Текст книги "Jack Taggart Mysteries 7 - Book Bundle"

Автор книги: Don Easton

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Текущая страница: 37 (всего у книги 141 страниц)

chapter thirty-two

Jack slapped at a mosquito on his face as he and Laura made their way along a narrow path leading through dense bushes and trees that followed parallel to the river and would eventually lead them to the Red Bridge.

“Dusk ... prime time for these little vampires,” whispered Laura, slapping her own neck.

“There it is,” said Jack, pointing to the upper structure of the bridge as they neared.

“Wait here in the bush. The parking lot should be close. I’m going to take a look and see if they’ve got company.”

Laura waited a moment and then Jack returned.

“Didn’t see any other vehicles except theirs,” said Jack.

“Maybe that’s why they’re waiting,” suggested Laura.

“Using themselves for mosquito bait? Let’s sneak a little closer and see if we can get an eye on what they’re up to.”

A minute later, they heard men’s voices and crouched behind some scrub brush and peeked out. The bridge had numerous large cylindrical cement pillars in a cluster on each side to support the bridge. The pillars themselves were in the ground on each side of the river. The sandy recourse went out from the pillars and then dropped off sharply in a small bank down to the river. The men were standing in a group close to the river but some of them were blocked from view by the pillars. The bush had been mostly cleared around the base of the bridge and Jack and Laura could not get any closer without being seen.

Damien’s hand shook as his fingers stumbled over the button to answer the cellphone.

“So, Damien, my brother is free,” gloated Carlos.

“Let my family go,” said Damien. “Please ... I beg you. Let me speak to them.”

“You telled your man that you were in charge. You are not in charge. I want to hear you say I am boss.”

“Please, your brother is —”

“Now! Then your woman can talk at you!”

“Carlos is in charge!” yelled Damien to his men. “He is the boss!”

Carlos laughed, then said, “Bueno! Now I will tell my man to let your woman speak at you on your own phone. Keep this phone close so we can still talk.”

Seconds later, Damien’s personal cellphone rang and he raised it to his other ear.

“Damien,” gasped Vicki.

“I’m sorry,” cried Damien. “I’m giving them everything they want. Are you ... is Katie?”

“I’ve been told to tell you,” said Vicki, “we are tied up. Katie ... me ... we are on our knees.”

Damien heard Carlos shout a command in Spanish, and Vicki’s voice became a gurgle.

“Now,” said Carlos, “you will pay for what you have done. Your woman can tell you how you pay!”

Vicki gasped and coughed, then said, “I don’t know why he did that. He choked me. I ... Damien! He has a knife! He’s cutting Katie’s neck...”

Damien listened as Vicki screamed. His other ear picked up the sound of Carlos laughing and cheering.

“Your girl is die, Damien! Now your puta! Listen to her...”

Jack heard the sound of a woman’s voice and then saw one of the men yank Vicki into view by her hair and drag her to the top of the bank where she kneeled on the ground. At the same time, another man yanked Katie into view and placed her beside her mother.

“It’s Vicki and Katie!” whispered Jack. “One guy is holding a cellphone up to Vicki’s face. They both look like their hands are tied behind their backs. Ankles bound too.”

“We’re too far away to get the drop on them ... there’s four of them,” said Laura.

“I’ll call for backup,” said Jack. “We can just sit tight until —” Vicki’s scream interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up in horror as he saw one of the men yank Katie’s head back by her hair. A flash of light reflected off the blade of a knife on Katie’s throat. Vicki screamed.

“Police! Drop it!” screamed Jack, leaping to his feet. The men looked up in surprise as Jack sent a bullet zinging above their heads and into the river bank on the opposite side.

Two of the men reacted by pulling out their own pistols as Jack and Laura ran towards them, trying to use some of the bridge pillars as cover. The men fired a volley of bullets that thunked into trees and ricocheted off the cement pillars. The distance was too great for a handgun to be really accurate, but fear instinctively drove the Colombians to fire rapidly.

