by BJ Bourg
“You risked your life to get him away from that tornado and then you risked your life again to get him out of the canal. You did everything you could…and more than most would’ve done.”
“It wasn’t enough. He drowned at the bottom of that canal while he was chained up like a wild animal.” I scowled. “No one deserves to go out like that.”
“Stop second-guessing yourself.” She touched my face with her hand. “You did everything you could to save him—and it was a valiant effort. Had you waited any longer to get some air, you’d both be at the bottom of that canal and he would’ve had zero chance of making it out alive. You were his only hope and you gave him a fighting chance.”
I stared into the dark shadows where Dawn’s eyes were and I knew what she was saying was correct. In that moment of truth, I had assessed the situation—viewed it rapidly from a dozen angles—and mapped out the best possible plan of action for both of us to survive. I had then executed it decisively and without hesitation. Had I remained pinned under Cade and failed to act, we’d both be dead. Had I waited longer to go up for air, we both would’ve drowned. Had I done anything other than what I did, they’d be dragging the depths of the murky water for two bodies.
I took another deep breath and slowly exhaled, allowing the doubt to flow out of me with the air. I’d done enough mental preparation in my career to know that the self-doubt and second-guessing was normal. I reflected coolly and objectively on the situation, silently talking myself through the entire event, from beginning to end, and worked through every possible scenario and every possible conclusion. I then reassured myself I’d done everything I possibly could have to save Cade’s life. When I was done, I turned to Dawn and nodded. “Like I’ve said before, you’d make an excellent sniper.”
“Like I’ve said before,” Dawn countered, “if you want to go on that date…”
I smiled, but suddenly stopped and cursed out loud.
“What is it?” Dawn asked.
“Cade was supposed to tell us who killed Wilton and that old man.” I slapped my forehead. “Now we may never know who did it. Shit! What are we supposed to do now?”
“We’ll follow up on other leads.”
“What other leads? Cade was our only lead.”
“We’ll dig up more information and we’ll get to the bottom of—”
“Hey, where in the hell is Stella?” Kevin hollered from several yards away. He began walking frantically back and forth along the bank of Dead Man’s Canal. “Stella! Stella! Can you hear me?”
Dawn and I scrambled to our feet.
“When was the last time you saw her?” Dawn asked.
Kevin shrugged. “I thought she was right behind me when the tornado passed.”
I walked to the water’s edge and scanned the area. The moonlight was beaming off of the canal, but there was no sign of movement on the glassy surface. I tilted my head to listen. Everything in the immediate area was ghostly quiet. Off in the far distance, I heard sirens wailing and I figured the tornado had made its way into civilization. I said a silent prayer that there had been no further loss of life.
I snatched the radio from my belt and keyed it up to call for support. Nothing happened. “Shit! I drowned my radio.”
Dawn pulled out her radio and shook her head. “Mine is dead, too.” She looked at Kevin. “What about yours?”
“I left it back by the big tree.”
I pulled out my cell and checked to see if it was still operable. I held my breath, not expecting much. The protective case I’d purchased was water resistant for up to one meter, and I must’ve sunk to a depth of at least eight feet. I pressed the activation button but nothing happened. “Dawn, is your phone working?”
She shook her head and I could see her frowning in the faint glow of the moonlight. “My case broke a month ago and I never replaced it.”
“I have one of those flip-top phones.” Kevin held it up. “I tried turning it on earlier, but it’s no use.”
“We need to find Stella right away,” I said. “She might be in trouble.”
I turned and began walking along the edge of the canal, with Dawn and Kevin following. We called out Stella’s name as we searched, but received nothing in response. We hadn’t gone thirty feet when we came across a downed tree. It was a mid-sized oak tree and it took up a lot of real estate. It was too thick to walk through, so we went around.
