“You and Jones haven’t slept, either,” he retorted.
“We’re going home. We’ll be back in a few hours.”
Tom wanted to argue, wanted to tell Richardson he was fine, but he knew the detective was right. He needed to be alert to catch Wade. He didn’t want his hands shaking from exhaustion and his mind muddled from lack of sleep. Tina’s life depended on him. “All right,” he said grudgingly. “I’ll sleep for a few hours.”
Stone slapped him on the back. “We’ll be back at seven and start fresh.”
Tom lay down on the cot in the dark interrogation room, but he couldn’t fall asleep. He was tortured by images of Tina being held by Wade. Wade was a vicious killer, and he knew it was possible he wouldn’t see her alive again.
He loved her. In the darkness of the room and in the midst of his terror, it was the one thing he saw clearly. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Tina. He wanted to make a home with her, and a family.
He wanted to jump up from the cot and do something, right now, to find her. He couldn’t bear to wait until the morning, to sleep while Tina might be suffering. But he couldn’t stay awake. Against his will, he drifted off to sleep.
He woke with a jerk and sat up on the cot, wondering where he was. He stared at the institutional green of the walls and remembered, bringing his fear and desperation back in a rush.
Rolling off the cot, he pushed out of the room and into the corridor, looking around. It was very early in the morning—not yet light—and there were only a few police officers sitting at their desks. Most of them were typing up reports.
There was no sign of Richardson or Jones. Tom hurried into the detectives’ room. It was deserted. He thumbed through a Rolodex on one of the desks, looking for Richardson’s telephone number. He was just about to pick up the phone when the detective himself came strolling into the room.
“I figured you’d be awake already.” He nodded toward the other room. “Let’s get a cup of coffee. It’s strong enough to take the varnish off a chair.”
“Sounds good,” Tom muttered.
They retreated back to the detectives’ room and were talking about their strategy for the day when the telephone rang. Stone picked it up. “Richardson here.”
He listened for a moment, then lunged off the desk to push a button on the telephone. Tom watched his fingers whiten as he held the receiver. Finally he said, “Here he is.”
He handed Tom the phone. “Wade,” he mouthed.
His heart pounding, Tom said, “This is Tom Flynt.”
“Flynt, I have your girlfriend here.”
Tom could hear the gloating in Wade’s voice. He tried to control his rage and speak in a neutral tone of voice. “What do you want?”
“I knew you’d be reasonable.” He chuckled. “Missy here told me that the FBI doesn’t bargain with the likes of me, but I knew you’d be different. I saw the way you looked at her.”
“What do you want, Wade?”
“I want my money back. And I want to leave this God-forsaken town on my own, with no one following me.”
“How do I know that Ms. White is still alive?” Tom wasn’t sure how he managed to say the words.
“She’s alive. Do you think I would kill my ace in the hole?”
“Let me talk to her.” Tom’s hand tightened on the receiver.
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
“If I don’t talk to her, there’s no deal.”
There was a pause, then Wade said with a chuckle, “You drive a hard bargain, Flynt.”
Tom could hear fumbling in the background, then Tina’s voice. “Tom?”
“Tina? Are you all right? Has he hurt you?” He gripped the phone so hard that his hand hurt.
“I’m fine, Tom. He hasn’t touched me.”
“Are you warm enough?”
“We’re in a cabin…”
Tina’s voice stopped abruptly. Then Wade came back on the line. “That’s all you’re going to get, Flynt. Now do I get my money back, or does Ms. White go home in a box?”
“You’ll get your money,” Tom said grimly. “Where and when do you want to make the exchange?”
“Nine o’clock this evening. I don’t want to leave during the day. It makes it so much easier for your friends in the police department to follow me. So we’ll make sure it’s dark before we do our business.”
“All right.” Tom ground his teeth at the thought of Tina being in danger for another twelve hours. “Where?”
“I think we’ll meet at the place where you had your accident. I have a fondness for that spot.” He chuckled again. “Do you think you can remember where that was?”
