Side by Side

by John Ramsey Miller

  Her nightgown was gone, ripped from her body as she fought Buck from a hopeless position on the floor at his feet.

  He hadn’t raped her. He’d stripped her, beaten her senseless, had her flat on the kitchen island with her legs apart, and he’d stopped only because Dixie and a pair of giants came in and pulled him away. Pants bunched around his ankles, he roared as the twins dragged him out the door. Dixie had called Scaly-hands “Buck.”

  Lucy remembered the beating, Buck’s hideous grunts of pleasure, the terrified wails of Elijah behind a door only a few feet away. She hadn’t cried out because she couldn’t bear to have Elijah hear her screaming. It seemed so insane, so hopeless, and she didn’t have the slightest idea why these creatures were doing this to them.

  Lucy knew that if she didn’t escape, she and probably Eli were going to die, and if that oaf with palms like tree bark had anything to say about it, the trip to death wouldn’t be fast or pretty.

  Monday. Buck had said that until Monday, he could do whatever he wanted to her, because “after that she was just one more dead piece of pussy.”

  Why Monday? She pushed the physical pain away and thought about that. What would be happening on Monday? She didn’t even know what day of the week this was. How long before they killed her and Eli? A day? An hour? Was it an idle threat? She didn’t think so.

  Why Monday? She remembered that her father had told her that after Monday they could take Elijah and go to the house in Blowing Rock for a vacation. He had been expecting to deliver his verdict on the Bryce case that day. Had these people abducted them to influence her father’s ruling on that case? That made sense. But that should mean that they wouldn’t kill her if her father ruled for Bryce. Was it because she had seen their faces? That was their fault. They had not tried to remain anonymous, so they must have always planned to kill her. If they were just going to kill her, that was one thing, but because they might kill Eli too, she had to do something and do it fast.

  She was smarter than they were and smarter was better than stronger.

  She needed a plan to get out of the steel building.

  Something else occurred to her. The dogs hadn’t attacked her even when Elijah had cried. She was sure they had wanted to, but something had slowed them, or had perhaps confused them. She smiled to herself as the realization washed over her. And for the first time she was sure that she and Eli might have a shot at escaping after all. A plan. All she needed was a plan, and a lot of luck. She smiled when something occurred to her, and when she did so, the pain hit her, and she remembered Buck’s cruel hands on her. But smiling was worth it. She now had a spark, the beginning of a plan, a way to save her son’s life.

  Lucy lay in a fetal position in the dark listening to Dixie sing “Itsy Bitsy Spider” to Elijah, who, incredibly, was laughing.

  39

  In the drumming rain, Winter held the Sig Sauer loosely at his side and peered into Click’s den. Standing back from the window, Winter was as good as invisible to the three inhabitants of the room. He couldn’t hear the conversation through the glass, but he could see Serge Sarnov and Max Randall and he could read Sarnov’s lips. Click’s chair was positioned so Winter couldn’t see the young man’s face, just his white socks.

  What Winter learned from reading Sarnov’s lips thrilled him. The Russian made Click a job offer, which Click must have declined, because Sarnov pulled a pistol and aimed it at Click. Reflexively, Winter aimed at Sarnov’s head, figuring for deflection and reflection, but he didn’t fire, because—based on Randall’s and Sarnov’s body language—he didn’t believe Sarnov intended to kill Click. He was right. The gun was just the additional incentive the boy needed to reconsider.

  Winter wondered if Click was smart enough to know that what the Russian said about Laughlin’s and his father’s greed might be true, but he doubted Click understood that the Russians would not part with any larger share of profits than Click’s own family would. “Join us or die” was not exactly a promising start to the ideal courtship.

  Winter waited until Serge holstered his gun to move away from the window. Then he walked to the edge of the yard and sprinted back to Alexa’s car. She was in the driver’s seat.

  “What’s the deal?” Alexa asked.