A couple of the men crouched behind the pillars as Jack and Laura came closer.

“Die, you bastards!” screamed Jack, as he and Laura let loose with their own volley of shots. Shots that quickly improved in accuracy as the gap narrowed.

Jack stumbled over an old firepit, skinning his hand, but then regained his footing and raced ahead to catch up with Laura as she crossed the final few steps of the clearing.

One of the men yelled something at them in Spanish, then turned and pointed his gun at Vicki while looking back at Jack and Laura for a response. His meaning was clear. The response wasn’t what he expected. Instead of backing off, Jack stopped, took aim, and fired. The man leapt backwards as the bullet zinged past his ear.

“Vamoose or you will die!” screamed Jack. “Run and we let you go!”

“Locos!” yelled one of the other men to the others.

That’s right, I probably am crazy, thought Jack.

One of the men yelled at a colleague in Spanish. They violently shoved Vicki and Katie, causing them to scream as they tumbled down the bank and into the river where their screams coldly stopped. The four men bolted through the pillars to the far side of the bridge toward a path that would lead them back to their van.

For Jack and Laura, the choice was obvious. If they pursued the men, Vicki and Katie would drown.

Damien heard the scream and then the sound of shots as both phones went dead. “No!” he cried in anguish. “No!” he yelled again, and then he kicked Leitch hard in the ribcage. Leitch choked and gasped in pain.

Lance was quick to shout instructions into his own cellphone. Seconds later, the striker left his taxi and moved into position. Ray was just calling another taxi to take him to the airport as Rellik’s crew arrived.

Twenty minutes passed before Ray, blinded, bound, and gagged with duct tape, was dragged back into the car wash. Perhaps knowing what was in store for him, he risked being shot and put up a fight when he was approached. It did little to delay his capture but did result in a blow from a steel pipe that broke his arm.

Ray, again stripped naked, was being tied face-down to the railing when Damien knelt in front of him and ripped the tape off his eyes and mouth.

“You couldn’t do it, could you?” said Damien. “Let my wife and my daughter live. You could have just walked away and released them. But no, you had to kill them!”

“It wasn’t me,” pleaded Ray. “My brother ... he is sick. I would not have hurt them. Please. You must believe that!”

“And was it your brother who cut off my wife’s finger?” yelled Damien.

“His idea. Yes! It was all Carlos!”

“But Carlos wasn’t here, was he?” screamed Damien. “It was you who did it!”

“No. It was men who work for Carlos. Not —”

“And who do you work for?” snarled Damien, picking up the roll of duct tape.

Ray’s eyes bulged as Damien wrapped the duct tape around his mouth. He then shut his eyes tight as Damien ground his foot into his broken arm. The resulting scream could be heard through the tape.

Damien looked at Leitch and said, “And who do you suppose gave Carlos that idea?”

Leitch mumbled through his gag and vehemently shook his head from side to side. Two of his ribs were broken and breathing was painful.

Damien’s cellphone rang. He paused, then looked at his men. “Carlos ... wanting to gloat. He can fucking wait!” he roared, while walking back and kicking Leitch in the face. Blood splattered from Leitch’s broken nose onto Damien’s shoe.

“Wrong phone,” said Lance, as the ringing persisted.

“What do you mean?” yelled Damien, while stooping to use Leitch’s shirt as a rag to wipe the end of his shoe.

“It’s not the phone Carlos sent you. It’s your private one!”

Surprise registered on Damien’s face and he quickly took the phone from his pocket, then held it in the palm of his hand and stared at it as it continued to ring. For a moment, he was afraid to answer. Afraid of what he would hear ... but he had to know.

It was Vicki. She was hysterical and crying but said that she and Katie were alive. Then she cried, “They were going to kill us! We were saved by —”

The phone went dead and Damien stood in a stunned silence for a moment, then turned to his men and said, “That was Vicki. They’re alive!”

