Undercover Tales

by Blayne Cooper

  yx

  “Hey, Jerry. What did you find out?” It was almost three a.m. and Vonne was dead on her feet. Liza had tossed and turned before falling asleep, no doubt replaying the conversation from the bathhouse, and Vonne had no choice but to wait her out.

  “Can you get one of your pals to fly over and get some pictures? The canyon is about three miles northeast of here. You got the phone signal, right? ... I think they might be running some kind of military games up there.” She told him about finding the hat.

  “Look, I might have to stay on a few more days to make sure everybody gets out that should ... I know it’s not, but I can’t just leave these people here. Not all of them are part of this—they’re just caught up in it.”

  Vonne stifled a yawn.

  “Okay, I’ll call you in a couple of days. Try to get the pictures during the daytime. That’s when they’re all up there.”

  yx

  “Damn! I forgot we have to drive the fuel truck back today,” Vonne said as they reached the clearing and spotted the small tanker. “There go my lunch plans.”

  Liza chuckled. “I forgot about it too. That’s because you’re distracting me from my work, you know.”

  “Yeah, I know. But I don’t care.” Vonne hopped out of the truck and leaned into the bed for one of the containers, which she hefted effortlessly. She was pleased at the strength she had gained from only one week of strenuous labor. “But don’t think I’m going to forget that we have an appointment.”

  The sound of horses coming down the trail from the canyon pass startled them. Astrid emerged into the clearing, followed by Ray, who led a horse with a body draped over its saddle.

  “There’s been an accident,” she declared, sliding down from her mare.

  “Oh, my God! What happened?” Liza rushed over as the body was removed from its perch and rolled over. The white shirt was covered with blood. “It’s Billy.”

  Vonne pushed past and leaned down, pressing her fingers to the man’s neck in a futile attempt to locate a pulse.

  “He’s dead,” Astrid said, her voice giving away no emotion. “We were chasing a mountain lion up a ridge and he caught a stray bullet.”

  Right in the heart. The blood stains covered his chest, but the shirt wasn’t pierced, Vonne noticed. Someone had taken the time to change his clothes as he lay dying.

  “Take him back to the ranch in the truck. Ray, you ride on ahead and tell Lorna to get the van ready. Go with her to take care of this.”

  As Ray disappeared down the steep horse trail, Vonne moved behind the dead man and lifted his shoulders, gesturing for Liza to grab his feet. Together, they carried him to the truck and set him on the tailgate. Vonne climbed into the bed and dragged him forward, while Liza closed the gate.

  Astrid mounted up and turned back into the canyon without another word.

  “Let’s go,” Liza said quietly.

  Vonne tamped down her anger and jumped over the side of the bed. She felt sick that she hadn’t moved quickly enough in her investigation of Sky Ranch to save Billy Collins. That was because she had let her feelings for Liza distract her. She couldn’t afford to make that mistake again.

  yx

  Dinner was a quiet affair. One of the women had made the poignant gesture of setting an empty place at Billy’s usual seat.

  As they finished eating, Astrid stood and cleared her throat. One by one, the ranch hands set down their utensils and turned to face her.

  “I know we’re all feeling very sad tonight. These tragedies, unfortunately, are a part of any family. But we’ll see one another through this terrible loss.”

  Vonne could hear sniffling from a few of the women around her. The men who had been in the canyon were impassive, not giving away what they knew about Billy’s fate.

  “But it would be even more tragic if we didn’t take a lesson to heart from this horrible accident.” She looked into the eyes of her workers, her family. “Billy Collins was a fine young man. He enjoyed his work here, and he tried very hard to do his best. Sadly, his enthusiasm worked against him sometimes. Billy often got caught up in things and became careless.”

  She shook her head vehemently as if both angry and frustrated. “Ladies and gentlemen ... my family”—her voice softened—“this is a dangerous way of life we’ve chosen for ourselves. We must make good decisions—smart decisions. We can’t afford these sorts of tragic errors in judgment.”

