Lightning Lingers

by Barbara Freethy

  "Yes. So did your great-grandfather and your grandfather. They were made especially for the men in the family. This one belonged to your great-grandfather." She handed it to him. "The gold comes from the earth. The bird in the middle will remind you to look to the heavens. When you see the flutter of birds that I see in my dreams, you will know it is time. You will wear this medallion, and it will protect you. It is blessed."

  "All right," he said, slipping it over his head. "I'll take anything that will help: medallions, birds, lightning, dreams…" He paused, looking into his great-grandmother's eyes. "I have to find her, Mamich. She's…"

  "I know," she said, taking his hand and wrapping her fingers around his. "She's yours. Bring her home."

  "I will," he said, knowing he would die trying to keep that promise. He just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

  * * *

  Katherine felt bruised from the bumpy road and sick to her stomach from the motion of the vehicle and the blindfold that prevented her from getting her bearings. The men had tied her hands behind her back, so she couldn't reach for the blindfold or protect herself from the jarring dips in the road.

  She knew there were two men nearby. They'd spoken in Spanish only once to each other, words that she didn't understand. But aside from throwing her into the vehicle, they hadn't touched her or hurt her.

  She had to be in the van, because there were no seats or seat belts, not that anyone would have worried about buckling her up.

  Hopefully, they were taking her to TJ, and together they could figure a way out. But it felt like they'd been on the road at least half and hour. Were they going to the ranch that Sylvia had told them about or somewhere else?

  If it was somewhere else, Jake would never find her, but she knew he would try.

  That thought was both reassuring and terrifying. She wanted Jake to rescue her and her brother, but she didn't want him in danger. There was no way one could happen without the other, unless she could find a way to escape and take TJ with her.

  She inwardly winced as her hip hit the floor hard. She prayed the trip would end soon.

  Finally, some ten minutes later, the road became smoother. The vehicle stopped. A rush of cold air came into the van.

  One of the men got her to her feet and walked her forward. Then he lifted her up and set her on the ground. Another man grabbed her arm and pulled her along what felt like a dirt path.

  They walked for longer than she would have thought, at least a few minutes. Then they stopped.

  A door opened, and she was shoved inside a room. The light behind her bag brightened.

  "No," a man said, his voice deep and tortured. "Oh, God, Katherine."

  Her eyes filled with tears. "TJ?" she asked. "Let me see him. Let me see my brother," she yelled.

  The bag was ripped from her head. She blinked against the suddenly bright light.

  It took her a moment to figure out where she was. She appeared to be in some sort of computer lab. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but it wasn't this. She'd thought she'd end up in a barn at a ranch, but this looked like a high-tech lab.

  Her brother stood in front of three computer screens. He was being held in place by the two beefy males who'd grabbed her. His face was bruised, his shirt ripped. He'd fought to get away, and they'd hurt him. She reminded herself that he was still alive and that was what mattered most.

  She turned her head to the left and saw another man, one she didn’t recognize. He was dressed differently than the others, wearing gray slacks and a buttoned-down light plaid shirt. His hair was styled. There was a heavy gold ring on his hand, and he stood tall and proud. Was this Rodrigo? El Diablo? He wasn't dressed like the devil, but there was an evil smile lurking in his eyes. He was enjoying their fear, their discomfort.

  "Welcome," he said. "A beautiful unexpected guest."

  "Where am I? Why are you holding my brother? Why did you kidnap me?"

  "Ah, so many questions. You're here because you wanted to be. Did you not try to catch up with your brother earlier today?"

  So they had seen her chasing the van.

  "Why did you take him?" she asked, ignoring his question.

  "Because he is needed."

  She looked at TJ. "What's going on?"

  "I don't know," he mumbled.

  He was lying. Was it because he didn't want to speak the truth in front of his captors? She had to believe that was the reason. "What is he needed to do?" she asked the man in charge.

  "Your brother has information and skills that others do not have. He has a job to do, but he has been reluctant to do it. Perhaps now that you are here, he will change his mind."

  "Let her go," TJ said. "She's not part of this."

  "She is now. It's up to you. If you want your sister to leave in the same condition she arrived in, then you will do as we ask. You have two hours to show me progress. If not, your sister will spend some time alone…with my men."

  Katherine's heart thudded against her chest, and she saw TJ turn white at the threat.

  "Two hours," the man repeated. He looked at Katherine. "It would be a pity to scar such a face, but I do not play games, and I am weary of this one your brother is playing. If you want him to live, you will offer your encouragement."

  He motioned to one of the guards to untie her hands. Then the three of them left the room.

  As soon as the door closed, Katherine rushed toward her brother. She threw her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. "Are you all right?" She stepped away to take a better look at his bruises. "They've hurt you."

  "I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about. What the hell are you doing here? I told you to take care of Mom, not to come running after me."

  "I couldn't stay away. You sounded terrified and desperate. I had to try to help you."

  He shook his head, a somber expression on his face. "They're going to kill both of us, Katherine."

  "What do they want you to do? Why are you here?"

