Prepper Jack

by Diane Capri

  The route they’d planned kept the SUV off the main road. They took the farming trails around the back of the property, on the other side of the fields. Those trails weren’t used much until harvest season, when trucks carried the harvest out from back there.

  O’Hare pointed to the tool shed on the far edge of the property, diagonally across from the barracks and behind one of the big barns. “Park there. We’ll walk the rest of the way.”

  Flint pulled the big SUV close behind the shed into the shadows to shield it from casual observers. When the sun came up, the vehicle would be clearly visible to anyone wandering in the area. But until then, it shouldn’t be discovered.

  They wore black clothes, including gloves and knit caps that covered their faces. They’d fashioned a sling for O’Hare’s left arm. Kim guessed the arm was excruciatingly painful, but he didn’t complain.

  Flint turned off the ignition and bent toward the floor. He said, “This thing has a push button start. I’ve left the key fob under the floormat. If you need to start it up quickly, you don’t need the key.”

  They picked up the night vision and the infrared. Kim and Flint carried guns. They’d debated it, but in the end, decided they’d be better off if O’Hare wasn’t armed. They didn’t trust him with a gun and he probably couldn’t shoot straight anyway.

  Kim looked across the open field and the landscaped space that occupied the area between the buildings. All seemed quiet. The houses were dark, as if the occupants were still asleep. She couldn’t see the parking areas or the driveways, which were on the other side of the buildings.

  Lamp light shone from the windows in the barracks on the right. The last building. The one where Lawton should be. Shades covered the windows in the other barracks, the one closer to the main house. Smoke rose from both chimneys, as if a cozy fire warmed the rooms overnight.

  She asked O’Hare, “Are there shades available for both barracks?”

  He glanced across. “Yes. And usually they’re down at night.”

  She took a deep breath and pulled the stocking cap down over her face. The others did the same.

  When they were ready, Kim said, “I’m point. O’Hare, you follow me. Flint will take the rear. Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Friday, April 15

  4:30 a.m.

  Glen Haven, New Mexico

  Vigo sent Freddy next door to check on Lawton after they’d finished setting the propane. He planned to destroy Glen Haven as the cartel closed up shop here after the shipment arrived.

  They’d strategically placed cans of Sterno and propane tanks about the property and inside the buildings. They’d placed cotton strips into the cans lest the Sterno extinguish too soon. Each can contained enough fuel to burn for two hours, but should serve the purpose far quicker. Butane lighters would ignite the Sterno just before the entire setup was covered with a big plastic bucket. Open valves on the propane would fill the buckets with the right gas-to-air mixture to do the rest.

  Vigo nodded. In his experience, explosions followed by fires were fast and efficient weapons.

  By the time firefighters could arrive at the scene, Glen Haven would be too far gone to save. The buildings would be destroyed and everyone inside would die. The simple act of breathing the air inside the buildings would kill them.

  Any residents who had already left the commune might survive. He had a plan to deal with them, too.

  Only two SUVs were still parked outside. Hector had taken the van to the desert to deal with O’Hare. The other vehicles had been moved and destroyed.

  The two remaining SUVs were also stolen, but they’d been using them awhile. They were both likely to contain enough forensic evidence to bury everyone in the Albuquerque crew. From prior attempts, Vigo knew burning them would not eliminate all of the trace evidence. Which meant Louis and Manny were working on them now with bleach and other chemicals.

  Also parked in the gravel space was a sedan he hadn’t seen in a while.

  When he pushed the door open and walked inside the darkened barracks building, his sister was waiting.

  “Surprise,” Maria said, as if her disappearing act had never happened.

  Vigo ignored the problem of another car to deal with, swallowed his anger along with his pride, and hurried over to give her a brief, hard squeeze. “Where have you been?”

  “I didn’t mean to worry you,” she replied. But she was grinning and satisfied with herself. “After I killed that Asian bitch, I had to get rid of the Toyota. Took me a while to find another one of our cars. Seemed like most of them were already in use. You must have a big team out there tonight. Did our shipment arrive early?”

  Even though he’d already guessed that she’d ignored his orders to leave the FBI agent alone, hearing her brag that she’d shot Elena, even if she’d made a mistake, was a gut punch.

  The truth would be worse for her. She’d lost both Big Sela and Elena today, the two women closest to her in the world. Both deaths were Maria’s fault. She’d be devastated.

  Worse, he had no idea how he’d control Hector once he learned the truth about Elena.

  Vigo wanted to avoid that conversation as long as possible. Nothing could be done to bring the dead back to life. They had more important matters to handle now. He needed to stay focused on those matters. So did Maria and Hector. The rest would have to wait.

  He walked into the kitchen area for coffee and returned with two cups. He handed one to her and sat near her in front of the fire.

  “The shipment should be here before daylight. When we get it, we’re leaving,” he said. “I sent the entire team away earlier. Louis and Manny are outside getting ready. They’ll be back soon. We’re taking nothing with us. We’ll start over when we reach Arkansas.”

  She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Arkansas? Do they even have running water there? Who will buy our product? Why would we move operations to such a place?”

