by BJ Bourg
Evan tugged on the ropes that secured his hands behind his back and glanced toward his feet, which were also bound. “What do these people want from us?”
“I don’t know,” Dawn said. “Can you get loose?”
Evan struggled for a while, trying to force his hands free, but he finally relaxed and shook his head. “They’re too tight. Apparently these guys know a thing or two about knots.”
When Evan asked Dawn why she was in such an awkward position, she explained what she had tried to do. “I can’t get back to where I was and I can’t get past this point,” she complained. “I’ve been stuck like this for nearly an hour and it’s starting to suck—”
Dawn’s voice was cut off when the truck hit a bump and swerved violently to the right, then the left, tossing her and Evan roughly around the bed. As the back of the truck whipped back around to the right, she was thrown against the sidewall of the bed and her legs snapped through the ropes. She gave a jubilant cry when she pulled her hands in front of her body.
Scrambling onto her back, she sucked in air and shoved her bound hands down the front of her pants and struggled to pull the phone from her panties. It took a bit of work, but she finally managed to get it out and hold it above her head. Careful not to drop it, she checked the screen and saw a message alert. A wave of emotion flooded over her when she saw the message was from London. She could only read the first few lines, but it said something about him calling her after he looked at surveillance tapes and then there was a line telling her to be on the look-out, but she couldn’t read what she was supposed to be on the look-out for.
“It could be anything from an antique dresser to Big Foot,” she mused aloud, wondering if his message was a warning for what was happening now. What if he had messaged her to tell her to look-out for these men? If it was a warning, it was a bit late.
She pressed the start button on her phone to read the whole message, but the truck hit a bump and the phone went flying through the air. “Damn it!”
Dawn heard it hit the floor and bounce around a bit, but she couldn’t pinpoint where it came to rest. She twisted around and searched frantically for the cell phone. She checked under her body and began feeling along the dark edges of the bed.
“Look”—Evan nodded in the direction of the passenger’s side corner of the tailgate—“it’s over there.”
Dawn twisted around and scooted toward the phone and pulled it hungrily into her hands. Working her thumbs as best she could, she checked the missed call log and saw that London was the one who’d tried to call her. She pressed the screen to return his call and lifted the phone to her head. Holding it awkwardly against her ear, she listened for it to ring. Nothing.
“What the hell?” She glanced at the screen. It read, Call Failed. She tried again, but met with the same result. “Damn it! We’re out of range again.”
“Rat, you won’t get anything up in these mountains.” Evan nodded. “We’re really high up now—I can feel my ears popping every so often.”
Dawn nodded absently as she fumbled with her phone. It was difficult work, but she finally managed to type out a text message letting London know she and her dad had been taken. She provided as much information as she could remember about their captors, and then hit the send button. She knew she would have to wait until they hit another cell tower for the message to go through, but at least he would get it eventually—and hopefully before it was too late. She still didn’t know what the men wanted from them, but when the truck suddenly lurched to a stop, she was afraid they were about to find out.
There was a brief moment of pause, but then the truck rocked slightly and a door opened and then slammed shut. It was followed by three other doors. “They’re coming,” Dawn whispered to her dad.
Evan pointed toward her hands. “Your phone—what if they find it?”
Dawn quickly opened one of the apps on her phone. As footsteps approached the back of the truck, she turned from her dad, sucked in her stomach, and shoved the phone down the front of her climbing pants and back into her panties. She needed to keep the phone active and in her possession so London could follow the technological bread crumbs once he started looking for her. They would be traveling in and out of cell service, but hopefully he would be able to connect the dots and find them before it was too late.
Dawn motioned for Evan to lay still. She then rolled onto her side and faced the tailgate just as the footsteps stopped behind the truck. She closed her eyes—keeping little slits in them so she could see what was happening—and waited.
Someone worked the latch to the hard case and lifted it to allow the bright sunlight inside. Dawn’s eyes involuntarily squeezed shut against the brilliance of the light and she raised her arms to shield her face.
“Hey, Bruce, that bitch got her hands to the front,” said the guy whose voice she recognized as Lenny’s.
The tailgate dropped next. Before she could force her eyes open, rough hands grabbed her and jerked her out of the bed of the truck. She fell in a heap to the ground and gasped as a stabbing pain shot through the left side of her head. Through a blurry slit in her eyelids, she saw the man called Bruce grab her dad and drag him out of the bed of the truck. Evan plopped to the ground beside her and he cried out in pain.
“Damn, man, I can’t believe you’re still alive,” said Bruce. “Turk, bring him to the house.”
Turk, who appeared to be of Asian descent, helped Evan to his feet and led him around the truck and out of Dawn’s line of sight.
Bruce and Lenny stood over Dawn and stared down at her.
“What are we going to do with you?” Lenny asked, his face twisting into a sneer. “If they would’ve told me how beautiful you were, I would’ve taken this assignment for free.”
“Lenny, get our good friend Abel to the house and leave this one to me.”
Lenny started to object, but Bruce squared up to him. “You’d better never forget who’s in charge again. Do you understand me?”
