by K. T. Tomb
Atlanta Municipal Police Department Commander Abel Jackson confirmed Friday that detectives with the robbery-homicide division are looking into any connection between the kidnapping of Rae Thorn and the other recent crimes in the area. One of which involved a woman and her son, who were abducted at knifepoint not far from the area of Thorn’s abduction. The two were held for ransom and released when their families delivered the money to the criminals. Neither case was reported to the police until after the victims were released.
A 19-year-old woman was also delivered to the gate of her East Point home after her ransom was paid by family members. She had been shopping in the Midtown area of Atlanta when she disappeared and three days later, a ransom of fifty thousand dollars was demanded for her return.
As he stood on the platform of the train station in the moonlight, John couldn’t comprehend how even in his grief and loss, and in his weakest and loneliest moments, it was the image of his wife’s face that always came to him.
The vision of her was so vivid, it seemed he could turn around and she would be standing there waiting for him. The soft breeze was laden with the lavender scent of her hair and the spicy musk of her skin. Images of her face came unbidden when he closed his eyes, invading his thoughts every morning when he woke; and her voice, the final whisper between reality and sleep at night.
She had been missing for three days now and he was half-mad with grief. He knew he would find her and bring her home no matter what. He’d never known that his heart could ache for the sight of her or the touch of her hand the way it had since she’d been taken, and he felt the pain of not knowing where she was more than he cared to admit.
“Hey, there! Sir!” the ticket officer called from the booth window.
“Yes? Have you found anything?” John asked, as he approached the counter.
Raleigh and John had arrived at the Columbia train station five minutes after the early morning northbound express train had pulled out of the station. They were both convinced that the group had made it there ahead of them and was on board. It took them a while to regroup and then after about half an hour of looking around the station, John had sent Raleigh to get them some food and he had decided to try the ticket booth.
“Well, as you know, I just came on shift so I didn’t see them myself,” the clerk started. “The other thing is, we don’t require all passengers’ names for train tickets, just the person buying them. I went through the list of northbound express ticket purchases looking for groups of four, then for twos; you know, just in case they bought in couples to attract less attention, and I was right. There were no groups of four tickets purchased. I also didn’t see any of the names you gave me so I looked for variations of those. When people have to make up an alias on the spot, it doesn’t tend to be too far off from their real names. Either that or John and Jane Doe is what turns up.” He paused to laugh briefly at his own joke, then continued. “I found an Annabelle Morton and a Mitt McPherson.”
“That sounds promising,” John replied. “Where were they headed?”
“Tickets are good to Bangor, Maine, but on this service, every passenger has to schedule a stop if they aren’t going to the final stop. If the driver doesn’t have any requests to stop or passengers booked to get on at a station on the route, he goes right through the station.”
“So what was their stop request?”
“Hold on a sec. Lemme see here... Ummm, we’ve got Petersburg, Virginia... for both sets of tickets.”
“Thank you. What time should the train be pulling through there?”
The ticket officer looked up and started to check the train schedule.
“Should be around 9 p.m. tonight.”
John nodded and left the ticket counter and went into the station house to find Raleigh. If they didn’t get back on the road—and fast—they could find themselves in a completely different situation. He found the engineer battling with a vending machine for soft drinks. In his hand, he carried six steaming hot, fresh-cooked hot dogs and two bags of potato chips. John took the cardboard tray from him so he could bend to retrieve the soda bottles.
“You find out anything?” he asked immediately.
“They’ve scheduled a stop in Petersburg. We need to get on the road if we’re going to beat them there.”
“Okay, come on; let’s go!”
Back in the car, Raleigh pulled out onto the road and headed northeast to get onto the highway headed north.
“Raleigh, I really think if they get to Petersburg before we do, we may never see her again.”
“How do you figure that, John?”
“Petersburg is only a few miles from Henrico. The road from Henrico to Lynchburg is the gateway to the Appalachians. I think they may have a hideout there.”
“Oh, dammit! That’s wilderness, John. If you don’t know where you’re going in that part of the country, you’re bound to get lost. And if you mean to get lost up there, there’s no way in hell that anyone’s going to find you.”
“That’s exactly my point.”
***
Catherine Cameron pulled the brim of her hat down tightly around her head as she approached the crossroads at the edge of town.
She was driving hard and her patrol car was starting to heat up under the pressure. She’d gotten ready and moved out quickly to meet up with a small contingency of six motorcycle officers from Columbia. They had been traveling all night along the main roads in hopes of intercepting Rae and her captors by the time they arrived at the Augusta city limits, but they’d had no luck.
The group had somehow managed to give them the slip and now they were back at square one. Disappointment had spread through the group when the Columbia police had revealed that they’d come up empty-handed. A lot had been pegged on closing the roadways and forcing a dragnet.
“They must have switched cars,” one officer suggested.
