by Regan Black
“Awful courteous of you,” Alex said, his gaze on the scene below. “Avoiding collateral damage.”
“Someone must have seen the biker who shot out my tire.”
“The troopers will deal with that. You and I have bigger fish to fry.”
“Caleb’s phone is still showing up?” Matt asked.
“Yes. I’m guessing they haven’t taken time to search him. The team will continue to narrow down possible routes and destinations while you and I prepare for the rescue.”
Matt wanted to argue, to insist they use the helicopter to get a visual on Caleb and Bethany, but he’d tried it his way.
“She was in the car. The silver sedan,” he said. “I saw her just before...” He wanted to believe he’d see them both again. Then something worse occurred to him. “What if she thinks I’m dead?”
“That can only work in our favor,” Alex replied.
“Why?”
“Because that will just make her angrier, and she has a spine of steel. She’ll keep them both alive.”
The helicopter set down again, this time at a small airfield. Matt had no real idea where they were as he followed Alex and two other men from the security force toward the fabricated building that served as the airfield office.
“Between Knudson and your dad,” Alex began, “we can access whatever we need with little more than a phone call.”
What he needed was a plan to successfully rescue Bethany and Caleb. “Does anyone have any hard intel to work with?”
“According to the radio chatter we picked up, you are still the desired target.” Alex scrubbed a hand over his face, his expression grim. “Your dad already received a video of your crash.”
Matt swore.
“Agreed. Caleb’s phone is still moving too fast for him to be on foot.”
“Which means whoever is behind this won’t stop, even if it looks like I died,” Matt said.
“Correct.”
Losing Bethany and Caleb would destroy him. His parents, too. They were already locked in and delighted to be grandparents.
“The phone is still, sir,” A technician reported to Alex.
Matt turned toward the uniformed woman sitting in front of a laptop. “Show me.”
She pointed to a secondary monitor, pulling up an aerial image of the location on the internet. A few seconds later, she had the location pin overlaid on the image. “Less than thirty miles off the interstate,” she reported. “By accident or design, this is a remote corner of a national park.”
Alex whistled. “Score one for the home team.”
Matt agreed. The charges would mount if crimes were committed on federal property. He just wanted to make sure the crimes didn’t involve any injury. He made a mental note of the location, his mind swiftly transitioning to weapons and communications options. “How soon can we get there?”
“Park rangers and state troopers can be diverted immediately,” Alex began. At Matt’s glare, he reconsidered. “Fine. I’ll direct them to set up roadblocks well back from the phone’s location. You can ride along with my rescue team.”
“Better.” As a father, Matt resisted the implications that he could pose a threat to the rescue. As a soldier, he understood he was a risk.
Alex pulled Matt aside as the team moved to gear up. “If we only find the phone, can you keep it together?”
“I’m a rock,” Matt lied.
Alex rolled his eyes. “I’ll shoot you in the leg before I let you do something stupid. Hear me?”
“You’ve been watching too many movies,” Matt said. “Save your bullets for the kidnappers.”
Chapter 13
Bethany and Caleb had been hauled out of the car and shoved into a drafty little cabin in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. Two folding chairs, a card table and an empty fireplace were the sum total of the amenities in the single room. Other than the door, there was one narrow window in the bathroom, too small for even Caleb to crawl through. Over the door was a surveillance camera, the red power light glowing. Someone was watching.
She had a general idea of where they were, based on where they’d been taken, the eventual exit from the interstate and the backroads to this location. The driver stood as a guard outside, occasionally giving a status report to someone on the other end of the radio. He’d patted them down and found and destroyed Caleb’s phone, but he hadn’t seemed worried about it and he hadn’t done anything else to restrain them.
The man clearly saw a weak woman and a cowed boy. She was happy to be underestimated.
Caleb hadn’t spoken more than a few words since Matt’s car had gone off the road. As much as she wanted to give him more comfort, she knew everything she said might be overheard.
Twice she’d shouted through the door for water or food and been denied.
“Try to sleep,” she murmured to Caleb as they sat side by side, huddled up for warmth. They’d tucked themselves into the corner under the camera to limit the access of whoever watched them.
“Are they gonna kill us?” he asked, sounding defeated.
“No,” she said fiercely. “We’ll get out of here alive.”
“They killed Dad.”
“They did not.” If she let her mind slip down a path into a world where Matt was dead, she’d be paralyzed. “Your father is a soldier. A highly trained warrior. He’s been through every survival school and skill training available. He’s been deployed multiple times and overcome all sorts of trouble on dangerous missions. Bullets haven’t stopped him yet,” she reminded him. She could go on and on about his intelligence, bravery and perseverance, but she summed it up with, “He’s alive.”
“’Kay.” Caleb dropped his head to her shoulder.
She’d been biding her time, trying to get a feel for the cadence and frequency of the guard’s check-ins. Not knowing the reasons behind this entire mess made it difficult to predict anything their captor might do next. Didn’t matter. She’d decided they would not be moved from this location against their will.
