by H. L. Wegley
Then he tried to grab Cabe. But Kirby’s eyes were closed and Cabe had already jumped off the chair. But Kirby almost caught him.
Josh needed to stop Kirby before those grabbing hands got one of them.
Josh moved beside Kirby and swung the SW club as hard as he could.
It hit Kirby’s shin. He fell on the floor with one hand holding his leg and the other over his eyes.
It was awful what they did to Kirby. But they had to do it. Cause what Kirby would do to them was even awfuller.
Kirby was out of the doorway now, crawling toward the bathroom door.
When he got to the bathroom, he got up and started the water running in the sink.
Caleb slid his squirt gun along the floor. It went under the bed. “Wouldn’t want him to use it on us.”
Josh did the same with the golf club. “Can’t take this with us. Let’s go before he washes his eyes out.”
Josh grabbed Caleb’s hand and they ran down the hall to the garage door.
“Remember the doggie door we saw when they brought us in?”
“Yeah. It’s big. We can crawl through.”
“Cabe, when we get through it, we have to run so far into the woods they can never find us. Cause if we don’t … “
Cabe’s head went through door. “I know. We’re toast.”
Josh shoved on Caleb’s fanny, then crawled through behind him.
Outside the garage, Josh pointed to where the most trees grew and they both ran toward the woods.
The sound of a car came through the trees. Not close to the house. It was way up the driveway.
“This way, Cabe. We need to see who this is. But don’t let anybody see you. It might be Blade.”
“It’s Uncalex’s car. What’s he coming here for?”
The car parked too far away to see who was in it.
Josh grabbed the back of Cabe’s shirt. “Don’t just run to it. We better see who’s in it first.”
Josh started moving through trees, circling to the other side of the house.
“Cabe, it’s Gemma,” Josh whispered. “Listen, she’s yelling at Kirby.”
“If you let the boys go, you can have me instead.”
“Oh, no. This is real bad. She doesn’t know we got away.”
“You give yourself up first, then we’ll release the boys.” That was Kirby’s voice. But he wasn’t gonna let Gemma see him.
“Do ya’ think Kirby can see anything now?” Cabe asked.
“I don’t know, but Kirby’s bluffin’. He can’t see much. We need to warn Gemma before they get her.”
“Kirby can’t get her. He probly can’t even see her,” Caleb said.
“Cabe, listen. Another car’s comin’ down the driveway.”
“Josh, it’s that black car they took us in. Look. It stopped behind Gemma’s car, and Blade’s driving it.”
“What are we gonna do, Cabe?”
“I don’t know, but we can’t let them see us or we’re toast.”
“If Kirby ever catches us we’ll be burned toast.”
“And they won’t treat us like little kids anymore, cause now they know we’re dangerous.”
“But, Cabe … somehow we gotta’ save Gemma. No matter what. Or she won’t ever get to be our mama.”
Chapter 23
Blade stopped the van thirty or forty yards behind the SUV parked ahead of them.
He slid down the driver’s side window and listened. “Gemma Saint found our safe house and she’s dialoguing with Kirby? This looks easy, but something’s not right.”
“You got that right,” Walker said. “We’ve got the boys to lure Lex James, so Kirby should have made Saint Gemma a martyr by now. Surely he’s smart enough to figure that out.”
“I don’t know about that. His IQ’s probably not as high as today’s temperature. You wait here and make sure she doesn’t get away. I’m going to circle the house and get inside. We need to know what’s up with Kirby. This is the second time he’s screwed up in two days.”
Two minutes later, Blade entered the house from the back door.
Ms. Saint and Kirby were still arguing about who was going to do what. This was crazy. Kirby should already have her tied up inside the house or have shot her.
Blade strode through the kitchen and stopped in the doorway to the living room.
Kirby had the front door open only a crack. He didn’t have his gun and he kept rubbing his eyes.
“Kirby, what in blazes do you think you’re doing?”
