to leave for at least a week. Harris respected doctors, but he was also a good judge of character. He could tell that Patton was more capable than the others. He wasn’t about to try to force him to stay—not that he could do so, anyway.
“I guess I only have two questions. What do you need and when do you want to leave?”
Patton smiled. This Harris guy was definitely after his own heart.
The two men drove towards the interstate and then down to Ogden, Utah. Harris was taking Patton to an outdoors store where he could get the gear he needed. The truck leveled out on a small plateau. An old barn and silo lay nestled against a low hill. Patton soaked in the view, grateful to be riding in the truck and for the beautiful landscape.
“You a church goin’ man?” Mr. Harris asked Patton, out of the blue.
“I used to go with my Mom when I was a kid, but I wouldn’t call myself a real religious person.”
“You know the Bible at all?”
Patton shook his head no.
Harris took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Well, back before even Adam came onto this earth, there was a council. God presented a plan to us—all of us who’ve ever lived or will live on the earth. Do you believe that we lived before we came to earth?”
Patton thought about it for a minute.
“Not specifically, but it seems plausible.”
“Anyways, God presented a plan and Jesus said that He would come down and fulfill the plan. People would come down to earth with no memory of living with God before coming to earth. We would come down and live in this world and at every turn we would have a choice.”
Patton nodded.
“Anyway, inside our choices were our answer to the great question—would we choose God or would we choose the world. Sad to say, most the time we choose the world because I think sometimes we don’t recognize God in the other choice.”
Patton smirked but said nothing.
“Anyways, Jesus said that the plan was good and He said that He would come down and give Himself as a sacrifice for us and our sins and mistakes knowing that God couldn’t take us back with Him if we were imperfect. When He suffered and bled in the Garden of Gethsemane and when He died on the cross, He was paying the price for our sins. That way, if we will follow Christ then He will deem us worthy to live with God again.
“Well, Satan presented another idea. He thought it was foolish that God give us the chance to sin when Satan could make us live the straight and narrow. He would force us to be perfect—to always keep God’s commandments. That way, none of us would be unclean.”
Patton nodded. Not because he agreed, necessarily, but because he was glad to have a conversation. Still, he asked, “What’s your point with all this?”
Harris smiled.
“That little fight you got goin’ on over there is the same fight that’s been goin’ on forever,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Most of God’s children just wanna be free. They wanna pursue their own lives. It’s human nature and it’s not just genetic. It’s spiritual. It’s who we are.”
Patton nodded, agreeing again. He wasn’t completely convinced, though.
“I agree that most people want to live free. But not all.”
It was Harris’ turn to nod.
“Yes,” he replied. “But that follows the pattern. Satan wanted to force us all to be perfect. That’s basically what those people are trying in your little town.”
“Yeah, but where does that leave me?” Patton asked. “I’m living in the real world, not the spiritual or the philosophical or the theoretical.”
Harris gazed off into space for a moment then said, “It puts the whole world into perspective. This whole life makes sense in that context, I’d say.”
Patton agreed, but it did him little good to hear. More importantly, it did nothing to reunite him with Jennifer.
“I need something a little more tangible,” he said, finally. “Anyway, I appreciate you taking me down there.”
Conditions at the prison had improved somewhat for Jennifer. She was still being held in the cold and drafty shed, but the guards were treating her more fairly, and she and Theresa were getting more to eat. Sometimes the guards would take Theresa away for days. They always brought her back, but she was worried sick when her friend was gone. After the third or fourth time this happened, Jennifer realized that it was a sort of psychological torture for her. They must have recognized that the two had developed a bond and decided that if they took her friend away from her she might become more compliant.
Jennifer didn’t know anything. They could beat her or starve her or freeze her as much as they wanted. Nothing they did, though, could make her know anything about her husband’s whereabouts. For all she knew, her husband had been killed during the ongoing manhunt. Rumors were rampant and that was one of them.