  "They brought me here to fix the algorithm behind the weapons system that Jerry Caldwell sold them. He used to work at MDT. I thought he was selling secrets, but he was selling actual weapons."

  "I've heard about him. I talked to Jake's sister, Alicia, before I came here."

  TJ ran a hand through his hair. "Alicia knows, too? I told you not to talk to anyone."

  "I had to try to find out what you were involved in. You were so cryptic on the phone. You should have given me more information."

  "I was still putting it together in my head."

  "So what have you figured out?"

  "I was set up by a woman in the company—Jasmine Portillo. I thought she liked me. Stupid."

  "Jasmine?" she echoed in surprise. "I met her. I stopped at Mom's house before I came down here, and she was there. She said she was your girlfriend, and she was worried about you."

  "She was at Mom's house?" he asked with alarm. "Damn."

  "What? Tell me how she set you up."

  "She came on to me. She flirted. It was nice. It had been a while. I didn't realize that she had a more important reason to get close to me. She was part of Jerry's operation. She'd been told there was a problem with the weapons, and that they needed an engineer to fix them; otherwise, they're unusable."

  "And you're the only one who can do that?"

  "One of a few. I realize now I was stupid when it came to her. She was interested in me, and she'd had a relative with dementia so she knew what I was going through. She told me that she knew of some freelance work I could do that would help cover Mom's expenses."

  "Oh, TJ," she said with a frown. "You should have told me that you were getting round-the-clock care."

  "I knew you were close to finishing. I was trying to keep things afloat until then. But as tempted as I was to make some extra cash, I told Jasmine no. I had a bad vibe. In fact, I started to wonder if someone else had picked up where Jerry had left off. I dug around a little, but the next thing I knew, Jasmine had put me on a list to go to a conference
in Cancun. She said she was going, that we could have some fun on the side, and I thought why not? But when I got to Cancun, she wasn't there. And the conference people didn't seem to understand why I was there. I got the feeling someone was following me around. I called Jasmine, but she never called me back. I contacted one of my other coworkers, and he said he'd seen Jasmine in my office, trying to get on my computer. That's when I knew something was really wrong."

  "What did you do next?"

  "I checked out of the hotel. I took a taxi to the airport, and a truck rammed the side of the cab. Two men got out. I instinctively knew that it hadn't been an accident. I managed to get away and hide in the city. I was trying to figure out how I could leave the country, but there was no way I could just get on a plane. They weren't going to let that happen."

  "So you went inland?"

  "I remembered all of Jake's stories and I asked at the library if anyone new where the village was. A woman gave me directions. It was farther than I thought, but I thought I'd done a good job of hiding until earlier today when that van came out of nowhere."

  "I saw them take you, TJ. I had been at the inn—in your room. I looked out the window and I couldn't believe you were walking down the street. But when I got outside, those men were throwing you into the van."

  "And you ran after us."

  "It was stupid. I wasn't thinking."

  "I should have never called you. I was worried about Mom. I needed you to know I might not make it back. I'm sorry I got you into this."

  "It's not your fault. We just have to figure a way out of here."

  "There's no way out. There's at least one guard on the door."

  "What about those windows?" she asked, thinking they could reach the windows near the ceiling if they climbed on the tables. "We must be in the basement."

  "That's what I figured. We could break the window and try to get out, but I suspect we'd be caught before then. They're obviously not that worried about us escaping since they untied you and left us alone together."

  "Jake's great-grandmother thinks that we're at a ranch run by Rodrigo Calderon, the leader of a drug cartel."

  "He said that was his name, the guy in the nice clothes," TJ said.

  "Have you seen any other people besides the three who were just here?"

  "Several in the barn where they have the weapons." He paused. "They're going to kill both of us as soon as I fix their problem."

  "That's why you can't fix it."

  "I wasn't going to, but I can't let them hurt you, Katherine," he said, pain and worry in his eyes.

  She didn't want them to hurt her, either, but she knew their odds of survival were low either way, and she couldn't let herself drown in the fear of what might happen to her. "How long would it take you to do what they want?"

  "Probably about a half hour. I have an idea what might be wrong."

  "Is there a way to make them believe you've fixed the problem but actually haven't?"

  He nodded. "That's what I was thinking. The program will look like it's working until it doesn't."

  "What exactly are they trying to get to work?"

  "It's called a railgun—an electrically powered electromagnetic projectile launcher."

  "Okay. That sounds advanced."

  "A railgun relies on electromagnetic forces to achieve a high kinetic energy. It can deliver destructive force with the absence of explosives and has a range that far exceeds conventional weaponry."

  "Sounds like Rodrigo wants to control all of Mexico."

  "I think his ambitions might be even bigger than that," TJ said.

  "So someone at MDT sold him this gun?"

  "He has two smaller versions of the gun. I have no idea how he could get the weapons without the company noticing that they were missing. There has to be high-level company involvement."

  She had to agree. The technology TJ was talking about was extremely advanced. The security on it would be high, so how had a Mexican drug lord gotten his hands on the weapons?

