Wilderness Secrets, page 11
The kettle whistled, and a moment later, Abigail brought them each a cup of tea and then returned to get one for herself. She sat down on the couch a few feet from Jesse. After several sips of tea, Jesse could feel himself relaxing. It was still dark outside. The sun would be coming up shortly.
Dale asked Abigail several questions about where she was from and what she did for a living.
“And how did you get tangled up with this guy?” Dale sat back in his chair.
Abigail gazed over at Jesse. “That’s a long story.”
He thought he saw affection in her eyes. Of course, after all they had been through, they felt a bond toward each other. But was he sensing even deeper feelings?
“Once I’m sure she’s not going to be a target, I need to see she gets home safely,” said Jesse.
Abigail circled the rim of the mug with her finger and stared into her tea. “Yes, all of this has been very exciting, but I suppose I need to go back...home.”
He picked up on the pain in her voice.
Dale and Jesse talked and joked some about some of the investigations they had worked together on, and then Dale retreated to his worktable with the hard drive. “There’s sandwich stuff in the fridge if you two are hungry,” Dale called from across the room.
Jesse covered Abigail’s hand with his. “Let me get it. You got the tea.”
Abigail jumped to her feet. “I’ll help you. It’s not like I have something else to do.”
Jesse pulled cold cuts, cheese and condiments from the refrigerator while Abigail searched the cupboards for bread.
They made the sandwiches and sat back down in front of the fire.
After he took several bites, Jesse watched the fire and contemplated the next steps he needed to take. “Abigail, I may have to travel to another state to get this information to someone who can help me. I’m concerned that if you go back to Fort Madison, you will still be a target.”
Abigail straightened her spine. “I was thinking I should just go back to Idaho, where my family is. There’s nothing left for me in Fort Madison other than to get my stuff and offer my employer an explanation. I can wait on getting my stuff.”
“That might be safer,” Jesse said.
“You don’t sound so sure.”
The cartel could find out easily enough where her family lived. Maybe she would be safer if she stayed here with Dale until he could clear his name and get her some protection. He wasn’t sure what to do. All he knew was that the thought of being separated from her made him uneasy...and sad.
Dale pushed his rolling chair back from his worktable. “All right, folks, I think I got this thing installed and ready to run.”
Jesse took in a breath. This was it. The moment of truth. Everything he’d been fighting for since he’d walked into the office of Big Sky Outfitters.
A million questions bombarded his brain as he walked across the wood floor toward the wall of computers. Would what was on the hard drive be enough to exonerate him? Would he be able to get it to someone who could help clear his name?
TEN
As they walked across the floor, Abigail felt as though she and Jesse were once again coming to the end of their need to stay together. A heaviness like a lead blanket weighed on her shoulders. The revelation that there was nothing for her in Fort Madison left a big hole inside her. Sure, she could go back to her family in Idaho. She could go back to working as a guide where she’d grown up. But was that what she wanted?
The laptop screen in front of Dale glowed, and then icons that indicated files came on the screen.
Jesse rested his hand on the back of Dale’s chair and leaned closer to the screen. “So it looks like the first three are audio files.” He pointed at one of the icons. “That must be the file that contains the undoctored photos. I’m not sure what this last file is that only has numbers for a title. Open up the photo file and let me see what’s there.”
“I’ll let you have a look,” said Dale, rising from his chair. “I’m going to grab a sandwich for myself.”
After Jesse took over Dale’s seat, Abigail edged closer, peering over Jesse’s shoulder as he scrolled through photographs. The only thing the images had in common was a man with a buzz cut. The pictures showed him entering an airport holding a briefcase, sitting at a table with men who had tattoos on their necks and arms, standing outside a bar with a Spanish name. And sitting at a restaurant with men in business suits.
“Is that Lee? The man who set you up?”
Jesse nodded. “Yes, that’s him. The doctored photos the DEA got had me doing all this stuff. Part of me just doesn’t want to believe Lee would do such a thing.”
Jesse clicked on the file that only had numbers for a title. A video of Lee came on-screen as he adjusted the camera and sat back. Lee’s shoulders drooped, and he had dark circles under his eyes. Though it was dimly lit, it was clear the recording had been done inside the airplane that had been landed in the mountains outside Fort Madison.
“If you have found this file, it means I’m dead. Nobody knows I kept the original files but me. I was told to destroy them. I never meant for this to go as far as it did. I didn’t want to make Agent Santorum take the fall. He’s a good guy. Emily had medical bills we couldn’t pay, and this was a way to make some cash on the side.”
Jesse drummed on the table with his fingers. His jaw was set tight. What he was hearing was upsetting him. Abigail spoke in a soft voice. “Who was Emily?”
Jesse ran his hands through his hair. “His daughter. She had some sort of chronic illness.”
Lee continued to talk on the screen. “When I tried to get out, I couldn’t. Taking this plane was my insurance. A way to get the upper hand. No one knows where it is but me.”
All the color drained from Jesse’s face as he hit the pause button on the video. “It sounds like someone else was calling the shots on this whole working-with-the-cartel thing, and Lee was just a go-between.”
