by Dale Mayer
“Well, as confirmation goes,” she said, lying back down again in the van, “that’s not bad.”
“But it doesn’t tell you anything,” he snarled.
“How much do I need to know anyway?” The fatigue was starting to hit her. “This is all bullshit.”
“You live with the bullshit,” he said. “You work for the government. Is there a bigger source of bullshit in the entire world?”
“I don’t know,” she said sadly. “I had hoped so.”
“I guess you shouldn’t have ripped out that navigation stuff on the sub.”
She stopped and stared at the back of his head. “Were you there?”
“Partly. I was there for a lot of it.”
“But I don’t understand,” she said. “The only navigation I ripped out was stuff that wasn’t working. I was there to replace a lot of it.”
“No, you were there to make sure it all worked,” he said.
“Sure, but a bunch of stuff in there wasn’t working well, so I was changing some of the wiring and codes.”
“Says you,” he said. “I figured you got wise to what I was up to.”
“No,” she said softly. “I wish I had though.”
“I’m sure you do,” he said, “but it didn’t work out that way. So I had to go to plan B.”
“What was plan A?”
“Well, to keep the navigation equipment, that’s for sure.”
She stopped, thought about it. “You were trying to steal the sub?” she cried out in wonder.
“Bingo,” he said, “but you were not very smart about it.”
“I had no idea you were in there doing that,” she said. “You didn’t have to shoot us all.”
“Sure I did,” he said. “I mean, it’s not like I was prepared to leave witnesses around to rat on me.”
“You could have locked everybody out,” she said. “And just left us there.”
“Oxygen was at a premium with twelve extra people breathing,” he said cheerfully. “If a dozen people weren’t breathing, it was better, and I had twelve times more air, if I needed it.”
“Jesus,” she said, “but you could have gotten the oxygen system back up and running again.”
“I could have,” he said. “That was the plan. But then you did something to the navigation.”
“I figured you did,” she said, confused all over again.
“No. I just told you that I didn’t.”
“But some of it was really messed up. In fact, I had to correct the software, twice, when it should have been fixed the first time,” she said, reaching up with her hands to rub the side of her head. “This makes no sense.”
He stopped talking for a moment, as he drove the van through the afternoon traffic, and then he gave a short bark. “That fucking Hostettler. If you didn’t do it, maybe he actually did screw me over,” he snapped.
“I did catch him at my station a couple times, and, when I asked him what he was doing, he always just gave me that halfway smile and said he was interested in what was going on.”
“Well, he was interested all right,” the man said, “but he was a bit of a loose screw.”
“Is that why you took him out?”
“Well, I didn’t do it though,” he said.
“You know what? I think you probably did take out Hostettler,” she said. “They said that it looked like he committed suicide. But I suspect you grabbed the gun and put it to his head and pulled the trigger.”
“Aren’t you smart?” he said. “I made sure I shot him up a little bit first.”
“So he was your partner?”
“Ex-partner.”
Just way-too-much cheerfulness was in the man’s voice. She only wished she could place it; she silently scooted over to get a view of his face, not wanting to get caught without her blindfold. “You look like Thomas,” she said.
“What do you know about Thomas, and how would you know what I look like?”
“Because I saw the feed of you sneaking into the sub and later into the hospital,” she said. “I figured it had to be you.”
He swore up a blue streak, and she realized he hadn’t been aware of those mistakes.
“They’ve got you all over the place,” she said calmly. “Shadowed, sure, but that limp of yours is pretty describable.”
“Took a bullet way back when,” he said. “Never healed right.”
“Sorry about that,” she said.
Again, an ugly darkness filled the van as she waited for his reaction. But there was none. He just gave that bark of laughter and didn’t say anything else. As if he knew something she didn’t. Then what else was new?
But, with so many dead already, she knew that she didn’t matter. She was just one more death to be had in this matter. So why the hell was he keeping her alive? “But you could have just left me in the hospital,” she said. “Being there was killing me already.”
“Glad you’ve got a sense of humor in all this,” he said, chuckling, “but it won’t do any good.”
“In what way?” she asked, as if interested. All she was doing was desperately trying to figure out how to contact someone and get some help. She couldn’t see her phone anywhere. Then she’d left it on the hospital bed when she went to the door. Damn. She had on only a hospital gown, and that made her feel even worse. As a matter of fact, she had no ID of any kind on her. Things were looking pretty rough. “Is there any heat you could turn on back here?”
“It’s a hot sunny day,” he said. “You’ll be fine.”
“Not really,” she said, “it’s freezing back here.”
“I left your underwear and your hospital gown on,” he said. “It’s not like you can do anything with that cast on your leg.”
“Some clothes would be nice.” A chill was setting in.
“Some stuff is in the back there,” he said. “Go for it, if you want.”
“For that, I’d have to use my hands,” she said.
“Well, that’s not happening. So either make good use of it or don’t,” he snapped. And then he fell silent.
