Guardian Angel

by Lise Fuller

  It was a child’s game but he closed his eyes anyway. Jake made his one request and then settled on his next move.

  —

  “It’s at the fort.” Marie sat in the grimy dirt of some hidden alcove off the abandoned side road they’d taken. She gulped the air made fetid by Bill’s nearness. The night had grown pitch-black except for the flashlights held by the other men. She squirmed again to test the rope they’d used to tie her hands behind her.

  Again, Bill had threatened to rape her. Better, he’d said, than marring her pretty face—another one of Bill’s ideas. But the man Evan stopped him from a full-blown assault.

  Her ex-partner hovered over her. “Where at the fort?” The other men hung back as he stroked her hair then grabbed it and yanked it violently toward him, pulling her to her knees in the effort.

  She squirmed and leaned forward a bit to alleviate the pain. “I buried it in one of the far off sections. It’s under at least two feet of snow.”

  At her forced words, he pulled her closer to the vee in his pants then pushed her face against the limpid token of his masculinity. Her warm pants, driven by fear, made it stiffen.

  Bill loosened his hold on her hair. “That’s more like it,” he purred. “Exactly where you belong.”

  She snapped her chin up in disgust and bared her teeth.

  He jerked her hair again. “Don’t even think about biting me.”

  Marie heard Evan chortle. “Let’s go, Bill. We recover the papers and then you’ll have all the time in the world.”

  “Up.” Bill wound his hand around her tresses and tugged hard. She moaned. The pain shot like pins into her skull. She came to her feet.

  Evan strolled over and grasped Bill’s arm. “Get in the front. I’ll sit with the girl.” He loosened Bill’s grip on her hair and took her elbow. Bill glared at him sideways then sauntered off.

  Evan watched him get in the truck then looked at Marie. “Miss Taylor.” He kept his voice low. “I’m sorry you were dragged into this. We…” he eyed the truck, “the organization had a much different tack in mind. It wouldn’t have involved any civilians. Unfortunately…” He rubbed his hand along her upper arm to her shoulder and rested it there as his free hand reached out to hold her. “You are, let’s say, compromised. You’re an intelligent woman. I’m sure you know your life is in danger. Cooperate with me and I may be able to get you out of this alive.” He glanced at the ground and moved in front of her to block her view of the truck. “We have our own ‘witness protection’ program, a place in Montana made for a woman like you.” He squinted as he peered at her. “Think about it.” He lifted his chin. “At least you’d be safe there. And if you behave, you’d probably have some freedom after a while.”

  She wanted to retch. Instead, she looked down as he grasped her arm and led her to the vehicle.

  —

  Most times, Jake was pretty good at keeping his temper but today wasn’t one of them. He’d been pushed far enough. “Look, MacDugal,” Jake growled, “I’m leaving to follow a hunch and I’m leaving alone. The last thing I need is someone blowing my idea. Now stay put.”

  “I’m tellin’ you, Jim, he’s gonna stash her away somewhere until this blows over. He probably rigged this thing himself.”

  Jake came nose-to-nose with the tall, brawny man. “MacDugal, if I weren’t in uniform, you’d be on the ground. Let up.”

  “Gentlemen,” Slim interceded, “we don’t have time for this.” He turned to Jake. “Go do what you need to do, Sheriff.”

  “You’re making a mistake,” MacDugal interrupted.

  “Then it’s my mistake, Mac.” He cut the man off sharply and sliced his eyes toward the other agent. “I’m in charge,” he stated, then turned to Jake. “You find anything, call us pronto, agreed?”

  Jake didn’t like playing second string in his own county but it was a federal bust—still, he wouldn’t let them put Marie in any more danger. “Fine. I’ll be in touch.” He tipped his hat to Slim then shot a glare at MacDugal. Swerving, he marched toward his cruiser.

  “You want me to deck him later for yuh, Sheriff?” Kyle’s wry grin held him.

  He glanced back then smirked at Kyle. “Just don’t let them follow me.”

  Kyle nodded once and pressed his mouth into a thin straight line.

  Jake jumped in the cruiser and drove off. He hadn’t any time to lose.

