Shadow of Death, page 25
Nothing would happen to Amy or Aidan until the next morning.
They hadn’t been led to a headquarters—just to an old shack that was used to hold prisoners, the “sinners” for the “sacrifice.”
Hunter needed to back away through the saw grass and communicate with Ryan and Sean.
He didn’t intend to leave the area.
He’d be damned if he’d be far from the old shack until Amy and Aidan were out of it.
But there were things he needed to know as well.
If the “Archangel” was safe and secure but somewhere close enough to be able to come and inspect his prisoners, where was that place?
And just where did these people intend for their sacrifice to take place?
He started to rise. The man was talking again, talking to Amy, his head close to hers where it lay in the bunk.
“Oh, my beauty, don’t be afraid! I would never hurt you. No, you’re not going to be hurt. Tomorrow, they’ll cut your heart out and save you from your sins, but you needn’t fear me! I will guard you with my life through the night!”
“You’ll guard her?” the other asked.
“We’ll guard her. But you fall asleep all the time. I am the Archangel’s true warrior!”
“No. I will be as great a warrior!”
“Yeah, well, we’ll see. Ah, my dark-haired beauty! You are luscious! If only! But I am a man who will have immortality. If only the Apocalypse was not upon us! I could have shown you such a good time!”
Stay the course, Hunter reminded himself. Amy knew what she was doing. Tomorrow was the time when they would need to be close.
When, if nothing else, they would discover the Archangel.
Now, it was just a waiting game.
Wherever the place of sacrifice was to be at the full rise of the sun, he would be there. The law would be there, in force.
He might not know the area as Amy did, but he had learned enough to hide himself in a makeshift shelter through the night and not be seen—while still being able to see.
He would not be far from Amy. He would not be far at all.
* * *
Amy had no problem feigning terror of her captors. But she also knew that they were just as frightened as she was.
Well, they had their answers about Don Blake.
But he had just been a player! Even when she was the one who pulled the trigger—or more especially when she was the one who pulled the trigger—it was horrible to watch a man die. And maybe Don had been as much a victim as many others, believing a lie that had been told to him over and over.
Equally, she was certain her captor who had shot Don was afraid. It was clear they must follow the directive to a T—or wind up half eaten by an alligator or killing oneself with a hospital needle intended to save lives, not take them.
Eventually, her captor tired of taunting her. He moved away from Amy, almost as if he was afraid he might be burned by her. Of course, he was human. He was intrigued. He held a female victim captive, and that power alone probably stirred something in him.
Something he dared not follow.
“Hey, we have beer in that cooler around the side, right?” he asked his companion.
“Yeah. I didn’t ask, but I wasn’t told we weren’t allowed to bring any. Maybe I was afraid to ask!” he added. “But, heck, you know, Don was right about one thing. It’s hot out here, sticky—and the mosquitoes want to make blood sacrifices out of all of us!”
He wanted it to be a joke. His companion didn’t laugh.
“I’m going for a beer.”
He walked out, followed by the second man.
As soon as they were gone, Amy spoke softly. “Aidan?”
“I’m right down here. Can’t go anywhere,” he said dryly.
“Well, you can, and you must, if they drink enough beer.”
“What?” Aidan demanded in a terse whisper. “Amy, I’m not a trained agent, but I have taken dozens of classes, worked at the range... I’m okay! I’m here with you. We’ll get these people, I swear it. We know nothing is going to happen until tomorrow—”
“Aidan, we need to make sure the others know, and they’re prepared. And here’s the thing. Our best techs—FDLE, FBI, all the rest—need to find out where the hell the Archangel is based. He’s not out here—not out here sweating and getting mosquito-bitten! Aidan, I’m barely tied. They seem to think a girl is no threat. I can get out of these ropes binding my wrists and ankles. And when I do, you disappear!”
“Amy, I can’t leave you here alone—”
“You must. They want a female sacrifice. Getting to kill you, too, is just like icing on the cake. But, Aidan, I must be here—I am the cake. And please remember, I am a trained agent. You have to get out there and make sure when they take me out in the morning, our people are there following every step of the way.”
“They are out there.”
“Aidan—”
“Amy.”
“Please!” she whispered fiercely before going silent. The door had opened; their captors were returning.
The one man, the tall one, walked over to stare down at Amy again. A mosquito buzzed by. He shook his head.
“I’ll get some spray. You’re not supposed to be all bitten up. You know, I’m sorry. We’re not supposed to torture you. We aren’t judges. That’s for later. You don’t know how lucky you are. We had others... Well, only one can really be the key sacrifice. I mean, we’ll try to help your boyfriend, too, but there’s one at each occasion. We’ve tried to help others, I believe, but we can’t do this ceremony for just everyone.”
She didn’t reply.
He walked away from the cot and dug into a bag. When he returned, she caught the smell of something else before he rained bug spray around the area where she and Aidan lay.
Beer. She had a feeling he’d consumed more than one can or bottle.
