by JJ Aughe
A woman’s voice came from the speaker. “That’s when I found the phone. It must have fallen out of the man’s pocket when I took him back to their car. What shall I do? My own car broke down just as I got back to town. It is in the shop now and I won’t get it back until tomorrow or Monday. So there is just no way I can take the phone back to them.”
“I’m sorry, Miss. My phone was breaking up a bit there. Where did you say you helped my friends?”
“Oh. Ah. Well, OK then. I’ll tell you again. They broke down on highway 410 about 10 miles past that little town of, . . . of Green Briar? No. That isn’t right. Greenwater? I think that’s it. Anyway, they are about two miles from the turnoff to that popular ski lodge. You know the one, I’m sure. Oh, what is the name of that lodge? Oh, blast! I can’t remember right now. Oh! Oh! I remember something else though! They said they had been planning to camp at the Bugle Creek campground and Ranger Airstrip but I told them I had heard that the campground has been closed for maintenance for the past month. Anyway, that’s where their car broke down.”
“Thank you so much for calling, Mrs. Walters. I’ll sure get someone up there to help them real soon. Oh, by the way. So I’ll know what truck to send, how many people are there with my friend and also what vehicle are they driving?”
“Their car is a newer model, light blue SUV. I believe it is a Chevy, but I don’t know cars very well and it could as well be a Ford. As for how many people? Let’s see. Hmm,” she hedged. “There is that one gorgeous woman with long very shiny red hair. I felt that I should have recognized her, but even though she seemed nice, I was too embarrassed to ask her name. Then there is the other woman with short red hair and a woman with black hair. I think it was black anyway. I didn’t see her that well. That’s three. Then there is the tall hunk. He was yummy, too! Then, in the rear seat there were two men. One seemed to be asleep, but the other one kept his head turned away so I couldn’t see him very well. He was wearing a turban. You know, like they wear in Egypt? And the older gentleman helping the hunk trying to find out what was wrong with the engine. That is six I think. No. All totaled, there were seven people. The driver went with me to Greenwater and back for gas. But the car still didn’t start, so I let them use my car to push their car the short distance to the bridge and almost a mile into the campground. Even though the campground was closed they decided to stay there until they could get the car running.”
“Bailey, that’s what the hunk said his name was, said he thought the engine was flooded, whatever that means, and would be okay by morning. I sure hope you can help them. But remember to tell your driver they pushed the SUV across the bridge on the access road and on into a campsite on the east side of the campground itself. Oh! I just remembered something else that might help!”
Desperately wanting to end the call, Almed grimaced before resignedly saying, “And what would that be?”
Monica heard the resigned sound of his voice so she quickly told him again about the airstrip at the campground and said goodbye. She immediately removed the battery from the phone, then, as Dennis had directed, she used the secure phone he had given her to call him to confirm she had finished her assigned task.
Almed grinned evilly as the call ended. “We have them, Jamad! This time we have them and there is no way they can possibly get away!” Within minutes he and his men were mobilized.
Almed had no idea that his whereabouts had been discovered the day before and that he had been tracked to the campground by real-time satellite. He also didn’t know that, by a small bird-like surveillance drone, his every move was being carefully monitored.
Bugle Creek Campground:
Bailey, Jessie and crew arrived at the campsite by eight-thirty a.m. and quickly set up their tents, spread their bedrolls and made an immediate group reconnaissance of the area around the campground so everyone would know the layout. When they returned to the campsite, Bailey suggested they set a few open suitcases beside and inside their tents. While the rest of the crew accomplished that task and other sundry details they had agreed on, Bailey set about gathering dry wood for a fire. By nine-thirty a roaring fire blazed in the fire pit.
Since breakfast had been toast and coffee, Jessie and Melissa went to work to fix a quick breakfast of bacon, eggs and coffee for everyone, served it buffet style so everyone could sit by the fire in camp chair s to eat. Everyone sat around the campfire for half an hour after breakfast going over where everyone would be and what each person was supposed to do when Almed struck. A lull in the conversation had Bailey deciding there had been enough discussion on the operation and asked Sean to elaborate on his former association with Monica.