As we walked, we had to keep changing course because of downed trees and other debris that had been stacked along the canal. It led us farther and farther from the bank of the canal. Each time we reached a fallen tree or a debris field, we tried to penetrate the shadows with our naked eyes, but couldn’t. It was impossible to complete a thorough search, and I was afraid we’d have to wait until daybreak.
Suddenly, I remembered there were flashlights in my rucksack. I told Dawn I was heading back to the big oak tree to get it.
“I’m coming with you,” she said. Before following me, she told Kevin to keep calling for Stella, but to stay in the same spot until we returned. “We don’t need two of y’all going missing.”
“Trust me, I’m not going anywhere.”
Using the stars and moon as a backdrop, I made my way toward where I thought the oak tree to be. I was able to make out shadows from a distance, but it wasn’t until the objects got closer that I was able to identify them. I figured I would readily recognize the broccoli-shaped umbrella of that ancient oak when I saw it.
We came across another downed tree and tried to go around it, but we ran into more roadblocks.
“This must’ve been the direct path of the tornado,” Dawn said.
I nodded and tried to push my way through the branches, but it was no use. I stepped back and began moving toward my left, taking the path of least resistance. We were moving farther from where we needed to be and I knew it would take forever to find the oak in all of that mess. I was about to turn back when I heard a scratching sound from somewhere amidst the trees.
“Do you hear that noise?” I asked.
“Yeah, it sounds like a radio.” Dawn moved beside me and leaned into one of the large branches that stood between us and the radio. “It’s coming from somewhere on the other side of the tree.”
“It’s got to be Kevin’s radio.” I jerked on the tree branch, but it barely budged. I dropped to my knees and tried to crawl under it, but the opening was too small for my frame. “We need it.”
As I felt my way along the tree trunk, I squeezed through a multitude of smaller branches and walked around others, fighting my way ever closer to the radio. The voices became louder and I was able to make out some of the conversations. It seemed that deputies were responding to dozens of calls for service, all of them related to what a shocked patrol officer described as a “big ass tornado that’s heading north”.
“Isn’t it crazy how this whole area was a warzone just minutes ago?” Dawn asked. “And now it’s like any old peaceful night in the south.”
I nodded, craning my head when a new voice came on the radio. It sounded like Ben Baxter and his muffled voice was laced with excitement.
“Headquarters, I’m approaching Lower Seasville in search of the four missing deputies. Be advised, everything’s a mess out here.”
He couldn’t broadcast the names of missing, injured, or dead officers because too many of our citizens had scanners, but I knew he was referring to us.
The dispatcher responded and asked if he could report on the damage.
“Total and complete devastation…it looks like a linear bomb went off. That tornado cut a swath two hundred yards wide through this entire area. It ain’t good for the home team.” His radio clicked off for a second, and when he came back on the air his voice was somber. “I don’t know how they could’ve survived this monster, Headquarters. Advise MS1 that we’re probably looking at a recovery mission rather than a search and rescue.”
I had wriggled my body through an entanglement of branches and was trapped for a moment
. I couldn’t get out fast enough to try and see Ben’s helicopter. “Can you see anything?” I asked Dawn.
“I can’t even see the stars from under here.”
Based on the noise from the radio, I knew it had to be within arm’s reach. I pushed against the trunk with my foot and stretched my arm as far as I could. I needed to get to the radio so I could direct Ben to our location, but it was no use. I still couldn’t feel it. “Come on, damn it!”
“Do you want me to try?” Dawn offered. “I’m smaller.”
I sighed, grabbing onto a thin branch to untangle myself from the pretzel position I’d formed. “Sure, I can’t reach it.”
As I pulled on the branch, I heard a cracking sound and the branch gave a little. I hurried and tried to take my weight off of it, but I was too late. The branch snapped in half and I flew backward, crashing through a host of other branches and to the ground below it. After cursing to myself, I felt around in the deep shadows and discovered that I had room to move.
“I found an opening through the branches,” I said. “I think I’ve got it.”
