Finn and Callahan and all other non-SWAT personnel would remain at the rendezvous point and listen to the take-down over the radio. Once it was clear, they would then be called in.
“You got a spare pair of those?” Finn asked eyeing the binoculars that Callahan held up to his eyes.
“Over there, in the back of the van.” Callahan indicated one of the FBI vans parked nearby.
Grabbing a pair, Finn took up position next to Callahan and together they watched in silence as the SWAT team moved in. The atmosphere was tense and there was no chatter at the RV point, everyone listening intently to the radio which was eerily silent.
The sudden burst of noise made Finn jump. They were in. For the next few minutes, it seemed that the radio was full of shouting and screaming, with SWAT screaming at people to get on the ground and put down their weapons, but thankfully there were no sounds of gunfire. Just as suddenly as it had erupted, the noise suddenly stopped.
“All clear, premises secure. All threats in custody,” the SWAT team commander announced.
“Let’s go.” Callahan was already making his way to his car and Finn quickly followed, jumping into the passenger seat as the car started to move and barely having time to close the door before they left the dirt road and hit the tarmac, closely followed by the police cruisers and paramedics who had been waiting with them for the all clear.
As they pulled up to the farmhouse, the SWAT team was just leading their prisoners out of the house in handcuffs. Finn immediately recognized one of them as being the man they’d seen on the CCTV footage but there was no sign of Flint.
“Are there any more in there?” he asked the SWAT commander, who was bringing up the rear holding his own prisoner.
“No, this is all of them.”
He had to be there! “There’s one missing. He’s got to be here.”
“We’ve cleared the premises. There’s no one else in there.”
Turning away, he saw that the farm hand was about to be loaded into the back of a prison van. Running over to him, he grabbed him by his shirt front and would have pulled him off his feet if he had hadn’t been held up by the officer holding him. “Where is he? Where’s Flint?” he yelled in his face.
“No comment,” he answered, smirking.
Finn hadn’t realized he’d pulled his arm back, prepared to take a punch, until he felt a hand on his arm. “I don’t think you want to do that.” Callahan pulled him away.
“Flint’s not here.”
“I know, but we’ll find him. It’s over for them now. There’s nowhere for him to hide. It’s only a matter of time before we track down everyone who took part in this operation. We’ll get him.”
“You’re right.” Finn took a deep breath, steadying himself. “I’ll go and check the barns, see if they’ve found any of the kids yet.”
They’d assumed that it would be likely that the set-up here would be similar to the set up at the Flint farm, so those waiting at the RV point had been told that their first priority was to check the barns. It had paid off. As Finn entered the first barn he could see that a trap door had been found and, as he watched, the first child was helped out of the depths and into the arms of a waiting paramedic.
His intense relief that they had found the kids was tinged with horror. How many more places were there like this? How many more kids? There was nothing he could do there; they had everything in hand. The barn, the yard, everywhere he looked was a hive of activity with people milling about, talking into radios.
About five hundred yards from the back of the barn he could see a small outbuilding, no more than a hut really, that no one seemed to be paying any attention to. The hut was small, no more than five yards wide and a couple of yards tall. It seemed like a fairly new structure, the wood still being in good condition with no sign of rot, but Finn struggled to understand what it could be used for. It was too small for farm animals or machinery, so something about it struck him as strange.
“Hey!” he called out to one of the SWAT team waiting to load his prisoner into the back of the van. “Anyone check that hut out?”
His prisoner picked that moment to try and head-butt him. Stepping out of the way, he shouted back, “Everything’s been cleared,” before taking his prisoner to the ground.
Finn decided to check it out for himself. The noise from the activity taking place at the farmhouse dimmed as he moved further away and closer to the hut, until eventually he could hardly hear it at all. Walking around the outside, he couldn’t find any windows and there was only one door. A padlock hung from it, but it was open and unlocked.
Finn was curious but had no sense of danger as he opened the door. He’d barely put one foot inside before he was stopped in his tracks.
“One more move and I’m putting a bullet in your brain.”
The voice came from his right. Looking out of the corner of his eye, he saw Flint step from the shadows holding a gun pointed directly at his head.
“Raise your hands.”
Finn did as he was told, his mind racing. The building was supposed to be clear!
“Now step inside.” He stood stock still, barely breathing as Flint moved behind him and closed the door before coming to stand in front of him.
“Hello, Finn. I wish I could say it was nice to see you but under the circumstances, I’d be lying.”
“You know there’s no way out, don’t you?”
He nodded. “Yes, it would seem that way. But there’s no reason why I can’t take a couple of you with me.”
“What is this place?” Finn looked around, trying to distract him.
“This? Ah well, this is where my colleague sends his boys when they’ve been very naughty. He sometimes forgets they’re out here, unfortunately. He’s lost a couple that way.” He chuckled
Finn felt sick. “So what’s your plan? They’re going to notice I’m not around very soon and come looking for me.”