One good thing came from the guards taking Theresa away—they took her to the main prison. While there, Theresa could hear the latest g
ossip—about the town or about her husband’s latest exploits. Of course there was the rumor that Patton had been killed, but Theresa had debunked this. She assured Jennifer that it had been started by Asher himself, knowing that Blue Creek residents would be disheartened if their hero was dead or gone. Besides that, Theresa’s husband had rejoined the Blue Creek Security Services and had gone out on a few missions. He informed her that Patton, and the people he’d rescued from the prison, had escaped and were holed up somewhere around Tremonton.
But Jennifer could never be sure. Sometimes she felt strong, confident that Patton was out there, concocting a plan to rescue her. At other times, though, she felt hopeless. One thing she did know, though—she wasn’t going to last much longer. One day, instead of taking Theresa to the main prison, the guards took Jennifer a couple of times. They let her shower and have a hot meal. Never before had she been so grateful for a warm, dry bed. It was far from as comfortable as her and Patton’s bed, but compared to her accommodations in the shed, being inside the prison was like a five star hotel.
During one of her trips into the main prison, one of the guards let slip that Patton and his party had escaped. This little tidbit undid weeks of mental and emotional torture. She was suddenly heartened and felt like she could continue on. She just needed Patton to come soon. She wasn’t sure how long her newfound strength would last.
CHAPTER
33
The nondescript looking SUV stopped at the curb. Wildcat asked if Patton was sure they were at the right place. Patton assured him it was and that he’d been at the house before. Patton exited the vehicle alone. He didn’t want to intimidate Michael Varner too much and that’s what Wildcat had the tendency to do. Patton rang the doorbell. He heard footsteps and was then greeted be a shocked Varner. He said nothing, merely waving for Patton to enter. Patton turned and gave Wildcat a thumbs up and then entered the house. Michael Varner led Patton to his den with the gorgeous view of the eastern mountains. Varner sat at his desk and gestured for Patton to sit.
“You look terrible,” Patton said with a playful grin.
“You should talk,” Varner replied. “I heard about your troubles.”
Patton nodded and said, “that’s why I’m here. I need to know what’s going on in Blue Creek.”
Varner rubbed his hands through his hair and let out a long, frustrated breath. He had bags under his eyes, seemed to have lost weight, and had four or five days of stubble on his face. His usually piercing eyes were drawn and bloodshot. Obviously he was feeling the strain. This was both a good and bad sign for Patton.
“We don’t know,” Varner said simply. “All the communications we had with our people went through your office server. Somehow they found that out. I think they tracked Bao to your warehouse and caught him sending some untainted reports. Sure he caught a good beating for that,” Varner said, almost as an aside.
Patton’s jaw clenched involuntarily.
“What about the camera system Bao told me about. Is that still running?”
Varner shook his head.
“They caught onto that months ago and shut it down. We haven’t been able to see or hear anything. All the research is based on lies,” he said as an afterthought. He understood that Patton didn’t care about this aspect of the experiment and quickly regretted mentioning it.
Patton’s eyes flared with anger.
“You people …” he said, shaking his head. “You bring us here with all these promises and look what happens. Didn’t you think there’d be a snake in the garden?”
Varner looked away. He’d obviously been beating himself up over this very fact. He didn’t respond.
“I need to get into town. You know it better than anyone—or your people know it better than anyone. I need a quick infiltration point, I need to get to Asher.”
Varner’s eyes snapped up to meet Patton’s.
“What?”
Patton held Varner’s gaze, a quiet rage stewing in his eyes.
“Without Asher this all ends. You cut off the snake’s head, the whole body dies.”
“Are you sure?” Varner asked, his eyes wide. “He’s got some loyal people.”
Patton nodded and said, “Yes, but they’re loyal to the office, not the man. Once he’s gone, and once I get a chance to speak to the people, they’ll understand what’s happened. Anyway, I just need to know the best way to get there.”
Varner thought about it. He stood and looked for something in the credenza behind him. After a moment he returned to his desk with a large map, no doubt of Blue Creek. He opened it and spread it out over his desk. Patton was no doubt more familiar with the area than Varner, especially considering he’d just led a group of people through the surrounding mountains on foot. That said, he didn’t know if that was the right place to enter from.
“If you go in from the west you have all that open ground with no cover,” Varner said, tracing his finger over the map. You have the same problem if you go in from the north. The hills are lower and easier to cross, but town is a long way away over open ground.”