“I’ll be there, Wade. And you’d better be, too. If you touch one hair of Ms. White’s head, you’re going to die.”
“You’re letting your emotions get in the way of business, Flynt. And that’s all this is. Business. I need that money, and you apparently need Ms. White. I’ll see you tonight at nine.”
The line went dead, and Tom turned to Stone. “Could you trace the call?”
Stone shook his head. “He was using a cell phone. We can narrow it down, but that’s about all.”
“I saw you press a button. Did you record him?”
Stone nodded. “Let’s listen to it again. Maybe we’ll get a clue.”
But the only clue they had was that Tina had said she was in a cabin. “There are hundreds of cabins in the mountains,” Stone said, slumping into a chair. “That doesn’t narrow it down at all.”
He lifted his head and looked over at Tom. “I have another idea. It may sound nuts to you, but hear me out.”
He leaned forward and began to speak. Tom narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t interrupt. Finally, when Stone stopped speaking, Tom shrugged. “You’re right, it sounds nuts, but I’m willing to try anything.”
Stone picked up the phone and made a call, and a half hour later, an attractive young blond woman walked into the room. Stone jumped up and reached for her, pulling her to him for a quick kiss. Then, with his arm around her shoulders, he said, “This is my wife, Jessica. Jessica, this is Tom Flynt. He’s the FBI agent I told you about.”
Jessica Richardson held out her hand and gave him a warm smile. “I’m so glad you regained your memory, Mr. Flynt. And I’m very sorry about what’s happened to Tina. I hope I can help you find her.”
“I hope so, too.”
Jessica smiled at him. “You look skeptical.”
He shrugged. “It sounds pretty odd.”
“I agree. But you never know.”
“Jessica had visions, for lack of a better word, of a murder we had here in Grand Springs a few years ago. She was instrumental in helping us solve the case.”
Jessica blushed. “Stone did the work. I was glad to be able to help.”
Tom leaned forward. “Your husband suggested that you might be able to listen to the tape we made of Wade and Tina and get an idea where they might be. Do you think that’s possible?”
“I don’t know, Mr. Flynt,” she said frankly. “I haven’t really had any ‘visions’ since that time. But I’m certainly willing to try.”
Tom sat back in his chair and watched her. “Whenever you’re ready, Mrs. Richardson.”
“Go ahead.”
Tom played the tape, and watched Jessica Richardson as she concentrated. Her eyes took on a faraway look, and she appeared to look inside herself. When the tape was finished, she sat without moving for what seemed like a long time. Tom wanted to ask her if she had seen anything, but he forced himself to keep quiet.
Finally she turned to him, a look of distress on her face. “I could see a cabin, but I know that doesn’t help much. It looks as if it’s tucked under a huge rock. It’s so well-hidden that it’s barely visible.” She turned her palms up. “I can’t see anything else. But I don’t think it’s near the city. It felt very isolated.”
Tom swallowed his fear and his frustration and nodded. “Thanks, Mrs. Richardson. We really apprec
iate the effort.”
“Please, call me Jessica.” He could see the distress in her eyes. “Will you let me listen to the tape again, by myself? I might be able to come up with more.”
“Go right ahead.” Tom stood up and waited for Stone to say goodbye to his wife, then the two of them left the room. As they shut the door, Tom could hear Wade’s voice on the tape recorder.
Just then Bob Jones came hurrying down the corridor. “I got in touch with both the cell phone companies in town. One of them was able to verify that the call came from their phone. And they could tell us which tower it was relayed from. It doesn’t tell us where she is, but it narrows it down.”
Tom wanted to grab the older detective and kiss him. “Good work, Jones. Where is this tower?”
Jones pointed to the map that hung on the wall behind them. It included Grand Springs and a wide section of the mountains surrounding it. “Right about here. They said they have towers every three or four miles in that area. So this is the area where we should be looking.”
