by Ciana Stone
“Wouldn’t think of it, buddy.”
Grady tipped his hat, turned and left. As he drove, he placed a call. “Hey, bro.” he said as soon as the call was answered. “How’s it going?”
“Same as always, brother. How ‘bout you?”
For one second, Grady considered what he was about to do. Calling on the Navy to help him on a personal matter was not something he would do, but calling on contacts in other sectors of the government was a whole other ballgame.
Like Doug Eubanks, who happened to rank high in the CIA and who owed Grady more than one favor. “I’m in need of a favor.”
“Off-site?”
Grady knew what Doug was asking. The CIA wasn’t sanctioned to operate on home soil except in very select circumstances. This wasn’t one of them.
“On.” Grady answered.
“Give me what you have and I’ll let you know if I can help.”
“I need the location of every hog farm within a three-hundred-mile radius of Taylorsville, Texas.”
“That’s it?”
“Yep.”
“Then you’re in luck. I’ll call you back in an hour. I need to call in a favor of my own.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
“You bet. Talk to you in an hour.”
Grady ended the call and turned his mind to seeing the end of his mission, namely visualize him and Charli together with her safe and sound. He needed to see that clearly in his head so that he could make it happen.
When he pulled up in front of what was once the liquor store in what was now called The Zone, he saw the curious and the suspicious looks he received. Grady took a handgun from the glove compartment and when he stepped from the truck, he shoved it in the back waistband of his pants.
A tall man in a white Stetson sporting a badge of the Texas Rangers walked out of the building. “Grady Judd?”
“That’d be me.” Grady stepped forward as the man extended his hand.
“Zeb Childress.”
“A pleasure, Ranger.” Grady took Zeb’s hand. “I’m guessing Tom let you know I was on the way.”
“He did.” Zeb gestured to the building. “Come on in.”
They walked inside. Zeb gestured toward an old foldout table with four equally old metal chairs placed around it. “Excuse the digs, but we thought it best to set up here where we can get intel from the locals.”
“And?”
“So far, nothing. We’re waiting on a report of all the farms in the area that raise hogs, along with all the butchers and slaughterhouses.”
“I might be able to help with that.”
“Oh?
“I’m waiting on a call. I’ll share what I find out, but you need to know that I’m going to find Charli and bring her home. No matter what it takes.”
“I’m with you on that.”
“You know her?” Grady was surprised and even a bit jealous until Zeb explained how he came to know and befriend Charli.
“So, here’s the deal, Grady. I’m aware of who you are and what you can do. And I don’t doubt that you’re probably the most qualified man in this state for such a mission, but in this we’re partners and I need to know I can depend on you if shit goes south.”
“You have my word.”
“That’s good enough for me.”
Grady nodded and checked the time. “Within the next ten minutes, I should be hearing from someone with a list of every slaughterhouse, auction, or pig farm within a three-hundred-mile radius. Once I get that, I’m going to ask for a satellite sweep. If there’s a white sedan with no plates parked at any of those locations, I want to know it.”
“You’ve got the pull to make that happen?”
“Let’s just say I’m calling in favors. The point is, the minute we have the Intel we’re looking for, we have to be ready to move. You and me. Arrange for backup, but they’re to hang back. We’ll go in. I’m not taking any chances on sending the cavalry and getting Charli killed.”
“You’re betting she’s still alive,” Zeb said and then raised one hand. “And before you go and knock me off this chair, let me add that I hope she is, but you seem to be counting on it, so tell me what you know that I don’t.”
“I know she’s smart, strong, and fast, and that if the perp is taking a woman every ten days, the odds are that he’s keeping them alive for at least a couple of days after he takes them, so the odds are she has twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”
“And the first twenty-four will be up at half past eleven tonight. You better hope you get what you need before then.”
“We’ll get it.” Grady wasn’t as certain as he sounded. He had no doubt that Doug would come through with the information, but would he be able to retask a satellite? That remained to be seen.
*****
Charli stretched up on her toes, extending her shackled arms as high as she could to wrap her hands around the chains attached to the thick metal bands. Above her, the chain was hooked on a thick nail that had been driven into a wooden post.
She’d been hanging here for hours, ever since her captors realized she was conscious. Charli had hidden that fact as long as possible in order to try to determine where she was and if there was a chance at escape.
Unfortunately, she’d made a mistake. One that had caused her captors to drag her up and hang her from the post. All in plain view of things no sane person would want to see.
Even now, she forced herself to look only at the door as she tugged on the chain. When she felt an almost imperceptible give, she felt like cheering. If she could bend the nail enough, maybe she could get the chain to slide off.
Her feet were lashed together but her captors had used duct tape, so if she could free her hands, she could free her feet and have a fighting chance. And if there was one thing she needed right now, it was some kind of a chance.
This place was the queen of all nightmares.
She heard a sound and stopped moving. It came from above. Charli knew she was underground, but that was all. Still, she could hear noises. Cows and pigs, an occasional slam of a door or the sound of a vehicle.