Dawn couldn’t see Bruce’s face, but his tone was menacing.
“Damn, Bruce, you really need to lighten up.” Lenny turned to walk toward the back seat of the truck. “Maybe get a massage or something.”
Dawn heard a truck door open and Lenny asked Abel if he could walk.
“You guys shot me in the ass—what do you think?” It was Abel and his voice was shaky, but it seemed to Dawn like he was trying to act like one of the boys. “Can I get a hand?”
Lenny clapped his hands for several seconds and then walked away laughing. “Now, get your ass up to the house before I put another bullet in you.”
Dawn glanced toward the house and immediately knew where they were. This was the very home in which Abel Chism had grown up, and Dawn had been here many times as a teenager. On one of her visits to see her mom, she’d heard that Abel’s parents had passed away and the property was left to him. Charmaine even mentioned once that he wanted to turn the place into a climbing school—it was his lifelong dream and pretty much all he talked about when Dawn and he were dating—but he was about to lose the property to the bank. Dawn had only half listened to Charmaine, because she didn’t care about Abel or his plans, but now she wanted to drive a stake through his chest for getting her and Evan in this mess. She still wasn’t sure what was going on, but she knew he had led the men to her and Evan.
When Lenny and Abel had walked away, Bruce squatted in the dirt beside Dawn. He had spiky hair that was unkempt, but in an intentional way. His face was leathery and dark from frequent exposure to the sun. While he didn’t look as evil as Lenny, there was a wildness in his eyes that worried her.
“Dawn Luke, my name is Bruce and I work for an organization that is in need of your service,” he began. “We require something very specific from you. If you do exactly as I say—when I say it—I promise no harm will come to you or your old man. If you try to escape or offer up any kind of resistance, I will set fire to your dad, roast marshmallows on his burning carcass, and force you to eat i
t before I kill you. Do we understand each other?”
Fixing Bruce with stern eyes, Dawn didn’t respond.
“Okay, have it your way.” Bruce reached down and grabbed Dawn by the arm, jerking her to her feet.
Dawn grew instantly angry and thought about kicking him in the groin, but her feet were tied together. She knew that any move she made on Bruce—no matter how futile—would result in Turk and Lenny responding against her dad with violence. Turk seemed like a good soldier just doing whatever he thought his duty was, but Lenny looked pure evil, and she did not want to risk his wrath on her dad.
Bruce leaned close to Dawn and studied her face from an inch away. He whistled. “That’s a nasty cut on your nose. It looks broken.”
Dawn turned away, but stiffened up when Bruce put his hand on one of her butt cheeks. She forced herself to remain calm and not react to his advances, telling herself she would bide her time and rip his throat out when the opportunity arose.
Leaning his mouth close to her ear, Bruce said, “I could’ve sworn I heard a cell phone ringing from the bed of the truck. Where is it?”
Worried that he would start feeling her up to look for it and knowing she was helpless against his advances, Dawn turned away from him. “I’ll get it for you.”
While Bruce watched her closely, she reached into the front of her pants and removed the phone. Before she could give it to him, he snatched it out of her hand and pushed her roughly. Unable to separate her feet more than a few inches apart, she fell to the ground, landing hard on her right shoulder. She cursed herself for not setting a password on her phone, and turned slowly onto her back to watch Bruce go through her messages and calls. She recognized the exact moment when he saw the message from London, because his face turned red and he reached down to jerk her off the ground.
“Turk!” he hollered, dragging Dawn toward the house as he called out for his associate. “Get the satellite phone now!”
Dawn hopped and shuffled her feet trying to keep up with Bruce, but she fell often. Each time she hit the ground, she thought her head would split open from the pain. Bruce didn’t seem to care about hurting her, because he’d jerk her back to her feet and continue dragging her behind him. When they reached the landing to the wooden stairs that led up to the cabin, Turk appeared in the doorway above them.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Why all the screaming?”
“Get the satellite phone STAT!” Bruce spat the words. “London Carter’s figured it out.”
Turk’s face twisted in confusion. “What are you talking about? There’s no way—”
Bruce threw Dawn’s phone in Turk’s direction. “He sent her a message telling her who we are.”
“How the hell would he know that?”
“I don’t know—just get the damn satellite phone before he ruins everything!”
CHAPTER 26
Detective Bureau, Payneville, Louisiana
When Detective Tricia Clark returned my call, I reintroduced myself and reminded her that we had met when she came down to visit Dawn.
“I know you better than you think,” she said, laughing. “Dawn is always talking about you.”
While I was tempted to ask what she’d said about me, I held it for another day and immediately turned to the issue at hand.
“Dawn and her dad went out to Dead Man’s Canyon yesterday to do some rock climbing and I haven’t been able to get an important message to her,” I explained. “I was hoping you could ride out there and deliver the message. I’d be happy to pay you for your gas and your time—”
“Nonsense,” Tricia blurted. “I’d do anything for Dawn. Dead Man’s Canyon is only an hour from here. What’s the message?”
“It’s top secret and can’t go any further than the three of us.”
“You’ve got it.”
