No More Mister Nice Guy

by Linda Randall Wisdom

  “What happened to Meredith?” Jed asked.

  Warren closed his eyes momentarily, as if the answer was painful. “She was found in her bedroom. Whoever broke in roughed her up, and she fell against her dresser, hitting her head and cutting it open. They say she’ll be okay. She gained consciousness long enough to tell them that she thought there were two men and that they smelled horrible.” He smiled faintly. “To Meredith, anyone who doesn’t wear designer cologne smells terrible. She had no idea what happened to Shelby, but tracks up the mountain showed they took her with them.”

  Jed touched his boss’s hand, careful to bypass the tubes hooked into him. “I’ll find her, Warren,” he vowed.

  “I knew you would,” he whispered. “I already told the sheriff’s department to aid you in any way they can. You’re the only one I trust, Jed.”

  “And when I find her, I’m going to kiss her until she can’t breathe, and once she’s out of breath, I’m going to throttle her,” Jed murmured as he left the room in long, angry strides.

  Warren smiled as he settled back against his pillows. “Just the thing I wanted to hear.”

  Jed felt as if he was running on automatic pilot. The moment he stepped out of the hospital he found his car near the entrance, courtesy of one of Warren’s men, who had driven it over for him. The man handed him the keys.

  “It’s a good thing you came home tonight. If you hadn’t, one of us would have called you in,” the agent told Jed. “I swear the old man aged twenty years when he got the news about his daughter. He kept saying you were the only one who could find her. I topped off the gas tank and threw in a thermos of strong coffee. Here are directions to the sheriff’s station and names of who to see there.” He handed Jed a sheet of paper detailing everything he would need to know.

  Jed tossed his carry-on bag into the passenger seat. “I’ll take my cellular with me, although I can’t guarantee you’ll be able to reach me once I’m up the mountain.”

  The man nodded as he stepped back. Without another word, Jed jumped into his car and raced out of the parking lot. Watching him leave, the agent prayed no police car would try to stop him. He hated to think what would happen to any poor cop who tried to write the Hawk a ticket tonight.

  Shelby couldn’t remember ever feeling this tired. None of her aerobic classes or sessions with her personal trainer had prepared her for this trek up the mountain. She was positive her lungs were ready to burst, while the two men were barely breathing fast. They had continued walking for a few hours, then stopped for a quick rest. She tried not to cry out when they tied her to a tree. Her arms were stretched so tightly she feared ligaments would be damaged from the rough treatment. She was positive by morning she would have bruises all over from the vicious pinches her attacker seemed to enjoy giving her. If she hadn’t been gagged she would have tried to bite him, though the idea of her mouth touching his dirty skin made her stomach churn.

  She tried to ignore the man’s sniggering and obscene talk about her as she stared up at the sky, which was sheathed in clouds.

  I refuse to be a prisoner dragged all over these mountains by the two good ol’ boys who think ain’t is an important part of the English language, she thought, indulging in a session of self-pity. I would really appreciate it if someone would come rescue me. Right now, I wouldn’t care if he looks like a gorilla as long as he bathes regularly and knows what a toothbrush is for. I’d even marry him. She took a deep breath. I’m sure if I think about this hellish nightmare long enough, I’ll be able to find a way to blame this entire fiasco on Jed. And once I make sure it’s all his fault, I’ll feel much better about it.

  Chapter 3

  Jed’s eyes burned with fatigue by the time he arrived at the outskirts of the tiny mountain town. He had finished the last of the coffee twenty miles back. All he could think about was falling onto a bed and sleeping for the next week. But he knew there would be no sleep for him for some time.

  As he looked up at the mountains, he saw the tips shrouded in mist and clouds. He thought of Shelby up there somewhere, in the power of two cruel men. Jed refused to even think what they might be doing to her. All he knew was that he wouldn’t be happy until he’d killed them so slowly they’d be begging for death. He had already made himself a promise that if she was harmed, the two men would not come back down the mountain alive. Once he finished with them, even the animals would be lucky to find a few scattered remains.