  Vonne felt a chill up her spine, even before Astrid’s final words.

  “Please take care that nothing so unfortunate befalls one of you.”

  yx

  Vonne eased out of her bunk to the floor, leaning over to check on Liza, who was finally asleep. Everyone was still upset about Billy, and some of the women in the bunkhouse had continued to cry softly after going to bed.

  It was time for answers, and Vonne knew Jerry was on the case because she had caught a glimpse early this afternoon of a private plane turning over the canyon. With any luck, the chaos of the day had squelched any curiosity about who might have been flying over.

  She tiptoed to the bathhouse and entered the latrine, where she stood on the toilet to retrieve her phone. When the phone came to life, she dialed and was connected right away.

  “Jerry, we need to move soon. I don’t think I’m going to be able to wait this out.” She told the story of Billy’s death and how she suspected he had been killed for too many screw-ups. “Could you see what was in the canyon?” She listened as he described the results of the flyover.

  “That’s what I was afraid of ... You need to get some people in here to take this woman down, and soon!”

  Vonne reached to open the door to the latrine so she could keep an eye on the bunkhouse. The instant her hand touched the handle the door was flung open, banging hard into her shoulder. She was momentarily blinded when the light switch was thrown.

  Liza stood in the doorway, her face contorted in fury. “Who are you talking to?” she demanded.

  Vonne pulled the phone back and held up her other hand to stop Liza’s advance. “Something’s going on here, Liza ... something dangerous.”

  Liza shoved her hard, causing her head to slam against the concrete wall of the small room. Immediately, a gash opened behind her ear and blood began to pour down her neck.

  “I heard what you said. You came here to hurt Astrid. And I’m not going to let you do it.” Liza grabbed the phone from her hand and flung it onto the concrete floor, shattering it into small pieces.

  “I didn’t come here for Astrid!” Vonne pressed the heel of her hand against the gaping wound and leaned into the wall to steady herself, finally looking up to meet Liza’s steely eyes. “I came here ... to get you.”

  yx

  “We can’t just sit here, Liza. Jerry’s working with somebody in the FBI and he probably called them already to get out here and see what’s going on.”

  “Shut up!” Liza perched on the bench of the changing room, fully in command of the situation, as Vonne sat at her feet on the concrete floor holding a towel to her still-throbbing head.

  Vonne had known all along that Liza would feel betrayed—most cult members did once they discovered why she was there. They resisted deprogramming efforts out of both anger at being taken away and loyalty to the cult. But Liza wasn’t brainwashed, at least not in the classic sense. She had merely fallen victim to her own naïveté and need for escape.

  “You have no idea how dangerous this is, Liza.” Vonne’s biggest concern was that Liza would hand her over to Astrid, who would deal with her the same way she had with other threats to her plans.

  “So how much did my father pay you to come here and fuck me?”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me what it’s like, Vonne? Fill my pretty head with more of your lies.”

  “Your father’s dead.” Vonne saw a flash of disbelief, then shock in Liza’s angry eyes. “It was stomach cancer ... it happened very fast.”

 
; Liza didn’t say anything for several long moments; then her face finally returned to its cold, dispassionate state. “Figures the bastard would find one last way to cheat his investors.”

  “Your brother’s cooperating with the SEC. He wants to make things right, but he needs your help to do that.”

  “Now I know you’re lying. All Robb ever thinks about is himself, just like Dad. He probably can’t get his inheritance until I show up for the reading of the will.”

  “That’s not how it is. He knows you’re the one who turned your father in. He didn’t believe what you said at first, but then he found all the information on your computer after you disappeared.” Vonne checked the towel again and was relieved to see the bleeding had finally stopped. “Besides, when the SEC gets finished, there probably won’t be any inheritance. He knows that, and so do you.”

  “Who were you were talking to on the phone?”

