When Dr. Elena Colt learned that the FBI was after Hank Doyle for questioning, she called Cassandra.
Cassandra had been watching out the window of her motel room as Doyle threw a small bag in his car, and then gone into the motel’s office.
“I was just about to call you,” Cassandra said. “Doyle packed his car and looks ready to bug out.”
“He’d better hurry, the FBI are on their way there, and even if he gets away they’ll track his car.”
“Why are the FBI after him?”
“His daughter called him.”
“He could be going to meet up with her, with her and Mitchell, but if the FBI grabs him he may refuse to talk.”
“I think it would be in our best interest if he stayed free for now. That way you could follow him.”
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do, and I’d better hurry.”
“Good, and stay in touch.”
Cassandra ended the call and went outside. As she was walking towards the office, she saw Kathy exit the motel room.
“Hey Kathy,”
“Oh, hi, Cassandra, right?”
“Yeah, but hey, what’s up with your boyfriend? There are some Fed types over at the restaurant asking about him.”
“Feds? What do you mean?”
“You know, cheap dark suits, ugly shoes, badges,”
Kathy sent her a fake smile. “It’s nothing, um, see ya around,”
Cassandra shrugged. “Okay, bye bye,”
***
Kathy rushed into the motel’s office and found Doyle standing at the counter tapping his fingers, looking impatient.
“We have to go, Hank. There are Feds across the road looking for us.”
“FBI?”
“Maybe, so let’s pay up and get moving.”
“I can’t pay. There’s a problem with my card, the clerk is in the back getting her boss.”
“Oh shit, it’s the Feds; they’ve cancelled your card so you can’t go anywhere.”
“You pay, you have a credit card.”
“No, because then they’ll know we’re together.”
“You’re right, oh crap, what’ll I do? There’s not enough cash.”
Kathy grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door. As they reached the bottom of the steps, they saw two black cars drive into the lot and move along slowly, when they came to Doyle’s room, one of the cars parked directly behind his car, blocking it in, as the other parked beside it.
Afterwards, four men in suits got out and headed for their motel room.
“Shit,” Kathy said, and then she pulled Doyle along the other way, towards the alley on the side of the office where the dumpsters sat.
Doyle went along docilely. His mind was racing with different scenarios and not one of them was good.
When they reached the other end of the alley, they found themselves standing in the parking lot of a strip mall. There was a cab dropping off an old woman in front of a hairdresser, and Kathy pointed at it.
“We’ll take the taxi to the airport and rent a car there.”
“My credit is no good, remember?”
“Mine is,” Kathy said, and they rushed towards the cab.
Once they were settled in the backseat, Doyle released a deep breath he’d been holding, and spoke in a low tone, so as not to be overheard by the driver.
“Holy crap, Kathy, I’ve never been in trouble with the cops before, it’s scary.”
Kathy kissed him. “And sexy,”
Doyle chuckled.
“You’re really something, but listen, the smart thing for you would be to go back home and forget all about me. So far, the cops don’t know you’re involved. All anybody knows is that I was with a girl named Kathy, but they don’t know your last name.”
Kathy slipped her arm through his.
“Nice try, Hank, but I’m with you to the end.”
“But why? Why take the chance?”
She stared at him, looking more serious than he’d ever seen her.
“These last two days, the nights, it hasn’t been just sex for me, you know?”
“Really?”
A shy smile lit her face.
“Us kidnappees never lie,”
Hank freed his arm from hers and then wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Come here,”
Doyle hugged her close as he shook his head in wonder.
“Kathy?”
“Yeah?”
“I feel it too, baby.”
***
Kathy rented a car at the airport.
It was a Ford, and after the car rental agent brought it around, he happened to look back over his shoulder to see a young woman leaning down near the rear of it. The man walked back over.
“May I help you?”
The woman smiled. “Oh, no thank you, I just dropped my purse as I was walking by.”
The man looked at the side of the car and saw nothing amiss.
“Alright, um, goodbye,”
“Bye,” Cassandra said, and continued walking.
She reached her car where she had left it in the short-term parking lot, and removed a device from a metal case. The device had a small screen and when she flipped a switch, it lit up and displayed a map of the area, and the tracker she had attached to Kathy’s rental appeared as a dot on the map, and gave her their location.
Next, she reached under the seat and checked to see that her gun was fully loaded, it was, and there were spare clips in the trunk.
If Doyle led her to Mitchell, she’d be ready, ready to deliver a justice that was long overdue.
The dot on the screen began moving, and Cassandra started her car.
CHAPTER 13
Cassandra followed along behind Kathy and Doyle with no fear of being spotted. The tracker had a range of over a mile, and that was more than enough to stay out of their sight.
The only time she took a chance on losing them was when they stopped for gas and something to eat at a convenience store with pumps out front.
Cassandra drove past them and stopped at a similar place not far away. As she placed the nozzle in her car to gas up, she saw Kathy’s rental go past, and by the time the lethargic clerk at the deli counter had finished making her sandwich, she figured that she was running three or four miles behind them.