  He pulled into the sheriff’s station parking lot and stopped the car. He rubbed his hands over his face, grimacing at the bristly feel of his beard. His clothing was wrinkled beyond repair and he felt in dire need of a long hot shower.

  The deputy at the front desk couldn’t have been twenty-five. He looked up as Jed entered the station. “Can I help you?” he asked warily.

  “I’m Jed Hawkins. Here about the Carlisle abduction.” Jed pulled out his wallet and showed the man not only his driver’s license, but also his government ID. “I’m supposed to see a Deputy Rick Howard here.”

  The officer’s eyes widened as he gazed at the ID. “He hasn’t come in yet. But Sheriff Rainey is here. He can talk to you about it.”

  “Who’s in charge of the rescue team out looking for Ms. Carlisle?” Jed rasped, looking around. He found things just a little too quiet for his taste. “What leads have your people turned up? Does anyone have an idea who might have broken into the Ackerman cabin? Or why they took Ms. Carlisle? What about Ms. Ackerman? What’s her condition?”

  The deputy fairly leapt for the telephone. “I’m sure the sheriff can tell you that.” The moment his call connected, he conducted a hurried conversation with the person on the other end. Then he flashed Jed a sickly grin. “The sheriff’ll be right out.”

  Jed stood by the door looking outside. One woman had been brutally attacked, another kidnapped. He didn’t want to think that no one was out there looking for Shelby. Damn them!

  “Would you like some coffee, Mr. Hawkins?” the deputy ventured.

  “What I’d like are some answers!” he snapped, then relented. After all, he couldn’t blame this kid for someone else’s incompetence. But if Jed didn’t receive the answers he wanted to hear, heads would roll.

  “Mornin’, Allen. And this must be Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins, I’m Sheriff Rainey.”

  Jed turned to find a mountain of a man dressed in khaki standing before him. Jed shook his hand only because it was the civilized thing to do. Yet the longer he was up here, the less civilized he felt.

  “I’m up here on Warren Carlisle’s behalf, to find out what search efforts have been made to find his daughter,” he told the older man. “Have your people been able to talk to Ms. Ackerman? Were you able to get any kind of description of the men from her?”

  The sheriff headed for his office and gestured for Jed to follow.

  “Now you have to understand, Mr. Hawkins, this is a small town and we don’t have all the resources of a big city. Sometimes you need to have a little patience,” he drawled, settling his bulk into his office chair. “Naturally, we’re very worried about Ms. Carlisle, and we have calls in to the right people.”

  Jed restrained himself from gnashing his teeth. “Patience is a virtue, Sheriff.” He resisted sneering as he dropped into the visitor’s chair. “I have no virtues. What the hell is going on here?”

  The older man shifted uneasily in his chair. “Well now, Mr. Hawkins, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

  Jed jumped to his feet and leaned forward, planting his hands on top of the desk. If there was one thing he could do very well, it was “in your face” intimidation. Right now he was doing an excellent job of it.

  “No friggin’ ‘well now,’ Sheriff,” he snarled. “I want answers. Mr. Carlisle wants answers. So far I haven’t heard one damn thing from you but excuses. This does not make me happy. I’m not a pleasant person when I’m not happy.”

  Sheriff Rainey’s shoulders rose and fell in a large sigh. “We don’t have much to go on beca
use we couldn’t find any signs to follow. It’s as if the mountain just swallowed them up.”

  Jed felt an icy cold penetrate his veins. “What about dogs? A good tracking dog can pick up the faintest of scents.”

  “Our regular tracker and his dog are out on another job. There’s a kid lost somewhere at the other end of the county,” he finally admitted. “The tracker probably won’t be back for another two days. We plan to send him out then.”

  Jed spun around in a tight circle. His hands flexed with the need to wreak mayhem. He wanted something to punch, and right now the sheriff was a likely target. As if the older man sensed the dangerous direction of Jed’s thoughts, he scooted his chair back a bit. He couldn’t miss the murder written on Jed’s dark features.

