Ride-along (Bounty County Series Book 1)
Page 23
“Shit.”
Justin stuck his hand out to Jake to help him up, he could see the reluctance on Jake’s face to extend his hand, but he did it anyway.
Brenden looked back and forth between the two of them, “No more bullshit, you two. Understand?”
They both mumbled, “Yes, Sheriff.”
“Let’s hit the road. There will be a debriefing in forty five minutes at the office. If you all can think of anything that we may have missed that will be the time to bring it up.”
They kept nodding their heads, “Yes, Sheriff.”
“Good. See you there.”
The three of them dispersed to their vehicles. Justin racked his mind to think of anything he could have missed; anything they could use to help find her. He was drawing a blank. That wasn’t good enough. He’d think of something. Justin hit the road, determined to come up with the idea that would provide the next big break. He swore to himself right then that he would find his woman, no matter what it took.
➰
The blackness started to fade in her mind. Flashbacks of seeing David’s face made her stomach turn. The crazy sonofabitch had actually found her. Her mind flickered like an old fashioned 8mm camera. She could see herself walking to the front desk. Seeing him step out of the shadows. Being shot in the leg. Hit in the head with the butt of a gun. But everything after that until now was a complete blank.
Her eyelids were struggling to open. It felt like there was a goo or something on her eyelashes that was holding them together. Her entire body throbbed; she felt pain like never before. Her aching body sent a signal to her brain that it was time to wake the fuck up and deal with this situation. Still, she preferred not to.
She brought her hand to her eyes, thankful she could move them. What was keeping her eyelids together? She rubbed her eyelashes to clear some of the crust that was there. As she rubbed, she could feel her eyelashes pulling and then releasing as the residue was wiped off. She opened her eyes to find herself in an almost pitch black cellar. The only light she could see was coming from underneath a door up a narrow flight of stairs.
Where in the hell am I?
She looked around, but her eyes hadn’t adjusted enough. The only thing she was sure of was that she wanted to get the fuck out of here. She could hear a slow drip somewhere near her. The room smelled musty -- mold and old pipes. She felt the ground. Cold, damp concrete. She listened for footsteps, she didn’t hear any movement above or below her.
Chloe decided to make a run for it. She pushed to her feet Her leg was weak and throbbing, but she tried to push through the pain. She took three steps before she felt a hard tug on her ankle. Shit! She was chained up. The jolt made her lose her balance and she crashed to the floor. Fuck! The intense pain came immediately. She tried her best not to cry out, but there was no stopping it. As she whimpered on the floor, she heard footsteps coming closer above her. The door up the stairs swung open and lit the stairway; in it was the shadow of a man. She could only assume it was David. He looked like pure evil from this viewpoint. She closed her eyes tight and tried to pretend she was passed out. He wasn't buying it.
“Open your eyes!” he shouted.
Chloe opened them slowly, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Stop the crying bullshit.”
She attempted to inhale deeply, but she couldn't catch her breath.
“Do you feel pain right now?” he demanded to know.
“Y-yes,” she choked out.
“How bad?”
“So fucking bad!” she cried.
David knelt down next to her. For a second, she thought he was looking at her with sympathy, but that quickly changed when he backhanded her across the cheek.
“Watch your mouth,” he growled.
David walked to the stairs and picked up a bottle of what appeared to be water. He shook it and unscrewed the cap.
“Drink.”
Chloe shook her head.
“Now!”
She continued to protest.
David got in her face. She could smell the sweat coming off of him and alcohol on his breath. He held the bottle to her lips and poured. It spilled down her chin.
“You want to do this the hard way?” He held the bottle with his left hand and took his right index finger and pushed into the oozing bullet wound on her leg. The pain was too much. It made her stomach weak and she let out a gut wrenching scream. He poured the liquid down her throat, she had no choice but to swallow. She could tell immediately that it wasn't just water. Whatever it was made the back of her throat burn.
David stood and walked to the stairs, “I’ll be back.”
As soon as the door shut Chloe attempted to gag herself to throw up the drink, but it was hopeless. She felt her limbs weakening and going numb from head to toe. Her eyelids felt heavy as her head started to spin. No, please don't sleep, she told herself. But she couldn't make it stop. Her last that thought was of Justin.
She slurred, “Jus’... Hurry.” Then she was out.
➰
It took everything in him to sit still during the briefing. Every unit in Bounty County and any other available units within a 200 mile radius were being deployed immediately. The second Justin was given the okay to hit the road his tires were squealing out of the parking lot. The sudden jolt caused Avery to slide to the rear of her kennel. She let out a disapproving bark. Shit. “Sorry, girl.” Her bark helped him refocus. Driving like a dickhead wasn’t going to help anything right now.