Sean had hoped the subject had been forgotten but, understanding that Bailey was attempting to get everyone’s mind off what was going to go down in a very short while, gave Bailey a nod to acknowledge he knew why he asked and answered, “At the dog park Sunday when Jessie told you about Monica and mentioned her last name it sounded familiar to me. I wondered where I had heard the name before but couldn’t come up with an answer. Later at the truck stop when she mentioned Monica’s married name as having been Johannsen it reminded me of where and when I had heard the name.”
In sober tones Sean began to relate how he had first met Monica. He told about how, twelve years before, when Benjamin Johannsen had married into the Radcliff family the local media and especially a few rag magazines went wild, blowing the situation completely out of proportion. Because Monica was the only child of the Radcliff’s and would, someday be worth millions of dollars, marrying Benjamin Johannsen they claimed, was a mistake she would regret. The rag magazines claimed Benjamin did not love her and was nothing but a fortune hunter, a vulture some called him, swooping in and snatching up one of Puget Sound society’s prettiest, smartest and most talented young ladies. They were all wrong. Benjamin loved Monica with all his heart and soul. He proved his own worth and his love for Monica a few years later.
Ben and Monica were on their way home from a charity function and had stopped at a stop sign on a dark street when a knife wielding carjacker tried to take their car. Ben and Monica were getting out of the car as the carjacker had demanded. The guy suddenly grabbed Monica by the arm and shoved her back into the front seat. Benjamin didn’t even hesitate when his young wife was threatened by the carjacker. He grabbed the guy by the hair and yanked him backwards away from the car and Monica. In the ensuing scramble the guy stabbed Benjamin in the chest. Benjamin yanked the knife from his own chest as the carjacker tackled him. On the pavement beside the car they fought for the knife until the guy suddenly went limp, the knife stuck in his heart. Ben lay face down on top of the guy. Monica rolled Benjamin onto his back and onto her lap. When she saw all the blood spurting from her husband’s chest she tried to staunch the flow by tearing part of her dress away and pressing it over the wound.
Benjamin must have known he was dying because he put his hand over hers and whispered his last words, ‘I love you.’ As his head fell to the side Monica became hysterical and began screaming for help.
Sean was in the immediate area when the 911 call came in from a neighboring house about a woman screaming for help so was the first officer to arrive at the scene. He was the first person Monica saw after her husband died in her arms. Monica was in shock and an emotional mess when he arrived. Sean’s heart broke for her. It took awhile, but once he got her calmed a little he tried to convince her there was nothing she could do for her husband. Even knowing there was nothing she could do, she still wouldn’t leave his body. When the ambulance arrived Sean helped her to gently move him from her lap so the paramedics could take over. Because of Monica’s emotional state Sean didn’t want to tell her they would have to wait there until the coroner arrived, so he coaxed her to his car on the pretext of getting her statement while all the events of the night were fresh in her mind.
Talking about that night and the horror Monica went through had a lump forming in Sean’s throat. He took a beat to clear his throat
and shook his head before he continued. “I drove her to the hospital to be checked out because, frankly, I was worried. The paramedics had checked her and felt she was okay. But I could tell that something wasn’t right. For one thing, she hadn’t wanted to call anyone. That struck me as odd because that is usually the first thing a trauma victim wants to do. You know, they want to hear a familiar voice and relate what has happened to them. I drove her home and sat with her for what I thought would be just a little while. It turned out to be hours. The media had gotten hold of the story and it wasn’t long before her phone was ringing every few minutes. I eventually unplugged every phone in the house. Then the media showed up with all their cameras and equipment wanting interviews. I dealt with them myself for a while before I finally got disgusted with their annoying questions and the outrageous tactics of a few rag papers to get a story. I called my Captain and requested he send a few officers over to keep the media at bay. He sent more than a few. In no time at all there were twenty patrol cars and forty officers out there putting up crime scene tape and forcing the reporters to stay two blocks away.”
