The Warning

by Saul, Jonas

  As slow as she could without disturbing the water, yet as fast as luck would allow, Sarah eased up out of the water and took a quiet, deep breath.

  She stayed low so as not to drip too much or make splashing noises.

  Chance favors the prepared mind, she thought as the guy started to back up toward the pool. If he only knew who was right behind him.

  He stood two feet in front of her.

  She took two deep breaths and then held the last one. As fast as she could, Sarah brought the belt up and around the guy’s throat and yanked back with everything she had.

  Being that she was in water, her feet slipped when she was in full-throttle reverse. It caused her to fall back into the pool. While gravity claimed her and water surrounded her again, she refused to let up on the belt. The guy came with her. Normally his weight would knock the wind out of her, but the water covered that for her. He was almost weightless on top of her.

  He was also surprised. She knew he didn’t get a chance to breathe first. His airways were cut off before he hit the pool water. As they went under, both his hands were on the belt, trying frantically to release its grip, but to no avail.

  Sarah pulled harder, lying on the bottom of the pool, hoping he would stop struggling and die before she needed to breathe.

  His struggle was weakened by the water, which she was thankful for. After what felt like a couple of minutes but was probably under a minute, he slowed and then stopped.

  To make sure he wasn’t bluffing, she dug in and yanked with everything she had on the belt one more time. He remained like dead weight on top of her. Convinced he was gone and with her lungs ready to burst, she had to get air. His body eased off to the side and then she stood out of the water to breathe.

  A quick glance around and then back at the dead guy confirmed that he was in fact dead now and his partner was still in the vehicle out front.

  The edge of the pool had to be straddled to get out. Even though it was around midday, the sun high and the day warm, she shivered when the air grabbed what heat was in her.

  The noise of the fire crackling was louder than she thought it would be. Or maybe because all she heard under water had been her pulse, it just seemed louder.

  Not three feet from the pool lay a gun. The dead guy must have had it in his hand when she grabbed him. In his utter surprise at being jumped he must have dropped the gun, its purpose forgotten in the struggle for his life.

  She reached down and picked it up. A Sig Sauer P226. A nice weapon used by some police departments and military. What were these guys doing with such serious weapons? Who were these guys?

  Sarah popped the magazine release. Two bullets were missing out of a full clip. She popped it back in and released the safety.

  Watching the side of the house that led to the front driveway, she examined the area until she found what she was looking for; a rock just a bit bigger than a softball sat in a tuft of grass. Sarah grabbed it and ran as close to the house as she could, being mindful to watch for pieces of debris that may be falling. She could tell this side of the house was upwind as the smoke rose away from her.

  At the corner she took extra care to go slow. With one eye she came around until the SUV was in view. The driver sat behind the wheel. He was looking down, examining something on the passenger seat.

  Sarah stepped back, hauled her throwing arm behind her and threw the rock as hard as she could at the SUV. Then she turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

  She ran fast, clearing the back and running around the pool in seconds. On the far side of the house she held her breath and ran through the smoke, coming out on the other side of it, her eyes watering profusely. Having almost completely circled the house, she slowed as the SUV was about to come into view again.

  Her plan was to have the driver give chase or at least come to investigate who had thrown a rock at him. Sometimes the simple plans work the best as this one just did. The SUV’s front door sat open, the driver missing. She hustled out from cover and jogged along the front of the burning house. She got to the corner where she had originally thrown the rock and turned it with the hopes of coming in behind the driver. The Sig was raised and ready to fire but no one was there.

  If the driver had looked in the pool he would see his dead partner and know that he was in danger too. Had the tables turned? She’d wanted to lure the driver out and come up behind him, but now she had no idea where he was and she was running out of time. With the amount of smoke the house was emitting, someone was bound to see it and call the fire department. How could she explain herself if that happened? She had to locate the driver, execute or incapacitate him and leave; otherwise she’d never find the compound and lose the only people she cared about.

  A shiver caused her to shake violently for a second. Running with wet clothes was colder than standing still in the sun like she was now.

  She had to think. To get around the house as fast as she did, the driver wouldn’t have walked from the SUV and been lost to sight without her seeing him. Unless one of two things happened: either he ran to the back and she just missed him, or he was still at the SUV, in which case he would’ve seen her as she trotted along the front of the house.

  Something loud crashed behind her as the fire continued its assault on the building. Impulsively she stepped away from the wall. She looked left and right, watching each side in case the driver walked out.

  Think, dammit, think. The driver’s side door was open. No sign of the driver. Normally people close their door when getting out of a vehicle. Even if they’re coming right back.

