Chapter 32

Friday, July 2, 2010

It was Kara. Jake became fully alert.

Wake Boris and then Ellen. Tell Ellen to link Boris to the rest of us. I’ll look around.

There were two men in the grass on the edge of the road. They were about 25 yards from cabin one. Two more men were moving through the forest. Their goal was to take up a position near cabin five. There were two men on the other side of the road. They were going behind the cabins. Their objective was to get near to cabin three. They were almost there.

Report! Boris sent.

Jake told him about the six men he sensed.

The two going to cabin five will be there in about two minutes.

How are they communicating?

Jake checked.

There is one walkie-talkie thing for each pair.

Ellen, paralyze all six of them. Jake, find out if there are more goons out there.

Jake read the guy with the walkie-talkie near cabin one. He thought of himself as Bert. Jake made him bring up a mental image of everybody in the assault team. Jake was able to match six of the images to the six guys getting into position near the cabins. Jake saw in Bert’s mind that there were four other men.

All six are paralyzed, Ellen reported.

Boris, there are four more out there Jake sent. Two are snipers located up the road. They’re in a position that lets them see the cabins. They are more than 50 yards away because I can’t sense them. One of them has a sniper scope. The other has night-vision binoculars. The other two guys are back with their vehicles, a half-mile up the road.

Kara, Leanne, take cover on the south side of the closest cabin. You’ll be out of sight of the snipers. Report when you are done. Jake, find out their plan.

I’m safe behind cabin four, Leanne said immediately.

Jake went back to Bert. He had him step through the plan in his mind. Five of the six men in the assault group were each going to rush a cabin. Whichever one found Nina would carry her away. The sixth man was being held back in case anyone needed backup. They were waiting for the pair beyond cabin five to announce that they were in position. Then Bert, the leader, would give them the order to go.

The sniper’s job was to shoot Nina if things went to pot. Their orders were to avoid killing the others if possible, but if there were problems, kill anyone if it helped them get Nina.

I’m hidden behind cabin one, Kara sent.

Jake gave his report to Boris.

Do it now, Ellen, Boris sent. Jake, where are you?

I’m in Cabin one.

Damn. I need you at the other end. There was a pause. Okay. When I give you the word slip out the front door and go down to cabin five. Keep as low as possible. Keep out of sight of the sniper team. I’ll meet you on the far side of cabin five. Wear dark clothes. Long sleeves and pants. We’ll be moving through the woods. Report as soon as you’re ready to leave your cabin.

Yes, sir, Jake sent.

Everyone’s paralyzed, Ellen sent. I assume you didn’t mean Leanne.

Correct. Jake and I are going after the four remaining bad guys. Kara and Leanne, while we are out of range, Ellen is in charge. Ellen, if everything goes to hell, your orders are to maximize the number of noncombatants who survive. Nina equals only one of the rest of us. The bad guys are completely expendable. Do you understand your orders, Ellen?

Yes, Boris.

Does anybody have any questions?

There was silence.

Are you almost ready, Jake?

Just tying my shoes.

Good. When you finish, go immediately. I’m waiting for you by cabin five. Bring your handgun and a flashlight. Don’t turn the flashlight on.

Jake grabbed his Smith & Wesson Chief’s Special .45 and his flashlight from his suitcase. He slipped out the front door which faced away from the sniper team. He checked the safety of the pistol and put it in one pocket. The flashlight went into the other. He looked up. The sky was clear. The moon was bright, gibbous, and high in the sky, almost due south.

Jake cast his awareness around. He strained to read as much as he could from the people around him. The six paralyzed members of the assault team were confused and scared. Boris was concerned but cool. Ellen was cold and business-like. She had pushed her fears almost completely out of her consciousness.

That was not the case with Leanne and Kara. Their fear was palpable, especially Leanne. Jake sent them both calm and affection. The rest of their party was asleep.

Jake started moving. When he got to the space between cabins one and two where he would be visible, he sprinted through it. He might be seen, but he didn’t think the sniper would have time to draw a bead. He breathed a sigh when he got to the cover of cabin two.

He read radio talk simultaneously from the three goons who were carrying walkie-talkies.

Someone’s moving, Bert. What the fuck’s going on? Why are you just sitting there? Somebody, say something.

Jake walked to the far end of cabin two and then sprinted to cabin three.

Mannie, is that you or Buck? Wave at me if that’s you.

Jake didn’t think he had anything to lose. He stepped back into the space between cabins and waved his arm back and forth.

Say something, Mannie. Why won’t anyone talk?

Jake pointed to his ear, hoping to suggest that the radios were not working, and then he stepped back behind the cabin. He hurried to the next gap and dashed across.