  —

  The BAM men drove onto a side road that bypassed the main entrance to the fort then turned onto another gravel road that led to the outskirts of the large original boundary. Marie couldn’t tell where on the grounds they were. Her view was blocked by the tinted windows.

  They stopped after awhile and opened the tailgate. Marie crawled out into the moonless, starry night to find they’d entered the area she’d described. Several birch trees swayed. Scattered across this section of the grounds stood a few of the smaller buildings that had been used for various purposes throughout the years. She grimaced, worried if Gramps would find Jake in time.

  Bill approached her and untied her hands. “Show us where.”

  She scanned the whitened, drift-covered land. She shook her head. “I have to think.” She stepped in the deep snow. “I buried them before the landscape changed.”

  Bill grasped her arm and jerked her around. “Don’t play games, Marie.” He gritted his teeth and shook her once sharply then lifted her face to his. His voice lowered. “Let me make this very clear. Both our lives depend on this. If you screw up, even in the slightest, these guys will have no mercy. I know them. Trust me on this.”

  She gulped shallow breaths as she tried to remember that Jake would find her. “I-I’m thinking.” She licked her lips and peered with all the bravado she could muster into Bill’s gray eyes.

  He let her go. “Hurry up. I’ll be right behind you.” Then he waved his arm open as if to usher her on.

  Bill held the flood lamp higher. Marie practically shoveled her way through the cold mounds as the snow soaked into her shoes. She finally rested against a pine tree some distance away. Cason and one of the other men had followed them. Each carried a light as well as a small, folded shovel.

  “This might be it.” She pointed to a large spruce that grew alongside a stand of birch trees. “I thought the pine boughs would help cover the area where I dug.” The two other men looked at her then at each other and walked ahead to the place she indicated. They planted their lanterns and stuck the shovels in the snow.

  Bill held his light high. Slowly the men exposed the bare ground underneath the tree limbs.

  Gramps hadn’t shown yet and Marie’s worry grew. She backed away from the group. She wanted to find a spot where she could call for him.

  “Where are you going?”

  She gasped as Bill latched onto her arm. “I need to use the restroom.” She buried her hands in the jacket to conceal her trembling.

  “You can hold it.” He pulled her back into the circle of light.

  “But…”

  “Do any of those buildings have a bathroom?” he asked her as he pointed in the general direction from which they came.

  “Some of the larger ones. I don’t know about these.” She pointed to the ones nearest them. “I don’t think they’re used anymore.”

  “Good.” Bill slanted a small grin across his face then took in the other men’s progress. “That means they’ll be empty and no one will go looking around them.” He leaned to her and whispered, “I might have use for that later, if this works out right. I’m going to have you, Marie, willing or not. Do you understand?”

  Marie nodded. She hoped he didn’t see the dread in her eyes.

  She looked away and watched the other men. Their shovels barely penetrated the frozen earth. Her tension lessened a notch. This would at least chew up some time.

  A few gusts burst over the treetops. Marie worked to ease her mind and reassure herself that Gramps was doing all he could. She counted the stars that shone in the patches of sky between the
trees and prayed fervently for the army to come over the ridge—literally.

  “There’s something here.” One of the men spoke.

  The cloud in Marie’s mind evaporated. She stared at the ground where Cason pointed his shovel. They’d dug a few inches and a dull thud sounded as they hammered the shovels on top of the unidentifiable object.

  “Well?” Bill looked down his nose at her. His eyes judged her like a vulture.

  She shrugged and tried to appear nonplussed. “It might be it.”

  One of the men scowled as they both edged around it. Quite a bit of earth had covered the thing. Cason chipped away at the icy ground until an edge popped up. He pulled at the solid, flat panel, which looked something like a box top with a rounded edge, then held his lantern to it and glanced underneath.

  “Solid ground,” he snarled and flipped the panel over. Shadows crisscrossed the rotten piece of wood. Someone had etched words on it. Marie hovered over the piece and carefully brushed the letters. “Killed eighteen something.” She couldn’t read the rest. She looked at the men who stared at her. “I think this is a headstone.”

