Gold Star Chance

by C J Murphy

  Chance watched Jax’s eyes tear up. She wrapped her in a hug and held her tightly. “We’ll find him baby, believe me. We’ll get him back.”

  Jax looked up at her. “You’d better make sure when you get him that you come back to me without any more battle scars. I’ve already missed too much time with you. I don’t plan to miss one single minute more.” Jax grabbed her by the vest. “I’ve been in love with you for over thirty years, and I plan to be in love with you for another forty. You hear me?”

  Chance kissed her, kissed her like she hadn’t seen her in a month of Sundays. She kissed her for all the missed Sundays. She had no intention of missing another one either. All the years apart melted away. All that mattered was merging the memories of yesterday with those to be created tomorrow. “I hear you. I’ll be back, intact, with Marty. Believe that here.” She kissed her forehead. “And here.” She placed her hand over Jax’s heart and kissed her softly this time, her lips lingering until they separated, breathing each other in. “I will be back.”

  Jax looked down at Zeus. “Both of you.”

  Chance pulled away from her and felt Jax hold tightly to her hand.

  “You’ve always kept your promises to me. I expect you to do the same this time. No exceptions.”

  Chance drew her arm across her chest with her hand resting on her heart. She turned and met Harley at the door. “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  CHANCE RODE WITH HARLEY, out Camp 70 Road. They were in constant contact with the Comm Center, who had advised them OnStar was still reporting the vehicle to be stationary. They were about two and a half miles from the location. It was dark, and intermittent cloud cover kept obscuring the moonlight. The cover of darkness hid the sides of the narrow dirt road. “We’re about five hundred feet from the site. Kill the engine, and let’s go on foot.”

  Harley raised the other units behind them and advised them to do the same. The quiet click of doors opening and shutting sounded like gunfire cracking in the silence. Weapons drawn, the officers fanned out and approached the Silverado.

  Chance reached it first and used her flashlight to check the bed of the truck, then the interior. She shook her head. There was no sign of anyone. She spoke quietly to Harley. “There’s blood on both the passenger and driver’s sides. Check around. Let’s see if there’s a blood trail. Maybe Zeus can pick it up. It’s not his strongest skill, but it won’t surprise me if he can do it.”

  “I have no doubt.” Harley spread the word about what they were looking for. They were drawn to several blood trail cast offs near a path to the right of the road. “Chance, over here.”

  Zeus followed Chance, as she bent near the dark drops illuminated by a flashlight. She aimed her own beam of light along the trail that disappeared into the wood line. She took Zeus back to the truck and opened the door, allowing him to smell the interior. Chance was aware that the part of a dog’s brain devoted to the analysis of smells, was greater than a human’s capacity. The scent of fear sweat was particularly pungent. Combined with the smell of blood, it translated to prey for a dog like Zeus. “Zoek, Zeus, zoek.” When she gave the command for him to track, she knew he would follow the scent to its source. The dog looked at her, his bright eyes gleaming, and took off in the direction of the blood trails.

  “Hope you guys can keep up.” She took off at a fast jog, watching Zeus keep his nose near the ground.

  Chance was sure they’d gone close to a half mile, when the small shack came into view. She could hear the sound of a generator running. In an urgent whisper, she called to Zeus, “Hou op. Hier.” The dog returned to her side, his tongue darting in and out as he panted beside her. “Goede jongen.” Chance quietly praised Zeus as he crouched in the dark, looking and listening for anything from the cabin. She turned her flashlight backwards to mark her position to the officers who were rapidly approaching.

  Harley knelt behind her with a cadre of ten other officers. “Wonder how many are in there?”

  “The place is pretty small. We know of two perps and Doc. Hard to say. Comfortably, maybe one or two more. I wish I’d remembered to grab the thermal imager at the fire hall.”

  Harley nodded. “We could send someone back for it.”

  “Place isn’t that big, and I don’t want to wait anymore. Doc’s on borrowed time. He’s seen their faces. They’ll keep him as long as they need him, then he’ll be disposable.”

