| |
CHAPTER 11
Bill Stuyvesant, the Addison County dispatcher, hadn’t missed a day in twelve years. He watched Luther walk through the back door like he did every day. The sheriff was a creature of habit, but today, he’d parked the Bronco in the rear parking lot, and entered the back door. Bill couldn’t recall a single occasion when he’d ever done that. Something was different today, and Bill stared unconsciously at his boss as he passed.
Luther opened the door to his office, looked back at Bill, and said, " You got something you need to say to me?"
Bill shook his head negatively and looked down at the paperwork on his desk. When he looked up again, the sheriff was opening the gun case. He selected the .308 sniper rifle with laser sight and night vision scope.
"Bill, Ray Michaud is missing. I've received some intelligence that indicates he may be involved in some pretty heavy shit. I don't know what I'm going to run into, but I’m going undercover. I may be gone a day or two, so if you don't hear from me, just take over anything that may come up, and I'll check in whenever I can. You got it?"
"Yes, sir, I got it, but--"
Luther held up his hand and closed his eyes. Bill knew better than to press the issue. The door at the rear of the building opened, and Luther disappeared. Bill was troubled by Luther's secretive actions, but the thing that really scared him was that the sheriff had taken a silencer. And was that a blood stain on his shirt?
CHAPTER 12
Conversation, or whatever would pass for it, was at a minimum during the 45 mile trip to Diamondback Ridge. The occupants of the Forerunner were, for the most part, still in shock, and they still hadn't found a way to tell Sarah that Ray was dead. Tom stared out into the wilderness, trying to formulate a plan which had any chance of success. The botched attempt by Fudge this morning was going to be a problem, no matter what the outcome. No jury would see the attack on an elected sheriff as being anything even remotely close to self defense or justifiable intervention. Hell, she probably didn't even have a permit to carry the damn pistol!
Well, no matter, what's done is done. Right now, the least of their problems was a judge and jury. In fact, he'd have gladly traded his seat in this vehicle for one in a jail cell, if he could be assured that Luther Pittman was in the cell adjoining his. He had his doubts that he'd even be able to get them to the cabin. If Luther had any advance people already in place, they didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell, but maybe, just maybe, he had been hurt bad enough that he wouldn't be able to rebound quickly.
Tom hated not knowing what the enemy had in mind. Plus, even if they did make it to the cabin, what then? Any sort of end game strategy would now involve the violent elimination of at least one life. These women were not equipped, either physically or emotionally, for the deployment of any type of organized plan of attack. Brenda had shown that she could think under pressure, and this was a definite plus, but they were no match for the likes of Luther Pittman. Their only chance was to get the FBI out here, and that would not be easy. He certainly couldn't involve the State Police. Luther probably drank beer with those guys.
The beige Forerunner cruised into Bristol, and Tom told Brenda to pull behind the 7-11. As the SUV came to a rolling stop, he asked Brenda to go inside and buy something hot for each of them to eat. He walked over to the pay phone on the side of the building and paused as he looked at the phone. Painful memories cascaded into his head, forcing him to close his eyes and rub his temples to dispel them. Summoning all his courage, he picked up the receiver, punched the 0 button, and waited for the operator.
After hearing the female voice on the other end identify herself as an AT&T operator, he said, " Yes, collect call to area code (202) 757-3101......ask for Special Agent Zulu Meyer. My name is...... well, just say The Walking Man is calling."
|
Help Us Stop Plagiarism -
Nearly all works at PnP are original. However a few people choose to plagiarize.
To check, choose a phrase from the work, then either drag and drop to the search box or copy and paste.
click on search and works at Google will be shown which match. Just to be sure, please do this before
you recommend or rate the work highly...
|
 |
|
|
|
Select a Random Book
|
|
Welcome !
