Silent Crickets: A Shallow End Gals, Trilogy Book Three

by Troutman, Kimberly

  Linda and Teresa were studying their locators on their watches. Linda said, “Well, I can’t find anything under Chiclet, I’m going to try Ramon Daily. Wasn’t that his real name?”

  I said, “I can’t believe we are looking for some guy named Chiclet. What was his mom thinking?” There have been many studies about the influence our names will have on our lives.

  I was shaking my head at the obvious curse this guy’s mom had put on him, when Mary said, “You really need a hearing aid. Linda just said, his real name is Ramon Daily. Chiclet is a nickname.”

  Oh. That makes more sense.

  Teresa was looking at her watch locator, looked around, and said, “I think I’ve found him. He is in a building not too far from here.”

  All I could think of was that barn with kennels. I didn’t want to trigger that attitude alarm again, but I started to get that angry feeling. Chiclet was the real boss in charge of kidnapping these kids. I think when we find him I am going to put that tooth….

  Teresa looked at me and said, “I’m with ya sister. These guys should be taught a lesson.”

  We were nearly at the building when Linda said, “Wait.” She pointed to an old blind man sitting on the sidewalk a couple of buildings down the street. “Something is telling me to check on him. Let’s make sure he’s okay.”

  The old man’s cane leaned against the building, and he had a hat on the sidewalk between his feet. His thin, white hair looked damp from perspiration and there was tape holding the soles on his shoes. He was kindly, and said “Evenin’” to the few people who walked by. None of whom dropped any money in his hat.

  Linda stared at him and said, “Remember the old man we found in that basement in South Bend? Couldn’t we give this man some new clothes and maybe some food? I bet his life has been really hard.”

  Mary said, “I remember we got into trouble for that.”

  Teresa frowned, “If we were mortal you know each one of us would give him some money or do something.”

  I’m with Teresa on this. Heaven knew there were risks with us still having mortal thoughts. “I vote we help him and deal with Heaven later.”

  Yikes! That didn’t sound right even to me.

  Mary looked at me, “You would.” Then she got a decisive look on her face, “Let’s do it!”

  Linda took matters into her own hands and ‘poof’ the old man had all new clothes on and a bag of food next to him. A golden retriever puppy was sitting in his hat.

  Teresa asked, “A puppy?”

  Mary offered, “I did that. It could grow up to be a seeing-eye dog. At least he has a buddy to love him.” The puppy walked out of the hat and peed on the sidewalk next to the old man. Oops.

  The old man felt his new clothes and looked up. “I see angels. Thank you kindly.”

  We looked at each other. He can see us?

  The puppy crawled up the old man’s chest and started licking his face. The old man slowly rose to a standing position. He carefully touched the puppy’s face and tears streamed from his blind eyes. He whispered in the puppy’s ear, “You be needin’ someone to love? You be needin’ to be looked after? I do my best, but I understand if you leave.”

  He slowly bent down, and picked up his hat. He cradled the puppy in one arm and felt for the money that wasn’t in his hat. He placed his hat on his head and wiped his eyes. He held the puppy’s face in front of his own and said, “Big cities be brutal. Take unsuspectin’ souls and eat ‘em alive. Nawlens, don’t even chew.” His chin quivered, and we lost it.

  The raw despair on his face brought us to tears. I couldn’t even look at him. I just wailed into my arm against the building. Linda was patting my back trying to be comforting, but I could hear her sobbing behind me. Teresa and Mary were blowing their noses and wiping their eyes. It was just a pitiful vision. Now we made it worse! How is he going to take care of a puppy?

  Ellen popped up. Uh oh.

  Ellen looked at us and sighed, “You gals are emotionally all over the place. Your mortal settings must be extra sensitive because we are dealing with saving children.” She looked at the blind man holding the puppy, and then looked at us. “Why don’t we really give him something nice?”

  We all stopped crying. Huh, I don’t think we’re in trouble. Mary had handed us each really pretty little hankies. She is so thoughtful.

  Ellen smiled and whispered something in the old man’s ear. Then she put her hand on his head and a glow spread to his whole body. When she lifted her hand, he slowly lowered his head and prayed.