“Well, that’s pretty obvious, Delaney,” she replied quickly. “The husband left me a message at the checkpoint saying he was going ahead to Columbia to see if he couldn’t keep an eye on the train station. He thinks they’re trying to take her up north, and let me tell you, that would be a damn disaster.”
“Yup!” Delaney agreed. “Too many desolate holes between here and Maine. A small group of people like that could disappear into the mountains and not be found for years.”
“If at all, Delaney, and that’s what I’m afraid of.”
“If they kidnapped her, wouldn’t they be looking for a ransom though?”
“According to the husband, we might not get a demand from them.”
“Why’s that?”
“Cause he thinks what the main guy actually wants is Rae Thorn herself.”
“Awww, Goddammit!”
“I second that emotion, officer.”
As she turned to look down that dark, deserted highway, a voice screeched over the radio of her cruiser.
“Chief Cameron, come back!” it demanded.
Catherine ran to the door of the car and grabbed the receiver.
“This is the chief. Go ahead, base.”
“Got a message from John Thorn and possible twenty on the missing woman.”
“Shit! Then spit it out, officer!” she shouted into the radio.
“Thorn’s on the way to intercept the North Coast express. Says the kidnappers intend to take Rae Thorn up north somewhere. According to their tickets, they’re stopping in Petersburg, Virginia.”
“Oh, hell. Officer, get the U.S. Marshals on the telephone immediately. I’ll be back at the station in ten minutes and I’m going to need to be connected to a commanding officer immediately. This shit is about to hit the goddamn fan!”
With that,+ she threw the radio down and turned to police officers manning the roadblock.
“Take this down and get back to the station, boys. We’ve got a new development and it’s serious. This case just turned federal.”
***
John and Raleigh got to Petersburg in time t
o stop in at the local police station and explain what they were doing in town. The officers on duty were amazed at John and Raleigh’s story and immediately radioed their chief to come in and speak to the two men. As he stepped into the office, he reached to shake both men’s hands.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen. I just got word from Augusta police and the U.S. Marshals. The case has gone federal and they’ve asked us to sit tight until their team gets here.”
“What? We don’t have that kind of time, Chief Cummings,” John started. “The train passes through here in five hours and if we’re not all over that train station, they’re going to get away with her again.”
“Listen, Mr. Thorn. I know you’re not exactly impressed with the police work you’ve seen on the case so far. I mean, that’s why you’re here tracking her down yourself. But I assure you, Marshal Henry has a plan and I think it will work. Of course, my department will provide support for the sting, but they’ll be in charge and decide how everything gets done.”
“When will they be here?”
“In the next hour or so. They’re coming in by chopper from Richmond.”
“What should we do in the meantime, then?” Raleigh interjected.
“Go get a hot meal and a hot shower, some sleep if you can. You’re going to need it. Be back here in two hours. By then the marshals will have settled in and briefed my squad and we can get you up to speed.”
John and Raleigh checked into a motel a block and a half away from the police station. They had a hot supper and when John got to his room, the fatigue of the drive overcame him. He showered and sat on the bed in his bathrobe, staring absently at the flickering television. Within moments, he was asleep.
***
Her hand moved toward his waist, pulling gently at the front of his pants as her neck arched upwards offering her sumptuous lips to him again. The beautiful feather mask from the Mardi Gras party still adorned her face, giving him a feeling of excitement that he couldn’t explain. He knew he was holding Rae in his arms, but the mask obscured her face which kept him guessing and the sensation of the soft feathers brushing against his skin was very erotic.
She undid his pants and let them fall to the ground as she kissed down his neck to his chest, belly and then she was on her knees in front of him. He could feel the feathers again, brushing against the sensitive, aroused stiffness of his manhood. John looked down at her, wondering what she would do next. Suddenly, in one swift movement, he was engulfed by her warm mouth. As she took him into her mouth over and over again, her movement was intoxicating. Stroking expertly back and forth on his swollen member. He had never experienced anything like that with the women he had been intimate with before. Every fiber of his being was screaming her name as she entranced him with those new sensations. She was showing him pleasures he had only dreamt of. His body was devoted to her and he groaned deeply as she brought him to the precipice of his passion.
“Stop,” he pleaded as his lust became almost too much to control, “I want to make love to you.”
She stopped and looked up at him and replied, “Let me pleasure you, John.”
A lover had never said those words to him before. He’d never known what it was to make love to a woman before the day that Rae Thorn had become his wife. Past sexual experiences had been uninspired and sometimes awkward.
She moved deftly on his fully aroused member taking him in deeply, the feathers of her party mask brushing against his groin and stomach piquing his desires for her even further until he couldn’t bear it any longer. He held her head and fell to his knees, kissing her deeply. Her mouth opened in lust allowing his tongue to dart in after hers. She moaned with passion as she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer and he lowered her gently to the floor.
They embraced each other, savoring their touches until they could restrain themselves no longer. John drew back and smoothed the loose tendrils of hair from her face, looking her deep in her eyes.
“I love you, Rae Thorn,” he confessed.