  Bill held the light still for her as she read the remainder. “Master Sergeant Thaddeus P. Colder.” She’d found Gramps’ grave.

  Bill knocked the marker from her hand. “We don’t have time for that. Where’s the papers?”

  “Martin,” Cason cautioned, “this is the grave of a patriot. We modeled the Movement after men like this. I won’t disturb his resting place unless the lady knows better so ease back and let her think.”

  Marie’s eyes widened as Cason glared at her. “Think hard, Miss Taylor. If you know something we don’t then tell me now and there’ll be no retribution. If we’re wasting our time, we’ll find out. And I can tell you, Evan doesn’t like to be duped.”

  Her throat went dry. She lifted her chin and pointed toward a spot another two feet to the side. “Maybe it was farther under the tree behind you. I’m not sure. I was in a hurry when I hid it. I’d heard someone coming and I didn’t want them to find me.” Cason gave her a look that said he didn’t believe her then he and the other man moved to the place and started to dig.

  “Why’d you hide it at all?” Bill growled in her ear. His gruffness aggravated her.

  She glared at him. “Because I was going to live at the sheriff’s house and I didn’t want any precocious boys or nosy law officers poking through my bag. I had enough trouble explaining the bullet hole in my window. I don’t think Jake would have been so understanding if he’d found all those financial statements. How well do you think it would have gone if I had to explain all those papers?”

  He shook her again. Hard. “You said you’d told the man.”

  Marie swallowed. “Only about you trying to hurt me. That money was stolen from my firm. The man’s a law officer. Do you think I want to go to jail for something you did?”

  Bill sneered. His wary look raked over her. “So how did you explain the damage to your window?”

  She huffed and crossed her arms then turned toward the men who shoveled the hard-packed dirt. “I let him think it was a jealous boyfriend.”

  Bill hooted with that demented laugh of his. “Damn.”

  “Keep it down,” Cason urged. “We may be far off from most of these houses but we’re still within the town limits.”

  Bill let his chuckle linger but with a lowered voice. “And that, my darling, is much closer to the truth.”

  Shivers crawled over Marie’s skin but she refused to look at Bill. Instead, she stared intently at the work of the other two men, worried. Where was Jake?

  —

  Jake skidded into a slot on the gravel lot of the fort and hurried toward the officer quarters that served as the ghost’s cabin.

  “Gramps,” he whispered harshly. “Where the hell are you?”

  The specter popped in front of him, his cap set for battle. Gramp’s mouth formed a thin line and he’d planted his fists on his hips. “I’ve been waitin’ fer yuh, dagnabbit.” His brows furled. “Of all the infernal times to not tell me where yuh was goin’. Marie sent me off tuh find yuh and you’re nowhere tuh be found. I shoulda been protectin’ her. Where in hell have yuh been?”

  “We don’t have time for that.” Jake’s voice grew louder.

  “You’re tellin’ me,” he interrupted.

  “Gramps,” Jake panted. His intensity stalled the old man’s tirade. “I think Marie’s been kidnapped by Martin and we still don’t have the means to prove her innocence. If she’s with him, she’s in trouble. My men are working with Slim and his team to track them down. So help me God,” he looked at the sky and rested his hands on his hips, “if he hurts her, I’ll kill him.”

  “Son, she’s right over there.” Gramps pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “Martin’s the one holdin’ ’er.”

  “What?” Jake looked up and saw the small lights that flashed about deep in the woods. “By all that’s holy, Gramps, why didn’t you say so sooner?” He unsnapped his holster and pulled his pistol as he rushed with stealth toward the scene.

  “But, son…” Gramps called after him.

  Jake turned and put his index finger to his lips. “Go get Kyle,” he mouthed to Gramps.

  “But…”

  “Gramps, please.”

  “I’ve never talked tuh Kyle. Jake…” The younger man had already slipped deep into the woods.

  Gramps shook his head, forever amazed at how quietly a man of Jake’s size could travel. “Moves like a Modac brave, he does. Red Thunder’d be proud of yuh if he saw this. The crazy coot, running up on a stack of men alone.” The old man rolled his eyes and mumbled as he faded. “Boy’s lettin’ his feelings git the better of ’em, he is. Coulda warned ’em.”

