That’s when she recalled the flashlight App on her phone, and when she activated it and went inside the mine entrance, she saw an empty wooden crate that was several feet long, but not very wide or tall. The crate gave off a metallic odor, and there were numbers and letters written on its side, which Alice assumed was a part number.
FIM-92H Stinger
Before Alice could make sense of what it was she found, she heard the ATV coming back, and judging by the speed, she would be spotted if she tried to leave the mine. She closed her phone, which plunged the mine into darkness, and then she moved deeper into that darkness, as she hoped to escape detection.
Seconds later, she saw it, a red ATV with an open top that the Chandlers and Drake looked squeezed into.
Drake, and Rich Chandler, jumped out and Alice watched as they each grabbed an end of the large DO NOT TRESPASS sign and leaned it against the mine’s entrance, causing the mine to become pitch black.
Alice wasn’t concerned, for she reasoned she could easily push an edge of the sign aside and slip out once they left, but then she heard Rich Chandler speak, and wondered if she had been detected.
“What’s with that look, Drake, is something wrong?”
“No,” Drake said. “I’m just pissed that we had to come back and do this because we forgot about it. We can’t afford to make any mistakes and time is growing short, now c’mon, let’s get to the tower and get ready.”
Six seconds passed, and then the vehicle started up, and soon, Alice heard its rumble growing fainter. She moved towards the exit, pushed the sign aside enough to slip out into the light of day, and found that Drake had been waiting for her to come out.
In his hands was a rifle, and it was aimed directly at her face.
CHAPTER 41
Jerry Schneider squeezed his eyes shut as he awaited the blast from Numerical’s gun, but instead, he heard music playing, and immediately realized that it was his phone’s ringtone.
Numerical lowered the gun.
“What’s the caller ID say?”
“Unknown number,” Schneider said.
“Answer it, but if you tell anyone I’m here, I’ll torture you. Got it?”
“Yes, yes,” Schneider said, and then he answered the phone, lit up in a smile, and laughed with relief.
“Summer! Oh thank God you called; you don’t know how much I’ve wanted to speak with you.”
Numerical pointed the gun at Schneider and mouthed four words.
“Remember what we discussed?”
Schneider nodded his head, attempted to calm his nerves, and hit the speaker button on the phone, so that Numerical could hear both sides of the conversation.
When Summer mentioned that Jessica was also at the safe house, Numerical grinned, while thinking that he would get two for the price of one.
With the call ended, Numerical rose from the chair and stood looking down on Schneider.
“You did good, Jerry, but we’re not done yet. You’re going to that safe house with me.”
“If I do everything you say, will you let me live?”
Numerical gave the question serious consideration before answering.
“I’ll let you live, but if you even think about screwing this up for me, I’ll kill you. Now, on your feet, it’s time to go see about that tank.”
Schneider rose, and Numerical made a face at the sour odor that rose up with him.
“Jesus, Jerry, did you piss yourself?”
Schneider looked down at the floor.
“A little, when I thought I was going to die.”
Numerical let out a hearty laugh as he gave Schneider a shove.
There was nothing he liked better than being feared.
***
Drake pointed at the ground.
“I saw your footprints, the sneaker tread, and we’re all wearing boots.”
Alice cursed under her breath; she hadn’t thought about what kind of tracks she was leaving in the mud, there were already so many there when she arrived that she thought hers would just blend in. Her phone and her weapon were back inside her purse, and she knew that she would never get the gun out before being shot.
Then, she heard the ATV coming back, and when it came into view, June Chandler scowled at her, while Rich Chandler smiled.
“Thank God you’ve got sharp eyes, Drake,” Rich Chandler said. “Or this bitch might have ruined everything, but is she alone?”
“Judging by the tracks I see, I’d say yes, but that deputy of hers could be nearby or on his way.”
June Chandler took Alice’s purse without saying a word, and it occurred to Alice that she had never heard the woman talk. When June found the gun, she passed it to Drake along with Alice’s phone.
Drake looked through the phone’s records and saw that Alice hadn’t made a call in hours.
“I think Nancy Drew is here alone, which tells me that she’s not Secret Service or some other kind of Fed.”
“Secret Service? What are you three up to?” Alice said.
Drake ignored her and issued orders.
“June, after we tie the bitch up, I want you to go back the way we came in and find a good place to ambush someone in case we get more company. Rich, I want you to do the same thing on the north trail while I get things ready in the tower, and in the meantime, we’ll leave her in the mine. If everything goes to shit we’ll have a hostage to bargain with.”
Rich Chandler walked over to Alice, and winked.
“You couldn’t stay away from me, could you?”
Afterwards, he hit her with a vicious right cross, and for Alice, the day disappeared.
CHAPTER 42
At the safe house, FBI Agent Rich Cashman’s face was reddened by both embarrassment and anger, as he snatched his phone out of Summer’s hand. He had nearly made it back to the studio when he went to use his phone and realized that he didn’t have it. He returned to the safe house and yelled Summer’s name until she came out into the living room.
“Who did you call?”
