“Yo! Leave that girl alone!”
When the driver did not respond, Bridgette slammed on the gas, veering dangerously across the parking lot at full throttle. At first Tristan thought her aunt was going to crash into the black van, but the vehicle came to a screeching stop with just an inch to spare.
“Gimme the gun…” said Bridgette to Tristan.
Tristan complied and pulled the gun out of the waist band of her jeans and passed it to her aunt. Bridgette stormed from the truck towards the opposite side of the van where the sliding door was opening. She could hear the heavy rasp of breathing and a faint whimper.
“Let her go!” yelled Bridgette as she pointed the gun at the head of Natalie’s captor.
Natalie sat shaking in the back of the van with a black pillow case over her head. The person who took her stood confidently at the door and didn’t back down from Bridgette. They masked their identity under the dark shadow of their hooded sweatshirt. Though Bridgette couldn’t see the person’s face, she knew who it was. She could feel the person staring at her, and she stared back. After a moment, when she felt as if the hooded person’s resolve was weakening, she made her move. Bridgette stepped quickly towards the open van and grabbed Natalie’s leg and pulled her forward causing her to fall into the gravel below.
“Run, Natalie!” Bridgette screamed as she pushed the hooded perpetrator hard into the side of the van.
Bridgette held them down, hoping to give Natalie a chance to get away. Natalie did as she was told and ran fast down Mountain Road with the pillowcase still restricting her vision.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” the hooded person said as they fought back, hitting Bridgette in the mouth with a nasty upper cut.
Bridgette spit blood on the side of the van before returning a vicious elbow to the perpetrator’s face.
“I don’t have time for your bullshit! You wanna put me on your list?! Well to hell with that!” Bridgette spat as she kicked the assailant hard in the gut, causing them to fly back into the cargo area of the van where they had stored Natalie.
Bridgette ran as fast as she could, hoping to get back to the truck so that she could catch up with Natalie before the person in the van did. Luck was not with her tonight though, because as she reached the driver side door of Jack’s truck, Bridgette heard the unmistakable click of a gun.
***
“911 Operator... What’s your emergency?”
“There is a van on Mountain Road and Mercy Street. Someone is trying to kidnap my friend!”
“Please stay on the line with me while I contact the authorities. Do you have a direct line of sight with the perpetrator?”
“No, they are on the other side of the van. My aunt is trying to get the girl from her!”
“Can you tell me what kind of van it is?”
“It’s a black cargo van. Like the type businesses use. I can make out the license plate number.”
“What is it?”
“PAJ08256”
“Please stay in the car and on the phone with me until the authorities arrive. They are on their way.”
“Oh, my God! Aunt Bridgette! Natalie!”
“Miss? Are you still there?”
But as the operator asked her question the line went dead.
***
Liam, Adam and Jenna returned to the Elkhart Police Department after coming up empty handed from the O’Mara house. Angie was not at home for questioning. Jenna decided she would ride around the neighborhood to see if she could spot her. As a call came over the radio for a kidnapping in progress on Mountain Road, Liam and Adam bolted into action. Liam jumped up from his chair nearly knocking over his desk as he scrambled to the back door of the Elkhart Police Department. Adam, who was right on his heels, grabbed the car keys for patrol car E5.
***
Natalie ran in what she hoped was a straight line up Mountain Road as she grasped at the rope that was tied around her neck. The assailant covered her eyes with a black pillow case and bound it with rope around her slender neck. Natalie couldn’t see a thing. For a moment she wondered if she had gone blind. Natalie tried to allow her hearing to guide her. She heard the cracking sound of gun shots and screaming in the background. She heard the pounding beat of her heart, and her sneakers furiously pounding against the gravel. Then she heard it; the ominous sound of a vehicle approaching. Tires rolled heavily over the gravel road, coming closer and closer until Natalie couldn’t run anymore. Natalie’s panic raged out of control. Tears streamed down her face making it even harder for her to see. Suddenly, she felt her right foot get caught on something. She pulled and pulled, but she couldn’t free it. Just as she pulled her foot from its temporary prison, she felt the firm grip of a hand grab the back of her shirt and throw her into the back of a van. From about fifty yards away, Natalie could hear Tristan Morrow’s murderous cry.
“We’re coming for you Angie! You better count on that!”
***
“Are you alright?!” asked Tristan frantically as she ran to her aunt who was crouched down against the side of the truck with a gunshot wound to her arm.
“I’m fine! It’s just a graze.”
“You’re bleeding!”
“I’m fine we have to get Natalie!”