  It took a great deal of effort but Jed finally got his temper under control. “By then the scent will be gone. Especially if you get any rain. We’re talking about a defenseless woman at the mercy of two, maybe more, men,” he said softly, but the menace was still there. “Judging from what little I’ve heard, these are men who obviously have no conscience. With animals like them around, you can’t be bothered to pick up the phone and demand another tracker? You couldn’t have informed Mr. Carlisle of your problem? Believe me, he would have had anything you needed at your disposal immediately.”

  Sheriff Rainey quailed under Jed’s wrath. “We thought our tracker would be back before you—you showed up,” he stammered. Then, as if finally realizing he was the one who should be in charge, he straightened up and fixed Jed with a steely glare. “Now listen here, Hawkins. What we’re talkin’ about has nothing to do with those white-collar crimes you see in the city. If these men are who we think they are, they’ve done this before. At least four women have been reported missing in the area in the past two years…” He realized his error the moment he spoke.

  Jed’s eyes had turned cold and hard. On his face was the expression of a man who could kill without breaking into a sweat. “What are you trying to tell me, Sheriff? That this has happened before?” His soft tones could have cut through stainless steel.

  The officer shifted uneasily in his chair, which suddenly seemed too small for his bulky body. “Well now, we don’t have rock-hard evidence these same men are responsible for kidnapping other women,” he said hastily. “One of the rangers thinks so and one of my men has a hunch about it. But there’s nothing we can do until we come up with some proof.”

  “Did you post any warnings? Did you suggest that women alone be more careful because of these abductions?” Jed’s smile was deadly. “No, of course you didn’t. You wouldn’t want to scare off the tourists who visit your lovely little hamlet. After all, your town relies heavily on tourism, and many families have vacation homes up here. You’re not going to want to run off your main source of revenue, are you? Tell me something, did you do anything? Did you suggest to your town council that you hire more deputies? Run more patrols?” Each word sliced the air. “What about checking on anyone who lives a ways out of town? Especially if those people are women living alone?” Jed’s voice was laced with disgust. “No, you didn’t, did you?”

  “Our town’s crime rate is very low,” Sheriff Rainey argued, his florid face turning even redder with agitation.

  Jed couldn’t miss the man’s defensive gestures. He’d guess the sweat rings under the sheriff’s arms and the way he fidgeted in his chair proved he was in the wrong, but that he thought what the hell, there was nothing he could do about it. Jed had never felt more violent than he did at that moment. He forced thoughts of Shelby out of his mind. If he took even one second to think about what she might be suffering right now, there would be dire consequences for the man sitting before him.

  Sheriff Rainey wasn’t about to fool with this man. With black jeans that had seen better days, scuffed boots, a black T-shirt and his dark hair hanging loosely around his shoulders, Jed looked like someone who should be locked up in one of the cells in the back of the building instead of confronting the law. But there was a sense of leashed power in his stance.

  “I want to talk to that deputy. I also want to talk to the ranger,” Jed said abruptly.

  “Rick, you out there?” the sheriff called. Hearing a faint response, he shouted, “Then get in here!” There was no masking his relief that Jed’s attention would be directed at another victim.

  A khaki-clad man in his late twenties appeared in the doorway. He nodded toward Jed. “You wanted me, Sheriff?”

  “This is Jed Hawkins. He wants anything you have on that breakin at the Ackerman place and that woman who was kidnapped,” the man rumbled.

  The deputy glanced at Jed. “I’ve been expecting you.”

  Jed turned back to the sheriff. “Let me make something very clear to you,” he said in a low, deadly voice. “If anything has happened to Shelby Carlisle because you couldn’t be bothered to admit you needed help, I will turn into your worst enemy. You won’t want to see me again, believe me.”

  The older man glared. “Is that a threat, Hawkins?”

  Jed’s face didn’t change expression. “No, it’s a promise.” He turned around and left the small office, the deputy at his heels.

  As the two men headed for the outer door, the officer looked at Jed. “You look as if you could use some breakfast.”