Halfway across he heard an impact on the lane behind him. A second later there was the report of a rifle from up the road. Jake’s momentum carried him behind cabin four before he could react.

Say something, Jake, Boris sent

I’m not hurt.

Jake heard the radio again. Bert, there’s some skinny kid with one of our radios moving east behind the cabins. C’mon, Bert, say something. Are you there, Mannie? Are you there, Nate? Goddamn it, say something.

Get on the ground, Jake, Boris said. Crawl along the low ground next to the lane. Stay as low as you can. Don’t hurry. Trust the cover to protect you.

Jake dropped to the ground. He skittered to the lane on his hands and knees. There was a small depression in the ground following the side of the lane, a place to catch water runoff. Jake kept his belly on the ground, inching forward with his elbows and knees. A glance showed him that he was out of the sniper’s sight if he kept low. Still, what would a bullet do if it came skimming along the ground, and he let himself get too high.

Boris was waiting for him behind cabin five.

“Good, Jake. Are you okay?” Boris asked.

He ran his hands over Jake’s arms and legs and patted his torso.

“I’m okay.”

“Where are the two goons who were supposed to take position here?”

Jake pointed in their direction. “Maybe 40 yards that way, into the trees.”

“The next part is the hardest, Jake. We have to sprint ten yards to get to the woods. Once we’re in the trees we’ll have cover. But don’t stop until we get deep enough into the trees that the sniper loses sight of us, even with his night scope. Once we get into the woods, the rest is a piece of cake. Can you do this?”

Jake felt Kara and Leanne’s fear. Even Ellen was losing her detachment.

“I think so,” Jake said.

“What we’ll do is get up a head of steam before we even clear the end of the cabin. He thinks you’re still behind cabin four. We’ll be across the open space before he has a chance to react and aim.”

Boris led them back to the far end of cabin five.

“Okay, Jake, when we go, we sprint like crazy. We don’t stop until we are well into the woods. Ready?”

“Ready.”

“On three. One ... two ... three!”

Jake ran as hard as he could. Boris was faster. They cleared the end of the cabin. He was almost across the open space when he heard two shots. Both thudded into the ground behind him. He got to the trees, tripped and fell in the underbrush. He scrambled through the darkness on hands and knees for another ten yards.

Bert, Mannie. Two people just moved into the trees east of the cabins. It was the kid and a big guy. Say something. Nate, they’re over by you.

Jake breathed out a sigh, got a sense for Boris’s direction, and made his way to him.

“That was the hard part, son. Now that we are concealed, we have taken away their only advantage. Take me to the two goons who were supposed to go to cabin five.”

Jake led Boris north through the undergrowth. Both of the goons had fallen in heaps to the ground. Boris turned them over. He found their walkie-talkie and removed it. He clipped it to his belt and stuck the earpiece in his ear.

“Speed is our friend now, Jake. We’re going to go after the snipers. We cut through the forest and head toward the road. Tell me when the snipers come in range.”

“Okay.”

“Follow me. Pay attention to your footing. The moon shadows make the ground confusing. Don’t turn an ankle.”

Boris set out to the northwest taking deliberate steps. Jake followed. Boris set an easy pace. Jake lost his sense of direction quickly. He walked in step with Boris, his attention on the ground in front of him. After a minute, Boris stopped.

Anyone out there? Boris asked.

Jake cast around. He could still sense the people back at the cabins but that was all.

Nobody.

Boris checked the direction to the moon and then struck off, still northwest.

They should be coming to the road soon, Jake thought.

Ten strides later, Jake began to sense someone.

Boris, they’re that way, Jake sent, pointing a little left of their direction of travel. They’re just on the edge of my range.

We’ll go a little further and get them well into range.

Boris checked the direction of the moon again and struck out. Twenty paces later Boris stopped.

Close enough?

Yep.

The snipers were maybe 35 yards away at Jake’s ten o’clock. They had heard his and Boris’s footsteps but didn’t know what was moving through the forest. Jake felt their fear. The rifleman turned in their direction.

“Boris, Down!” Jake hissed and dropped to the ground himself.

He heard a rapid burst of gunfire. Three rounds tore through the foliage near them.

Son of a bitch, they’ve got an automatic rifle. Take them, Jake.

Jake paralyzed them both.

Done.

Take us to them, Boris sent.

Jake walked carefully until he came to the road. They crossed it and found a clearing on the other side. The gunman was lying with his rifle next to him. The other, the spotter, had a pair of binoculars. Their position gave them a clear view of the cabins.