Bridgette climbed into the passenger seat of the truck as she wrapped an old rag around her upper right arm, holding the material with her left hand and her teeth. She wrapped the rag taut around her wound as she tied a tight knot to secure it. Tristan pounded her foot on the gas as she sped after the van. Dust billowed into the night air leaving Mountain Road in a haze.
***
Jenna DiNolfo climbed out of her patrol car in the parking lot of the Elkhart Police Station. She had choice words on her mind, and she knew exactly who could answer her questions. With a vengeful look on her face, she stormed straight to the holding cells in the back room of the police station and came face to face with the one person she knew could answer her questions.
“So we meet again…” Jenna said in a less than delightful voice.
“Surprise, surprise…” said Hunter McCord as he peered at her through the bars of his jail cell.
“Tell me now and tell me straight. What the hell is Angie O’Mara up to?”
***
“Slam the gas! Were losing sight of them!” yelled Bridgette as she clutched her arm.
“I’m doing seventy-seven miles per hour!”
“Go faster! This bitch isn’t hurting anyone else. Tonight or any other night!”
“Hold tight,” Tristan said with a serious look in her eye.
The van barrelled through the forest at breakneck speed. Tristan pressed the gas pedal and put Jack’s truck into four wheel drive as they crossed from the gravel road onto the dirt ground of the forest.
“Where the hell is she taking her?!” yelled Bridgette as she reached over to honk the horn several times.
“Pull over, psycho!” Bridgette screamed at the van which was now just ten feet in front of them. Now barreling down a hill, Tristan knew exactly where she was.
“I know where she’s taking her.”
“I don’t even know where the hell we are. I can’t see a thing!”
“Wilhamette. She’s going into the mine.”
Bridgette’s face was wiped clean of emotion.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?!”
“I wish I was.”
“That mine stretches for miles. It branches off into many different tunnels. She can hide really easily in there.”
“Relax. I have a plan.”
The black van wound tightly around the mountainside and Tristan followed close behind, mocking the van’s every tilt and turn. Tristan smiled darkly as the van stormed through the barricade that covered the entrance of the mine at Wilhamette. She glanced over at her aunt and they exchanged a knowing look.
“Pull that mirror in and strap in,” said Tristan with a dangerous edge to her voice.
Bridgette’s eyes went wide as her
niece hit the gas again. The truck barreled into the cavernous tunnel of the dark mine.
“We’re catching ourselves a killer. Scared?” asked Tristan with a dark edge to her voice.
“Yeah, okay!” Bridgette said as she laughed. “Let’s do this…”
“Dad is going to love hearing about this…” Tristan mentioned as the smile faded.
“Oh, God…” groaned Bridgette as Jack came into her mind.
Tristan wound the tight curves of the mine, right on the bumper of the black van.
“Where is your sense of adventure, Aunt Bridgette…?”
“Oh, my God… Your father is going to kill me.”
***
Natalie struggled and squirmed in the back of the van. She still had the hood over her head, but now her kidnapper had bound her wrists and her feet, too. She wriggled her wrists as she tried to break free. Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot and shattering glass jarred Natalie’s composure.
“Son of a bitch!” the voice of her kidnapper spoke.
That voice is so familiar!
“See if you can catch me now,” said the voice, as they veered the van down a narrow passageway that the truck would not fit down.
***
“McCord… don’t feed me any bullshit. I’m not in the mood!”
“She’s never in the mood!” yelled Trafford from his holding cell down the hall.
“Watch your mouth, Trafford!” DiNolfo yelled trying to stifle a laugh. “Now you, what’s the deal?”
“I’m being honest with you. Someone stole my guns just before Courtney turned up murdered. No one had access to my trailer except for Ethan and my Mom, and it definitely wasn’t any of them. But then I remembered that I had put my keys down on the table right before that fight with Tommy Morrow. I’m willing to bet that she took my keys.”
“Wouldn’t that beast of a dog have mauled her?”
“Ox really liked her. She had spent the night a few times.”
“Cute. Her sister’s dead but she’s cuddling up with you.”
Hunter shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly.
“Have you ever known Angie to be a violent person?”
“Not with men. Only women. She would get jealous a lot. Especially of her sister.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I’ve never witnessed her show aggression towards any men.”
“Hmm…” said DiNolfo curiously, leaving Hunter guessing. He stared back at her with a nonplussed expression on his face.
“What? What am I missing?”
“Oh, nothing… Except for the fact that her husband turned up dead two days ago. Murdered.”
Hunter looked shocked. His eyes darted wildly in his head, and he rubbed the side of his head as his anxiety mounted.