  “The Smoots definitely have the Dockerys,” he replied. “Score one for Clayton. You can tell Clayton that Ross Laughlin is not just Peanut’s lawyer—he’s also his boss. Laughlin is definitely our link between the Smoots, Bryce, and Sarnov, Lex. Laughlin is connected to a syndicate, but the Russians are planning to move in on them.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Acquisition by force is a standard Russian business plan. That’s what Serge said. I guess that’ll be news to Clayton.”

  “I’m sure it will be. Did Serge happen to say where the Dockerys are?”

  “Sarnov didn’t say. I couldn’t see Click’s side of the conversation, but I don’t think he mentioned a location either. Maybe Click knows, maybe he doesn’t, but there’s no doubt the Smoots grabbed Lucy and the baby and have them. Sarnov said they’re going to kill them.”

  “Even if Bryce walks?”

  “I got that impression. We need to find Peanut. He sure as hell knows where they are.”

  “They could be anywhere,” Alexa said. “Do we stick with the kid or follow Sarnov?”

  “I’d put a tracker on the BMW if we had another one, but I don’t think Sarnov is directly involved with the Dockery abduction, based on the lip-reading I did. We have to get to Peanut, or beat it out of Click.”

  “You’re joking?”

  “No, not really. Beating it out of Click is a perfectly good idea. Lex, the longer we wait, the more likely something bad will happen to the Dockerys. They’re going to be murdered unless we can get them released, and time is running out for them. You said so yourself.”

  “Maybe after Monday, yes.”

  “You aren’t sure. Did they share their timetable with Clayton or yourself? If they did, fine. If they didn’t . . .”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she snapped. “You’re going to torture the truth out of a teenager?”

  “If it will save the Dockerys, yes. And he’s twenty-one and a criminal coconspirator in a kidnapping and possible double murder.”

  “Maybe we won’t have to do that. Clayton says NSA’s Big Ears caught Peanut and Dentures talking. Peanut uses prepaid disposable cell phones, but as soon as Clayton can get the location for the pay phone number she called from, we’ll have something tangible. They could be holding the Dockerys in one of their houses. Maybe we should be checking Peanut’s house, offices, properties.”

  “I doubt they’d risk keeping them in an obvious place,” Winter said. “But what the hell. It’s worth a shot.”

  After she flipped through the manila folder, Alexa handed the address-printout page to Winter. He used a micro-flashlight with a red lens that he kept on his key chain to read through the stack of Smoot residences and associated business addresses. The file also contained the few known telephone numbers each of the subjects used. Not one of them had a landline, just cell phones. There was also a list of vehicles and license plate numbers.

  To Winter the files looked like a thick stack of wasted time and dead ends. Time was something they didn’t have.

  “Lex, I have a gut feeling that we have to get to the Dockerys tonight. As soon as we start pushing on one of the Smoots, they’ll know and it’ll be over for the Dockerys, if it isn’t over already. We can’t just sit here with our thumbs submerged.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “We’re going to have to start some fires.”

  “If we make our presence known, it could cost the Dockerys their lives. You just said so.”

  “Damn it, Lex, Lucy and that boy are dead if we don’t move. If we do it right, only the people we interview will know we’re bearing down. You know I’m right.”

  “I don’t disagree,” she said. “But what’ll we do after we talk to
one of them—lock them in my car trunk?”

  “Your trunk’s too small to hold but a couple of them. We can lock them up, though.”

  “Kidnap people? Lock them up somewhere . . .”

  “I know a safe place we can put them. We have to gather a little field intelligence. We have nothing to lose.”

  “Nothing to lose but my job and our freedom. You’re talking about committing felonies.”

  “I’m not law enforcement.”

  “You’re not a criminal either. Let’s think about this.”

  “Alexa. We both know why I’m here. Let’s get this done.”

  “I agree. I agree. But not yet. Look, let’s run this past Clayton—”

  “No,” Winter cut in. “He’s sitting in a hotel room sucking on his pipe. This isn’t about him, or intelligence he can glean or buy. I don’t need more of his information to get going. I’m not going to sit on my ass waiting for Peanut to ring up Buck.”