“Where are they?” asked Whiskey Jake.

“I don’t know. The line went dead,” he said, as the arrival of hope coincided with the return of panic.

“They let them go!” said Lance.

Instantly Ray’s eyes portrayed his relief and he mumbled a prayer.

“Maybe,” replied Damien. “She said they were going to be killed, but then weren’t. Then the line went dead.”

A moment later, Damien received a text message on his BlackBerry: They’re both okay. We’re on our way to VGH. -JT-

Damien looked at his men. He felt his knees tremble and it took him a moment to comprehend.

“Damien?” asked Lance. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“They weren’t let go,” he said simply. “They were rescued by a cop ... Jack Taggart. They’re on their way to the hospital.”

Bile immediately flooded into Ray’s mouth. He choked and swallowed rapidly to keep from suffocating.

“Taggart! How the fuck did he get his nose into this?” growled Whiskey Jake.

“Yeah,” quickly added Lance, wondering who was talking with whom. He glanced down at Leitch and Ray and felt a wave of fear.

“Whiskey Jake, you come with me,” ordered Damien. “Rellik, you find out everything these two fuckers know. What they know about each other, Carlos, The Toad ... how many guys are working for them ... everything!”

“Will do, boss.”

“But keep them alive until I come back,” added Damien, before turning to Lance and ordering, “Arrange for a security team to cover off the Vancouver General, then meet me there.”

Jack sat in the Emergency waiting room, off by himself. Laura remained in the car outside in the parking lot. She agreed that the fewer Satans Wrath members who knew what she looked like, the better it would be.

Jack didn’t have to wait long before three strikers he recognized from the west-side chapter entered the hospital and quickly scanned the waiting room and the corridors. One of the strikers then went back outside to wait near the entrance. The other two set up a vigil inside.

Several minutes later, Jack saw Whiskey Jake and then Damien enter behind him.

Damien’s eyes met his, and he stood as Damien approached. He was conscious of the two strikers moving toward him, but a flick of Damien’s hand sent them both away. Damien then said something to Whiskey Jake, who took a seat in the waiting room while Damien spoke with Jack.

“Where are they?” asked Damien. “What happened? How...?”

“They’re going to be okay,” said Jack. “They’re both being examined right now. Give the doctors a few minutes, then you can see them.”

“You said they’re okay?”

“Vicki did lose one finger and she has an infection, but other than that, she’ll be okay.”

“Katie! What about Katie?”

“She wasn’t sexually molested. She is missing two teeth from being punched in the mouth. I understand they’re baby teeth so ... anyway, she’ll be okay. They’re both dehydrated and in shock, but that’s it.”

“They punched her in the mouth! She’s only eight years old,” seethed Damien.

“She tried to rescue her mom when they attacked her with bolt cutters.”

“How? How did you find them?”

“My partner tracked them down through Customs declarations and shipping invoices for coffee. We had just found their warehouse when we saw a van leaving in a hurry. We decided to follow the van. It was just luck. We didn’t know Vicki and Katie were inside. We followed the van to a spot along the river in Coquitlam. That’s when we realized what was going on. There were four guys. They got away but we managed to save Vicki and Katie.”

Damien let out a deep sigh, looked at his watch, then said, “Everything go okay with your trip to Mexico? I heard you were a hero.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Well, tonight you really are one.” He looked at his watch again and said, “That’s it. I’m not waiting out here. I’m going to see them. I’ll send you a message in the morning. We’ll talk then.”

Jack nodded, then said, “There’s one more thing. I found out that Carlos has a brother by the name —”

“Ray,” said Damien. “Yeah, I just found out. He’s the one with the British accent. Leitch was two-timing me behind my back. Don’t worry about Ray. He won’t be bothering anyone again.”

“You ... got him?” asked Jack.

Damien nodded.