Kirby turned toward Blade. “Blade, is that you?”
“Of course it’s me. What’s that blue stuff all over your face?”
“Those twins. They’re two little demons. They—”
“You let them get away, didn’t you?” If he had let them escape, Kirby’s usefulness would end. Perhaps Kirby’s life would also.
“They can’t have gone far, Blade. But before I could chase them down, Gemma Saint drove up and started negotiating for the boys. She doesn’t know they slipped out.”
“Slipped out? Two little boys, only four, are slippery? Does this have something to do with those blue streaks on your face?” Blade pulled out his phone. “Don’t answer that just yet.”
He hit Walker’s number and waited.
“Hey, what’s up in the house, Blade?”
“You’re not going to believe this. Kirby let the twins get away. They’re somewhere in the trees near the house. I’ll find them. You just get Ms. Saint. She’s not armed.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“Are you saying you can’t handle a sweet, little saint of a girl? Just get her, Walker, and bring her to the house. I’ve got some questions for her, before we reduce the scope of this mission.”
“You mean reduce it down to Lex James?”
“Yes. But if those two infantile delinquents are as smart as I’m beginning to think, we might have to throw them in on the deal too.”
Chapter 24
Gemma had parked Lex’s SUV about seventy-five yards from the house on its long driveway.
A man had stuck his head out of the door and asked who she was. Didn’t these guys know Gemma Saint? Surely they must have pictures of her.
“If you let the boys go, you can have me instead.”
“You give yourself up first, then we’ll release the boys.”
Maybe she needed to be more explicit. “I’m willing to trade Gemma Saint for the James twins. But I have to know that they are safe and unharmed before these negotiations go any further.”
“They’re safe and they’re okay.” The man seemed terribly distracted for an FBI agent supposedly holding kidnapped boys. He kept blinking his eyes and, she couldn’t see him well, but there appeared to be something wrong with his face.
The birds in the forest had stopped singing, except for the raspy chatter of a magpie.
Not a good sign.
Gemma scanned the trees on her right and left, looking for any movement.
“Put your hands on your head.” The voice of a man behind her.
Gemma tried to turn around.
“Don’t turn … or you won’t like what happens, Ms. Saint.”
It was one of the Fibbies. Gemma had blown it. Was this more of Gemma’s jinx?
Maybe not. Maybe she needed to be inside that house to help the boys. Since this Fibbie didn’t shoot her on sight, she would probably be inside in a few moments.
Gemma needed to see those twins, now. She needed to know they were safe. But she had lost her bargaining power to free them. Now, she needed another plan to spring Josh and Caleb. She couldn’t create a plan until she saw what she was up against inside the house.
What felt like the barrel of a gun prodded her back. “Keep your hands on your head and walk slowly toward the house.”
When they reached the house, the front door opened and their leader, a man Gemma had seen near Opal Springs, waved her inside.
“Here she is, Blade.”
“Welcome, M
s. Saint. It’s so nice of you to drop by for a visit.”
“Where are the boys? I want to see them, now.”
Blade poked his finger at her chest. “A person in your position doesn’t have the right to want anything.”
Gemma glared at Blade. He needed to know she wasn’t afraid of him no matter what he did or threatened.
She had a Heavenly Father who filtered everything before it got to Gemma. He didn’t stop all evil in this present age but, one day, justice would prevail, and that wouldn’t require some corrupt politicians in a corrupt Department of Justice or thugs like Blade trying to carry out their plans.
Blade glared back at Gemma, then appeared to study her eyes. “You know, with an attitude like that, you’re dangerous. Walker, zip-tie her wrists and ankles. If any other unexpected visitors show up, duct tape her mouth. We wouldn’t want our little saint yelling out obscenities or, perhaps, warnings.”
“My vision’s still blurry and it’s not clearing up. Blade, I need to see a doctor.”
