The only serious glitch to the operation came close to the end, when a man named Castillo boarded the back of Marty’s trailer in search of something specific.
“I’m looking for valium,” he told Marty. “It’s getting damn hard to find, and if you have some I’ve got gold coins to trade. If you can get it on a regular basis we’ll do some good business together.”
“Well, then, my friend. Let’s see what we can find. I have a pallet at the front of the trailer that we took off a CVS Pharmacy truck. I think I saw a box that said it contained a thousand tablets of valium. Let’s go see if I was right.”
Castillo’s eyes widened. A thousand tablets would feed his habit for months. He followed Marty down the narrow aisle between the pallets.
Castillo didn’t notice Mark come up behind him in the confined passageway. It was simply too narrow to turn and look behind him.
Mark whacked Castillo on the back of the head, just as he’d done to fourteen other men he’d recognized from Marty’s collection of photos.
Only this time, he hit Castillo a little too hard.
Or maybe Castillo was just a bleeder by nature.
In any event, Mark’s blow opened up a nasty gash in the back of Castillo’s head and he started bleeding profusely.
Still out cold, Castillo offered no resistance as the men bound and gagged him and tied his hands to the rail on the inside of the trailer.
“Head wounds always bleed a lot,” Frank observed. “There are a lot of blood vessels above the neckline. Why don’t you go to the house he came out of and see if you can get a couple of towels or something we can use for bandages?”
Bryan trotted off to the house and came back five minutes later.
“I did you one better,” Bryan said. “Instead of towels I found a nurse that’ll patch the guy right up.”
Bryan was followed by a petite woman of perhaps thirty, who had the worn look of someone who’d been abused for a very long time. Not a hint of a smile crossed her lips. Or any other emotion, for that matter.
“You said Castillo was hurt, and is unconscious?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Where is he?”
“Just follow the path between the cargo to the front of the trailer.”
The woman did as instructed.
The men knew all the prisoners were securely bound, and several were still unconscious.
And they had no reason to expect trouble.
So they could be forgiven in waiting a full twenty seconds before following the tiny nurse through the narrow passage to where Castillo lay.
And by then, of course, it was too late. When Frank broke into the open area at the front of the trailer, he saw the woman, armed with a three inch pocket knife, thrusting it repeatedly into Castillo’s chest.
With all the force her ninety pounds could muster.
“No!” Frank yelled.
But it was too late. Castillo was already dead and certainly on his way to hell. The other prisoners who were conscious were panicked and straining at their bonds, obviously thinking they were next.
If their mouths hadn’t been gagged, they’d have been screaming bloody murder.
As quickly as she’d turned into a brutal killer, the frail woman became passive again. She handed the bloody knife to Frank, handle out, without so much as a word. Then she turned and started to make her way back out of the trailer.
“Stop that woman and hold her,” Frank yelled to the others as he walked through the cargo behind her. The men on the back end of the trailer, or standing on the ground behind it, were puzzled by the order. They had no clue what had just happened.
But like good soldiers, they followed orders even when they didn’t fully understand them. When Frank hopped down off the trailer, bloody knife still in hand, Mark and Marty stood on either side of the woman, each holding one of her forearms.
But she wasn’t trying to get away.
Frank stood in front of the woman, who was trembling and had tears rolling out of her eyes.
He asked but one word:
“Why?”
“My name is Glenna. Glenna Ward. I lived here with my husband Steve and my two children. Until, that is, Castillo decided he wanted to move in here too.
“He was friendly at first. He said he would protect us from Willaker and the others. He said he wasn’t like them.
“Then, the first time he raped me, he insisted that my husband watch. He said he wanted no doubt in anyone’s mind that he owned us. That he could do whatever he wanted with us.
“He held a gun to my head. And he made Steve watch as he raped me again and again. Steve cried. And Castillo laughed. He said if Steve moved one muscle toward us, he’d blow my brains out. And I believe he would have too.
“As the weeks went by he made me do despicable things to him, and each time he made my husband and sometimes my children watch. He made me tie Steve up every night and lock him in a room for which only Castillo had the key. He checked my knots, and if they weren’t tight enough he beat me.
“One night, about a year ago, he got dreadfully drunk. He called my daughter into the room and made her do the same despicable things to him that I had to do. I begged him not to, that I would do it myself. But he said no. He said he was tired of me. He wanted my twelve year old daughter to do it instead. He said if she didn’t finish she would shoot her father.
“And she gagged. She couldn’t help it. She was only twelve, for God’s sake.
“He grew angry. He leveled his gun at Steve’s chest and pulled the trigger five times. I can still hear those shots in my head.
“He made Amy, my daughter, and her little brother Steve Junior, dig a hole in the back yard for Steve.
“And then he dragged Steve’s body into the hole, like he was nothing but an animal. And he made the children cover him up.
“He wouldn’t even let us say a prayer over his grave.