  “My friend Jerry. He runs a clinic in San Francisco. We worked together in the navy as psychologists. Jerry helps people who have been ... who are being unduly influenced by other people.”

  “So Robb hired a couple of shrinks because he thinks I’m being brainwashed.” It wasn’t a question, just a resigned statement of fact.

  “I don’t have anything to do with that part. I teach psychology at a college in San Francisco. I’m here because Jerry asked me to help get you out safely.”

  “And you had to lie to me to do that?”

  “I couldn’t tell you the truth. I needed to know what kind of place this was.”

  “So your friend could fix my brain in case I was under some kind of spell.”

  “So I wouldn’t get myself killed, Liza. I never know what kind of situation I’m going to find when I go in.”

  “All of this is ridiculous.” Liza waved her hand dismissively. “I’m not being held against my will. I’m just here to work on a ranch. I don’t need my father’s money or my—”

  “Listen to me! You’re not working on just any old ranch. Surely you can see that. Most of the men spend all day up in that canyon. Jerry flew over it today. He saw tents—military tents, Liza—and a firing range. And all the horses were corralled. There isn’t any livestock up there, so no way this is just a ranch.”

  “That still doesn’t prove anything.”

  “What about Billy? Do you honestly think someone accidentally shot him right here?” She pointed to the center of her chest. “I’ve seen bullet wounds before, and that one came from close range. His shirt didn’t even have a hole in it, because he was probably wearing military fatigues when it happened.”

  Vonne could see Liza was finally starting to listen, giving at least some credence to her version of events. She went on to relate her suspicions that the couple who left had been killed, citing the fact that the van had returned with their suitcases.

  “It’s still just innuendo. Besides, how can you expect me to believe any of what you say when everything about you is a lie?”

  Vonne shook her head and sighed. “It isn’t a lie that I care about you.”

  “Don’t you dare say that!” She clenched her teeth and glared at Vonne with a look that bordered on disgust.

  “I do. And no matter what happens here, what I want most of all is for you to get out of this without getting hurt.” It was obvious Liza was too furious to consider any of Vonne’s personal reasons. She would have to appeal to her sense of logic and concern for the others. “The authorities are going to come—they’re probably on the way right now. No matter what you decide to do, they want to talk to Astrid. You and I need to find a way out of here first.” She knew Liza well enough by now to know she didn’t want to see anyone get hurt. She just had to convince her it would happen.

  “I don’t want to leave!”

  “Neither did the people at Waco! Do you remember those pictures? That building burning with all those people inside? Everybody died—women, children, even little babies.”

  “Astrid wouldn’t let something like that happen.”

  “You don’t know how she’ll act if they back her into a corner. She may feel like she has nothing left to lose.”

  “You don’t know her at all! She cares about us.”

  “She cares about herself.”

  “You’re wrong. She’s made Sky Ranch into a place where things are fair, where right and wrong isn’t decided by the almighty dollar.”

  “No, because right and wrong is decided by Astrid Becker.”

  “Why not Astrid Becker? We all have a better life here because of her. She takes care of us and teaches us to think for ourselves.”

  “No, she doesn’t. She manipulates you,” Vonne argued. “What happens when you give an opinion that’s different from hers? I’ve seen it—she withholds her approval. And you feel awful because you’ve disappointed her. So you work harder to adjust your thoughts, and the next time, you try to give her what she wants. That’s not teaching people to think, Liza. That’s called brainwashing.”

  Liza bristled and slumped back against the wall, her arms folded defiantly across her chest.

  “Astrid is an anarchist. You know what that means, don’t you?” Liza gave her an uncertain nod. “She’s anti-government. Lots of people feel that way, and there’s nothing wrong with it—except when they carry it too far. Then you end up with people like Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber.”

  “Astrid isn’t like that.”

  “She’s raising a militia that trains up in the canyon. And she’s killed people—that couple who tried to leave, and Billy, who didn’t measure up.”