Just then, I heard the familiar chopping sound of helicopter blades approaching from the north.
“It’s Ben,” I said, as the sound drew nearer. I looked toward the sky and could see his giant spotlight making wide sweeps across the area, searching for the five of us. We needed to let him know where we were before he flew past us. “Can you get his attention?”
“I’ll try to get out in the open.” Dawn began pushing her way through the thick branches, searching for a way out.
I reached around in the darkness, running my hands around on the dirt floor and hoping someone would say something so I could pinpoint the location of the radio. If we didn’t hurry, Ben would fly right over us and be halfway to the Gulf of Mexico before he realized we were down here.
I was still feeling for the radio when Ben’s spotlight hovered directly above us. While I was sure he couldn’t see us buried under all of the thick foliage, we could certainly see his light. It broke through the gaps in the leaves like slivers of lasers and blinded us.
I shielded my eyes and turned away from the brilliant light source to protect my eyes. As I glanced at the ground, I smiled when I saw how it lit up the shadows like the daytime and brought the police radio into view. It was just a few feet from my outstretched hand. I lunged for it and jerked it toward my mouth. My thumb was pressing the talk button just as the beam from Ben’s spotlight shifted. It lit up a different area farther under the fallen tree and something caught my eye. I stopped dead in my tracks. This wasn’t Kevin’s radio after all.
“Oh, shit!”
CHAPTER 34
Thursday, October 4
I watched as Ben landed his helicopter in the field north of the giant oak tree for the second time. When he’d heard me on the police radio six hours earlier, he had circled around until Dawn located a landing zone safe enough to put the chopper down. For Ben, that could’ve been a wine glass—he was that good at landing the metal bird.
We had placed Cade in a body bag that Ben had given us and loaded him up, sending Kevin to escort Cade’s body to the morgue. Dawn and I had remained at the scene of the destruction, waiting for Ben to return with help. We hadn’t said a whole lot to each other while waiting for Ben. We were both tired and spent some of the time napping, because we knew we’d need the rest later.
Now, as Dawn and I walked toward the landing zone, I noticed the trees to our right were blocking the sunrise and it kept us in the shadows—at least for the moment. There was a brilliant, orange glow from the east that was spreading like a wildfire across the sky—burning away the darkness as it moved westward—and I knew it would be a matter of minutes before this whole area was lit up.
I scanned the heavens and was relieved to see there wasn’t a cloud in sight. Of course, I knew that could change in an instant, considering how near we were to the Gulf. With all the work we had left to do, we couldn’t afford another violent thunderstorm.
We were about twenty yards from the helicopter when Rachael and Melvin jumped out, each carrying a chainsaw in their hands and a rucksack slung over their backs.
“Do you have the jacks?” I asked.
Melvin shot a thumb toward the rucksacks. “They’re in the bags.”
A moment later, Sheriff Chiasson stepped out of the helicopter and he was followed shortly by Captain Boutin, who held onto the railing as he climbed down. Once they were on solid ground, they approached us and the sheriff us up and down.
Our clothes were stiff and muddy and I knew I had to smell like swamp rot. Dawn didn’t. She had rested her head against my shoulder during the night and I’d caught a whiff of her sweet scent. I didn’t understand how she could still smell good after all we’d been through, but it was real.
“Damn, London, this place is worse than Kevin described—y’all are worse than he described.” Sheriff Chiasson surveyed the destruction and then shot a thumb toward the large tree branch that had fallen from the ancient oak. “Is that where the dead man is trapped?”
I nodded. “We managed to get him in the ground before the tornado hit, so he stayed in place, but that branch fell over the hole and we can’t get to him.”
The sheriff rubbed his gaunt cheeks and scowled. I’d seen that same expression on his face when he’d gone out to where Dean had been killed. “Where…where is Stella’s body?” he asked.
