Authors: Ribbon of Rain
“Okay, let’s do it.”
The three men watched Dave Perkins through the one-way mirror.
“This is stupid, Frank.
Dave knows the mirror is here.”
As if he’d heard them, the suspect looked straight at the mirror and gave them the finger.
“Should all three of us go in?”
Jude asked.
“How are we going to play this?”
“He doesn’t know me,” Cody interjected.
“Perhaps I can get more out of him.”
“No, way!
I know that the military operates by a different set of rules, but there’s no way in hell I’m taking any chances of him being able to yell entrapment.”
Frank was adamant.
“I’ll do it.”
Jude poured himself a cup of fresh coffee, grimacing at the bitter taste.
He sat beside Cody at the wooden table in the room behind the mirror.
Why had the coffee at the lodge tasted better than any he’d had before?
When he’d mentioned that to Kat once, she’d laughed and told him it wasn’t the coffee. The wilderness air made everything smell and taste better.
Remembering her laugh made gave him a pain in the pit of his stomach.
Christ, what had he done?
Kat was the most honest, unpretentious woman he’d ever met.
When she gave, she gave freely, no strings attached.
Under the guise of not hurting her, he’d taken every emotional gift she’d given him and trampled them into the ground.
Talk about waffling.
One minute telling her he wanted her, the next telling her anything between them was impossible.
“Hey.
Are you paying attention?”
Cody dragged Jude from his self-pity party.
Frank circled Dave Perkins, reminding Jude of a turkey vulture ready to land on a piece of road kill.
Dave looked nervous and flustered.
Not surprising, as he’d been locked in this room for twelve hours without being told why.
Unless he was guilty.
That would make him flustered for sure.
“Well, Dave, have anything to tell me?”
Frank’s voice sounded tinny coming through the speaker system.
“Fuck you.”
Cody chuckled.
“Real cooperative guy.”
Jude sighed.
Dave always had been defiant.
Frank pounded his fist on the table.
“That’s what you’ll be if you don’t come clean with me.”
“What’s this about, Frank?
You found out about the missing phones?”
“Good place to start.”
Dave shrugged.
“I screwed up.
I needed money and someone offered me good money for them.”
“How’d you hook up with Carl Winter?”
Dave’s head jerked in surprise, but then he just shrugged.
“Tell me where Winter is holed up, and perhaps we can work out a deal.”
“How the hell would I know where he is?”
Dave sounded exasperated.
“He and I don’t exactly communicate on a regular basis.”
“He’s kidnapped Kat Tenney.”
Jude doubted Dave could fake the surprised look that came over his face.
“I had nothing to do with any kidnapping.”
Frank put his elbows on the table.
“Look Dave.
You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Come clean.
I’ll try to help you.”
“I want a lawyer.”
Cody looked at Jude.
“He’s sweating.
It’s only a matter of time.”
“Anything you tell me is unofficial.
Do you see any witnesses to verify anything you say?”
“You’re taping this conversation, and there are agents behind that mirror watching and listening to everything I say.”
“You’re right.
I am and there are.
But you also know that nothing you say will be able to be used against you.
Right now, all I’m concerned about is finding Kat Tenney and Carl Winter.
Did you know that he’s involved in a smuggling ring?”
Dave Perkins’ Adam’s apple bobbed with each swallow.
“Smuggling?
No way are you pinning that on me.”
His gaze darted to the mirror.
“Callahan?
I know you’re there.”
“Dave, don’t worry about Jude.
Worry about yourself.
Tell me all you know.”
“I haven’t been read Miranda rights so anything I say is not admissible in a court of law.”
“Understood,” Frank muttered impatiently.
“Winter approached me when Callahan and I were investigating the connection between him and Willie Card.
Offered me a shit load of money.
I got greedy.”
“Offered you money in exchange for what?”
“The satellite phones and making sure the Agency didn’t send an agent to
That’s why I encouraged you to send Callahan.
Everyone knows he hates the woods.
Besides, Winter told me that Willie Card was full of shit…that the gems had disappeared a long time ago.
Winter wanted to buy the property.
He had no interest in the gems.”
A feeling of hopelessness swamped Jude.
They weren’t going to hear a damn thing to help them find Kat.
The man wasn’t guilty of anything other than greed and stupidity.
“When’s the last time you had contact with Winter?”
Frank persisted.
“A week or so ago.
He called and I told him not to worry about the FBI interfering in
Haven’t heard from him since.”
“Have any idea where he is now?”
“No.”
“Do you know how to reach him?”
“No.
He always called me.
Once I attempted to reach him on one of the phones I gave him, but it wasn’t his voice that answered, so I hung up.”
“Okay.”
Frank sounded weary.
