by Kyle Pratt
Five minutes later Caden nodded reluctantly. “This might work, but Zach stays with me until Cruz and the others are dead.”
“Okay,” Hoover said.
“Where is Zach?” Fletcher asked.
After they checked the nearby latrine, Fletcher phoned the gate guard.
“Yeah he left the base about ten minutes ago in that car he’s been driving lately.”
Fletcher turned to Hollister. “You gave Zach the keys to your car?”
“He asked for them to load the rifles.”
Caden gritted his teeth. “Phone Zach. Let’s see if we can get him to come back.”
As Fletcher did, Caden said, “Put him on speaker.”
“Zach what are you doing?” Fletcher slid the phone to the center of the table.
“I’m going to find out where the meeting is, and then I’ll phone you and tell you the location.”
“Zach, turn around and come back.” Caden ordered with an angry voice. “What’s to keep MS-13 from killing you, and taking the weapons when you arrive at the ranger station?”
“Well, besides my bow, I’ve got one of the rifles beside me, but I’m hoping they play this deal straight.”
“You’re hoping MS-13 will be honest?” Hoover asked.
“Yeah, I guess I am, but unless you have a better plan, this is the one I’m going with.”
No one spoke for a moment. Zach had forced their hand and Caden now considered options that he had been unwilling to explore moments before. “Zach, maybe there is better plan.”
* * *
Zach parked in front of a dark ranger station. The moon was nearly full, but clouds obscured its light. He looked to either side. I could be surrounded by MS-13 and not know it. He tried to breathe normal and remain calm. What have I gotten myself into?
From out of the darkness came a female voice. “Get out of the car.”
Chapter Thirty
“Did you hear me?”
Despite the youthfulness of her voice, it carried authority and a Hispanic accent that caused Zach’s stomach to knot. Does MS-13 have female members? Looking to his left, he squinted, but saw nothing in the darkness.
“Are you deaf? Open the door and get out!” She cursed.
He glanced at the rifle leaning against the passenger seat and realized it was useless. He couldn’t hide it. Unarmed, he opened the car door and stepped out.
“Keep your hands where I can see them. You got the stuff?”
Unable to speak, he nodded.
“Show me.”
He swallowed. “There’s one against the passenger seat.” He leaned toward the door to retrieve the weapon.
“Leave it there. Where are the others?”
“The rest are in the trunk.” He stepped to the back.
The female inched from the darkness into the pale moonlight. It was difficult to see detail, but her hair was long, straight and dark. She appeared to be no more than a few years older than him. Zach’s gaze snapped from her face to the pistol she waved at him.
“Open the trunk.” She gestured with the gun.
Zach complied.
“Move away.”
As he retreated she approached the car and used a flashlight to look over the weapons.
“It’s all there, just like Cruz wanted. Where’s De…my sister?” Zach needed to be careful. He still wasn’t sure it would help, but since they thought they had Vicki, he might as well let them continue to believe it.
“Give me the phone they gave you.”
He pulled it from his pocket and stepped toward her.
“Put it on the car!” She stepped back.
He did as told.
She picked up the phone, taped on the screen and spoke Spanish.
Zach wished he had paid more attention in school, he barely understood three words.
When done, she looked at Zach. “Up this road is a cabin—.”
“The ranger cabin. I know it.”
“Good, go there now,” she said backing into the darkness.
Zach returned to the Hollister car and drove up the gravel logging road about a half-mile. Then he stopped, pulled a phone from under the car seat, and called Caden. “I’m clear. Did you get that girl I talked to?”
“Yes, we have her in custody. Where are you? The squad said you drove up the logging road.”
Zach told him the meeting would be at an old ranger log cabin several miles up the forest service road. “But there’s something important you need to know. This road connects with two others that go to the next county, but they cross over high ridgelines.”
He heard the rustle of paper over the phone. “If Cruz just looked at a map he probably thinks he has three ways out, but he doesn’t. Those other roads are snowbound this time of year.”
“Got it,” Caden said. “Someone will join you in a minute. Wait where you are.”
Nothing moved in the headlights. Within seconds Zach mumbled, “Come on. Where are you?”
A knock sounded on the passenger side window.
Zach stifled a scream, and then unlocked the door.
“Hi.” John Tyler reached in and unlocked the back door of the sedan. “Let the Major know I’m with you.” In full combat gear and with an M4, his friend climbed into the back seat. “I’ll stay back here till you get close to the cabin.”
“Corporal Tyler is with me,” Zach said into the phone.
“Good. Take it slow so our men can deploy, but don’t go too slow.”
Zach wondered what speed that would be.
Tyler handed him a pistol. “I thought you might need this. When you meet I suggest you make sure they see the M4, but keep the pistol hidden. Shove it down your pants.”
The pistol was the smallest Zach had ever seen. “Down my pants? I don’t want a gun pointed there.”
Tyler laughed. “Just don’t pull the trigger.”
“What kind of gun is this?”
“A Ruger LCP. It’s my sister’s. She keeps it in her purse.”
“So the Major doesn’t know you’re giving this to me?”
Tyler shook his head.
Very gently Zach slid the gun into his pants and then shifted the vehicle into drive.
