Down the Rabbit Hole

by F J messina

  “Get out! Get behind the car and get down!” Brad’s voice was calm but commanding.

  Pushed by Brad’s words, Sonia jumped out of the car, the knot in her throat dissolving as she was finally able to take action. She could see the black Suburban charging toward them, still on the macadam. She ran. She reached the front of the car and stopped. She ran back. She opened the door.

  “What are you doing? Come on! Come on!”

  “Getting my purse!” She reached into the front seat and grabbed her purse. She ran around the front of the car. She slid down behind it. Brad wasn’t there. “Where are you?” Panic in her voice. The knot returned. She heard the trunk lid close. She looked up. Brad stood at the back of the car, his M16 in his hand. He moved slowly, deliberately. He took a kneeling position behind the wheels of the ‘Vette. The Suburban came to a skidding stop, a cloud of dust settling slowly behind it.

  “Fifty yards,” he said softly.

  Sonia looked at Brad along the the length of the car. “What were you doing?”

  Brad kept his eyes on the Suburban. “I had to let them see that I was armed, really armed. It’ll give them something to think about.”

  “What are they waiting for?” The Suburban hissed.

  “They’re trying to figure out what to do. They’ve treed the critter, all right, but they didn’t expect it to have teeth like this.” Brad checked the sites on the M16, then continued to stare out at his adversaries. “And what was the deal with your purse? Are you crazy or something?”

  “I don’t think so.” Sonia pulled out her loaded Glock and an extra magazine filled with seventeen rounds of nine-millimeter ammunition. Brad turned. Sonia could see his astonishment. She smiled. “You didn’t expect me to go chasing bad guys all over the place without at least bringing a sidearm and a little extra, did you?”

  “You are one piece of work, Sonia Vitale.” A huge smile crossed his face. “One very, very, fine piece of work.”

  Sonia let those words soak into her─through her skin, through her body, into the very heart of her being. She was one very fine piece of work, and whatever the next few moments brought she knew she was ready for the challenge.

  Not fifty yards away from them was a large, ominous Suburban, in which, she guessed, were at least two men, maybe more─men who were certainly there to do them harm. She and Brad, on the other hand, were trapped by a dismantled bridge, on a road that was no longer passable, kneeling behind a car that was made of fiberglass, hoping, somehow, to avoid being killed. This was not at all what she had signed up for when Joyce Ellen Thomas had offered her a job doing technology work for a small private investigation firm called Bluegrass Confidential Investigations.

  The doors of the Suburban opened. Two men got out of each side of the vehicle and shielded themselves with its front doors. Sonia’s stomach clenched as she caught a glimpse of the large handguns they were holding.

  Brad lifted his weapon. “Hang on. Here we go.”

  Sonia kept her eyes on the Suburban. “What do you think is going to happen?” She felt somehow calmed by the realization that whatever was about to happen, she was by the side of a man she knew she could count on, a man who would do everything he could to save them both─ if possible. That if possible part blazed quickly through her brain several times.

  Brad sneaked a quick look at Sonia, then brought his gaze back to the Suburban. “Well, I don’t think even they know what to do next. There’s probably one guy left in the Suburban, telling them to get out there and do something. We’ll know soon.”

  Sonia let out a scream as her ears were filled with the sounds of exploding gunfire. “Get down! Get down!” yelled Brad, and they both slid backward until they were lying on their stomachs behind the car.

  Thirty, forty, fifty bullets exploded through the body of the ‘Vette, flying past Sonia and Brad. Even through the roar of the guns firing and bullets tearing through the car, Sonia recognized the pop of one of its tires as a bullet burst through it. The front end of the car sagged.

  Sliding even farther back and down a slight embankment, Brad yelled, “Stay down! Stay down! They’ll stop to reload soon! Then I’ll take them!”

  “Not without me, damn it. Not without me!” Sonia pulled the slide back on her Glock, chambering her first round. She yelled, “Locked and loaded!”

  “Locked and loaded!” Brad replied.

  Sonia looked at Brad. She saw his tight smile and those bright blue eyes.

  The firing from the Suburban ceased.