Good job, Jake. We’ll let them lie here. How are the two men with the vehicles armed and equipped?

Jake sifted through the sniper team members’ heads. The other two men had handguns but weren’t expecting to be involved in any way except as drivers. They had no night vision capabilities. Jake relayed that to Boris.

“Before we take care of the last two, run down the road. Let the women know we’re okay.”

Jake started trotting. He knew when he came into range of the women because he felt their panic.

We’re both safe, Jake sent. We’ve taken out the sniper team. We’re going after the last two.

Leanne replied. Jake, you keep yourself safe or I’m going to ... I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’ll make you pay.

You don’t need to say anything to make me be careful. I promise that nobody has ever been more careful than I’m going to be.

Jake ran back to Boris.

“Let’s finish this up,” Boris said. “We’ll follow the road. When they come into range, paralyze them.”

Boris set a fast pace up the dirt road, walking by moonlight. It took almost ten minutes before Jake could sense the last two bad guys. They walked another ten paces and Jake paralyzed them.

“I got them, Boris. They’re right up there,” Jake said, pointing. “You’re not going to believe this. They don’t know anything has happened. They’ve been sitting in one of the vans, listening to the stereo up loud.”

Boris and Jake continued on until they reached the vans. Boris took a quick look inside and then opened the back door of one of them.

“Jake, help me get these two into the back of this van.”

Boris took the arms and Jake took the legs of the guy in the driver’s seat. They half carried, half dragged him to the back. Adult men are heavy and awkward to carry, Jake realized. They got the men moved but not before bumping them around pretty good.

Boris got the keys from the pocket of one driver.

“Jake, the key for this van is still in the ignition. Drive it back toward the cabins. Stop close to the snipers and pull it off the road. You probably shouldn’t run over the guys on the sniper team although I won’t lose any sleep if you do. Then run down the road and meet me by the goons near cabin one.”

Jake parked near the snipers and got out. The snipers were confused, frustrated, and their fear, already running high, was starting to get the best of them.

Jake trotted down the road to where Boris had parked the other van. Boris was standing by the two bad guys. He was surrounded by Leanne, Kara, and Ellen. Ellen was administering a very thorough, very steamy kiss.

Kara noticed Jake and intercepted him. She kissed him desperately. Leanne threw her arms around him and sobbed.

“Thank God, Jake,” Leanne said after she began to wind down. “I don’t know what I would do if you were hurt.”

“I know how you feel,” Jake said to her quietly. “That’s how I would feel if something bad happened to you. I don’t know if I could survive it.”

“Fortunately,” Boris said, walking up with Ellen clutching his arm, “by good luck, good planning, and the advantage of your skills, none of us were hurt. But that’s not to minimize the courage and discipline that each of you exhibited today. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of the performance of any unit that I’ve been a part of.”

“Thank you for your leadership, Boris,” Jake said.

“There was plenty of leadership on display. That you accepted the role you did during the crisis is what made it work. We’ve won this battle. Now we have to exploit it as much as we can. First, we interrogate these guys. Then we’ll make our plans. We can’t assume that they are our only threat.”

Jake pointed to one of the bad guys.

“I think this one — the one with the walkie-talkie — was in charge of the assault.”

Jake, can you paralyze him from the neck down? Boris sent.

Jake did.

Boris grabbed the leader by the lapels and pulled him into a sitting position against an embankment. Jake felt the bad guy’s resignation. The police were going to get involved. At least nothing had happened to their targets. That would keep the seriousness of the charges down a little.

“You and I need to talk,” Boris said quietly to him. Suddenly Boris’s open hand struck the side of the leader’s face. Leanne screamed. The leader fell over to the ground. He began to reevaluate the potential consequences.

“What is your name?”

“Reese.”

“Reese, the impartial administration of justice is a luxury for civilized people. You brought ten armed men to attack a camp of women and children. We are not going to handle this the civilized way. Right now you are bargaining for your lives.”

The leader said nothing. He had been hired by Tommy Cox. To say anything would mean his death. Everyone knew that you didn’t cross Cox.

I don’t want the rest of our party to hear what’s about to happen, Jake. Can you prevent them from being able to hear for a little while?

Give me a minute.

Jake went through the cabins ringing auditory nerves.

Done, Boris.

Boris put his thumb to the side of Reese’s neck. He moved it back and forth until he found the precise location he wanted. He pressed in. Reese screamed, loudly.

Boris eased the pressure.

“Did I mention that you aren’t just negotiating for your life? The quality of that life — while you still have it — is also at issue. Who is your employer?”