She wasn’t too concerned about losing them. They were on a highway with no major crossroads directly ahead and Kathy had been staying at the legal limit. When the dot appeared on the screen again ten minutes later, Cassandra relaxed and began eating.
***
They drove all day and Cassandra was fighting sleep when Kathy put on her turn signal to exit the highway.
They were in Flagstaff, Arizona, and up ahead was the sign of a motel chain.
Cassandra smiled, thinking that she would be able to grab a few hours of sleep. However, when she caught up to the car, she saw that Kathy hadn’t pulled into the motel lot, but had instead driven into the gas station next to it.
It was dark and there were ten pump islands in the huge station, so Cassandra took a chance and pulled to the pump farthest from Kathy and Doyle. She gassed her car as Doyle filled theirs and Kathy went in to grab food.
Cassandra thought that the food was a bad sign, and when Hank Doyle returned from a trip to the rest room and climbed in the driver’s seat, she knew that they intended to keep driving, possibly all night.
It was fine for them. Doyle had likely napped while Kathy drove, and now she would sleep as he took over, but Cassandra was alone and already weary.
She cursed, while thinking that Elena should have put Mia and Kelly on Doyle and left her following around Mitchell’s groupies.
Then, she sighed. Elena couldn’t have known that Doyle and Kathy would take off on a marathon road trip. She would just have to tough it out and stay with them. There was nothing else to do about it.
As Doyle pulled out of the station, Cassandra used the rest room and then went after them. She was slightly refreshed f
rom moving around, but still tired. The sandwich she’d bought earlier was long gone, but she still had a package of cheese crackers and a bottle of water.
She would have killed for a thermos of coffee, but you made do with what you had. With Kathy’s car in sight, and the hour growing late, Cassandra gave a great yawn, kept following along, and took out her phone to call Elena.
***
Back in Dallas, Special Agent Robyn Dyer was admitting to herself that Jeffrey Mitchell had yet again evaded capture. The only thing that they seemed to know is that he was headed northwest, correction, that he was possibly headed northwest, and so she had agents checking out every motel and hotel northwest of Dallas, and had also alerted all relevant authorities in those areas.
Mitchell was bad enough, but Hank Doyle had also evaded them. His daughter had made contact for a reason, and Dyer would love to know what that reason was.
She also felt foolish for not having Doyle’s phone tapped. There had seemed no reason to do so, the man had been nothing but cooperative and seemed genuinely worried about his daughter. Still, what had Doyle been doing in Dallas?
So many questions and frustrations, and they were all giving her a headache.
The phone rang and she frowned at it. It was late, and late phone calls usually meant bad news.
The caller ID told her nothing, but she answered it anyway.
“Special Agent Dyer,”
“This is Thomas Lawson.”
“Yes, Mr. Lawson, how may I help you?”
Dyer was deferential towards Lawson, but not really sure why. What his role was in this was a mystery to her, but the man had resources and the word was that he was highly connected. A spook’s spook they said.
“I’m the one who would like to help. One of my operatives is following Hank Doyle. Mr. Doyle has been driving northwest, and we have reason to believe that he’ll be making contact with his daughter.”
Dyer sat up straight in her seat.
“Give me his location.”
“At the moment, he’s north of Flagstaff, but there’s no point in detaining him until we know his ultimate destination, agreed?”
Dyer gave a reluctant, “Yes,” and Lawson continued.
“I’m making you aware of this so that you don’t waste your resources tracking him down.”
“Thank you, and I would be grateful for any further help you can give us.”
“I will definitely do that. I haven’t forgotten that Mitchell, or rather, his father, killed several FBI agents during his escape last year, and I intend to make certain that it’s the FBI who gets the credit when he’s finally found.”
Dyer noticed that Lawson used the word found, and not apprehended.
“Mr. Lawson, Jeffrey Mitchell is not going to live to see trial, is he?”
“If that were to occur, would it upset you?”
“There were four agents killed during Mitchell’s escape last year, three men and a woman. The female agent was Janet Meyers. Janet and I had been friends since training together at Quantico. One of the male agents, Steve Carter... he and I...we were very close. So no, if Mitchell dies I will not shed a tear.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. I’ll stay in touch, and in the meantime why don’t you relocate to Las Vegas and we’ll rendezvous there at the FBI offices, say at noon?”
“Yes.”
“Goodnight then,”
“Goodnight, Mr. Lawson, and thank you.”
***
In the hills near Carson City, Nevada, Circe sat with her hands pressed against the sides of her head as she tried vainly to block the sounds of Jeffrey and Hanna making love.
Unable to stand it any longer, she slipped out of the trailer and into the night. It had grown cloudy earlier in the day and so the stars and moon were obscured, leaving the night pure blackness.
Laughter reached Circe’s ears, Hanna’s laughter, and Circe thought that it was no doubt at her expense.
She smiled. As planned, Hanna was going alone into the nearby town of Tobin tomorrow for supplies, and if her father had done what she’d asked, then, the police would be waiting for Hanna.
Once Hanna was in custody it would be just her and Jeffrey, and she could make Jeffrey forget Hanna, she knew she could.