  “But I think he—”

  “I signed on with you to find the Dockerys before somebody kills them. That is the only felony I’m worried about at the moment. I’ll do whatever it takes. I thought you felt the same.”

  “I’m off the books,” Alexa snapped. “That’s committed. I could lose my badge and my pension for this. Going to prison isn’t something I want to risk.”

  “Mentally you aren’t off the books. I don’t have a career to worry about any longer.”

  “You have a family that loves you. That’s more to lose than a career. And you don’t need a career because you have a rich wife.”

  “That’s a low blow, Lex.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. But you’ve been off the books more than once. This is my first time on a high wire without a safety net.”

  “You want to play by the rules, you’re in the wrong game. Go call your fellow FeeBees and they’ll look up the laws for you as you go. That isn’t going to help now, and you’re about to get in my way.”

  “I think you should go home,” Alexa said. “For your sake. For your family’s sake. I shouldn’t have come to you. No hard feelings, Massey. Clayton and I can handle this.”

  “Are you two going to let the Dockerys find themselves? Are you going to wait to see if Peanut Smoot makes that phone call? What if he doesn’t? What if they maintain silence? What if they decide they don’t need Lucy and Elijah alive until Monday? You want to rely on Clayton Able’s connections, some computers and satellites being run by people who could care less if we succeed? You want to end your brilliant FBI career standing at two gravesides? You want to spend the rest of your life wondering what Eli Dockery would be doing at that moment if he was alive? I will go to prison to save a woman and her child. I don’t intend to ever ask myself why I didn’t do what I knew I had to do, but didn’t. Those two people are more important than the lives of everybody who is even peripherally involved in abducting them.”

  “I agree, but . . .” She stared at him, uncertainly. “Bringing you in and tying your hands wasn’t fair. I am an FBI agent, and I can’t break the law, off the books or not.”

  “Then get the hell out of my way.”

  “I am in charge here.”

  “I’ll tell you what, Lex. You’re right: Breaking laws is putting us on their level. Why don’t you go back to the hotel and put your head together with Clayton’s? Meantime, I’ll watch Click’s house while you and Clayton work on figuring out how to figure out where the Dockerys are. You guys figure it out, call me. I see anything here, like if Peanut stops by for popcorn and soft porn, I’ll call you.”

  Alexa shook her head. “You’re going to do something crazy, aren’t you?”

  “Absolutely not,” he said, crossing his heart. “I’ve made my speech, and I feel better and, bottom line, I agree with what you’ve said. No sense both of us sitting here in the rain.”

  Sarnov and Randall left the house through the front door, ran to their car in the rain, and drove off.

  “Maybe I should tail Sarnov?” Alexa said.

  “He or Randall would spot you before you got three blocks,” Winter said.

  “I guess.”

  “Seriously, Lex. One of us should get some rest. Two hours and, if nothing happens, we’ll regroup and think this through.”

  Alexa thought about it for a few seconds. “You’re on your own. But you keep me in the loop.”

  Winter went to his truck. A few minutes later, when Alexa drove off, she didn’t look at Winter or wave at him.

  He closed his eyes and shook his head. He had already made up his mind. No matter what Alexa said, there was no alternative to doing something crazy.

  40

  The last thing Peanut Smoot thought he ought to do was to drive an hour down to South Carolina to deal with his kids. It wasn’t smart to be close to the kidnap victims until it was all over. It was just practical that the leader had to be protected for the good of the organization. He was tempted to go by Click’s, send him down there and put him in charge. He needed to get Buck the hell out of there. Dixie was capable of dealing with the pair herself with the twins helping, but she couldn’t do that and deal with Buck if he went off on a tear. However, despite Peanut’s best efforts to toughen Ferny Ernest, Click didn’t have the hardness the other kids had. It was better to keep Click away from violent situations because he had his mama’s squeamishness. If it wasn’t for his computering and other mind-necessary potential, the boy would be as useless as a milk bucket under a bull. The twins would do whatever you told them, but you had to make sure they had instructions they couldn’t screw up.