  “It might sop up a few gallons of coffee I’ve drunk,” he admitted, then lowered his voice. “Any place where we can talk without the sheriff barging in and further ruining my day?”

  The man nodded. “Come on.” He grabbed a handheld radio receiver and ambled out. “It’s within walking distance.”

  He didn’t say another word until they were seated in a rear booth at a nearby restaurant with steaming cups of coffee set in front of them.

  “I could tell the sheriff isn’t exactly on your top-ten list.” Rick Howard grinned.

  “Top five most wanted.” Jed grimaced. “What the hell is going on around here?”

  Rick lowered his voice. “Election year is coming up and the old man wants to make sure he’s reelected. The best way is to keep these disappearances under wraps. It’s helped that the other women apparently didn’t have any family looking for them. None of them were locals. Seems these guys know better than to snatch anyone who has family up here.”

  Jed felt the muscles in his stomach tighten. “How many others have been taken?”

  The deputy paused. “Four. That we know of. I have a feeling there’s been more, though.”

  “How do you know about the four?” Jed leaned back as the waitress set his plate in front of him. He looked at the stack of hotcakes with eggs on the side and wondered if he’d manage to eat any of it.

  “Pure luck. Although we did find one woman’s backpack. It had been thrown in some bushes. We’re not sure if she left it there in hopes someone would find it or what. It gave us her name and address. All we found out was that she had headed this way on vacation. She was never found.”

  “And?” Jed dutifully applied himself to his food. With what he figured was ahead of him he’d need all the strength he could get.

  “Bill Weaver, out at the Big Pines ranger station, has come across these guys high up in the mountains a couple times. They always claim they’re only up there hiking, but Bill figures they’re living up there even though it’s illegal. The one who seems to be the leader is Eric Porter, one of those Vietnam vets who refused to believe the war was over. His two nephews are up there with him.” He shook his head. “If you want, I’ll have you talk to Bill next. What I can tell you is those guys are a bunch of really bad customers who know everything there is to know about weapons and living in the wild. No one wants to go up against them. Plus they’ve lived up there so long they know the mountains like the back of their hands. So far no one’s been able to find out where they hole up. I mean it. These guys are bad news.”

  Jed determinedly forked up a piece of egg and put it in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed. “You want to talk about bad? Those bastards haven’t met me ye
t.”

  Jed was relieved that Bill Weaver turned out to be as no nonsense as Rick. In his early forties, he had skin the color of leather and the manner of a man who was happier when he was outdoors.

  “You really going to try to track those SOBs?” Bill asked, looking at Jed through narrowed blue eyes.

  Jed stared back. “Not just try. I’m going to do it.”

  Bill still studied him. “You got Indian in ya?”

  Jed tried not to smile. “Some Apache from way back.”

  The older man nodded. “They’re good trackers. I tell you, you’re going to need whatever you got inside you to find these guys. The uncle is one of those survivalists who’s happier living out there in the wild where he can pretend he’s still at war with someone. Most people don’t remember that he grew up around here. He spent his childhood up in the hills hunting with his dad and brothers until he joined the army. Because of his experience, the army dropped him behind enemy lines for months at a time. Probably because of that he’s now more animal than human. His nephews are dumber’n dirt. They didn’t believe in doing a day’s work so they moved up with him a few years ago.”

  “Around the time women started disappearing?” Jed guessed.

  The ranger nodded. A grim expression tightened his facial muscles. “I’d say within six months.”

  Jed walked over to an area map covering one of the cabin’s walls. He studied it as if committing it to memory.

  “You have a good rifle with you?” Bill asked.

  Jed was still absorbed in the map. “I have what’s needed. Where’s the Ackerman cabin on this?”

  Bill pointed to a spot on the map. “I tried to do some tracking as soon as it got light this morning, but I lost them almost immediately. From what signs I could read, it looked as if they were headed northeast. Those boys might have been able to hide their tracks, but I can’t imagine they can hide the woman’s as well unless they keep a close eye on her the whole time. You might get lucky.”