Every minute felt like an hour. Every hour felt like an eternity. The longer Chloe was missing, the chances of finding her alive decreased. All of the status checks were, unfortunately, code 4 -- nothing to report; nothing abnormal. Radio traffic was minimal for the first two hours, but that was pretty normal for the middle of the night. The sick feeling in Justin’s stomach and the ache in his heart were only getting worse. But then he heard Jake’s voice on the radio. He’d come upon a transient on the side of the highway. Justin turned the volume up. From what he could gather, the man Jake was speaking with had his vehicle stolen from him by a male hitchhiker.
“White male claims to have been forcibly removed from his vehicle at gunpoint and then knocked unconscious,” he heard Jake chatter over the radio. The ambulance was on its way to check him out. Justin felt like this could be something. This was not a regular occurrence in Bounty County. This smelled bad. He needed to speak with the man before he was taken to the hospital.
Justin pulled up to the scene just before the ambulance was set to arrive. Jake had the male in the male wrapped in a blanket sitting in the cruiser waiting for the medics. He could see the hesitation in Jake's eyes when he headed his way, “What’s up, Justin?”
“Just wanted to see if you needed any backup, man.”
“Bullshit. Give me the real reason.”
“You sure haven’t lost the ability to sniff out a lie have you?”
“Not even a little bit.”
“I just wanted to get the details on the situation, that’s all. Maybe it’s connected to Chloe’s disappearance.”
“From what the victim can remember, he saw a white male on the side of the road. The suspect waved him down frantically, shouting that he needed help. When the victim pulled over and rolled down his window to talk to him, the suspect reached behind him and pulled out a handgun. Victim was held at gunpoint and ordered to get out of the car. When he got out he was instructed to stand on the side of the road. The suspect then hit him over the head with the butt of the gun. Guy was knocked unconscious at that point; it’s the last thing he remembers, anyway.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah, but the worst part, the suspect continued to beat on him while he was unconscious. From the looks of his bludgeoned face, whoever did this thought the victim was left for dead.”
“What a sick fucker.”
“I was hoping the white van would be nearby, but I haven’t seen anything. My gut says we’re looking for multiple psychopaths.”
“So the suspect who waved him down was just out here in the middle of nowhere by himself? That doesn’t make sense. We’ve been combing these highways top to bottom for almost 24 hours now. When was the victim attacked?”
“From what we can figure, late last night. He’d been laying in that ditch until right before he flagged me down.”
The ambulance arrived and took Jake’s attention for the time being. They pulled the victim out of Jake’s vehicle and started loading him up. All the while Justin’s wheels were spinning. This was all too coincidental. Bounty County was way too small of a County to have these types of violent crimes happen in such a short time period, that is, unless the person committing these acts was one in the same.
Fucking A. It hit him. David Sullivan ditched his van, bludgeoned the guy, stole his truck, and came by Justin’s house last night. If Sullivan thought the guy was dead he would assume he wasn’t going to be caught in the vehicle any time soon. If he was walking up and down the highway, one of the deputies would have seen him today. There had been no sightings of the white van, which would stick out like a sore thumb right now with the APB. But if he had a different vehicle, they wouldn’t suspect him. Jake sauntered back over from the ambulance.
“Jake, what kind of vehicle did the victim drive?”
“Just asked him. Bingo. He had a 2013 red Dodge Ram, four door.”
“Fuck. Do we have the vehicle flagged as stolen now?”
“Sending the APB out now.”
“Good. Jake. It’s him.” Justin felt himself get his first big rush of adrenaline. “What Forest Service roads are close to here?” Jake was the expert on this side of the county.
“A couple. One of them, 316, is washed out to the highway, there’s no getting up there right now. The other is 318. It branches off to 318 A and B. 318 A is washed out less than a quarter mile up. But there’s an an old Forest Service cabin up 318 B. The gate restricting access has been locked for the last couple of years since the cabin was abandoned for some mold and structural issues.”
“Was the gate locked last time you drove you by?”
“It was shut like it always is, but I didn’t actually get out and check the lock.”
“Jake, we need to go check the lock. If the sonofabitch had a set of bolt cutters he could get behind any of those gates.”
“It would be a perfect place to take Chloe. Let’s go.”
Both Jake and Justin took off toward Forest Service road 318. Justin knew they had nothing to lose and possibly everything to gain if his theories were right. He hoped like hell he was right.
Chapter 19
When they pulled up to the gate it certainly looked locked. Jake angled his vehicle’s headlights so that they would be able to see the lock on the back side of the gate. Justin hopped out of the truck and headed toward the latch. Jake was right behind him.