The car rolled forward with a thud as it went over a rock.
Zach stopped the vehicle. Eased the gun from his pants and set it on the passenger seat.
“What am I sitting on?” Tyler said from the back seat. “Oh. Why did you bring the bow and quiver?”
He shrugged. “It’s what I usually hunt with.”
Tyler squeezed Zach’s shoulder. “Good hunting tonight.”
Several bumps farther along, Tyler asked, “Are you sure you’re on the road? It doesn’t feel like it.”
“On the road,” Zach muttered only vaguely aware of what was said. Though he knew it was several miles away, on every sharp turn he arched his neck hoping for a glimpse of the cabin and DeLynn. His heart pounded in his chest as he fought the fear induced urge to go slower than Caden had advised.
However, he wanted to find and rescue DeLynn. Gradually his speed increased until he hit a rough spot and the car bottomed out on a rock.
Remembering what Caden had told him, he slowed his upward climb.
Please God, keep her safe.
Now, high on the ridge, the air was cold. Snow clung to the ground and stood in drifts in shady spots under trees and in gullies along the road.
The phone buzzed.
Zach jerked.
“Calm down,” Tyler said. “No reason to be nervous—yet. Answer the phone.”
Zach stopped the car. “Hello?”
“The squads will be in place in a couple of minutes.” Caden said. “Go on to the cabin, but don’t hang up the phone. Stay outside and stick to the plan.”
A few hundred yards from the cabin he stopped, and Tyler darted into the woods.
Zach’s stomach flipped and flopped. God help me help her. He eased the car forward.
Seconds later he stopped, stepped from the car, a
nd while casually putting on a jacket, slid the cold Ruger deep into the front of his pants. He pushed from his mind the direction of the barrel and zipped up his coat to further conceal it. Then he reached back into the car, grabbed the rifle and stood on the far side of the vehicle with the engine block between him and the ranger cabin.
In the darkness the tiny structure appeared to be sitting alone in a small clearing, but Zach knew that along the east side was a steep drop off. In the daylight, a huge expanse of forest was visible that only stopped at the mountains on the horizon. Where he was on the west side, and on the north, there was a small meadow. On the south side, the forest came up close to the building.
Through a single front window a dim light shone from the cabin. Zach looked, but detected no movement.
His mouth was dry and his stomach ached. He felt like an animal in a snare. He wished he was there for any other reason.
A thought burst to life in his mind. No longer was he a boy just making it from day to day. He was a man on a mission. If tonight was his time to die, then so be it. He would do so as a man, doing what needed to be done to save someone he loved. “Cruz, this is Zach. I’m here with the guns.”
Behind him he heard the cock of a pistol.
“Cruz would like you to join him—inside. Leave the gun here.”
He leaned it against the car. “Where’s my sister?”
“Take off the coat.”
The voice was right behind him. Two burly guys approached from each side.
Zach removed the jacket slowly, hoping the soldiers were in position.
One gang member examined his coat while the other frisked him, but not well. He found Zach’s phone and passed it to another. The loss of the phone meant plan ‘B’ was no longer an option.
Zach hadn’t held out much hope that the phone would remain on him, but was pleased when the man didn’t go near his groin.
Plan ‘A’ had been to stay outside where the soldiers could see him and hopefully get DeLynn with him. They had discussed several scenarios in which the soldiers would open fire on the gang, but events seemed to be diverging from the plan.
Zach tried again to find where DeLynn was and was again ignored. “There’s one rifle by the passenger seat. The rest are in the trunk.” He stepped toward the back. “Let me show you.”
A firm hand grasped his arm. “We’ll check them out. You’ve got a meeting with Cruz,” the voice from behind said.
One of the men tossed Zach’s coat back to him.
“Let’s go.”
Shoved from behind, Zach stumbled. Regaining his balance, he noticed two others near the trunk of the car and several more at the edge of the forest. How many people are here? Since he had been told to get twenty M4s he thought that might be the number. Is this the whole gang? Doubt crept in him. Can I save DeLynn or is this the night we both die?
Was she inside? If so the soldiers needed to know her location and his, but how would he signal them?
As he climbed the creaking steps, his escort pushed Zach again. “Open the door. Go inside.”
The cabin was an old log structure with a main area and one bunkroom. There was no bathroom, just a fairly new outhouse nearby. Cruz sat alone on the far side of the first room. A kerosene lamp cast the gangster in sinister shadows. A woodstove burned in the corner.
The cabin was furnished with four plain wooden chairs, two end tables, and a homemade coffee table. In the corner was a small dining table. The back door was nearby and beside it the door to the bunkroom. All the walls were made of logs, even the interior one that separated the two rooms.
Food containers and beer bottles littered the place, and it smelled of cigarettes and booze.
Before leaving, the escort passed Zach’s phone to Cruz.
The gang leader dropped it on the end table next to him, beside another phone.
Zach tried not to look at it, but was glad to know that plan ‘B’ might still be available and Caden might still hear what was going on. If it is still on.
Tyler would use his radio to report the positions of everyone outside, but Zach wasn’t outside. If the phone was still on, Caden should know where he was, but what if it wasn’t? Did Tyler see him go in? Where was DeLynn? There was no plan ‘C,’ so it was time to improvise. “Do I get to see my sister now?”