“And they’ll find you. They’ll just be too late to save you.”
Everything seemed magnified in that moment as Finn watched Flint’s finger start to squeeze the trigger. Everything else in the room lost focus and all he could see was the trigger start to move under the pressure.
In that millisecond, he had time to be surprised that his life wasn’t flashing before his eyes. Wasn’t that what was supposed to happen?
“Get down!” The shout took him by surprise, but he instantly dropped to his knees as the door behind him flung open at the same time a shot was fired. He watched as Flint was knocked off his feet by a shot to the shoulder, crying out in pain as the impact sent him twisting as he fell, his gun flying out of his hand.
“I thought I told you, you were here as an observer only?”
Finn got to his feet as Callahan retrieved Flint’s gun from the floor.
“What took you so long?” Finn took his cuffs from his belt and secured Flint’s hands as Callahan called for someone to come and take him into custody.
“You’ll never get us all. We’re everywhere,” Flint panted as he lay on the floor, bleeding.
“Make sure you tell that to your cellmate,” Finn tossed over his shoulder as he walked out the door. “I’m sure he’ll enjoy trying to wipe you all out, starting with you.”
***
“How did you know I was in there?” Finn asked as they made their way back to the main farmhouse behind them.
“I heard you ask about the hut. I did shout and tell you to wait but you didn’t hear me, I guess. When I saw the door close it seemed odd. Why would you need to close the door? So I thought I’d check it out.”
“Well I’m glad you did, but how on earth did you know he had a gun to my head?”
“I heard the voices when I got close and there was a small hole in the wall, just big enough for me to be able to figure out what was going on.”
“Well, thank you. It would seem I owe you one.” Finn shook his hand. “Maybe you’re not as bad as I thought you were after all.”
“J
ust don’t hug me, okay?”
Laughing, Finn agreed. “So where are you taking them?”
“To the local jail for now. I’m going to interview Flint as soon as he’s had medical treatment. We can’t afford to waste any time.”
“Can I sit in?”
“How did I know you were going to ask that? You can observe. Best I can do.”
“Good enough.”
Thirty-Seven
Finn looked at his old high school teacher through the glass. Though physically it was clearly the same man, he seemed different. Whether it was the fact that Finn now knew what terrible secrets he had hidden, or whether it was because now that he was in custody he’d let his mask slip, he didn’t know.
“His lawyer’s here at last, now we can get started.” Callahan had been pacing back and forth for the last two hours waiting for him to arrive. Flint had refused to say anything and had immediately lawyered up when they’d started to question him.
Finn watched as Callahan made his way into the room and sat down across the table from them.
“Mr Flint, you know what you’re here for. Do yourself a favour and tell us everything you know. We know there are a lot more of you, if you co-operate I’ll tell the judge and who knows, he might go easier on you.”
Flint smirked. “No comment.”
Callahan carried on “you know, these are very serious charges and we’re in a death penalty state. Your cooperation could be the difference between life in prison or the needle.”
Flint leaned over to talk to his lawyer before sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms. “Get the D.A. down here and if the deal is good enough, I may be able to help you.”
Suspending the interview, Callahan left the room. “Bastard lawyer” he spat as he joined Finn in the viewing room. “We need that information so I’ll have to speak to the D.A. and see what they can do.
They spent another restless hour drinking bad coffee from the machine in the corridor waiting for the D.A. to arrive, and it took another two hours to come to a deal that Flint and his lawyer were happy with. Finn wasn’t happy about it, though. He wanted to see the bastard die for what he’d done, but if they wanted to know about the others involved and what had happened to the other kids, they’d had to agree to take the death penalty off the table.
Eventually, though, he started talking and what he told them was worse than anything they’d imagined.
The network of fight clubs was at least fifty strong, and all of them were holding young boys captive. He seemed to get a thrill out of telling them that it spanned the whole of the United States and had been in operation for decades. He’d told them about his black book containing details of all the clubs and it was immediately retrieved from his property. A massive operation would be mounted by the FBI in the coming days to raid all of the premises listed simultaneously. Thankfully, Flint’s pride had stopped him alerting the others to his failure.
The most shocking revelation though came when he was asked what had happened to all the kids he had kidnapped over the years that were no longer kept in his dungeon. He showed no emotion, no remorse, as he calmly told them that the ones that didn’t make it, or who weren’t considered good enough, were buried in one of the fields on his farm. Shockingly, he couldn’t remember the exact number; they meant that little to him.
Thirty-Eight
The weather suited the mood as they stood in the field two days later. The sky was gray and the rain had started again, soaking the ground and making puddles in the mud. “Why don’t you go home? I’ll call you with any news.”
Kat could see the concern on Finn’s face but she had no intention of leaving. “No, I’m staying.” She was pleased he didn’t argue. She didn’t want to have to explain that she felt she needed to be here in this terrible place. Needed to be here for the boys. She’d left Daniel at home with Jamie; he was safe now but these boys, they had no one here to care for them so it felt right that she be here.
