Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Flashing police lights caught Cain’s attention as he barreled out of Crayton heading toward Papa C’s house and surrounding acreage ten or fifteen minutes away.
He slowed as the police cars neared, letting JB and Evans pass him to take the lead.
Kennett pulled in behind him with a few others following him, but Cain knew the cars he saw weren’t the only ones heading to the same location.
Law enforcement from surrounding areas had to be closing in, also.
At the three-way junction seven miles out of town on the two-lane road, JB and Evans turned right toward Papa C’s house a mile down. No doubt the cars behind him would follow them.
Cain turned left on a dime. Kennett followed his lead. The others didn’t. Guess Kennett had orders. Of course, he got the impression that Kennett occasionally made his own decisions.
Broken fence rails and fresh tire tracks across the ditch caught his attention. On the other side of the road sat an older truck, half on, half off the pavement as if it had been run off the road.
Without another thought, he pulled to the shoulder on his side of the road and jumped from his truck. “Betsy! Betsy!”
Limping out of the field, tow man Randy stopped, bent over and braced his hands on the top of his thighs. Blood trickled from beneath his left hand. “I’ve been shot.”
Kennett ran over and held the man up as he put in a call for medical assistance.
“What happened?” Cain asked.
“I heard the vehicle pursuit on my police scanner. When I passed the black Gladiator, I whipped my truck around to follow.” Randy moaned. “Looked like Ms. Peyton kept hitting the driver until he lost control and plowed through the fence. Got stuck.”
Randy yelled in pain as Cain tried to stop the bleeding. “Saw the guy get out and try to push the Gladiator out of the hole.”
“What’d he have on? Look like?” Cain always asked the questions even if he thought he already had the answers.
“Camo bomber jacket. Dark beard. Mean eyes. I’m telling you, me and Ms. Peyton, we did everything we could to stop him.
He’s got her wrist strapped to the overhead crossbar, so she’s pretty well trapped.
” Randy blew out a breath laced with pain and relief and exhaustion as Kennett and Cain lowered him to the ground.
“I tried to save her. Got in a couple of good blows. That’s when he shot me. ”
Officer Hastings pulled up behind Kennett’s police cruiser. Paramedics arrived within the minute and took over tending Randy.
Rage steamed toward Cain’s brain as Randy’s words settled in.
His body heated with the power of adrenalin working overtime.
He’d spent the past couple of days figuring out his future, and now someone thought they’d take that away.
They’d take his Betsy. He’d be dead in the dirt before that happened.
His phone rang with an Unknown Caller ID. He answered it on the speaker phone as Kennett moved closer.
“Cain Connery?” The man on the phone had a deep voice. Muffled tone. Unfamiliar.
“Yeah. Who is this?”
“Shut up and listen if you want your woman back.”
Cain clicked into agent mode. Play along. Listen. Decipher the background noise. Track the clue. There had to be a clue. “I’m listening.”
The man laughed. “I figured you would. We’re going to do a little swap. Mine for yours.”
“What have you got in mind?”
“Tell me where the two million dollars is hidden, and I’ll let Betsy go.”
That was a lie, but the more time Cain kept him on the phone, the more apt he was to get something out of the conversation. Like a clue to where this supposed two million came from. Might as well poke the bear. Make the man on the phone mad. Make him lose his confidence. Concentration. Courage.
“I like to know who I’m making a deal with. So what’s your name?”
The man laughed again.
“Oh, that’s right, you’re James. Mr. Partner’s errand guy. Saw an online photo of you holding his coat, James. Looked to me like you were stuck with no way to move up.” Cain paused for effect. “Now what is it you really want, James.”
“Shut the hell up, Connery. I know your game.”
Cain heard the slightest change in his tone and cadence. “Smart. You’re a smart man, James. Maybe we can strike a deal after all. I might be able to use you in my group, James. What do you think? Work for Mr. Partner? Work for me—James?”
“Are you stupid, Connery? I work for me! Me, you understand?” The man grunted into almost a growl. “Like I said before. Give me the money. I give you Betsy.”
The background on the other end was quiet. Too quiet. Outside? Inside? Cain couldn’t tell. “Let me talk to Betsy.”
“No. I’ll call you later with details for the exchange.”
Cain gave a sarcastic laugh. “Now who’s being stupid? You and I both know you’re gonna have to let me talk to her before I agree to the exchange.”
