Wisdom Spring, page 28
“Um, hold on,” she said, trying to sound indecisive. Then she and I had a heated discussion in the background. When it seemed like enough time, she said, “Okay, you win, but you better not screw me.”
“Funny you should say that, because when you worked for me, I had that thought often.” He was so smooth, he was somehow able to make a particularly sleazy comment sound almost sexy.
Jess turned red. He had hit a nerve.
“Do you want the directions?” Jess asked. Her throat suddenly dry. I squeezed her hand in support.
She gave them to him and said, “Four o’clock sharp.”
Chapter 44
We waited. There was nothing more we could do. Certain things had to fall into place before we could take our turn onstage. Forty-five minutes after Jess’s talk with Hillstrom, the phone rang. It was a friend of Scott’s from the airport. Scott had asked him to call if a planeload of men showed up. He told Scott that a private jet had just landed and fourteen men with rifle cases had gotten out and rented three vehicles, then sped off. Scott thanked him and radioed Ollie. Cell phone coverage was nonexistent in the quarry, so Ollie had brought down some state-of-the-art communication equipment. Ollie thanked him and said he’d be in touch.
At two o’clock Ollie radioed back.
“Position secure,” he reported. “Three enemy dead, the rest are piled up in a corner, hands, feet, and mouths all duct taped.”
“Piled?” I asked.
“Yeah,” said Scott. “He probably really means piled. Time for us to head out. Mill, I want you to stay here and listen for a call. I’m expecting there will be another plane on its way before or after Hillstrom comes in. My friend at the airport will call if they land. You’ll have to radio Ollie immediately.”
“I think I can handle that. Be careful, all of you.”
Scott let Ollie know we were on our way, and then we set off. We arrived at 3:30 and parked next to the three rented vehicles. Before we headed down to the quarry, Scott took off his license plates. He put them under his seat, covered up the vehicle identification number in the windshield, and locked the doors.
“I could wiggle out of any questions about my land,” said Scott. “My truck being here is another story. Better to remain as anonymous as possible.”
We walked to the quarry, once again Max leading the way. When we arrived, Ollie came out of hiding from behind a rock. There was no evidence of the three dead or the ‘pile’ of live ones. Scott shook Ollie’s hand.
“It go okay?” he asked.
“And here I thought you had given us a challenge,” answered Ollie. “I don’t know what they were thinking. I would check out a position before just walking in.”
“I think they were figuring on getting here before anyone else, and at the most, just Jon and Jess being here.” He introduced us and Ollie took a long look at Jess.
“Read about you online. These people are stupid. Anyone with any sense would know by looking at you that you didn’t kill those four people. Anyway, nice to meet you.” He shook Joe’s hand, greeting him like an old friend. Joe had more than proven himself in Ollie’s eyes.
“We have four people on the walls and three, including me, in the woods. You guys don’t have anything to worry about. Besides, the group you’re waiting for are going to expect you to be dead or captured.”
His radio clicked twice. “They just pulled in. We’ve got your back.”
I was a little nervous. I was finally going to meet the famous Gary Hillstrom.
Five minutes later, six people walked into the open quarry area. Four were obviously security personnel, with Hillstrom in the middle. The one in front, however, was different. He was dressed casually, but there was nothing casual about him. Former military, I figured. Maybe even former spy. He was definitely in charge.
I glanced at Joe. He had a high quality video camera hidden in his hand to document the event. He glanced back with an almost imperceptible nod.
They looked around in surprise. All but the leader. He just looked wary. With no cell service in the area to be able to check in with their men, and with the three rentals in the parking area, I’m sure they were expecting everything to be secure.
“Hi Gary,” said Jess. “I’m sure this isn’t exactly what you were expecting.”
“I’m not sure what you mean, Jess,” responded Hillstrom in an innocent voice tinged with a fair amount of fear. “Anyway, you got us here, so what do you have to say?”
“I’d like to know who this guy is, “ I said, pointing to the one in front.
“Who are you?” asked Hillstrom.
“Jon.”
“You must be the mysterious good Samaritan.”
I saw a slight movement from one of the guards. He had something in his hand. It wasn’t a gun. I suddenly realized what it was.
“Tell your man to throw his camera over here right now.” He must have been told to get a camera shot of me, probably to send back to their headquarters.
No one moved or said anything.
“You sent fourteen men up here ahead of you. Do you see those men? Your man has until the count of three to throw me the camera or he will be lying in a pool of blood, his brains splattered all over you. One … two … “ The camera flew in my direction and landed at my feet. I picked it up and threw it against the rocks, smashing it.
“Smart choice.” Focusing on the leader, I said, “Again, tell me who you are.”
“Mel Hutchinson. Head of security for Senator Hillstrom.”
“Yeah, and probably some other duties as well. All yours.” I motioned to Jess.
“Are you sure you want to hear all this in front of your security?” Jess asked. “Probably better to hear it alone.”
It was clear that Hillstrom wanted exactly that, but he looked at Hutchinson.
His security chief answered for him. “You can tell us all.”
“Maybe I should meet them alone,” said Hillstrom, a slight quaver in his voice.