Justin pulled out his flashlight and turned it on so that he could look for tire tracks. He put his arm out signaling to Jake to look on the other side of the gate. There were fresh tracks on the opposite side, wide enough to be truck tires. Jake nodded to acknowledge Justin's findings. He moved his flashlight to the lock. Jake ran his fingers along the back side of the lock, “It's cut.” He twisted the lock and lifted it off the hinges that it held in place.
“How far up does the road split, Jake?”
“Maybe half a mile. The road takes a hard left. The cabin is on the end of that corner up the hill, maybe a 100 yards.”
“Let's go, black out your lights. We’ll walk in from the fork.”
“Hunt, man, we need to let Dispatch know where we’re at.”
“You're right. You update them. I'll let Brenden know.”
“You got it.”
It wasn't five minutes later and they had reached the split in the road. All parties of interest had been notified as to where the two were headed. There was no guarantee they would find anything, but it was definitely worth checking out. It was the most hope Justin had felt since he realized Chloe was missing. Their team members were headed to be on stand-by at the highway in case extra support was needed. Justin hoped they wouldn't need it.
Justin and Jake geared up for the short hike. Pistols, assault rifles, extra magazines, radios, and water. It was eerily quiet in the middle of the night. All they could hear was the chirping of crickets, the breeze through the pine trees, and the soft crunch the gravel road and dry pine needles made beneath their boots.
They reached the driveway and decided it would be best to hike up through the tree line on both sides of the driveway rather than approaching directly. If there was someone at the cabin, it would be risky to approach without cover. As they reached the crest of the hill upon which the cabin sat, Justin could see dim light coming through a small crack in an old window shade. There was an outbuilding that appeared to be an old barn just to the west of the cabin. Jake signaled to him from 25 yards away to get on the radio. Justin turned up the volume on his ear piece.
“45, 38. Do you copy?”
“38, 45. Copy.”
“45 set to scramble.”
Justin reached down to his handheld and adjusted the setting, “Done.”
“There’s a red pickup on the east side of the property. Can’t get a visual on the plate yet. Moving in closer to confirm.”
“Copy. I’ll check the shed. Let me know when you’re ready to move in.”
Justin approached the outbuilding slowly. There didn’t appear to be any activity on the exterior. He shined his flashlight in the window. He caught a glimpse of a vehicle inside. He could see the rear quarter panel. It was white. Justin’s flashlight moved along the vehicle until he could see the door on the rear. Sure enough, it was the shitty white van he’d pulled over earlier in the week. That motherfucker is here!
Justin felt his pulse quicken, his blood heated with anger.
“38, 45.” Justin whispered while gritting his teeth.
“38, go ahead.”
“I’ve located the suspect’s vehicle.”
“Copy, the plates on the pickup match the carjacking victim’s.”
“Let’s move in,” he said heatedly.
“Let’s get an ETA on the backup.”
“I’m going in.”
“45!” Jake snapped. “There are two entry points on the cabin, I suggest we wait until backup gets here.”
“Copy. Get them here. I’m gonna see if there are any vantage points through the windows. The lighting looks minimal.”
“I’ll cover the north side.”
“45, 38, Bounty County,” Nikki, tonight’s dispatch operator, came through loud and clear.
They both responded, “Go ahead.”
“Be advised. All units are in place. Waiting for direction.”
“Copy,” they said in unison. Wesson had arrived. They split in opposite directions.
Justin crept up the best he could. His height didn’t allow him to be the most covert of officers, but it did allow him to look in windows that the average person couldn’t. He peered through the crack in the window. There were two lanterns lit, but there didn’t appear to be anyone in the room. Where the fuck are they?
The Jake’s voice on the radio stopped his train of thought, “45, 38.”
“38, 45 go ahead.”
“Come to the north side of the cabin.”
“Copy.”
Justin called Wesson off of the perimeter to cover the South entrance. Jake was waiting for him on the northwest corner.
Jake whispered, “You can see a door open through the side window. Looks like it leads to a basement or cellar of some sort. I didn’t know that was there.”
“Let’s get in there,” Justin took a deep breath.
“I tried to open the door, but it’s latched at the top. I’ll kick it in, you lead?”
“Yeah. You head through the upper level. I’ll head down.”
“Let’s go.�
��
Jake positioned himself, lifted his right leg and kicked right below the lock hard enough the door flung open and the glass on the transom shattered. He stepped aside and Justin moved in.
➰
Chloe was shaking. Blood dripped from of a cut in her right eyebrow, blurring her vision. She wanted to be numb and forget about everything that was happening. The dark musty cellar was barely lit with a propane lantern that David had brought down. She had no idea how long she had been down there. She’d lost track of time and her injuries.