  “On my command!” said Brad. “Just move up and lay down suppressing fire. Just keep on shooting. This weapon will tear right through those doors. They’re gone in the first ten seconds. Ready? In three, two . . .”

  From behind the ‘Vette, Sonia heard the soft, muffled sound of sirens. “Sirens!” she yelled. “Sirens! Someone’s coming!”

  “It’s about time,” said Brad, letting out a long breath.

  46

  The men who had been firing at Sonia and Brad jumped back into their vehicle. They spun it around, attempting to get back to the main road. Within moments, the sound of the sirens manifested itself as three large, black Suburbans. Her heart racing, Sonia saw the three new vehicles quickly create an effective roadblock, stranding the attackers on the gravel road.

  Several men and women wearing DEA bulletproof vests jumped out of each of the three vehicles. They were aiming automatic weapons at the men who had, just moments before, been attempting to kill Sonia and Brad. Stepping out of their Suburban, the shooters quickly dropped their weapons and put their hands on their heads. Within moments, the driver had exited the vehicle as well. He and each of the shooters were soon on their knees, their hands cuffed behind their backs.

  Suddenly, Sonia felt Brad next to her, pulling her upward and into his arms. Without a word, he kissed her. He kissed her long and passionately. She could hardly breathe, though she wasn’t sure if that was because of the hormones and desire that were flooding through her body, or because he was holding her so tightly that no air could get into her lungs. He stopped for a moment and pulled back. “I can’t believe you. You’re so . . . so . . . wonderful. I just have to . . . You’re just so . . .” Then he pulled her close again and kissed her for a long, long time.

  “My man!” A big, deep voice startled both Sonia and Brad. “How are you this fine day?” Sonia looked up to see a tall, handsome man, not as tall as Brad, but still six feet or so, with black eyes, black wavy hair, and a lean muscular body. He was an imposing figure in his dark blue slacks and light blue button-down shirt, no tie. The dark blue Kevlar vest with the bright yellow DEA letters across it did nothing to soften the image. Sonia checked out his face and was taken aback when he smiled a bright, white, movie-star smile. Hmmm. His skin. It’s almost the color of cinnamon.

  Brad looked at him. “Well, my friend. I am damn well, thanks to you and the rest of the cavalry.” He hadn’t yet let go of Sonia.

  The bright black eyes turned toward Sonia. “And you, ma’am. You’re okay?” His looks were Hispanic, but he spoke with only the tiniest lilt of an accent.

  “Yes,” said Sonia haltingly, still unsure of what was going on. “Yes, I’m okay.” Sonia brushed a wisp of hair out of face and realized she was covered in dirt. Brushing herself off, she realized, as well, that her hand was still shaking, and in it was a Glock 17. It was still locked and loaded, and dangerous as hell.

  The man saw her look down at the handgun. “You might want to make that thing a little safer at this point. You wouldn’t want it to go off and take ol’ Dunny out, now would you?”

  The man’s use of the name, Dunny, startled her.

  Brad let Sonia slip out of his arms. She dropped the magazine out of the handgrip of her weapon, pulled the slide back, and allowed the gun to eject the live shell that had been waiting in the chamber, waiting to lay down suppressing fire while Dunny took aim and killed those four men in less than ten seconds─able to kill them because they had been foolish eno
ugh to think a car door would protect them from an M16 round fired at fifty yards.

  Sonia turned to Brad. “And now, would you like to explain?”

  “Well─”

  The handsome man stepped in between Sonia and Brad. “My name is Roberto Alvarez, miss.” He gave Brad a snarky look. “My friends call me Robbie. I’m with the DEA. Dunny and I are, well, good friends I guess you could say. You see, I’ve done a lot of favors for him, but he’s done nothing but get my ass in a sling. So, in an effort to make things right, Captain Dunham, here, decided he would figure out this whole drug delivery scheme, you know, where the drugs come from, where they go, who does the delivering, all of that stuff.”

  Sonia looked at Brad. He was trying to figure things out. He was going to discover all that stuff.

  “Then he would call me in to wrap things up, and I would get all the credit. Of course, as part of his whole deal, he drags a civilian into harm’s way. They go driving all the way down to Rocky Top, where he almost has to pop some guy.”