“They can tell us all,” Hutchinson repeated.
Hillstrom looked scared, but he didn’t protest.
“Okay, your choice,” said Jess. “First of all, the mine at Wisdom Spring wasn’t blown up. It’s very much in one piece.”
I saw Hutchinson’s expression and could tell it was news to them. They obviously hadn’t sent anyone to check it out, relying on bad information. Part of me could understand. Down in the states it would have been simple to verify. But the remoteness of Wisdom Spring made everything just that much more difficult. If they were sure of the validity of the information, checking it out could go on the back burner.
Jess continued. “We brought out six boxes of the most important files. We saw all the dead people too.
Now this was interesting, I thought. The response from both Hillstrom and Hutchinson was one of genuine surprise. Hutchinson was being kept in the dark about some aspects of the organization. Jess caught the reaction, too.
“Hmm. Neither of you knew about it, did you?”
They didn’t respond.
“Gary, back when you were Ben Fremont, you once told someone that the hardest part of living in Wisdom Spring was that as soon as you would make a friend, the friend would be gone.”
“Who did I tell that to?” That caught his attention.
“Your only friend in Homer. The only one you didn’t kill, that is.”
Hutchinson looked at him as if to say, “You left someone alive?”
“Clyde?” Hillstrom’s eyes were far away.
“The one and the same. He wonders why you never came back to see him, by the way. But back to the point: Do you know why those kids went away? Many of them were murdered. Their bodies are stored in the mine. A lot of adults too. The climate in there has kept them from decomposing. They are sort of mummified now.” She reached into her jacket and pulled out some of the pictures I had taken and handed them to him. “Anyone you recognize there? Any old friends?”
Jess was really taking it to him, pulling no punches. Hillstrom and Hutchinson both looked at the pictures in amazement. Hutchinson didn’t seem bothered by them, just annoyed that he hadn’t known.
“You’re disturbed by the pictures, Gary, aren’t you? What baffles me is why these pictures can disturb you, but killing ten people in Homer was so easy.”
Hillstrom started to say something and Hutchinson said, “Shut up, Gary.”
“That’s fine,” said Jess. “I’m sure you’ll tell us later.”
I was amazed. Jess was relentless. After weeks on the run, this was cathartic for her. She proceeded to tell him a few more of the facts we had uncovered, and then came to the part we were hoping would break him.
“I told you on the phone that you were in line to be assassinated by your own people.”
Hutchinson whirled his head to look at Hillstrom.
“My guess,” I spoke up, “is that your friend Hutchinson, here, is deeply involved. Maybe he’s the one who was going to deliver the shot.”
“You see,” continued Jess, “once you are elected, you have no more value. They probably consider you way too soft for the job, and maybe a little too popular. By killing you, they achieve two purposes: First, they can blame whoever they want—whatever foreign government they want eliminated. The American people will be behind the new president all the way. Second, they put someone in office who can do the job the way they want it done. Maybe someone a little more in line with their goals, and not his own. See, we came to the conclusion that they must have known early on what your strengths and weaknesses were. We don’t know if they pegged you to take the presidency right away, or—the more likely scenario—they figured that as a senator your charm could sway almost anyone in Congress. And as they added more and more of their own people in the House and Senate, your influence would grow. We think it was only after seeing your following did they realize your presidential possibilities. Basically, Gary, you were used. You were used from the time you arrived at Wisdom Spring. You knew you had a mission. You just didn’t know that they were going to double-cross you. The fact is, you were destined to die, just like your friends. It just took another fifty years or so for them to get around to it.”
Jess suddenly put her hands to her head and squatted down. I knew what was happening, as did Scott and the formerly disbelieving Joe, but the others looked confused.
“Don’t anyone move,” I said. “You just stand and wait.”
It didn’t take long, only three or four minutes. Jess took her hands away and stood up.
“What I’d like to know is this. Which one of you ordered the death of my parents?”
Hillstrom looked confused. “Who are your parents?”
Hutchinson didn’t say a word.
“My father came across information linking you to Homer. He left me clues, and after you killed my friends, I discovered those clues. So which one of you killed them, along with hundreds of others on that ferry boat in India?”
Jess by this time knew it wasn’t Hillstrom, but she was hoping she could get a name from him.
Hillstrom wheeled around to face Hutchinson. “So the ferry boat wasn’t an accident! I suspected you had a hand in it, I just didn’t know why.”
“Shut up!”
“Why? It’s all going to come out now. This campaign is shot to hell. As is the organization. Why did you do it?” He turned to Jess. “I didn’t kill them, Jess. And I didn’t kill your friends.”
“You idiot,” shouted Hutchinson. Realizing himself now that it was all coming to an end, he lowered his head and said, “Mays was responsible for the ferry. I had nothing to do with that. I also had no idea that that reporter was your father. As I said, that was Mays’s work.”
All of a sudden we heard sounds from the path. A half a dozen men emerged, some in a panic mode as they saw the men on the cliff. A few raised their weapons.
