The minutes trickled like molasses, passing with torturous leisure into hours. The darkness outside seemed to only increase. She knew each passing second decreased the likelihood of finding Whit, and she prayed for dawn to not come.
Hank blocked the light from the hallway with his body. “They have Dorothy and they caught Willie sneaking out the back door. She had your dad’s house key in her pocket. You need to come with me.”
Kendry and Jared were suddenly beside her and they helped her to stand. “Let’s go, angel.”
She spotted Whit’s hooded blanket sleeper lying on the dining room table. She’d bought it for him for warmth on car trips, and her dad must’ve left it there. She barely felt the cold as she hurried with Jared and Kendry out the door, clutching it to her. “What happened?”
“We don’t know. Hank just said to ride with Ace and Kemp.”
Presley Ann was overwhelmed with relief. “That’s a good thing right? Ace and Kemp can find anyone.”
“That’s what I’m hearing,” Kendry said as they hurried over to Ace and Kemp’s SUV. Ace waved at them, his phone to his ear. Kemp opened the rear passenger door of the SUV for them as Ace said, “If it looks like they’re about to bolt, block them in with the van, Duke, but be careful. No idea if they’re armed.”
He hung up and put the vehicle in gear as Kemp climbed in front and they all buckled up. “We’re getting your baby back for you, Presley Ann.”
She sniffled and said, “That’s what everyone keeps saying, and I think I’m starting to believe it.” She pressed Whit’s hooded blanket sleeper to her nose and breathed in his sweet baby scent and tried to calm her breathing.
As he drove, Ace said, “They caught Willie typing a text message. A warning, but she wasn’t able to send it. We traced the number and pinpointed the phone’s location. Dorothy denies any knowledge of the abduction.”
Kemp turned to gaze at her, a reassuring smile on his face. “When we arrive, we need you three to stay in the vehicle. Do you understand?”
Presley Ann nodded, hoping she could obey them. Jared and Kendry squeezed her hands and nodded at her. Kendry said, “We’ll be with you, kitten.”
Ace glanced in his rearview mirror at her and smiled. “Judging by what I heard when we arrived, we’ve got another kitten who has claws in Divine.”
Heat seared Presley Ann’s cheeks and she hid her face in her hands. “Noble and Paul must think I’m insane. And True, too. Those poor men.”
Jared chuckled. “They’ll get over it.”
“I owe them apologies.”
Kendry shook his head. “I was the one who planted the seed in your mind. I’m the one who owes the apology. All I could think was how hostile they were to you and…how much I didn’t want them interfering in our lives. I’m sorry.”
Presley Ann wrapped her arm around his biceps and hugged it hard. “You’re protective. I like that about you both. You’ll have to hold me back. You know that, right?” she whispered.
He grinned down at her and squeezed her arms to him with his strong biceps. “I got you, wild cat.”
The smile felt so preemptive that she wiped it from her face. Whit wasn’t in her arms yet.
* * * *
Jared’s phone rang in his pocket and he answered immediately once he saw caller ID. “Hank, what’s up?” He looked out the window at the faint, pearly dawn as the landscape flew by.
“Willie confessed that the couple, Jules and Marvelle Berke, contacted her after Dorothy told them she couldn’t help them. They offered her the money they’d planned to pay to Presley Ann for the baby, and she swears that her mother did have knowledge of what was happening. Turns out there’s a bit of discord between those two women. James and Vincent are keeping them separated and taking them to the station. They’ll get the truth from both of them. We’re nearly there so I’m gonna let you go.”
Jared slipped the phone in his pocket and prayed that the couple who had Whit were oblivious and could be taken by surprise. He also prayed for Whit’s safety as Ace slowed the vehicle. He had no idea how truly desperate the couple was.
Presley Ann’s eyes were teary and her hand was over her mouth as Ace shut off the headlights and pulled up at the office of what his dad would’ve referred to as a “no-tell-motel.” Weeds grew through the cracks in the old asphalt and outside the rooms, the flower beds, if they could be called that, were overrun with weeds and wild cactus.