  Harley put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. Let’s spread the troops out and surround the place. If they don’t have a way out, it’ll come down to negotiation. Doc will be their biggest bargaining chip. Let me handle the communication with them. I’m going to head for that tree and shut that generator down.”

  Chance knew what Harley was doing. She was taking the responsibility for Doc. If it went wrong, Harley would answer Jax’s questions. “Fine, I’m taking the shot.”

  Harley nodded and turned back to the troops behind her. She coordinated who would go where and do what. Chance watched as everyone touched their earpieces. The curly wires that came out of their radios and snaked up their necks, would keep any communications from alerting the occupants of the cabin to their presence. Harley pointed, and the officers fanned out to surround the structure.

  Chance found a side-by-side UTV at the edge of the woods, with the key in it. She removed the key and put it in her pocket. She watched another officer do the same to another one. She nodded to Harley after every officer found cover behind the trees, their weapons trained on the cabin. The generator hummed softly. It was chained to a large tree, which would offer Harley a modicum of protection.

  Harley raised her arm to indicate she was ready to kill it. When that happened, the officers would be behind cover substantial enough to eliminate themselves as a targets. When she dropped her arm, the generator went quiet.

  Voices rang out from the cabin.

  “What the fuck? You forget to put gas in the damn thing?”

  “Where’s the flashlight, you stupid fuck?”

  “Don’t call me stupid. Who’s got the old man?”

  “My gun is in his neck. Get the fucking lights back on.”

  The argument continued back and forth. Chance noted two voices, neither of which were Doc’s. A flashlight bounced around the cabin. Harley announced her presence.

  “This is Sergeant Harley Kincaid of the West Virginia State Police. The cabin is surrounded by law enforcement officers. Drop your weapons and file out of the cabin with your hands in the air.”

  A shot rang out in Harley’s direction. Chance and Zeus took cover. Slowly, she inched her way back up to get a visual on the cabin. The flashlight had been turned off, and she could hear shuffling inside the structure. To her left, Randy appeared with Vader and she acknowledged him.

  Doc shouted with irritation. “You son of a bitch get that gun out of my ear. You’re making my hearing aid squeal.”

  “Shut up, old man, before it’s a bullet instead.”

  “You don’t want to do that,” Harley cautioned. “You’re in a tough spot right now. If the deputy in surgery dies, you’re looking at one count of murder. You shoot Doc Hendricks and it’ll be two. You’re in a no-win situation. Make this easy on yourself and come out.”

  “Fuck you, bitch. You back off or the old man dies right now.”

  “And then you’ve got no bargaining chip. The only reason you’ve got a shot at cutting a deal is because he’s still alive.” She melted against the tree, as another shot came from inside the cabin. Harley tried again. “If you guys think you can outshoot us, you’re wrong. Right now, you’re like fish in a barrel. There are officers all around the perimeter of this cabin.

  Before the shooting started, Chance had made a lap around the cabin and found only the one exit, along with a few windows too small for anyone to crawl out of. She made her way to the side where the door was and positioned herself and Zeus low behind a large rock. “Blijf,” she whispered, telling him to sta
y, as she peered around the rock at the illuminated door. “Bewaken.” Zeus became tense and hyper alert at her side, waiting for her command.

  Harley tried again. “Come on, let’s make a deal. You let Doc go, and you can come out. We’ll take you in without incident. The longer this goes on, the worse this is going to get. We need to end this without any more blood being shed. There is no way out of this without working with me. We have a dozen officers here. In minutes, there will be another twenty officers here. Let’s end this now.”

  “No fucking way are we coming out there. You back the fuck off, or the shit’s gonna get real. I’ll put a bullet in this guy and not shed a tear.”

  “Oh, you’ll shed a tear, trust me, you will. The clock’s ticking.”

  Another shot rang wild, followed by a barrage of gunfire coming from the cabin. Chance could hear them striking the trees and rocks around them.

  Chance keyed her mic. “Harley, I’m going to try and work my way around to that other corner. We’ve got two dogs, now that Randy’s here with Vader. We need to flush them. I think I can get to that window, bust it, and drop in a smoke bomb.”

