Desperate Measures

by Patricia H. Rushford

  In a voice surprisingly strong and edged with panic, she told the operator what had happened.

  “Can you give me a landmark, anything to help us locate you?”

  “We’re still in the mountains,” she said, “on Highway 20, near Tombstone Summit. Agent Tucker is trapped inside.” The cell phone cut in and out, then went dead.

  Jennie hit it against her hand, trying to revive it. Water must have seeped into the components. She threw it down and turned back to Tucker. He was still alive. Only he wouldn’t be for long. Jennie offered up a continual prayer as she went to work. If she could focus on one thing at a time, she’d be okay.

  Water still poured through the broken windshield. It was knee high now. The icy water should slow down and maybe even stop the bleeding in Tucker’s leg. Jennie rolled down her window, then braced herself again. Within a few seconds she was standing on the ground. Her legs felt like shifting sand. She held on to the door handle for support.

  The fire had burned itself out and was no longer a threat. Someone had deliberately sabotaged them, pouring gas all over the road, then torching it. From the volume of flames, Jennie suspected it had been set off by a fire bomb. She brought her thoughts up short. Don’t think about that now. Got to help Agent Tucker.

  Climbing back inside the cab, she rescued a flashlight from the backpack Algie had given her. She’d taken it off and set it at her feet for the ride home. Now she set it on the seat, out of the water, then climbed back outside.

  She rummaged around in the back of the truck until she found a plastic tarp. Jennie then spread it across the windshield and secured it as best she could, tying the ends to the side mirrors and right front bumper.

  The truck wasn’t tipped as much as she had first thought. The running board on the passenger side was buried in dirt, but there wasn’t much. clearance for the door. If the damage to the fender hadn’t jammed it completely, she might be able to open it enough to let the quickly rising water out of the cab. Gripping the door handle with both hands, she yanked it open.

  “Yes!” Water squeezed through the narrow opening, creating a waterfall of its own. Two small victories. Jennie felt like cheering, but there wasn’t time.

  Back inside the cab, she checked the survival pack again, this time pulling out an emergency blanket. Jennie arranged it around Agent Tucker the best she could.

  He groaned when she touched him. “What—”

  “It’s okay. I called 9-1-1. They’re on their way right now.” Jennie added an I hope but didn’t say it aloud.

  “Good girl. You need to call Tess—have her tell the others—” He coughed and spasmed in pain.

  “Don’t try to talk. The cell phone isn’t working. But don’t worry. As soon as the rescue unit gets here, I’ll call.”

  “Umm.” His eyes drifted closed.

  “I stopped the water and found a blanket for you.” Her teeth were starting to chatter, and her fingers had gone numb, but she couldn’t quit now. “I’m going to see if I can get you out.”

  Using the flashlight, she examined the area pinning his legs. She shrank back at the mutilated, twisted wreckage that held his legs in a vice. There was no way she could free him. Gritting her teeth, she moved forward again, searching for the source of the bleeding. She could see the torn flesh on his knee, but the way he was pinned in, she couldn’t get at it to apply a dressing. At least there was no blood dripping from it now. It was no use. She couldn’t even get in to check the other leg for injuries.

  Frustrated, Jennie left the cab again. Nearly everything she did seemed to raise the awful dust, causing her to cough again. She rubbed her hands together to warm them, ran in place, then jogged in a widening circle. She needed to keep moving. Her wet jeans stuck to her legs. Her boots sloshed when she walked. The parka had resisted much of the water, so her upper half was relatively dry.

  She looked around and found herself standing on the still­warm pavement that had only a short time ago been ablaze. A fire deliberately set to blow them up or send them spiraling off the road.

  Jennie remembered the car that had passed them earlier. Did the person driving it have something to do with ambushing them? Had it been someone from ARM? Were they retaliating against Aleshia and Crystal’s arrest? Had someone from ARM followed them as well?

