Shatterproof

by Jo Chambliss

  Mike looks up at me with worry and suspicion in his eyes. Fortunately, understanding is there as well. He’s not happy about being cut out of whatever not-quite-legal thing is about to go down, but he won’t try to stop it either, not when two lives are at stake. When the door closes behind him, I tell Omen to go ahead.

  “We’re working real-time now. Cle, check financials back to six months. Find out what he’s been buying. Squid, I want to know what he’s been searching for on the internet.”

  A few tense minutes pass when Cle chimes in. “Westbrook purchased a pre-paid Visa with a ten-thousand-dollar balance, but I don’t have the number.”

  “Cle, switch with me. I’ll get that card number,” Squid orders.

  The waiting is killing me. I need to be out there searching. I hop out of the chair and start pacing the floor.

  “Ok, six months ago, we’ve got multiple searches and visits to Virginia horse farms and trail riding,” Cle says.

  Skin leans over to Hyper and whispers, “And this is your friendly warning to never watch porn or Cle will know.”

  Ignoring them both, I look to Wrench, whom I know will already be doing a search on his phone, “How many are we looking at?”

  He looks up from his phone and shakes his head. “Way too many to move without something more specific.”

  Squid yells out, “I got the number! I’m running it now… Come on. Come on. Come on. Got a hit!... Sunday afternoon. Iron Mountain Horse Farm. Ivanhoe, VA!”

  “Let’s move out. Thanks, guys.”

  “Keep us posted,” Omen demands.

  Chairs go sliding as everyone scrambles out of the room at once. “Hyper, how many of us can you take with you?”

  “Shark plus three.”

  “Ok, Hawk, Bandaid, you’re with me in the helo. The rest of you, get there as fast as you can.”

  We take off running outside, and Devil tosses a bag to me. “I packed a few things I thought you’d need.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  The vehicles squeal out of the parking lot while the helo warms its engines.

  Hold on, girls. I’m coming.

  Chapter 16

  Willa

  Oh, my head.

  “Good morning, Willa.”

  Keeping my eyes closed, I reach around me, trying to feel for Ari.

  She’s not there.

  Worried now, I force my eyes to open against the painful light to look for her. Jonathan’s sitting on a folding canvas chair, but Ari’s not in the tent. “Where’s Ari?”

  “Oh, she went for a little walk.”

  “What?!” I try to sit up, but I feel so weak. Jonathan places his foot against my chest and pushes me back down. “Yeah, Ari wandered off this morning.”

  “Got… to find her.”

  “Nah. I don’t think she wants to come back. Not when she’s trying to help you.”

  “No, not me.”

  “Why not? Everything’s always about you, isn’t it? It’s why you left, why you ruined my life.”

  I try to sit up again, but his foot holds me in place. “Left…cause… you didn’t… care.”

  “Of course, I cared, especially when people started asking about you. Everybody always wanted to know why you weren’t around anymore, you and the precious little girl. I never quite understood it. The mousy girl that never grew up. You didn’t fit in to our new life or with our new friends, but they kept asking about you. They missed you, wondered where you were. So I told them about your father’s stroke and that you had been in Richmond taking care of him.

  “That worked for a while, but not for long. The way people were looking at me, it’s as if they suspected that you had left me. That I had to be some kind of monster if sweet, gentle Willa would walk out on me. I was losing my place. I had to make you come back. Bryan Webber was supposed to make you come back.

  “You were supposed to survive the attack and call me to report what happened to my daughter. I’d bring you home, and people would see that everything was fine. Only, instead of coming to me, you disappeared.

  “I fed your story to the press in an effort to draw you out, but that didn’t work either. I thought for sure that blowing that cabin would work, but nope. As it turned out, all I needed was patience. You did come back. It was just that backwoods, redneck sheriff that was keeping you under his thumb.

  “When you came back to me, I found that lowlife Bryan and canceled our agreement. And to be sure you left with me, I made sure you had nowhere else to go. See, Willa, all I needed was to make you hit rock-bottom to make you see that your best move was to stay with me.”