  He spat a chew of tobacco. “I’m gonna scare that deputy outta his born skin. How am I supposed to git ’em tuh hear me?” He shook his head then disappeared.

  —

  Snow crunched softly underneath Jake’s boots, yet he sidled up to the scene without detection. Two men he didn’t recognize picked at the hard ground and Martin stood near Marie, holding her arm. He inched closer, trying not to trap himself in the deeper drifts of snow.

  “Excuse me, Sheriff.” Jake swerved to see two men standing at a distance behind him. The tall, middle-aged man held a gun with a silencer pointed at Jake. The other, younger man aimed a rifle and scope. He heard Marie gasp as the digging stopped.

  The older man chuckled as he waddled through a drift to approach him. “I can see we surprised you. Won’t you join us? Maybe you can jog Miss Taylor’s memory.”

  Jake’s eyes narrowed. “I doubt it.”

  “Let’s try anyway.” The man’s lips thinned as he pointed the police-issued Beretta. “Move it.”

  He relieved Jake of his firearm and beckoned him to join the others by waving the tip of the gun barrel. Jake stomped over to the lit area and wanted to kick himself for falling into such an obvious setup.

  “You recognize any of this, Sheriff?”

  The voice came from the elder man but Jake stared at Martin. “What is it you want to know?”

  The unidentified man’s eyes narrowed as he looked Jake over. Jake got the feeling this shithead was more astute than the others. “I thought that was fairly obvious. We’re after a set of documents Miss Taylor says she’d buried under the tree. We can’t seem to find them but I’ll give her credit, the ground’s too hard to dig very deep and the snow doesn’t help either.” He lifted his chin. “You wouldn’t happen to have seen them, would you? It would save us some time.”

  Jake hooked his thumbs in the back of his belt and snarled. “Then what? You don’t really expect me to believe you’ll let us go?”

  The other man rubbed his chin. “I’ve already made a deal with the lady although I’m sure she doesn’t like it very much. However, I think the idea will grow on her after a while. You, I’m not sure about.”

  He retrieved Jake’s handcuffs and put away the pistol. “The organi
zation we belong to is made up of patriots, people like you who have seen a better way.” He snapped one of the cuffs around Jake’s wrist and pulled his arm toward his back. “Folks who are sick of this country being run by foreigners, vagrants and bureaucrats.” He grabbed Jake’s free hand and secured it firmly behind him then tightened the metal bracelet around his wrist. “They’re hardworking, dedicated and are called on occasionally to serve.” He shrugged his shoulders and strolled in front of Jake. He held his palms up as he turned one way and then the other to get his men’s attention. “Like us.” The man grinned. “You get paid for the work and the benefits aren’t bad, either.”

  “I don’t think I’d find anything beneficial from the association,” Jake hammered, “so save your breath.”

  “Hmm. It’d be a shame to lose you.” The man’s pudgy bottom lip stuck out. “Think about it. Maybe I can have you and Miss Taylor relocated together.” He frowned. “I don’t like terminating law officers but I will if necessary. Now,” he pulled out the pistol and aimed it at Marie, “tell me where the papers are and you can at least be secure in the knowledge that Miss Taylor will survive.”

  Jake analyzed the scene. As long as Marie was involved, any attack would be out of the question. Even if she could escape, the snow would slow her down. Jake stalled. “What makes you think I know anything about them?”

  The man snorted. “My gut. And I’m sure, like you, I always listen to it.”

  Jake shifted his weight then looked at Marie. “I have them. I secured them without Miss Taylor’s knowledge. As far as she knew, she still had them.”

  “Evan, maybe we should get out of here,” Martin grumbled. “Don’t you think someone’s going to look for him?”

  The leader scratched his neck. “He was alone and I’d suspect he didn’t know we were here. I doubt he even knew we had Miss Taylor. In this small town, he probably thought he was frightening off some kids. Of course, if he’d been to his place then maybe he thought he’d nabbed the vandals. Isn’t that right, Sheriff?”