“Since then, he abused not only me but also Steve Junior and Amy, in so many ways. He’s done things to them that no adult should ever do to a child. To keep us from escaping, he always kept one of the children shackled to a chair with a chain and a lock that only he knew the combination to. Locked in a room that only he had the key for.
“He said that if either of us ever walked out of the house, he would kill the child locked in the room.
“Now, I have the key to the room.”
She held it out for Frank to see, a gold key on a piece of tattered brown string.
“Will one of you help me break the chain that holds my daughter to that chair?”
Not one, but all of the men save two, followed the woman into the house to help the girl.
And they all came back out with tears in their eyes. There was nothing in their lifetime of experiences that could have prepared them for the sight of the joy the mother felt when she was finally able to hug her children again, knowing they were finally free.
“Please understand,” the woman told Frank afterwards, “I did what I had to do, because I have no faith in the legal system anymore. I’m not even sure there is still a legal system.
“Castillo always said that if he was ever arrested, that friends of his in the sheriff’s office would free him. And that he would come back and find us and kill us all.
“I couldn’t take that risk. My only choice was to make sure he was dealt with myself.”
She looked at Sarah, who was crying along with everyone else.
“I know I don’t know you. But I have the sense that you’re a decent woman. I hate to burden you with this, but would you make sure my children are sent to someone who will love them and care for them, instead of abusing them?”
She turned back to Frank and held her hands out in front of her.
“I’m ready to go, marshal, or sheriff, or whoever you are. I’m ready to pay my due.”
It wasn’t often Frank Woodard was at a loss for words. But this time, he just couldn’t find any that seemed to suffice. Finally, he stammered,
“Ma’am, I’m not taking you anywhere. No one here will judge you, or find fault in what you did. You stay here and take care of your children. Your nightmare is finally over.”
“No.”
It was Sarah, and all heads turned to her.
“I have a better idea. Glenna, we’re going to take you to a place where you and your children will be safe and free and have plenty to eat. And you’ll never have to worry about being abused again. Go pack your things. You’re going to a place where there’s enough love to go around. Not just for your children, but for you too.”
Bryan whispered to Sarah, “You know you can’t invite people in without bringing it up to everybody for a vote.”
She whispered back, “Screw the vote. There’s no way anyone in the compound would vote to keep her out after hearing what she and her kids have already gone through.”
Amy and Little Steve had joined their mom in the front yard.
Steve looked up at Sarah and asked, “Are there any other kids where we’re going? We haven’t seen any other kids in a very long time.”
Sarah reached down and picked up the boy, but was too choked up to answer his question.
That fell to Bryan, who assured him, “Yes, sir. There are lots of kids, and they’re nice and will be good friends to you.”
Sarah took Glenna by the hand and led her into the house to pack.
It didn’t take long. Everything the three had in the world fit into two small suitcases.
Frank looked to Bryan and said, “We’re going to wrap up this operation and head out to San Angelo. We’ve got plenty of security. Why don’t you and Sarah cut out and make sure these good people make it home okay.”
The girl, Amy, repeated the word, “home,” as though trying to understand the significance.
As the group piled into one of the humvees, Mark asked Frank, “So. What do we do with the dead body in the back of the truck?”
Frank said, “I just asked Marty where the town dump is. Turns out it’s on our way. We’ll drop him with the rest of the garbage.
“May he rot in hell.”
Chapter 25
By nightfall, three vehicles came limping back into Eden: A humvee and two Kenworth tractors. They’d left the trailers in San Angelo. They’d been abandoned by their original owners anyway, and Marty didn’t have any emotional attachment to either one.
The San Angelo city marshal promised to donate the goods inside the trailers to a worthy cause, once the prisoners were all booked into the city jail.
Frank promised to return within a week with victim statements and witness accounts to provide to the prosecuting attorneys.
For all practical purposes, Eden was a free city once again. Frank had a lot of interviews to conduct, but he didn’t mind. He enjoyed being a policeman, always had. It gave him a sense of purpose that nothing else he did came close to matching.
Marty, on the other hand, had never been a policeman. But he was fascinated by the work.
“Mind if I come along and help?” he asked Frank.
Frank smiled his broad smile and said, “You’re more than welcome, my friend.”
“Actually, I want to come back to the compound with you tonight too, if you don’t mind. There’s something I need to discuss with Hannah.”
If Frank was at all curious as to the nature of Marty’s conversation with Hannah, he didn’t let on.
“By all means. Hannah will be happy to see you. But I have to warn you, if you’ve a mind to try to take her away from Mark, you’ll have a fight on your hands, I assure you. He’s kinda fond of his little wife.”
“As he should be. She’s a beautiful woman, and as sweet as honey to boot. But he needn’t worry. I merely have a business matter I want to discuss with her.”
“Will you stay for supper, since you’re going to be there anyway?”
“I was kinda hoping you’d ask.”
The pair walked into the compound a bit later and Frank, being Frank, went immediately to the security console to check on things.
John and Hannah were laughing uproariously when he walked up.
