by Dale Mayer
Danny considered Ian's comments. What the hell happened to TV these days? Barry did nothing but play computer games all the time. And now he wondered, how the hell did the kid pay for all that new equipment he'd just bought?
Barry flushed. "It is. But Reid's right. Two kids have been kidnapped. Now we have one missing…and then there's Reid."
"Yeah, then there's me," Reid piped up from the backseat. "Whatever that means."
"It means they haven't directly attacked you."
"They tried. I got away."
Ian glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "I still don't get why they'd try to kidnap you three. What have you done to them?"
Reid stared at him. Red anger washed over his face. "We didn't do anything to them. We never even saw them before. Well, at least I never did."
Danny pounced. "Did one of the other kids? You said something about this earlier but never explained."
"You'll have to ask them."
Barry twisted in his seat to stare at Reid. "Look if you know something – and by that I mean anything – this is a good time to let us know. We can't help you if we don't know what we're up against."
Reid pursed his lips and his face scrunched up in thought. "It might have something to do with some pictures Gem took the other night. After you guys finished questioning us and let us go home, she checked her laptop but the folder with the pictures had been deleted. Her flash drive was taken too."
"What?"
Danny barely moderated his tone. He wished he could grab Reid and give him a good shake. "Pictures? Of what?"
"Nothing really. The one guy looks similar to the guy Gem nicknamed Dumpty." Reid shrugged. "The pictures are blurry so we can't really see much. He's got gloves on and is carrying some kind of canister. We don't know any more than that."
At the Danny's disbelieving look he held out his hands. "I don't know anything else. Honest."
"So Mark saw the pictures, too? And Gem and you, and who else?" Danny frowned.
"Misty?" Barry asked, curiosity in his voice.
"No. But Misty went out with Gem later that evening and that's when the men chased the girls back to the home."
Seeing red, Danny tried to keep his temper back. But it was damn hard. "Why are we just hearing about this now?"
"Cause you didn't ask. Besides, you still wouldn't have believed us." Reid's voice, so reasonable and even toned, made Danny mad.
"So you don't offer information, you just answer questions. And too damn bad if we ask the wrong questions."
"Pretty much. Learned those rules at juvie." Reid smiled proudly while all three law enforcement guys stared at each other in disbelief.
"Okay, so from the top… What was the chain of events that led up to today?" Danny asked, turning back to face in the direction they were traveling. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Maybe, if he'd heard this all last night, none of today's problems and crimes would have happened. And maybe not…
Reid frowned. "Well, as clear as I can remember," he said, then went on to give a detailed account of events.
"So Gem may have seen these men doing something wrong, something she shouldn't have seen? And maybe Gem has photos of them caught in the act?"
"I don't know what they were up to." Reid raised his shoulders before settling back against the seat, looking more relaxed than he had in hours. "But after she took those photos, all hell broke loose."
***
Gemma huddled under what she'd originally thought of as a blanket, but the women had called it an afghan or something. Not that she cared; it was warm. With her eyes closed, she hunkered lower. Someone had put a hot cup of chocolate in her hands a while ago and that had been lovely. Except her stomach still churned with nerves. The first swallow, she'd struggled to get down and the second had met the first trying to slosh its way back up. The third and fourth had followed orders but all of it sat in a pool in the midst of the storm of heaving stomach acid. She didn't know if her system would ever calm down. She couldn't remember ever being that panicked, that close to death or torture or whatever those assholes had planned for her.
She didn't want to know their plans. There was enough fodder from these last few days to keep her nightmares well supplied for years to come.
"There, there. You just rest." One of the older ladies, maybe the one who owned the afghan, patted her back gently. "You've been through a lot, but it's over now."
Gemma didn't know what to say, so said nothing. She didn't live in a fantasyland like normal people. She already knew that bad stuff happened to good people all the time. She just wondered when fate would move on to mess up someone else's life.
The noise grew around her as a vehicle, with a flashing light, screeched to a halt off to one side. The crowd grumbled, and closed in protectively around her.
"'Bout time the sheriff got here. Now, maybe we can get some answers," said the guy who'd been hovering in the background.
"Don't you worry, little girl. We'll make sure there's appropriate action now." One lady patted her shoulder gently.
Gemma huddled lower. She didn't think so. Not that the sheriff was involved with those other dudes, but he wasn't going to listen to her today any more than he'd listened to her yesterday.
"Gem?"
She raised her head, frowning. With everyone standing around her like they were so protective, she couldn't see who'd spoken.
"Gem?"
"Yes." She stood up and recognized her friend. "Reid!"
He reached her side, finally, a big grin splitting his face. In an unusual move he reached out and gave her a quick hug. A damp one.
