A Better Solution (Crowley County Series Book 2)

by T. E. Killian

  Floyd saw her immediately and came over to her in the doorway.

  “Where is she Floyd. Is she okay?”

  She didn’t like the questioning look he was giving her.

  She pointed back toward his office. “Her coat?”

  He shook his head and steered her into a visitor’s chair in front of Crystal’s desk.

  “That’s all that was found. We think that Hennesey left it on a dirt road to throw us off. And before you ask, the coat is clean and not torn in any way.”

  Sue Ann was so disappointed and so relieved all at the same time that she would have just slithered right down the front of that chair into the floor if Floyd hadn’t had a grip on both of her shoulders.

  * * *

  Floyd stood and looked down at the woman he loved. They had come into his office to sit in the armchairs for a while, waiting and hoping . . . no praying that something good would happen soon. They didn’t really talk about much of anything. Then finally, Sue Ann had fallen asleep curled up in her chair.

  He looked at his watch, seven thirty. Turning to look out the window behind his desk, he could see the snow coming down pretty hard in the headlights of cars going by out on the street. He decided to go out back and check it out. They certainly didn’t need a lot of snow to hamper them when they finally did find out where Penny was.

  He stepped out the back door into the compound and noticed right away that the windshield of his Tahoe had been cleared on the driver’s side and something white was pinned under the windshield wiper blade.

  He rushed over to the vehicle and pulled a small clear plastic bag out from under the blade. He could see what looked like a note inside it. He opened the driver’s door and jumped in behind the wheel. He wasn’t sure if he wanted anyone else, especially Sue Ann to know about the note just yet, at least not until he found out what it said.

  He pulled the note out of the bag, turned on the dome light, and began to read the computer printer generated note.

  “McCracken. Meet me tonight at midnight alone. Go down County C away from town for 4.2 miles past Leroy’s Garage. Turn right on the dirt road. Go exactly one mile down that road and get out of your car and start walking the way you were going. If you want your daughter to live you’d better be there unarmed and alone.”

  Floyd slipped the note back into its bag and slid it under his seat. He sat there for a few minutes trying to think it through.

  Mike Bates! He needed to see if the DEA agent had found anything out. He quickly texted Mike with just a question mark.

  As he waited, he tried to think of how he should proceed now. Should he go out there alone tonight? Should he at least take Hal along somehow?

  After five minutes of waiting for Mike to text or call him back, Floyd realized the agent must be in the middle of something and couldn’t respond.

  He jumped out of the Tahoe and went back into the building. He checked on Sue Ann first and she was still dozing so he headed to the command center.

  Floyd was surprised to find Norton in there by himself. He sat in a chair near the FBI agent and said, “I just texted our DEA agent but he hasn’t responded.”

  Norton shook his head. “That could be good and it could also be bad, no need to think the worst. Those guys can get into and out of some rather nasty situations.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard.”

  They sat that way for nearly fifteen minutes with neither man talking until a phone ringing broke the stillness. Norton answered it leaving Floyd to his thoughts about what he should do about Hennesey’s note. Should he tell anyone else or not?

  He knew that Hennesey was just crazy enough to do exactly what he’d said he’d do. So if Floyd wanted Penny to live through the night he’d have to take his chances alone and hope that somehow he would be able to get the drop on Hennesey.

  When Norton hung up, he turned to Floyd. “That was one of my agents. They found fresh tire tracks in the snow down one of the dirt roads they’ve been checking on down County C.”

  Before Floyd could gather his thoughts to question, Norton went on. “They followed them to a farmhouse that turned out to be the Hollis place. They followed the tracks up to a different one of Hollis’ trucks than the one he claims was stolen.”

  Floyd blew out a disgusted breath. “So we still don’t have anything new to go on then.”

  Norton shook his head. “Maybe we do. They said that the footprints from the truck didn’t go toward the house but out to the barn. But when they checked the barn, they couldn’t find any sign of anyone inside.”