The more Sean talked the more everyone could plainly see the anger in Sean’s eyes. “You would think the media would obey the officers, and for the most part they did. But there were a few reporters out there from what I call rag papers and magazines who were persistent. Things got worse, so I finally had had enough. Earlier when we arrived at her home Monica had rambled on about how Ben had looked forward to their enjoying riding the bike trails on their new mountain bikes. When I remembered her mention of the bikes, I talked her into using them to get out of there. We snuck out the back door of the garage and used the bike trails to get to the truck stop where I arranged for transportation into Bellevue. I took her to a hotel in downtown where she stayed incognito until the Chief told her she could leave. She immediately flew to Tempe, Arizona to stay at her summer home there. She only came back the following week to attend her husband’s funeral then left again. Though I have always wondered whatever happened to her, until last Sunday, her husband’s funeral was the last time I heard anything about her or seen her.”
Reflecting on the connection between himself and Jessie, Bailey shook his head and said, “That is so sad, Sean. Now I realize why she was so upset Sunday and again last night. I didn’t realize it would be re-opening old wounds. That was a tragic time in her life and I know bringing it up had to bring back terrible memories. When we get back to her place I will have to apologize and beg her forgiveness.”
Everyone agreed that Monica had been through a terrible experience and sat silently reflecting for a few minutes until Eddie asked Bailey to tell about the cavern he had found. Bailey was describing some of the wondrous artifacts to be found in the cavern by the lake when his DHS issue phone vibrated. Bailey was startled because the phone was supposed to be just for backup because Dennis had given each of them a set of satellite communication ear-buds with built-in microphones for communicating with them. Bailey grabbed the phone from his shirt pocket. He punched speakerphone as soon as he answered so everyone could hear what was being said.
A metallic voice came from the speaker. “Red Hen, Red Hen. Make sure your chicks are in the hen house ‘cuz vixen and her litter are on the prowl.” Then the connection was broken.
Chapter 20: Melissa’s Agenda
Everyone around the campfire knew the message meant Almed was closing in on the campground. A brief nod from Bailey sent the rest of the crew into the routine they had practiced since hearing Dennis’ suggestions and agreeing his idea would be more effective than theirs.
Melissa and Eddie helped Sean hobble to a bedroll spread in the shade of a fir tree between two of their three tents. Eddie immediately began faking checking Sean’s vital signs as Melissa knelt on the opposite side, her hands to her face as if terrified her man were dying. Carol took up a position beside the fire pit in the center of the camp, turning this way and that acting as though she were trying to get reception on her cell phone.
While the other four took their places, Bailey and Jessie strolled leisurely to the rear edge of the campsite. Near the tree where Melissa’s dog, Kerry, was tethered on a thirty foot come back leash, they stopped. As Bailey knelt on one knee and gave the dog a reassuring pat on the head he wondered if there were another, safer, place for Melissa’s cherished pet. Glancing around the campsite, he couldn’t see any place safer for the dog and scratched him behind the ears before rising and taking Jessie’s hand. The two seeming lovers embraced before continuing on to Jessie’s designated place near the decaying remains of two huge, ancient cedar trees.
Bailey once again took Jessie in his arms, hugging her close. “This is it, Jessie,” he whispered in her ear as he nuzzled her silken hair. “You know what to do if he comes in with guns blazing.”
“I know. I’m not to trust this flack vest Dennis insisted we all wear. I’m to act as if hit by the first shots and fall into the place you fixed for me between these rotten logs. I can do that, Bailey. But, . . what do you plan to do? You never told me.”
“Jessie. Oh, Jessie,” he breathed as he lightly kissed her inviting lips. “Sweetheart, you know I love you. I always will. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But you know as well as I do, that life can’t happen until this is settled one way or another.”
“Because of what Almed did to Burney, I feel it is my duty to take part in taking him down. If I don’t live through it I want you to know this. You are the only woman I have ever loved and I love you with all of my being.”