"Are you okay?" He pulled back and frowned. "You don't look so good."
"I'll be fine." And she would be. She just wasn't quite there yet. And now she was a little wet, thanks to him. Still it was so good to see him safe. Shamefaced, she admitted, "I don't do that whole damsel in distress thing well."
"What happened?" He searched her features, before giving her a quick once over. Not that he could see much. The afghan damn near covered her shoes.
"They caught me as I was traipsing up the creek behind you. Hardly saw them coming. Tied me up and threw me into a maroon van. I persuaded them to let me go to the bathroom here," she nodded toward the gas station. "Then I managed to get out of my ropes and came out screaming for help, running into the middle of the street…" She gestured to the crowd listening avidly. "And this is what happened."
"Damn." Reid tugged her back onto the bench and sat down beside her. "I'm so sorry. I tried to get the cops to help, but…"
"Figures." They shared a smile of understanding that effectively excluded the gathered crowd. How could anyone else even begin to understand what they'd been through to this point, and how it colored their perspective on life? And that brought the third member of their group to mind. "Thanks anyway, Reid. What about Mark? Any news?"
"I think he's hiding out. I tracked him to the other side of the creek where he climbed up the bank. Then I lost his tracks. Once we heard about you, we drove straight into town again."
"Those two idiot goons are going to be in even bigger trouble for losing both of us." She shook her head. "They might just shoot us outright the next time they see us."
"Well, you aren't going to get caught again, so that's not an issue," the sheriff added to their not-so-private conversation.
Gemma and Reid looked up at him.
"And you're going to stop them? Really?" Gemma asked, widening her gaze and staring openly at him. She really wanted to walk up to him and kick him in the shins. If he'd believed her in the first place, they could have avoided this situation.
"We'll bring them in for questioning." He had his phone out and was dialing someone.
"What's different today, versus yesterday?" Reid challenged, tilting his head sideways to study the sheriff. "We told you about these guys yesterday."
"The girl is right? You knew about these men, like she said? Then why haven't these men been picked up, already?"
The crowd tightened around them.
One old guy stepped closer to the sheriff, almost shoving his face into the other man's face. "Sheriff, you've had a pretty easy ride here for a long time. That can come to a quick end if we don't see this handled, and handled correctly." Up came a gnarled finger to shake under the poor sheriff's nose. "I don't want to be having a talk with your daddy about this, but I will if things don't get fixed real soon."
Gemma grinned at the discomfited look on the sheriff's face. He might try to ignore Gem, but that wouldn't wash with these townspeople. They'd put him in power and they could take it away just as easily.
"We have been made aware of these individuals, yes. We're looking for them as we speak." The sheriff kept his voice even and commanding, his shoulders straight and his head high.
No one appeared impressed.
Gem straightened, one eyebrow raised. "Right, like I believe that."
"The sheriff was good to me. Once he believed me, that is," Reid assured her. He reached an arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently.
"About time. It didn't seem like they were listening to any of us yesterday." She glowered at the world in general and sank back against the bench.
"You need to come into the office and we'll take your statement."
The young deputy went as if to take her arm, when the older lady who'd been patting her back stepped up. "Don't you touch her. She needs to see a doctor. You're gonna take her straight to the hospital."
The sheriff stepped forward. "Did they hurt you?"
Gemma held out her torn and bleeding wrists. "My ankles too."
"There's also blood showing through her shirt," said the older lady, her hand plucking away at the light cotton material on her back under the afghan.
"Really?" Gem twisted around automatically but of course, she couldn't see anything. Couldn't be that bad if she didn't feel it.
"Yeah. It may not be much, but better that the doctor checks you out." Reid reached out a hand and helped her to stand up. "I'm not sure who's driving us where, but my vote is to get your wrists cleaned and bandaged before anything else."
"Right. Wash away the evidence so there's no proof, huh Reid?" She tried hard but couldn't quite manage to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "Those kidnappers will love that."
"Good point." The same senior who'd confronted the sheriff, pulled out a fancy camera phone, high tech enough that it surprised Gem. "We're not going to let anything get by this time. We don't want men around here who abuse children." He bent down to her ankles. "Lift up your pant leg."
When Gemma gingerly lifted up her right one, the crowd cried out. She looked down to see blood pooling at her shoe. "It's probably not that bad."
"It's not good either." Reid stepped back so the camera buff could take pictures. The elderly man took several of the welts on that ankle and then repeated the process with her other one. "There. Now your back." He took a couple pictures of Gemma's wrists, her back, her exhausted face and the blood-stained shirt. "The blood is already drying on your back. They're going to have to soak it off you at the hospital, as it is."
