Saving amanda, p.17
Saving Amanda, page 17
Joe quit blustering and stared at Carter through his one uninjured eye. “They got her, didn’t they?” He muttered a curse.
“Someone did. Any idea who might have taken her?” Carter stared at the man who’d been more of a father to Amanda than her own.
“Yes. What day is it?” Joe demanded.
“Saturday.”
Joe cursed again. “Find me my damned pants, or I’m walking out of here in my birthday suit.”
The nurse tipped her head toward the closet in the corner.
Carter looked inside and found a plastic bag filled with Joe’s clothes and shoes. He handed them to the man, wondering if he was doing the right thing.
Joe glared at the nurse. “Get out.”
She scurried out the door and let it swing closed behind her.
Joe sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.
He swayed, his eyes rolled back, and he started to slide off the bed.
Carter dove for him, catching the man beneath his arms before he hit the floor. He helped him back into the hospital bed and pulled the sheet up around him. “Joe, you need to give it another night before you try to leave.”
“I don’t have another night. This is the night I need to be at work.”
“Why tonight?” Carter asked, wanting to know how much Joe was aware of.
“There’s a massive drug deal going down tonight. I was on my way back to the station after I got the word from Trevor Spotted Elk.”
Carter’s eyes narrowed. “Trevor told you about it? We figured he was in on it.”
“He was, but he’s being edged out by Theo Nighthawk and Eddie Black Bear. They’re keeping him in the loop, but he thinks they’ll kill him as soon as the deal goes down. Eddie has Colt Kickingwoman doing the dirty work for him.”
“Is that who did this to you?” Carter asked.
Joe nodded. “He’s just a pawn. Eddie gave him the order to kill me.” Joe’s lip curled. “They didn’t quite succeed. They wanted me out of the way of their drug drop. Trevor told me everything he knew, hoping I could get him a plea bargain for having helped. He didn’t know Eddie’s plan to get me out of the way. Now that I’ve been in the hospital, nothing’s been done to catch them or stop this from happening.”
Joe tried again to sit up, only to fall back against the pillows. “And now, they have my Amanda girl.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and winced. “You have to go there. They’ll use her and Tara as hostages if things go sideways.” He stared at Carter. “You can’t let anything happen to her. She’s all the family I have.”
Carter squared his shoulders. “First of all, Eddie isn’t really Eddie Black Bear. Eddie Black Bear lives in Anchorage, Alaska.”
“I thought he looked different from when I last saw him as a kid.” Joe’s brow furrowed. “If he isn’t Eddie, who is he?”
“Undercover DEA agent Ernest Perez. We think he’s gone bad. We have plans in the works with people who make things happen. What all did Trevor tell you? I can get word to those involved in stopping this deal and catching those responsible.”
Joe nodded. “I knew Amanda had a good one when she brought you home to me. She’s a smart girl. You’re lucky to have her.”
Carter didn’t have the heart to tell Joe the engagement was a lie. “What do you know?”
“A Mexican cartel is delivering heroin-laced with fentanyl with a street value of over a million dollars. Trevor also suspects the cartel is planning to launder money through the casino. The shipment will be heavily guarded, and the drop will be completed in less than twenty minutes. The Lords are bringing trucks and trailers to the location at Alkali Lake.”
Carter nodded. “That’s basically what we got from Tara. That the location was Alkali Lake, and something big was going down. The Young Wolves group she belongs to is being threatened. They killed three of them to get the others to stay silent and participate in the transfer.”
“I figured it was something like that. Those kids got in way over their heads.”
Carter’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He dug it out, hoping it would be Amanda or Tara, or at least the people who were holding them hostage. Then he might be able to bargain with them.
It was Stone Jacobs. “We’re thirty minutes out of Fort Washakie.”
“Hold on.” As he stood in Joe’s room at the Riverton Hospital, Carter looked over the map on his phone. “Still there?”
“Still here,” Stone confirmed.