Jones drew a line around what looked like a dauntingly large area. And Tom knew that it was mountainous. “How many people can we get to search the area?” he asked.
“We’ll put every available officer on it,” Jones said promptly. “I’ll start making the calls.”
“Take my cell phone,” Stone said. “If Jessica comes up with anything, she’ll call you.”
“Thanks,” Tom said quietly.
“Listen to me,” Stone said, laying his hand on Tom’s arm. “If you find anything, don’t be a hot dog. Call for backup, and wait for help. Don’t be a hero.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to Tina.”
Stone shook his head. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Listen to me. I’ll get another phone from the department and make sure you have the number. Call if you see or hear anything.”
“I know the drill, Richardson.”
“Then see that you follow it.”
Tom didn’t bother to answer. He raced for his car, making sure he had Stone’s cell phone and a jug of water. He didn’t wait to find out where everyone else was going to search. He’d cover the whole area, on foot, by himself, if necessary. He would find Tina if it were the last thing he ever did.
Seven hours later, at three o’clock in the afternoon, he was in the mountains outside Grand Springs, about an hour away. The air was cold, but the sun beat down mercilessly on Tom’s face. His head throbbed and his eyes ached. He hadn’t seen one cabin that looked like the one Jessica Richardson described. He had seen a number of shacks that looked abandoned, and he’d looked in every one of them. But time was running short and he had a huge area left to cover.
As he was walking along, he stepped into a depression in the earth and stumbled. As he reached for a tree to steady himself, he realized that he had come across an old, abandoned road. The depression he’d stumbled into was a tire rut.
His gaze sharpened as he looked at the road. It was overgrown with weeds, and small saplings sprouted between the ruts. But someone had driven over this road very recently. Some of the saplings were snapped off and there was fresh dirt exposed in the tire tracks.
He tried to beat down the excitement as he followed the road higher up the mountain. It could mean nothing, he told himself. But the road could lead to Wade’s hideout.
He flipped open his phone and called Stone. He explained what he’d found and told him where he was. “I’m following the road. I’ll let you know if it looks promising.”
“I’m going to head in that direction,” Stone replied. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Tom slipped the phone back into his pocket and turned it off. He didn’t want it ringing and alerting Wade that he was in the area. He hiked higher and higher, following the tracks, and his excitement grew. Tina could be just ahead.
Finally the road turned a corner into an open meadow. He immediately stepped back into the trees and scanned the meadow in front of him.
He almost missed the cabin. It was tiny and practically falling apart, its weathered brown boards blending almost perfectly into the trees. A cliff bordered one side of the meadow, and Tom’s heart sped up when he saw that the cabin was tucked into a massive rock overhang. This looked very much like the place Jessica Richardson had described.
Tom stood for a while, deciding on the best approach. He finally slipped through the trees to the cliff behind the cabin. Moving slowly, he was able to edge close enough to the cabin that he could hear a voice coming from inside.
His heart pounding, he listened for a while. It was Wade! He had found them!
Chapter 16
His heart thundered painfully in his chest, and Tom had to force himself to remain motionless. If Wade was talking to someone, it must mean Tina was in this cabin. And more importantly, she was still alive. He ached to run inside and pull her into his arms.
He loved her. It was painfully clear to him. And he couldn’t bear the thought that she was in danger.
But he took a deep breath and waited until his heart slowed down. If he rushed into the cabin now, it would be a disaster. He had to utilize his training, and think logically and calmly in order to help Tina. He had to put aside the personal, shut down all his emotions.
He closed his eyes until he had erased the picture of Tina from his mind. Then he looked around. The first thing he had to do was warn Stone. He was on his way to the cabin. It would be a disaster if he came bursting into the meadow and warned Wade that he’d been found.
Tom backed away from the cabin, moving slowly even though all his instincts screamed at him to hurry. It had been thirty-six hours since Wade kidnapped Tina—the longest thirty-six hours of his life. When he was finally back in the shelter of the trees, he retreated until he was sure Wade wouldn’t be able to hear him speaking. Then he turned on his phone and told Stone what he had found.