  Jennie replayed the horrible moments before the crash. The fireball lighting up the sky. Tucker breaking and careening out of control. The scene flashed through her mind again. For a split second before they’d gone off the road, Jennie had seen something­—two red flashes had appeared through the wall of flames. Tail lights. She closed her eyes, visualizing them again. While she couldn’t be absolutely certain, she thought they might have belonged to the car that had passed only minutes before. Jennie wished she could remember more details. She searched her mind for color, make, model, license, but came up empty. Somewhere in her brain was a picture of it. She just hoped it would reveal itself before it was too late.

  Walking back to the truck, she crawled into the back and eventually found the Thermoses of passably warm coffee and cocoa. Using the one remaining lid, she poured a small amount of the chocolate into the cup and took several sips. The activity and adrenaline had warmed her some, and the warm chocolate settled her insides. She drained the chocolate, then took the coffee and cup into the cab for Tucker.

  Twenty minutes later Jennie heard sirens. She’d spent the entire time walking up and down the road, checking on Tucker every couple of minutes. The state police arrived first, then a fire-rescue unit. Within half an hour they’d untangled Tucker from the twisted wreckage with the Jaws of Life, stabilized him, and transferred him to the ambulance. Jennie, wrapped in blankets and sitting in the back of the ambulance with Tucker, was still shaking when they took off.

  “Jennie!” Lisa met her in the emergency room and ran toward her, arms extended.

  Megan followed close behind. “Thank God you’re okay.”

  “How did you find out about it?” She hadn’t even had a chance to call.

  “Tess called, said you were here.”

  Jennie nodded. She’d already spoken to Tess and given her statement and suspected Tess had gone on to talk to Agent Tucker.

  After a quick hug, Lisa backed away wrinkling her nose. “Ugh—your clothes and your hair smell awful.”

  Jennie brought her sleeve up and sniffed. “Smoke.”

  “You were in a fire? A forest fire? Tess said it was an accident.”

  “Oh no … did the truck catch fire?” Megan asked.

  “No. But someone poured gas on the road and ignited it. Tucker swerved to miss it. We ran into a ditch.” She turned to Megan. “Sorry about the jacket—I’ll pay to have it cleaned.”

  “That’s not important. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “What happened out there?” Lisa asked. “Agent Tucker made us go home. We didn’t want to, Jen, but—”

  “I’m glad you did. Judging from what happened to Agent Tucker and me, things could have gotten really ugly for everybody out there. I’ve been trying to figure out how the person ho sabotaged us knew we were there. They either had to have followed us out there without the FBI knowing it, or they were meeting Aleshia and Crystal. They could have come in after the FBI was already there and waited until we left. But if that’s the case, why didn’t they go after the truck carrying the prisoners?” Jennie slipped her jacket off, wincing at the pain in her right shoulder.

  “Maybe they did.” Lisa unzipped her coat.

  “No, Tess would have said. They were after me or Agent Tucker.”

  “Do you think it was a member of ARM?” Megan helped Jennie remove the jacket and set it on the back of a chair.

  Jennie rubbed her shoulder and tipped her stiff neck side to side. “I’d bet on it.”

  The doctor came into the cubicle and asked Lisa and Megan to leave while he examined Jen
nie for injuries. The news was good. She’d escaped with minor bumps and bruises and could expect to be sore for a few days. “If you have any trouble, you give me a call, okay?”

  “Sure.” Jennie hopped off the stretcher. “How’s Agent Tucker doing?”

  “Amazingly well. No broken bones. Bump on the head and a nasty-looking knee. We’ve stitched up the gash in his left leg. Looks like it’s mostly soft-tissue damage. He’ll be laid up for a day or two, though.” The doctor smiled. “By the way, he said to tell you thanks.”

  “Glad I could help. Can I see him?”

  “Nope. He left with the sheriff a few minutes ago.”

  “Humph. He could have at least said good-bye.” Jennie slipped her smelly coat back on and left. Meeting Lisa and Megan, she said, “Let’s get out of here. I can’t wait to take a shower.”

  “I can understand why.” Lisa tossed Jennie the keys to the Mustang.

  “Where are your parents, Megan? I’m surprised they’re not down here chewing me out.”

