Crimson Blood

by Douglas Pratt

  She nodded. “What are their names?”

  Leo and I looked at each other. “We don’t know.”

  “Lindsay said something about them being used for child pornography?”

  “Yes, and the people behind it will kill you if they want them back.”

  “Poor things,” she cooed as she took the one from my arms.

  He was awake and looking around confused.

  “It’s okay, I’m going to take care of you guys.”

  We took the children into her den which looked a lot like a college students dorm. The old couch was a curb alert item or a cheap thrift store buy. Most of the apartment was sparse because Jessica hadn’t collected life’s knick-knacks yet.

  “Here’s two hundred dollars. You probably need someone to get some diapers and food. Make sure you trust them.”

  “My sister will do it.”

  “Okay.” I gave her my number. “If there is anything you need, call.”

  “Are there more children?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  “That’s sick. Why aren’t you calling the police?”

  “The man doing this has the police in his pocket. He seems to have everyone in his pocket.”

  She stared at us. “He doesn’t seem to have us.”

  “No, he doesn’t have us.”

  28

  “Let’s go kick in his door,” Leo said as we pulled away from Jessica’s apartment.

  “I’m game.”

  Leo pulled onto Chisholm Road, which according to Google would take us north to the Tennessee border. We were passing the city limits when the blue lights flashed behind us.

  “Crap,” Leo said.

  “Were you speeding?”

  “I don’t think so. This could be Keller.”

  “Yeah, or it could be innocent.”

  “How do you want to play it?” He meant do we hit first and ask questions later.

  “Let’s let it play out.”

  Two officers approached the truck, one on each side.

  “Get out of the car with your hands up.”

  Leo was ready to pounce.

  “Even if this was Keller, it doesn’t mean these guys are. This could have come from higher up.”

  “Meaning, you want to let it play out.”

  “Meaning, I don’t want to kill two cops on a hunch.”

  We stepped out of the truck. I had my hands on my head. Leo was following suit.

  “What’s the problem, officers?” I asked.

  “Turn around,” the officer on my side said.

  I complied. “We have a right to know why you pulled us over?”

  The driver had Leo turned against the hood. I heard the click of handcuffs as the driver restrained Leo. The second officer pressed me against the car and cuffed my hands behind my back.

  “We have a kidnapping reported with this truck and your description,” the driver said. “Come along.” He pulled Leo toward the police car.

  “There must be a misunderstanding,” I tried to explain as the second officer pushed me to the car as well. “We haven’t kidnapped anyone.”

  The second officer pushed me hard, and I tripped and fell to the ground. “Shut up,” he demanded.

  The driver and Leo were standing next to the hood of the truck. “Mike, be careful,” the driver advised.

  “Andy,” the second officer said. “I’m sorry.”

  “What?” Andy said before Mike shot him in the throat.

  Leo dropped to the ground as Andy’s body fell beside him. I scrambled to my knees to crawl away.

  “Dr. Keller asked me to deliver a message to you both. He wanted to remind you that you are still in his state.”

  Officer Mike lowered the barrel of the gun against my temple.

  “Hey, Max,” Leo said.

  The officer turned to look across the squad car. Leo popped up and fired Andy’s service revolver twice, hitting Officer Mike in the head.

  “Why do you always want to do things the hard way?” he asked.

  I slumped against the car. Adrenaline spikes and crashes can really wipe a guy out. I sat and stared at the dead officer. I realized my heart was about to explode. I was breathing rapidly.

  “How did you get out of your cuffs so fast?” I asked.

  Leo walked around the car and grabbed my arm to lift me up. He held a key in his hand. “I keep a handcuff key in my back pocket.”

  My heart was still racing. “I thought he had me.”

  “Yeah, he almost did.”

  “I hate this town,” I said as he uncuffed me.

  “I’m starting to feel the same way.”

  He looked at me. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, just a bit jumpy.”

  “How did they know my truck?” Leo asked.

  “Maggie Thompson. That would be my guess. She made the wrong choice.”

  “Think the kids are still okay?”

  “Were we followed to Jessica’s?”

  Leo shook his head. If anyone would be certain, he would be.

  “Then probably. It was some sort of APB. She described the truck, and Keller called it in.”

  “Is everyone dirty in this town?” Leo asked.

  I looked at Andy lying in the street. Leo followed my eyes. He grimaced.

  “I guess not everyone,” he answered himself. “Poor guy.”

  We got back in the truck, leaving Mike and Andy on the side of the street. We were on a quiet stretch of road with no cars. Probably why Officer Mike stopped us here. Hopefully, we could be long gone before anyone found the officers.

  “You realize that if they reported that they found us, then they’ll be after us. You specifically.”

  Leo smiled, “Oh, this truck isn’t registered to me. I’ll ditch it when we are through.”

  “Whose truck is it?”

  “It is registered to Claude Monk in Claridge, Missouri. He’s a nice ninety-eight year old man, who died two years ago.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I paid his granddaughter for it with a little extra to continue to send in the registration under Claude’s name. When I ditch it, she can report it stolen.”

