Fugitive at Large

by Sandra Robbins

  With all Jessica had been hearing for the past few minutes, she didn’t think anything else would surprise her. But this latest revelation did. “Wife? I didn’t know he had a wife who died.”

  “Yeah, according to the folks I talked to, she committed suicide soon after he came home from the military. Her family was rich, and he inherited all her money.”

  This story was becoming more bizarre by the moment. “How did she commit suicide?”

  “Killed herself with his shotgun while he was at church one Sunday. But one old fellow told me that things hadn’t been too good between them since he came home. She had decided to have him declared legally dead so she could marry her new boyfriend. Then he showed up alive, and she wanted a divorce. But she killed herself before she could file.” Jamie paused a minute. “I’m feeling dizzy. I think I’ll sit down.”

  He sank back down in the chair, and Jessica sat down on the floor next to him. She wrapped her hands around her knees. “This is all interesting, Jamie, but it’s gossip not evidence. We know for sure that Lee Tucker, the man who tried to kill both you and me, is connected to Senator Mitchum. What we have to do is figure out how.”

  “I don’t know about that either, Jessica. I—” He stopped talking when they heard the door open.

  Someone flipped a switch outside the door and the room flooded with light. Jessica staggered to her feet and shielded her eyes from the sudden blinding flash. She heard footsteps and squinted to see who had entered. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of Wendell Stark standing inside the door, with Lee Tucker right behind him.

  “Well, what do we have here? Two nosy people who want to meddle in things that don’t concern them.” Wendell Stark glanced at Jamie. “You should have left well enough alone, young man. And you, Miss Knight, should have passed on this bounty. It’s going to end up costing you dearly.”

  Jessica clenched her fists at her sides and glared at Wendell as he and Lee stepped into the room. “Whatever you have planned for us, you’d better reconsider. You two, along with Senator Mitchum, have made too many mistakes, starting with the murders of Cal and Susan Harvey. If you harm Jamie and me, you’re going to end up having the police and everybody at the Knight Agency on your trail. By the time they get through, all three of you will be sharing a cell in the state prison.”

  Wendell stared at her a minute and then glanced at Lee before he threw back his head and burst out laughing. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time.”

  “You’ll be laughing out of the other side of your mouth before my family gets through with you,” she ground out.

  Wendell shook his head as he struggled to quit laughing. “I don’t think so.”

  “And why not?” Jessica demanded.

  Jamie pushed to his feet and grasped her by the arm. “Jessica, there’s something else I was just getting ready to tell you.”

  She whirled and stared at Jamie. “What is it?”

  He swallowed and darted a glance at Wendell. “I was going to say that I also found out that Wendell Stark was Chip Holder’s best friend when they were kids. They grew up on adjoining farms.”

  Jessica’s mouth dropped open. “They did what?”

  “You heard him,” a voice said from the door. “Best friends since childhood, business partners for years and both determined to make it to the White House no matter who gets in our way.”

  Jessica shrank back from the sight of Chip Holder leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed and a half smile on his face. “Including Senator Mitchum?” she asked.

  Chip nodded and straightened to glare at her. “As well as you two and that nosy boyfriend of yours. None of you are going to stand in my way.”

  * * *

  Following the flashing signal on his phone app, Ryan pulled his car to a stop in a wooded area just past the deserted warehouse where the GPS indicated Jessica had been brought. He turned off the car’s headlights and checked the address the tracker displayed on his cell phone before he punched in the number for Dispatch.

  When the dispatcher answered, he identified himself by his badge number and quickly relayed all the information about where he was. “I need backup immediately,” he said.

  “They’re on their way,” the dispatcher responded. “ETA four minutes.”

  “Good. I’m going to move closer,” he said and disconnected the call.

  He crouched low as he ran from the spot where he’d parked the car and headed toward the building. As he made his way through the trees toward the building, he suddenly caught sight of movement at the back. He stopped behind a big oak and pressed himself against the trunk. Gripping his gun with both hands, he peered around the tree and spotted a man holding a gun at the rear of the building. A guard, no doubt.

  Ryan squatted and felt around on the ground until his fingers touched a stick from one of the branches. Grasping it tightly, he eased back to a standing position and threw it past the guard and into the trees beyond. The man jerked to attention when the stick struck the ground, and he whirled with his gun pointed in the direction of the sound.

  Ryan charged like a madman from his hiding place and brought his gun down on the back of the man’s head. With a slight moan, the guard crumpled to the ground. Ryan had the man’s gun stuffed in his waistband and his hands cuffed behind his back within seconds.

  He turned the guard’s head and leaned closer to see if he recognized him. The man from the restaurant. For the first time, he caught sight of the scar the hostess had told him about.

  Satisfied that the man would be disabled until the police arrived, Ryan rose to his feet and peered around the side of the building at the SUV parked near an entrance. That had to be the vehicle the homeless man had seen at the restaurant. Jessica had to be inside this abandoned warehouse.

  He was just about to move toward the entrance of the building when the headlights of a car swept across the paved parking lot. He ducked back behind the building and peered around the corner as the car came to a stop.