A large gray commercial van with a landscaper’s logo on the side was parked next to a four door truck in the lot, the only other vehicle an older model sedan parked two spaces down. Ace stayed behind the wheel with the engine still running but Kemp popped open his door and quietly closed it, while speaking into an ear piece. He walked behind their vehicle and into the office of the motel, as if he were checking in.
“I can’t look,” Presley Ann murmured, putting her hands over her eyes, but just as quickly parting her fingers. “What’s happening?”
Ace murmured something into his phone and then said, “We’re waiting for Hank’s men to get in position in case they attempt to flee through a back window. Once they’re set, they’ll try to get them to open the door and surrender peacefully.”
Presley Ann closed her eyes and started whispering softly into her hands. He stroked her shoulders comfortingly as Kendry released his seat belt and sat forward, eyes trained on the scene.
Ace lifted his hand to his ear. “We have movement in that room two doors down from the perp’s. Do we have eyes on them? Okay, good.”
The motel rooms were dark as Kemp moved at a leisurely pace down the concrete walk outside the long row of bedraggled motel rooms. Jared noticed the drape flicker back and forth in the window of the room closest to them.
Ace said, “Someone be ready to secure the guests in that other room. We don’t need them getting in the crosshairs if this goes south.”
Presley Ann squeezed his hands so hard Jared could feel her delicate bones. She was pale and unblinking as she watched the scene. A guy in a loose stocking cap and an oversized hoodie slipped around the building from the back, his hands in his pockets. Moving along the wall, he stopped as soon as he was within reach of the room closest to them. He looked back at Ace and nodded.
Ace looked back at her and said, “They’re ready. Kemp just told me he heard a baby crying as he walked past the other room. Shouldn’t be too long now.”
Hank had his hand on his firearm as he approached the door and called out to them. Through the glass and metal of the SUV it was impossible to hear him. Completely serious, he knocked again, and spoke sharply, unsnapping his holster and freeing his weapon in case he needed it.
The light came on in the motel room and a brief conversation must’ve happened between Hank and the occupants because a few seconds later the room door cracked open. The woman came out first, a red faced squalling Whit held tightly in her arms as if she was shielding herself with him.
Presley Ann whimpered as she struggled with the seatbelt release button. “Whit, there’s Whit. I need to go to him.”
“Easy, Presley Ann,” Ace said, holding up a staying hand. “Let them bring him to you.”
Hank nodded at Kemp and he walked up to the woman, who was followed out of the motel room by her husband. His hands were in the air, showing he was unarmed. Kemp reached out for the baby cautiously, attempting to gently extract Whit from her grasp. The woman was speaking rapidly, looking as if she was approaching hysterics. She held tight to the baby, who just squalled even louder, the sound reaching them and heightening Presley Ann’s anxiety.
“Please don’t hurt him,” she whispered.
“Kemp won’t let any harm come to him, sweetie,” Ace said and then spoke into his phone.
The woman burst into tears and then finally released Whit to Kemp, who enfolded the baby in his arms and turned his back to them, placing himself between Whit’s kidnappers and any harm that might come to him.
Presley Ann went limp against Jared and he he
ld her to his chest as she began shuddering and crying. Deputies rushed out to handle the captors and then suddenly all hell broke loose.
The window on the motel room two doors down suddenly burst outward, glass flying everywhere, as a man burst through it and landed in the overgrown weed beds.
“You’re not taking us alive!”
“What the hell!” Ace said as he jumped out of the driver’s seat, grabbing his weapon from the console. “Do not leave this vehicle, and if shots are fired get down on the floorboards!” The door slammed and the locks slid home.
“Whit!” Presley Ann screamed. They watched in shock as another man barreled through the broken window and landed on top of the first one, causing him to scream and thrash around.
“Ouch,” Kendry said as he winced.
Jared grimaced and said, “Was that jumping cactus he landed on?”
“Looked like it.”