  "I can't believe you came here, Katherine. This past year I've barely seen you."

  "I know. I've had my head down. I thought if I looked up for too long, I'd never make it to the end. But I let you down. I let you carry the burden of Mom's illness. If—when—we get out of here, that's going to change."

  "If something happens to both of us, who will take care of her?" he muttered, despair in his eyes.

  "Don't give up. We still have one secret weapon."

  "We do? What's that?"

  "Jake."

  "Jake Monroe?" TJ asked in surprise.

  She nodded. "He flew me down here. You told me not to get on a commercial plane, so I went to his charter company and asked him to take me to where his great-grandmother lives. I had figured out that's where you were going. It took us longer to get here than I imagined. I won't go into all the details, but Jake and I were going to try to rescue you tonight, but I left his great-grandmother's house to get some air, and Rodrigo's men grabbed me. I know Jake will come on his own."

  "And do what?"

  "I'm not sure, but I think it will involve fire. We need to be ready for anything."

  TJ looked at her like she was crazy. "You think Jake can break us out of here on his own?"

  "There's no one else to help, TJ. Rodrigo's cartel owns this part of Mexico. No one will go against him."

  He suddenly smiled.

  "What?" she asked, surprised by the change in his expression.

  "You still think Jake is some kind of superhero."

  "No, I don't."

  "Yes, you do." He tilted his head. "I thought the two of you hated each other."

  "It was more of a matter of him hating me. I let him down when he was hurting after his dad died. I thought he was bad for me. I saved myself, instead of trying to save him. I've been really selfish, TJ."

  "I don't think that's true. You can get tunnel vision, but you have a big heart. You care about people. I think that's why you ran. You got scared. He meant too much to you."

  "Maybe he did."

  "What does he mean to you now?"

  "I'll let you know after he rescues us."

  He smiled. "I hope he can do it."

  "He can."

  "Then we better be ready. I'm going to rewrite the code. I just hope Jake hurries, because I don't think time is on our side."

  * * *

  Jake carried the heavy crate of iron rods up a thirty-foot incline and down a steep rocky hillside just behind the Calderon ranch. The sun had slipped behind the mountains ten minutes earlier, providing him with the welcome shadows of dusk.

  Setting down the crate, he picked up his binoculars to get a better view of the property. He was directly behind the two-story house. A large stable was to the right and west of the house. Another smaller shed was beyond that. There were lights blazing on the first floor of the house, but the second story was dark. He could also see some light coming from what appeared to be windows along the bottom of the structure, implying some sort of a basement.

  Away from the house, he could see lights in the stable area, and a few men standing in the doorway carrying automatic weapons.

  Another sweep of the property revealed a helicopter sitting on a helipad about a hundred yards away. No doubt that was how Rodrigo got in and out of the remote location quickly. Maybe he could use the chopper to get them off the mountain, although he hadn't flown a helicopter in a very long time.

  He watched the property for several long minutes, wanting to see if anything changed, if he could figure out where TJ and Katherine might be held.

  A man stood guard on the porch of the house, his stance and attitude more serious than the others who were walking around the stable area. That led Jake to believe that Katherine and TJ might be in the house.

  He kept a silent vigil for another ten minutes. He wanted the night to get darker before he put his plan into action.

  A sudden breeze brought his head up. Clouds were blowing past the moon, blocking out
the light.

  A shiver ran down his spine at the sight. Mamich had told him that she would call the lightning. He didn't believe she could actually do that. But there did appear to be a storm brewing. Of course, there had been storms the past few days that had had nothing to do with his great-grandmother. At least, he didn't think they had.

  He set his binoculars on the ground and pulled the rods out of the crate. As instructed he set them up about a dozen feet apart, although it seemed to him that the tall surrounding trees would provide more attractive targets than the rods. But he wasn't going to question it.

  When that was done, he took another look at the ranch. Nothing had changed.

  He needed to make a move. He didn’t know how long Katherine had, but his gut told him that the more hours that passed, the less chance he had of getting her out alive.

  A distant light streaked across the sky, followed a moment later by the rumble of thunder.

  Shit! Maybe Mamich was going to bring the lightning.

  A minute later, another jagged streak, closer this time.

  The thunder grew louder.

  But there was no rain. It was a dry electrical storm—perfect for what he needed.

  He waited another minute, then pulled out the box of long matches.

  Fear ran through him along with a mighty rush of adrenaline. He might only have one chance. He had to get this right.

  "Watch the sky," his great-grandmother had told him.

  He looked up and saw the flutter of birds flying away from the area.

  Just like she'd said. His stomach clenched. He touched the medallion around his neck for luck.

  "It's time," he muttered aloud.

  The next lightning flashed so close it lit up the hillside. For a moment, he thought he might be seen by those at the ranch, but then he was distracted by the image in front of him. It was his father again. He seemed so real that Jake's breath caught in his chest.

  His dad held up a medallion, much like the one he wore around his neck. He said something like "Get it back for me" and then he was gone. The hillside was dark once again.

  Jake looked back toward the house, seeing shadowy figures looking up at the sky.