  A man climbed out and headed for the door. He opened it and paused to drop a lit cigarette butt to the ground before entering. That short hesitation on his part was enough time for the light from inside to shine across his features and reveal his identity to Ryan.

  Chip Holder. What was he doing here?

  Ryan waited until Chip had entered the building. Then he wrapped both hands around his gun and crept forward. He grasped the door handle and eased the door open inch by inch until he could peer inside. He could hear voices in the distance but saw no one in the large room that he thought must have once been the main work area of the warehouse.

  Careful to make no sound, he squeezed through the opening of the door and stepped inside. To his left he could see light pouring out a doorway and could hear voices coming from within. He held the gun with both hands in front of him as he flattened himself against the wall and slid toward the open door.

  When he arrived at the door, he stopped and listened. His heart raced at the sound of Jessica’s voice coming from inside. He could not, however, make out what she was saying.

  He frowned and took a step closer as another voice spoke. When he recognized it, he froze, and his hand trembled. Jamie! And he was saying something about Wendell Stark and Chip Holder being best friends since childhood.

  But the biggest surprise came when he heard Chip Holder speak as clearly as if he stood next to him. “Best friends since childhood, business partners for years and both determined to make it to the White House no matter who gets in our way.”

  Ryan recognized the determination in the voice. He’d known other men equally focused on an end, men who’d become desperate to achieve their goals. They’d let nothing stop them. And right now, his brother and Jessica were in Chip Holder and Wendell Stark’s way. Chills cascaded over his body as he fought the image of what the m
en could and would do to them.

  Ryan glanced down at his watch. Where was his backup? They should have gotten here by now.

  He returned his attention to the conversation in the room, his knees growing weak at the next words he heard Chip say. “Okay, Lee. We’ve got to get rid of these two. You and Wendell take them over to Mitchum’s headquarters and leave their bodies where they’ll be found. Wendell, did you get Mitchum’s gun?”

  “I did. We’ll use it for these two. And I put that sedative in his drink earlier. So he should be out until morning with no recollection of anything that happened tonight. No memory, and no alibi.”

  Chip laughed. “Good job. Now, get going.”

  Ryan couldn’t wait any longer. He had to act immediately. He took a deep breath and stepped into the doorway. “Hands up! You’re all under arrest.”

  Lee Tucker spun around and he pulled a gun from the sling that held his left arm against his chest. Ryan fired first, and Lee dropped to the ground. Before Ryan could reach the gun that had fallen onto the floor, Wendell Stark scooped it up and pointed it at Ryan.

  Ryan whirled to cover Wendell, but Chip’s voice called out, “Drop your gun, Spencer, unless you want to see these two die.”

  Ryan jerked his gaze back to Chip and nearly groaned in dismay to see him standing behind Jessica and Jamie with a gun in his hand. He pointed it first at Jessica’s head and then Jamie’s.

  “Which one will I shoot first?” he said. “But I don’t guess it really matters because I intend to kill both of them before we leave here.”

  Ryan clutched his gun tighter and glared at Chip. “Give it up, Holder. The police are on their way. You can’t get out of this one.”

  Chip smiled. “Oh, I think I still can.” He glanced at Wendell and shrugged. “Sorry, Wendell.”

  Jessica screamed as Chip fired. Surprise flashed across Wendell’s face before he toppled facedown with blood pouring from his chest.

  “Why did you do that?” Ryan asked.

  “Because I still intend to come out the winner,” Chip said. He glanced around the room. “I need to get out of here before your friends arrive. So I have to kill you three and make my escape now. Tomorrow I think I’ll call a press conference to express my shock at how Senator Mitchum’s chief of staff and a known hit man who’s wanted for multiple murders had a shoot-out with a police officer trying to rescue his brother and girlfriend from their clutches. I may even shed a tear or two for you.”

  Jessica clenched her fists at her sides. “You’ll never get away with this.”

  “Oh, yes I will,” he said.

  Ryan almost gasped at the transformation that overcame Chip’s face so suddenly. Instead of the candidate who portrayed himself as a war hero and patriot who’d come from humble beginnings, Chip Holder suddenly looked like a rabid dog.

  “I’m going to get away with it because this country owes me,” he hissed.

  Ryan frowned and inched a bit closer. “Owes you for what?”

  “Five years of my life was spent in a dark hole by myself unless I was taken out and beaten by the terrorist group that held me prisoner. And during that time my country didn’t lift a hand to rescue me. They let me rot there for five years before they showed up. But it just got worse when I came home. My old job was gone. My wife didn’t want me anymore. And I had no money.” He chuckled under his breath. “So I set out to change things. First off, I took care of my wife.”

  “So you killed her and made it look like suicide,” Jamie said.

  “You got that right. She paid for not standing by me. Wendell was the only one who stuck by me. It didn’t take us long to know that drugs could make us some money, and we built a thriving drug trade. But it was nothing like what I decided I really wanted—the biggest job in the country. The White House. And Wendell was going to help me get it. The only problem was, I had no experience in politics. So I began to contribute to the local party, then to elections.” He chuckled. “It’s really funny how many people are in office today because my drug money helped them get there, and they don’t even know it.”