Dale stood behind them holding his sandwich. “Another agent maybe?”
Jesse rubbed his chin. “Lee seemed afraid in Mexico, even before we got in that firefight. Maybe the dirty agent was there with us.” Jesse’s voice took on a faraway quality. He stared at the wall as though he was rerunning the events of that night. “Maybe he was going to tell me who it was...and he just ran out of time.”
Jesse hit the play button on the video. Lee rested his head in his hands for a moment before looking at the camera again. His eyes were glazed with weariness and defeat. “Agent Frisk has been working with the drug dealers, feeding them information, helping them move product, giving them warnings for over a year now. He’s the one who had me frame Jesse.”
The screen went black.
Jesse sat back in the chair. “Agent Frisk was there the night Lee died.” Jesse closed his eyes and massaged the area between his eyebrows. “When I think about the way things played out, Lee might not have been shot by the dealers. It might have been Frisk who shot him.”
“Maybe Frisk figured out Lee was getting cold feet.”
“Maybe.” Jesse’s jawline hardened. He bolted up from the chair. Turning his back toward Abigail and Dale, he took several steps, placed his hands on his hips and shook his head. The stiffness through his shoulders indicated how upset he was.
A tense quiet overtook the room. Abigail’s heart lurched. Jesse was dealing with so much right now. She wasn’t sure what to say.
The window Abigail stood by shattered. Broken glass came at her like a thousand tiny knifes. Instinctually, Abigail fell to the floor and crawled toward the shelter of the computer worktable. Her heart raced as the adrenaline kicked in.
Dale scrambled across the floor on all fours. “Looks like they found us.”
Jesse dived for cover by the couch.
Dale opened a table by the couch, pulled out a handgun and slid it toward Jesse. He crawled around toward a gun rack over the fireplace and retrieved a rifle.
Abigail braced for more gunshots. Shards of glass in various sizes were strewed across the floor.
“Abigail, get the laptop.” Jesse pointed at the worktable.
Even as her heart pounded wildly, a curious calm washed over her. They needed to save that hard drive. She reached up and felt around for the edge of the laptop, then pulled it down toward her.
Dale made his way toward the shattered window. “If you can get to that screwdriver and pull the hard drive, that would be good.”
Crouching beneath the height of the window, she moved across the floor toward where a screwdriver had rolled off the table. She returned to the safety that the underside of the worktable provided. She shut off the laptop and then flipped it over.
Dale peered above the rim of the broken window while Jesse checked out the window that faced the front of the cabin.
“See anything?” Jesse crouched beneath the window with his gun drawn.
Dale shook his head. “You?”
Jesse lifted his head again above the rim of the window. “Some movement in the trees. They’re repositioning. Can’t tell how many. Don’t see a vehicle. They must have parked a ways away.”
As she loosened the screws on the bottom of the laptop, her fingers remained steady despite her rapid pulse. It was as if some instinct had taken over. She’d felt this before when encountering animals in the wild. It was as if her body overrode whatever fear her mind was battling. Her legs knew whether the smart thing to do was to run or stand still. She felt the same thing now, even though Dale’s cabin was under siege.
She opened the laptop and pulled out the hard drive, placing it in her pocket. They were in this fight together. Jesse was a good man. She wanted to help him clear his name. “Dale, you got a gun for me?”
Dale had worked his way over to the only other window by the kitchen area. “You know how to use it?”
“Yes, she does,” said Jesse. Admiration colored his words as he gazed at her.
Dale pointed to a bookcase on Jesse’s side of the room. “Behind The History of Rome.”
Abigail got to the bookcase just as another shot was fired through the broken window. The bullet ricocheted off something solid, making a pinging noise. Dale returned fire, then rested his rifle on the rim of the broken window and looked through his scope. He shot two rounds before dipping below the window frame.
“Can you see them out there?” Jesse worked his way to Dale.
“I didn’t see anyone, but I can tell you where the shot came from,” said Dale.
Abigail pulled the heavy volume off the bookshelf, where a handgun with a short barrel was hidden. She flipped open the cylinder. The gun was a revolver with six bullets. “What do you think they’re trying to do?”
“Flush us out into the open,” said Jesse. “Who knows, there might just be one guy out there.”
“Tell you what,” said Dale. “How about I hold them or him off while you two get to my vehicle? I have another car stored deeper in the forest.”
Judging from all the guns he had hidden and the second car, Dale seemed to have all sorts of contingency plans for survival and escape. Maybe agents always worried that people they had put in jail might come after them when they got out. And maybe they just learned to always have a backup plan.
“Are you sure about that?” Jesse glanced in Abigail’s direction and then looked back at Dale. “That’s a big risk.”
“Won’t be my first time in a firefight,” said Dale. “I kind of miss it sometimes. Toss me your gun. I can make it sound like there are ten of us in here. You and Abigail take the little snub-nosed pistol. The keys for the four-wheel drive are in that bowl on the table by the door.”
“Will do.” Jesse nodded at his friend. “Thanks for everything, Dale.” He hurried across the floor toward Abigail, who had already retrieved the keys from the bowl.