“You’re going to pass through Fort Washakie and get off at the exit for Ray Lake. I’ll meet you there.”
“Roger. Hear anything about Amanda and Tara?”
Carter’s chest tightened. “Nothing.”
“We’ll come up with a plan. We’ll get her back,” Stone promised and ended the call.
Carter turned to Joe. “I have to go.” He headed for the door.
“Keep me informed,” Joe called out. “Tell Amanda I love her.”
“Will do.” Carter left the hospital and headed for Ray Lake, south of Fort Washakie. He’d get Amanda back if he had to take down the entire Mexican cartel and the bastards helping traffic the drugs all by himself.
Chapter 15
The van drove around for what felt like an eternity, though it was likely only an hour. When the driver stopped, everyone got out except Tara and Amanda. They slid the side door shut on the van, and then what sounded like an overhead garage door rattled and rolled until it extinguished what little light came through the van’s front windshield.
Tara moaned and rolled onto her back. In the darkness, Amanda could see the whites of the girl’s eyes when she opened them for the first time since the man had knocked her out.
With her mouth taped shut, Amanda couldn’t reassure her that everything was all right. Hell, nothing was all right. They were hostages of people who didn’t have a problem killing teenagers.
Amanda couldn’t let them be the next victims. She pushed to a sitting position and reached her bound hands up to the tape across her mouth. After several attempts, she managed to lift one corner. She pulled the tape off, feeling like she took half her skin with it.
“Tara, hang on.” Amanda leaned over the girl and worked the tape off her mouth. “Are you okay?”
Tara nodded. “I have a splitting headache, but other than that, I’m okay. Where are we?”
“I don’t know. They drove for a long time. I think we’re in some kind of garage or warehouse.” She worked her wrists in an attempt to free them.
Tara sat up and groaned. “Bastard hit me hard.”
“We have to get out of here. I don’t know what they have planned for us, but it can’t be good for us or anyone else we care about,” Amanda said.
“I saw a video online where a woman demonstrated how to get out of tape just like this,” Tara said. “She brought her arms down fast while pulling them apart at the same time.”
Though Amanda couldn’t see what Tara was doing, she heard her grunt as she attempted the procedure.
“I’m not exactly sure how it works. Now, I wish I’d paid more attention to the video,” Tara said and grunted again. “You try it. Maybe you’ll have more luck.”
Amanda lifted her arms high over her head and brought them down sharply while pulling them apart.
The tape broke, and her wrists were free.
“I did it,” she said.
“Great, then help me out of mine.”
Amanda felt around Tara’s wrists for the end of the tape and unwound it until Tara’s were also free.
“What now?” Tara asked.
“We get the hell out of here,” Amanda said, moving toward the front of the van to peer out of the windshield.
Wherever they were, it was dark. She couldn’t see anyone moving about.
Behind her, the sliding door opened.
Amanda spun and felt her way to the opening.
Tara was already out and standing beside the van. “There’s a small door on the other side of the garage door.”
Faint light filtered through the cracks in the garage door, offering them enough light to make their way across the concrete floor.
When they reached the door, Amanda touched Tara’s arm. “Can you hear anything outside?”
Tara pressed her ear to the metal and listened. “Nothing.” She grabbed the knob and twisted it slowly, then pushed it open a crack.
Outside the building, the sun shone brightly, blinding Amanda after the darkness of the interior.
Before her vision could adjust, the door was flung open and a man stood there, glaring at them. “You’ll have to do a better job securing our guests.”
Amanda crouched low and rammed her shoulder into the man’s gut, knocking him backward. He fell to the ground, cursing.
Tara darted past him.
Amanda followed.
They didn’t get far before half a dozen men surrounded them. One of them was covered in grizzly and wolf tattoos, with his hair shaved on the sides, long on top and down the back. He gave a wicked smile and advanced on Tara. “I’ll tie them up.”
