Line of Fire Page 23

  “I ain’t no body,” Cody growled.

  “You will be, old man. It’s not like I want to do this—I actually kind of liked you. But business is business. Before we get down to it, though, I want you to tell me where you stashed the girl.”

  I edged to the door, daring a peek inside. Good. Kirt’s back was to me. I could only see a slice of Cody’s arm. Kirt wouldn’t be too much of a challenge to best with his wounded right arm.

  “What girl? What are you talking about?” Cody asked.

  “Jenny Vandyke. I saw you out in front of that restaurant just like we were, scoping her out. So where is she?”

  “I didn’t see you there, and I don’t have her. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Was it just me or did Cody not seem surprised at the accusation?

  “I think you do. Believe me, this is something you shouldn’t mess with because it means a lot to the guys I report to. You don’t want to get in their way.”

  “I didn’t kidnap anyone, and even if I had, what makes you think I’d hand her over?”

  “You will if you value your life.”

  Cody snorted. “You said you was going to kill me. You think I’d give up a little girl just so you can shoot me? I ain’t stupid.” Like you, Cody’s tone insinuated. “So yeah, I have her, and I ain’t telling where. There. Now you can’t shoot me.”

  “I’ll do it anyway, old man. I’ll find her without you.” Venom laced Kirt’s voice.

  Cody might think he’d found a way out of getting shot, but he’d antagonized Kirt so much that the hothead wasn’t seeing reason.

  I took a step forward, raising my hand with the pistol.

  An arm snaked around my neck at the same time a big hand closed over mine. “I’ll take that back,” said a voice I recognized as Dale’s.

  Great. So much for supposedly using enough twine. I hoped I’d done better with the guy in the van.

  Dale marched me into the room.

  Kirt looked up, annoyed, his gun still trained on Cody. “I told you to take her to the van with the others.” His eyes narrowed. “What happened to your face?”

  I turned to look and saw that Dale’s face did look bad, especially his nose, which was obviously broken.

  Dale’s arm tightened around my neck, forcing me to look forward. “She got away for a bit. I don’t know what she might have done. Maybe she called the cops. Or them sheriff’s deputies.”

  “That’s exactly what I did,” I choked out.

  “Relax,” Kirt said to Dale. “The sheriffs and the cops are covered. Don’t choke her to death. Not yet.” Kirt smirked at me as Dale’s grip lessened. “Think you’re real smart, don’t you, Ms. Rain? Well, since you’re here, you might as well watch how we do things. This old man is holding out on us and he thinks that might save his sorry self, but what he doesn’t know is that we are searching his property right now, including the rentals we discovered he owns.”

  “The cops already searched everything,” Cody said.

  “Maybe not. Maybe they don’t know yet about the properties you bought under that new corporation you formed. Maybe someone discovered that little tidbit but didn’t think it necessary to tell the deputies yet. Make no mistake, we’ll find that girl. We don’t need you.” He glanced at his gun, smaller than Dale’s, a 9mm maybe. Still able to kill.

  I wasn’t going to stand by and watch him shoot my own flesh and blood, no matter that Cody had never been and never would be any kind of a father to me. Maybe their greed for my talent would be enough to keep me from getting shot.

  Maybe.

  I whirled from Dale’s loosened grip and sent a blow to his face that likely broke more bones. He howled but had the presence of mind to bring up his gun, angling it toward me.

  Unless Kirt ordered him to stop in the next second, I was going to die.

  Cody lunged for Dale’s arm, and a silenced shot whirred from the .45, slamming into the wall behind me.

  I lashed out, chopping my hand down on Dale’s and following closely with a kick to his ribs. Not to be outdone, Cody threw a punch and then another, and Dale fell to the floor.

  I looked around for Kirt, but he already lay unconscious.