  Floyd pounded his fist on the tabletop and jumped up. “I’m going out there myself. One way or another I’ll get Hollis to talk.”

  Norton stood and blocked Floyd’s path. “Calm down Floyd. You know that neither one of us could get anything out of Hollis when we had him here. What makes you think you’ll be able to do any better out there in his own house with his four sons backing him up?”

  Floyd fell into his chair, placed his elbows on his knees, and then dropped his head into his hands. He was going to go crazier than Hennesey if things didn’t straighten out pretty quick.

  Just then, Sue Ann came into the room rubbing her eyes. “What’s all the commotion about? Has anything new come up?”

  Floyd hated to disappoint her but shook his head and said, “No, nothing. James was just talking me out of trying to go out to Hollis’ place and try to make him talk. I know it wouldn’t work. It’s just that I’m about to go crazy here not being able to do anything at all.”

  She stepped up to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and looked up into his eyes. “Floyd, you’ve got to stay calm and collected . . . for Penny’s sake if nothing else. If something does come up then you’ll need to be able to act on it quickly, won’t you?”

  How could she do that? Lately, Sue Ann had been able to talk him into or out of almost anything she set her mind to. And worst of all, he didn’t care one little bit. Actually, he kind of liked it.

  They all sat around the conference table for another hour when two of Norton’s agents came in to spell him for the night.

  He stood and said, “Well, it’s ten o’clock. I’m going to my motel room to try to get a little sleep.” He turned to his agents. “Call me if anything comes up.”

  With that, he left and Floyd turned to Sue Ann. “You want me to get those cots out again so we can try to get a little sleep?”

  When she started to protest, he nodded toward the FBI agents and said, “They’ll wake us if anything comes up. Neither of us will be any good if we don’t get a little sleep.”

  She looked at the agents and one of them said, “Yes ma’am we will.”

  She looked back at Floyd and nodded. As she started walking out of the room, he placed a hand on her lower back to guide her lovingly back to his office.

  * * *

  Floyd looked at his watch for what must have been the twentieth time in the last hour and a half. Finally, it was eleven thirty. Time to go. He had to sneak out of his office without waking Sue Ann though. No one could know what he was doing.

  He eased up in his cot and looked over at her. She was lying on her back with her blond hair forming a frame around her face. She looked to be asleep but was moaning slightly every once in a while.

  He swung his legs around to the floor and stood. She stirred a little and he froze. Then she turned onto her side away from him and he slipped out of the room.

  He stepped into the doorway of the conference room and when both agents looked up, he said, “I’m going to go out and check the roadblocks.”

  When they both gave him questioning looks he said, “I’ve got to do something. I can’t sleep. If you need me just tell dispatch and they’ll get ahold of me.”

  Once Floyd was on the road, he breathed a sigh of relief. Even if Sue Ann did wake up while he was gone, the FBI agents would tell her what he’d told them. And it wasn’t totally a lie. He would have to pass through one of the roadblocks to get to the road Henne
sey had told him to turn on.

  He was relieved to see that the snow had stopped and it had only accumulated a couple of inches after all.

  When he came to the roadblock, he was thankful that two of his deputies were there. He stopped and talked to them for a few minutes and then told them he was going to drive around down where they’d been searching earlier and then head back to the office.

  Maybe if he didn’t come back soon they’d send someone out looking for him. He could only hope.

  Once he began driving south again, it was only about another mile to the turn off that Hennesey had indicated. There were no visible tracks in the snow on the lane.

  He turned down the lane and drove about a hundred yards then stopped. He unhooked his duty belt and laid it, handgun and all, on the passenger seat. Then he leaned over and opened the glove box where he retrieved a small .38 in a boot holster. He pulled his left pant leg up over his boot and hooked the holster to the top of his boot so that it was mostly inside the boot.