And the sounds of his footsteps on the rough wooden stairs. That was the sound that made her want to scream because it always preceded terrible things.
That was the sound she heard now. Heavy, slow footsteps. Thankfully, there was only one set of footsteps. Had those heavy ones been followed by lighter, it would have been more frightening. This way, maybe she had a chance to continue working what might be a foolish plan but was all she had.
She tried to loosen her muscles and hang limply. He mumbled as he walked across the room, complaining about being treated like a slave and a dumbass. Charli saw that as an opportunity.
“Water. Please,” she whispered.
“Thirsty?”
“Yes, sir. Water, please. Sir.”
“Sir?” He grabbed her chin in his hand and wrenched her head back. “Why you call me sir?”
“Because you’re in charge. You’re the boss.” That was far from the truth, but she saw the effect it had on him. He craved respect like an addict craved a fix.
“I’m the boss,” he repeated.
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m the boss. I’m in charge.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m in charge!” he yelled, then turned around and raised both arms like a prizefighter who’d just won a bout. “I’m the boss. I’m the boss. I’m the fucking boss!”
Charli hadn’t expected such a strong reaction. Nor had she expected him to suddenly run to the stairs and clamor up them, still shouting, “I’m the boss!”
She could hear him for close to a minute, then there was silence. Shit. That hadn’t gotten her anything. Or had it? She resumed her efforts, got her hands wrapped firmly around the chains and started pulling with all her might.
Charli refused to look across the room, refused to acknowledge what her captors intended to be her fate. She was going to escape. She was not going to die in this hole at th
e hands of these monsters.
*****
“What do you mean, you had cruisers check out the locations?” Grady didn’t care that his voice boomed loud enough to make everyone stop what they were doing and turn to look in his direction.
He was with Zeb Childress at the Cotton Creek Police station along with two other Rangers, two FBI agents, Chief Greene, and sheriffs from four other counties.
The information his friend Doug had provided prompted Grady to access and decide quickly. He asked his friend for satellite surveillance on every location on the list within a hundred-mile radius. He reasoned that the perp would not operate far from home because of the risk of getting pulled over for driving without a tag. Staying under one hundred miles from his home base would give him a better chance of sticking to back roads and thus avoiding detection.
That information had narrowed the list to twenty-three places and they’d received video from Doug of all the footage from the satellite. While Grady had been outside on the phone with Doug, the people inside had made a decision he’d just now found out about.
Police and/or sheriff or Ranger patrols had been sent to scope out all twenty-three locations to see if a white sedan was at any of the places. No vehicle had been spotted on the satellite surveillance.
Grady understood the reasoning behind the decision, but disagreed with the implementation. “If you were going to do that, you should have sent in men on foot who could have checked without drawing attention. This could alert the perp and make him act in haste.”
He knew they got what he was saying. If they spooked the perp, he might kill Charli.
Zeb spoke up. “All officers were instructed to tell residents that they’re looking for a man who escaped police custody and who has already robbed and shot someone, taken their car and it was found near the resident’s home, so they’re checking to make sure people are okay and the suspect isn’t holding anyone hostage or hiding out in a barn or garage.”
Grady nodded. “It’s as good a cover as any, but could backfire.”
“Any plan can. But it’s all we have and until we hear that—“
At that point, he was interrupted by one of the deputies manning the phones. “A Ranger just called in. He spotted a 1972 white Chrysler with no plates parked in a barn on a hog farm thirty-eight miles from here.”
The deputy hurried to the computer and keyed in the coordinates given to him by the Ranger. In moments, they had an aerial view of a farm. Grady looked at Zeb and Zeb nodded.
“Okay, people, here’s what’s going to happen…”
Chapter Eighteen
Charli looked up, blinking her eyes furiously to try to clear them of the sweat that dripped from her brow. The nail from which her chain was hung was bent enough that if she hopped away from the post, she might be able to pull it free.
Some time ago, she didn’t know how long, but she’d guess at least three hours, someone had shown up that upset her captors. They’d disposed of one of the women in the basement with her and had the other strapped to the table with a promise they’d be back to take care of her.
Her plan to work on the man had obviously failed because his partner, the woman, had promised Charli that she had a special plan for her, just for trying to make thing difficult for her by telling the dumbass he was the boss.
That sent Charli into a frenzy and she’d tugged, pulled, and jerked until her strength was almost depleted. Now came the moment of truth. With a prayer it would work, she took as big a hop as she could and jerked her arms. The chain released and she fell flat on her face into the dirt. She didn’t care. It took all she had not to cry in relief.
She rolled into a sitting position and frantically pulled at the tape binding her legs. Once they were free, she bolted to her feet. She quickly ran to the table and started loosening the thick straps that secured the woman to the metal table.
The woman’s eyes rolled in terror. Charli didn’t remove the tape from the woman’s mouth. She helped the woman to sit and held her as the woman struggled to get off the table.
Charli put her finger to her own lips and made a shushing sound. “Listen to me,” she whispered. “I’ll remove the tape, but you have to promise to be quiet and not make a sound. We have to come up with a plan for when they come back. Do you understand?”