  “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “How did you end up at Sky Ranch?” Before she could respond, Vonne continued. “Let me answer that, because it’s the same way I got here. Robb found the Copper J Ranch on your computer. We couldn’t locate it anywhere, so I filled out the same questionnaire you did and sent it back. I said I was single, between jobs, and I was willing to pay money up front. She tricked us both into coming here.”

  “So what!” But it was clear the circumstances were adding up and Liza was having difficulty explaining it all away in her head. “I know she isn’t like those other people.”

  Vonne put her hand on Liza’s knee. “You aren’t like those people either. That’s why you turned your father in. You knew people were going to get hurt. Now you need to help me see that these people don’t get hurt.” She could see the anguish in Liza’s face as she finally faced the truth. “We have to stop them now—tonight.”

  It was several agonizing minutes before Liza finally spoke, her voice low and weak. “How?”

  Relieved beyond measure, Vonne pushed herself up off the floor. “The first thing we need to do is get you out of here. If I know Jerry, the shit could hit the fan at any minute. We should walk down to the gate right now and meet them so we can tell them where everyone is ... and who’s not involved in this. Maybe they can come in fast and it will over before anybody knows—”

  “You won’t be going anywhere.”

  Both women jumped as Astrid stepped into the doorway of the bathhouse, flanked by Lorna and Ray, both of whom held automatic rifles.

  “At least Liza’s not going anywhere.” Astrid looked at her coldly. “I’m very disappointed that you’d let someone turn you against me so easily.”

  “Astrid ...” Liza’s face showed her devastation. “I didn’t want anyone to be hurt.”

  “You know I won’t let that happen. It’s my job to take care of all of you, and I intend to do that.” She turned to glower at Vonne. “But since you’re the one bringing this fight to our doorstep, I’m not all that concerned about what happens to you.”

  “I didn’t bring this fight, Astrid. You brought it to yourself with your twisted ideas and your Messiah complex.”

  “That’s enough out of you.” She jerked her head to the door. “Take her for a ride. Then meet us up at the canyon.”

  “I’ll be sure and say hi to Billy ... and to all the others that didn’t bu
y into your crap.” Vonne looked one last time at Liza and saw the terror in her eyes.

  yx

  Vonne wriggled in vain against the plastic tie that bound her wrists together behind her back. Lorna was driving the van. Ray rode beside her in the front seat, his rifle butt resting on the floor.

  “You’re not going to outrun these guys. You’re better off if you just give up now before anyone else gets hurt.” Especially me.

  “We always knew this day would come, Vonne,” Lorna said calmly. “We’re ready for it.”

  “Are you ready for a hundred agents storming that gate?”

  Ray chuckled. “Anyone storming that gate’s going to get what they deserve.”

  Lorna drove to the end of a dirt side road and stopped. Ray hopped out and opened the sliding door to the back seat. “End of the line,” he announced sardonically.

  “For you, Ray,” a male voice answered.

  As Ray’s gun aimed upward at the voice from the back of the van, three bullets thumped into his chest and he fell. Lorna scrambled in the front seat for her gun.

  “No, Lorna!”

  She ignored the command and was dropped with two bullets before she could get off a shot.

  Vonne whirled around to see a familiar face rising from the row of seats behind her. “Dominick!”

  “Special Agent Dominick Haynes, FBI. At your service.”

  “God, am I ever glad to see you!” Vonne stepped over Ray’s body as she stumbled out of the van.

  “Here, let me get those cuffs off.” Dominick pulled out a pocketknife and cut the plastic. “We have to hurry. Those guys should be getting to the gate any minute, and I don’t want them finding Ray’s surprise.”

  Vonne ran around to the driver’s seat and pulled Lorna’s body out, dumping it unceremoniously on the ground. “How did you know?”

  “I got a vibrating text message about an hour ago. We’ve been watching Astrid Becker for almost a year, ever since she started collecting munitions.”