“What else? Give me something I can use.”
“Alright…” said Hunter warily, as he prepared to tell DiNolfo what he knew.
***
“Shit!” said Bridgette as she watched the black van squeeze into a tunnel that was too narrow for the truck to fit into.
“No… It’s perfect. I know where that empties out.”
Bridgette did a double-take. Tristan certainly seemed to know an awful lot about the mines.
“How…?”
“How do I know? This is where Bernard took me after we left the fishing shack, three years ago. There is a central place under Elkhart where all the tunnels merge. He called it the heart of the mine and it is located right under the Bone Tree.”
Tristan slammed on the gas once more and took a tunnel that veered to the right as Bridgette looked at her niece in amazement.
“Hold on tight,” warned Tristan with an edge to her voice as the truck plunged into the murky dark of the tunnel.
***
Natalie kicked the back door of the van over and over again, trying to make enough noise so that someone, anyone, would hear her. She had no idea where she was, other than the fact that she was in a moving vehicle against her will and she couldn’t see a thing. She scooted on her butt as she tried to get to the back of the vehicle. When she finally found it, she kicked hard with both legs until she was out of breath.
“Keep it down back there!” yelled Angie from the front seat with an ugly expression on her face.
“Where do I know your voice from?!” Natalie demanded to know.
“Shut up and sit down!” Angie yelled again.
Natalie had her father’s stubborn pride and her mother’s determined resilience. She absolutely refused to do what her captor said. If anything, she was adamant on doing the exact opposite of what she was told. A scream rallied in her body, starting from her toes and boiling through her stomach and out her lungs. Her terrible scream bounced off every square inch of the moving van, out Angie’s open window, through the tunnel, out the airshaft and escaped from the gaping mouth of the Bone Tree.
***
“What is it that you’re asking me?” asked Hunter with a perplexed look. His tattooed arms slunk out of the jail cell as he continued to talk to DiNolfo unenthusiastically.
“Did you and Angie ever work together?”
“God, no. Angie is a loner, and frankly, so am I. I prefer to work alone so that no one else’s mistakes land me in here. That’s why I avoid jokers like that one over there who make stupid mistakes,” Hunter said as he pointed in Jesse Trafford’s general vicinity.
“So your relationship was just platonic.”
“Not exactly.”
“Be straight with me.”
“Fine,” said Hunter as he released a deep sigh.
“I took her on a run with me…”
“A run?”
“A drug run… It was a quick one. This particular client of mine has access to the old mine from his basement, so he always asked that I deliver through there. Angie and I drove through the mines in my van. We dropped off the goods, and left. It was an easy way to keep a low profile. Then when we were done we went to the Chiefsdale Cineplex and watched a movie.”
“So you broke into the mines. Trafficked drugs. Completed a drug deal. Then went on a date.”
Hunter rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
DiNolfo shook her head.
“Classy...”
Hunter shrugged his shoulders.
“I have to ask. Who was your client?”
Hunter groaned. He wasn’t a snitch, but he knew that there was a more serious issue going on here. Women were turning up dead. He had to do what was right. He might be a drug dealer, but he wasn’t a murderer.
“Hank Dresher.”
“Peggy’s husband…”
“Yeah.”
“There is an access point to the mines in Harrow’s basement?”
“Yeah. There’s just a piece of plywood there to keep the animals out.”
Suddenly, DiNolfo’s police radio squawked loudly and Liam’s voice blared from the speaker.
“Officer in pursuit of black van, license plate number PAJ08256...”
Hunter’s face turned red and angry, “That’s my van! Somebody stole my van!”
Liam continued shouting into his radio, “Silver SUV belonging to Jack Morrow is in pursuit of van. Shots fired on Mountain Road. Abduction of a white female, age seventeen, Natalie Piedmonte. It is believed that two females are in the truck. Tristan Morrow and Bridgette Kilpatrick. The van is headed towards the Wilhamette Mines! The perpetrator has been positively ID’d as Angela O’Mara. I repeat, the perp has been ID’d as Angela O’Mara.”
DiNolfo rose from her folding chair with venomous fury. She bolted out the door of the Elkhart Police Department, bypassed her squad car, and instead ran as fast as her legs would carry her to 41 Mountain Road.
Chapter 26
June 20, 2000
Morrow Manor
Fox Hollow, PA
11:00 P.M.
Cole Piedmonte woke to the sound of the old oak door of Morrow Manor groaning open and slamming against the foyer w
all. Sleepily, Cole rubbed his eyes as he looked to see who had come in the door.
Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2) Page 24