The camera buff stepped back. "Now get this little 'un down to the hospital and get her fixed her up." He pierced the young deputy with his glare. "Barry, I don't want to be hearing anything about you not taking good care of her. Not if you're looking to turn this summer gig into a full time law enforcement career."
The hapless special constable shook his head. "I'll take care of her, sir."
"Hmmpph. See that you do." The old guy tapped his camera. "I've got the pictures to prove what she's been through. I'm going to the station with the sheriff and give him a copy. But I'll be keeping some for myself. Just to make sure this little girl gets justice."
Barry nodded solemnly. "I won't forget, sir. We'll take more pictures at the hospital, too."
"See that you do. Now go." The old man stepped back. "I'm gonna have another little talk with our sheriff now. See what the rest of us here can do to help."
Gem barely hid her grin at the man's tone of voice. She hoped the good ole boy sheriff enjoyed what was coming. Old age apparently had its advantages.
***
Mark groaned and tried to sit up again. Everything hurt. He'd been trying not to swear for the better part of the last week as another step to cleaning up his act. Only no one had noticed. Figures. Then again, everyone else's swearing had increased these last few days. Except for John and Doris.
The home had been such a pleasant surprise after juvie that he'd made a conscious effort to make a go of it. Eighteen was looming. A new start. He could work, eventually get his record expunged and put some thought into college. Only he didn't know if he could get student loans. He knew he sure couldn't make that kind of money very quickly. The temptation to revert to his old way of life had reared its ugly head more than once.
He'd resisted. He knew now, it wasn't the life he wanted.
If he could get through this, he had a chance for a new start.
As he lay on the hot ground, with tall grasses surrounding him and a bright blue sky above, he wondered what his chances were of making it to the first day of college. Right now, he believed if these guys had their way, he'd never get there.
They weren't going to win. He couldn't let them.
But at the moment, it sure felt like they might. He struggled to his feet again. One step at a time. Just one, then another.
He forced himself forward.
***
Unbelievable. How could these kids get away each and every time? Fixer couldn't believe it. His cousins weren't the brightest, but damn…he hadn't believed they were this stupid?
Everything was going wrong. This was supposed to be a quiet operation. Not a public spectacle. And his cousins were supposed to be in disguise. So they couldn't be identified.
Should have just knocked the kids out, tied them up and blindfolded them.
Instead...
Damn. They'd been too soft on that girl. She probably faked having to go to the damn bathroom. It's what he'd do in the same situation.
Why hadn't they drugged her like the first girl? Or would she have reacted badly to the drugs, too? A shudder rippled down his back. For the first girl, they'd probably used some of the drugs they used on their horses.
He had no trouble blaming his two helpers for these problems. They'd been fired from most of the jobs they'd held. It's not that they were completely incompetent. They just didn't think on their feet.
Still, maybe this would get the job done after all. The kids were obviously in danger. They should be shipped back to juvie now.
If not, he might have to ask the same uncle to step back in and help out. Talk about keeping things in the family. Even his aunt had been roped in to answer the phone calls to the number they'd put on the EPA business cards. She'd been verifying their IDs all along. Now if only he could keep the charade going long enough to get through this.
Unfortunately, his access into the sheriff's office hadn't revealed much about what these juvie kids had seen or heard.
And that wasn't good.
CHAPTER NINE
Gem sat in the hospital waiting room, the young deputy on one side and Reid on her other. She'd given her story to the deputy while waiting nervously. She liked doctors about as much as she liked the authorities. Still, being treated as if she were a normal person, instead of a criminal, was pretty easy on her soul. Out of the blue, she snorted in disgust, causing Reid to look over at her with an unspoken question on his face. As if.
She stared down at her tattered shoes and ragged jeans. Who'd have thought her wild run and escape would destroy her outfit? Her generic clothing had shifted to the homeless look – and she hadn't even turned eighteen or been kicked out yet. Great.
"Gemma Stone?"
She stood up and followed the harried nurse to the next cubicle. The deputy stood just outside. The nurse disappeared. Gem hated to sit on the white paper sheets. They'd have to be incinerated afterwards.
A doctor entered the cubicle. "Go ahead and hop up here so we can take a look." She closed the curtain and picked up Gem's paperwork.
Gem sat on the examining table and held out her wrists. Walking over to her, the gray-haired doctor gave her a sharp look then turned her attention to the bleeding lacerations. "I guess this explains the presence of the deputy out there."
As she didn't seem to need an answer, Gem stayed quiet. Until the doctor hiked up her pant leg and stripped off one of her anklet socks. Then Gemma yelped. The blood had soaked through and dried and removing it was like pulling off a big scab.