  “They aren’t home. They went into Salem for dinner and a movie. They don’t even know we’ve been gone.”

  Not home—gone to Salem. Or maybe into the mountains. She had left them a note. Tom and Mary could have followed them. As ludicrous as the idea was, Jennie couldn’t help superimposing the picture of the back of Tom and Mary’s car over the one imprinted in her mind. A useless exercise. At the moment she couldn’t even remember what kind of car they had and didn’t think it wise to ask Megan.

  “Well,” Lisa said expectantly as she buckled the seat belt. “Aren’t you going to tell us what happened?”

  “We want to hear everything from the minute you left us until we got to the hospital.”

  Jennie started the car and backed out of the parking space. While she drove, she related all the details she could remember, including Scott’s affiliation with the FBI. She wrapped the story up by saying, “That’s about it. Aleshia, Crystal, and Scott have all been arrested. Scott’s been taken somewhere safe. hope Agent Tucker at least tells me where so I can see him. Scott thinks I ratted on him.”

  “I’m sure he’ll understand. What about Sal?” Megan asked. “Was he arrested too?”

  “Sal?” Jennie eyed Megan in the rearview mirror. “Wasn’t he with you?”

  “He was at first. When Agent Tucker ordered us out of there, we all left, but we’d only gone a little ways when Sal told Algie to stop the truck and let him out. He said he was going back to the camp to make sure the cops didn’t hassle his sister.”

  “He never showed up. Of course, he could have come in and seen the agents—”

  “That means he’s still out there somewhere.” Megan bit her lower lip. “Maybe he got lost. I’ll call Algie when we get home.”

  “There’s another possibility.” Jennie tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “Maybe he’s the one who ambushed us.”

  21

  “Not Sal,” Megan said. “I’ve known him for a long time. Trust me, he is not into terrorism.”

  “Did you know Crystal was a member of ARM?” Jennie eased onto the main road and increased her speed.

  “N-no, but—”

  “People aren’t always what they seem.”

  “I suppose that’s true,” Megan said, “but you can’t go around suspecting everybody.”

  “No.” Jennie frowned. “You have to admit, though, there’s plenty of room for it where Sal is concerned. Think about it. He leaves you guys and says he’s going to the camp. Only he doesn’t show up, and an hour later the truck Agent Tucker and I are riding in is sabotaged.”

  “He could have gotten lost.” Megan folded her arms and rested them on the front seat. “Sal didn’t know where the camp was, remember?”

  “He must have had an idea or he wouldn’t have gone.”

  “That’s true,” Lisa said.

  “It wouldn’t have taken a genius to figure it out. All he would have had to do was follow the trail. He gets to the camp and sees the FBI agents are already there. He hides until they’re ready to leave:”

  “Wait a minute.” Lisa tossed back her hair with a head shake. “Let’s say he did that—how would he get out after you left? He would have had to walk out.”

  “True. He could have hitched a ride in the back of Sutherland’s truck.” Jennie shook her head. “But if he did that he couldn’t have been in the car that passed us—unless …”

  “Unless what?” Lisa asked.

  “He could have hidden on the truck as far as the park where Aleshia had parked her car.” Jennie brought up the image of Aleshia’s Lexus. The car that had passed them had been a dark color, and the taillights could have matched—maybe. “He’d have had to jump out of the truck while it was moving. That doesn’t seem likely, but it is a possibility. On the other hand, he could have met someone out there.”

  “What if he didn’t?” Megan gave her a worried look. “What if he’s lost out there? What if he did hitch a ride like you said? He could have been hurt in the accident too.”

  “Well, he wasn’t in the back of the truck. I’d have seen him when I was digging around for the tarp and stuff, but I didn’t think to look along the road. He could have jumped off earlier and been picked up by the driver of the other car.”

  “Or he might be hurt,” Megan said again.

  “Guess it doesn’t do much good to speculate. One thing’s for sure, I need to let Agent Tucker know he didn’t come back with you.”

