Agent Noon had a digitized map up on one of the big screens. Using a special pen on the tabletop computer in front of him, he drew lines on the map that appeared simultaneously on the big screen on the wall.
“As we speak, the choppers are taking off to form a triangle and begin working this entire area in rotating pieces. Strict military sectioning. Once they’ve canvassed the entire area, if unsuccessful, they will repeat until we find something.
“It’s all low altitude searches, with two spotters per bird. If a deer farts down there, we’ll know it.”
I glanced sideways at Amanda. She seemed all ears.
“I’ve got sixty agents divided into teams of a dozen. One tracker per team. That’s five teams, forming a skirmish line and beginning at the southern end of the Coeur d’Alene boundary.
“We’ll be working these woods, mountains, dells, valleys, riverbeds, and every other square inch of this godforsaken wilderness from dawn until dusk. We’re going to find those little girls.”
“Don’t say that to the parents,” Jax said. “Or the media. Don’t you ever tell them we are going to find them. You tell them you’re doing everything you can. That’s it.”
“Easy, Chief. Just an expression. I know how to handle the press.”
“And the families.”
“What?”
“I said, ‘and the families’.”
“Right, yes, the families as well.”
“Where do we fit in all this,” Jax asked.
“You?”
“My department. My brother. Agent Byrne. Do you need a digitized map, Agent?”
“Tanner. I told you all to call me Tanner.”
“Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Do you need a map, Noon? What do you need us doing?”
“I don’t need you doing anything,” Noon said. “What I am directing you to do is remain in town—at the precinct, at the local donut shop, I don’t really give a shit, Chief. Just stay out of the way. Your brother is away from home, and I’m not exactly sure what Agent Byrne is doing up here. As a matter of fact, Amanda, you are more than welcome to assist us up here, in an official capacity, I mean.”
“I’d like that,” she said. “I need to go to town, get my gun, etcetera. Back later in the afternoon?”
“Perfect,” Noon said, and looked at us collectively. “Thank you for taking the time, gentlemen. Please excuse me.”
~ ~ ~
The three of us rode back to the Rocky Gap precinct in silence. I knew why Amanda had agreed to Noon’s offer, or at least I thought I did. I admit I’m not much good handling the green-eyed beast of jealousy. Particularly when the perceived threat comes from one as politically-motivated as Agent Tanner Noon. I had to admit, his plans were flawless and well-conceived. Other than his minor commentary before we left—one that was certainly brought about by my own brother’s callused words—I had no procedural issue with the man.
Which is why I could not stop wondering how a cocksure agent like Noon somehow got himself assigned to the smallest outpost south of the Arctic Circle.
“Are you going to talk to me,” Amanda whispered in my brother’s office while he was out filling his coffee mug.
“Sorry,” I said. “This whole FBI/Noon thing has me a bit perplexed.”
“He’s a good agent,” she said. “But you know why I agreed to go back up there.”
“I do.”
“Then what’s the problem, kind sir?”
“Nothing. He’s a little too sure of himself, that’s it.”
“Everything seemed by the book. And Jax…”
“Jax got what he had coming. I have no truck with that.”
“Good. Say goodbye to your brother for me. I need to get back to the command post. Hopefully we’ll have some good things to talk about tonight.”
“You realize you’re going to be sworn to secrecy the moment you arrive?”
“Yet you have all the keys to my vault.”
When the lady was right, she was right.
~ ~ ~
“Where’s Amanda?” Jax said as he walked back in. “Returned to the fold?”
“Easy.”
“Ah, hell, I knew damn well it was going to shake out like this. I only wanted to get in my parting shots. Can’t exactly punch the guy, now can I?”
“No, probably not,” I said, grinning a little.
It was the first time my brother had made me smile since we were kids. It felt good. Like old times.
“I want to lay out a theory I came up with last night.”
“I take it this has nothing to do with a donut shop?”
“Nothing says we can’t keep following up on leads, right?”
“Give it to me.”
“Annir basically told us where to look, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would he do that? I mean, assuming he didn’t want to be found.”
“His confidence could be as strong as he implied,” I said.
“Maybe. But still, why give yourself away?”
“Look,” I said. “These bad guys in Denver. That was their style. ‘Fuck you. Come and get us’ kind of mentality.”
“Okay. But that was them.”
“True enough. What are you thinking?”
“I’ve been thinking of the exact opposite of where we’re all looking right now.”
“Okay.”
“The search is on in the middle of nowhere.”
“Yep.”
“Maybe the victims are here. In town. Closer than we could imagine.”
“It’s not a bad theory,” I said. “I like it.”
“And it gives us something to do while Wyatt Earp is busy blowing holes in the O.K. corral.”
“I’m with you.”
It made sense. And he was right about it giving us something to do. Not only was Noon looking for a gunfight up in the forest, I figured he also had designs on my woman. More than anything I needed something to occupy the brain.
~ ~ ~
We couldn’t exactly go door to door. So Jax wanted to start in the least likely places first.