  “He was distracted,” Cody said with a shrug. “I hit him on his shoulder where he was shot. That boy is a wimp. Knew it the first time I laid eyes on him. Come on, now.” He ripped Dale’s shirt and wrapped it around the butt of Dale’s .45 before grabbing it. I was surprised after almost getting killed that Cody had the presence of mind to protect himself from imprints. Half the time I still made that mistake. Maybe by the time I was in my sixties, I’d remember every time.

  “We got to get the rest of his guys so we can free those girls.”

  “I took care of that. The girls are waiting for us in the van.” I hoped.

  He tucked the gun into his coat pocket. “We’d better hurry. I heard him say he had a crew coming to torch the place. We’d better not be here when they arrive.”

  “Here,” I said, passing him the holster I’d taken earlier from Dale. “It’s safe. No imprints on it to speak of.”

  “Thanks.”

  Cody clipped it on while I searched Kirt’s body, finding my cell phone and battery. I didn’t take Kirt’s gun, but I added his magazine to my stash. If there was more shooting to be done, Cody would have to take care of it. I was better with my hands.

  We hurried down the hall to the back entry where we found Tiny tied so well that whoever found him would have a hard time freeing him. The girls had also plastered tape over his mouth, but his eyes stared at us murderously. Next to him lay a more complacent Harrison, with additional ties on his hands and feet. They’d done quite well without me, these runaways.

  Cody was limping. “It’s not much further,” I said. He scowled at me and pushed ahead.

  Several of the girls met us at the top of the ramp. “We found some clothes,” said the girl who had the lighter. “The girls changed and are in the van. We found your boots, too, and his shoes. Saved ’em for you.”

  “Gotta get away from here,” Cody reminded me. “More bad guys on the way.”

  “We should call the police,” another girl said.

  “I have my phone. I’ll call as soon as we’re away from here.” I worried, though, about calling the police or the sheriff’s office. Kirt had said they were no problem, and what that meant for us was that I didn’t know who to trust. I’d have to call Shannon and talk it over with him. Maybe he’d have an idea that would keep us all safe.

  Cody took shotgun, while I climbed into the driver’s seat, rifling through my pockets for the keys, glad for my gloved hands. I glanced behind at the girls who sat shoulder to shoulder on the seats and floor, packed in like eggs that might break at any rough turn. Excitement gleamed in their eyes.

  I pushed on the gas and peeled away. How far to go before we could be safe? It was late, and not many people were on the road. The white van felt like a neon sign screaming “We’re here! Come and get us!”

  “We need to dump this van,” I said, skidding around a corner.

  “What about the police?” asked the tough girl, who was crouched in the space between the two front seats. She now wore a short-sleeved shirt that matched her blue hair, and she rubbed her arms for warmth, which made me wish I’d retrieved my coat for her before we’d left the mortuary. Her face, illuminated by the bright moonlight, was young and animated, though the nose ring somewhat dampened the effect. “Someone said you was going to call them.”

  “Right.” I should have let her or Cody drive while I called, but Cody was obviously in pain and she wasn’t old enough. Besides, I’d had experience in exactly one car chase, which made me the expert here.

  I put in the battery and turned on my phone, flipping over to the screen that had the icon of Shannon’s face. I chose the telephone option and held it to my ear.

  Three rings. Four. Then a brief pause and more ringing. “Hello?” said a voice.

  It wasn’t Shannon.<
br />
  “Who’s this?” I asked.

  “Commander Huish. Is this Ms. Rain? Where are you?”

  Fear rippled through me. “Why do you have Shannon’s phone?”

  “I don’t. He went to look for you. Said he had an idea about something. He forwarded his calls to me in case he didn’t pick up.”

  Maybe. Or maybe Commander Huish was the man working with the criminals. If he’d sold out, he would have plenty of money to pay his wife’s bills and get his son into rehab. I couldn’t trust him. There was too much at stake.

  Even now they could be tracking me by using cell phone towers, both the good guys and the bad ones. “How do I know you’re not working with Kirt and his goons?” I asked.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Cody Beckett and I were kidnapped by Kirt from the gas station and taken to that house I told you about. An old mortuary.” The house that Huish had been so interested in. “Unfortunately for them, we escaped.”