Blade faced the complainer and put his hands on his hips. “Blurry? Kirby, my knowledge is a little blurry. Suppose you tell us exactly what happened when those two forty-five-pound giants took you out.”
Out? Had the boys gotten away?
“It was your fault, Blade.” Kirby’s voice had turned raspy and whining. “You let that little twerp keep his gun.”
“Yeah, I did. His squirt gun.”
“But they filled it with …”
“Well, let’s hear it. With Kryptonite?”
“With … toilet bowl cleaner.”
Blade raised his eyebrows.
Gemma laughed.
Blade shot her a threatening glance. “That’s enough from the saint in the choir loft. Continue, Kirby.”
“When I stuck my head in to check on them—”
“They shot you with their squirt gun. Give the man a purple heart. He’s already got a purple eye.” Blade paused. “If your vision is permanently damaged, you have no one to blame but yourself and your own stupidity. I can’t sympathize with an idiot who could let a couple of preschoolers get away and blind him in the process. You call yourself an FBI agent?”
“I’d like to see you, or Walker, do any better.”
“You’re right, I’d bet you’d like to see anything about now.”
“Kirby.” The man called Walker ripped off a length of duct tape. Probably meant for her. “This isn’t some old Western movie. As you can see, or maybe not, they don’t have to knock you out to take you out. Just outsmart you.”
Gemma laughed again. “You guys are clueless, though Walker’s getting warmer.”
“We didn’t ask for your two cents, Ms. Saint,” Blade said. “A person in your position has no right to be laughing.”
“Maybe not. But the IQs of those two boys added together are more than all of ours combined. If you three had any common sense, you might be like Forrest Gump compared to Josh and Caleb.”
Walker slapped the length of tape over her mouth.
* * *
Blade sent Walker to pull their van into the garage.
The humming of the garage door closing sounded and, a few seconds later, Walker entered the living room.
“Any sign of the boys?” Blade said.
“No. But Saint’s SUV is sitting out there for anyone to see, if they come down the driveway. Should I pull it into the other side of the garage?”
Blade shook his head. “Leave it out there for now, until I decide what we’re going to do with Ms. Saint.”
It was a strange scene and a strange turn of events that brought Gemma Saint to them. She must have gone solo to try to get the boys. But maybe this was supposed to be some kind of a trap. If so, Blade hadn’t figured out what kind of trap, and that bothered him. Regardless, they needed to find those boys.
“I’ll get the boys,” Blade said. “They’re probably lost in the woods. Walker, you stay with Kirby. I don’t trust him to watch Saint even if she is tied up.”
“How can I watch her? I’m blind.’
“No. You’re not blind. We’ll get you to an eye doctor as soon as we can.” Blade paused. “Quiet for a minute. There’s another car coming down the driveway. It will stop when it reaches Saint’s SUV.”
Blade’s phone rang. He swore. “I can’t believe this. It’s Carr again. Walker, go into the trees and see who’s coming. It might be our chopper crew, our returning heroes who bombed an empty boat.”
Walker dropped the tape on the floor and grabbed his rifle. “What if it’s not them?”
“Then stop them. Hold them off. I’ll help as soon as I get rid of Carr.”
He picked up the call. “Sikes.”
“Blade, there’s an investigation into a helicopter attack on a boat. The TV networks are reporting that something looks suspicious. You need to eliminate everyone outside of our team who knows about this operation, especially Gemma Saint and Lex James.”
“What about James’s twin boys. They’re only four, but they’re also not your normal preschoolers. Rumor has it their IQs are off the charts.”
“Once we have Saint and James, can we really let two kids go free who can identify us?”
“Don’t you mean identify me?”
“You, me? What does it matter? We all go down. Eliminate everyone who can link the FBI or the DOJ to any of your activities.”
“What if it turns out that includes KC Daniels?”
Carr swore until he was short of breath.
A desk job could do that pretty quickly to a bureaucrat like him.
Carr sucked in a deep breath. “How did you let the scope of this get so out of control?”
