Chapter 17
It took a moment for the information Agent Parker had shared with John to sink in. The fact that Dillon Elliott, who had already kidnapped his wife, was currently heading to the same farm where his daughter worked an after-school program was the worst possible outcome.
“John, you all right?” Parker asked.
“I know the place we’re going,” John answered. “My daughter works there.”
“Are you serious?” Parker asked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” John answered.
Parker sat with this new information for a moment, but then his surprise turned to suspicion. “Your family seems to be unusually involved in all of this, John.”
“If there’s something you want to say, just go ahead and say it,” John replied.
After everything they had gone through from the start, John hoped he had earned at least a little bit of trust with Agent Parker. But then Parker realized it was simply all a terrible misfortune rather than anything nefarious.
“I need to know everything you do about Dillon Elliot,” John said.
“He’s extremely intelligent and very driven,” Parker said.
“He’s been in and out of jail since he was a teenager, and by the time he was nineteen, he was already arrested for a felony.
He had orchestrated a jewelry heist, and the only reason he was caught was because there was an undercover police officer working a sting unit in the area.
He had caught wind of Dillon’s plan, and it was stopped.
But that has been the only mistake Dillon has made since.
Of course, until he was caught last week after robbing Cincinnati’s Federal Reserve Bank. ”
“So, you’re telling me that Dillon, who has never made a mistake, was suddenly caught after the biggest heist of his career?” John asked.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Parker answered. “And there was a lot of debate in the department on whether he allowed himself to be caught. But considering everything that happened with this EMP, if he was indeed responsible for it, then it’s clear to me he was captured for a reason.”
“Any theories on what that reason might be?” John asked.
“I’ve tried to wrap my brain around why he did it, but I haven’t liked any of the answers I’ve come up with,” Parker answered. “Because they all point to the fact that he is just smarter than us.”
“Maybe the answer is the simplest one,” John said.
Parker was quiet for a moment, and then he frowned.
“He wanted us to catch him because he wanted us to stop looking for him. Of course, we’re still looking for the money, but he was the big prize.
And we were so convinced we could get him to confess to where he had stashed the money that we didn’t really look for it anymore.
He was buying himself time to move it to a more secure location with his team.
But why would he choose to take all of that money to a farm in the middle of nowhere?
It’s so much cash to move, and we locked down all the roads. ”
But this time, it was John’s turn to burn some gray matter on the issue, and he believed he had some insight into why that farm had been chosen.
“The river,” John said.
“What?” Parker asked.
“Dillon needs a way to move the money, right?” John asked.
“Right,” Parker answered.
“Winsome’s produce is situated on the Ohio River,” John answered. “It’s one of the reasons their farm has been so productive since its inception. Because it’s right on the water, it never has to worry about drought. And the river is wide enough and deep enough to handle a large vessel.”
Parker shook his head. “If they decided to do that, then they would stick out like a sore thumb on the river. It’s too slow, and they would be sitting ducks for the authorities.”
“Not if the authorities were busy with an EMP,” John said. “Think about it. I bet your team never considered checking the river systems to look for him, right?”
“I guess you’re right,” Parker said. “And in all our meetings, nobody ever thought to look at the water even before we found him. His main methods of transportation had always been two vehicles. He would use semi-trucks to smuggle money in and out of state.” Parker looked at John and studied him for a moment.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re much smarter than you look. ”
“Don’t let these work boots fool you,” John said.
Parker laughed, and it helped break up the tension as they reached John’s house in the suburbs. It wasn’t as crazy as the rest of Cincinnati, but John saw signs of unrest in the neighborhoods.
A few shops had their windows smashed, along with a few cars that looked looted. But because people weren’t stacked on top of one another, the area had remained relatively calm since the EMP.
John directed Parker through the neighborhood until they reached their house. When they pulled into the driveway, all the neighbors walked outside to see what was happening.