  The open door was meant as an invitation. The driver either knew the rock thrower was Sarah or suspected it was, because why would his partner throw a rock at him? Stupid, stupid move. It had been meant to draw him out and it failed miserably.

  Then why didn’t he just shoot her when she ran along the front of the house?

  Because he wanted a sure shot. One that was closer. As soon as she figured out he was gone she would move on the open door of an empty SUV. That would be her mistake. Then he would pounce.

  So now what?

  She was running out of time. The house was collapsing and using it for cover was going to prove difficult within minutes.

  She could start walking up to the vehicle and begin firing as soon as she spotted him. Whoever gets off the better shot wins. Too risky. There had to be a better way.

  But what?

  Without wasting any more time ruminating on it, Sarah screamed as loud as she could. This being her last gambit, she gave everything to it. Yelling out her frustration at all that had happened recently became liberating. She screamed for the anger in her to rise, to be goaded into a fight. Before long the scream took on a life of its own, shouting out a wicked chorus of violence that brought goose bumps to her arms. Then, with a sudden stop, she fired two bullets into the air a second apart.

  Would her ruse work? Would the driver think his partner had silenced a young kidnapped girl? Would he come out of hiding?

  She waited, gun ready. After a slow, agonizing count to ten, she stepped from the corner of the house into the open and held the weapon out in front of her.

  The driver stood ten feet away.

  She stared at him. He stared back. Fire licked the wall where Sarah had been. The house beside them burned to the ground as they waited to see who would move first.

  Her eyes stayed still and true. They remained locked on his as his were on hers. Peripheral vision caught the movement as his right thumb caressed the back of his gun. That meant he had cocked the hammer, readying his weapon.

  But Sarah knew she had won because hers was aimed at his throat while his sat at the end of a dangling arm. The delay wasn’t about bravado or tension. She just wanted to make sure she wouldn’t miss with one shot.

  Then she squeezed the trigger.

  The Sig she held spit in her hand and a red dot formed on the driver’s throat at the base of his neck, dead center.

  In rea
ction to the noise, at the exact second her weapon fired, his gun hand started to rise, but stopped halfway up as he felt the punch in the center of his neck.

  Both hands covered the wound now. Blood seeped past his fingers as his life ebbed out in a liquid torrent.

  He fell to his knees.

  Sarah wasted no time. She strutted past him, only slowing to grab his gun, and continued on to the SUV.

  When she hopped into the driver’s seat, the keys were still there.

  In seconds she had the vehicle turned around and was racing down the road the way she’d seen the other SUV go earlier, en-route to more than she bargained for.

  Chapter 32

  An hour out of town and Parkman was already regretting how he’d handled Jill Hanover. He had no leads, and no idea where to start. He couldn’t even be sure if he’d taken the right highway out of town or not. There were at least four highways that allowed exit from the city, but had he chosen the right one?

  The mall where the Roberts’ exchange took place was two miles from Route 9, and that led into a more flat land area. Without over-thinking it, Parkman had just assumed this was the way the others would have traveled. He couldn’t see the perps taking an extra hour driving through the city to get to the other side where an exchange would take place at a mall. The risk of being seen or pulled over was too great and the trip too time consuming.

  Without a solid lead - or even a brittle one - he could drive this road for days and find nothing. He needed something and Jill was his lifeline whether he liked it or not. They were on the same side and he didn’t want to lose his career over this.

  He dialed Jill’s number and waited while it rang on the hands-free.

  “Jill Hanover.”

  “Jill, its Parkman.”

  “Where are you?”

  “About an hour out of town.”

  “What are you doing out there? Is it something the Roberts told you? Because they’re not speaking to us. The father continues to say that he can’t trust us to help his daughter.”

  All business. Her tone said she still wanted to work with him. There was no element of anger or consequences to be dealt with for his actions. Just a, let’s get back on track, kind of attitude. He respected that but he wanted to respond in a way so she would be clear where he stood so they would remain on the same page from here on out.

  “Jill, I’m not a rogue cop. I don’t think I can, nor do I want to, do it on my own. You have to understand: when Sam traded himself for the Roberts, in my opinion, that was heroic. You guys didn’t know what was going on. The same thing happened four years ago. Sam was trailing Sarah’s kidnapper and you guys didn’t know. Listen Jill, Sam is a friend. I admire his decision and would not have tried to talk him out of it, but we should’ve known. Someone should have known.”

  He stopped and waited. She didn’t hold him accountable for his behavior but without realizing it he had implied she was to blame for everything involving this case and the one she bungled four years ago. Although he meant every word he didn’t mean for it to come across like it was Jill’s fault.

  A truck stop came up on the right. He put on his blinker and pulled in as Jill responded. A man needed his toothpicks to stay calm. Maybe they’d have flavored ones.