Gunfire rained down from the top of the cliff and the six were cut to ribbons. The four with Hillstrom made the mistake of raising their guns, and they too went down. Hutchinson hurriedly raised his pistol and shot Hillstrom in the stomach. He got off a second round as I pushed Jess down and fell on her. Hutchinson was taken out with a fusillade of bullets from Ollie’s men on the cliff. And then it was silent.
I looked over to make sure Scott was okay, and started to get up. Scott looked back at me with an expression of horror.
“Jon, you’re hit!” He came running over.
I couldn’t feel any pain, but my shirt was covered in blood. I looked down at Jess and found the source. She was lying there white as a ghost, eyes closed and head turned to the side. A red stain originating from the center of her chest had already soaked her shirt. A small pool of blood was beginning to form next to her body.
“Noooooooo!” I screamed.
Scott pushed me out of the way and started methodically working on Jess. He handed me his keys and told me to run to the truck and get his medical kit. I didn’t want to leave Jess, but knew there was nothing I could do. Joe, meanwhile, was checking Hillstrom. I didn’t bother to see how badly he had been shot—I really didn’t care—but I heard Joe say that he was still alive. It took forever to go the quarter of a mile to the truck. When I got there, I was shaking so badly, I couldn’t get the key in the lock. Finally, I got the door open and found the case behind the driver’s seat. It was heavy, and going back seemed to take twice the time. Ollie and his men passed me as I reached the quarry. I heard Ollie yell out a “Good luck.” When I made it to them, Scott was covered in Jess’s blood.
He opened the kit and took out bandages and other items. He worked quickly and talked while he worked.
“I told Ollie to call EMS on his radio and explain that I was here and needed a couple of ambulances and that Jess might need to be airlifted to Anchorage. I haven’t had time to check on Hillstrom. Joe is doing what he can. Jess needs my full attention. I told Ollie to get his guys out of here and get home before the police arrive. As far as I’m concerned, they didn’t exist. They’re going to take the rentals Hillstrom’s men used to get back to the airport.” He looked at me intently, “Jon, Jess is in really bad shape. She’s stopped breathing twice already.”
Chapter 45
“Daddy?”
“Hi Punkin.”
He was in front of her, looking wonderful. There was a calmness about him. A confidence that comforted her. She knew though, that she couldn’t hug him. It had been so long though.…
“I don’t … I don’t … understand. Where am I?”
“I know it’s a little confusing, but I can’t really tell you.”
“Can’t, or won’t?”
“A little bit of each.”
“What happened?”
“You were shot.” There was a sadness in his voice and face that she picked up on.
“Am I dead?”
“That’s up to you.”
It didn’t make sense to her. How could it be up to her?
“Is this heaven?”
“No, but some people mistake it for heaven.”
“Daddy, I’m not understanding any of this.”
“I know, and I’m sorry about that. If you were staying, you would understand, but you are not staying. It’s important that you go back.”
“But I want to be with you. I want to stay.”
“You can’t. You need to go back. It’s not your time yet. And Jon needs you.”
“But you said it’s up to me.”
“Ultimately it is. I’m asking you to go back. Listen to your father.”
He used to say that, and always followed it with a grin. The grin appeared, and she felt a warmth course through her body. Was it a body? It seemed lighter somehow, and brighter. Was that why she knew she couldn’t hug him?
“But before you go back, I wanted to tell you how proud your mom and I are of you. This wasn’t easy, but you fought your way through it.”
“Where is mom?”
“She’s close. But we don’t have a lot of time. Do you have any questions for me?”
He was referring to the Hillstrom affair. She was obviously not going to get any more information about where she was.
“How much did you know?” she asked.
“Not as much as you might think, but in some ways more than you could imagine.”
“A riddle?”
“Sort of. I learned about Ben Fremont when I was in Homer strictly by accident, as you discovered. I found out about the deaths of his co-workers and was able to do a little research, where I learned of his association with Exchange Systems. I wondered if it was a front for something else, but I couldn’t prove anything. I went to a colleague at the Post, someone more suited for this kind of research. He died in a car accident a month later. Another death on the heads of this group. Let the authorities know that George Simpson was another murder they should look into. At that point, I didn’t realize he’d been murdered and I kind of dropped it, figuring I’d investigate it here and there in my spare time. That’s when your mom and I went to India. You know what happened then.”
Jess could feel tears streaming down her face.
“Don’t cry, Punkin. We’re really very happy.”
Jess tried to compose herself.
“But how were you able to lead me up to Alaska?”
“That’s a little harder to explain. There are some things that even I don’t fully understand. Instead of moving on, as I normally would and as your mom did, I was given a choice to stay here. I was able to watch you, and the things happening around you.”
“You could see everything?” Was it possible to blush where she was?
“I closed my eyes when I had to.” He had that grin again. “No, it’s not like I was watching you. I didn’t word that right. It’s more like I was with you in spirit. But I was aware of the things you were facing—anything that might affect you. It’s why I was able to keep you from going into your office that morning. It’s why I was able to get you onto that highway in time for Jon to drive by. Jon picking you up was totally his choice. I had nothing to do with that. And yet, I knew he would.”