“Jennings or Porter residence,” he asked.
“What about the Grants?”
“Less obvious than the Coeur d’Alene, more obvious than homes with parents still living in them.”
“Flip a coin,” I said.
“Nah, my gut says the Porter residence.”
No destination is far in Rocky Gap. We were at the Porter’s doorstep in less than five minutes. Jax rang the bell. No answer. He rang it again. Two vehicles were parked in the driveway, but still no answer.
He motioned to the side of the house and we walked around to the rear. No sounds, no movement. Nothing. There was a dog crate and a leash lying on the deck, but no barking.
I motioned to the canine paraphernalia and pointed to my ears. People could stay quiet. Dogs, not so much. We both drew our weapons. Jax motioned to me to circle the deck and come from the other side. He waited until I was in place and then we both climbed the stairs closest to the house, keeping our profiles small against the wood siding.
Before we could reach the sliding door, the back wall exploded. Glass, wood, wire, and insulation blew outward in a cloud and a handful of gnarled, blackish shapes, each twice our size, flew past us, running for the far end of the yard. We both leveled our pistols but were too late. The beasts were far too fast and had scaled the back fence and disappeared in less than a second or two.
“Jesus Christ,” Jax breathed. Debris lay all about the grass and there was a jagged hole encompassing more than a third of the back of the house. “What the hell?”
I motioned to the house. There was a small whine coming from within. Deep within. We put our weapons back to the ready and slowly moved to the gaping tear in the Porter’s home. After clearing the entrance, and the first two rooms we entered, Jax pointed to the basement stairs. The whimpering was clearly coming from down below.
I pointed to the re
st of the house. We needed to make sure the first level was clear. Jax nodded and we made a quick sweep of the upstairs.
As we descended the stairs to the underground, I could now tell the sounds were coming from the dog. The unfinished basement was a mess. The things we’d seen had obviously been living down here. A Golden Retriever was lying in the corner, bleeding. It looked like the beasts had been playing with it, as the cat might play with the outmatched rodent rather than delivering a quick death.
“Sorry, girl,” I said, scratching her ears. It didn’t do any good. She was nonresponsive. The poor dog was well beyond anything being done to save her and was clearly in a massive amount of anguish. I knew what had to be done, but I could not bring myself to do it. Images of Tina and Sketch occupied my head. I knew I owed it to them, and to the animal at my feet, to relieve her suffering; it was my limitation, not hers. They do not ask much of us for their unequaled love and loyalty, but this one thing. And I was failing this poor dog.
Jax could see the indecision playing out on my face. He pointed to the mess strewn across the basement and told me to check the room for any signs of the victims having been here. When I turned to begin the search, he fired.
~ ~ ~
There were no signs of the girls, the Porters, or any other humans. I say humans; Jax was still not convinced we’d seen anything but several large brutes running for freedom.
“Squatters?” he said.
“Not a chance. Did you see the dog?”
“Sadistic squatters, then.”
“And the Porters?”
“No answer for that one, I’m afraid,” Jax said.
“I have one.”
“See, I was afraid you were going to say that.”
“You never really told me how much you heard about what went down in Denver.”
“That’s because I lied about how I heard about it.”
“Do tell,” I said.
“I dreamed it.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m not sure exactly whether it was before, after, or during what happened to you down there. But I dreamed it. Like the way twins talk about living events of the other, from a thousand miles away? That was me. Ask me anything.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself,” I said.
“Can’t explain that, either. But I know. Ask me.”
“Calypso?”
“I saw him warn you away on that rooftop. Threatening to throw Cole off the building.”
“Jesus.”
“And Greer…”
“Shit.”
“I know you had no choice. I know how much it killed you.”
“Then what is all this crap about squatters?”
“Wishful thinking?”
The second smile in the same day.
“Those things,” he said to me. “The Porters and the Jennings?”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“This makes no sense,” he said.
“I promise you, there is some reason for it.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Did the stories about the girls’ abductions play funny for you?”
“Thoroughness of the disappearing act?”
“Exactly.”
“So you’re thinking the parents were in on it?”
“I’m thinking the parents weren’t the parents. Not for a long time, even.”
“So Annir got to them?”
“He got to Spence Grant…”
“We need to talk to him again.”
~ ~ ~
Amanda remembered more about Agent Tanner Noon than she let on. In fact, she remembered each of his terribly sleazy advances at Quantico, and she’d also followed his unimpressive career within the Bureau. Noon could not be trusted. The last thing she wanted to do, however, was worry Mac. He was hip deep with his brother, and then there was the baby.
Amanda was a woman—nay, an agent—who could handle herself. So she played it up a little with Noon. Mac had a good head on his shoulders; he knew she was up to something, and a bit of jealousy could be a healthy thing.
“I’m glad you decided to come work with the pros,” Noon said as they walked from Command One to the chow hut.
“I can only take local law enforcement for so long,” she said. “I mean, Jax is a decent cop…it’s just that there is only so much a local cop can get accomplished.”