  “Parkman, look, give us a little credit here. Four years ago Sam was ordered off the case. He was told to relinquish everything he had to us and to leave it alone. He didn’t. If he had, maybe we would’ve been the ones trailing the suspects and not Sam. The only reason he wasn’t charged for obstruction of justice was because of how long he spent in hospital and almost dying to save Sarah’s life.”

  She paused. He could hear her pulling the phone away from her ear to address someone and order something checked.

  “Sorry about that,” Jill said referring to the intrusion. “With Sam, he always did things on his own. This trade he did today was another Lone Ranger stunt. How can I work with him or even protect him when he does that kind of thing? All I can do is rely on people like you who know him and Sarah. You can help, Parkman. Don’t alienate us. I’ve got nothing to go on. Right now, I need you.”

  He sat in his unmarked cruiser and watched the traffic on the small two-lane highway. She was right. They could work better together.

  “Okay, let’s do this, but I’m in until everything is over. When Sarah is home and all the bad guys are dead or in jail, then we part ways. Deal?”

  “Deal,” Jill said without hesitation.

  “The Roberts described the ride out to where they were held as at least an hour without any sharp turns. This led me to believe that they were being held outside of the city. I jumped on the closest highway, Route 9, and here I am, mindlessly driving around looking for what, I don’t know.”

  “Okay, let me call the local cops and see if there’s been any disturbances or if anything unusual has come up in the last twenty-four hours. If we have Sam and Sarah out there somewhere, I’m sure they’re going to fight their way out of this. I’ll call you back as soon as I have something.”

  “Okay Jill, and thanks. We’re both on the same side you know.”

  “I know Parkman, I know.”

  She finished her last word with the click of a dead line.

  Parkman got out and entered the truck stop.

  They didn’t have flavored toothpicks. They didn’t have any at all and he was down to his last two.

  Chapter 33

  After traveling three miles on the back road, Sarah saw a driveway that meandered away into a patch of trees. She slowed and took the turn with caution. If this gravel road led to the compound, she could be driving into gunfire. The only advantage she had was the SUV. They’d see it as one of theirs and not notice anything strange until it was too late.

  The sun had begun its descent. It came at the SUV on an angle, creating a glare on her right side. Sunglasses would have offered some relief but she hadn’t taken the time to search the vehicle nor was she about to now.

  It had been a long time since she had to kill people. To murder those two men and the shooter yesterday wasn’t something as common as eating breakfast. The only thing left now was to deal with the emotions, if any crept up on her. Overall she felt pretty good though, which scared her a little. She was afraid that - if killing left no discernible mark on her - she would have lost some humane part of herself.

  She knew how lucky she was. A bullet could have come out of the gun back in the interrogation room. Thinking about the interrogation room reminded her that it was only yesterday even if it felt like weeks ago. So much had happened.

  She was still human enough to know though that these kinds of people didn’t deserve to live. They’d have been hung for their crimes a hundred years ago. Society had gotten softer while their criminals got stronger.

  Continuing up the driveway she discovered that it was probably a road but couldn’t tell for sure which yet, as it wound deeper into the forest. Her right hand adjusted the rearview mirror so that despite leaning forward to avoid the direct glare from the sun, she could still see behind her. The stupid thing to do, after all that had happened, would be to drive right into a trap. She would not let herself be taken.

  Turning around a final bend brought her to the front yard of a house. Sarah stopped and stared at the white siding and the curtained windows. Children’s toys were scattered across the front lawn. A small homemade fort had been built beside a swinging tire near a large oak tree.

  The house did not look like that of a ripped-shirted compound member. Could that be a red herring? Would they offer up such decoys as kids toys to avert a more curious inspection?

  Sarah had to be sure. She let her foot off the brake and eased forward. The driveway led along the side of the house toward the backyard. She swiveled her head in all directions to keep watch as she drove to the back for a look. More children’s toys littered the yard, together with normal backyard things: a barbecue beside a raised deck, and lawn chairs where the owners could sit and watch the eve
ning sun go down.

  Sure now that this house had nothing to do with the compound where she had been held, Sarah did a three point turn and eased up past the house again. As she was about to accelerate by the front lawn and down the driveway, movement caught her eye. She slammed on the brakes, jolted to a halt and turned around to see what had moved. The curtains in the bay window were coming to a stop, having been rustled the moment before.

  Whoever was inside the house had taken a peek to see the vehicle that had scouted out their property. As it should be, Sarah thought.

  She moved forward again, got clear of the house and bolted for the road.

  The compound couldn’t be far. When she escaped, the walk this morning took no longer than an hour which she figured to be about five or so miles.