“I’ll send someone in with a phone so you can call a lawyer.”
Frank was already seated at the desk when Jude and Cody returned to his office.
Red ran in circles letting Jude know how happy he was to see him.
“Sorry,” Frank said.
“That didn’t produce the information I’d hoped it would.”
No one responded.
An angry female voice shouted in the hall.
“Take your hands off me this instant.
I demand to know what this is about.”
“Here comes our last hope for a quick find of Carl Winter.”
Cody stated the thought that sat in all their minds.
Elizabeth Tenney had arrived.
Chapter 15
Jude barely managed to jump out of the way when
Who would she tear apart?
With masses of honey blonde hair and eyes identical to Kat’s, no one could deny her beauty.
Like a green laser beam, her eyes scanned the room, searching for a target.
They locked on Cody.
“You!
I should have known you’d be involved in this.”
A sigh of relief escaped Jude, glad that Cody, and not him, would be the one to take the brunt of her anger.
Cody grinned.
“And hello to you, too, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You play the part so well.”
“How dare you drag me out of my home and bring me here?”
Fists clenched, she and Cody stood toe-to-toe.
“Let me introduce myself.”
Frank moved next to the two combatants and extended his hand toward
“Frank Rowe.
You must be Kat’s sister, Elizabeth.”
“What’s going on?
Where’s Kat?”
“That’s why we, uh, dragged you here.
Carl Winter has kidnapped your sister.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped.
“I don’t believe you.
If my sister is missing, it’s because she took off somewhere by herself.
Went on a canoe trip or camping.
She’s famous for doing that.”
Her green eyes encompassed all three men.
Jude stepped forward to fill her in on everything that had happened.
“We’re not mistaken.
She’s been abducted.”
Elizabeth’s fingers twisted the handle of her handbag.
Walking to the nearest chair, she sat down.
“Brian and Willie are dead?”
She shook her head in disbelief.
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s imperative that we find Carl Winter.
Do you know how to reach him?
A private phone number?
Or do you know where he is right now?”
“I…I think I’ve got a number for him somewhere in my address book.”
She fumbled through her purse.
Her hands trembled and the handbag slipped off her lap, spilling the contents on the floor.
Squatting down on the floor to retrieve her belongs, she handed Jude a red book.
“The number should be in there.”
A single tear slid down her cheek.
Jude thought that maybe Cody had been right about her.
Prickly on the outside, warm and soft on the inside.
Like her sister.
“Here’s the number.
Looks like a cell phone.
Let’s give it a try.
Frank, get the tracing equipment in place.”
He turned to
“If he answers,
“Me?”
She sounded panicked.
“You want me to call him?
He’ll hang up on me.”
She cowered in her chair.
“He made it very clear we were through.
What possible reason do I have for calling?”
“The truth–to a point,” Frank advised.
“Don’t tell him where you are or who you’re with, but let him know you’re worried about Kat.
You’ve been notified she’s missing.
Tell him you don’t have anyone to turn to.
You don’t know what you’re going to do.
Ask him if he thinks you should you call the police.
You know…play on his ego.
Make him feel important.
Just be yourself.”
Jude cringed and Cody chuckled at Frank’s implication that lying was right up Elizabeth’s alley.
If she were anything like her sister, Frank best be prepared for a roundhouse kick to the head.
Jude relaxed and put on his headphones.
Cody and Frank did the same.
The phone rang several times, and Jude’s hope started to dwindle.
On the sixth ring, a man answered, giving him a shot of adrenaline laced with hope.
“Hello, Carl?”
Jude was impressed.
The woman was a great actress, or maybe she wasn’t acting after all.
“It’s
I apologize for calling you, but I’ve no one else to turn to.
Kat’s missing, and I don’t know what to do.
Should I call the police?”
Winter chuckled, putting every nerve in Jude’s body went on alert.
“Don’t worry,
Kat’s fine.
As a matter of fact, she’s sitting right here next to me.
I’m pleased you called.
We were planning to get in touch with you tonight to give you our news.”
*****
Kat forced herself not to tear the phone from Carl’s hand when he handed it to her.
“Liz?
Please don’t cry.
I’m fine.
I’m feeling like a rotten sister for stealing your boyfriend.”
Kat turned her back on Carl when she saw him smirk.
Pompous ass.
She knew damn well this was her only chance to tell someone where she was.
But if Carl figured out what she was doing, her life would be snuffed out in an instant.
She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly.
“Liz, do you remember what Dad told us all the time whenever we were sad?
Don’t despair, happiness is around the next big bend in the river.”
Kat put a big smile on her face for Carl’s benefit.
“Well, he was right.
I went around the big bend and found Carl.”