  She watched as Harley raised her thumb to avoid giving away her position by transmitting. Thank God for a second of moonlight. “Randy, make your way to the right of the door with me. That thing swings in and to the left. Click your mic if you receive.” She heard a single click and removed the CS-gas grenade from her tactical vest. Within seconds, Randy and Vader were by her side. She signaled to him that she’d drop the grenade on three.

  As small as the cabin was, the perps would likely rush the front door. When that happened, she and Randy would release the dogs. With one word, they would order Zeus and Vader to launch at anyone that came out the door with a gun. She could only hope that Marty would be unharmed by the grenade or the men who’d taken him.

  An angry voice inside the cabin pierced the silence of the night. “Where you going, old man? Sit the fuck down, or I’ll drop you where you stand.”

  “He’s bleeding again. That’s the whole reason you dragged me out here. You want him to bleed out? Fine by me.”

  “Fucking shut up and do what you gotta do. No sudden moves or you’re dead, you fucking hear me? You think I’m joking, try me.”

  Chance could see a flashlight beam moving around and hoped that meant Marty was going to be farther away from the man with a gun. She pulled the pin while keeping the switch depressed, then held up three fingers and silently ticked them off until she’d bent the final finger. She jammed her gloved hand and the grenade through the window. Two seconds after the grenade hit the floor, a hissing sound told her the gas was doing its job. The men began coughing and cussing.

  “What the fuck?” Gunfire cracked the air, and she heard wood splinter near her. The door swung open. Beams from the officers’ bright, tactical flashlights blinded the man holding an automatic rifle. He fell through the door. A second man tried to run past him.

  “Stellen!” Chance and Randy yelled simultaneously, and both dogs went into attack mode. They launched themselves, as Chance trained her gun on the man Zeus engaged. Zeus shook his head with a bite grip on the man’s arm, as the man tried to turn the pistol held in that hand. Chance swept the man’s leg, dropping him to the ground with her gun in his face.

  “Show me your hands! Show me your hands! Drop the weapon!”

  The man flipped open a blade and swiped at Chance’s leg, making contact just above her boot before she could jump away. He swung the knife at Zeus, while he tried to hold onto his pistol. Chance pulled the trigger before she fell to the ground, the pain of the knife wound finally registering. The man didn’t move again, even as Zeus shook his arm violently. “Zeus, kom hier.” Zeus disengaged from the subject and came to her side. She crawled to the man and pushed the gun away, then swept the knife out of his reach. He was incapable of using those weapons. There was a bullet hole between his eyes.

  Harley was on the man Randy and Vader had engaged. She pointed her weapon and screamed at him. “Drop the gun! Drop the gun!”

  Randy tried to secure the suspect, while his dog kept his jaws closed on the arm already wrapped in a white bandage tinged with red. Every officer trained the beams of their flashlights on the struggle.

  With great effort, Chance stood and made her way to the cabin door. Putting pressure on her leg was excruciating. Zeus panted at her side. She coughed as she pushed through the bodies standing around a pale man on the cot, unconscious and oblivious to what was going on around him. She coughed again at the bitter gas still lingering in the air. Marty lay on the floor, one of Harley’s troopers tending to him. The officer looked up at her. “He’s alive, but we need to get him out of here.”

  Chance saw blood on Marty’s shoulder. She bent down and lifted the thin man, the pain in her leg forgotten. She carried Jax’s uncle away from the suspects, over to the utility vehicle. “I need some lights over here, now! Bring the trauma kit!” She knew they had an equipped paramedic officer with them. The Parsons officer ran up to her and pulled his kit off his shoulder.

  “Let me in to him, Chance.” Ethan Gibson unzipped his bag and grabbed a pressure dressing, holding it to Marty’s shoulder. He peered at the wound. “Doesn’t look bad. A chunk of flesh missing, doesn’t seem like much more. I’m more worried about him being unconscious than this graze on his shoulder. How old is Doc?”

