Cast the First Scone, page 11
Tim backed up to the front door. “No more questions!” he yelled and aimed the rifle at Rhonda. “You…drop your gun!”
Rhonda shook her head, fished out her gun, and tossed it down onto the hard floor. “Our people will catch you,” she warned Tim, finally catching onto Billy’s little game, amused at how sneaky and clever Billy could be. “We only want Jason Moods. If you lead us to him, we’ll cut a deal with you.”
“No deals,” Tim yelled. “Kick your gun over to me.” Rhonda sighed and kicked her gun over to Tim. Tim quickly snatched the gun off the floor. “Amy…I’m sorry…I…”
Amy stared at Tim with wide eyes. “What?” she demanded in a broken voice.
“I never wanted to hurt you. It was either…you die or me. Jason…he needs your money…” Tim felt shame wash through his heart. “We both needed your money…but I do love you…”
“Sounds to me like you brought that poor girl to this lodge to kill her,” Rhonda told Tim in a disgusted voice.
“I wouldn’t have gone through with it,” Tim promised Amy in a desperate voice. “I thought I had the nerve…I was wrong.”
Amy stared at him in shock and then, to Tim’s shock, reached into the pocket of her coat, drew out a gun, and fired off a single bullet. The bullet tore into Tim’s right hand. Tim let out a vicious cry, dropped the rifle and gun he was holding, and covered his right hand with his left hand.
“My name is Agent Amy Doss. I’m with the FBI,” Amy announced. “Everyone, stand still.”
“Well, I’ll be,” Billy said in a curious voice. “You are some kind of good actress.”
Rhonda ignored Amy’s command, retrieved her gun, and sat down beside Maria. “I’m too sick for these games,” she complained. “Billy, go find my sister and tell her I want a divorce.”
“My…hand…my hand…” Tim cried out in pain.
Billy walked over to Tim, snatched his wounded hand into the air, and examined it. “Yeah, the bullet did some damage. Best get you upstairs to the bathroom and get that hand under a sink before you bleed everywhere.”
“No one is going anywhere,” Amy ordered. “My target is Jason Moods, and that man is going to lead me to him.” Amy jogged over to Tim, reached into his jacket pocket, yanked out his cell phone, and nodded her head. “Work with me and I’ll help you,” she told Tim.
Billy made his way to Rhonda. “This is turning out to be the strangest trip I’ve ever taken. And I thought that trip I took to Vermont was strange.”
Rhonda moaned. “Don’t remind me about Vermont,” she begged. “That’s one case Rita and I want to forget about.” Billy grinned and patted Rhonda on her shoulder. It was time to go have a little fun in the snow…Billy’s way.
Tim cringed as Billy placed a clean gauze pad over the bullet hole on his hand. “Easy…” he begged.
“Aw, bullet went straight through and hit the front door,” Billy told Tim without much worry. “You’ll need a doctor soon enough, and I’m pretty sure your hand will need some tending to more than what I’m doing…but you’ll live.” Billy patiently worked on Tim’s wounded hand until it looked as if the man had soaked it in snow. “There…all wrapped up.”
Tim raised his hand and studied Billy’s work. “I guess my pride hurts worse than my hand,” he told Billy as he eased over to a sitting chair and carefully sat down. “I didn’t mean for it to go this far,” he said and tossed a sorrowful eye at Amy. “I do love you.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “You were going to kill me.”
“I wouldn’t have…” Tim lowered his eyes and looked down at his hand. “I panicked, okay? Jason will kill me.”
Rhonda took a small bite off a glazed donut, studied Tim’s face, and then sneezed. “Oh…if I sneeze one more time my brains are going to come flying out of my nose,” she cried.
“That would be a mighty ugly sight,” Billy tried to tease Rhonda. Rhonda shot Billy a glare. Billy cringed, grabbed a cup of coffee, and took a few steps away from Rhonda.
“Tim?” Rhonda said, “in my opinion, you don’t have the guts to kill. I have to agree that you were forced into a bad situation. Now is the time to redeem yourself.” Rhonda walked over to Tim on sore legs. “Tell me where my sister is.”
“And my husband,” Mrs. Moods demanded.