  His foot presses painfully on my sternum, and he continues. “Last night, I gave you every chance to agree to come back to me for good, but you threw it in my face. I can’t go back to my life and have people know that you divorced me. I’ll be ostracized, a nobody. I’ll be the monster that chased away the angel.”

  “Is that why that man at the party…”

  “Yes. He thinks we’re still married. Hell, they all do. You being at the fundraiser just reassured them that I’m the doting husband and father that supported you in having to care for your father for such a long time. Now, that’s all gone to hell.

  “So, since I can’t go back as the loving family man, I’ll go back as the grieving husband and father. See, I told Ariel that you are very sick and that if you were going to live, she needed to go find a doctor. I’m sure she’ll be dead from exposure soon.

  “You, on the other hand, are going for help to find your child that wandered off in the early morning light while I stay behind to search for her. The only problem is that your horse is going to trip, taking the two of you over a cliff.”

  Ari. I’m sobbing as I ask, “Why? Why are you killing her?”

  “Simple, your leaving wrecked my life. Since you refused to come back, I wanted to wreck yours. Taking away your daughter was the best way.”

  “I’ll come back. Please just go get Ari. Don’t let her die.”

  “No, you made your choice clear. Really, I should have known all along that getting you back was Hopeless. I should have just had Webber slit your throat and shoot Ari on the spot. At that point, you were worthless to me anyway. Now it’s time for you to get up and dressed. You have a short ride ahead of you.”

  Fight, Willa. Fight him. Get away and find Ari. Jonathan removes his foot, but I feel so weak. “What did you give me?”

  “Oh that, you took a little too much of your Xanax last night. Seriously, you should be careful with new medications until you know how they’ll affect you.”

  “You drugged my coffee. I’ve never taken anything like that. Someone will find that out and investigate my death as murder.”

  “I don’t think so. Your kidnapping was so stressful for you that I had the old doctor at the dinner write a prescription. I helpfully had it filled and brought it along.”

  With tears streaming down my face and me unable to stop him, Jonathan dresses me and drags me outside. I look all around but don’t see any sign of Ari. “ARI! ARI, WHERE ARE YOU?”

  “ARI!” Jonathan echoes me. “I’m not worried about you screaming. If someone should hear, it only lends authenticity to the accidental death scenario.”

  He picks me up and places me in the saddle of my horse before leading me in the opposite direction of the trailhead. After three hundred yards or so, I figure out what Jonathan is planning. To my right is a thirty-foot drop into a creek.

  Wait a minute. This horse has to weigh thirteen-hundred pounds. There’s no way he could push it over. Even if he tried, this horse probably spent its whole life in these mountains. He’s bound to be sure-footed.

  Think, Willa. Jonathan doesn’t want to leave evidence behind, so he can’t shoot the horse. Clearly, he has some plan, or he wouldn’t still be pulling us down the path. I wish I could will my brain to dispel the fog so I could think clearly.

  Regardless of the shape I’m in, I need to be ready to fight back. I test my legs by sta
nding on the stirrups, but I can just barely lift myself off the saddle. Kicking the horse won’t help because Jonathan is holding the reigns.

  “SOMEBODY, HELP!”

  Jonathan stops and looks at me. “Again, a little of that is actually helpful… but if you keep it up, I’ll go back and find Ariel, raise her to a teenager, and sell her across the Mexican border.”

  The horse is pulled another two-hundred yards or so before Jonathan finally stops. On my right, the drop to the creek has increased to about forty feet. “I have to go back and pretend to look for Ari now. This is where you fall down.”

  He drops the reigns. Here’s my chance. I rare back with as much strength as I can to kick the horse. Just before I do, Jonathan pulls something out of his pocket and strikes the horse on the left side. The instant I hear the loud, crackling buzz, I know it’s over.

  Overcome by the jolt of the taser, the horse jumps and bucks, right over the side of the mountain.

  We both go tumbling down the hill, and my world tilts on its axis. Just before we impact the ground, I try to push off the horse with my feet, but the horse rolls at the last second, and my left foot goes through the stirrup. From then on, the horse bounces and rolls, pulling me with him. It’s only by some miracle that I’m not crushed by the animal.