  “Now wait a minute.” Brad put his hand on Robbie’s arm.

  Robbie looked quickly at Brad, his smile wry. “Oh no. Let me finish.” Then he turned back to Sonia. “So, last weekend ol’ Dunny here makes a quick trip down to DC to let me know what he’s planning.”

  Sonia’s mind snapped like a trap. That’s why I couldn’t get in touch with him all weekend.

  Pointing at Brad’s bullet ridden, front-end sagging, mud and grass-covered car, Robbie continued. “You see, after he almost got you killed down in Rocky Top, he figured it was time to give me a heads-up so that we could get a GPS locator on this fine-looking vehicle. That way we could track the two of you all the way from Lexington to wherever-the-hell you all were going.”

  Sonia gave Brad a look of disbelief. “The whole time? They were following us the whole time?”

  “Oh yes, little lady.” A big grin crossed Robbie’s face. “Oh, and thanks for picking that Holiday Inn Downtown. It’s my favorite place to stay in when I’m in Memphis.”

  Sonia got the implication immediately, and shot Brad a look that would freeze the balls off a polar bear.

  Brad turned his palms upward. “Now, in all fairness.”

  “In all fairness, nothing,” Robbie wagged his head. “So, this morning, while my team and I are just cruising our way from Memphis to Nashville, I get a call. He’s telling me some cock and bull story about this Corvette flying through the air while you guys were possibly, possibly, avoiding detection by circumnavigating some poor farmer down southwest of Nashville. Hard to believe, but he tells me it might just happen again, so I should close ranks a little tighter and be ready to come to your rescue.”

  “And that you did, my friend.” Brad gave him a subtle thumbs-up. “That you did.”

  Robbie bobbed his head. “That’s right. We came running, scooped up these bad boys, who, by the way, are pretty likely to spill their guts about the whole operation, and absolutely nothing bad happened.” As he finished his sentence, Robbie smiled and looked directly at what remained of Brad’s dark blue Corvette.

  Sonia was dumbfounded. All the time that she had been looking at her computer and tracking the feed and hay truck, Robbie Alvarez and his team had been tracking her and Brad. Then it hit her. “Wait a minute. How did you know we were in trouble right now? What made you come to our rescue just at the perfect time?”

  “You want to tell her?” Robbie looked at Brad.

  Brad, in turn, looked at Sonia. “You called him.”

  “What?” Her voice began rising.

  “You’re the one who told him we needed help and that he should come right away.”

  “No way. I did nothing of the sort.” She was emphatic. “I didn’t even know he existed, no less how to tell him we needed help.”

  “The red button.”

  “Huh?”

  “The red button,” he said nonchalantly. “I told you to open the console in the ‘Vette and push the red button.”

  Sonia looked at him blankly. “What the?”

  “That was our panic button.” Brad broke into a big smile. “You pushed the red panic button and it sent out an SOS to Robbie and his team. They knew it was time to come runnin’, guns ablazin’.” He turned to Robbie. “And come they did, just in the nick of time.”

  Sonia was dumbfounded again. “You son-of-a-bitch,” she said softly. Then she turned the volume up a serious notch. “We’d called for help and you didn’t tell me?” Her face was turning red.

  Brad just shrugged his shoulders.

  Sonia hit Brad’s arm as hard as she could with her open palm then turned and faced the broken-down ‘Vette.

  “Sonia.” Brad’s voice fell away. “C’mon Sonia. We didn’t have─”

  Behind her back, Sonia heard Robbie clap his hands and interrupt. “Well, listen, boys and girls. I’ve got a team to check on, and we’ve got some serious agency work to do. You know, questions to ask, stories to take.” She turned around just in time to see Robbie give Brad a crooked grin. “Can you take it from here good buddy? Or do you need a ride back to Lexington?”

  Sonia took a step back toward both men as Brad was about to speak. “You know, I believe I’ve had enough of his driving. I think we’ll take that ride if you don’t mind.” She gave Brad a sardonic smile and Robbie a nod of thanks.