“Wait until some backup gets there,” Stone urged. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t. I’m not going to risk Tina’s life. But I don’t want you to come charging into the meadow. Our only advantage right now is that Wade doesn’t know we’ve found him.”
“We’ll be careful. Keep in touch if you can.”
“Will do.” Tom turned off the phone again and slipped it back into his pocket. He wouldn’t be using it again until he had Wade in custody.
Moving carefully, he maneuvered himself back into position near the cabin. Shadows were lengthening in the meadow—the cliff was blocking the rays of the sun, and it wouldn’t be long before the entire meadow was plunged into darkness. Night came suddenly and swiftly in the mountains. Once it was dark, he had to move quickly before Wade left for their meeting.
As the shadows crept over the cabin, he edged toward a window. Wade’s voice drifted through the broken glass, sounding frighteningly normal. Occasionally it was muffled, as if Wade had bent down. The next time it happened, Tom risked a quick look inside.
Tina lay on a narrow cot, her hands and feet bound and her mouth covered with a piece of silver tape. Rage swept over him as he looked at her, helpless. He dropped down below the window again and silently promised her that Wade would be punished for what he had done to her.
As darkness crept over the meadow, Tom saw a light flare on inside the cabin. He frowned with surprise. There were no electric lines leading to this isolated meadow.
Then he heard the growl of a generator, coming from behind the building. He smiled with grim satisfaction. “I have you now, Wade,” he whispered to himself.
It took longer than he expected to move to the rear of the cabin. Light was disappearing quickly, and he didn’t want to alert Wade by stepping on a rock or a stick. Any noise in the isolated meadow would reverberate far too loudly in the silence. By the time he reached the generator, night had fallen in the meadow.
It only took moments to disable the generator. It clanked a couple of times, then ground to a halt. The lights in the cabin went out, plunging ev
erything in the area into darkness.
Tom was betting that it wouldn’t take long for Wade to come out of the cabin to check on the generator. It would be far safer for Tina if he arrested Wade out in the open, rather than in the confines of the cabin. So Tom retreated into the shadows and waited.
Within a few minutes, he heard the door of the cabin open. He tensed, but Wade didn’t appear. Had he gone around the other way?
Then a bobbing light appeared, and Tom realized that Wade had a flashlight. Tom shrank away from the thin beam of light and waited until Wade was bending over the generator.
He had his gun in his hand before he stood up and ran over to his target. “Freeze, Wade. FBI.”
Wade spun around, a look of disbelief on his face. Suddenly, he raised the flashlight and swung it toward Tom’s head. When Tom put up his arm to block the blow, the heavy light hit his arm, sending pain shooting up to his shoulder.
Before Tom could recover, Wade reached under his arm and pulled out a gun. Tom leaped toward him, grabbing his arm and keeping the gun pointed away from them.
“You’re going to die, Flynt,” Wade panted. “And then your girlfriend will die, too. But not until I’ve had some fun with her. She’s a looker, isn’t she?”
Rage gave Tom strength he didn’t know he had. He kept Wade’s gun pointed away from him while he brought his own gun up and pointed it at Wade’s chest. “Wade, drop the gun now, or I’ll have to shoot you.”
After a tense few moments, Wade dropped his own gun and Tom kicked it away from them. Tom slowly let him go and held the weapon steady on Wade. “All right, down on the ground and put your hands on top of your head.”
Instead of obeying, Wade lunged for Tom, grabbing for his gun at the same time. Tom read the desperation in the other man’s jerky movements and knew that Wade had nothing left to lose. He had already killed four people. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill him and Tina.
Wade’s hand wrapped around Tom’s gun as they struggled in grim silence. Wade was unbelievably strong. Tom felt him pushing the gun away from him, trying to aim it toward Tom. He swept out his leg, trying to trip Wade and knock him off balance. Wade stumbled and the gun went off.
A Thanksgiving To Remember Page 18
