Death's Valley

by Roy A. Teel, Jr.

  Sara was sitting on one of the sofas as the girls looked on. Barbara knew why they were there. Gail had a suspicious look on her face, but Jade was half asleep and clueless. “What the fuck is so important to get me out of bed at quarter to three?” Jade asked, “haven’t I had enough drama for one night?” Barbara got up and poured a round of drinks for all of the women. She put them on a silver serving tray and walked to the living room table and sat the drinks down in front of the girls. Sara, Gail, and Barbara all took their drinks and swigged them down. Jade looked on at the girls then the drink and picked it up and asked, “What the fuck are we drinking to?” Sara grabbed a bottle of Nadurra scotch from the bar and a full ice bucket and refreshed all of the drinks.

  Jade was more alert after the drink and asked, “What…am…I…here…for? I know it’s not to have a friendly drink.” Barbara said, “The Iron Eagle needs our help.” Sara shot Barb a look, and Barb looked back and said, “What? Were you going to wait all fuckin’ night, Sara?” Jade looked scared and asked Sara, “You help the Iron Eagle?” Sara nodded slowly, taking a drink of her scotch. Jade looked at Barbara and asked, “You know who the Eagle is?” Barbara nodded as well. Jade looked at Gail and asked, “Do you know who the Iron Eagle is?” She shook her head. Sara sat down and said, “The Eagle is on the hunt right now. He has two people in his custody who are very, very bad men, and there are about ten young girls who have been kidnapped that the Eagle and his men saved that need medical attention.”

  Jade said, “Men…THE Iron Eagle has men…men who know who he is?” Barbara laughed and told Jade, “No. They have no fuckin’ clue who the Eagle is. They just wait by the phone, and he calls them when he needs them…like Charlie’s Angels used to do on that TV show in the seventies.” That got a laugh from everyone but Jade. She looked at Sara and said, “You took an oath. I took an oath to do no harm.” Sara sipped her drink and said, “Yea, that’s an easy oath to uphold until you’ve been on the victim’s side of the people the Iron Eagle captures.” Jade took a drink and asked in a low, quiet voice, “It’s John…John’s the Iron Eagle?” Sara nodded slowly as did Barbara, but Gail sat silent.

  Jade said, “Jesus Christ. It all makes sense now. Why the hell couldn’t I see it? Fuck. It’s been John all of these years.” Sara said, “John and the Eagle are two very separate and distinct personalities.” Jade smarted off and said, “So, he’s schizo?” “My husband is perfectly sane, and millions of people are alive today as a result of his actions. Be careful how you speak of my husband and your protector. You don’t want to insult your way to the other side of him or us.”

  Jade looked shocked and said, “It was meant as a joke.” “It wasn’t funny,” said Barbara, “now there are some very injured young girls, and Sara needs help. Are you going to help us, or do we need to send you home?” Jade looked on and said to Sara, “I’m sorry. I will help you. How bad could it be?” Sara just shook her head and said, “You, Jade, have been happily protected from the savagery of these killers. I know you see the aftermath on your autopsy table, but here you see the road that put men, women, and children on your table to begin with. If you think you’re ready for what you’re about to see, I promise you you’re not.”

  Sara walked over to a wall off the entrance to the house and put her hand on it, and it slid open. Barbara and Gail got up and followed. Jade stood up and walked hesitantly behind the girls and asked, “Where does this lead?” Sara said, “To the pits of hell!”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Mexicans are no

  better than animals.”

  The door to the dungeon in Mark’s home swung open, hiding the Eagle. Mark and two other men entered calling Mary’s name. The Eagle pulled a tranquilizer gun from his chest and slowly pushed the door, slipping two darts into the magazine clip and pulling back the barrel to put one in the tube. The sound of the door closing behind the three men startled them, and they turned. The two men flanking El Compo drew their weapons, but the Eagle shot them, and they fell immediately. The girls screamed, and El Compo stared into the cold dead eyes of the Eagle as he approached.

  “Please…please…I’m begging you…it was only business. I never intended to hurt anyone. I gave them lives, homes, and work. Mexicans are no better than animals. The women are hard workers and very, very obedient sex slaves when trained.”