When Reese remained silent, Boris pressed again. This time he held it in place for ten seconds. Reese screamed the whole time. When Boris backed off Reese’s face was covered in sweat. He was breathing hard.

Boris, I can get this information from him without the torture, Jake sent.

Thanks, Jake, but I think I’ll do this the old fashioned way. It’s a matter of justice.

“I will do this again for twice as long next time, my friend. Then twice as long again the time after that. Once I start, I won’t stop until the time is up. You see where this is going? I’ve got all day to devote to this. You are going to break sooner or later.”

When Reese failed to respond, Boris pressed again. This time he moved his thumb back and forth as he pressed. Reese’s screams soared into screeches. Boris released him after a twenty count.

“That was one of several things I can do to make this technique more painful. I’ll use the others if I have to, but I doubt you will be able to take much more of this. Not that I’m not feeling a certain satisfaction watching a barbarian like you get what you deserve.

After a few seconds of silence, Boris pushed his thumb in again. Again Boris moved it back and forth and Reese shrieked his agony. At the twenty-second mark, Reese broke.

“I’ll talk,” he screamed hoarsely, but Boris continued until 40 seconds had passed.

Boris gave him a few seconds to recover.

“That was 40 seconds. The next time will be 80 seconds. If I sense any reluctance from you to tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, I will resume the torture.”

“I work for Tommy Cox.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve met with him in person. I recognized him.”

“What is your mission?”

“Kidnap the girl. If that’s not possible, we were to kill her.”

“What about collateral damage?”

“We were to minimize it if it didn’t interfere with our objective.”

“You took a contract that involved murdering innocent women and children?”

“It was for Tommy Cox.”

“Listen, you savage. There was nothing he could do except blacklist you if you refused. I know that. You know that. You voluntarily abandoned your humanity.”

Reese remained silent.

“How did you get your intelligence about us?”

“We were briefed by an advance team of investigators.”

“What were you told?”

“We had the layout of the camp, and the number and descriptions of the people here.”

“How did you know we were here?”

“Tommy said he was tracking you with your cell phones.”

“Not even Tommy Cox can call the telephone company and ask for the location of a subscriber.”

“If you think that, you don’t know Tommy Cox. If the phone company wouldn’t cooperate with him, he’d get someone that would.”

“Like who?”

“The police for one. He’s got lots of the locals in his pocket. He may even have some feds. And if that didn’t work, he would bring in muscle to make the right people cooperate. There’s nothing Cox can’t do.”

“Are there any teams after us besides yours?”

“Tommy doesn’t tell me that kind of stuff.”

“What’s your best guess?”

“The budget for this operation has to be in the millions. He’s got every private investigator in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri tied up. What’s another couple hundred thousand for more hit teams?”

“When is he expecting to hear from you?”

“Any time now. There’s no cell-phone coverage here but if everything had gone according to plan, we should have been getting back to civilization any time now.”

Jake, turn all the bad guys and have them assemble here. Ellen, wake Andy, get him dressed, and bring him here.

Jake restored the hearing of the sleeping members of their party. Then he turned and unparalyzed all of the goons, moving clockwise. When he unparalyzed the last two men, the ones south of cabin three, one of them started screaming.

Leanne, my love, would you go check on him? Jake sent. He won’t hurt you.

Jake finished the last man. In response to Jake’s compulsion, they all came over and presented themselves to Boris, including the guy who had screamed. He was moaning and stripped naked. Leanne was topless, following after him brushing him off with her shirt.

“He was lying in a fire ant nest,” Leanne said. “Boris, he’s bitten up bad, including around his face. He’s got to get to a hospital.”

Jake made him obedient to Leanne.

“He’ll do whatever you tell him, Leanne,” Jake said. “Why don’t you run him into the shower in cabin one?”

“But get him out again as soon as you’ve got the ants off him,” Boris said. “Or even just most of them. Time is very short.” He turned to Jake, Kara, and Ellen. “Get everybody up, dressed, and packed. Tell them that they have to turn their cell phones over to Andy. Every single phone. We can’t afford to have even one stay with us. Tell them they’ll get them back in a few days. Then get back here. We’ve got decisions to make.”

Jake, Kara, and Ellen divided the task up between them with Kara taking care of Emily in person and Ellen seeing to Lizzie.

Less than ten minutes later Jake, Kara, Ellen and Leanne were done and had returned to Boris.

“I’ve given the goons a cover story,” Boris said. “They are to go to a hospital to take care of the ant-bitten guy. They’ll call Cox and tell him that the camp was empty. They took so long because they searched the surrounding woods to make sure that we weren’t hiding nearby. I’ve got the boss’s contact information so that we can deal with him later.