She had no clue how much farther they had to go, but she looked around and saw a bag. She reached for it and looked inside—a variety of clothing, mostly everything in a medium or large. There was a skirt, however. She managed to pull it on over her broken leg, her goodish leg, then past her hips. Now if she had something that she could put over her chest, she’d feel like she wasn’t quite so vulnerable. But how she was supposed to do that with her hands tied?
When she studied the knots, one had loosened a bit, what with all the moving around and shifting. Not much but maybe enough to slip out one of her hands. It took her a bit, but she finally pulled one hand free. Not really knowing what to do from here, she went through the bag, pulled out a sweatshirt, and, with her back turned to the driver, she quickly pulled it on over her head. “Nice job,” he said. Not sure how you got your hands out of that rope, but we’ll keep it in mind for next time.”
“You do that,” she said. “I just want to go home.”
“You’re not going home,” he said.
She looked up and saw that they were speeding along the highway as far as she could tell. And the speed was enough that, if she even tried to open the back door to jump out, she’d end up with another broken leg—or worse. Traffic was probably behind her too. “You could at least let me sit in the passenger seat,” she complained.
He didn’t say anything.
She stared at the rope in her hands, and she knew that Axel would have taken the rope and wrapped it around the driver’s neck and choked him. She wondered about doing it.
“I can see what you’re thinking,” he said. “It’s all over your face. I really wouldn’t try that if I were you.” He lifted his hand enough for her to see he held a handgun.
So, even if she tried to do anything, he could shoot her. Or she could get it free from his hand. Thinking over the horrors of the past few days, she realized she would rather go down fighting than be taken
to whatever nightmare he had planned for her. But was this the best avenue right now?
When he slowed down and turned off the highway, she didn’t know quite what to do. She figured she was almost out of time. Fighting the blinding pain, she shuffled up to the front seat, looking for street signs or anything to give her a location. Just when he reached up with gun, she snatched it from his hand and quickly turned it on him and held it against his head.
Hitting the brakes, he pulled off to the side of the road and lifted his hands in the air. “Okay,” he said, in a totally different tone of voice. “That’s not what I expected.”
“You were turning the corner, and that’s where your focus was,” she said. “And you were still trying to keep your free hand on the gun.”
“Got it,” he said. “Now what?”
“Where is my phone?”
He motioned at the seat beside him. “It’s right there. Good luck getting it and keeping that gun.”
“Right,” she said, and, taking a deep breath, she lined up her shot and fired it into his kneecap.
“You fucking bitch!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, writhing in agony. He rose, trying to twist in his seat.
But she held the handgun right between his eyes. “You’ll get a second one,” she said. “I owe you two more, after all.”
He glared at her. “You don’t know fuck,” he yelled.
“Maybe not,” she said, “but I’m learning.” And, just like that, she pressed the gun hard against his forehead and reached out for cell phone. “Turn around and face forward.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then forensics can go over your body,” she said.
“I’m the victim here, not you.” He shifted ever-so-slightly, groaning with one hand on his knee and the other holding his thigh. “I think you hit an artery,” he murmured.
“Then you better hope we can get help fast,” she said, “because otherwise you’ll die right here.”
“Bitch.”
She just smiled.
*
Axel had already met with shipyard security and the group of soldiers gathered outside in the shipyard. He quickly told them everything he knew. “We have to find her, and we have to do it now,” he said. He’d already been dismissed, sent to one side, along with Baylor, who looked at him. Axel said, “We can’t just stay here and do nothing.” Axel stormed to his Jeep, Baylor with him. “There’s got to be some way to get ahold of the gatehouse and see if they went through or not.”
“We already know they did,” Baylor said, getting into the Jeep as soon as Axel did.
“So no vehicle here came from the shipyards?” Axel slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “Where the hell are they?”
“Easy, take it easy,” Baylor said.
Just then Axel’s phone rang again. He answered without even looking at the display.
“It’s me,” Ally said in a rush. “I don’t know where I am,” she stated. “I was kidnapped, and I’m now holding the gun on the driver. I shot him in the knee so I could get my phone and call for help,” she said. “I don’t know where the hell we are though, and he’s not talking.”
“Shit,” Axel said, spinning the steering wheel and pulling back out of the yard’s parking lot. “Any idea if you were in the shipyards?”
“Not recently,” she said. “We are on the highway, but I couldn’t figure out where.”
Baylor interrupted. “Ally, I’m Baylor. Stay on your phone. I’ll see if I can triangulate your location.”
“Thanks, I’m not gonna be much help. I’ve got all I can do right here,” she said.
“You don’t have to do anything. We’ll get within a block or two.”
“Oh,” she said, “I was hoping you could come right to me.”
“Depends on where you are.”
An odd sound through the phone.
“Is that your kidnapper?” Axel growled.
“Yes,” she said. “He doesn’t think much of me at all.”
“Ally, take the butt of that gun, and slam that mother fucker as hard as you can across the temple. Do it now,” Axel ordered.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” her kidnapper shouted.
Then came a hard smack. She was breathing heavily when she came back on the phone. “God, I hated doing that.”