  The Eagle reached out his arm and grabbed Mark by the throat. The girls sat in silence as the Eagle took out a field knife from his pants and cut off Mark’s pants and underwear and threw him on the ground. He pressed his boot into Mark’s back. The man thrashed beneath his boot but could not free himself. He screamed for help as the Eagle pressed his face against the concrete floor. His screams were loud, and the Eagle pulled a Glock with a silencer on it from a holster and stood and watched the entrance door. In seconds, three heavily armed men came bounding in. The Eagle dropped each man with a single shot to the head. There were screams from the girls, and the Eagle put his finger to his lips and said in Spanish, “Silence, unless you want them to kill you.” The screams stopped. “How many more guards?” the Eagle asked with his foot firmly planted on Mark’s head. “I don’t know.” The Eagle drug him over to the fire pit and threw him down on the ground. He pressed his boot into Mark’s back and said, “If there were others nearby, they would already be here.”

  Mark murmured something, and the Eagle grabbed one of the branding irons from the fire and pressed it into Mark’s ass. He screamed in agony. The Eagle leaned down and whispered into his ear, never taking his eyes off the door, “We’ve only just begun.” Then he took another branding iron and pressed it against El Compo’s back. His screams were blood curdling, and the Eagle allowed it while watching the door and waiting.

  After five minutes, he grabbed Mark by the hair and threw him across the room, sending his body slamming into the steel door that led to the laundry room. “I guess we have no more guests.” The Eagle pushed Mark onto his stomach and zip tied his hands and feet then opened the door and the laundry basket that held Mary.

  Mark saw her face and started to scream again, so the Eagle pulled out the tranquilizer gun and shot him in the neck. “I have heard enough from you for now.” The Eagle pulled his tablet and sent a text to C4 and Cosmo. The response was that they were in position. He gave them the coordinates to the back entrance and the laundry room, and the two men were there within seconds. Cosmo looked around and said, “Fuck…what is this, dude? A slave trader?” The Eagle nodded and said, “Free the girls. I doubt that many of them can walk.”

  Lance and Patrick worked with the Eagle to free all the girls. Then the men took the girls two by two over their shoulders and followed the Eagle to the van. When the last girl was in, the Eagle dropped Mary and Mark in the back. “C4, have you set the charges?” “Yea…I have them set to the wireless signal on my cell.” The Eagle ordered everyone into the van and drove away from the house slowly with his lights off. When they were over a hundred yards away, the three men got out of the van and walked to the back of it.

  Music and laughter could be heard coming from the well lit home. The Eagle looked at C4 and said, “They came to buy slaves and abuse women – on my mark.” C4 had the phone in his hand with his finger on the call button. The Eagle looked at the young girls in the back of the van in different degrees of injury. He opened the door and said to them in Spanish, “You don’t want to see this,” then he closed the door and said, “MAY GOD NOT HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOULS!” He nodded to C4 who pressed the button on the phone, and the house exploded.

  It lit up the night sky as the house fell over the side of the cliff nearly a thousand feet, taking all of those inside with it. The Eagle turned to Lance and Patrick and asked, “Did you bring my truck?” “Yea. It’s parked up the road,” Lance said. “Okay. Please take these women to my lair and make sure that Mr. El Compo and Ms. Rogers are placed in isolation. Sara will know what to do.” Patrick asked, “Do you need us for anyth
ing else.” The Eagle shook his head. “No…once you have dropped off the girls and these two, go home. I will call if I need you. There is only one person left to get, and that’s the ring leader of this killing spree and slavery and drug ring, and I have a pretty damn good idea who it is now.”

  The men headed for Malibu, and the Eagle threw his bags in the truck and called Jim. The phone was ringing, and Jim answered. “Charlie is dead, so are Pina and Espeno. The killer is going after Boyd or Ralston.” “How long ago did this happen?” the Eagle asked. “Ten minutes. The scene is a mess. Steve and I are in the car, and we are heading to Ralston’s home. Were you able to take care of Boyd and El Compo?” “Yes…I got El Compo, but Boyd is still alive. I have the girls that were coming in. I also have El Compo and a special guest on their way to my lair.” Jim coughed and said, “You might as well tell me who it is because I have a feeling one of us won’t be coming back. The killer called to me from his sniper position and said that he is willing to trade his life for his targets. He also told me that while he has no intention of killing me, Steve, or the Iron Eagle, if you get in his way he will kill you.”