  A few feet from the bottom, my arm wraps around a tree, arresting our descent but doing something awful to my shoulder in the process.

  The sound coming from my shoulder was indescribable, and the pain makes me nauseous. Fortunately, the grade was reduced enough that my injured arm isn’t supporting all the horse’s weight. The bulk of Star Lord’s weight is balanced precariously on the trunk of a small tree.

  The situation remains dire in that if I let go, the animal will simply deflect off the tree trunk, and our descent will continue into the creek

  I want to release my grip on the tree, but I know that I wouldn’t last more than a few minutes in the freezing water below.

  The poor gelding is in great pain and struggles to move. Every time he does, the motion jostles my shoulder, and the pain takes my breath away.

  A voice in my head calls for me to give in, to let go of the tree and end things quickly instead of both of us lying there suffering.

  No! I need to keep fighting for Ari. Just hold on for a few minutes, Willa.

  Minute by minute, hour by hour, I keep telling myself to hold on just a little longer. Star Lord eventually succumbs to his injuries and ceases to struggle. The voice in my head returns, calling me to follow suit.

  No. I can hold on for one more minute. Just one more.

  Chris

  The chopper landing in front of the horse farm’s tack shop attracts a lot of attention, but I don’t give a flying fuck. The horses in the pins are visibly agitated as are the ranch hands trying to calm them. Not waiting on Hyper to cool the engine, I jump out and run for the office as soon as the bird touches down with Hawk, Bandaid, and Shark following close behind.

  Inside the building, I rush to the counter and demand information. “Jonathan Westbrook came here Sunday. The woman and child with him are in grave danger. We have to find them NOW!”

  The guy behind the desk looks like he’s about to piss himself. He opens a door behind him and yells outside. “Jackson! Get in here right-ass now!”

  A big man runs in the door seconds later. “What the hell, Dean?”

  Dean gestures to me. “These guys need your help.”

  The man named Jackson turns to us and sticks out his hand. “I’m Jackson Mallory, the ranch foreman. What can I do for you fellas?”

  “A man came here Sunday with a woman and little girl. His name is Jonathan Westbrook. He’s going to kill them on your mountain. We need to stop him.”

  “You’re not bullshitting me, are you?”

  “No, I’m fucking not. Do you know where they went?”

  “Yes and no. We have three main trails out of camp, but that leads to several shared trails. There are hundreds of miles of interconnected trails on this mountain. We ask that riders log their route with us, but it’s more of a suggestion. The best we could do is point you in a general direction based on the opening trail he selected.”

  “Ok. Are horses the only way around, or do you use ATVs.”

  “Horses only except on the maintenance trails and those only reach the campsites.”

  “So, we’ll need horses and men that know the area to take us in. How fast can you get this going?”

  “I’ll need an hour, at least. The horses outside have just come in. I don’t have any with fresh legs.”

  “Fine, go. There’s another group of men behind me by two hours. Set them up in two groups to follow.”

  The four of us study the maps and identify the route logged by Westbrook. A few minutes later, Jackson returns. “Ok. I’ve gotten a neighboring farm to loan me four Appaloosas. They’re being brought in now. Should be about five minutes. We’ll saddle them up, and I’ll take you out myself. Dean, close up the shop and be ready to handle the next groups.”

  I turn to those with me and see that Hyper’s now joined us. “Hyper and Shark, I’m going to need you in the air. Can you link to our radios?”

  “Yes.”

  “What kind of flying time do you have left in your tanks?”

  “Three hours.”

  “Shit, that’s not a lot.”

  “I’ll call Omen to see if he can get some Jet A fuel delivered here.”

  Jackson runs back inside then. “We’re ready.”

  Running out the back door, I yell back to Shark, “Coordinate the other teams.”

  “We’ve got this. You go find them.”

  Judge, Bandaid, and I run to where Jackson’s got the horses ready. Judge hands me my pack, and we mount the horses.