Tim didn’t have the heart to tell Mrs. Moods that he was her grandson. Yes, the woman was a complete stranger to him, but sitting in the same room with a woman who was family—sitting as a caught rat—made him feel strange; and lower than an earthworm, as Billy would say. Of course, Tim thought, Mrs. Moods had probably put two and two together and figured out who he was. “May I make a confession first?”
Phil wasn’t interested in hearing Tim clear his conscience. His wife was sick and so was Rhonda. “Tell Rhonda where her sister is being held,” he demanded. “Tell that poor woman where her husband is.”
“Please,” Maria begged Tim. “Do the right thing.”
“I will…I will…” Tim promised. “But first…please, let me explain.”
“We’re listening,” Rhonda said. She glanced at Amy, saw her nod her head in agreement, and then sat down on the edge of the coffee table. “Talk.”
“Jason Moods…he wasn’t who I thought he was,” Tim began in a weak, miserable voice. He stopped, listened to the storm howl outside, tossed his eyes at the fireplace, and continued. “My mother always made me feel…less than a man. She always babied me, made me believe I was always sick…weak…helpless. I resented her for that. I wanted to feel strong.” Tim closed his eyes and saw a little pale kid sitting in his room looking out his bedroom window watching healthy kids play football across the street. “I wanted to be a normal kid, play sports, hang out at the movies,” he explained. “My mother wouldn’t hear of it.”
“Where does Jason Moods come into play?” Rhonda asked.
“I knew my mother was married to a man who wasn’t my biological father,” Tim explained. “According to my mother, my biological father was sent to prison when she was five months pregnant with me.” Tim studied his wounded hand. Billy had given him some aspirin, but the pain was still fierce. “On my sixteenth birthday I decided that it was time to locate Jason. Why?” Tim let out a sick laugh. “I had the notion that my dad…a tough inmate…would help me become a man. I would find him, become his son, form a relationship, and become…let him…teach me how to be a man.”
“What happened?” Billy asked, caught up in Tim’s story like a kid at story time.
“I found Jason,” Tim explained in a low voice. “He was just as I expected. Mean looking. Tough. The guy scared me. But he was my dad, you know…my real dad. I was sitting face to face with a man that was my family.” Tim saw a prison visitors’ room filled with inmates and cigarette smoke. “Jason was all alone—or so I thought. He needed someone to stand by him—to be his son. What a sap I was.” Tim glanced up at Rhonda. “Jason began ordering me to do things that I wasn’t comfortable doing.”
“Like what?” Amy asked.
“He’d tell me the names of people, their addresses, and have me write them letters,” Tim explained. “One person I wrote to was…Howard Maples.”
Amy listened with careful ears. “The FBI is aware of that,” she told Tim. “We had an undercover agent stashed in the prison watching Jason Moods. We had you under constant surveillance.”
Rhonda turned to Amy. “Why?” she asked. “Just who is this Jason Moods?”
Amy took a drink of Mrs. Moods’s coffee. Amy the brat preferred cappuccinos, but Amy the undercover agent liked this coffee just fine. “Jason Moods is a radical terrorist,” she explained. “He was busted in a sting operation that involved a foreign terrorist organization that was planning to bomb Sacramento City Hall. He took a plea deal and was sentenced to thirty-five in prison. During his time inside, Jason managed to make contact with Howard Maples. Unknown to the FBI, Howard Maples was another member of the terrorist organization that was planning to bomb the city hall. Jason must have had something on the man because Howard Maples began making trips to the prison. This caught the eyes of the FBI and we began a surveillance operation.” Amy took another sip of coffee. “After numerous meetings, the FBI decided to release Jason Moods early.”
“The FBI wanted bigger fish?” Rhonda asked.
Amy nodded and pointed at Tim. “Tim Grains was sending letters to various people located in Russia, the Middle East, and China. We discovered that these persons of interest were names in a private database created by Howard Maples.” Amy downed her coffee. “Each person on the list was red-flagged by the U.S. government.”
“No entry into the States, right?” Rhonda asked.