  “Creative. Nice of her to do that for her.”

  “Oh, she’s real nice,” he said while he wagged his eyebrows.

  “You never cease to amaze me.”

  He just grinned like the whole world was his oyster, not at all like five minutes ago, he had killed someone.

  I stared out the window. My heart was still pounding. I could see the barrel of the revolver lower against my temple. I had a half a second of resignation. I was ready to die in that fleeting moment. Not that I hadn’t faced death before. Just last night I was staring down Bobby’s gun. But even at the last moment, I was looking for a way out.

  “You okay?” Leo asked again.

  “Yeah, I was just surprised.”

  “It’s going to happen again, you know?”

  “What is?”

  “The moment you are sure you are dead. It’s going to happen again. When you see no way out, and you know you are dead.”

  “Yeah, has that happened to you before?”

  “Several times. You would think you get used to it. You don’t. You fight against dying until you see no way out. Then suddenly, bam! You escape it.”

  “Until you don’t,” I said.

  “Until you don’t.” Leo added, “But when you have others who depend on you, then you can’t stop. You keep facing it down until you don’t. Then we all get to go to Valhalla together.”

  “Valhalla?”

  “Yeah, it’s like Viking heaven?”

  “I know what it is.”

  Leo grinned. “On the whole, though, I would rather go to stripper heaven.”

  “Stripper heaven?”

  “Yeah, it’s like heaven. But with strippers.”

  “You are quite the philosopher.”

  29

  The ranch that Keller’s company owned didn’t look like any ran
ch I had seen. The property was bordered by a twelve foot chain link fence with razor wire at the top. Large “no trespassing” signs hung on the fence every two hundred feet. Beyond the fence, there were only trees. The only entrance we found was right past the state line in Tennessee. It created an interesting prospect. The majority of the property was in Alabama, but the only entrance to the property was in Tennessee. This might leave a conundrum for someone attempting to consider jurisdiction.

  The gate at the entrance was locked. There was no button to call inside either.

  “Look at the top of the trees,” Leo said as we passed the entrance slowly.

  Cameras were hiding in the branches of the taller trees. I wouldn’t have seen them if he hadn’t pointed them out.

  “So they can see whatever is going on out here.”

  “I noticed a few as we were driving around.”

  I peered out the window. “Think they saw us?”

  Leo shrugged, “Maybe.”

  “How many guys do you think he still has there?”

  “Doubt it’s a lot.”

  “Thoughts?”

  “Hard to say. Lot of land, and we have no idea where they might be in relation to the road. The best entry is through the main gate.”

  “Are we going to crash it,” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  Leo braked and made a u-turn in the road. He pressed the gas to the floor.

  “Might want to buckle up,” he said to me. I obeyed as the truck raced down the highway.

  “Hang on!” he said.

  “You aren’t to the gate,” I responded as he turned the wheel.

  The truck lurched forward as it dropped off the highway into the ditch. The front end shot upward as the momentum of the truck launched us up the other side of the ditch. The sound of scraping and popping of the fence as the Chevrolet ripped through it.

  The sun was already setting, and the woods were dark. Leo tore through the trees with his headlights blaring. He weaved along a path that only he seemed to see. I sat, gripping the armrest and bracing for the inevitable impact of truck against tree.

  “You are insane,” I almost screamed.

  “I wanted to go between cameras,” he responded, jerking the wheel to the left to avoid a large oak. “Hopefully, they don’t have the fence alarmed, and they won’t know we breached.”

  “And if they do know?” I asked.

  “We are no worse off,” he answered swinging around another tree.

  “I don’t suppose you know which way you are going?”

  “Not really,” he paused as he threaded through more trees. “The gate was west of us, and the road looked as if it turned to the east.”

  He braked suddenly, jerked the wheel and gunned the engine. The result was the truck sliding toward another smaller oak. The tires caught the forest floor and propelled us forward. The rear bumper, though, struck the tree.

  “Almost had it,” he swore. “If we keep going this way, and the road turned this way, then we should intersect it.”

  As if on cue, the darkness of the forest lightened ahead as a break in the woods became visible. Leo slowed and turned parallel to the road. We were about a hundred feet from the road. Leo slowed more.

  “We should probably hoof it pretty soon.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Let’s leave the truck here.”

  He stopped the truck in a spot where we could easily access the road.

  “Let’s remember where we parked,” he commented.

  Leo pulled a duffel bag from the back seat. He tossed me two 45’s and four extra clips. He proceeded to slip five guns on him. Two in the back of his waistband, one on an ankle holster, one on a shoulder holster, and one in his hand.

  “Why do you get six, and I only get two?” I asked.

  “Who do you want to back you up? Me or yourself?”

  “I might be offended,” I said.

  “Don’t be. You are a good shot. Just in a pinch, I would rather have extra firepower. If it makes you feel better, I don’t have but two extra clips.”

  In all honesty, it did make me feel better. I wasn’t a bad shot at all. In fact, I was quite good. However, Leo was a master of adrenaline and pressure. Much like the shot he took on the road. I’d have never fired that quickly and hit the target that squarely.