Callahan had organized the activity now taking place in the field. There was a team who specialized in body recovery, a team of forensic anthropologists and several senior FBI officials. It was left to them now, and all they could do was watch and wait.
“I am sorry, you know,” she said. “Sorrier than you’ll ever know.” She turned to look at him but he kept facing the field.
“I know.”
“Are we ever going to be able to move past this?” She needed to know. She’d waited long enough and after everything she’d been through over the past few days she didn’t want to wait any longer.
He turned to her then. “It hurt, Kat. Not just what you did. I can understand that, I guess, though it would have been different if you’d just told me. No, what hurt the most was that for twenty years you stayed away and kept this from me.” He sighed “If you hadn’t come back for Jamie, would you ever have told me?”
“Probably not.” She knew she had to honest with him if she wanted any chance of salvaging any part of their relationship.
He nodded, as if she was confirming something he already knew. “But I’ve learned over the past few days just how fleeting life is. So yes, Kat, we’ll get past this. It just may take a little time.”
She couldn’t ask for anything more, so left it there and turned her attention back to the field.
***
It didn’t take long for the first body to be found and over the next few days, the whole field was probed until they were happy that they’d recovered all the bodies that had been buried there. It would take months to identify the remains and return them to their families, but at least they would be going home at last.
“Coffee?” Finn asked, pouring out two cups.
“Sure, that would be good.” Callahan took the offering and led the way into the chief’s office.
“So today was the last day out on the field?”
“Yep. All the kids on the list are accounted for except one. The forensic anthropologist was able to tell us that, although they’ve not been identified yet, none of the bodies recovered was female.”
“So what happens now?”
“Well, we’ve tried to question Flint some more but as soon as we mentioned the girl he clammed up. We won’t be getting any more out of him. We’re going to have to face the possibility that we’ll never find out what happened to her.”
Thirty-Nine
“Okay, we’re off!” Jamie’s voice reached her in the kitchen.
“Hang on!” Wiping her hands, which were wet from washing the breakfast dishes, she quickly went into the hall. Daniel, holding Jamie’s hand, was beaming, clearly excited.
“So you got everything?” She counted the items off on her hand. “Sunscreen, hat, pocket money?”
“Yeesssss! Can we go now?”
Kat laughed as she dropped to her knees and gave him a hug. “Sure, honey. Have a great time and be good for Jamie, okay?” She was taking him to a fair that was taking place in the next town over. Kat had wanted to take him, but it was her turn to visit Jake so Jamie had insisted on ditching work and taking him herself.
“Any problems call me, okay?” She directed this at Jamie.
“There won’t be any. Give Jake my love.”
Kat stood at the door, watching as they got in the car and then drove off, leaving her alone for the first time in days. She had an hour before she had to leave to make visiting time at the prison and she had a lot of stuff to catch up on. She hadn’t been into the office for days and she still had all the property records that she’d borrowed from the town council office. If she was quick, she could drop the files back into town and come back via the office and check in.
Humming to herself, she went into the office at the back of the house to collect the files that she’d left there before all hell had broken loose. She hadn’t even had chance to go through them and she clearly didn’t need to now but curiosity, or just plain nosiness, got the best of her. Sitting down in the chair behind the desk, she went through the pile until sh
e found the records for the farmhouse where she had been held. That’s odd. The farmhouse wasn’t in Flint’s name; it was in the name of a Jayne Flint. Changing her plans, she decided that she would hang on to the records for another day and have a closer look tonight when she got back from the visit.
Her thoughts turned to her nephew as she set off on the drive to the prison. She hadn’t really had any time to worry about what he’d said to Jamie over the past few days but now that she was on her way to see him, her initial concern returned and she was determined to find out what he meant.
Sitting at the same screen where Jamie had sat the week previously, Kat was shocked when Jake finally came through the door on the other side. One of his arms was in a sling and was quite obviously causing him pain from the way he cradled it. But what was even more shocking was his face. As he sat down opposite her, Kat took in the swollen and bruised left eye socket and cheek and the nasty cut to his lip. “What on earth happened?” she asked him as soon as he picked up the handset.
He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Something and nothing. No big deal.”
“Are you kidding me? Have you looked in a mirror today?”
“Honestly, Kat, it’s nothing. Please, don’t push.”
She could hear the tone in his voice and it worried her. He really didn’t want her to push this, but why? “Jake, what’s going on?” She kept her voice low. “What you said to your sister, about if anything happens to you, what did you mean?”
He looked up and met her eyes then and there was no disguising the fear in them. “Nothing. I meant nothing, Kat. Please just leave it.” She watched as he glanced at the guard before turning back to her. “I’ve got to go. I’m sorry,” he said before quickly, hanging up the phone before she had the chance to reply and telling the guard he wanted to be taken back to his cell.
The McKays Box Set - To Kill For, Blood Sport, Hard Time & Gang Land Page 25