  Vigo wiped a palm across his face. “It’s far enough from here to start over and the town is small enough to keep us off the FBI and DEA radar for a while. We already have a safe house set up. And it’s just temporary. Six months at the longest.”

  “Elena and Hector are coming, too?” Maria asked, as if she couldn’t wrap her head around the abrupt change.

  “No. They’ll stay behind,” he replied. He tried not to lie to Maria and this wasn’t a lie. He had plenty to deal with already. He didn’t need Maria making the already difficult situation impossible.

  “I’ll stay behind, too, then. With Hector and Maria. I can’t live in Arkansas. I’d be bored out of my skull,” she said with a grin as she sipped the hot coffee.

  “My enemies will come after you. They’ve done it before. Keeping you safe isn’t something I have the time and resources to deal with long distance right now,” Vigo said with finality, barely controlling his anger. “You’ll be leaving here with me.”

  She was his sister. His only living family. He’d promised his mother that he’d take care of her. But his patience only carried so far.

  Glen Haven residents would be stirring soon.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Friday, April 15

  4:40 a.m.

  Glen Haven, New Mexico

  Wearing the night vision, weapon drawn, Kim hurried across the open field opposite the main residence, toward the barracks building where Lawton was last seen. She relied upon the darkness and the Glen Haven sleep schedule to prevent discovery of her small band. Which wasn’t a great plan, but it was the only option she had at the moment.

  The herb crops had been planted but had not grown tall enough to shield them. The ground was uneven and overgrown with weeds. She’d tripped twice but managed not to fall.

  O’Hare followed her and Flint came along behind.

  They reached the outside corner of the last building in the U-shaped compound, the barracks building O’Hare had pointed out. The interior lights were on and the shades were open. With the night v
ision equipment to amplify the light coming from the windows, she could see almost as well as in daylight.

  O’Hare had said Lawton was being held in the basement. An observer looking at the exterior of the building wouldn’t know a basement existed. There were no windows, exterior steps, or other indications of any below ground structures.

  The only entrance to the basement was inside the building. Kim flattened her back against the wall and advanced as quietly as possible. There were two large windows on this side of the barracks, side by side, and at least five feet off the ground. One was frosted, like a bathroom window. The other was flat plate glass. There were no lights on in those rooms.

  About halfway along the exterior wall, between the two windows, she saw a squat ten-gallon propane tank resting two feet from the building. The tank was equipped with a hose attached to the connector valve. When the valve was opened, the propane would flow through the hose.

  As an improvised explosive device, this one would fail. Propane tanks were notoriously stable and difficult to explode, despite what Hollywood depicted in the movies.

  But the gas inside could be used for arson. And leaking gas, mixed with air, could easily explode, amplifying the fire.

  She held her hand up to stop O’Hare and Flint from advancing as she completed a visual examination.

  Beside the tank was a large plastic bucket and a can of Sterno with a cotton strip protruding from its center. A long-reach butane lighter lay nearby.

  The tank was too heavy and awkward to carry with them easily. She glanced around the area and saw nowhere to hide it.

  She checked the valve. It was already closed, but she twisted it again for good measure. Then she removed the hose and threw it into the herb garden. Without the hose, the valve should not allow the gas inside to escape. He’d need a new hose to release the propane.

  She threw the Sterno and the butane lighter in opposite directions.

  On its own, the plastic bucket was harmless enough, so she left it in place beside the tank.

  Dismantling the setup was a huge risk. Someone had put these supplies here and they’d be back to use them. Which meant he’d discover that his plan was no longer a secret. She planned to be gone before he returned to figure that out, or to rig a new setup to start the fire.

  Then she walked around the tank and gestured O’Hare and Flint to do the same. She rounded the corner of the barracks building, back flattened against the wall, and approached the front door.

  She looked farther along the front wall of the building. On the other side of the entrance, about ten feet away, she saw another propane tank and Sterno setup like the one she’d dismantled.

  The plan must be to set fire to the building and create a raging inferno with the propane gas when it exploded inside the bucket. The open valve would use more gas to amplify the fire. The building and everything in it would be quickly destroyed.

  Flint and O’Hare caught up with her. She tapped Flint’s arm and pointed to the second propane tank. “Somebody’s planning a bigger fire.”

  Flint nodded. “There could be more of these around the grounds and inside the buildings if Vigo wants to destroy the place.”

  Kim said, “Yeah.”

  She pushed the night vision up onto her head and raised onto her toes to peer into the window beside the door. Flint glanced inside at the same time.

  One man sat on a chair facing a fireplace. A shotgun rested across his lap. He was so still that he might have been sleeping. She didn’t see anyone else in the cavernous room.

  She pointed to him. O’Hare moved up and looked in the window.

  “Freddy,” he whispered. “Vigo’s man.”

  She pushed O’Hare aside and looked through the window again. The door to the basement was across the big room from where she stood. As O’Hare had said, the deadbolt was locked. The only way to find out whether Lawton was still in the basement was to go down there and look.

  From this vantage point, Kim saw two SUVs and a sedan in the parking area. She pointed in that direction.

  “Vigo’s crew?” she asked O’Hare.