“Relax, I only called Jerry Schneider, and you should be glad that I did. It looks like the trap we set is a bust, and we’ll need good PR to sugarcoat the failure.”
Jessica and her husband had heard the shouting and left their room to see what was going on. When she learned that Summer had spoken to Schneider, Jessica looked worried.
“Did you give away our location?”
Summer stared at her with defiance in her eyes.
“Yes, I told Jerry where I was, but so what? He’s a part of this too.”
Jessica spoke to Cashman.
“We have to leave here now, all of us.”
Cashman waved that off.
“Calm down, Dr. White, Summer may have broken protocol, but she’s right, Schneider is a part of this, and he has no reason to want to harm her.”
There’s a vehicle approaching,” Jessica’s husband said, a second before the bell sounded, announcing that someone had entered the property. He went to the window and looked out at the limo moving slowly along the winding graveled driveway.
Cashman opened the door and walked outside.
“That must be Jerry Schneider,”
And as the limo made the final curve, Cashman walked out to the picket fence and stood waiting. A moment later, and he called to those inside.
“It is Schneider, I can see his face now, but you’d think a guy like that would have a chauffeur.”
Jessica startled as her husband took her by the arm and pulled her away from the window and moved back near the basement door, which led down to the safe room.
“Something’s not right,” he said.
One of the agents, Agent Ross, heard him and nodded in agreement.
“Dr. Gray, Mr. Gray, come with me now, it’s not safe.”
Summer looked back at him as if he were an imbecile.
“What are you talking about? It’s just Jerry Schneider.”
As the words left her mouth, the limo’s engine roared, and the
five-ton armored vehicle smashed through the picket fence, knocked Rich Cashman down, and after jouncing over him and mangling his body, it kept going until it was barreling its way into the house.
***
Inside the mine, Alice recovered from Chandler’s punch to find that the man’s wife was binding her ankles with duct tape. When she tried to move her arms, she realized that she had been wrapped up tight in a blanket that was also taped around her. It was crude, but it left her with little mobility, and as she tried to speak to June Chandler, the taciturn woman shoved a rag into her mouth, and then taped that in place as well.
Alice struggled and mumbled protests, but June merely stood and walked out of the mine. Soon, the DO NOT TRESPASS sign was placed back over the entrance, and Alice began to fear for her life.
***
Back out on the road, Rob Bolan left his car and went to look at the Chandler’s pickup parked in the driveway of the fire-ravaged home. He recognized the truck, after having seen it many times while visiting Alice.
He called Alice to tell her about running across the truck and received no answer, but didn’t give it much thought, as he knew she liked to get extra sleep whenever she had a day off. He headed into the woods at a good pace. The fire tower wasn’t far and he wondered if the Chandlers were there.
He couldn’t imagine why they wanted to strengthen the tower in the first place, but he would love to know the answer, and figured if there was any trouble, he’d handle it, since he wore a gun in an ankle holster.
When he spotted the ATV tire tracks, his curiosity increased and he sped up his pace.
***
At the top of the tower, Drake called down to Chandler with the use of his cell phone to avoid yelling to him, eighty feet below.
“It’s almost time, and there’s been no sign of further trouble. Go kill that nosy waitress and then come get me. Once it’s done, we’ll pick June up on the way back to the truck.”
Rich Chandler shuffled his feet.
“I’ve never done that before, kill anyone, you know that.”
“What the hell do you think today is all about? There could be hundreds dead when we’re through today, what’s one more?”
“All right, all right, I’ll do it.”
“Make it fast!”
“Yeah,”
Chandler started the ATV and drove back to the mine, where he pushed aside the sign and found that Alice was breathing hard from her efforts to get free. He removed her gag as he spoke to her.
“We could have left you alone for a day and you wouldn’t get loose, not the way you’re wrapped.”
Alice stared up at him in the sparse light drifting in from outside, she was sweaty from trying to get free, fatigued from the exertion, and her jaw ached from the punch she had received.
“What the hell are you people doing?” she asked.
“We’re freedom fighters, that’s all you have to know,” Chandler said, and Alice realized that he was holding a knife.
Chandler got down on his knees and stared at her. When he moved the knife towards her, she thought he was going to stab her, and she let out a shriek, but then realized that he was only cutting away the blanket.
After he freed the tape from her ankles, he held the blade to her throat.
“Unbutton those jeans,”
“Go to hell.”
Chandler pressed on the blade and Alice hissed as it drew blood, then, she shivered, as a trickle of red ran down her neck and between her breasts.
CHAPTER 43
As the walls of the safe house shook, and the living room ceiling buckled, Agent Ross grabbed the collar of Summer’s dress and yanked her backwards over the sofa just in time to save her life. His partner, Agent Talbot, had grabbed Todd Gray’s arm, but the limo struck Todd and sent both men hurtling backwards towards the brick fireplace.
Agent Talbot struck the fireplace with such force that the impact shattered his skull and broke his back, While Todd still lived, having had his impact softened by Talbot’s nascent corpse, but then, the limo gained more territory and crushed Todd’s legs against the wall.
Summer screamed in horror at the sight, as Agent Ross kept pulling her towards the basement, where Jessica’s husband struggled to open the door, which had become jammed in its frame by the damage inflicted on the house.