  There was a moment of silence, and the Eagle said, “The killer is Cantrell!” Jim asked, “How the fuck did you figure that out?” “Process of elimination. A sniper took down Chilton in front of his home a few hours ago. He also killed Chilton’s wife. I got it over the radio on my way here. I’m pretty certain that Cantrell has Ralston.” Jim asked, “You don’t think he’s just going to kill Ralston like the rest of the victims?” “No…he’s going to grandstand. He will want an audience.” “Where the fuck is this dumb ass going to get an audience at almost four a.m.?” Jim asked. “Cantrell will take Ralston to City Walk in Universal City where he will have an audience with all of the live camera feeds. He will set up Ralston for public execution. Where are you?” the Eagle asked. “Steve and I are in the San Fernando Valley, which has really become death’s valley for cops.” “I’m in Bel-Air. I can be at City Walk in five minutes. You and Steve go back to the house. I will meet you back there.” Jim said, “Oh no…that fucker killed one of my best friends. He’s going down…Charlie died in my arms. I want blood.” “If you go out there, you are going to get blood, only it’s going to be yours or mine,” the Eagle said, and Jim replied, “I’m en route.”

  Jim hung up the line, and Steve asked, “So, what’s the deal?” “The Eagle says that Garrison Cantrell is the head of this killing spree. He thinks that he will publicly execute Ralston at City Walk in Universal City.” Steve nodded slowly and said in a weak voice, “He’s right…we have to get there. It will be an ambush. Cantrell is baiting the Eagle into a trap.” Jim sped down the 101 Freeway headed for Universal City and its well known public venue.

  Patrick and Lance drove into the underground tunnel at the Eagle’s lair at four a.m. They pulled in, and Patrick went into the lair to find Sara, Barbara, Jade, and Gail treating the girls they picked up in Woodland Hills. Patrick said, “We have another van load of girls, Sara.” Jade looked up, teary eyed, and Sara said, “Bring them in. How many?” Lance was walking in with two girls over his shoulders, and Patrick said, “In all of the confusion at the house I really don’t know.” Sara said to put them on the couches and on the rug in the foyer, so they could be as comfortable as possible. He nodded and walked out to the garage.

  Jade asked, “Where the hell are the Eagle, Jim, and Steve?” Sara was putting a cool compress on a brand on one of the first girls that had been brought to the lair and said, “They are together, no doubt dispensing justice or getting ahold of the person or people who need justice dispensed to them.” “When will we see them?” Barbara answered, “We will see them when we see them, if we ever see them again.”

  Jade’s face dropped and tears began to run down her cheeks as girl after girl was brought to the foyer. All of them were injured, and she could smell the burnt flesh of their brands. She could see fear and pain in the faces of all of them. Jade asked, “What type of animal would do this to another human being?” Sara was working feverishly and said, “If the Eagle has his way, you will get to look into the eyes of the evil person who is responsible for this, and God only knows what else.” Jade went back to work as Patrick and Lance kept bringing in the girls, tears of sadness and rage running down her face.

  The Eagle got to City Walk at just after four a.m. He parked in a far parking lot in a darkened corner and grabbed a bag and reloaded his tranquilizer gun and put a new clip in his Glock and extras in his pockets. He moved through the darkness toward a ladder that he saw that would allow him access to the roof. He saw no other vehicles but also no signs of life. The area was patrolled twenty-four seven by LAPD and private security. He knew by the silence and the lack of police that Cantrell was already there and had Ralston and would use him as bait to get him into the open. The Eagle moved to the ladder and saw that the lock on it had been broken. “Cantrell used this to climb up,” he said to himself as he quietly pulled the ladder down and began to climb up to the rooftop five stories above him.