  Leo took the lead. He moved quickly and quietly through the fallen leaves. I, however, despite my efforts sounded like a wounded moose dragging my way through the forest.

  Leo stopped after a couple of minutes and stared at me. His eyes said, “Walk quietly.” I made an apologetic gesture, and he started walking. After four steps, he looked back and rolled his eyes.

  The woods were now dark. The sun had dipped below the horizon, and even the starlight was blocked by the canopy. There were no lights along the road either. I could barely see Leo as we slipped through the shadows. Well, Leo slipped; I sounded more like I was stomping through the shadows. If I walked any slower, Leo would vanish in the gloom.

  I heard him make a clicking noise that I guessed meant we should stop. I got up beside him, and he pointed through the trees at the lights ahead. A large ranch style house stood in the clearing. The area still had virtually no outdoor lighting, but the house was bright.

  “Stay close,” Leo whispered. Then he added with exasperation, “And quiet.”

  I complied. We moved out of the woods but stayed in the shadows. Leo followed the edge of the woods around the house. The moon was coming up, but it was only a quarter moon. Still, after the dark of the woods, its light illuminated the clearing.

  There were no guards outside. His security force may be taxed to its limits. Behind the house, a pool was being built. The backhoe was off to the side, and a hole in the ground had been layered with concrete.

  We moved next to the house. Leo peaked into the windows. He dropped back down.

  “Stay here,” he whispered. “I’m going to recon the whole building.”

  I nodded, and he disappeared.

  Three minutes passed before he came upon the other side of me.

  “Keller is in there. So are two of his security guys, and eight other men. They all look between fifty and seventy.”

  “Kids?”

  “I counted five. And your friend the lovely Ms. Thompson.”

  “I owe her,” I rasped.

  “The adults seem to be partying. There are lots of empty glasses. His security is not.”

  “Where are the kids?”

  Leo shook his head grimly, “They are all over. It’s not pretty. When we go in, we take out the two guards. Then we try to separate the kids if we can. Whatever you do, don’t overreact. I mean, it’s really not pretty.”

  I grimaced at the thought of what Leo could mean.

  Leo pointed to a small porch. “Wait there, and count to a hundred. Then go in the door. I’ll move around to the front door.”

  I acknowledged him.

  “Go in when you hit one hundred,” he said and disappeared.

  I started counting as I crept onto the porch and crouched behind the door. When I reached seventy-seven, the door opened and I held my breath.

  30

  Cursing to myself, I pulled myself into the shadow behind the opened door. A white haired man walked out wearing a terry cloth robe that covered his round pot belly.

  Laughing at something inside, he said, “Let me grab a smoke.”

  He shut the door and the light that illuminated the deck was extinguished. I held my breath. I had lost the count in my head, but I only had seconds.

  Unfortunately, the white haired man turned toward me as he lit a cigarette. The flame, casting an eerie flicker, threw shadows around, and the man’s eyes lifted from the end of his cigarette to connect with me.

  The half a second, it took his brain to register my form in the dark was all the time I had. I took two quick steps and raised my right hand with the the 45 in it. Bringing it down quick in a chop as he uttered a loud, “Hey!”

  Th
e lighter and cigarette fell to the deck as the grip of the gun cracked his temple. The gun hand continued down, and lowered my shoulder to strike him in the chest. My momentum send him tumbling into the rail. An audible crack resounded, and I didn’t know if it was the handrail or a bone. I pulled back and let my right hand slice upward again to connect the metal of the gun against his jaw. That crack was definitely the sound of his jaw shattering.

  The door opened. “Dave, did your drunk ass fall off the deck,” a voice said as the door swung open.

  I turned and raised my gun as the light spilled onto the deck again. Another fat, silver back silhouetted the door. He was wearing only a white t-shirt and bikini briefs. I pulled the trigger. The boom of the blast reverberated.

  I was moving forward as soon as I fired. Bikini Briefs hadn’t dropped yet, though the bullet stuck him in his center mass. I slammed into his body and shoved him back into the door.

  One of Keller’s security detail was across the room drawing his gun from a shoulder holster. I fired three consecutive shots at him. Two, I was certain hit him.

  The front door flew open, and Leo charged through. I swept the room. The split second scene showed five naked children. One was sitting in a naked man’s lap. The man’s hands were raised as if he he hadn’t been doing anything. From the corner of my eye, I saw Leo drop the other guard.

  A door behind me slammed. I spun around. Keller and Maggie Thompson weren’t in the room.

  “Nobody move!” Leo yelled.

  “Keller!” I said looking at the door.

  “Get him!” Leo ordered.

  I charged into the door which led to a hall. The bedrooms must have been this way. I opened the first two doors to find rooms with king sized beds. Both empty.

  The third I opened to see Maggie Thompson wearing only a pair of panties trying to climb out of the window. I lunged across the room and caught her by her hair. Yanking her back inside, I dragged her by her hair away from the window. When I dropped her, I had a clump of her hair in my hands. She wailed on the floor.