“We’ve got to get out of here. They know where we are and all about us. We’ve got to get to some new place immediately. The opposition is well-financed. Cox has a lot of agents out there chasing us down.”

“Our advantage is that we know how they are doing things now,” Kara said.

“Right,” Ellen said. “We can use their knowledge against them.”

“That’s my thought, too,” Boris said. “They think they can track us with our cell phones. So we send the cell phones one way, and we go another.”

“How?” Jake asked.

“That’s what Andy’s going to do. We give him the phones, turn them all on, and then send him off in the car. The rest of us take the vans and go the other direction. We’ll catch our charter flight as we planned.”

“They will have somebody at all the airports,” Jake said.

“But they have to be spread pretty thin to cover them all. We’ll tell the charter company to fly the plane into some airport in the region. Not too close. Not a big airport either. Just big enough to get the plane in and out. When we get to the airport terminal, you or Ellen will go in ahead of us to secure the airport.”

Boris looked around. Andy had arrived and was waiting for instructions. The rest of the party were standing by their cabins looking on, taking in the scene in the first light of morning.

“Can anyone think of a better plan?”

No one spoke.

“Then we do it. Get everyone into the vans. I’ll call the air charter from the phone in my cabin and make the arrangements. We meet back here. Would someone pack my bags for me while I’m on the phone?”

“I’ll get Lizzie to do it,” Kara said.

“Someone, give Andy a wad of cash,” Boris said. “Enough to keep him on the road for three days.”

“I’ll get it for him,” Leanne said.

“Good. I want us to be on our way as soon as possible.”

Jake looked out the window of the mid-sized business jet. He saw the flaps rising. He momentarily felt lighter and butterflies formed in his stomach. The ground continued to fall away. He was fascinated by the view but turned away.

The airplane’s cabin was completely filled. Everyone was still looking nervous. Kate looked up at him and frowned. Emily smiled at him. She, at least, seemed to be taking it in stride.

There had been no good way to explain to Lizzie why ten armed men had attacked them, shooting guns in the process. Like most of the party, they had been awakened by gunfire. At least, she wasn’t asking questions about why they had been unable to move. It had probably been instinct for her to stay in the safety of the bed.

But having seen the assault team and the snipers, she wasn’t willing to accept any suggestion that she had been dreaming. The naked guy with fire ant welts over a third of his body didn’t help any.

“Lizzie, I can’t be completely frank about this. I have some influence over those men and was able to persuade them to give up the attack.”

“What are you, some kind of mob guy?”

Jake had laughed until he noticed Lizzie getting angry.

“No, Lizzie, I’m sorry. Don’t be mad. It’s only funny because, well, there aren’t enough of us to have a crime family. This is literally my entire family here, except for my grandparents. We’re not Gambinos or Corleones.”

“And what do your grandparents do?”

“Granddad is an Episcopal priest and Gramma is a housewife. If Granddad were here, he would joke that they’re not even organized religion, much less organized crime. Then Gramma would punch him in the arm because she’s really sick of that joke.”

“Oh.”

Everyone but Lizzie and Emily had been told the full story telepathically. Nina had been scared for herself and alarmed at the danger that her presence had brought to the others.

It’s going to be okay, love, Jake had sent her. I think this whole affair is about to be put behind us. Three more days.

It’s going to stop because of the deposition?

We’re fighting on other fronts, too. We’ll know for sure soon.

Andy was racing south into Louisiana. On Sunday he would turn off the phones and head for home.

While everyone else was at the Batesville, Arkansas Super Walmart buying a couple of prepaid cell phones, Jake and Ellen had driven one of the vans to the airport. They had scanned the parking lot and the terminal looking for Cox’s agents. They found an off-duty Little Rock police officer picking up some extra money on his day off watching for a young woman in a wheelchair and her entourage.

Jake and Ellen went back to pick up the shoppers and returned. After playing “these are not the droids you’re looking for” with the cop, Jake and his party had boarded the Hawker 800XP and quickly taken off.

Jake sighed. They should be past the worst of it. They knew Cox’s plans and how he operated. They had the resources to counter Cox’s tactics. And now Jake, Ellen, and Boris had their own plan to take the fight to Cox. It should be over the following afternoon.

Jake reached across the aisle to Julie and took her hand. She smiled at him.

I have no idea. Jake yawned and closed his eyes. I want to see where Mrs. O’Leary’s cow lived.

The next thing he knew the copilot was asking everyone to buckle their seatbelts for the landing.

Jake sat on the sofa in the sitting room of their hotel suite. He turned on his laptop. There was no email, but the Morning Journal had an interesting piece.