Patton nodded, taking in Varner’s opinions in hopes it would help him concoct a plan. Varner continued.
“If you go from the east you’re contending with the mountains. Then town is right there so you won’t know if Asher has more patrols.”
“Going from the east is tough,” Patton said. “I just came over that way. Don’t wanna do that again.”
“That leaves the south, then,” Varner said, marking the spot with his finger. You can go in on the interstate, drive up on the highway to about here,” he said, pointing to where the hills jut out into the valley. “Then you ditch your vehicle and go the rest of the way on foot.”
Patton went over the plan again in his mind, picturing the many times he’d driven the exact route Varner had described. There were scattered groves of trees all throughout the area. They could hide the SUV in one of those. Then it was about a kilometer to the south end of the lake, where technically, his boat dock was located. If his shop was still there, along with the boat, their job would be a lot easier. If not, they would have to walk miles around the lake. Patton would run it by Wildcat, but he was sure his friend would prefer the boat to be available.
The boat rocked beneath them. Both were tired, but Patton told Wildcat he would take the first watch. Patton smiled behind the binoculars as he listened to his friend snore from one of the fishing chairs on deck. Patton set down the binoculars and stood to stretch. He needed to stay awake and alert—he had no idea what equipment Asher’s security force had.
For now they were safe. Two men on a boat, fishing at dusk, wouldn’t bring any suspicion. However, they couldn’t stay there much after dark. They would have to dock the boat somewhere and do their reconnaissance on foot. Patton went to the cabin and poured himself another cup of coffee and grabbed a muffin. He was only supposed to be on watch for two hours, but he would let his old Army buddy sleep for four.
Since leaving Michael Varner’s house in Ogden, they’d gone through an arduous journey. They had to make more of the journey on foot than they’d hoped. They knew the closer they drove towards Blue Creek, the more likely they would be caught. Caution won out and they ditched their vehicle just a couple miles from the interstate. The terrain was much like Patton traversed with those he’d rescued. He was with a seasoned veteran now, though, and they made excellent time, reaching Patton’s boat shop that first night. Apparently the place had been abandoned because they saw no traffic, in or out, all through the next day of recon. Now, here they were on the boat, waiting for full dark to come.
Patton’s ring of the doorbell was answered by a confused, then dumbfounded, then shocked Bao. He was about to blurt Patton’s name out, but quickly stopped himself. Patton wasn’t alone, accompanied by a large and intimidating man. Both wore mostly black and were wearing baseball caps.
“Hi Bao,” Pat
ton said, smiling.
Once Bao gathered his wits, he motioned for the two men to step inside. He glanced down both directions of the street but didn’t see any suspicious vehicles. He invited Patton and his guest to sit in his living room and offered them something to drink.
“Water for me. Wildcat?”
“Water.”
Bao disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two water bottles.
Life had mostly returned to normal for the citizens of Blue Creek. The constant news of Patton Larsen’s escape and rescue of other criminals had mostly died down. Bao thought this was due to the last search party’s failure to either capture or kill Larsen. Patton was still the talk of the town, but only in whispers. Nobody dared voice support for who was officially a fugitive. Now, here the man was, sitting in his living room.
“What? Where?” Bao said, still confused.
“Look Bao,” Patton said shortly. “I’ll fill you in later, but for now I need some information. I went to see Varner. He said the network is down again.”
Bao nodded and said, “Yeah, they caught me uploading a report on your office computer. That’s when they shut your business down for good.”
“So nobody outside of Blue Creek knows anything that’s going on?”
Bao shrugged. “I don’t know. But as far as the internal network goes, we’re completely down. We all still send reports to Varner but they’re all vetted by somebody at City Hall.”
Patton looked over at Wildcat.
“That’s what I thought,” Patton said. “Asher has this place clamped down pretty tight.”
Patton then asked Bao about the town, the security force, and where Asher lived. Bao told him that people were going about their business as usual. Security didn’t seem as strong, although Bao suspected that many agents were in plainclothes. A lot of people that had been arrested were already released, Bao included. Somehow the story of arrests had gotten out, which caused major problems to Asher’s level of support.
Careful Measurements Page 39