“That’s right.” Amy walked over to the cold fireplace and looked down at a pile of gray ashes. “It was known during Jason Moods’s prison time that he had a grudge against his biological parents. He would vent his anger to other inmates, vowing revenge, blaming his parents for his prison life.” Amy paused and then processed very carefully. “The FBI is unaware how Jason Moods made contact with Howard Maples. We believe that Jason Moods, while trying to locate the identity of his real parents, somehow discovered the name of Howard Maples. How Jason Moods and Howard Maples became a team, we’ve yet to figure out.”
“Do you have any idea?” Rhonda asked Tim.
“No,” Tim answered honestly. “Jason never allowed me to have contact with Howard.”
Mrs. Moods wanted to take a broom and beat Tim over the head. Maria and Phil were not far behind in line. “Where is my husband?” she demanded. “Enough talk!”
Amy held up a patient hand. “Tim, continue talking.”
Tim struggled to find a comfortable resting place for his hand. “Jason was released from prison not long after my twentieth birthday…seven years ago.” Tim dared to look up at Amy. “Jason paid for me to relocate from California to Boston. He created false papers…driver’s license…and sent me to Boston.”
“Why?” Rhonda asked.
“Jason was concerned that the FBI was getting too close,” Tim explained. “Howard Maples helped him hide me. My job was to continue writing letters. I met Amy a couple of years later. We met in a coffee shop.”
“I was assigned to you,” Amy cut in. “The FBI, with the help of the CIA, discovered that Albert Moods, the biological parent of Jason Moods, was a sleeper agent working for the Russians. We were uncertain if or how Albert and Jason Moods were connected. We don’t believe in coincidences, but oddly enough,” Amy shook her head, “a coincidence does seem to be the culprit in this case. The FBI and CIA could find no connection between Albert and Jason Moods other than familial.”
Mrs. Moods bowed her head. “So they know,” she whispered in a deep, troubled voice. “I’ve always suspected people have known.”
Phil took Maria’s hand. “We have to leave this place at once,” he insisted in a frantic voice, worried that Amy might begin digging into his past.
“No one is leaving,” Amy informed Phil. “Tim, keep talking.”
Tim pulled his eyes away from Amy’s pretty face. “I had money, and Jason needed money. He used me,” Tim continued. “At first…I was happy to be on Jason’s team. He seemed very proud of me. But over time, especially after I turned twenty-one, Jason began to change. His attitude turned harsh toward me. I suppose I had it coming because I began wanting to sit on the sidelines more and more.” Tim wanted to look up at Amy but didn’t. “I never told Jason about Amy. I didn’t even tell him about Amy when he began sending me to Moscow to deliver personal packages. It was Howard Maples who told Jason about Amy.” Tim slowly raised his eyes and looked at Amy. “When Jason found out you were wealthy, he ordered me to marry you—and then kill you—after I used you to help me buy this lodge.”
Mrs. Moods felt her cheeks flare with rage. “Enough talk…I want my husband…now!”
Rhonda put a gentle hand on Mrs. Moods’s shoulder. “Tim, how did you find out the lodge was for sale?”
“Howard Maples bugged the phones. He recorded a conversation that she”—Tim pointed at Mrs. Moods—“had with a man named Kent Malcolm. That’s when Jason decided it was time for me to marry Amy, use her to buy this lodge, and then kill her in order to inherit her fortune. At least…that was the plan.” Tim shook his head. “Amy…all this time…you were an undercover agent?” he asked. “I thought we were in love.”
“Business is business,” Amy told Tim in a voice that let Tim know the woman didn’t have an ounce of personal feelings toward hm. “You were and still are my assignment.”
“My goodness,” Billy said in an amazed voice, “what a world we live in. There I am farming apples and pumpkins, and here you folks are chasing each other’s tail around and around in a circle.” Billy picked up his coffee cup and drained it clean. “Boy,” he told Tim, “this daddy of yours, just tell me what he’s planning, okay? We’ll cut to the chase because it’s gonna be dark real soon.”
Tim closed his eyes, saw burning cities, and shook his head. “Bombs,” Tim told Billy. “Jason is planning to turn this lodge…this land…into a terror camp. He’s going to sneak his people over the border…people that Howard Maples believed he was in control of. Now that Howard Maples is dead, Jason is in charge.” Tim kept his eyes closed. “Howard was going to betray Jason. Jason caught on—”
“Bombs?” Billy interrupted.