  Passing the Sutherlands’ road, Jennie noticed the lights were on but saw no vehicles in the driveway. Not surprising. Christine probably got word Aleshia had been arrested and went to the jail to bail her out or at least get a lawyer involved. That poor woman. Jennie sighed. The mink raid, losing her husband, her daughter getting arrested—an awful lot for one person to go through in a weekend. Which brought up another point. Maybe someone was targeting her. But why? Agent Tucker had mentioned Tom’s offer to buy the farm. Much as she hated to admit it, the possibility existed that Tom was somehow involved.

  “Megan, did you know Christine was putting her place up for sale?”

  “No. Where did you hear that?”

  “Agent Tucker. He said your dad was interested in buying it.” She shrugged. “That’s news to me. I’m not surprised, though. Dad has talked about expanding.”

  Tom could have killed Sutherland. Now it looked as though he had motive, means, and opportunity. He could have followed them into the mountains. Running Scott off the road, however, was another matter. Speculation, McGrady. Sheer speculation.

  Sutherland’s truck hit Scott. Of course, they had no real proof of that. Now with the truck mangled even more, they might never be able to prove it. There were too many pieces missing. Part of the problem may be that she kept trying to tie all the incidents together. ARM could be responsible for releasing the mink as they claimed. They may have been responsible for running her and Tucker off the road. Sal could have informed them of the arrest. Yes. That made sense. If she separated those out, it left Sutherland’s murder and Scott’s hit-and-run.

  Jennie rubbed her forehead where a headache had started. “I need to quit thinking about this. It’s making me crazy.”

  “Then don’t think about it.” Megan smiled. “You don’t have to, you know. It’s not your job.”

  Lisa chuckled. “She has a point, Jen. Maybe you need to back off on this one. Let the cops handle it. Our folks are coming out tomorrow for the barbecue. Then we go home. You don’t have enough time. You can’t win them all. Besides, you could get hurt.” She sobered. “Or killed.”

  “You almost did tonight.” Megan drove the point home. She groaned and pointed to the car making a left in front of them. “I was hoping we’d beat them home.”

  Tom and Mary pulled into the driveway just ahead of them. Jennie eyed the taillights. She didn’t think they were a match
, but what did she know? Her brain was pure mush.

  “What are we going to tell my parents?” Megan asked. “They’ll kill me if they find out what we did.”

  “Tell them the truth. It’ll be better coming from us than the sheriff or Agent Tucker.” Jennie pulled in beside the Bergstroms and braced herself for the fury that was bound to come their way.

  Tom held the door for them, his nose wrinkling as Jennie ducked under his arm. “You kids have a bonfire tonight?”

  “Not exactly.” Jennie took her smoke-saturated jacket off and hung it over a chair on the porch to air out. “It’s a long story. You and Mary might want to sit down. I’ll fix us all some tea.”

  “Something tells me I’m not going to like this.” Mary hung up her coat in the entry. Her concerned gaze settled on Jennie. “My goodness. You look terrible—what happened to you?”

  “Like I said, it’s a long story. Um—I need to make a phone call first, though.” Jennie used the kitchen phone and called the sheriff’s office. Tess answered.

  Jennie told her about Sal not coming back with the others and relayed her suspicions. “I’m not sure how he managed it, but he may have been responsible for the ambush.”

  “Appreciate the call, Jennie. I’ll get right on it.”

  “You’ll let Agent Tucker know?”

  “I will.”

  “Um—do you know what happened to Scott?”

  “No, I’m afraid not.” Tess wasn’t offering any kind of information.

  “What about Aleshia and Crystal?” she heard herself asking.

  “They’re here with Christine and their lawyer. I need to get back to them.”

  “Could you have Agent Tucker call me tomorrow?”

  “I’ll make a note of it.” Tess sounded curt and annoyed. Though she didn’t say it, Jennie sensed the stay-out-of-this tone in her voice. Not that she blamed the woman. By going out to meet Crystal, Jennie had caused more problems than she’d helped to resolve. Maybe she was losing her touch. Lisa was right. You can’t win them all. Oh, but she wanted to.