Jessie didn’t try to hold her tears back as she curled both hands in the front of his shirt and softly cried, “But what are you going to do, Bailey? Please tell me so that, even not being able to see what is going on, I will know where you are and what is happening!”
Her tears caused Bailey’s heart to ache as he handed her his handkerchief. He made sure his voice was soft, but firm, as he answered her. “Everything depends on how he comes in, Jessie. Because of that, I don’t really know exactly what I’m going to do. I’ll have to ad lib it, make it up as I go.”
Suddenly Bailey’s cell phone vibrated again and, with horror-filled eyes, Jessie jumped back as he grabbed it from his shirt pocket. To mask putting the phone to his ear, Bailey pulled her back to his chest again. He listened for a few seconds, replied with “Roger that.” and gave the phone a toss into the nest he had made for Jessie between the two logs.
He started to relay what Dennis had told him but Jessie’s tears and the horrified expression on her sweet face stopped him cold. He was torn between just holding the woman he loved, giving her comfort instead of doing what Dennis had just ordered him to do. He realized though that she knew Dennis would not call on the cell phone unless circumstances had drastically changed. He had to explain to the others that there had been a glitch in the ear-bud software that prevented Dennis from using those to tell each one of them in turn instead of using the cell phone.
Bailey was certain that wouldn’t be a problem for her. But how was he going to tell her that Almed and twenty of his men had boarded helicopters and were only moments from arriving? A force that outnumbered them by four to one!
Instead, he only told her that Almed was almost there and that he needed to relay that info to the others. Then he cautioned her that if any shooting started before he returned, she was to immediately get between the logs and retrieve the cell phone. Finished, he abruptly dropped his hands from her shoulders, turned and headed out to the center of the campsite where Carol stood by the fire pit.
Siamahd froze. On the far side of the thick stand of fir saplings he heard low voices but couldn’t tell what was being said. Crouching, he carefully worked his way through the young trees until he could see the campsite. Through the screening of pine boughs in front of him he saw a man walk away from the fire pit where a woman stood and go toward three tents. He quickly counted the people in the camp, three women and three men. Almed had informed him there were seven people at the c
ampsite so he drew back and searched for another vantage point to locate the seventh person.
Through her tears, Jessie watched as Bailey casually walked out to speak first to Carol, then over to Sean, Melissa and Eddie. Though she tried valiantly to curb them before he started back to her, the tears were still flowing when he returned. He took her hands, wrapped her in his arms to kiss away the tears. Suddenly Melissa’s dog began a deep-throated growl. Then, barking furiously and baring his teeth, he hit the end of his tether.
Alert for trouble, but wanting to appear he wasn’t, Bailey released Jessie and calmly walked over and knelt beside the furiously barking Irish Setter. Patting him on the head, he asked, “What’s the matter, Kerry? You smell a wild animal or something out there?”
The words were barely out of his mouth when, from out of a stand of seedlings at the edge of the campsite, automatic weapons fire began and bullets started zinging into the campsite. Bailey saw Carol spin and fall beside the iron circular fire pit with the first shots and Eddie with the volley that followed. Bailey twisted sidewise and saw bullets kicking up dirt near Jessie. He watched as the love of his life grabbed her chest and stumbled backwards into the log as she was supposed to, falling over it and into the safety of the nest he had made for her.
Seeing Jessie fall to safety between the logs, Bailey headed for the cover of another log a short distance away where he had left the assault-rifle Monica had supplied him from the weapons her late husband had collected.. He was cursing himself roundly for leaving it there when he heard Kerry yelp and give out a pitiful whine. Worried for the dog’s safety, he automatically started to turn back, felt sudden pain in his lower back and knew he had been hit at least twice. Though the flack-vest protected him from real injury, the force of the bullet’s impact sent him tumbling to the ground, rolling to within a few feet of the log and his rifle. Tempted to try to get to the rifle and the safety of the log to return fire, he opted instead to stay down as Dennis had directed.