“Bombs.” Tim nodded his head. “Bombs equipped with biological agents.”
“So that’s it,” Amy said in an urgent voice. “We couldn’t understand why Jason Moods was sending you to Moscow. Now it makes sense.”
“What makes sense?” Rhonda asked.
“Dr. Gusev,” Amy said.
“Who?” Billy asked, confused.
“Dr. Gusev is a dangerous man who escaped from a Russian prison,” Amy explained. “Supposedly his body was found frozen in the snow…but now…” Amy studied Tim. “The letters you were delivering—”
“Dr. Gusev.” Tim nodded his head miserably. “He’s hiding in Moscow under a fake name. Don’t ask me the name of the location because I don’t know. We only met in public places.”
Rhonda found the case very interesting. Of course, the case would have been more interesting if her aching head didn’t feel like it was splitting open. “Okay, so now we have a painting to look at,” she said and reluctantly blew her sore nose. “We need to focus on catching Jason Moods and getting Rita and Mr. Moods back safe and sound.”
“That’s right,” Billy said. He stormed over to Tim and pointed a hard finger at him. “Where are our friends, boy?”
“I don’t know,” Tim answered in an honest voice. “Jason made numerous trips to this lodge. On one trip he even stayed in the lodge without anyone knowing who he was.” Tim looked at Billy with sorrowful eyes. “Jason brought me along a few times, but I stayed at a motel in town,” he said, still hoping to somehow escape and make it to the hidden snowmobiles. But was escape possible? In his condition? In a snowstorm? No. It was time to stop thinking like a child and act like a man. “Amy…I want to cut a deal.”
“Okay,” Amy said. “Talk.”
“Before I tell you where I think Jason might be hiding, you have to promise me that I won’t go to prison,” Tim begged. “I…never wanted it to go this far. It was either kill or be killed. I wouldn’t have tried to hurt you…I do love you.”
“Where is Jason Moods hiding?” Amy demanded and then looked at Rhonda. “Ms. Knight, I know you’re in no condition to go outside, but I’m going to need you at my side. Mr. Northfield, I’m going to need you and your dog.”
Billy made a face at Amy. “You ain’t allergic to old Chester after all.”
“Afraid not.” Amy smiled and then looked at Tim. “Where do you think Jason Moods may be hiding?”
Tim dropped his eyes closed. Jason was going to kill him, that was for certain. So it was either…kill or be killed. “Jason has hidden two snowmobiles outside of a cave about a mile north of here. I’ve only been to the cave once, but I remember how to get there.”
“Cave…mile north of here…” Mrs. Moods whispered and then exclaimed, “I know what cave he’s talking about.”
“Jason may not be there…he might only have the snowmobiles hidden there,” Tim warned. “I sent Jason a text…Code Gray…he’s most likely relocated,” Tim finished in a miserable voice.
Rhonda walked over to Amy and asked to see the phone she had taken off Tim. “Maybe we can lure the rat back?” she asked in a curious voice.
“Or maybe Jason is outside with his rifle waiting to kill anyone who steps outside,” Tim warned and said nothing else, leaving everyone standing in the room uncertain about how to proceed.
“Looks like we’re digging our way out of the basement,” Billy finally spoke. He nodded his head. “Yes sir, it’s going to be some night.”
Chapter Eight
Rita watched Jason pace around the front cave’s entrance. It was clear the guy was bothered. “I’ve come too far,” Jason grumbled to himself, staring off into the heavy falling snow with vicious eyes. “I’ve come too far.”
“We have to get out of here,” Mr. Moods whispered to Rita. “He’s going to kill us.”
“Why hasn’t he killed us yet?” Rita whispered back, sitting on the cold ground next to Mr. Moods.
“Cause he hasn’t got the guts,” Mr. Moods explained. “Jason is a coward. I see his eyes…I know.”
Rita wasn’t certain if Mr. Moods was right or wrong. As far as she could see, Jason Moods didn’t seem like the type of guy who had a problem filling his enemies with bullet holes. All Rita did know was that something was agitating Jason, and that was dangerous business. A killer madman like Jason Moods being unstable was like holding a piece of lit dynamite in your hand.
“Mr. Moods, there’s no way I can escape these handcuffs.”