The man on the phone huffed. “Wait a minute.”
Kennett leaned in closer. Moved his fingers that the man was walking. Formed the silent word “gravel.” Cain nodded in agreement.
“Lady, if you kick me again, I’ll bind your legs. Nod if you’ve got that.” The man was quiet. “Good. Now tell Cain you’re okay.”
Silence.
“Don’t shake your head at me, lady. I said tell him you’re okay.” A single gunshot echoed through the phone.
From the south, the shot reverberated across the land.
Kennett and Cain both looked in the same direction.
Across the pasture. Way across. A hawk’s screech sounded in the distance on the other end.
A flock of birds rose as one, while a group of ducks took flight and circled in a V-formation.
All from the same direction. To the south. Near the lake.
“Betsy, say something.” Cain shouted. “Anything.”
“Water through the trees. Ducks squawking. Speck of dam far, far away.” Betsy rattled out words. Calm, but fast. “We’re north or west shore maybe near—”
What sounded like a hard smack to skin flashed through the phone. “Shut the hell up.”Betsy grunted. Loud. A whimper. Still she kept talking as fast as she could. “Papa C’s brother hired a hit man to kill my dad. May have caused Phillip’s—”
Another smack. Harder. She screamed. The phone call went dead.
Cain fisted his hand, choking back the words that threatened his control. She’d given them clues as to where they were. The words about her dad and Phillip had stung. But her scream had stabbed him in the gut. Somebody was gonna pay for that.
“Help me get my motorcycle off,” Cain yelled as he ran to his truck. “With it, I can go straight to the location where we heard the shot, saw the birds take off.”
Running to his truck, he jumped into the bed as Hastings followed his lead on the opposite side of the cycle.
Together they unhooked the straps and loosened the chock.
Kennett yanked the ramp off the back of the truck just in time for Cain to walk the cycle down.
“Did you pick up on the bit about water and distant dam?”
Kennett nodded down the road. “I’ll circle toward the same area on the paved roadways. Hastings, you got this here?”
“Yep. As soon as more backup arrives, I’ll run some of the gravel backroads I know.”
“Keep in touch,” Kennett said. “Cain, which route you taking?”
Cain’s motorcycle roared to life as he raised the kickstand and pointed straight to the spot where the fence rail had already been broken. “Right through there.”
“Be careful, man. Don’t take chances. Don’t do anything stupid. We’ll get her back.”
Cain snarled. “That SOB laid his hands on her. He’s mine. All mine!”
“I’ll radio everyone else the directions we’re all headed.” Kennett jumped in his cruiser.
“Hastings, my keys are in the truck ignition. Use it if you need to,” Cain shouted as he revved the cycle engine.
He shifted the cycle into gear, circled for a short run down the road, then jumped the ditch and raced through the hole in the fence. The engine roared as if it was being ridden by someone who knew how and when to push. Whined with the power from a fast start.
With every grab of the gears, the cycle shot forward. Speed increasing by the second as the tires grabbed the ground. Each gear shift brought more speed and danger to the rider. Airborne as often as not, the motorcycle shot forward.
He gripped the handlebars. Mentally confirming he had his gun.
Then the backup. That’s all he had to fight with, everything except muscles and rage.
Confident in the outcome, he had to calm the rage.
Calm it enough to make no mistakes on the ride or the takedown.
Betsy’s life hinged on that. So did his.
* * *
Betsy had risked everything. Would her clues be enough? Had Cain understood?
James shoved her back in the passenger seat, strapped her wrist again then raced around to the driver’s side. She struggled to get her seatbelt buckled and felt the click just as he barreled down the road, not even taking time to buckle in.
He angled off the gravel road, increased the Gladiator’s speed and steered across the open field in the opposite direction of the lake.
Betsy knew why. If he could throw Cain off the trail there would be a better chance of using her as a negotiating tool again.
Where did that leave her? He knew Cain would come for her.
That’s what he wanted. After that, she’d only be extra baggage.
“Nooooo!” She grabbed the steering wheel with her one free hand and yanked with all her might.
James shoved her away. The Gladiator slammed deep into a hole.
Jolted rough with the speed. The wheel jerked back and forth in his hand.
She reached out again, stretching as far as she could.
She grabbed the lower T-bar of the steering wheel.
Looped her elbow around it and jerked the wheel from his grasp.
Hanging on, she pulled with every muscle she had.