“Why you all dressed in camouflage, boy?”
“The unit just came back from some major operation. I was on duty helping put away the weapons. I’m sure they already know they’re missing so let’s hurry. Okay?”
“Sure.”
“Where is she?”
Cruz shook his head. “In a minute. When I know you got what I asked for.” He pointed to a seat.
Zach sat on the far side of the small room with the coat on his lap. He felt the gun through it. “This private pow-wow is so your guys can count guns?” He hoped Caden heard his words through the phone and noticed the word “private.”
“Yes,” Cruz said.
Seconds ticked slowly by as they sat in silence.
“How long does it take them to count to twenty?” Zach asked.
Cruz smiled, but didn’t respond.
A short scraping sound came from the next room. It could have been a rat scratching at something or a chair moving. He strained to hear more.
A phone rang.
Afraid that it was his, Zach felt sick.
From the table beside him, Cruz picked up the other phone and spoke Spanish. Setting it back down back he said, “My guys tell me there are twenty rifles and magazines, but no bullets.”
“The ammo is my insurance.”
Cruz smiled. “I like you, kid. I may have to kill you, but I like you. Now where’s the bullets?”
Zach’s heart pounded. “Where is my sister?”
Cruz’s face grew dark.
Zach’s heart pounded in his chest. He struggled to keep his voice even. “I have the ammo, but if you kill me you’ll never find it.”
“There are worse things than death, amigo.”
He struggled to sound calm. “Tell me where she is and I’ll tell you where the ammo is.”
Cruz stared at him with cold eyes. Then he made a slight movement of the head in the direction Zach had heard the noise.
He hurried to the bunk room with Cruz right behind.
For a moment he didn’t notice her. Lit by a single candle on an ancient dresser by the door, half the tiny room was cast in dark shadows. A bunk bed stood against the outer wall with blankets hanging down. Beyond that, in the corner was DeLynn, bound tight to a chair with a cloth sack over her head.
Zach ran to her side, removed the sack and the gag that was under. “Did they hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“I did my part,” Cruz said. “No one touched her, but now it’s time to do your part and tell me where the rest of the stuff is or…things change—for both of you.”
Zach kissed her on the forehead and then on the lips.
Cruz made a disgusted noise. “I’ve heard about you country people marrying your cousins, but….”
Remembering that MS-13 believed that she was his sister, he laughed. “We’re very close.”
Cruz spat on the floor. Then cast Zach a doubtful look. “Whatever. Where’s the bullets?”
The phone in the next room rang.
The thug cursed, turned and left.
Zach untied DeLynn’s hands.
She worked to free her legs.
From the next room Cruz called out. “My friends say there’s a bow in the back seat.”
Zach reached down the front of his pants.
DeLynn’s face was a mixture of surprise and confusion.
He retrieved the gun and raced to the edge of the door.
“You live close to the spot where someone shot me with an arrow.”
Zach heard the floorboards creak as Cruz marched toward the bunkroom.
“Are you a good shot with the thing?”
“Yes, I’m very good wi
th a bow.”
Seeing a shadow in the doorway, he threw his jacket as a decoy.
Shots rang out.
Zach stepped into the doorway and fired a single shot at Cruz. “Bunkroom,” he shouted and flung himself against the log wall. When he didn’t hear a scream or a thud he knew he didn’t hit Cruz, but hoped the phone was still on and that Caden heard him.
Cruz fired wildly splintering the doorframe inches from Zach.
DeLynn screamed, fell on her side, screamed again and continued to untie herself.
Zach was only six feet from her. He wanted to help, but needed to stay by the door.
Three shots, from different sides of the cabin, rang out.
Sniper fire.
A gun battle erupted outside.
Zach needed to be sure the soldiers knew their location.
Cruz cursed. “I’m going to skin you alive, boy.” The yellow light of the kerosene lamp vanished, leaving the main room in darkness.
Zach blew out the candle on the dresser. Only moonlight illuminated the struggle.
A bullet ripped through the doorframe mere inches from his hand. From one dark room Zach peeked into another.
Yelling in Spanish, a man burst in through the front door.
Right behind another screamed, fell through the door and then regained his footing. Blood stained his side.
They both knelt and fired into the night.
Zach fired at each.
The second man slumped to the floor.
The other gang member dashed for cover.
As he did Zach fired again and wondered how many rounds were left in the pistol.
Chapter Thirty One
Zach struggled to remember each shot, but he didn’t know if the clip had been full when Tyler gave it to him. He wasn’t sure how many rounds it held. Six, maybe seven. To be sure he’d have to remove the clip and count, but he didn’t want to disarm himself with a crazy killer in the next room.
Pale moonlight flowed through a small window at the end of the bunkroom and brought Zach a ray of hope. When DeLynn freed herself from the ropes, Zach pointed to the window and whispered, “Open it.” Then he gestured she should jump out.
She nodded and pushed to open it.
Seeing that she couldn’t budge it, Zach kept an eye on the door as he stepped back toward her. Together they pushed and it moved.
