In the Lawman's Protection

by Janie Crouch

“I can’t figure out why he would even run in this direction at all.” Steve said. “He’s always used people for cover to get away, not nature.”

  Ren nodded. “Or why he wouldn’t be in disguise. It’s not like him to just rush into a situation where he can be easily identified.”

  They each kept a very careful eye for movement in the trees, progress frustratingly slow. They didn’t want to give Damien room to circle back around.

  Eventually, they met up with Lillian and Ashton, who’d been coming from the opposite direction.

  “Nothing?” Ren asked.

  Lillian shook her head. “He didn’t cross by us. He’s either hiding or has gone farther out into the woods.”

  Brandon’s voice came over the walkie-talkie. “I’ve got confirmation that it was definitely the Sheffield cousins, well-known troublemakers in this county, who were responsible for the shooting this morning. No one was hurt—they were just trying to create chaos because of, and I quote, ‘All them peoples who think they can just piss on Westwater had another think coming.’”

  Steve rolled his eyes. “Great.”

  “But I got hold of one of the Sheffields as he was being arrested and it ends up that it was someone matching Freihof’s general description who gave them today’s brilliant idea in the first place.”

  Ren stopped moving forward. “It was a brilliant idea to shake things up. To separate us. But not if he was just going to run into the damn wilderness. Only if he had a much bigger plan...”

  Like separating him from Natalie.

  He turned and looked at the deputy who’d led them this far. The man was sweating well beyond what should be normal for the slower speed they were moving and the man’s overall fitness level.

  “What did you do?” he asked, fear closing around his throat so tightly he could hardly breathe.

  “I’m sorry.” Jensen began to cry. “He sent me a picture of my wife and daughter, tied up. Said if I didn’t tell you I’d seen him run into the woods he’d kill—”

  Ren didn’t wait to hear the rest; he turned and began running as fast as he could back toward the school.

  “Levell, Stutz, come in,” Steve yelled into the walkie-talkie. “Report. Sheriff, we need a report right damn now from Levell and Stutz. We left Natalie with them.”

  There was not a sound from them. Ren didn’t even slow down to curse, just pushed his body faster than he ever had. He could hear Lillian and Ashton right behind him.

  “I need any available officer to the south side of the auditorium,” Steve was yelling into the walkie through panted breaths.

  As Ren rounded the corner of the high school, someone stepped in front of him and he had to dodge to keep from knocking the guy over. He didn’t so much as pause. Every fiber of his being was focused on getting back to Natalie.

  He ripped open the door on the far side of the auditorium, leaping over fallen chairs and broken camera stands, bolting up to the stage and out the back door where he’d taken Natalie not thirty minutes before.

  Weapon still in hand, he burst through the outer door that led to the alley.

  His worst nightmare met him there: two fallen officers lying in puddles of blood and Natalie nowhere in sight.

  He planted himself on the ground beside Levell to check for a pulse while someone else did the same on Stutz.

  Ren shook his head. There was nothing. Levell was dead. Kid hadn’t been wearing his vest.

  “I’ve got a pulse here,” Lillian said, reaching in to put pressure on the wound. “But tell the ambulance to hurry the hell up.”

  Ren stood and looked at Steve. “I gave Natalie the tracker last night. We can follow her, but I’ve got to get to the safe house to get the computer with the program.”

  Steve nodded, still talking to emergency services. Lillian stayed with Stutz, but Ashton took off running with Ren. They were in the house, booting up the laptop, when Ashton spoke.

  “If Freihof was talking to those jerks last night, inciting them to riot this morning, then he either got exceptionally lucky or he already knew about this little plan.”

  He’d known. The bastard had known they were coming to Westwater before they’d even gotten there. “I think he has some sort of tap on Steve’s Omega phone. It’s the only means I’ve used to communicate anything about Natalie. Freihof is the one who tortured and killed the owners of the Santa Barbara beach house, probably to try to get answers for what info was missing from the phone calls. But he definitely knew Natalie and I would get here last night. Steve and I talked about that specifically.”

  “You think the fire and fight last night were instigated by him, too?”

  Why the hell was the computer taking so damn long to boot? “Undoubtedly.”

  “We’re going to get her back,” Ashton whispered as they both stared at the screen.

  Had someone told him this when Freihof had taken Ashton’s wife, Summer, and her daughter, Chloe? Ren hoped it had worked better than the words of comfort were working on him right now.

  He knew what Freihof was capable of. Knew the ways he had tortured Natalie.

  Knew she had to be scared out of her mind right now. Freihof had nearly forty-five minutes on them.

  The ways someone could hurt another person in forty-five minutes had Ren breaking out in a cold sweat.

  The computer finally booted and Ren started the program that would track Natalie, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw the dot on the map was still moving. Movement meant life.

  He connected the 4G from his phone to the laptop. “Let’s roll. We’ll be able to get a more accurate location as we get closer.”

  Ashton jogged with him to the car. “Where are we headed?”

  “Grand Junction.”

  “Anything special about that place?”

  “Definitely to Freihof.”

