Chapter 13

### Kidnapping

Reese ordered GPS location trackers with subscription services for the adults and children. It took several days of careful work and instruction but at the end each child had a personal backpack. The trackers were inserted into pockets sewn into the back panel under a tucked flap. These were barely noticeable along with the normal stuff each kid would carry. A permanent magic marker dot on the outside back panel was the ‘X’ spot the kids were taught to press to trigger the silent alarm, sending a trouble alert.

Reese gambled that if someone abducted the child, they might be looking for some external device. He taught each of them to stay calm and be sly; to wait until they weren’t being watched, and then press the spot on the back of the pack. He bet on the fact that an abductor would be stressed out and might dump the pack’s contents and search their clothing for some device, but wouldn’t be likely find the hidden one sewn into the back panel padding.

Each of the women carried one in her purse sewn into the back lining, with a spot to press. Each man carried one in a belt holster with the alarm button exposed for easy reach.

He demanded a guarantee from the locater subscription service that they automatically and immediately alert the Sheriff’s office if triggered, as well as calling the Lodge satellite phone.

It was inevitable, it seemed. Diane and the boys had left early that weekday morning for shopping and a school district visit in town. They’d be back at the lodge by mid-afternoon. It was late fall but the days were still fairly long. It should be an easy day, getting there and back before dark.

Diane’s purse alarm triggered at 16:45. Five minutes later Augie’s backpack alarm triggered, followed several minutes later by Bruce’s backpack alarm. Position data indicated the group was together, traveling east — downriver — at 45 to 50 mph. Shortly after, the position data indicated the group had left the main highway and taken a cutoff road, a National Forest spur that led up a major creek drainage. They were headed for a wilderness summit that would lead down another creek canyon and 20 miles later connect with a highway leading out of the area.

Reese immediately hailed Buck, who rushed to the lodge in his pickup. The phone rang: it was Sheriff Nelson.

“We got the position reports. We know where they’re going,” Fred told Reese. “My chief deputy is en-route to the airport. He’s flagged the Forest supervisor and requested immediate release of their contract helicopter to us. Thankfully, it’s here and refueled. I’ll fly with the helicopter pilot. Deputy Sorensen’s going to take another deputy in his car, and our other unit is already on its way up the Pine Creek road headed for Bell summit. We’ll all converge there, set up a road block, and take ‘em. If whoever’s got your people have got half a brain, they’ll surrender. If not, I’ve got my long gun with me and we’ll deal with it as it happens.”

“Sounds good, Fred. Buck and I are coming up behind them with my sniper rifle and we’ll call you on the repeater net if they divert to a side road. If they come to the summit we’ll flank ‘em and keep ‘em pinned. Great work with the helicopter, Fred. We’ll see you up there.”

The chase was on.

They’d all agreed earlier to maintain Sheriff’s radio repeater silence as much as possible, in case of scanners monitoring their frequency. The helicopter cooperation was already an agreed-upon arrangement between the National Forest who contracted a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter for summer fire patrols and back-country crew transport. It was not at all unusual for the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue volunteer unit to request the helicopter for lost victim recovery. In such cases, the Forest administration ‘released’ the helicopter from its contract, relieving the Forest of any liability, and it became the Sheriff who assumed responsibility for operations and expenses for the duration. It was very fortunate that in this instance, the aircraft was on the ground at the small single-runway local airport and immediately available.

Diane sat squeezed between Augie and Bruce in the back seat of the black SUV, their mouths taped to keep them quiet. Her hands were bound, resting on her lap. The boys were not restrained but they’d been warned that unless they sat still and kept their hands in their laps, they’d be hog-tied and thrown in the luggage space behind the back seat. They sat unmoving, scowling but silent.

Two men in the SUV had cut her off just as they drove into the approach to the Yankee Girl gate. They ran with guns in hand to each side of her car and jerked the doors open, ordering them out. One man shoved the boys away, and forced them to stand with their backs pressed against their SUV as he taped their mouths. The other kidnapper cinched a zip tie around her wrists, and swiped a strip of tape across her mouth. The driver scrambled behind the wheel, ready to go. The other kidnapper shoved Augie to slide across the back seat, pushed Diane in beside him, and shoved Bruce in beside her. Their backpacks and her purse were thrown down by their feet. The men never spoke, except the one who growled at the boys to sit still or be hog-tied.