She judged their guard as being low in the pecking order, based solely on the radio interactions. As the hours ticked by, she started to wonder if all three of them were meant to be abandoned out here.
It didn’t much matter what anyone else had in mind. She’d put her trust in Matt’s determination and resiliency, along with her own capabilities. At the first opportunity, she and Caleb would overpower the guard and steal the car. It was their best option.
“You asleep?” she asked.
“Nah.”
“Good. Here’s what we’re going to do.” In a whisper, she outlined her plans allowing for every contingency she could think of.
Caleb quietly repeated the plans back to her, promising to head toward the interstate or follow the river south if he came across that first.
“Whatever happens, your only goal is escape.” She squeezed his hand. “Clear?”
He nodded.
“We’ll move right after the next radio check-in.”
* * *
They were closing in on two hours with no movement on Caleb’s phone. Matt started wondering if it had been found by the kidnappers and discarded. They could be anywhere by now. No. He had to shove his mind away from that abyss, close out any stray thought that someone had stolen his family.
While strapping into his tactical gear and checking his weapons and ammunition load, he imagined eviscerating the person behind this. It seemed a fair price to exact on whoever had been keeping his stomach in knots all this time.
“Think she’ll marry you when this is done?” Alex asked.
He had no idea. Dialed into the rescue, he couldn’t even tap into the normal level of pre-mission bravado and camaraderie with the small, lethal team.
They were probably breaking laws on several levels. Not his problem. Alex had coordinated those details and all Matt could do was give thanks. Over and over. He put his mind on how good it would feel to have Bethany and Caleb in sight, to hug them close.
&nbs
p; Whether or not she ever agreed to marry him, his heart was hers. If they survived this, he would probably be foolish enough to propose again. If she said yes, he’d be the happiest man alive. If she turned him down, he resigned himself to the fact that he’d try again.
The team fanned out, picking their way in relative silence through the forest to the remote cabin. The tools they had in play had shown one cooling vehicle and three heat signatures. Two in the cabin, one loitering outside.
Although the scout reported no sign of traps, the team continued to move with caution.
What was the goal of the person pulling this stunt? Matt wondered as inch by inch they closed in. All three of them had been threatened indirectly and directly, plus the vandalism of his sister’s car. The bland warning his father had received still carried the most weight with the investigators, so why were the people who meant the most to Matt out here in the woods?
Alex gave the signal to halt.
“New contact,” came a voice over his headset. “Broadcast signal in play. Tracing transmission.”
Matt crept up beside Alex. “What’s that mean?” He knew what it meant in combat, but couldn’t put it into context out here.
His friend shifted, silent as a shadow. “Whatever is going on in that cabin is being broadcast out.” Alex confirmed his worst fears. “Wi-Fi relay, most likely.”
Matt peered up into the trees, but there were simply too many layers of dark on more darkness to pinpoint a small piece of tech.
“Torture,” Matt murmured.
“No signs of that,” Alex warned. “Easy.”
“Not here,” Matt said. “The broadcast. He’s going to use it to torture Dad. Or me.”
Alex’s features turned stony under the camouflage paint he’d applied to his face for the mission. “Not happening.” His grip on Matt’s shoulder was firm and steady.
Matt nodded once in agreement. Words were beyond him now. He needed action. Swift, decisive and preferably deadly.
They’d just started to move on the cabin and lone guard when a quiet engine rumbled up the road. Matt’s heart pounded against his ribs as they waited for the vehicle to pass. It didn’t. Instead, headlights sliced through the night and it rolled to a stop at the bottom of the slope, not far from the sedan. As close to the cabin as a vehicle could get.
One man got out and hiked the rather steep hill with ease. He greeted the man at the cabin door. Their voices were too low to be overheard and they seemed in no rush to move. It seemed like an eternity before the scout reported the cars were unguarded.
Knowing the numbers, Alex signaled the team to move. Matt stayed in position at his friend’s shoulder as the others subdued and cuffed the guards. It was over without a single bullet fired or punch thrown.
Matt would appreciate that more later, if the investigators could get them to talk. Right now he wanted to be sure the two people inside the cabin were his.
“Go, go, go.” Alex said.
Matt didn’t need any further encouragement. He surged into the cabin, his gaze landing on Bethany and Caleb as he shouted their names.
They scrambled to their feet and rushed him. Relief coursed through his system as the three of them embraced. He kissed Caleb’s hair, heedless of the tears tracking down his face.
“You’re all right?” He stepped back, pushing them to arm’s length for a good, long look.
“We’re fine.” Bethany slid back, her arms holding him in a long hug. “We were about to escape—”
Suddenly the cabin door slammed shut and the light overhead popped with a sizzle. In the darkness, Matt and Caleb lunged for the door, but it was locked.
“Welcome to the party,” a silky male voice filtered through a speaker.
Bethany gave a startled scream and Matt shoved her and Caleb behind him.
The voice laughed. “There’s nowhere to run, Major Riley. The cabin is rigged to blow.” A flame sparked in the fireplace, following a trail of accelerant around the opening, snaking out along the edges of the room. Smoke started to build, curling toward the ceiling. “You can die slowly, or show some compassion and take the lives of your son and his mother. Personally, I’m hoping for some brave heroics to share with your father.”