  Part VII

  47

  At ten-forty on Thursday morning, Sonia stood at the bottom of those dreaded stairs and looked up. She was holding her coffee and her croissant and was hoping she could just sit and enjoy them in her own space. She felt tired, fragile, spent. A little over twenty-four hours ago, she had eaten breakfast in a Holiday Inn in Memphis. Since then, she’d almost been killed in a Corvette that had literally crawled up an embankment. Then she’d almost been killed when bullets tore apart that very same car. The thought of it all still rattled her.

  When Sonia walked into the BCI offices, Jet waved at her from her desk, then pantomimed that she would talk to Sonia as soon as she finished the call she was on. Sonia smiled and headed for her own office. It had gotten chilly again, and she slipped off the light jacket she’d worn that morning. Five minutes later, when Jet finally walked into Sonia’s office, Sonia was sitting there, mindlessly writing out her Roman numerals, her coffee and croissant untouched. XXI, XXII, XXIII . . .

  “Well, girl, how’d the trip go? You catch any bad guys?”

  Sonia squinted. “Actually, yes.” Jet took a seat opposite Sonia’s desk, and Sonia went on to describe all of the travails of the second day. There were times her voice cracked, but there was a clear sense of accomplishment in it as well. She had held her own in one of the most dangerous situations she could imagine and she knew it. Still . . . .

  Jet shook her head. “Well, honey, you’ve really been through it, haven’t you?”

  “I know, damn it. I feel like Alice.”

  Jet looked at her strangely. “Who?”

  “Alice. Alice in Wonderland.”

  “You mean because you’ve been out there running around with The Mad Hatter?”

  Sonia sat up. “No. Because I feel like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole. I mean this whole thing started with just trying to catch Marcos Torres messing around. Then there was Hensley’s suicide, which is really a murder. Next thing I know, I’m down in Rocky Top and I’m sure I’m going to be murdered. Then it’s off to Memphis, tractors, getting shot at behind a Corvette . . .” Sonia stopped for just a second. “And then there’s Brad.”

  Jet’s eyes flashed. “Did he do something bad to you?”

  “Not really.” A little energy came out of her voice. “Actually, he kissed me and told me that I was wonderful.”

  Jet gave her a cock-eyed grin. “That son-of-a-bitch.”

  Sonia wagged her head and started again. “When the shooting was over, he swept me up in his arms and kissed me more passionately than I’ve ever been kissed. He held me so tight I could barely breathe. Then he looked at me and told me
how wonderful I was.” A tiny smile started on her face. “We were literally ready to go into combat together . . . as partners. I was his partner.” Saying those last few words felt especially rewarding.

  Jet held her tongue.

  “Of course, he never told me that he’d been in touch with Robbie, that we had backup the whole time. He just left me hanging out there, thinking we were going to die.”

  Sonia hadn’t touched her coffee. Without a word, Jet leaned over and pushed the coffee closer to her.

  Sonia waved it off. “Then on the way home, it was like he’d never kissed me, never said those things to me.” There was a real edge in her voice now. “He’s an honest to goodness Jekyll and Hyde. When we’d left E’town, I was sure we would come home to my place─or his─spend the evening with each other, just enjoy being together. But when we did get home, he just had Robbie drop me off at my place. “He said, ‘I hope you enjoy your date.’ Idiot! Then he went on with Robbie.”

  Jet looked her. “Date?”

  Sonia wet her lips before speaking. “Well, that morning, after he didn’t come to my room in Memphis─”

  “Come to your room?”

  “Yeah, but he didn’t. Then Johnny called me on the road and asked me out. And I said, ‘Yes.’ But I didn’t really want to go. I was just mad at Brad . . . . It’s complicated.”

  Sonia stopped talking and took a slow sip of her coffee. Her croissant sat there untouched.

  Jet cleared her throat. “What do you think gives with him? Why do you think he does things like that?”

  “I don’t know.” Sonia turned her head away as if looking for something important.

  Jet leaned forward, putting her elbows on Sonia’s desk. “No. Seriously, what do you think might be going on? He’s clearly not some total bastard. He’s treated you nicely at times, sometimes wonderfully. Then he pulls away. Right?”