“Let’s get this straight, Carr. It wasn’t me who gave Daniels a part in this little drama. It was Lex James. Do you really want the DOJ to be associated with taking out KC Daniels? If you take her out, you know you’ll have to take out her husband, Brock, too. He’s a baseball star and a national hero. What about their kids? Where does it stop, Carr? When I get killed for doing your dirty work? I think maybe I should disappear and leave you holding the bag.”
“You do that and you’re dead, Blade.”
“Says who? Surely not you. You might have come up through the ranks, but you’re nothing but a bureaucrat siting on his fat, numb rump drawing a fat salary and trying to play with American politics … for a fee. I believe they call that pay to play. Well, I’m just about through playing. Goodbye, Maximillian, I’ve got bigger problems to deal with right now.” Blade ended the call.
“We need to get paid, Blade,” Walker said. “You shouldn’t push him that far. He is the Deputy Director. What if he turns on us?”
“He won’t. He’s afraid we’ll leak information and then disappear. It only takes one little investigation to end Carr’s career and maybe give him a nice orange suit.”
“Walker, drag Saint into the bedroom and lock her in. Watch out for anyone armed with a squirt gun.”
Walker chuckled and scooped up Gemma. He slung her over his shoulder and headed down the hallway.
She tried to knee Walker in the face, but her bound ankles interfered.
Blade turned to Kirby. “You want to handle the James Gang?”
“What do you mean, Blade?”
“How do you feel about those twins?”
“I’d like to wring their scrawny little necks?”
“Okay. After we use them to get Lex James, you get to kill them.”
“But—”
“Just do it, Kirby. It might save your worthless hide.”
“What about Saint?”
“You’re not getting her. I am. She owes me for the trouble she’s caused. She’ll pay for everything and, when she does. she won’t be laughing about Forrest Gump.”
Her life would not be like a box of chocolates, because Gemma Saint would know exactly what she was going to get.
Chapter 25
With KC’s M4 in the floorboard by his feet and the .38 she had given him in his sho
rts pocket, Lex rode shotgun.
KC drove her SUV down Indian Ford Road about six miles north of Sisters.
They were less than a mile from the driveway to a place that would either fill Lex’s heart with joy or the most profound grief Lex had ever experienced.
Before that time, his heart would continue its drum solo, beating out a rhythm that left his mind rattled and his hands shaking.
“Is that the driveway?” KC pointed to a road winding through the pine trees on their right.
“That’s it. It’s a long driveway and the house is surrounded by pine trees. Not real dense, according to the satellite pictures, but enough for cover, if we don’t go closer than seventy-five or a hundred yards.”
“You’re pretty observant.”
“It pays to be observant if you make your living investigating and reporting on government scandals and corruption.” He looked across at KC’s face.
She appeared calm. No signs of her hands shaking.
“Is it always like this before going into a fight, KC?”
“When you don’t know how things will go, it’s nerve wracking. I understand why some soldiers—uh, soil their clothes.” She turned in and stopped. “Let’s look through the gaps in the trees to make sure they can’t see us yet. And we need to finalize our plan as soon as we can see where things are located.”
“Do you think they’ll use Josh and Caleb or Gemma as shields?”
“Not if we can surprise them.” KC gave him that enigmatic smile that said you have no idea what’s going through my mind right now.
And she was right. But it drove Lex crazy, almost as crazy as when Gemma gave him that smile.
But Lex James had several ideas in his head. First, exchange himself for the boys. Second, exchange himself for Gemma. Neither would be possible if they had the boys, because with them, the Fibbies could control Lex James. But what if Lex James wasn’t with KC? Maybe he could—
“You’re trying to extract Josh and Caleb, aren’t you?” KC rolled the SUV slowly forward.
He nodded.
“Let’s wait until we get the lay of the land before we do any more planning. There are always surprises when you finally arrive at the battlefield. And with the sun still up, staying hidden will be difficult.”