Circe smiled a secret smile, as she began to hum a happy tune.
CHAPTER 14
Tobin, Nevada, 12:42 p.m.
Hank Doyle reached into his jacket pocket for the third time in as many minutes to assure himself that his gun was still there. He was in The Tobin Market, a mid-sized supermarket that serviced the town’s six-thousand residents.
Kathy was also in the market, but she was on the far end, near the frozen foods. They had arrived in Tobin less than an hour ago, and after finding the market, they went inside and began searching for Hanna, first together, then separately, in order to cover more area.
They assumed that she would be wearing a disguise of some sort, possibly a wig, or a hat and glasses, but after thirty minutes of wandering among the aisles, neither Doyle nor Kathy had spotted her.
Doyle’s phone rang, his new phone. He had reluctantly tossed away his old phone when Kathy assured him that the FBI could track them if he ever used it again. The phone he had now was one of two cheap throwaways that Kathy had bought at a convenience store along the way.
Doyle answered and heard Kathy’s whispered voice.
“I got her, Hank, aisle fourteen, she’s wearing a dark wig, but it’s her.”
“I’m coming, and be careful.”
***
Cassandra was parked on the right side of the market along the curb with a clear view of Kathy’s rental.
She was happy for the break, and also for the fact that the supermarket sat across the highway from a donut shop.
After Kathy and Doyle parked and went into the market, she followed them in and watched as they grabbed a cart and began shopping. She left the market and ran across the road to the donut shop, where she bought a thermos filled with coffee along with a breakfast sandwich, and, her weight be damned, two donuts.
After downing half the thermos, she felt better, but her eyes were still grainy, and she found that if she didn’t keep the windows rolled down to let in the air, that she would become drowsy.
When half an hour passed, she saw it as a good sign. If they were taking that long to shop for groceries than they must be nearing their destination.
Cassandra yawned, a wide, jaw-creaking yawn, and then took her first bite of donut.
***
On the other end of the parking lot, Hanna had just placed the last bag of groceries in the trunk of her small Chevy when a man shoved a gun into her ribs.
The man looked nervous, had short brown hair, and was a bit of a hunk, but not for one moment did Hanna think he was a cop.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Circe’s father.”
A woman appeared, she was young and pretty and she was smiling as if she were having a good time.
“You did great, Hank. Hello Hanna, please hand me your keys, no, give me the whole purse; I’m sure there’s a gun in there.”
Hanna gave her the purse and asked a question.
“Where are you taking me, to the police?”
“No,” Doyle said. “You’re taking me to my daughter. When we get there, we’ll trade you for her.”
Hanna grinned, she couldn’t help herself.
“You want me to take you to Jeffrey?”
“Yes, and if you refuse, then we’ll hand you over to the cops,” Doyle said.
Hanna shook her head.
“Oh no, I’ll take you to him. In fact, he’s going to love this.”
The three of them got in the car. Kathy drove while Doyle sat in the back with his gun pointed at Hanna.
***
Jeffrey was outside the trailer with Circe when he heard the car coming back.
The motor home was parked on the side of a secluded hill that granted a view of the winding narrow road,
and he could see that no cars were following Hanna as she wound up the hill.
He was seated in a lawn chair with his pants unbuckled, and he reached down and grabbed Circe’s hair to pull her mouth from his crotch.
“Hanna’s coming back.”
Circe wiped her lips. “But I didn’t finish yet,”
“I should have never let you start, and remember, this was our little secret.”
“Yes Jeffrey, I love you, Jeffrey.”
Jeffrey smiled at her. She really had no idea that once the baby was born she would be killed, and most likely by Hanna. He stood while the car was hidden from view behind the last hill and quickly zipped up his pants.
***
Circe was so happy that Jeffrey had let her pleasure him that she didn’t even mind that Hanna hadn’t been captured. It meant that he found her irresistible and she knew in time that she would replace Hanna in his heart. Still, she was disappointed in her father. She had thought that she could count on him to help her, but with Hanna back safely, she realized she was wrong.
***
Jeffrey was still near the table in the meadow when the car parked in back of the trailer. When the man and the woman emerged from the car with Hanna between them, he reached over to the table, picked up his gun, and began firing, and before he had even touched the gun, Hanna had thrown herself to the ground.
***
Doyle was about to shout his demands for a trade to Jeffrey when the man began firing at them. Kathy screamed and ran behind the motor home as Hanna laughed at her from the ground. Doyle never even thought about returning fire, but simply ran to join Kathy.
When he saw that the stairs were down, he grabbed Kathy’s hand and they climbed into the motor home.
Kathy spotted the keys lying in a cup holder, and within seconds, she had the big vehicle roaring to life.
***
Circe stood frozen with her mouth open while watching Jeffrey fire at her father and some girl.
He was here. Somehow he had come here and now Jeffrey was going to kill him.
Well, if he died it was his own fault for not doing as she asked and having Hanna arrested, and anyway, what was he doing with that girl?
The TAKEN! Series - Books 13-16 (Taken! Box Set Book 4) Page 10