When I told her I had reason to believe the men who attempted to assassinate the vice president were after Dawn, there was a long pause on the other end of the phone.
“Are you still there?” I asked.
“I am,” she said slowly. “I…are you sure I’m the right person for you to be calling? I mean, shouldn’t the feds be handling this? Don’t get me wrong, I’d do anything to help Dawn, but don’t you think this is a little out of my league?”
“At the moment, I just need a friend I can trust. I don’t want you to fight them—I just need you to get Dawn to leave the mountains and get to a spot where she can call me. I need to know she’s safe.” I was sure Tricia could hear the concern in my voice, because there was no disguising it, even if I’d wanted to. “This has to stay completely off the radar. If these guys find out I’ve contacted someone from law enforcement over in Arkansas, they’ll kill Dawn for sure.”
“I understand.” Tricia was quiet for another long while, then asked, “What should I do if I encounter these men?”
“Back off and call me. They can’t know you’re on to them and they can’t see anyone from law enforcement snooping around. You’ve got to look like a regular woman hitting the trails or rocks or whatever else y’all do in the mountains.”
“I can do that. Do you have an idea what part of Dead Man’s Canyon they’re in? It’s a big place.”
“I don’t know a thing about—” It was just then that I remembered the photograph Dawn had texted me. “Hold up…I have a picture of where her Jeep was parked, but I’ll have to take my phone from my ear.”
I navigated to the images on my phone and found the photo Dawn had sent me. Working my fingers faster than I thought I could on that phone, I attached the photo to a text message and sent it to Tricia. Once the phone was back to my ear, I told her I’d sent it.
A few seconds later, Tricia came back to the phone and said she’d received the photo. “I know the place. It’s near the eastern mouth of the canyon.”
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“All of the mountains out here are unique—kind of like fingerprints—so it’s easy to tell one from the other.”
It made sense. “Please be careful and get to Dawn as quickly as you can.”
After promising to contact me within the hour, Tricia ended the call.
CHAPTER 27
I was about to call the sheriff to let him know I was heading to Arkansas when my phone began ringing in my hand. Thinking it was Dawn, I quickly checked the screen, but it showed up as a blocked call. My heart beating harder in my chest, I answered in a cautious tone. “This is London.”
“Mr. Carter, I’m going to be brief, but blunt. My name is Bruce—like Bruce Lee, the legend—and I’ve got your girl. If you don’t do exactly what I tell you to do, she’s going to die a slow and horrible death.” The man paused briefly, and then asked, “Do I have your attention?”
I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, forcing my heart to calm down. Everything around me seemed to move in slow motion and my focus became razor-sharp. I’d felt this sensation before, but only when my own life was in grave danger. Right then, it occurred to me that Dawn’s life was even more precious to me than my own.
“I’m listening.” My voice was deathly calm and it surprised even me. I knew that panic was not an option. In matters of life and death, only the cooler heads prevailed, and there was no life more precious to me than Dawn’s, so I had to be like ice.
“You really threw a hell of a wrench into our plans to correct some grave injustices in this world—”
“Do you mean the assassination attempt on Vice President Browning’s life?”
“Ah, you catch on quick.” The man took a breath and exhaled with great force. “I have to admit, our employers were extremely angry at you for your interference and their first inclination was to have you pay with your own life. However, I interceded on your behalf and we came to a compromise. You see, we decided—”
“You want me to kill the vice president.”
I could tell by his reaction that he appreciated how smoothly this was going.
“That’s precisely what w
e want you to do. If you do this one thing for us, you will soon be reunited with your lovely—and I must say she is extremely beautiful—girlfriend.”
“How do I know you’ll return her to me unharmed?”
“You have my word, Mr. Carter…no harm will come to your Dawn if you help us save the world by destroying that vile woman, Courtney Browning.”
“Before we continue this conversation, I’ll need proof of life,” I said. “And I want it immediately.”
“Hold on one second.”
I could hear him put his hand over the phone and then everything was quiet for about a minute. I then heard muffled voices talking in the background. Finally, he came back on the line. “I’ll allow her to say but a few words to you, and then we’ll talk details.”
I hadn’t realized how nervous I was until I switched the phone to my left ear and felt how wet it was from sweat. I wiped my right hand on my jeans and waited, hoping to hear Dawn’s voice. Finally, the phone rustled a little and her voice came on the line.
“London, we’re at—”
It sounded like the phone was suddenly pulled away from her, and it left her last words indistinguishable. There was some cursing in the background and a defiant Dawn was telling them where to go.
“Damn it, Lenny, don’t you lay a finger on her!”
“Bruce,” I said through clenched teeth, trying to maintain a level head. “If you want my cooperation, you’ve got to make damn sure nothing bad happens to Dawn.”
“You’ve got my word no harm will come to her, just as long as you do exactly as I say.”
“Didn’t you make the same assurances to Agents Trace Mullins and Stuart Bagford?” I challenged. “Their families were brutally murdered by you and your men long before Bagford and Mullins had a chance to carry out your plans, so forgive me for being a bit skeptical.”
