by BJ Bourg
“I guess she doesn’t know how it ended for Bonnie and Clyde.”
“Oh, she does.” Dwight nodded his head for emphasis. “She told Roy that the only way they were going out was in a blaze of glory.”
I snarled, wanting desperately to oblige them.
“Where are they headed next?” I asked, having all I needed from Dwight now.
“They’re trying to get to Mexico.” He shook his head. “Before they left the next day, Roy said Shannon wanted a different car. She said it wouldn’t be long before the cops found the man and his daughter in the woods, and they would be looking for the Jeep. According to Roy, she had a plan to kidnap someone with their vehicle. That way, it wouldn’t be reported missing and they could get farther down the road without any problems.”
“What else do you know?” I pressed.
“Um, well, Roy did tell me the Jeep was almost out of gas. He asked to borrow some cash from me, but I didn’t have any. When I heard about that cop getting killed by the broken down car, I knew it was them.”
“I need a picture of them. Do you know where I can find one?”
“I’ve got one on my phone.” Dwight dug in his pocket and pulled out his cell. After fumbling with the display screen, he turned it toward me. “Roy sent it to me the night he got to Illinois. It was probably the only one he had, because Shannon made him destroy his phone.”
When I saw the picture, I frowned and nodded. It was the same couple who had claimed to be Nicky and Regina Hines earlier in the day. I took his phone and sent the photo to my own cell phone. Once I’d received it, I sent it in a group message to Susan, Takecia, Melvin, Regan, Mallory, Lou, and Sheriff Turner.
I had just handed Dwight back his phone when there was another knock outside the interview room. I stood and opened the door. Doug Cagle, who was a detective with the Chateau Parish Sheriff’s Office, was standing there. A serious-looking uniformed patrol deputy was with him.
“It’s been a long time,” I said, extending my hand. Although we’d had our differences in the past, Doug and I got along okay.
Doug shook my hand and indicated Dwight. “Sheriff Turner told me you wanted this witness transported to the Criminal Operations Center for an interview.”
I nodded and stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind me. After giving him a quick rundown of Dwight’s statement, I told him the killers might try to contact Dwight again, so he needed to hold onto Dwight’s cell phone.
Once he was thoroughly briefed, I raced out of the police department and headed straight for the scene of Amy’s shooting. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that it hurt. I hadn’t gotten an update from Susan or anyone else, and that scared the shit out of me. I knew better than to call and ask, because they were busy searching for the killers and didn’t have time to provide any updates.
CHAPTER 46
It felt like I was in a dream. When I arrived at the location of the shooting, I just stood there in stunned horror and took in the scene before me. The RV was positioned at a slight angle and was blocking part of the northbound lane. The right, rear bumper and corner of the RV were demolished. The flashing blue and red lights from the dozens of surrounding police vehicles glistened off of the golden spent shell casings that littered the shoulder of the highway. There must’ve been fifty of them.
My eyes followed the debris trail from the right corner of the RV toward the bayou and I sucked in a mouthful of air. The undercover car was partially submerged in the bayou. Only the very top of the windshield and roof could be seen, and it was plain to see that the windshield had been ripped apart by bullets.
I glanced up and saw SWAT officers rushing about, their rifles in their hands. Officers were shouting and pointing toward a house across the street from where I stood. I grabbed a young deputy who was rushing by me.
“Hey, what’s going on over there?” I asked, indicating the house.
When the young man turned to face me, I recognized him as Paul Rupe. I’d worked a case involving him and his friends back when he was a teenager. He had grown up into a fine young man and had joined the sheriff’s office straight out of high school.
“Oh, hey, Detective Wolf,” he greeted, trying to force a smile. “They’re saying they found an old man shot to death behind that house. Detective Tuttle thinks the killers might’ve stolen his vehicle. While she tries to figure out what kind of vehicle the old man had, she wants me to help search the buildings behind the house just in case they’re still hanging around.”
I nodded and thanked him for the information before waving him off to do his job. I walked closer to the RV and glanced inside. There were more shell casings in the narrow hallway just inside the door. I glanced toward the undercover car in the bayou and then studied the wreckage strewn about the shoulder of the road.
It became clear to me that either Roy or Shannon had ambushed Amy and Baylor from the back door of the RV. As with their other victims, Amy and Baylor never saw it coming. However, unlike their other victims, it appeared they had gone down fighting. Based on the location of the undercover car and the extensive damage to the RV, Amy had crashed into the motorhome in a last-ditch effort to take out their attackers.
I thought I saw blood on the floor in the hallway of the RV, but I didn’t see any bodies. Based on the radio traffic I was hearing all around me, we were still searching for two suspects, so they had both apparently gotten away.
“Clint!” called a faint, but familiar voice from some distance in the road north of me. “Over here!”
Completely numb, I walked around the RV and began scanning the faces of the officers hurrying about. It took me a while, but I finally located Susan waving her arms in the air. She was summoning me toward her.
I shook off the fog as best I could and joined my wife near the back of an ambulance. I tried to see through the back window, but couldn’t. Was Amy inside? Or Baylor?