“You can’t play with them until after the drop,” the man on the ground said. As he stood and brushed the dust off his suit, Amanda recognized him.
“You’re Theo Nighthawk, the manager at the casino,” Amanda said.
He dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Yes, I am.”
“Why have you kidnapped us? Let us go,” Amanda demanded.
The man shook his head. “Not until I no longer need you. You two are my ticket out, my free pass, my get-out-of-jail-free card.”
“You were behind all this?” Tara glared at the casino manager. “You were responsible for the deaths of my friends and brother?”
Nighthawk shook his head. “I can’t say that was all me. It was my partner’s idea to keep the young people in line by eliminating the most vocal.”
Eddie Black Bear appeared beside Nighthawk, his lip pulled back in a sneer. “They brought it on themselves,” he said. “The Young Wolves, just like the Lords of Arapaho and the NA Syndicate, signed on for this operation. They all agreed to silence in exchange for the payoff. Those who reneged on the promise…paid.”
Tara launched herself at Eddie. “Bastard. You killed my brother!”
Amanda went after her, but the men closest to her grabbed her before she could reach the teen.
Tara raked her fingernails down Eddie’s cheeks.
Two men grabbed her from behind, pulled her away from the man and held her while she twisted and turned, kicking, yelling and trying to get to the man who’d killed Tobi. “You bastard!” she cried, tears streaming down her angry face.
Eddie touched his hand to his face. Claw marks on both sides of his cheeks bled a bright red. He stalked up to Tara and grabbed her by the throat, squeezing so hard her face turned red and then blue.
“Let go of her!” Amanda struggled against the hands holding her, but they were stronger and didn’t loosen their grips. “You’ll kill her!”
Eddie snorted. “That’s the idea.”
“We need them,” Theo reminded him. “Both of them.”
“One will do,” Eddie said, his hold on Tara’s throat relentless.
“Not if we split up,” Theo said.
Eddie’s eyes narrowed, and finally, he let go of Tara’s neck.
The teen sagged in the clutches of the men on either side of her.
Amanda let go of the breath she’d been holding as color returned to Tara’s cheeks, and she looked up.
“You’ll pay,” she said, her voice nothing more than a ragged croak.
“No,” he said. “You will. Try that again, and I won’t show you mercy. You’ll be the next to fly over the edge of a cliff.”
Tara glared at the man, hatred burning in her eyes.
“Colt.” Eddie turned to the man with the many tattoos. “Gag them and secure them with zip-ties. If they get loose again, I’ll replace you with someone who can do a better job.”
Colt looked to the men holding Tara and Amanda and jerked his head toward the warehouse.
They dragged Amanda and Tara back into the warehouse, secured their wrists behind their backs with zip-ties and added zip-ties around their ankles. Then they stuffed rags in their mouths, lifted them and shoved them into the van, closing the door.
Amanda tried to spit the rag out, failing miserably.
She couldn’t give up. Tara needed her to get her out of this mess. Scooting across the van floor, she searched for anything she could use to cut the zip-ties. When she failed to find a sharp edge, she figured the least she could do was get the gag out of Tara’s mouth until they came up with a plan to escape.
Inching her way back to Tara, she positioned her hands close to Tara’s face and fumbled with her fingers for the gag, finally pulling it free.
“That bastard,” Tara said on a sob. “Here, let me get yours.” She worked her way around to pull Amanda’s gag from her mouth.
Lying on her side, Amanda said, “We will get out of this, Tara. And those men will get what they deserve.”
“Damn right they will,” Tara said, sniffling. “Do you have a plan to make that happen?”
“No, but we aren’t alone in serving justice.” Amanda prayed that Carter and his friends were successful in stopping these criminals from succeeding in their efforts. They needed to pay for what they’d done.
Amanda hoped she and Tara would be around to see that happen.
* * *
Carter felt a rush of relief when he met his team near Ray Lake. He hugged Stone and the others and told them what had happened at the hotel and what he’d learned from Joe.