The two men tussled as the law enforcement officers who weren’t occupied dealing with the kidnappers moved to circle them, weapons at the ready. Kemp had been standing beyond all the hubbub, cradling Whit and rocking him in his big arms, but once it became clear the two men had immobilized themselves in the cactus, he made his way across the parking lot, speaking soothing words to the baby, who was inconsolable.
Seeming unperturbed, Kemp fished the remote key fob from his jacket pocket and hit the button, unlocking the doors. Presley Ann made unintelligible sounds of urgency and Jared helped her down.
Opening the door meant they could hear all the caterwauling, crying, yelling, and fussing, but it was obvious all Presley Ann could see was her baby.
“There’s your mama now, little man,” Kemp cooed as he patted Whit’s back. “His diaper is soaked, sweetie. I’ll grab his diaper bag for you as soon as they let me.”
“Oh, sugar bear,” she whispered as she closed her bawling baby in her arms. He squeaked and hiccupped and then made a bleating sound as he recognized his mommy and began rooting.
“Thank you, Kemp,” she said as she gave them big man a tight one-armed hug that made him blush. “Thank you so much, and I’d really appreciate that diaper bag soon as you can get it. Would you excuse me a minute? He’s starving and somehow I’ve got to get him settled down enough to eat.”
Kemp nodded and opened the SUV’s door again for her. “No problem. We’ll make sure you have privacy.”
She climbed in and he closed her in and stood with them.
“Damned motherfuckin’ cactus thorns in my face!” one of the men hollered.
His companion groaned as he rolled in the cactus. “I got ’em in my balls, and I think you broke my dick when you landed on me. There’s big rocks in here! Owww! I need an ambulance!”
Hank was speaking into his radio as he walked over to them and then looked down at his phone and then held the radio back up to his mouth. “We have a positive identification. They’re gonna need first aid and possibly a trip to the emergency room. What? He said he broke his dick. We wouldn’t want him to say he suffered while in the custody of the Divine County Sheriff’s department, now would we?”
“Huh?” one of the miscreants said as they looked up at the crowd around them. “Shit.” He let his head fall back down and then squealed when he evidently got cactus prickles in the back of his head, too.
“Philip and Gordon Maxwell, you are under arrest—”
“But—but you were after them!” blurted one of the men, pointing at the middle aged couple who were being handcuffed.
“And what?” Hank said, looking at them like they were a special kind of stupid. “Did you think that meant you got a freebie? You revealed yourself, dumbasses. We weren’t even looking for you here. Apprehending the assholes responsible for poaching and slaughtering all those mustangs in Montana, besides making my wife’s life fucking miserable, is just a bonus for us. My only regret is that Jesse and Barry aren’t here to see you two go through that window all ‘Butch-and-Sundance.’”
Wyatt, one of the sheriff’s deputies, nodded and said, “But we got dash cams.”
Phil and Gord looked like they wanted to cry, and they did begin whining and hollering as they were extricated from the cactus by deputies and police officers clad in work gloves.
“Wait!” one of them said, squinting at Hank. “You’re the old fart who married Chubbs?”
Wyatt stumbled and the mouthy jackass landed back in the cactus on his butt. “Ow! You did that on purpose!”
Wyatt said, “My hand slipped. Oops.”
“Watch out for my balls!” Phil yelped as he cradled the prickly family jewels.
Gord whimpered. “I need a doctor, man, my dick is broke!”
Jared and Kendry could only look at each other and laugh.
Kemp spoke up and said, “Wish I’d known those dumbasses were at this location. I had duct tape in the glove box, and there was a bounty offered for their asses in Montana. Oh well, at least we got them, too.”
Kendry and Jared followed him over to the other police car as an ambulance arrived for Gord, the broke-dick guy.
The couple who had taken Whit were incensed that they were being charged with kidnapping. The man, Jules, said, “We were saving that innocent child from a perverted existence. We heard from Dorothy’s daughter that his mother intended to enter into an unholy union with those men.” He spotted them and yelled. “We were saving that boy from being corrupted!”
Vincent put his hand on the man’s head and maneuvered him into the back seat with his wife, who was also shouting at them. “Dorothy said the mother was a dimwit who couldn’t take care of a baby long-term! I wasn’t about to leave this town knowing that child would be neglected, especially knowing about the perverted, illicit—”
The atmosphere improved as Vincent closed the door on their harangue.