  When he opened his eyes, he whispered, “Thank you Lord.” He cradled the puppy in his arms, “We best name you Angel.” He nuzzled the puppy, raised his arm in a wave, and walked away.

  Ellen said, “I told him there was a winning lottery ticket for tonight in his pocket. Not a big one, but enough.” She smiled.

  Teresa said, “He’s forgetting his cane!”

  Ellen said, “Now he can see.”

  Whoa.

  Ellen looked at us, “That wasn’t me. I asked for a favor.”

  Ellen pointed to the building Chiclet was in. “Now. Let’s kick some dark aura butt.”

  That comment would have sounded more natural coming from one of us. I wondered if we were a bad influence on Ellen.

  Inside the building, all of the auras looked dark above the men standing around. One man sitting at a computer yelled, “You two still here? I told you we have a deadline. That money ain’t gonna jump into my safe. Start with Manuel’s gang. New guy’s named Abram. He be my brother-in-law, so don’t mess with him none. Get my money, and see how much product he be needin’ for the weekend.”

  The phone rang next to the man yelling. He smiled wide exposing a huge front tooth with a diamond in it. Chiclet! He was sweet talking some girl on the phone, and we were cracking up at that tooth.

  Suddenly everyone in the building was frozen in position. Ellen said, “I did that. I can freeze them in time for longer periods than you can. Two of you go outside and make sure no one comes in this building. If someone comes to the door, you can follow them in and freeze time around them. The other two can help me find the information Roger needs. There is a small filing cabinet here and a safe you can check out. I’ll download the computer and send it to Roger.”

  I looked over and Linda, Mary, and Teresa were doing rock, paper, and scissors. Hmmmm.

  Agent Mass called Thor. “We’re positioned in the brush at Dicky’s place. We can see the lights of the cars coming down the drive now. Get ready.”

  Thor called Simon, “Cars arriving. Move in close and get your camera ready. We’re almost there.”

  Simon looked at Nelson, “They’re here.”

  Dusty’s eyes flew wide open, “Who’s here?”

  Nelson told him to be quiet as he removed the camera from the case and tossed it to Simon. Nelson checked his gun as quietly as he could, but it still made a metal clacking sound. Simon flinched and checked his gun also. Even with the noises of the swamp that metal sound stood out. Simon motioned for Dusty to get them closer.

  As Dusty slowly pushed them closer, Nelson whispered, “Got one on the dock.”

  SSA Mass and Agent Grimley waited in the brush at the end of the drive near the dock. They saw a pickup truck pull in and park within twenty feet of where they were hiding. Two more cars pulled in and parked nearby. Their voices carried and Mass heard someone say, “Get this chair out of here first, so we have some room.”

  The men struggled with what looked like a recliner chair then started pulling a long bundle from the bed of the truck. They carried the bundle to the dock. Mass was ready to move in when a voice to his right said, “Hurry up! Let’s get this over with.” Mass looked over and a man was standing on one of the boats.

  Mass whispered into his phone, “Move in.”

  Thor and Jeanne stood in assault stance. Their boat came into view of the dock. Alan was pushing them through the mist at record speed without a sound.

  Nelson looked at
Dusty and whispered, “Get me to that dock fast.” Nelson had his weapon aimed, and Simon was running the video.

  Dusty was terrified. He pushed with everything he had, and they practically rammed the boat Andre was standing in. Andre hadn’t seen them emerge from the reeds. Rolland, Theodore and Harold had just dumped the body on Andre’s boat.

  Thor yelled, “FBI. Freeze.”

  It looked as if they thought of turning to run when Frank Mass yelled from behind them, “Don’t move.”

  Andre fainted and fell into the swamp. Thor cursed, tossed his gun on the floor of the boat, and stepped into the murky water. He yanked Andre from the water by his hair and the collar of his shirt. Thor grabbed Andre’s belt and tossed him onto the deck of the swamp boat, next to the rolled up rug. Alan was surprised at Thor’s strength. Dusty had his hands over his ears expecting gunfire. Andre opened his eyes and looked at the rolled up body next to him. He yelped and jumped to his feet. His hands went in the air,“I want a lawyer.”