Jack wondered if Ray was dead and used his finger to make a slashing motion across his neck to convey what he wanted to know.

Damien shrugged, then said, “Yeah, sure if you want to do it personally. I owe you big. If you want to kill him, that’s fine.”

Jack realized the mistake and said, “No! That’s not what I meant. I just wondered if he was still alive?”

“Oh! Yes, he’s being questioned as we speak.” Damien paused, then said, “I presume you had something to do with a shipload of coke that was taken down in San Diego?”

Jack nodded and said, “That’s why Ray tried to kill me. Only he botched it and killed the wrong guy. Acting on orders from Carlos, I presume?”

“Maybe,” said Damien. “Either that or following a suggestion from their lawyer – Leisure Suit Larry.”

“Leitch?”

“It would be his style. He recently recommended that someone from your toxicology department be killed to jeopardize some court cases. I believe her name was Lucy.”

“Lucy! Who did he say this to? Is there a contract on Lucy’s —”

“No. He suggested it to me. I nixed the idea immediately ... but I’m not Carlos. You cost him a lot of money in San Diego. He would agree to have you killed if he didn’t think of it himself.”

“I didn’t exactly advertise my involvement.”

“No, you were waiting to nail me with the second ship,” said Damien bitterly.

Jack nodded and said, “Speaking of that, nobody in my office knows about tonight either. I was grilled this morning about Bishop. I would like to be prepared before I go to work tomorrow morning. Anything you learn from Ray would be appreciated.”

“I’ll see what I find out. I’ll send you a message around four tomorrow morning. We can meet then,” said Damien.

“I don’t start work until eight. We could do it at seven,” said Jack.

Damien shook his head and said, “That doesn’t work for me. If you want to know what Ray said, answer back at four.”

“I would like to ask him a few questions myself,” said Jack quietly.

“Such as?”

“Whose idea it was to try and kill me and Danny’s baby. Was it Carlos or Ray? Also, I want to know how Carlos found out I was involved with the first ship.”

Damien nodded and said, “I’ll ask, then let you know.”

“One more thing. Ask him who the four guys were who kidnapped your family and where they can be found.”

“That,” said Damien, pointing his finger at Jack’s chest, “is my business.” He turned to walk away but paused and said, “We’re just like you guys on this one.”

“How so?” asked Jack.

Damien sneered and said, “We’re making sure that Ray doesn’t say anything without his legal counsel present.”

His legal counsel? Jack realized what Damien meant and watched him walk away. He thought about the early morning hour when Damien said he would call. Certain tasks are better accomplished in the dark ... like body disposal.

Jack checked his watch. That was six hours from now. He left the hospital and got in the car with Laura and told her about the conversation.

“You think they’ve got Leitch and the Brit?” she asked.

“Positive. The way things are going, I bet they’ll both be dead in less than six hours.”

“We better reach out to our friend and see if he knows where they are!”

“Whiskey Jake is with Damien. I’m sure our friend is involved and unable to call. He could be with Rellik right now.”

“So what should we do? Set up on Damien? You can bet he is going to take a personal interest in this.”

“Personal! Oh, it’s personal all right. Just ask Holly or Charlie or Danny and Susan! This is personal! It’s also personal for Damien!”

“Jack, relax,” said Laura quietly. “You don’t have to convince me it’s personal. Danny’s baby convinced me of that. If the both of them are found with a bullet in their head, I won’t exactly lose sleep over it, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Good. Then let’s not lose sleep. Go home and rest. I’ll call you as soon as Damien contacts me.”

Laura stared intently at Jack and then nodded in agreement.

They were just pulling out of the lot when Jack received a text message from Lance.

“It’s our friend,” he said, reading the message. “Says we need to talk. Urgent. He is on his way to meet Number One.”

“He’s on his way here,” said Laura. “We could meet him a block away before he arrives.”

Jack shook his head. “We don’t need him telling us tonight what is going to happen. I’d rather he tell us tomorrow.”