  * * *

  REN CURSED UNDER his breath when the tracker stopped. Ashton was already driving well over one hundred miles per hour. The rest of the team—Steve, Lillian, Brandon—were five minutes behind them. A number of other Omega Critical Response team members were on their way to Grand Junction via helicopter.

  Damien Freihof was going down today. He would never hurt anyone else again; these agents were going to make sure of it.

  Ren just prayed it was in time to save Natalie. That she—who had suffered the most at Freihof’s hands already—would not be his last victim.

  Before they could home in on an exact location, the tracker began moving again. A few minutes later it stopped again. And stayed stopped this time. When Ren realized where it was he cursed out loud.

  “What?” Ashton said.

  “They’re at city hall.”

  “Why would he go there?”

  Ren grimaced. “That’s where he and Natalie got married nearly ten years ago.” He called Steve and put it on speakerphone.

  “The tracker stopped at city hall. I think Freihof is trying to make some sort of sick romantic gesture, marry Natalie again.”

  Over Ren’s dead body.

  “How far out are you?” Steve asked.

  “Maybe six minutes,” Ashton responded, never letting up on the speed.

  “Okay, we’re right behind you. Everybody get your comm units on, channel one.”

  “Steve.” Ren couldn’t hide the desperation in his voice. “He’s not going to let her go willingly. If we go barreling in there, we might get Freihof, but we’ll lose Natalie.”

  “That’s not going to happen. Neither the barreling nor the losing Natalie. Ashton, city hall probably isn’t going to have a lot of windows, but see if you can find a vantage point on a neighboring roof once we know what room they’re in, in case it comes down to a long-distance shot.”

  “Roger that, boss.”

  “We’ll get Lillian up in an air duct,” Steve continued. “Nob
ody ever expects the ass-kicking midget dropping out of the ceiling.”

  In the background, Ren could hear Lillian’s choice words at that description.

  “We’ve got Roman and Derek coming with heavier firearms and expertise on explosives. And even Joe Matarazzo, just in case negotiations will help.”

  In other words, the entire Omega team.

  A few minutes later, they were pulling up in front of city hall. Steve was still giving out orders as to who would handle what, since a priority would be clearing the building as much as possible before anything went down.

  This was Steve’s team. Ren may have been the one who originally created Omega Sector, but Steve had turned the Critical Response Division into a well-oiled machine.

  “She’s in an office in the southwest corner of the building,” Ren said, reading the information from the tracker into the comm unit.

  “According to building plans,” Derek spoke from the helicopter, “that’s the wedding licensing section.”

  Ashton grabbed his sharpshooter rifle and sprinted toward the roof of the building next door.

  Ren waited for the rest to arrive, ushering civilians out and away from the outside of the building. It went against his every instinct not to burst in on his own. But Steve was right; if there was anything that Freihof had taught Omega Sector in his attacks over the past few months it was that their greatest strengths were in how they worked together.

  Within a few minutes the rest of the team was there, moving into position with a silent nod at Ren. Immediately, they began to get as many people out of the building as possible. Local police were showing up to help, setting up barricades. Seeing the team, how capable and functional they all were, Ren had his first sense of true hope.

  Until Ashton spoke into the comm unit from his spot on the roof.

  “Uh, guys, I’ve got eyes on Freihof and we’ve got some bad news. He has a pressure switch in his hand. If I take a shot, whatever he’s rigged to explode is going with him. And given that he has multiple canisters of that biological contaminant, I’m going to assume that’s what he has planned to go.”

  Ren cursed under his breath. “Is Natalie okay?”

  “Natalie’s not with him at all.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Are you sure she’s not with him?” Ren asked.

  “At least she’s not in that room,” Ashton responded. “It’s got big windows with no curtains, so I’ve got a pretty unobstructed view.”

  “I can confirm,” Lillian chimed in from her location. “Damn it, I can’t get all the way over to that set of offices from this air duct, but I can see them from this vent. Freihof is just standing here, like he’s reminiscing. And no Natalie. But, Ren, I think in Freihof’s other hand is Natalie’s red phone.”

  Ren cursed under his breath. How the hell was the tracker in the room if Natalie wasn’t? If she wasn’t there, where the hell was she?

  “Lillian, do you think he’s about to blow the whole building?” Steve asked.

  “I don’t know. But we need to do something fast. Because clearing the building if he uses that biological weapon is not going to help. It will spread. Radius will be devastating.”

  Ren turned to Steve. “I’m calling him on Natalie’s phone. If he’s about to release that pressure trigger, we need to do something to distract him. He doesn’t know we’re here, and I won’t let him know. Let’s just get as many people out and back as far as possible without causing a panic.”

  Steve nodded, and the rest of the team immediately began moving fast around him.

  “I’ll keep trying to find a way to get closer so I can get the drop on him,” Lillian said. “It might mean crawling back to the other side of the building and coming in from that direction.”

  Ashton added, “Ren, I need a word or phrase that lets me know to take him out. I don’t think a direct shot is a good option with the pressure trigger, but we need one, anyway. I’ll aim for the chest.”

  “Let’s go with ‘reign of terror.’”

  “Appropriate. Roger that.”