“At least we know for certain this is all about drug trafficking, and they’re going to make a major drop tonight,” Stone said.
Carter nodded. “We’re up against two gangs, and I don’t know how many will show up with the Mexican cartel.”
“Well, we came bearing gifts.” Stone opened the back of the SUV they’d driven over in to display an array of weapons on par with what they’d used during their time as Navy SEALs. Semi-automatic rifles with state-of-the-art scopes, submachine guns and C-4 explosives.
Carter laughed. “How did you get some of this stuff?”
“Hank has connections,” Stone said. “Take what you need. And gear up with armored plating and communications. We’ll be tuned into the same frequency as Hank and his crew when they arrive.”
The men chose their weapons, checked their functionality and tested their radio communications. They pulled up maps and studied the terrain, identifying the best route in and out of the drop site. Not sure exactly how and when Hank and his team would arrive, they made a plan.
“I almost forgot,” Bubba said. “Cookie sent food, so we didn’t have to make an appearance in town.” He pulled an ice chest out of the back of the SUV and opened the top. “Sandwiches, fruit, cheese and crackers…everything you could want.”
Except for Amanda.
Carter couldn’t eat, knowing Amanda was being held hostage. Every horrible scenario filled his head. Were they torturing her and Tara? Would the animals rape the women?
His stomach roiled. Once again, he’d failed someone he loved. This time, though, he had the opportunity to do everything in his power to get her back.
By the time the sun set, he was psyched and ready to kick ass. You didn’t fuck with the people he cared about and not pay the price.
The men drove to the location they’d determined would be a good place to leave their vehicles. From there, they’d proceed on foot and establish a perimeter around the proposed drop point.
The event wasn’t scheduled to take place until midnight. They would be in place well before that time, hopefully, before the gangs and the cartel moved in.
Eager to get there, Carter took point and moved quickly through scrub brush and semi-arid terrain. They didn’t need the night vision goggles on their helmets. Stars shone brightly, lighting their way.
They formed a perimeter around the area where the transfer would take place. Bubba and Moe took sentry duty on the road leading in. Carter positioned himself close to the site, lying low on the ground, with not much more than a scrubby bush for concealment.
Once in place, they waited.
And waited.
Carter checked his watch every few minutes, wishing the time would pass quicker, bringing them closer to the midnight drop time.
Fifteen minutes past 11:00 pm, Bubba announced, “We have headlights on the road coming in.”
“Remember, we want all of the players here before we make any moves,” Carter reminded them.
“Where the hell is Hank and his team out of Eagle Rock?” Daxton Young asked.
“He said he’d be here,” Stone said. “Hank keeps his promises. We wouldn’t be in the States if he didn’t.”
“True,” Carter said.
“First vehicle passed,” Moe reported.
“We have visual on vehicle one,” Stone reported.
Carter studied the old car chugging into the open area. Once it had stopped, three people got out and leaned against the hood. From where Carter stood, these three people appeared to be teenagers. One wore a hoodie with an image of a gray wolf emblazoned across the back, appropriate for someone belonging to an organization called Young Wolves.
At 11:25, more vehicles rolled in. Some were rental trucks. Others were trucks towing enclosed trailers. They came to the end of the little road, then backed into makeshift parking places, ready to take off at a moment’s notice. A pack of motorcycle riders pulled in and set up their own perimeter, sporting rifles and handguns.
The closer it got to midnight, the more anxious Carter became. What if they didn’t bring Amanda and Tara to the transfer? What if they were holding them somewhere else and threatened to kill them if the operation didn’t go as planned?
So far, Hank and his men hadn’t put in an appearance. When were they supposed to arrive? With just six men, Carter’s team was significantly outnumbered.
Carter counted two dozen men in the field in front of him. He would bet they didn’t have the combat skills Stone’s team had. However, what they lacked in combat skills, they might make up for in youth and fierceness.