  Ryan took another step closer. If he could keep Chip talking, maybe the backup would arrive. “So you wormed your way into the good graces of people wanting to make a difference by serving their country in elected office.”

  “Yeah. And I began to get on committees, and before long the big boys in the state were talking about getting me elected to office. And that’s how I became the party’s candidate to run against Mitchum.”

  Ryan inched closer. “But you couldn’t leave it to the voters to decide who was best qualified. You decided to sabotage Mitchum’s campaign by getting Wendell hired by Senator Mitchum, and the two of you set out to steal his senate seat as a stepping-stone to the White House.” Ryan had figured it all out. “Your big mistake was hiring Lee Tucker for your hit man.”

  Chip shook his head. “We were surprised when those murders came back to haunt us. We thought we’d set Tommie Oakes up with enough evidence that we’d never have to worry about it again.” He took a breath. “Those Harveys had discovered we were in the drug business, and they were about to print their story. We had to get rid of them, but old man Harvey just wouldn’t let it go. Even after four years he hired that investigator to find out the truth. By that time we were getting too close to the senate seat and couldn’t allow those murders to resurface.”

  “So you killed Gerald Price.”

  Chip shrugged. “Lee did.” Then he frowned and pointed the gun at Jamie’s head. “And then you had to stick your nose into it. A college kid, out to get a story, wasn’t about to interfere with my plan to go to Washington.”

  Ryan’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of the gun pointed at his brother’s head. He had to keep Chip talking. “Don’t make matters worse for yourself, Chip. It’s all over for you. There’s no way you can get out of here. The list of charges against you are so long that you won’t see the outside of a jail cell ever again.”

  Chip’s eyes blazed, and he jerked the gun away from Jamie and pressed it against Jessica’s head. “It’s not over. If I survived that hole I lived in for five years, I can get out of this situation. My country owes me for what it took away from me, and I intend to get it back.”

  Ryan’s mind was reeling as he tried to think of a way to disarm Chip. “There’s no getting anything back, Chip.” Then a thought popped into his head, and he stared at Jessica. Just as she’d called upon an event of their past to alert him about the killer behind the door in her apartment, he would do the same. “Just like with us, Jessica,” he told her, putting his plan into action. “I wish we could get back that feeling we had the time we celebrated with Rafe Johnson.”

  He knew she understood his reference to the bank hostage situation when her eyes sparkled, and she smiled. “I do, too.”

  “All right, you two,” Chip roared, “that’s enough—”

  He didn’t finish his sentence because the moment his mouth opened, Jessica whirled and delivered a hammer-fist punch to the side of Chip’s face just below the ear, right at the point where the nerve endings traveled to the brain. A shocked look spread across Chip’s paralyzed features as his gun clattered to the floor. Ryan surged forward at the same instant and threw his entire weight into Chip’s body. Together they fell to the floor with Ryan on top.

  Before Chip could move, Jessica had his gun and was pointing it at him. “Don’t move, Chip, or I’ll fire.”

  Ryan grabbed the gun that he’d lost in the scuffle and jumped to his feet. Together he and Jessica hauled Chip to his feet just as backup burst into the room. Ryan pulled his jacket back to reveal the badge on his belt as the first officer in the door took in the scene.

  “Detective Ryan Spencer,” he said. “This is my brother, and this is Jessica Knight, former police officer and a fugitive recovery agent with the Knigh
t Agency. The man we’re holding here is Chip Holder, candidate for the United States Senate.” He pointed to Wendell. “That’s Wendell Stark. Holder also shot him, but I shot the other man. His name is Lee Tucker. He’s a hired hit man. We need to see if both of them are still alive.”

  One of the officers who’d entered the room dropped to his knees and placed his fingers on Wendell’s pulse, then did the same with Lee. After a moment, he spoke into his lapel mic. “We need an ambulance at the old Riverside Warehouse. We have two wounded men here.”

  Jessica took a step closer. “I thought they were both dead.”

  The officer shook his head. “No, but they need to get to a hospital as soon as possible.”

  Ryan jerked his head in Chip’s direction. “He needs to be placed under arrest right now. I guess we can sort all the charges out after we get him to the station. They are too numerous to mention at the moment.”

  The officer nodded to the uniformed cop next to him. “Cuff him and take him downtown. And call the crime-scene squad along with homicide investigators. From the looks of things, we’re in for a long night.”

  As Chip was being led away in handcuffs, Ryan called out to the police officer, “Oh, by the way, there’s another guy at the rear of the building. He may still be unconscious.”

  The officer in charge of the scene turned to Ryan. “We’re going to need a statement from all of you. Don’t leave until we give you permission.”

  Ryan nodded. “We won’t, but Miss Knight and my brother have been through quite an ordeal tonight. Is it okay for us to have some time alone to enjoy having come through this in one piece?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Go find a quiet place somewhere and relax for a while. We’ll call you when we need to talk with you.”

  Ryan walked over and put one arm around his brother and the other around Jessica. For a moment he thought his knees were going to collapse from the relief he was feeling, but he forced himself to stand still. He hugged them both, then guided them toward the door.