With a nod of her head, Susan indicated the ambulance. “We found the real Nicky and Regina Hines tied up in the bathroom of the RV. The medics are checking them now. They were banged up pretty good from the collision, but other than some bumps and bruises, they’re going to be fine.”
“What about Amy and Baylor?” I asked, sensing that Susan was avoiding that topic. “What do we know so far? How are they?”
“Baylor’s okay, but—” Susan’s eyes clouded over and she looked down at the ground. “It’s not good, Clint,” she said in a strained voice. “Amy was hit at least a dozen times by gunfire. I didn’t get the full story from Baylor, but I do know she was submerged under water for a few seconds until Baylor could free himself and pull her out.” She paused to take a breath. “I spoke to the emergency room doctor a few minutes ago. They…they don’t think she’s going to make it.”
I staggered backward, the weight of the news almost knocking me on my ass. I somehow managed to stay on my feet, but just barely. Susan stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. I don’t know if she did it for my benefit or her own, but we both stood there on the shoulder of the road for a long moment. With the whole world spinning out of control and falling apart around us, we took that brief moment to hold each other tight and recharge our batteries.
CHAPTER 47
Twenty minutes later…
There was only one police car in the parking lot of Chateau General Hospital when I arrived. While there would’ve normally been dozens of officers at the hospital offering their prayers and moral support, it wasn’t the case in this situation because every other available unit was patrolling the streets searching for these cowardly killers.
I hurriedly made my way into the emergency room. The first person I saw was a nurse sitting behind the desk. She was shuffling some papers in a chart, but stopped to look up when I approached. She noticed my badge right away and her entire countenance changed—as though she had been tasked with delivering some earth-shattering news.
“Anything?” I asked.
In a sorrowful voice, she said,
“The doctors are doing everything they can.”
I hesitated, but she offered nothing more. I nodded and turned toward the lobby. After a quick scan of the empty room, I saw a man sitting on the floor in the far corner, his head buried in his hands. It was Baylor and he looked like a despondent puppy that had been abandoned by his owners and was awaiting their return.
I sighed heavily and strode across the room. There was an empty spot on the floor next to Baylor, so I took a seat.
“How’re you holding up, buddy?” I asked in a low voice.
He quickly looked up and squinted when the bright overhead lights blinded him. “Is she out of surgery yet?” he asked hurriedly. “Is she okay?”
“They’re doing everything they can,” I said, repeating what the nurse had told me. I took a long, cleansing breath and exhaled it slowly, trying to release the fear that was crushing my torso like a giant vice. “What happened out there, Baylor?”
Baylor shook his head somberly. It took him a few tries, but he finally managed to begin offering his account of what had taken place.
“We didn’t see it coming until it was too late,” he said. “Amy recognized the driver of the RV. He was the same guy we saw this morning—that Nicky Hines fellow—and she pulled them over to do the welfare notification. It was supposed to be a simple little stop to tell them to call their family. In and out. But before Amy could even put the undercover car in Park, the back door of the RV burst open. The girl we thought was Regina was standing there with this wild look in her eyes and an M-16 in her hands. Without warning, she just started cutting loose. She would’ve killed us both had it not been for Amy’s quick thinking.”
“What do you mean?” I asked when he stopped talking to stare into the floor.
“Amy didn’t hesitate for a second. As soon as she realized what was happening, she cursed the woman and then gunned the engine. She crashed right into the back of the RV. The collision knocked Regina to the floor and stopped the attack, but Amy had already sustained too many wounds.” He gritted his teeth and shook his head. “She was willing to sacrifice her own life to save mine. Had she hit the RV head-on, it would’ve been faster and Regina would’ve gotten off fewer rounds, but we would’ve both been hit. She purposefully angled the car to the right to shield me from the gunfire. She put herself between me and that murdering bitch. I…um…not a single bullet hit me. She saved my life, Clint.”
I leaned against the wall, not at all surprised that Amy would be willing to lay down her life for a fellow officer. Hell, like most cops, she would lay down her life for a perfect stranger, so it was no wonder she’d give herself up to save Baylor.
“What happened after that?” I asked.
“The undercover car plunged into the bayou.” Baylor’s voice was cracking now. “Before I knew it, I was up to my neck in water. Amy was slumped over the console and she wasn’t moving. Her head was underwater and I…I had to fight to drag her from the seat and through the window. It seemed like it took forever to get her to shore. To be honest, I don’t know how I managed it. My boots filled with water fast. My clothes were soaked—they must’ve weighed fifty pounds. When I finally got close to land and thought everything would be okay, I began sinking in the mud. I had to fight my ass off to keep from sinking to my neck. I…I didn’t think I would make it. I thought she would die right there in my arms.”
“What about the killers?”
“I don’t know what happened to them,” Baylor admitted. “I was too busy trying to save Amy. As it was, it seemed like it took way too long to get her to dry land and start working on her. I did CPR for a while, but she remained unresponsive. The medics arrived soon after and took over. I…I didn’t know what to do at that point. I just fell to my knees and watched them work on her. I think she eventually started breathing, because they stopped working on her at one point and loaded her into the ambulance.”