  Chance wiped her face. “He’s eighty-two. Pretty good health for his age. Nothing that I’ve heard Jax mention.” She turned a circle and looked at the side-by-side. “Can we get him out of here in this, out to the ambulance? I just heard traffic that they’re at the entrance to Camp 70.”

  Ethan pulled the blood pressure cuff off Marty’s arm. “Yeah, we can. Unless you think he might have a spinal injury. I’ve seen him moving all fours. He’s just not coming to.”

  Chance pinched the bridge of her nose. She had no idea what had happened inside that cabin, what he might have endured before they got to him. She didn’t want to risk it. If he was stable, they needed to wait for equipment to come in. They could use the side-by-side to get the crew. She looked up and saw the U.S. Fish and Wildlife contingency. “Quade! Can you take this out and pick up Sarah and the equipment to transport Doc?”

  Quade jogged over. “I’m on it. Anyone got the keys?”

  Chance dug through her pocket and handed the fob to him. It took only a few seconds for him to disappear into the woods. She pulled her radio out and switched channels. “SD-1 to Comm Center.”

  “Go ahead, SD-1.”

  “Tell the EMS crew the scene is secure. We’re sending a side-by-side out to bring them back here. Tell them they’ll need their spinal immobilization kit. Tactical team medic is treating the patient.”

  “Comm Center to SD-1. That’s received.”

  Chance switched back over to the encrypted tactical channel. She knew Jax would be listening. “Doc Hendricks is alive. I repeat Doc Hendricks is alive.”

  She went back to Harley, who was making a call.

  “Yes sir, three subjects.” Harley paused. “One deceased, two in custody.” She was silent for a moment, then looked around. “Not that I know of, sir, none reported at least. Yes sir, I’ll handle until you bring in an unbiased investigator. Sir, if I may, it was a good shoot. He had a gun and we found an open switchblade. There are about six people who witnessed his refusal to drop his weapon and a camera on one of the K9s. Hostage was injured, but it doesn’t appear fatal.” Harley paused again. “An EMS crew is on their way in. Our tactical medic is treating him currently. Both of the suspects we have in custody will need medical attention. EMS has been notified for them as well. Two of our troopers will accompany them, while I remain at the scene. We’re going to need some lights out here to do the investigation. This place is off the grid.” She looked up at Chance. “Thank you, sir. I’ll call with more information when I have it.”

  “Thanks, Harley.” Chance handed her the Glock she’d used to defend herself and Zeu
s against the man, as was standard protocol. “I didn’t want to shoot that bastard. He just wouldn’t put the weapon down. He had the knife in one hand and a gun in the other.”

  Harley put a hand on Chance’s shoulder. “I meant it when I told Captain Warren it was a good shoot. Period.”

  Chance let out a humorless laugh. “I’ve spent close to fifteen years in law enforcement. I’ve pulled my weapon a dozen times in all those years. In the last two months, I’ve taken two lives.”

  “Both were justified, Chance, and you know it. If it was reversed, what would you say to me?”

  Chance stood looking at Harley. “The same thing. I get it. It doesn’t make it any easier.”

  “No, it doesn’t. What it does mean is you were justified in taking the life of someone who was trying to take yours. If it was one of your deputies, you’d be telling them the same thing, so take a bit of your own medicine. Okay?”

  Chance shook her head and turned at the sound of the side-by-side. “That’ll be the EMS crew. We need to get Marty packaged and loaded up. I don’t think he’s regained consciousness yet. Jax will want to get him to the hospital. We may even need a chopper. That guy in the cabin with the busted leg didn’t look too good. What the hell were they doing here that they take him in the first place? What in heaven’s name could they have wanted with an eighty-two-year old, retired veterinarian?”

  Harley pulled off her helmet and scrubbed her hand through her hair. “My guess, that guy in there, needed medical attention by the looks of him. He’s got bone coming through the skin on that leg. Next best thing to a doctor is a vet.” Harley nodded. “There’s your girl. You’d better go show her you’re still standing.”