  Nelson chuckled, “I imagine you do.”

  Harold sputtered, “Officers, I’m a judge. There’s a perfectly logical explanation.”

  Mass roughly snapped cuffs on Harold, “I’m listening. Rest of you listening?”

  Simon was now on Andre’s boat filming the rolled up rug and the men’s faces on the dock. “Why don’t we see what these guys were bringing to the swamp?”

  Rolland cringed as Thor and Nelson each grabbed an edge of the rug and gave it a tug. William Patterson’s body rolled out, covered in maggots with the eyes open. Mass looked at Harold. “You were sayin’?”

  Dusty leaned forward. That sure looked like a body. He fainted. Thor shook his head, “Crap. At least he didn’t fall in the swamp.”

  The wails of approaching sirens competed with the noises of the swamp to create a bizarre audio blend of nature and mankind. Alan moved over to help Dusty and whispered, “You know what I’m havin’ when we get these guys back in town?”

  Dusty’s eyelids fluttered, but he was coming to. “A lot of beer.”

  Linda and Mary were outside guarding Chiclet’s building to keep anyone from coming in. When Ellen froze time, Chiclet had frozen with his mouth open. I tried to get close to see how that diamond was stuck in that big tooth.

  Teresa had moved over by Ellen and was flipping through some papers on a table. “You could help us instead of looking in that nasty mouth.”

  Ellen yelled, “I’ve got it! Get Linda and Mary in here!”

  Ellen handed Teresa a piece of paper and also handed Mary one. “Here are the identifying numbers on the vehicles. The kidnapped children are in them. Here are the names of the drivers. It will be easiest the find them by their names. Use the locators on your watches and find them. Then call me.”

  We looked at our watches and entered the information. Teresa looked at me, “You and I will take the one in Texas, Mary and Linda will take the one in Kansas.” I looked around to say goodbye to Ellen. She was already gone.

  Teresa yelled, “Move it!”

  Man! She really flies fast! I was seeing signs saying welcome to Dallas before I could hum ‘Hall of the Mountain King’ for the second time!

  Roger received the call from Mass confirming the arrest of the sicko club. All four remaining members of the New Orleans branch were in transport to the field office for processing. Then off to jail to await arraignment. Mass predicted they would all lawyer up. He bragged Simon had captured the entire thing on video. Roger’s team was on their way back to their vehicles.

  Roger called Thor and thanked him for a job well done. Thor hung up and relayed the message to Jeanne. Jeanne smiled, stared at Thor a minute, and then turned to look away.

  Thor looked at Alan, “You in a big hurry to get home?”

  Jeanne looked back at Thor. There was no mistaking the eagerness of her expression.

  Alan answered, “If you need me, I’m yours. Just need to call the wife.”

  Thor looked at Jeanne but was talking to Alan, “I’ll pay you extra to take us to Mambo’s. Ms. Jeanne here wants to know what’s going on.”

  Jeanne smiled.

  Alan called Dusty, “Gotta pass on that beer. Guess our boat’s goin’ to Mambo’s for a meetin’.”

  Thor could hear Dusty yell, “Now?”

  Dusty put his phone away and looked at Nelson, “Just curious. Do you guys ever sleep?”

  After about ten minutes heading towards Mambo’s, Jeanne pointed. “See that?”

  Thor looked, “See what?”

  “The turkeys are gone.”

  Thor stared and saw a few leather straps hanging from the branches. The shrubs and grasses under the straps had been stomped out flat. No turkeys.

  Holy crap.

  Roger’s phone rang again. This time it was Kim.

  “Ellen says she has located vehicle information for two of the children’s kidnappers. She says Mom, Teresa, Mary, and Linda are on their way to try to find them now. Ellen is sending you an email of the vehicle identifications. She will call again when she has the exact locations. Shouldn’t be long now. One is in the Wichita, Kansas, area and one is in the Dallas, Texas, area if you need to get ready.”

  Roger answered, “I do. I still plan on calling you later.” He chuckled, “It’s already 11:00. What time is too late for you?”

  “Are you kidding? Talk to you later. Get those kids!”

  Roger called Paul, “Have you started your date with Jill yet?”