Baylor stopped talking and just sat there staring at his hands. I knew he was reliving every second of that hellish ordeal. As for me, I was scared to death about the prospect of losing Amy. However, in addition to the fear and grief that overwhelmed me, a seething anger was starting to grow.
“Amy was shot a bunch of times, Clint, and she wasn’t breathing when I pulled her out of the water,” Baylor suddenly said, glancing at the time on his watch. “She’s been in surgery for a long time. I’m starting to worry. I’m really scared.”
“She’ll be okay,” I said. “She’s tough. She’ll pull through.”
“Do you really believe that?” Baylor turned and looked directly at me, his eyes searching mine for a hint of confirmation.
Truth was, I didn’t like the details I’d heard about Amy’s condition, I didn’t like the look on the nurse’s face earlier, and I didn’t like the fact that she was still in surgery. Not wanting to lie and not wanting to be honest, I simply stood to my feet and ignored the question.
“Baylor, I think it’s important that you’re the first person Amy sees when she wakes up.” I nodded to emphasize my statement. “It’s what she would want.”
His face twisted in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”
“She’ll have to explain it to you.” I turned to go, but his voice stopped me.
“What about you?” he asked. “Where’re you going?”
I paused and stared through the glass doorway and into the darkness beyond. “Somehow—in some way—I’m gonna find these Bonnie and Clyde wannabes and put an end to this shit.”
CHAPTER 48
When I’d left Susan earlier, two of Mallory’s detectives were processing the scene where Roy and Shannon had killed their latest victim and stolen his truck. According to DMV records, the pair of killers would be in a faded blue Dodge Ram pickup truck. A BOLO had immediately gone out to all of Chateau Parish and the surrounding areas. Since we knew they were trying to reach the southern border, a teletype message had been sent to every police department and sheriff’s office between us and Mexico. Takecia, Melvin, Regan, and every available deputy from the sheriff’s office were out scouring the highways up and down Chateau Parish looking for Roy and Shannon.
I called Susan when I left the hospital and she told me there had been some developments in the case.
“What developments?” I felt my heart jump with anticipation. “Do we have a fix on their location?”
“Mallory didn’t tell me much,” Susan explained, “but she said Roy contacted Dwight to try and set up a meeting. Doug was about to brief her and the sheriff. I’m heading there now.”
I was already driving in that direction, so I sped up. I told Susan I was on my way and ended the call. If Dwight was going to meet with Roy and Shannon, I would definitely be a part of that meeting.
It was late and traffic was sparse, so I made it to the Criminal Operations Center in record time. Susan was just dropping from her Tahoe when I pulled up. She waited for me to join her. We entered through the detective’s bureau and made our way to the conference room, which was standing-room only. I saw Sheriff Turner at the head of the room and he motioned for me to join him.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Doug was with Dwight when he got a call from Roy,” the sheriff said in a low voice. “They want to meet tomorrow morning and they want Dwight’s Trans Am. They’ve instructed him to steal a license plate from a neighbor and put it on the vehicle, because they believe the paper tag is what got them stopped in Georgia. They want to meet north of the Cool Ridge Community. The sugarcane is cut in that area and they can see for miles. It’s not a good scenario for us.”
“When do they want to meet?”
“They won’t give a time. They said they’ll call in the morning with more details.”
I was thoughtful, going over what I knew of the area in my head.
“Some of the fields to the east haven’t been harvested yet,” I finally said. “If they hit the cane, we’ll never find them. They could reach La Mort or even New Orleans through that network of
dirt roads.”
“I’m sure that’s what they’re thinking,” Turner acknowledged. “But we have to do whatever is necessary to prevent them from escaping.”
I nodded, thinking through the possibilities in my head, and then asked, “Do you have a plan?”
“It’s a Hail Mary pass, but it’s a plan.”
“Let’s hear it,” I said, moving back so he could address the entire room. There were officers in tactical gear, some in patrol uniforms, and some in plain clothes. They were all heavily armed and—although they looked weary—they were ready for a fight.
“Okay, listen up,” Turner said in a booming voice. “We’ve had some movement on the case. Earlier today, Chief Wolf took a witness into custody and broke him. The man’s name is Dwight Bell and he’s cooperating with our investigation. Chief Wolf turned Bell over to Detective Cagle, who’s been sitting with him in hopes that the suspects would contact him.” He paused and glanced down at his notes. “Ten minutes ago, our suspects placed a call to Bell. Their attempt to kidnap a couple and drive away with their vehicle failed, so now they’re desperate and trying to find a way out of the parish. They can feel our net closing in on them. They know we’ve found out about the faded blue Dodge Ram. They’re afraid to drive it on the highways, so—”
“They’d better be afraid,” someone shouted at the back of the room. “If I see them, it’s lights out with no warning.”
Several other officers began mumbling their agreement, but one of them lodged an objection.
“We can’t just go around murdering people, just because they’re ruthless killers,” the objecting officer said. “We’ve got to give them fair warning and a chance to surrender.”
They began to argue and Sheriff Turner was forced to raise his voice to silence them. Once everyone was listening, he cleared his throat.