“I coulda done without all that nonsense,” Kemp said as they turned back to the other scene. “I hope Whit and Presley Ann are gonna be okay.”
Jared shook his head, but there was a smile on his face. “I doubt she’ll let him out of her sight for a while. Thank you, Kemp, for everything you and Ace did to locate Whit and to bring him back to her safe.”
“I hate seeing mamas upset. Check in with Hank before you leave,” Kemp said before he walked over to join Ace.
True and Noble pulled up in their vehicle with Paul, and Jared and Kendry met them as they jumped out. Paul said, “I heard where it was all going down on the police scanner. Did you get him back?”
Jared nodded. “Yes, Presley Ann has him. Poor little guy was starving, so she’s feeding him right now.” He gestured to the SUV.
True was about to rush over but Kendry held out a hand and detained all three of them. “Let’s give her a few more minutes to nurse him and reconnect. She was pretty upset. Listen, guys, I need to say something.”
“Yeah?” True said with a guarded expression.
“I want to apologize. We were all upset earlier and in the chaos I was placing blame when I should’ve kept my mouth shut. It’s my fault Presley Ann was worked up when she reached her dad’s house. I feel bad about it and I’m sorry. Could we start over, for Presley Ann’s sake?”
True glanced at Noble, saying nothing but speaking volumes with his eyes, before he held out his hand. “Of course. It’s understandable that emotions were running high, and you don’t know us that well yet. And these two haven’t made the best impression.” Noble looked askance at his brother and True said, “What? I’m not the one who came out with guns blazing, sure that she was some skanky freeloader.”
Noble had the grace to blush and shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “I fucked up.”
Paul nodded. “Me, too. I did some checking and I was wrong about her—
True frowned at him. “You what? You did some checking? You snooped around?”
Looking even more embarrassed, Paul nodded. “I had to make sure. Turned out my source knew Ace Webster and Kemp Whittier. Through them I found out I was barking up the wrong tree. Okay!
I’m an asshole! It’s what I do. I’m the bad guy who watches out for your asses. You’ll pardon me if most of what I see is the bad side of people.” He turned to Jared and Kendry and held out his hand. “Turns out your lady is well thought of around here.”
True grinned at Jared and Kendry and said, “Bygones?”
Jared nodded. “Bygones.”
The door of the SUV opened and all three men sighed with obvious relief as she joined then with Whit in her arms. The baby was out cold, except for the occasional stuttering breath from his crying jag. True placed his hand on Whit’s head and let out a deep breath, obviously thankful and relieved.
Presley Ann scowled. “He got sick all over me. They evidently tried to make him take formula. Stupid people. Now I smell like regurgitated formula. Blech.”
“Come on and we’ll give you a ride back to Divine,” True said as he pointed at their luxury SUV parked nearby.
After retrieving Whit’s car seat from the impounded truck, they thanked Hank, Ace, Kemp, and all the others. The drive back to her dad’s house was a quiet one. Leah and her dad were overjoyed when they saw her climb out of the vehicle with Whit in her arms.
It was still early morning but it had already seemed like a very long day as they went by Rudy’s for a quick bite of breakfast and then stopped by the sheriff’s office to make their statements. While they were there, Hank invited them to a get-together at the Divine Creek Ranch celebrating New Year’s Day, as well as Phil and Gord Maxwell’s apprehension and the capture of the kidnappers. Several friends would be there, including Charlotta and Veronica’s brothers Jesse and Barry, but Jared thanked him and declined.
It was obvious Presley Ann needed rest and quiet before True came over that evening to talk with them and spend time with his son.
Prior to that morning, he’d dreaded having Whit’s father over. In light of what had happened, he had a new perspective. True was as blameless in this situation as any of them were and it was obvious he really did care about Whit and what was best for him…and Presley Ann.
Chapter Twenty
Absentminded Angel [Divine Creek Ranch 20] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 26