I pointed toward the canal, where a gnarled mess of trees and shrubbery was strewn about. “She’s trapped underneath one of those trees. We’re going to have to be careful getting her out, because a branch impaled her. I know she’s gone, but I don’t want to cause more damage to her when we recover her body.”
“A branch impaled her?” Sheriff Chiasson echoed.
“Yeah.” I frowned. “It looks like the tree knocked her to her face before one of the branches entered her back—right between the shoulder blades—and went clean through her. I tried to get the tree off of her, but it was no use. I couldn’t even budge it. I was able to get around it and feel for a pulse, but she had none.”
“She was six weeks from retirement,” the sheriff said. “I don’t know how I’m going to break the news to her husband.”
I only nodded and then led the way toward Stella’s remains. When we reached the area, I took one of the chainsaws and cranked it up. I began cutting away the smaller trees that blocked our access to Stella’s body. While I did that, Sheriff Chiasson took the other chainsaw and shaved the limbs from the tree that had fallen on Stella.
We worked for about two hours before we finally cleared an area large enough to reach Stella. Next, we placed some of the larger limbs side-by-side on the ground on either side of her body to serve as platforms for the hydraulic jacks. Once the jacks were in place, Dawn began working one and I worked the other, making sure to lift it in unison.
As the large tree trunk slowly lifted with each pump of the jacks, the branch that had punched a giant hole through Stella began to rise from the earth.
“Oh, shit.” Captain Boutin turned away from us and leaned against a nearby tree, gagging. When he had composed himself, he spoke over his shoulder, careful not to look in our direction. “Stella’s body is stuck to the branch—she’s rising with it.”
“I know,” I said. “We need that to happen.”
Sweat had formed on my forehead and I brushed it away with my arm. The jack was getting harder to work and I had to throw all of my weight into the lever to make it move.
“I’m not heavy enough to get it higher.” Dawn stepped back and waved Melvin over. “Why don’t you try? You obviously spend more time at the buffet than I do.”
We all laughed—except Captain Boutin—and Melvin nodded his agreement. “I do like to eat.”
“How in the hell can y’all laugh and talk about eating at a time like this?” Boutin’s face was twisted in disgust. “This is so disrespectful to Stella. She doesn’t deserve this kind of—”
“
It’s okay, Carl,” the sheriff said. “They don’t mean any disrespect. If we can’t joke through times like this, we’ll all go crazy.”
I suddenly realized Captain Boutin had never been on a death scene before—or, at least, not one involving an officer. While the rest of us had long ago been desensitized to death and violence, I knew it could be disconcerting for a first-timer, so I mumbled an apology. The others followed suit, with the exception of the sheriff. He used to be the captain of detectives and didn’t have much patience for those who couldn’t handle themselves at a crime scene.
“Why don’t you go babysit the chopper,” Sheriff Chiasson told Boutin. “Let us handle this.”
Captain Boutin only nodded as he walked off through the debris field, wiping his eyes as he went.
Melvin threw his weight against the jack he was working and I continued working my jack, bouncing on it from time to time to get it cranking. Finally, the tree trunk was high enough to fit a chainsaw under Stella’s body without cutting her.
We stepped back and surveyed our work for a second. The platform the jacks were resting on had pressed into the ground under the weight of the tree, and I could swear they were sinking ever so slightly.
“We have to hurry,” I said, and snatched up one of the chainsaws. Cranking it up, I got on my face and squirmed forward on my belly until I was able to get the blade of the chainsaw beside the branch that was stuck through Stella.
“Be careful, London,” Dawn warned. “If the jacks give way, it’ll crush you.”
I nodded and pressed the trigger on the chainsaw. The blade screamed as it rotated and the machine vibrated in my hands. Squinting to keep the sawdust from flying in my eyes, I pushed it against the branch. My palms began to seat as the blade sliced through the branch under Stella’s body. Dawn was right; if the jacks slipped I was in real trouble, so I needed to get this done as quickly as possible.