“Good point,” replied Laura.

Lance wasn’t too surprised when he received a message back asking, On your way to VGH?

Lance quickly typed, Yes.

Lance was shocked when his next message asked, The two interviews over?

Lance paused, not sure how to respond. Then simply typed, Yes, but not finished.

You safe?

Yes.

We’ll meet tomorrow.

Jack put his BlackBerry away as Laura said, “Yes, but not finished?”

“They’re still alive.”

“That’s what I figured,” said Laura.

A few minutes later, they stopped at a traffic light and Jack noticed that Laura was starting to tremble.

“You okay? Your body is shaking.”

She turned the heater on high and said, “I’m cold.”

“I know how you feel,” said Jack. “I get ... cold too, when I’ve been shot at. It’s funny. You think it would happen at the time, but with me, it seems to come later when I’m actually safe.”

“I guess that’s when we finally have time to think about it. How do you handle it?”

Jack let out a sigh, then said, “Natasha says it’s something you need to be aware of and control. Emotional shock, acute stress disorder, PTSD – whatever the label, it basically boils down to someone being exposed to a life-threatening event. A reaction to something that causes intense fear, helplessness, and horror.”

“Like back at the river.”

“For Vicki and Katie ... yes.”

“You trying to tell me you weren’t afraid? Horrified at what almost happened?”

“Definitely, but not helpless. Neither were you. When we were running toward them, I slipped and fell. It didn’t slow you down any. You continued right on.”

“I was too afraid to turn around. Thought I would get a bullet in the back.”

“Or too angry. Either way, you’re not what I would call helpless. Remember that. You made decisions. You were in control. As long as your brain has control of something, anything, you are not entirely helpless.”

Laura gave him a grim smile, then continued to drive. After a moment she turned the heater off and said, “Thanks.”

“You may not know it yet, but there might be times when this job could become stressful. We have to watch out for each other.”

“It could get stressful!” yelled Laura, while punching Jack on the shoulder. “Well, please let me know if you think that might happen!”

They both laughed, harder than they would normally have, as their bodies and minds leapt at the chance to relieve some tension.

“Does Natasha prescribe something for it? The stress, I mean?” asked Laura, while glancing in the rear-view mirror at her mascara.

“A three-olive martini works for me. Care to join me?”

Laura shook her head. “Thanks, no. Elvis will be wondering what happened. We’ve already logged in fourteen hours today. All I want to do now is close my eyes.”

Laura was almost home when she drove past a liquor store, then slammed on her brakes and backed up.

Jack was relaxing on the sofa talking to Natasha when the phone rang.

“This stuff is awful!” said Laura. “How do you drink it?”

“Ah ... you are wise to phone the master martini maker,” replied Jack. “It is actually an acquired taste. For beginners, I recommend...”

Elvis saw Laura’s hand tremble as she slid a martini across the kitchen table toward him. He took a sip, grimaced, and then said, “So, you set the alarm clock for four?”

Laura nodded.

“Pretty early.”

Laura took a swallow but held the glass with both hands to try to stop it from spilling.

“Are you going to tell me about it?”

Laura peered at him from over her glass but didn’t reply.

“Something bad happened today ... or tonight.”

Laura put her glass back down on the table and her eyes opened wider as she feigned surprise.

Elvis’s face reddened and he said, “Don’t lie to me, Laura! Don’t give me that act surprised, show concern, deny, deny, deny routine. You narcs do it so much that it has become a joke in our office. If you don’t – or can’t – tell me, fine, but respect me enough not to lie to me.”

Laura’s face went blank for a moment, then she started to cry. Elvis put his arms out to her. She quickly rose and then sat on his lap and held him tight.

“I respect you,” she sobbed, “and I love you more than anything. What happened today ... I really love you. This ... I can’t talk about it. Everything will be okay. Just trust me.”

Elvis held her but didn’t respond. What is going on?