When the door wouldn’t budge, he grabbed the coffee table from where it landed amid the wreckage, and used it like a battering ram to create a hole in the center of the door. As soon as it was big enough to squeeze through, he urged Jessica towards it.
She went through, hit the switch on the wall and was grateful to find that the light still worked, but when she looked back towards her husband, she saw that he was helping Summer get through the hole.
“Hurry!” Jessica said, as she reached up and gripped Summer’s hand. Summer joined her on the narrow stairway just as the gunfire began.
***
Rob had been moving along the trail at a good pace, but began to jog, and that’s when June Chandler stepped out from behind a tree and emptied her gun at him, hitting him three times.
His momentum caused him to stumble forward and he landed on his back at the base of a tree. He groaned from the pain of his wounds, the worst of which was a shot to the right thigh, where blood poured out freely. He had also been struck in the right buttocks, and had suffered a through and through in his left forearm.
He tore his eyes away from the puddle of blood forming beneath his leg, and reached down to free the gun from his ankle holster.
June Chandler had been watching him in fascination, as though waiting for him to die, but when she realized that he had a gun, she rushed towards him, and was fast enough to get a grip on the barrel, but not quick enough to dodge the bullet that came out of it.
She toppled over backwards, with half her face gone, still not talking, although, she did make a horrible keening sound, before growing still, and dying.
Rob dropped the gun, tore off his T-shirt, and began wrapping it about his thigh in an effort to fashion a tourniquet.
He looked over at June Chandler, her empty gun laying beside her.
“You should have kept one in the chamber.”
***
To buy time, Alice had stripped down to her red lace underwear, and stood before Rich Chandler, who was looking at her like he’d never seen a woman before.
“What happens if your wife comes in here?”
“She won’t care. She’s not really my wife, and that bitch never put out for me once. Hell, if I had to guess, she might want you for herself. Now lie down and take off those panties, or so help me I’ll stab you between the legs.”
Alice opened her mouth to talk, to stall, but Chandler kicked her feet out from under her and knocked her onto her back.
“Take ‘em off!” he yelled, and afterwards, he unfastened his jeans. They dropped to his ankles, revealing a pair of bright blue boxer shorts, which he shoved a hand inside to begin rubbing himself. “Let me see what you’ve got between those legs.”
Alice spat in his face. She was damned if she was going to willingly get naked for this pig. If he wanted it, he was going to have to fight for it.
Chandler wiped the spittle away with the back of his hand and raised up the knife, but then jerked his head around at the faint echo of gunfire in the distance, and realized that June must have shot someone.
Alice hadn’t heard the shots, but took advantage of Chandler’s diverted attention, to yank hard on the pants puddled about his ankles.
Chandler let out a yelp, lost his balance, and fell backwards, with one hand still shoved inside his boxers. He hit the ground hard and Alice went for the knife with both hands as she sat atop him, trapping his other hand against his groin.
Chandler was too strong for her, even though she had two hands on his wrist, and so she leaned over and bit his ear. Chandler screamed into her face, and nearly managed to buck her off, but his legs were banded together at the ankles by his pants
, and so he merely managed to shift her weight enough to free the hand that was down his shorts.
Chandler went to shove her, but Alice had already slid to the side, where she clamped her teeth down hard on the hand holding the knife. Chandler screamed again as he struck her in the back of the head, causing Alice to roll off of him completely.
She was dazed by the blow, but could still focus, and she grinned when she saw she had taken the knife away. While still on his back, Chandler made a grab for the knife, but Alice sent a knee into his face and broke his nose.
Instinctively, Chandler’s hands flew to his damaged nose, and as he protected his face, Alice rolled back towards him and jammed the knife into his chest.
Chandler made a hissing sound through his teeth, and shivered violently, as if he had just plunged into frigid water. His eyes locked on the knife handle sticking out of his chest, then, to Alice’s eyes.
“Please, don’t kill me.”
Alice rose to her knees, and stared at him. She had killed before to save herself and her daughter, but Chandler’s pathetic plea gave her pause.
She stood, knowing he was no longer a threat, and gathered up her clothes. She was putting on her sneakers when he spoke again, but the sound was nothing more than a wet gurgle, and even in the dim light of the mine entrance she could tell that his damaged face had lost all color, save for the color of the blood that had gushed from his broken nose.
She looked down at him, saw him heave a great sigh, and seconds later, she knew that he was dead. She left the mine cautiously, climbed into the ATV, and headed for the tower.
CHAPTER 44
Numerical fired at Agent Ross from behind the safety of bullet-resistant glass as Jerry Schneider cowered on the floor of the limo.
As Ross fired back, Numerical ducked behind the glass, and noticed the man standing by the basement door. The man stared at the limo with eyes as cold as steel before stepping through a hole in the basement door.
“One of us,” Numerical whispered, and then he fired at Ross again, this time hitting him in the chest. Ross went down, and Numerical kept firing until his gun was nearly empty.
The TAKEN! Series - Books 13-16 (Taken! Box Set Book 4) Page 32