  “Where are you now?”

  I made a quick decision. “I can’t tell you that. Not until I know what side you’re on.”

  “I’m on yours, of course. Now where are you? We have to get you safe. You can trust me.”

  “Oh, come on. Someone replaced evidence right under your nose. Your detectives have failed to find any clue to Jenny’s whereabouts in two weeks. You knew I was going to Jonathan’s, where I was jumped. How do I know you didn’t send those thugs after me? How do I know you don’t have Shannon tied up somewhere?”

  Silence on the phone and then, “You’re right. There has been some questionable stuff going on, but I’m not involved. I swear to you, Ms. Rain. I only want to find Jenny and get the men responsible for everything that’s going on behind bars.”

  It sounded like the truth. I couldn’t imagine Shannon forwarding his calls to the commander, unless he was sure Huish was clean, so either Huish was telling the truth or Huish had somehow relieved Shannon of his phone. How could I be sure?

  “Please, trust me, Ms. Rain. Where are you?”

  “Where’s Detective Martin?” I countered.

  “I don’t know. I’m waiting for an update. Come in and we’ll find him together.”

  I clicked my phone off.

  Cody looked at me, one brow raised. “Commander Huish,” I said. “But I don’t know if he can be trusted.” There was plea in my voice, though I wasn’t sure he heard it. I hated myself for it, for expecting leadership from a man who had done my mother so much harm.

  Cody’s jaw jutted forward. “The hospital,” he said. “The girls should go anyway. The doctors will wrap them in so much protocol that it’ll be impossible for anyone to get to them. Plus we should call the media. That should do it.”

  “They may have my friend, Detective Martin.”

  Cody grimaced. “They might kill him if it hits the news. Cut their losses.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.”

  The tough girl had been following our conversation, her face swinging first to me and then to Cody. “What about your phone?” she asked. “Doesn’t it have a GPS feature? Maybe your friend has his on. You could find him then. Even if they’ve taken away his phone. As long as it’s still on, that is.”

  I blinked at her, nearly steering off the road. Shannon always kept his locator on. His phone could lead me to him.

  Unless, of course, Huish had stashed his body somewhere else. How likely was that?

  I had to try.

  “Hospital first,” I said. “Then I’ll turn on my GPS.”

  Because once I did, not only would I be able to find Shannon’s phone, but whoever had it would also be able to track me.

  Chapter 20

  The drop-off at the Salem hospital went more smoothly than the last visit I’d made to the place. After I explained to the woman at the information desk about the girls being kidnapped, two hospital administrators, three doctors, and six nurses appeared and began caring for them right there in the lobby. I heard one administrator on the phone with the police.

  I edged to the outskirts of the commotion, thinking about Kirt’s cousin and wondering if he was still unconscious. “You should tell the police and whoever shows up from the sheriff’s office that he’s connected to the case,” I told Cody. “They can’t all be on the take. Maybe he’ll regain consciousness long enough to give the police the whereabouts to any other location where they might have Shannon.”

  Cody grabbed my arm and hurried me toward the entrance. “Don’t look now, but there’s a deputy. Must have been one of the men assigned to watch that guy you’re talking about.”

  He was right. I had to get away before more deputies showed up.

  I headed toward the van, which I’d left on the street this time. The outside air was so cold, it hurt to breathe, and once again I longed for my coat.

  As I walked, I turned on my phone and found the GPS icon. “Here goes,” I told Cody, who was shuffling alongside me as fast as his hurt leg allowed. “Let’s see. I think I push friends. There. He’s coming up.” The icon of Shannon’s face popped up, as well as my own. Tracy was on the list and so was my sister and Jake, though they were still far away in Portland. I enlarged the map around Shannon’s icon.

  “Do you recognize this place?” I held the phone out for Cody to see. “It was updated fifteen minutes ago, which means Shannon’s phone was there then.”