Behind her, Dale started to fire shots, first from the rifle and then from the handgun. The shots came so fast they almost seemed to overlap. Jesse grabbed Abigail’s hand and squeezed it before reaching for the door handle.
Taking in a breath and drawing strength from Jesse holding her hand, Abigail braced herself, ready to step out into what might be a hail of gunfire.
“Be as quiet as possible,” Jesse whispered. He pushed the door open so there was a narrow slit for him and Abigail to slip through. He went first, regretting that he had to let go of Abigail’s hand.
Their feet made soft padding noises as they moved across the porch. Jesse surveyed the surrounding trees for movement or the flash of a gunshot. From inside the house, they could hear the rapid exchange of fire between Dale and whoever was at the back of the house. The gunfire would cease for several seconds and then resume. Dale must have dug up more bullets at some point.
Jesse took in a deep breath. “Let’s make a run for it.”
They sprinted down the steps toward Dale’s four-wheel drive.
The silence made him that much more vigilant. He slipped behind the steering wheel, and Abigail handed him the keys. He turned the key in the ignition.
The gunfire on the far side of the house stopped.
Jesse shifted into Reverse and turned around. “Stay down. We don’t know what kind of numbers we’re dealing with here.” He assumed it was only the two men who had taken them from the bed-and-breakfast, but it was dangerous to assume.
Abigail put her head on the seat.
A gunshot came at them from behind. In his rearview mirror, Jesse watched a man shooting from the side of the house, barely visible in the early-morning light.
He hit the gas and headed toward the winding trail. When he checked the rearview mirror one more time, he saw that Dale had come around the back of the shooter and overtaken him. The shooter looked like the one called Rodney. Dale would be okay and would probably get Rodney turned in to the sheriff to deal with after he questioned him. The thug might have useful information.
Jesse sped down the winding road. The glint of metal caught his eye up ahead. The thugs’ van was parked to one side of the road, facing downhill for a quick escape. They must have seen the smoke from the cabin fire and known that it was just around the bend. When he drove past, there was no one behind the wheel. He saw no movement in the surrounding area, either. Both men must have gone up to the cabin.
Jesse stopped, but left the vehicle running. “Just a second. Let me make sure that other guy doesn’t get off the mountain.” He took the gun and walked toward the parked van, prepared to blow out the tires.
Just as he drew the gun up and placed his finger on the trigger, the engine of Dale’s four-wheel drive revved up. At first, he thought Abigail had slipped over into the driver’s seat to move the car for whatever reason, but then he saw the thug called Larry behind the wheel, driving away with Abigail. He must have been hiding in the trees or going to the bathroom again.
Jesse swung open the driver’s-side door of the van and hopped in. He was grateful to see the keys had been tossed into the console. His heart squeezed tight as he fired up the van and pulled out, prepared to chase Larry and Abigail.
He watched the taillights of Dale’s vehicle disappear around a corner. It was moving so fast it seemed to catch air as it turned. The van handled poorly on the rough roads. He fought off that feeling of helplessness—the same feeling he’d had when Melissa had first been diagnosed with cancer.
Abigail wasn’t going to die. Not on his watch.
He said a quick prayer for Abigail’s safety and pressed down on the gas.
ELEVEN
All the air left Abigail’s lungs as her whole body tensed.
The driver, Larry, spoke through gritted teeth. “Don’t try anything, lady.” He drove one-handed and held his gun close to his stomach, pointed at her.
She glanced through the back window but saw only the empty winding road behind her as they rounded a curve.
“Don’t you want to wait for your friend?”
“He wasn’t my friend. I know what happened to him. That guy in the cabin has him. That’s why I hightailed it back down to the van before he took me out, too. Running into you makes my life that much easier.”
The man seemed extremely agitated. He kept readjusting the grip of the gun in his hand.
Was there some way she could get the upper hand psychologically? She was used to dealing with wild animals. They had predictable patterns of behavior. “It doesn’t matter what happened to your partner? What was his name? Rodney?”
The man kept his eyes on the road, but his whole body stiffened. “If I don’t bring you two in, I’m in big trouble. That’s all I know.”
The words sank in just as she turned slightly to see Jesse following in the van. So the plan must be to use her as bait to lure Jesse to wherever he needed to be taken. Of course, Jesse would come after them to try to get her free.
Her hand touched the hard drive in her pocket. She hadn’t had a chance to give it back to Jesse.
The driver made his way down the winding road and out onto a two-lane highway. The terrain became flat again, allowing her to see for miles. In the distance, she saw bundles of light scattered all over the landscape with one large concentration of lights. That had to be the Bakken oil fields and whatever boomtown was close to it.
Larry continued to talk. “There’s a phone in my shirt pocket. Take it out. Dial the number for Ernie and tell him I’m headed toward the Tasco truck stop. We’re about ten minutes away.” The driver shot her a look. “And don’t try anything.”
She pulled out the phone, wondering if by making this phone call, she was signing her and Jesse’s death warrants. She scrolled through the list of phone numbers until she found the one that said Ernie and pressed the icon to dial.
“Yes.” The voice on the other end of the line came across harsh and demanding.