“What do you want?” Matt demanded, his face tipped up toward the speaker. “Who are you?”
“I have all I want. Dinner and a show. Now, don’t disappoint, Daddy.”
Matt swore as he looked around the tiny cabin. He called to Alex, heard only static in return. Something jammed the communications. He pulled Bethany and Caleb down low, under the building smoke. “We’re getting out of here,” he promised. He pulled the pistol from his holster.
“What are you doing?” Bethany gaped at him.
“Creating a vent.” The smoke would kill them if he didn’t. He raised the gun to the ceiling and pulled the trigger several times. It wasn’t perfect, but it seemed to help alleviate the worst of the choking smoke.
Pounding sounded at the door and Alex called out to them. Matt rushed forward. “He says the door is wired to blow.”
Alex swore. “Next option?”
Matt pulled the collar of his T-shirt up over his nose, encouraged his son and Bethany to do the same. The temperature was rising as the flames had caught all along the walls. He had to hope this bastard had overlooked something.
“Any windows or a back door?” Matt asked, the smoke making his voice harsh.
Caleb shook his head. “Just a vent in the bathroom.”
A bathroom gave him hope for running water, until the three of them were crammed into a space barely big enough for one and he realized the well must have been disabled.
This time Bethany was the one cursing.
He used the butt of his pistol to break out the small vent window. Alex joined him on the other side, with more bad news.
“This was the only trap. Explosives are wired all the way through. If we breach, the place goes up faster.”
“And if we don’t?”
“The fire will do it for us. Eventually. Fire department might get here in time to save a big forest burn. I’ve got a guy working on the well.”
Matt looked around the bathroom, swiping away the tears tracking down his face. Smoke and desperation had reduced him to this. Well, smoke and desperation and a madman. “Either guy outside have a helpful suggestion?”
“No. Grunts,” Alex said. “They did flip on the man who hired them.”
With that kind of good news, Matt wasn’t going to give in. He wanted to see the man’s eyes when all three of them walked out of here alive. “We’re coming out through this window,” he decided. “We’ll open up the wall, mindful of the explosives.”
A slow grin crossed Alex’s lean face. “I’m in.”
“Don’t let the muscle know what we’re up to,” Matt said. “They might be wired.”
Alex jogged off to look for something to cut away the exterior wall, while Matt ripped out the window frame with his bare hands, and then dug into the thin layer of drywall, revealing the frame construction.
He kicked at the framing under the window. There was hardly enough room to maneuver, but he couldn’t bear to send Caleb or Bethany out into the main room in the middle of that fire, in view of that camera.
The two of them huddled in the shower stall while he alternated between heavy kicks and throwing his shoulder into the framing. The wall started to give and a spark in the corner told him the fire had reached the next fuse in the chain.
On a roar of frustration, Matt kicked out again and a center section of framing cracked and gave way.
“Out.” He grabbed Bethany, kissed her forehead and helped her through the opening. Then she was outside, coughing and sputtering, beckoning to Caleb.
A sickening sizzle and crack drew Matt’s gaze upward. He’d tripped another string of explosives. The ceiling over the bathroom caught fire and flaming debris rained down on his head.
Matt covered Caleb with his body and shoved him towa
rd the narrow opening. The kid was through, his hoodie torn by the broken framing before he was caught up in Bethany’s embrace.
Now he could rest easy. He would’ve taken a deep breath if it had been possible.
The fire beat at his back and he knew the odds were slim that he could break through the wall without tripping another explosive wire.
“Come on,” Bethany shouted. “Now, Matt!”
“Get them clear,” he said, although Alex was already moving her back, understanding. His friend had been in enough tight spots to recognize the risks here. Alex gave him a thumbs-up and Matt charged through just as an explosion popped what remained of the cabin right off its footings.
Matt, already airborne, was propelled further still by the blast. Landing hard, the wind knocked out of him, he slipped and rolled until a tree in the back halted his momentum. Bethany reached him first, her hands fluttering over his face, brushing dust and who knew what away from his face.
“Matt? Matt!”
“I’m fine,” he rasped. He reached up to reassure Caleb, but his arm fell back weakly. “Just give me a minute.” Alex stepped into his line of sight and Matt knew his family was safe at last. He let the blackness take him.
* * *
“Matt!” Bethany wailed when Matt’s eyelids drifted closed. Her hand throbbed and her soul felt completely wrecked. “Wake up, Matt. We need you.” Beside her, Caleb sobbed, clutching his father’s hand.
“Easy, now,” Alex said. “He’s not dead.”
Bethany saw him press his fingers to Matt’s neck to be sure. “Pulse is strong,” he said. “He’s just worn out. It happens.” He smiled, and the flash of white teeth in his camouflaged face had a gruesome effect. “Let them get him moved. It’s all good now.”
She turned to see an ambulance had made it out here, and between the paramedics and Alex, they eventually convinced her he would live.