  Cody studied the map. “It’s just outside Hayesville. Unicorporated land like mine.”

  So, not the sheriff’s office. Had Huish been telling the truth? No, I couldn’t jump to that conclusion. For all I knew, Huish had also been at that location when I’d called. At least it wasn’t the sheriff’s office, which would have been nearly impossible for me to break into, much less break Shannon out of.

  As we reached the van, I pushed the option to ping Shannon for a checkin, but there was no answering change in his location.

  Sighing, I dragged the driver’s door open, wishing I had some other form of transportation, though the idea of using their own vehicle to find Shannon was deliciously ironic.

  I was surprised when Cody climbed into the passenger seat. “What are you doing?”

  “Going along for the ride.”

  “You should get that leg fixed.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “You don’t have to come with me.”

  “I know. But the cops will only keep me up all night with questions anyway, especially if they find me with those girls. They still think I have Jenny Vandyke.”

  “And do you?”

  He gave me a flat stare. “The sooner you get going, the sooner we’ll be able to find your boyfriend.”

  I hit the gas. I suspected he was using me to get away, but it wasn’t as if I could throw him out of the van. Besides, he had a gun, and he seemed to have as low an opinion of the drug runners as I did. He might be of some help.

  If he didn’t end up shooting me first.

  We followed Shannon’s icon for five more minutes until it abruptly winked out. “What does that mean?” Cody asked.

  “His GPS locator was turned off, I think. Or maybe the phone has been hard shut off. Or broken. I’m not really sure.”

  “I don’t know much about those things, but you’d better turn yours off, just in case they have his phone and can still track you.”

  Or maybe Cody wanted me without a phone. Mistrust threatened to immobilize me. I swallowed hard. No, I needed to trust someone. He hadn’t given me any promises, so maybe that made him the best person to trust.

  I held the button on my phone that would shut it down completely. Then I removed the battery. Better safe than sorry.

  “You still remember where it was?” I asked.

  “Sure. No problem.”

  Obviously, I hadn’t inherited my directional impairedness from him.

  For ten more minutes I drove in a silence broken only by Cody’s gruff directions. Then he said, “Maybe you should just go back to Portland. Talk to the poli
ce there. Let them find your detective.”

  I shook my head. “It might be too late.”

  “You care about him, don’t you?”

  I felt Cody’s eyes on me. I didn’t want to answer, but I did. “Yes.”

  “Turn left here,” was his only reply. I obliged, driving onto what must have been a dirt road, given the snow-covered ruts. We were lucky the snow and mud had frozen enough that the tires didn’t sink.

  A short while later, we left the van behind a couple of trees, which wouldn’t hide anything during the day but was adequate for now. On foot we followed another dirt road about half the width, its surface completely hidden by tire-packed snow. I was grateful the girls had found my boots and wondered if my coat was part of a bonfire in the mortuary by now. “I didn’t like that coat anyway,” I muttered. Bad karma and all with that bullet hole.

  Cody’s coat was missing, too, though he’d had it when he’d joined the girls in the van. He was limping worse, but he didn’t look cold in the flannel shirt he wore. Probably he was used to working outside in this weather. I realized I knew next to nothing about this man who was biologically my father.

  “I’ve seen these buildings before,” Cody said as we spied a group of three buildings in a large clearing. “Used to belong to some farmer. Been deserted a long time now.”

  “Not anymore.” Half a dozen cars and another van parked outside the middle building, which seemed to be more of a storage shed than a house or barn. Maybe it had once held tractors and other equipment. The foremost building was a tiny house, whose roof was missing. The largest structure on the far side looked like a barn and had humongous tarps spread over the roof. Something was being protected there.

  “Another drug house?” I asked. “Why didn’t they take the girls here? Looks bigger.”

  Cody grunted. “Too run down, maybe? There’ll be no heat or running water. Can’t have the girls freezing to death. Besides, it’s not the sort of place they can bring customers.”