A few minutes later, his companion walked in. He weaved a little as he walked.
Definitely more than one can or bottle.
As time went by, the two of them kept going out. Of course. It was boring—no television, not even a radio. It didn’t seem either of them carried a tablet of any kind—or so much as a paperback novel.
They were getting bitten. Amy saw the one wince and slap his neck. And they were hot, it appeared.
Sweating.
Weren’t they all?
Night finally fell. She watched the one man lie down on the bedroll across the shack from her and Aidan. She wasn’t sure where the other one was. She imagined he was back out with the beer.
She waited. It wasn’t that long before she heard the man snoring.
She was basically still while testing the ropes that tied her wrists together. They weren’t bound behind her back, but right in front of her.
The two men really weren’t expecting much trouble from a woman.
She brought the knot to her teeth, wincing at the rough feel of the rope, but working away at it. In just a matter of minutes, the knot began to give. A little more effort...
And she was free.
The knot on the ropes binding her ankles was even more poorly tied. That one took just her fingers a few seconds.
She rose carefully, watching the sleeping man and keeping her eye on the door. Crawling down carefully, she reached Aidan’s side.
She clamped her hand over Aidan’s mouth and shook her head.
Aidan’s wrists had been bound behind his back so she twisted him around. But even that knot had been poorly secured, and she had freed first his wrists and then his ankles.
The man on the floor kept snoring.
She shook her head as she carefully moved toward the door and sought out the second man. When she looked outside, she saw he was on a tree stump near the shack with his back and head rested against the outer wooden wall. His mouth was open.
He, too, was snoring.
“Aidan, go,” she ordered.
“Amy!”
“I’m begging you. They’re going to think you are an awful louse, a terrible coward,” she said, managing a wry grin. “You’ve got to get back to Hunter and the others and make sure they know what is going on. And they need to know Don Blake was in on this, but he wasn’t running anything, he’s dead.”
“You know Hunter is close. He probably knows already.”
“I do know he’s close, and I’m counting on it. But we don’t know what he saw. We must let this get as close as possible to... Well, we have to play it out. He’ll know when to...when to stop it.”
“Before you die,” Aidan said.
She nodded. “I will be fine! But we must catch this person, Aidan. Please! Go, go quick so I can retie myself!”
He stared at her a moment longer and tried one last time. “Amy, at least let me stay with you.”
“Aidan, please. Make sure I’m saved tomorrow—” Amy grinned reassuringly “—and not from my sins. I’d like to keep my heart in my chest!”
At last, he looked at her, nodded, checked out the drunken man snoring open-mouthed against the wall, and agreed.
He ducked low and, despite the moonlight, disappeared into the tall saw grass surrounding the shack.
Amy quickly returned to her cot. She gathered the ropes and retied her ankles and then her wrists. Even so awkwardly, it was difficult to make the knot look as poorly tied as the one her captors had set on her.
She laid back down, closed her eyes, and even managed to doze off.
She would need all her facilities in the morning when the sun had fully risen.
* * *
Hunter quickly realized he’d startled Aidan, but to his credit, Aidan didn’t let out a sound. He shook his head, studying Hunter and the array of vines and foliage he’d donned to blend in well with the night.
They were too close to the shack to take a chance on conversation so Hunter motioned the two of them needed to move back to the old hunter’s shelter where the hammock rose an inch or so behind the tangled roots of several banyan trees.
“She made me leave!” Aidan told him. “She said it was important for you to know everything. A guy named Don Blake was involved—he was one of the guys who took us. But he couldn’t have been a bigwig because one of the other guys shot him. Who those guys are, I don’t know. They never took their masks off. The one man called whoever is the bigwig here—and Amy said you needed to get every tech department trying to figure out where he is. Apparently, the puppet master doesn’t like being hot and sticky and getting bitten by mosquitoes.”
“Neither Amy nor I ever met Don Blake, but we did suspect him,” Hunter told Aidan. “But I saw his face and I recognized him from pictures. We are lying low in this area tonight, ready to follow in the morning.”
“She said we need tech to try to find out where this top guy is. He’s somewhere close, but where there’s air-conditioning and creature comforts,” Aidan pressed.
Hunter nodded. He had to move his phone around for a minute to get a connection, but he did. It was late at night but Mickey Hampton answered his call on the first ring.
Hunter reported what was happening.
And told Mickey he’d be there through the night and would follow the kidnappers in the morning. Ryan and Sean were still in the field as well, across from his location on the other side of the broken-down shack.
He learned other units were still out in the field. There were units from both agencies; and while they were grateful for the FBI, FDLE was going to be in on this. It was Florida, and it was the life of a Florida agent that was at risk.
“Keep an open line the minute you begin following in the morning,” Mickey said.
“You got it, but I’ll have you on mute. I don’t want to give away my location.”
“Seriously? That’s a given, Hunter.”