  Paul answered, “I’m standing right behind you on the stairs.”

  Roger turned around to see Paul and John both smiling. John said, “I wanted to check with Ray and watch the sicko club movie.”

  Paul shrugged, “I told Jill tomorrow night might be better.”

  Ray waved to the guys. Pablo continued to snore on the couch. Paul lowered his voice, “When did he get here?”

  Roger whispered, “A while ago. Ellen identified the vehicles of the kidnappers and has a general location for them. There are two. I’m just getting ready to start the rescue effort.”

  Paul and John looked at each other and smiled. John gave Paul a twenty dollar bill.

  Paul smiled at Roger, “I bet him the night wasn’t over.”

  Roger contacted the FBI field offices in both Wichita and Dallas and passed on the vehicle information and the tip that kidnapped children were being transported in these vehicles.

  Linda and Mary were flying around Kansas trying to follow their locator on Mary’s watch. Linda asked, “What city are we near?”

  Mary answered, “I think we are heading north on Interstate 135 from Wichita, and it looks like our locator says to go east on Interstate 70 towards Topeka.”

  Linda looked down at the miles of traffic, “Is there a way we can narrow this down? Does our locator say what color vehicle we are looking for?”

  Mary answered, “Nope, just a license number. I think this dot gets bigger the closer we are to the right vehicle though.”

  About three minutes passed and Mary pointed down, “I think our guy is probably in one of those big trucks. Let’s just fly down and check the plate numbers on all of them.”

  It was tricky to match the speed of the trucks while trying to read the plate numbers. At first Mary was flying too fast. Once she was at the truck’s level, she just flew through them all. She circled back and did that about three times before she hit the right speed.

  Linda had decided to just land on a truck and climb down the back to look at the plate number. They located the truck in the middle of the pack. It was a large eighteen wheeler with very few markings. Mary called Ellen with their location.

  Kim called Roger, “Wow, I didn’t think I would be involved in this. Ellen said Mary and Linda are flying with one of the trucks that have the kids. They are on Interstate 70 in Kansas heading east towards Topeka!”

  Roger had to be careful about what he said to Kim. Ray and Pablo were within hearing distance. “Is everything okay?”

  Kim assumed Roger
was asking about the children. “Ellen said Mary is inside the truck with the kids trying to make them feel safe, and Linda is riding on top of the truck.” Roger shook his head. What a vision he was getting.

  Kim continued, “Ellen says they are coming up to mile maker 110. She says Linda can try to make the driver think he needs a rest stop. I guess there is one up ahead.” Roger told Kim that sounded good and hung up.

  Roger asked Ray to put out a felony stop APB on the vehicles and to let the Kansas State Troopers and U.S. Marshals know one vehicle had been spotted near mile marker 110 on Interstate 70. It may have entered a rest stop. He prayed no one asked them who had supplied the tip.

  Roger told Ray, “Be sure to alert them that kidnapped children are in these trucks.”

  Ray was busy with the bulletin and John and Paul had started calling the respective offices of the U.S. Marshals.

  John yelled out to the room, “U.S. Marshals have people on Interstate 70 now, they are turning back to find our truck. They sound close.”

  Linda got a message from Ellen to ‘help’ the driver turn into the rest stop. Linda messaged back asking how. No answer. Linda flew inside the truck to talk to Mary.

  “You know how to drive an eighteen wheeler?” Mary shook her head. “I can drive farm trucks.”

  Linda said, “Close enough. Ellen wants us to get this guy to turn into the rest stop ahead! I see the exit coming up fast!”

  Mary looked at the children sniffling in the truck. “We can do this!”

  Linda and Mary flew into the truck cab. Mary sat on the driver’s lap and surveyed the dash board. Linda watched her and said, “Just tell me when you’re ready.”

  Mary looked at her, “This guy stinks. I don’t have a clue what to do.” Just then she saw the turning signal and lifted it up to signal a right turn. The driver frowned and put it back down. Mary put it back up. Traffic was starting to honk at them. Linda reached over and pulled the air horn. The driver’s eyes flew open. He tried to stop it. Linda kept pulling on the horn, and Mary kept turning the signal on.