  As he straightened back up, he pulled his Maglite out of its holder on his console. Placing it on the seat next to his leg, he started the car forward again. When he had driven exactly one mile, he stopped. Before he got out of the Tahoe, as an afterthought, he grabbed his portable radio making sure it was turned off and clipped it to the rear of his regular belt. Then he jumped out of the vehicle with his flashlight in his hand.

  As he started walking away from the vehicle, he began to speculate on what would be coming next and how he could possibly get the drop on Hennesey.

  Floyd had walked about a hundred yards when he noticed a quad sitting at the edge of the woods on the left side of the lane. As he walked over to inspect it, he kept scanning the area all around him for any kind of movement.

  There was a note taped to the seat and it wasn’t even wet. It had to have been placed there since it stopped snowing.

  Shinning his flashlight on the note, he read, “Take the quad straight into the woods for half a mile. There will be a clearing there. Stop and get off.”

  Well, this was it. He was going to find out very soon. He assumed that Hennesey would be waiting for him in the clearing. He was still fairly certain that Hennesey wouldn’t lure him all the way out here just to pick him off the quad as he was going in. No, he was equally sure that Hennesey wanted to look him in the eye when he extracted his so-called revenge on Floyd.

  As he drove the quad into the woods, he couldn’t see any tracks. The quad must have been taken to where Floyd found it before it stopped snowing. Then he did see some tracks under a couple of evergreen trees where there was barely any snow.

  After a few minutes, the headlights of the quad shined on a clearing a short distance ahead. As he entered the clearing, he stopped at the very edge, jumped off and stood behind the vehicle using it to shield his lower body.

  Once the noise of the quad was gone, Floyd was shocked to hear Penny’s voice coming to him from the other side of the clearing.

  “I said I’m going to freeze to death if you don’t give me that blanket back. You already took my coat away.”

  She seemed to be yelling as loud as she could. He heard a man’s muffled voice then nothing.

  Floyd was hesitant to use his flashlight. The clearing was dark and he didn’t want to make a better target.

  Then suddenly Floyd heard what sounded like a gas powered generator power up and the whole clearing lit up almost as bright as day. Hennesey must have strung spotlights among the trees surrounding the clearing.

  Hennesey stepped out of the woods on the opposite side from Floyd. It only took a second to realize that Hennesey had Penny in front of him with an arm around her throat and a handgun to her head.

  “Okay Sheriff this is the end for you. Step out from behind that quad.”

  Floyd didn’t want to leave even that little bit of cover but knew Hennesey would threaten Penny more if he didn’t.

  He stepped around to the right side of the quad and stopped.

  Just then, Hennesey yelled out as if in pain. Penny jumped away from him and while he shook his hand, she rolled in the snow back toward the woods behind them.

  As Floyd was bending over pulling out his .38, a shot rang out and he rolled to his right away from the quad. When he looked up, he saw Hennesey standing over him with his gun pointed at his head.

  “Drop the gun Hennesey.”

  That voice came from Hennesey’s left and somewhere in the recesses of Floyd’s mind, it sounded familiar.

  From then on, everything happened so fast that Floyd barely knew what had happened. Hennesey turned to his left and fired off two shots as several shots came from that direction and Hennesey fell just a few couple of feet from where Floyd was still crouched.

  Floyd fell to his knees beside Hennesey and determined quickly that he was still alive. He brought his arms behind his back and hooked him up with handcuffs. Then he found Hennesey’s pistol, picked it up, and stuck it in his belt.

  As he started to look around for the other shooter, a pink blur came flying at him and he opened his arms for his daughter.

  “You got him, you got him Dad!”

  Floyd grinned down at Penny and said, “No, I didn’t. Someone from over there shot him.”

  He looked into her eyes. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you in any way?”

  “No, he said he didn’t like to hurt kids but he kept talking about how he was going to kill you.”

  Floyd breathed a sigh of relief and hugged Penny tight for a moment until she started protesting. “You’re going to break my ribs. Let me down.”