At the woman’s nod, Charli yanked off the tape. The woman rubbed her mouth, swallowed a couple of times, and then whispered in a rough, dry rasp. “We have to get out of here.”
She slid off the table and looked around in terror. “Oh my God, they—you saw what they did. They’re going to do that to us. They’re going to—“She whirled around and ran to the bottom of the stairs. “We have to get out of here. We have to—“
Charli followed and grabbed the woman by the shoulders. “Listen to me. We have to stay calm. Now, tell me your name.”
“Are you crazy? You saw what they—“
“What’s your name.”
“Debbie.
“Okay, Debbie, I’m Charli.”
“I don’t want to die.“ Debbie started to shake and cry. “Please, I don’t want to die.”
“Shh, listen to me. If we keep our heads and work together, we’ll get out of this. Now listen to me. I’m ex-military so I know how to fight, but we need a plan and I need you to help me.”
“I don’t know how to fight. Oh God, they’re gonna come back and—“
Charli shook Debbie hard. “Stop that. That’s a sure way to get yourself killed. We have to be calm and we have to have a plan. Now, I need you to tell me you can do that. Can you?”
“I— Yes, I’ll try. Yes.”
“Good.” Charli looked around. There was a lot to work with, but she had no clue if Debbie would stand up well in a fight, so she decided the best course of action was for her to do the fighting and Debbie to do the running.
“Okay.” She ran across the room and snatched up one of the bloody knives from the cabinet beside the metal table. “Here.” She handed it to Debbie upon her return. “Now come with me.”
Charli led Debbie across the room to several tall crates at the end of the stairs. “There’s room between these two crates for you and it’s dark, so I want you to hide here. When they come, I’m going to engage them and that’ll be your cue to run. I want you to run up those stairs, outside, and do not stop. Find the main road and run until you can flag someone down and get them to call the police. Are you listening?”
“Yes, yes. I am. Run, find a road, stop a car and get someone to call the police.”
“Right. Now, get in there and don’t make a sound.”
“Wait.” Debbie said as Charli tried to steer her between the boxes. “What about you? You saw what they did.” Her hand went to her mouth and tears sprang from her eyes. “Oh my God, they’re going to do that to us. They’re going to—“
“No, they’re not. You’re going to be quiet, and once I engage them you’re going to run and you will get away.”
“And leave you to—“
“I’ll be okay. I promise.”
“How can you know that?”
“I just do. Now please get in there.”
Debbie did as she was told. Charli returned to the cabinet, took another knife from it, and positioned herself in front of the pole where she’d previously been hung. All that was left to do was wait and prepare herself.
And hope like hell this plan had half a chance.
*****
One shove and the trunk popped open. Zeb shined his light inside and Grady’s blood turned to ice. Charli’s shoulder bag was inside. He nodded and together they continued their sweep.
Less than five minutes later they’d searched the house. There was no one there and no sign of Charli or that anything untoward had happened there.
“This has to be the place.” Zeb’s voice was barely a whisper in Grady’s ear from the tiny earpiece.
“A cellar or basement?”
“Let’s check the back again.”
They exited the house and checked around back. Sure enough, there was what appeared to be the entrance to a storm cellar at the back of the house. “If this is the only way in or out, they’ll hear us coming,” Zeb said softly.
Just then, there was the sound of voices screaming, a man and a woman. A second later, the door opened at their feet and a young woman clambered out on hands and feet.
Zeb caught her and clamped his hand over her mouth. “Texas Ranger,” he whispered. “Is there another woman down there?”
She nodded, and he uncovered her mouth. “Charli. She’s down there. Help her. Help her.”
Grady was halfway down the stairs by the time Charli’s name spilled from the woman’s lips. He hit the bottom step and swung his weapon around toward the interior of the room.
What he saw both relieved and scared him. Charli was going at it with a man nearly as tall as Grady, but a good fifty pounds heavier. A woman, not as tall as Charli, but carrying more weight was getting up off the floor.
The big man struck at Charli with a long-bladed knife. She dodged and kicked, catching him in the gut. He stumbled back. Right in Grady’s range.
And at that moment Charli saw him.
For a moment, Charli thought she was dreaming. Grady swung his weapon and clobbered the man in the side of the head, sending him careening sideways, holding his head and moaning.
”Grady?” She’d never seen a sight so welcome, or a face wearing a more beautiful and lethal smile.
“What’cha doing, gorgeous?” He grinned and kicked at the man who stumbled at him, sending him flailing and staggering backward.
“Just holding on for a hero,” she quipped and kicked the woman who was trying to get up from the floor.
“Well, hell, sugar, why didn’t you say so?” With that, Grady flew into motion, delivered two fast punches and a spinning kick that had her captor literally sailing across the room to crash into the metal table and topple over onto the floor.
With one swift punch, Grady rendered him unconscious, turned and gave the woman the same treatment, then marched over to Charli and grabbed her with one arm to yank her up against him.
“How was that?”