  “Get him mad,” Brandon came on the line and said. “He won’t take himself—and hopefully everyone else—out if he’s angry at you. Make him mad enough that he wants to live to come after you.”

  Ren pulled out his phone and dialed the number for the one he’d given to Natalie.

  “Who’s this?” he asked when Freihof answered, like he didn’t already know.

  “Who’s this?” Freihof responded in kind.

  “Let me talk to Natalie.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m afraid Natalie isn’t here right now.”

  “And this is?” Ren wasn’t sure exactly how to play this most effectively. Did Freihof know about Ren? That he was part of Omega?

  “I’m Natalie’s husband, Damien. You must be her...friend, Warren.”

  “I think you mean ex-husband, right, Damien? Since you remarried and all?”

  “I never would’ve remarried if I had known my Natalie was alive. So as far as I’m concerned, that means we’re still married.”

  Ren sighed dramatically and walked inside city hall. He didn’t want Freihof to hear any activities or sirens and become suspicious. “Well, as far as the law—and every logical person on the planet—is concerned, when you signed a divorce decree from her, you officially became unmarried. No matter what you want.”

  There was a long moment of silence. “And why does it matter to you, Warren?”

  “Because she’s mine now, Damien. She’s done with you and she’s chosen me. That’s just the way it is.”

  “No, that’s not how it is at all.” The words were bit out. “Not at all.”

  “Why don’t you just let me talk to her, okay? Or maybe the three of us can meet somewhere and figure out the answer to this. Nobody has to get hurt. Just put Natalie on the phone, okay?”

  “No, the choices have already been made. Natalie knew if she didn’t choose me, then she wouldn’t be choosing anyone.”

  Ice formed in Ren’s veins. Was he too late? Was Natalie already dead? Or stuffed in a closet somewhere here, hurt? He hit the mute button on the phone and spoke into the comm unit.

  “Steve, make sure your people are checking the utility closets and small spaces where he might have put Natalie.”

  “Roger that.”

  Ren unclicked the mute button. “Tell me where she is, Freihof.”

  Natalie had put the tracker on Freihof, so that gave Ren a measure of hope. She had to have been alive when she did that. But it could’ve been moments before her death, realizing Damien would leave once she was gone, and Omega would have no way of knowing where. That they would come to her rather than follow him.

  And it was true. If Ren knew where Natalie was right now, he would leave this situation—damn the consequences—and find her. He refused to believe she was dead.

  Freihof just laughed. “You know, I came to this place because it held special memories for me. Memories of a time before my relationship with Natalie became so tainted. She was so innocent when we first got married, do you know that? I thought she could become the perfect wife. I tried to teach her that.”

  “By abusing her?”

  “Now, Warren.” Freihof tsked. “You weren’t there. You don’t know. Some people might think my methods were a little harsh. But they were necessary. I was trying to make her perfect. Isn’t that what everyone ultimately wants? Natalie would’ve thanked me eventually.”

  “Instead, she pretended she was dead and ran away and hid. Doesn’t sound like thanking to me.”

  Freihof sighed. “I was feeling sad when I got here. Feeling that now that I was never going to see Natalie again, maybe it was time for me to die, too. That I would also just go out in the chaos I create.”

  Ren felt like all the oxygen had been sucked from the room. “Freihof
...”

  “But the good news is, talking to you has made me realize that it’s not my time yet. That I want to see the fallout of my actions and how they affect Omega Sector. After all, they are the ones who took Natalie from me in the first place. She may have chosen to stay away from me—a sin she is currently regretting, at least for a little while longer—but Omega is what gave her the opportunity to run. You’ve made me realize I need to stay my course. It is not my destiny to die here today.”

  “Where is she, Freihof? If she’s not with you, tell me where she is.”

  “No, Warren Thompson, you tell me who you are. I could find no record of you at all inside Omega Sector. No pictures in the files. You’re so unimportant that you don’t have a significant file yet. So, honestly, I’m not sure you’re worth my time to talk to.”

  Ashton’s voice came in Ren’s ear. “Freihof’s getting agitated. If he moves out of this office I might lose the shot.”

  “She chose me, Freihof. This whole plan in the woods may have started just with the intent to catch you, but we fell for each other. She chose me. Natalie is mine.”

  “No!” The word came through so loud Ren had to hold the phone away from his ear. “Natalie is mine.”

  “No, she’s not, Damien. And you’ve always known that, haven’t you? Tried to make her into something fake. Called it ‘perfect’ so you could justify abusing her. She chose me, you bastard.”

  The phone line clicked dead in his hand.

  “Okay, it’s working.” It was Ashton’s voice again. “He’s taking off his explosives vest and placing it on... Oh, hell, there are the canisters. The biological contaminant canisters are definitely in the room with him. It looks like he’s setting some sort of timer, but he’s still got the kill switch in his hand.”

  Ren had to make his move now. “Steve, I’m going in. I’ve got to stop him. If he gets out we’ll lose our shot and he’ll blow the canisters, anyway. Ashton, be ready.”

  “We’ve gotten most of the civilians clear and locals are getting them back to the safety point. Every hazmat team in the state is on their way here,” Steve said.

  “Did anyone find Natalie in the building?”