“You know,” Frank said, “You two could give a guy a severe complex. It seems that every time you see me, you start laughing.”
“Yeah, well, the cat’s out of the bag. I guess we don’t have to pretend anymore. But darn it, Frank, you just have one of those faces that makes people want to crack up.”
“Yeah, right. Very funny, but I’m not buying it. I’ve been told my face creates more nightmares than laughter.”
“Yeah, well now that you mention it…”
“What’s so funny?”
“Bryan. When he and Sarah got home earlier with Glenna and her kids, she called an emergency meeting to explain why she brought them here.
“She asked me to take Glenna and the kids on a grand tour of the place while the meeting was going on. I gave her my proxy to cast my vote however she saw fit.
“Anyway, she told me a little while ago what I’d missed. It seems she told everyone about Glenna’s situation and the abuse she and her kids have had to endure. She said that the only cure she knows of for such horrible abuse is massive doses of love and security from further harm. She said she brought them here because this is the only place she knows of where both of those things exist.
“She told the group, ‘You guys go ahead and debate this issue if you want, but understand that if you decide
not to let Glenna and Amy and little Steve stay, then Bryan and I will be leaving with them.’
“Bryan happened to be eating a cookie at the time. He was caught totally of guard by her proclamation and sputtered ‘We will?’
“Sarah said, ‘Yes, we will. Someone has to protect these people. If we as a group won’t, then you and I will.’
“Anyway, Sarah needn’t have worried. There was no debate. A lot of tears and a lot of anger directed at the animals who abused that poor family the way they did. But no debate.
“When they took the vote, it was unanimous. Thirty two votes to let them stay, none against.”
Frank said, “Thirty two? Wait a minute. Mark and I gave Sarah our proxy as well, but even counting our votes, there are only thirty one eligible voters. How did they count thirty two?”
Hannah giggled.
“That’s why we were laughing when you walked up. Bryan raised both hands and tried to vote twice. He said that he liked the people here, and the food was good, and he had no desire to leave.
“Well, it was obvious that the vote was going to be unanimous anyway, so Helen went ahead and counted both of his hands. It was officially logged into the meeting minutes that the motion carried with thirty two votes, even though only thirty one people were eligible to vote. Future archeologists who stumble across our minutes log will certainly be scratching our heads over that one.”
“Well, I’m glad that Bryan and Sarah are staying. It just wouldn’t be the same around here without them.”
“You ain’t kidding. Glenna and her family are in apartment 118, if you want to stop by to check in on them. In fact, I’m headed that way, after I hit the Walmart to pick up a couple of teddy bears. You’re welcome to tag along if you want.”
“Sure, why not?”
As Frank and Hannah headed to the storage room in the basement the group lovingly called “Walmart,” Marty asked Hannah if she had a few minutes to spare, after she finished checking on their new residents.
“Sure, thing. I’ve always got time for a handsome knight in shining armor. What you did for the people in Eden was nothing less than saintly, Marty. Most people would have looked the other way. You, sir, are my hero for the day.”
Marty turned red. He was a good man, but not one used to flattery.
Chapter 26
The last thing Hannah did before leaving Glenna’s new apartment was remind her about dinner.
“It’s every evening at seven. Do you remember where the dining room was?”
“Yes, I think so.”
&
nbsp; “Would you like for me to pick you up here and walk you all over there?”
“No, you’ve done too much already.”
“Nonsense. You’re part of our family now. And families can never do too much for one another.”
Glenna’s head was still spinning. When she woke up that morning she’d been a captive woman, horribly abused in so many ways.
Now, a few short hours later, she and her children were free, and surrounded by caring people determined to help her.
“I just know I’m going to wake up any time and find that this is all only a dream.”
Hannah smiled. “Nope. If it was a dream, I wouldn’t be in it. Nobody ever dreams about me. My husband says he does. But he only says that because he has to.”
The women hugged and Hannah told her, “I’ll knock on your door just before seven.”
Then she found Marty in the lounge and said, “Okay, I’m all yours, Bub. What was it you wanted to talk about?”
“I have a business transaction I’d like to pitch to you.”
“A business transaction? Well, that’s interesting. Let’s go to the dining room and talk over coffee, shall we?”
The two settled in at a square table for four with a Monopoly board inlayed into the center of it.
“Wow, this is cool,” Marty said. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a table like this before.”
“It was at the mine for the seven years we lived there. We brought several of the tables over here to accommodate our growing population. Sami’s pregnant, did you know that?”
“It isn’t mine, I swear.”
Hannah smiled an easy smile.
“Well, Brad will be very happy to hear that. Anyway, with Sami expecting, and with Frank and Eva and some of their people joining us, we were in need of more tables. Now that Glenna’s family is here too, that’s even more true.”
She opened a discreet drawer beneath the table and pulled out Monopoly money and all the other things needed to play the game.
“Everything you need is under here. We also have other tables with chess boards, poker, crayons… whatever you’re in the mood for.”
The Army Comes Calling Page 10