  Jackson looks up from his well-stocked horse to us with concern on his face. “You guys don’t have the equipment for this.” Bandaid shoots back, “We’re Navy SEALs. We brought more than enough equipment. Now, MOVE!”

  The foreman turns and takes off, setting a good pace. He calls back information as we go. “They left kind of late on Sunday so they wouldn’t have gotten far that first day. And given the rain we’ve had, and the campers we haven’t, tracking their progress shouldn’t be too hard. They would have kept the horses to a walk and would have made several stops along the way. With these conditions, we should catch them sooner rather than later.”

  Jackson leads the group at a full gallop to the trailhead. Once we hit the trail, we have to slow the horses, alternating between a walk and a lope due to the terrain. It doesn’t take us long to find the initial campsite, but we don’t stop. There’s no point.

  An hour into the search, Jackson makes us stop to water the horses. I start to argue, but the seasoned hand won’t budge.

  I climb down from the horse and sit on a big rock. Bandaid comes over and squeezes my shoulder. I understand that these horses are living creatures and that we have to stop, but my pounding heart can’t seem to grasp the concept.

  Fifteen minutes later, we’re on the move again.

  We have to stop one more time on the way up the mountain. Once again, the strain is difficult to bear.

  Just as streaks of pink are beginning to color the sky, we come upon a campsite with two horses tied up. “That’s Rocket,” Jackson, yells out. “This is your man’s campsite.”

  Jumping down from our horses, my team draws our weapons and searches the area. I check the tent to find it empty. “Coals are cold,” Hawk explains after testing the fire pit.

  Bandaid looks over to me. “No one’s been here in a while.”

  Jackson says, “They only booked two horses. The woman and child rode together from the corral. There’s no way all three of them left together on Star Lord, and since Rocket’s ok, there wouldn’t have been a need to.”

  “That means somebody’s on foot somewhere.”

  I holster my pistol and scrub my hand over my face. “Yeah, but where?”

  The
sky is beginning to darken, and Jackson is concerned about the approaching nightfall. “Guys, we need to make plans to camp or start back.”

  “Fish! Over here!” Hawk’s frantic voice merits more attention than Jackson’s concerns right now. I jog over to where Hawk is bent over, looking at something beyond the tree line. “What is it?”

  “It looks to be some sort of synthetic fill material.” Pointing to the ground, he adds, “and look, all these leaves are damp, but those have been disturbed.”

  The stride is too small for an adult. “Shit, it’s Ari.”

  Returning to my horse, I grab my pack. “Jackson, get back to the corral. Tell the chopper pilot what we found and give him our position. Hawk, you go with him. You go up with Hyper and use your IR scope to lead us to her. Make sure the other team has lights. I want them up here ASAP.”

  “You got it,” he says.

  “Come on, Bandaid. We’ve got to find my daughter.”

  “I was wondering when you would come around to that way of thinking.”

  We set out into the woods, following the occasional tuft of white polyester and disturbed leaves. “How far do you think she went?”

  “Probably a lot farther than she did when I found her the first time.”

  It’s nearly pitch dark when I hear the chopper’s rotors approaching. “Fish. What’s your situation?”

  “Still searching. Check our trajectory and extend beyond that.”

  “Copy.”

  The bird flies a pattern above us as we continue moving. A few minutes later, I hear Hawk again. “Fish, four-hundred yards, ten degrees your left.”

  “Copy. Stick with us.”

  We carefully pick our way down the slope of the ravine to the location Hawk identified. Fifty feet away, my flashlight sweeps over blond hair on the ground. “ARI!” Please be alive.

  I sprint the rest of the way to her still form, barely managing to avoid breaking my neck. Behind me, I hear Bandaid as he starts yelling into his radio, “We found her. There isn’t enough light to make it out of here, so we’ll treat her in place. Inform the next teams about the campsite. Since they can’t search any further tonight, have them stake out the site in case the bastard comes back. You guys return to the site coordinates and continue north. See if you can find signatures for Willa or the other horse. If you find something close enough to reach on foot, have one of the teams move on that location. Otherwise, return to base and wait.”