  Jim came barreling into the parking lot at Universal City Walk through two downed gates and skidded to a stop near the entrance. Steve looked over at Jim and said, “Subtle…really fuckin’ subtle. You think that Cantrell knows we’re here?” Jim opened the car door and said, “I want the mother fucker to know we’re here,” Jim yelled as he got out of the car. He pulled Steve’s wheelchair from the back seat and helped him get into it. Once Steve was set, Jim said “This is a handicap-friendly place. You should be able to get around. Are you strong enough?” Steve nodded, and Jim took off through the well lit entrance to the main square. Steve was weak, and he slowly pushed his wheelchair up the entrance walk, knowing that he was an easy and open target if the killer was there and decided to kill him.

  Garrison Cantrell heard the squealing tires of Jim’s car in the distance as he put the last of the zip tie hand cuffs on the officers he had taken down. There were eight men in LAPD uniform on their knees in front of him with their backs to him and ten private security guards in front of the LAPD officers. Cantrell pulled his Glock with the silencer on it and put it to the back of the first officer’s head in the line. “I’m afraid I don’t have time for speeches, so I will have to dispense with the explanations.”

  Cantrell walked behind officer after officer and shot them point blank in the back of the head. Each body hit the floor of the storage room. Some were flopping on the ground in front of the private security guards and others just dropped like a bag of bricks. For those still moving, Cantrell put an extra bullet in their heads. Blood and brains pooled on the floor in front of the private security guards, and he said, “Relax. I am not going to kill private sector security personnel…unless…any of you are off duty LAPD.”

  There were wild eyes from all of the men who had duct tape over their mouths. “Hell, I can’t risk it…” Cantrell said and started shooting the other guards. He walked up to the last guard as five others flopped around on the ground. He looked him in the eye, and the guard stared back with an icy stare. Cantrell let out a laugh and said, “Now, I know you’re definitely off duty LAPD. Trying to make a buck, aren’t you?” The guard just glared at Cantrell. “Jesus, it’s a bloodbath in here.” He kicked the final guard in the stomach and rolled him to the middle of the floor and pushed him through the blood, brains, and bone fragments.

  “Oh yeah…you’re LAPD all right. You like the blood of your fellow officers all over your body, you piece of shit?” Cantrell was wild-eyed, and he kicked the officer as the two men slid around in the blood and bodily fluids of the others. Cantrell slipped while trying to kick the guard again and fell on top of him and then onto the blood covered floor. Cantrell had totally lost track of what he had come there to do. He was obsessed with torturing that final guard, certain that he was off duty LAPD.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Son of a fuckin’ bitch, not again!”

  The Eagle made
his way along the rooftop following a trail of disturbed roof gravel used to help insulate against the hot valley days. The Eagle moved between rooftop air conditioning units and followed the trail until it ended near a walkway. The Eagle could see that Cantrell was dragging something with him, and he could only assume that it was LAPD Police Chief Albert Ralston. The Eagle looked down into the middle of a quad where there was a circle of shops all around, but there was no movement and no noise. He moved out onto the rooftop covering and saw Jim running up the walk yelling for Cantrell. “Fuck,” the Eagle said to himself as Jim slowed to a walk screaming Cantrell’s name.

  Steve had wheeled himself up the walk and could hear Jim yelling in the distance. He knew that Cantrell was insane, and at the moment so was Jim. Steve moved his wheelchair through the darkness until he was near the center circle of the quad where the shops were clustered. He knew that he was in the heart of the place, and that this is where it was all going to happen. He rolled into a dark corner until his wheelchair was stopped by something. He looked down, and there was a dark object at his feet. He pulled a small Maglite from his top pocket and shined it at the object, only to see Albert Ralston at the foot of his wheelchair. Steve pushed himself back and was able to grab ahold of a fire extinguisher next to his chair, and he lifted himself out of the wheelchair but fell to the ground next to Ralston. He took the light and shined it at Ralston’s face. He was alive and alert. He had duct tape over his mouth and zip ties around his wrists and ankles.

  Steve pulled himself up next to Ralston and said, “Chief Ralston, my name is Special Agent Steve Hoffman FBI. I’m not alone. We know who took you, and we know what his plans are. I’m going to cut these ties, but whatever you do don’t try to make a break for it because you will end up in the crosshairs of friendly fire. There are men on the roof and men on the ground.” Jim’s voice could be heard screaming Cantrell’s name off in the distance.