  He laughed for the first time since she’d been kidnapped then put her down about ten feet away from Hennesey and said, “You stay right here while I go over there and check that guy out, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Floyd walked cautiously over to where the shots had come from with his .38 ready. He found a man lying on his stomach in the snow. He kneeled down and rolled the guy over. To his surprise, it was Mike Bates, undercover DEA agent. And he’d been shot. Blood was coming from under his arm where his body armor didn’t totally cover him.

  Floyd reached down, found a strong pulse, and thanked God.

  “That’s Mr. Bates. What’s he doing out here?”

  The sound of her voice was very near Floyd’s ear. He wasn’t surprised in the least that his headstrong little girl didn’t stay where he’d told her to stay. Hopefully, now he’d have a lifetime to work on that.

  “Yeah, and we’ve got to get him to the hospital quick.”

  He looked around the clearing then pointed to where he’d first seen Hennesey with Penny. “Isn’t there an old road right back there?”

  “Yeah, that’s where he parked his truck and the keys are still in it.”

  Floyd turned on his portable radio and keyed the mic. “Dispatch, 100. I have a Code Red. Roll medical times two out County C to the old Baker farm road then a mile and a half down it. They’ll see lots of lights when they get here.”

  Floyd walked back to check on Hennesey and was surprised to see the man’s eyes open looking up at him.

  “Shoot me again. I don’t want to die from that tumor I in my head. It hurts more than getting shot.”

  “You know I can’t do that, Hennesey. You see, that’s the difference between you and me. I would never shoot a defenseless man like I’ve heard you have.”

  Hennesey coughed and said, “Doesn’t matter right now. I’m going to die anyway.”

  Hennesey’s eyes closed and Floyd looked up to see Penny coming from the far side of the clearing with a blanket wrapped around her now.

  Floyd held out his arms and she walked into his arms.

  “Thanks for coming to get me Dad.”

  To Floyd, those were the most powerful words he’d ever heard. His daughter was safe and back in his arms where she’d always belonged. The sad part was that neither one of them had known about the other for nine long years. No more! He couldn’t worry about that anymore. They
were going to make up for lost time now.

  Chapter Fifteen

  One of the FBI agents calling her name awakened Sue Ann from a surprisingly deep sleep.

  She leaned forward on her cot and said, “Yes, what is it? What’s happened?”

  “Ma’am, the sheriff asked me to take you to the hospital but to tell you right away that he has his daughter and that they’re both just fine.”

  She took a moment to process all of that. She looked at the empty cot next to her then leaped to her feet so fast that the agent had to reach out to grab her arm to steady her when she started to fall backwards.

  “You’re sure they’re all right?”

  “Yes ma’am. I spoke to the sheriff personally. Hennesey and a DEA agent were both shot and taken to the hospital. That’s why the sheriff is there ma’am.”

  She shook her head to clear it. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s get over there right now.”

  He grinned and said, “Yes ma’am, if you’ll come with me I’ll drive you over there right away.”

  As soon as the FBI agent dropped her off at the emergency room entrance Sue Ann ran into the waiting room as fast as she could. She looked around the large room where people were sitting in small groups in several places. Then she saw Floyd and Penny standing beside the admitting counter on the far side. She raced over and leaped into Floyd’s arms. Then she reached down and pulled Penny into the embrace. Tears were flooding down her cheeks.

  “Gez, why’s everybody getting so emotional. I’m all right.”

  Sue Ann looked down into Penny’s big brown eyes and started laughing and crying at the same time. “Oh Penny, it’s so good to see you.”

  Then she stepped out of Floyd’s embrace, placed her hands on her hips, and said, “Floyd Ray McCracken, what did you think you were doing going out there all by yourself? You could have been killed.”

  At his shocked expression she said, “Yes, the FBI agent who brought me over here told me all about how you tried to do everything all by yourself.”

  Floyd snorted. “Calm down Sue Ann. I didn’t have any other choice. I had to go out there by myself. Hennesey said he’d kill Penny if I didn’t.”