“John? Where the hell did you get that thing?” Ben Mitzy was John’s neighbor on the left. He owned several restaurants around town but hardly ever worked anymore due to some health issues.
“Can’t talk right now, Ben,” John said, but as he finished the sentence, he noticed that half of the neighborhood was walking over to him. It was clear they were all interested in discovering how he had a working vehicle and whether he knew what was going on.
The neighborhood knew John and his family were peppers. He had talked to several of them to help make sure they were prepared for emergency situations, but they had always brushed him off, never believing the impossible could happen to them.
Until now.
Before things got out of hand, John made sure to keep the crowd back so Parker could help bring Jake out of the back of the truck.
“I know all of you have questions,” John said.
“Right now, the only thing I can tell you is that the power is out, but it’s only limited to the Cincinnati area.
The power will eventually come back on, but we don’t know when that will happen, so ration your food and water.
If you have any medications that need to be filled, I would walk to the nearest pharmacy and see if anyone is working.
I’m sure if you explain the situation, they will be more than willing to help you out, especially if you’re able to go to your own pharmacist.”
The crowd became more anxious, and John hoped he didn’t rile everybody up and make them uneasy, but he didn’t know how to say anything else besides the truth.
“Do you really think it’s going to be that bad?” Ben asked, acting as the spokesperson for the entire group.
“It will be as bad as people allow it to be,” John said.
“Every time I talk to all of you about being prepared, I’ve always mentioned how important community plays in that role.
Everybody here has a chance to help one another.
We have a duty and responsibility to make sure the people around us are okay. ”
“And what about you?” Ben asked. “Clearly, you have resources. Will you be sharing them with the community?”
Ben glanced around, noting how everyone was hanging on his reply. But John had never been good at political games, so he stuck with the truth.
John told everyone about the situation with his family, how the bank robber had his wife hostage, and how they were heading to the farm where Sydney worked in hopes of rescuing both of them.
“I will give you what resources I can spare,” John said. “But my main priority is to get my family.”
Ben immediately backed down after that, and it was clear to everyone in the neighborhood that Ben put his family as a priority, and that wasn’t something anyone could blame him for.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Ben said, and then he turned to the other neighbors. “We are a resilient community. Why don’t we start by seeing who needs supplies and if there’s anybody who needs medical help?”
Everyone nodded in agreement, and the crowd disbursed. John waited until they were heading back to their homes before he helped Parker carry Jake into the house.
“It looks like you have a nice standing in the community,” Parker said.
“I know these people,” John said. “They might be afraid, but they’re not criminals.”
“Most of the people in Cincinnati weren’t criminals, either,” Parker said. “And look how that turned out.”
“That’s different,” John said. “The people out here take pride in their community. We know each other, and we know each other’s families. Everybody here has worked incredibly hard for the small pieces of life they have carved out. They’re not going to throw all of that away so easily.”
They headed inside and made sure Jake was comfortable on the couch, and then John immediately headed for the gun safe in the basement. He grabbed a flashlight on his way down because he knew it would be dark and carefully navigated the steps downstairs.
John opened the gun safe and removed the weapons.
He had hunting rifles and one assault rifle he had purchased and used occasionally at the firing range.
He understood what kind of weapon this was meant to be.
It was used for war. And John had every intention of using it to inflict pain on the people who had taken his wife.
“John,” Parker said, walking up behind him in the darkness of the basement, “why don’t you let me finish this? You have your son here and a friend who is injured. They need your help.”
“I am not going to leave the fate of my wife to somebody I don’t know,” John said. “I don’t mean any offense to you, Agent Parker, but I feel better about my wife’s prospects, knowing I’m going to be there to try to get her out.”
“And what if I order you not to come?” Parker said.
John stopped what he was doing and turned around. He didn’t shine his flashlight in Parker’s face, but even in the dimly lit setting, he could tell that Parker was serious.
“I will tell you that the only way I’m not going is if I’m not breathing,” John said.