  Peanut’s back was feeling better thanks to the pills, and the fire Sarnov had built in his gut was down to the glowing coals. He pulled over and backed into a driveway that had trees on both sides and waited there for fifteen minutes watching to see if anybody was following him. As far as he could tell, none of the people in the vehicles that passed by looked like cops in a hurry to keep up with him. He also checked the sky for helicopters. He pulled out of the driveway.

  Peanut passed the Utzes’ store that was a half-mile from his tubular steel gate. Just past the store he took the left fork, drove to his gate, climbed out, unlocked the padlock, and pushed the gate open. He didn’t like getting mud on his best boots, but he was alone and had to get out of the truck. After he drove the truck in, he had to lock the gate back up and drive to the warehouse down the narrow road that was just a dirt path with some gravel scattered on it in places.

  The four-wheelers were all parked in the open equipment shed outside the warehouse. Peanut looked into the shed and saw that Buck was roped to one of the support poles, his pants down around his ankles, his butt exposed. He reminded Peanut of a child who’s lost a game of cowboys and Indians. Buck knew the sound of Peanut’s truck and he didn’t turn his head to look at his father. The twins came out of the woods with their shotguns across their chests. They were smart enough to wait until they were sure Peanut was alone before showing themselves.

  “What the almighty hell is this?” Peanut demanded, pointing at Buck’s backside.

  “He was having a fit, Daddy,” Burt said.

  Curt added, “We had to tie him up to calm him down. And he still ain’t calmed down.”

  “Untie me,” Buck screamed. “You stupid chunks of pig vomit.”

  “What kind of fit?” Peanut asked.

  Curt said, “He was trying to screw that woman, beating her up and all like he does, and about to kill her.”

  “He wanted to fight us about stopping him like Dixie said. He tried to hit Dixie, and we couldn’t let him do that,” Burt added.

  “You should have hanged him by his goddamn neck,” Peanut said, glaring at Buck.

  “You want us to hang him?” Curt asked disbelievingly.

  “She wanted me to give it to her,” Buck yelled. “Been asking for it since she got here. It ain’t my fault.”

  Peanut backhanded Buck, leaving a large red stain on his cheek. “Leave this mule tied up a while,” he o
rdered, storming over to the warehouse, unlocking the padlock with his key, and going inside.

  Peanut flipped the breaker that turned on the lights inside the warehouse so he could see better. He saw that the dogs’ door was cracked open, and was glad somebody was thinking. Dixie opened the trailer door before her father got to the porch steps.

  “Hey, Daddy!” she said excitedly. “I didn’t know you were coming out here.”

  “The hell’s going on, Dixie?” He smelled bourbon, but didn’t say anything. She probably needed a belt after going up against her older brother.

  “That damn Buck. He screwed her up bad,” Dixie muttered. “I came back with the twins after I found them, and I caught him in here beating the cold crap out of her. Had her on the danged island deal. He’d tore her clothes off and had his pants down ready to do it. I swear, as the Lord is my savior, he’d a killed her. And he’d a killed us if he could of for stopping him. You know how he gets, Daddy.”

  “He said she was asking for it,” Peanut said, realizing as he said it how ridiculous it was.

  “A classy woman like that would as soon back up to a billy goat as Buck. Nobody wants to get beat up and screwed with her baby right there. Buck ain’t right, Daddy.”

  “He has issues, all right,” he agreed. “Where’s she at?”

  “Your room.”

  Peanut opened the door and looked in at a naked and trembling woman coiled up in his old bed. Her hair was matted with dried blood. He slid the door closed behind him, angry and thoroughly disgusted that his son couldn’t keep his pants on when it was so important to business.