“Is he out cold?”
“I think so, but I don’t want to touch him.”
“Don’t you relax your guard,” he said. “This guy is a killer, and he won’t think anything of turning the tables on you, even with a shot-up knee.”
“I know,” she said, trying to hold on.
He could hear her bravery through her tears. “We’re on the way,” he said. “You hold that thought. We’ll be there soon.”
“How soon?” she asked.
“If he makes a move against you,” he said, “shoot him again, and this time you kill him. Do you hear me?”
“If I have to, I will,” she said. “I’m just trying to stay awake. The pain is pretty bad.”
“Don’t you black out,” he said. “That could be the end of it.”
“He’s out cold,” she said, “and I’m not far behind.”
“No,” he roared. “Do you hear me? He’ll come to faster than you.”
“It’s so hard to hang on,” she said.
He could hear the fatigue and her tears. “Get yourself as comfortable as you can,” he said. “You keep your eyes on him and that gun trained on him. We can’t be too far away now, and, if we aren’t, we’ll get somebody there who’s closer.”
“I want to believe you,” she said. “God, this has just gone to shit.”
“Did he tell you anything?”
“He’s got a team. Some of them are dead,” she said, “I can’t remember half of what he said. Something about me being a scapegoat. I said jail was better than being dead, and he sounded surprised at that idea, so I think he thought that I would end up dead eventually.”
“I imagine that’s the plan,” he said. “Then you can’t repeat whatever tale he spins.”
“He is related somehow to my brother’s friend, or at least he knows them,” he said. “He took a bullet that didn’t heal right, and that’s where the limp came from.”
“Did he say whether he was military or anything official?”
“I don’t think so,” she said, but he heard the tremor in her voice.
“Ally, buck up.”
She growled. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yes, but I can’t have you go to pieces.”
“I haven’t gone to pieces yet,” she gasped. “That’s not fair.”
Her breathing was scaring him. “Ally, I can tell that you’re fading in and out,” he said, his voice gentler now. “Remember. This is coming to an end very quickly. You can’t afford to have him take over while you’re asleep. Either shoot him again or stay awake.”
“You’re such a hard-ass,” she muttered.
He grinned. “I love that tone in your voice.”
“The one that says you’re an asshole?” She said it, but this time there was humor in her tone.
Axel looked over at Baylor to see him grinning. “Maybe I am,” he said, “but this asshole is trying to keep you alive.”
“It seems like you’re the only one,” she whispered. “Everybody else just wants me to die.”
“Not happening,” he said. “Come on, sweetheart. Stay awake.”
“Ha, you only say ‘sweetheart’ when you want something.”
But her tone was fading in and out again. “Ally,” he snapped. “Talk to me.”
“I don’t want to,” she said. “Holy shit, this hurts.”
“It’s just a leg,” he said.
“I think it’s just a leg,” she said, “but my head’s pretty fuzzy, and I might have busted some stitches.”
He sucked in his breath. “Did you hurt your head again? Are you bleeding?”
“Bleeding some. Don’t know about my head,” she sa
id. “It was a pretty rough ride in the back of the van. I still can’t believe I got myself free.”
“Yeah, you got yourself free, overtook the killer, shot, and incapacitated him. Now all you have to do is stay awake for the rescue.”
“Why the hell should I wait for a rescue?” she said indignantly. “I’m the one who did all the work.”
He burst out laughing. “You keep saying that,” he said, “and you did do everything right. We’re just coming in to clean up the mess.”
“And that you can do,” she said. “He’s bleeding everywhere.” She started to get worried. “Will they think I murdered him?”
“You were the kidnap victim,” he said drily. “I don’t think so.”
“But they already want to convict me for something I didn’t do,” she said, “so why wouldn’t they convict me for this too?”
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned. “This guy attacked you, kidnapped you from your room, threw you in the back of a van, and was driving you away. Of course you fought for your life.”
“But I shot him,” she said. “I guess I should have shot him in the head, huh?”
“Well, that would have been one way, but maybe this way we can get some answers out of him,” he said reassuringly. “Come on.” He looked over at Baylor. “We’re almost there.”
Baylor nodded. “We are,” he said. “I have the district she’s in.” He quickly set up the GPS. “We’re on the way, Ally, just hold steady.”
“I’m here,” she said. “I’m slumped behind the passenger seat, hoping he doesn’t wake up.”
“If he does, he’s likely to be stronger than you, so you’ll have to shoot him,” he said.
“Except for the knee,” she said. “And the rate he’s bleeding, I’m not sure he’ll ever wake up.”
“We’ve got an ambulance coming too,” he said, “and law enforcement. This guy won’t get away again.”
“He’s heavily involved in whatever this shit is,” she said. “I just don’t know what it’s all about.”
“Did he give you any clues?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, pausing to catch her breath. “They were trying to steal the sub, but something went wrong, something to do with my navigation system,” she said. “I don’t remember exactly. Then I think he decided that Hostettler might have betrayed him.”