  He nodded. “Glen Haven parking is on the other side. But usually, there’s more vehicles out there. Ten or so.”

  Only three vehicles out there now could mean that most of the crew was off-site.

  Still, more of Vigo’s crew could be inside the barracks buildings. There were two bedrooms and a bathroom that could be occupied in each barracks. O’Hare had said they were outfitted with double bunk beds. No way to estimate the number of people there at any given time.

  According to O’Hare, this last barracks building was reserved for Vigo and his inner circle. Vigo could be inside now.

  The smart thing to do was wait for backup. But how long would she need to wait?

  She checked her watch. O’Hare had said the first Glen Haven residents would awaken around five o’clock. Her window of opportunity to rescue Lawton before dawn was closing.

  While O’Hare maintained that the residents were not involved with Vigo’s crew, Kim didn’t believe him. Not only because she was skeptical by nature. The claim was inherently unbelievable.

  Mexican drug cartels had been setting up business centers across the US for the past few years. They had infiltrated small town America as well as the larger urban centers. The demand for opioids in the US population seemed insatiable and law enforcement was simply overwhelmed by the volume of crime it spawned.

  All of which meant that the odds were infinitesimal that Vigo’s crew had landed here in the first place without Gavin and Bruce Ray’s involvement. Glen Haven wasn’t that easy to find in the first place, but it was a perfect setup for Vigo’s business model. The cartel had operated successfully here, coming and going at all hours, for months.

  Would any of that have happened without the Ray brothers’ knowledge? Kim shook her head. The thought was so unlikely as to be unbelievable.

  Which meant the Ray brothers were in this thing up to their eyeballs. And if O’Hare wasn’t involved in Vigo’s drug business, he was probably the only Glen Haven resident who wasn’t.

  Before she’d found the propane, Kim and Flint had agreed. At the absolute latest, they had to get Lawton out before the ground crew began setting up for the first balloon ride at six o’clock. Otherwise, the mission had to be put off. Passengers would begin arriving by six-thirty and the early balloon ride would lift off around seven o’clock. By then, law enforcement would be here.

  Simply too many eyes and ears around after six o’clock to effectively execute the rescue operation.

  The propane setups changed things.

  Someone planned to torch this building and probably other buildings on the compound. If Lawton didn’t get out now, he’d be killed in that basement.

  She hadn’t come this far to leave him down there to die.

  Kim readied her weapon.

  Flint did the same.

  As planned, O’Hare turned the handle, pushed the door open, and they went inside.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Friday, April 15

  5:10 a.m.

  Glen Haven, New Mexico

  Flint’s long strides covered the room quickly. He grabbed the shotgun off Freddie’s lap before Freddie woke up and realized what was happening. He saw O’Hare standing in front of the closed front door.

  “Where’s Hector?” he asked nonsensically, just before Flint knocked him out cold with the butt of the shotgun.

  O’Hare hurried to Freddie and, using his one good arm, struggled to bind Freddie’s wrists with plastic ties while Flint and Kim checked the other rooms. When he finished, he put a piece of duct tape across Freddie’s mouth to keep him quiet when he woke up.

  Kim finished checking the bathroom and one bedroom. Flint checked the rooms on the other side.

  “All clear,” each affirmed when they returned to the main room. They’d found no one else on the first floor.

  Kim said, “There’s a propane tank setup like the one outside i
n both rooms I checked. I dismantled them. The fuses in the Sterno are meant to burn awhile before the propane from the tanks explodes to further fuel the fires.”

  “I found a setup in each room, too. No buckets, though. It seems like the gas was set to fill the entire rooms,” Flint replied. “Someone will be coming back to ignite them and probably soon.”

  Kim nodded. “Vigo’s not planning a simple arson. He wants to destroy this entire place, level it in one big attack, like Hiroshima.”

  “And we want to be out of here before he starts.” Flint gave O’Hare the shotgun. “You know how to use this?”

  “Yes,” O’Hare replied, pulling his knit cap off and taking a few deep breaths as if he’d been suffocating.

  “Anybody comes through that door, shoot first and ask questions later. Got that?” Flint asked.

  Kim said, “And that means anybody, O’Hare. Even someone you know.”

  O’Hare’s eyes widened and he nodded. “Okay,” he managed to croak out.

  Kim wasn’t confident that he’d follow orders, but she had no time to persuade him. She followed Flint across the room to the basement door.

  He slid the deadbolt open and drew the door back on its hinges. Kim flipped on the basement lights. Gun drawn, she headed down the stairs while Flint removed the hinges, lifted the door and set it aside.

  “Lawton,” she called out as she hurried down the steps. “Are you down here? Lawton?”

  No response.

  She reached the bottom step and landed on the concrete.

  The basement was set up with double bunk beds, a table, chairs, and a television. In the middle of the room, she saw an empty chair.

  Restraints had been tossed beside it. What looked like blood had dried in several places close by.

  Lawton had probably occupied the chair at one time, but he wasn’t there now.

  She adjusted her stance and fanned her gaze around the room. Flint had finished with the door and followed her down. He’d covered the steps in half the time.