“Right, sir. We know another archangel is appearing—and hopefully that will end the reign of this horseman, and maybe even show us the true master,” Hunter murmured.
“Let’s get these people tomorrow,” Mickey said. “Alive, if we can. We may need them to lead us onward—because a puppet master will come—but we’re not sure yet from where. I have another piece of news for you. Your suspect, Malcolm Barrington, owner of the advertising agency, isn’t answering his home phone or his work line. We sent plainclothes agents to his home. If he’s there, he’s ignoring everyone.”
“Right.”
They ended the call. He had barely hung up before the phone vibrated in his hands. Mickey was calling back.
“Banyan Bend,” Mickey said.
“Pardon me?”
“Ask Aidan about it. My secretary said our archangel might be there. The community is actually quite old—just west of the northern Broward County cities and barely out of the Everglades. In the 1920s, there was an architect who envisioned a community created to resemble a Norse fishing village, one that was accessible by water. Anyway, the original old houses are worth a small fortune. We’re going to start a discreet investigation. One of our techs grew up there, and he said he loved it when he was a kid—but the city government became wildly corrupt and used tax money for ridiculous art projects. They would fine people for putting trash out a minute before set-up time for pick-up. Imagine the worst homeowners association, and this city government makes it look like child’s play. Anyway, we are FDLE, and we’re going to begin some inquiries.”
“If any agents see someone heading out in a cape and cowl—”
“We’ll still have to follow through, Hunter. It’s not illegal to wear a cape and cowl.”
“I was about to say they need to make sure they don’t stop him. We need to catch him just about to...”
“Slice up Amy?”
“You know, we don’t have to verbalize it.”
“I know. It won’t happen. You’re out there.”
“Damned right.”
“All right. I’ve alerted Garza, and he’s using his federal power to discover what he can. You’ll be out there through the night.”
“With Sean, Ryan, and now Aidan,” Hunter assured him.
“Like I said, keep an open line. I want to clean this up.”
“Yes, sir.”
He ended the call and looked at Aidan. “You can rest—we can spell one another.”
Aidan grinned. “Okay, I’ll try. My people might have survived by running into the Everglades and hunkering down, and I do love my culture, but I live in an air-conditioned house now without mosquitoes.”
“Yeah, me, too. We’ll do our best.”
“Watch out for—”
“Spiders, snakes, and hmm, we’re kind of far from the embankment for an alligator—or a croc. But I do know to be wary.”
Aidan might live in air-conditioning, but he knew how to clear an area and make sure that, at least at the start, no other creatures would be resting with him.
Hunter watched the house, surprised he could be so alert as the hours went by.
His phone vibrated at about two in the morning. It was Ryan who wanted to assure him he and Sean were still across from them. There was no activity from their side of the shack, and they wouldn’t falter.
“Close your eyes for a while,” Aidan said, tapping him on the shoulder. “I slept. I really slept.”
Hunter nodded and closed his eyes. He believed he did doze. They were both awake as the sun began to rise.
And they watched. And waited.
* * *
Amy kept her eyes closed long after she had woken up. She pretended she didn’t hear what was going on.
Her two captors had awakened.
And discovered Aidan was no longer on his bunk. He was gone.
“Son of a bitch!” the one cried.
“He’s got to be right outside.”
“Why? You were awake, guarding the place?” the taller of the two demanded.
“Hey, I... What about you?”
“What kind of yellow-bellied coward runs and leaves a woman behind?”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. You know how deep in we are? Even if he started out, the idiot would never be able to find this place again. But I doubt if he got out. He’s probably shaking by some pond, staring at alligators. Or holding on to a tree or kicking a moccasin or something. He’s probably dead—he won’t cause a problem.”
“That’s it.”
“What’s it?”
“We say he’s already dead. We’ll tell the broad the same thing.”
“Right. Okay, we can lie to the Archangel, but...”
“For now, damn it, just do it! We can’t ruin the whole rite! I’m getting her ready. Don’t you dare screw this up!”
The other didn’t reply. Amy felt the tall one come near her, felt him shake her shoulder. He was wearing his mask as he looked down at her and said, “Up, sleeping beauty.” He untied her hands and then her ankles, turned to the table and found a garment in white fabric and threw it at her. “Get that on—now. Don’t make this hard.”
“Where’s my friend?” she asked.
“He ran. Sorry, we had to kill him.”
She lowered her head, feigning sobs. The fabric was pressed to her face.
“Put this on, now!”
“I—I can’t with you watching. And my friend...”
“Lady, we’ll turn around! Get that on.”
She’d seen a similar garment before. When Mateus had nearly killed a woman.
Today, she was to be that woman.
“I—I—”
They were both staring at her. The tall one looked at the other. “Turn around. We need to get her where she needs to be!”
To her relief, they both turned around.
Of course, even with them turned around...
She made a pretense of crying, of fumbling with buttons. And doing so, she slipped her little knife from the pocket in her jacket and, with no recourse, secured it with the elastic at the hipline of her panties.