“Let it go, is what I always tell them.”
“Yep. Gotta know when to fold the hand, sir.”
“Tanner.”
“Sure. Tanner. So what are the choppers seeing…anything?”
“Not so far. It’s early, though. They need to familiarize with the terrain, the best hiding places. What’s the story with you and Macaulay?”
“Bobby, you mean.”
“Yeah, him. Tough guy, right?”
“He’s a guy that can hold his own.”
“How much of yours is he holding?”
God, the man made her skin go clammy and her stomach feel like a swarm of eels were swimming around inside her.
“See, Tanner. There you go with that charm that got you so far at the Academy.”
“So you do remember me.”
“I remember you hitting on me. I would have thought your tact improved with age.”
“I’m still commanding officer here, you know.”
“Can’t have it both ways, slugger. It’s Tanner or it’s sir. I’m not going to play games. You respect me, I respect you. But if you’re going to get off poking holes in a good guy like Mac, you can take ‘Tanner’ and shove it up your ass.”
Nice. Well played, she thought sardonically.
“Whoa there, lady. Mea culpa, mea culpa. Didn’t intend to ruffle feathers. Tanner will do.”
What a spineless douche, Byrne thought. But it worked.
“Fine. Mac and I have worked together. And we see each other sometimes. Nothing exclusive.”
“See,” Noon said. “We can play nice.”
“Fair enough,” Byrne said.
Keep your fucking enemies close, is what she thought.
-CHAPTER ELEVEN-
JAX CONDUCTED the second interview with Spence Grant. We both agreed that my presence would be a bad idea. Plus, if the County Attorney were to hear about me being allowed in the same room with the suspect again—well, that would be too much like building a fire next to a keg of black powder.
I stayed behind the one-way glass.
“We just got back from the Porter house,” Jax said to Spence Grant.
“How are they? The Porters, I mean.”
“Why would you think I meant anyone else?”
“No reason.”
“I’d say the Porters have seen better times.”
“Losing a daughter will do that to you.”
“It goes beyond losing a daughter, what we saw.”
“Have you heard the line ‘each of us, a monster within’?” Spence said.
“I haven’t.”
“I think it was Dostoevsky. Or Merv Griffin.”
“You have any ideas about what was happening over at the Porter house, Spence?”
“I have a few.”
“I’d like to hear them.”
“Bring your brother in here and I’ll tell you.”
“Not a great idea,” Jax said. “You of all people should see that.”
“I talk to the two of you or no one at all.”
Jax came out and stood in front of me. I’d been listening to the whole exchange. He had an expression that said this is a really, really bad idea.
“I can be cool,” I said.
“You need to be better than cool. Like ice water. Even cooler.”
“Get under my skin twice, shame on me.”
“Let’s figure out what this turd knows.”
“Detective Macaulay,” Spence Grant said happily when we walked in, as if he’d known me all his life and had missed me terribly.
“Mr. Grant,” I said.
“Come on,
Mac…Spence. We can’t talk if we aren’t friends, am I right?”
“Spence, then.”
“You all had quite an experience at the Porter house.”
“What do you know about it,” Jax asked.
“I know some. More than I want, as much as I need.”
“We’d like to know about the Porters,” I said. “When they were lost.”
“One person’s loss is another’s gain,” Spence said. He seemed fairly impressed with himself, and I realized the initial familiarity I had felt when we first met was gone. This guy was a horse’s ass.
“When did Rule get to the Porters?” I said.
“It wasn’t anyone named ‘Rule’. It was Annir. Annir got to them. And to the Jennings.”
“When?”
“Over a year ago.”
“What?” Jax said.
“The parents of those girls have been gone for over a year,” Spence said.
“Impossible,” Jax said.
“Oh, it’s possible. You’d be surprised at the makeup of your quiet little town here…not nearly as quiet as it used to be. Or more quiet. Depending on your perspective.”
“This is crazy,” Jax said.
“What’s going on?” I said. “What’s the end game?”
“End game…I like that,” Spence said, his eyes twinkling. “Did you read Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, Mac?”
“No. Can’t say I did.”
“One of the all-time great Sci-Fi epics,” he said. “Not unlike now, mankind is facing extinction at the hands of superior beings.”
“Is that what’s happening?” I said. “Do you believe we’re facing extinction?”
“You’re missing the point. These humans put their faith in the children.”
“Children?”
“They’re our future. They’ve always been our future. For better, for worse. Good or evil. You can’t have a future without them. Without them, the future is LOST.”
~ ~ ~
Spence Grant had little else to say. He was only giving up as much as required. Unfortunately, his allegiance was still clearly drawn.
Jax went home to be with his family and I went back to the hotel to attempt sleep. I desperately needed some rest. I immediately fell into a coma-like sleep, expelling all the stress of the past few days in one glorious release. It was in this deep sleep that Greer appeared to me, in all her splendor.
R.S. Guthrie - Detective Bobby Mac 02 - L O S T Page 7