“And I love you, John Thorn,” she replied.
He lifted the hem of her dress over her thighs, pausing to touch the smoothness of her legs and pulled the garments over her head, admiring her as she lay there naked looking like a jewel waiting to be discovered and he intended to do just that.
He knelt between her knees, leaned over her and guided himself into her slick embrace, kissing her as he drove deep inside her. The feeling of her never stopped amazing him and he found himself moving quickly inside her. Rae threw her leg around his waist, taking him deeper inside her and at the same time slowing down his gratification. He groaned at the pleasure of it and did exactly what she wanted, slowing his earnest thrusts into long strokes which made her arch her back. He filled her repeatedly with the hardness of his manhood and kissed her lips with abandon.
As she released her hold on him, she subsided into the folds of her own ecstasy. In response, John moved his lips to her breasts, kissing and nuzzling them before seeking out the swollen peaks of her nipples. He licked and teased each one to a solid peak before taking them one after the other into his mouth and suckling them steadily but gently. Rae arched her back under the agony of it and undulated under him, meeting his purposeful thrusts in complete abandon.
Unable to bear his attention anymore, she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him deep inside of her and instantaneously brought an end to his self-control. John thrust inside her deeper and faster, throwing back his head and grunting with each plunge. He heard the wondrous sounds of her moans and returned his mouth to her breasts to spur her on to the peak of passion. As she cried out in ultimate release, her whole body shuddered and she reached her climax. John threw back his head as he filled her with his gift, quenching every fire that they had kindled in their lust.
He woke up soaked with sweat and heard nothing but the sounds of the crickets that sang their song throughout the Georgia night. They were getting closer to the mountains where Steve and Emmitt had taken Rae. His groin ached and when he placed his hand there, he found that he was still stiff from his dream, but also the evidence of his release was sticky on his belly. He got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to clean himself off.
As he pulled his pants on, there was a loud knock on the door.
“John, get up. It’s time to go!”
“Be there in a minute, Raleigh. I’m getting dressed.”
Chapter Thirteen
Petersburg, Virginia
As the whistle of the train sounded in the distance, several law men shuffled in the bushes surrounding the platform. They’d been waiting for about forty-five minutes for the northbound express train to arrive and they were getting restless.
For the officers of the Petersburg police department, that stakeout was the most serious action they’d seen in years; nothing much happened in their sleepy commercial town outside of a few domestic disputes and trouble with mountaineers every now and then. A few disappearances in the Appalachians had been the highlight of most of their careers and that had only been on the few occasions when they’d been called in to assist in the searches. Otherwise, it was family quarrels and parking tickets for them. It was Augusta P.D. all over again.
John had been impressed with the US Marshals, however. Marshal Henry in particular. By the time he and Raleigh had arrived at the station, the marshal had a plan in action and was briefing the supporting officers and Chief Cummings. Moreover, he allowed John and Raleigh to sit in on his talk. After he was done, he took the two aside and introduced himself formally.
“Mr. Thorn, I’m US Marshal Kenneth Henry. You can call me Ken. And those men over there are my small team. Marshals Whittingham, James and Ryder. We’re going to catch these people tonight and get your wife back safe and sound.”
“That sounds like a promise, Ken,” John said, trying not to sound sarcastic. He’d heard such things from all the police officers that had been involved with the case so far and none of them had come through fo
r him so far.
“It is, sir.”
“Well, I have to say, I like your plan and the fact you agree with me that they’re probably gonna try and make a break for the mountains.”
“It’s the best bet for them. It’s ridiculously easy to disappear up there, especially if you know where you’re going.”
“Do they know where they’re going? I tried to find out if they have any base up there, but we couldn’t nail any facts down before we rushed off to Augusta.”
“Smart man,” Kenneth said, smiling. “According to our sources, they swindled an investor out of a lot of money and some property about five years ago, but they never took possession of any of it, just made off with the money. The man lived in a cabin just short of The Gap, a desolate place west of the Lynchburg ridge. He died last year, so I think they’re going to take up residence in their new home.”
“Huh! I doubt they’d think anyone would be able to put it together and track them down there. At least not for a while.”
“Exactly. By the time local law enforcement would have figured it out, they would have probably been long gone.”
“So, are you sure all the bases are covered this time, Ken? I’m sure that the police in Augusta were positive they’d done enough to stop them from leaving town, but they still managed to elude them.”
“Yeah, those Moores know Augusta like the back of their hand. Chief Cameron feels really bad that she underestimated them, but the Moores are unique criminals. They operate within the rules of society, perpetrating mostly white collar crimes so they manage to keep a fairly clean demeanor.”
“Ain’t that the truth!” John scoffed. “They had me hook, line and sinker on that Southern Metal deal. Almost got away with swindling us out of millions, but Rae sniffed them out. She made sure we were on our guard and when Steve realized that we had him pretty well buttoned down, I think that’s when he lost it.”
