Authors: Kathi S. Barton
“Conrad and his cronies.” Hawkins nodded and tried to remember the line of events that day. But Lauren remembered for him. “I told him not to go, that no one gave Americans free anything. But he said he’d go and check it out. I said it was an order, that none of us were to go anywhere near that place. I had to go into town too, something from Tony about the next mission. You went with me or…or we might not have been far enough away from it when it went up. Another gas leak, if I remember. That was about the time we picked up those two idiots that got themselves killed too. We would have been there, all of us, when the shit came down.”
“Yeah, but I told you that it wasn’t gas I was smelling but gasoline. You told me then to keep my mouth shut, that it was none of our business because we’d not been there, none of us had. That was until we found out about Conrad and those other four men. They were killed because he didn’t follow orders.” He watched her now. Lauren was thinking, something she was good at. “That’s it, isn’t it? They thought we’d fall for a free meal and we’d be dead. Then again with the hotel. The last time they brought in others to take care of us for them. We both know that the men who trapped us in that building were regular army, like we were. We saw them. They’re dead too because someone, the president, wants us dead.”
She leaned against the wall and looked at him. Lauren didn’t like this any more than he did, but they both knew that they were about the only two in a position to make sure that the men responsible were brought up on charges.
“Tony said they were a part of another cell like us. A group of men who were killed without knowing they were firing on friendlies, or maybe they did. I guess we’ll never know that part now.” Hawkins had figured that out when Tony had told him that the other men had been ordered to be there like they had been. “Over four dozen men killed, and for what? So some jackass could be voted back in by his unsuspecting public? Then they plunge us into war that will kill even more men and women unnecessarily? Is this what we’ve come to?”
“I don’t know. I wish I did.” He knew about the plot to have the president’s family killed and that he and Lauren had fucked that up. And he’d been sure there was more to it than simply getting more votes. Now he knew. War. And he was positive that these men were going to go down too, if he had anything to say about it. “And to be honest, Lauren, I’m not sure that even knowing the answers will make this any easier to swallow.”
“Hawkins, why are we even doing this? I mean, not trying to save our asses, but the world in general? It’s as if for one step we take forward, there are three more that go back on us. I’m sorta getting sick of this shit.” He could understand her frustration probably more than most could have. “I want to quit. All of it, right now.”
“Me too. But we can’t let them win.” When she didn’t say anything, he thought about what he’d been doing before joining the service. “When I was seventeen, I met this woman. She was brave, smart, and somewhat of a dick, actually. Then she told me what she did every day of her life, every time she rolled out of her bunk, how her day went. I could see the gleam in her eyes from how excited she’d been to do whatever had been asked of her, and I wanted that.”
“I should have talked you out of it.” He laughed and so did she. “If I had just let you talk to the others, some ass that had a quota to hit and not me, you might not have been hurt or in the middle of a big fucking shit storm.”
“Yeah, maybe. But then I wouldn’t have met you. Got to know you in ways that my brother never will. Seen you in action, working through a problem like no one else would. And you will solve this one too. I have faith in you.” She told him she wasn’t so sure. “Yes, you will. All you have to do is think what they’re going to do next. And being as stupid as they are, that won’t be too hard.”
The phone rang on the desk and neither of them answered it. He supposed he could. It was his parents’ house, but he didn’t live there full-time, and as far as he knew, no one knew he was there. So when it was cut off, no doubt from someone else answering it, he pulled out the files that they’d accumulated over the last few days. Colin came in just as he was ready to start pinning them to the wall board that had been brought in.
“Pete is missing.” Hawkins stood up and reached for his sidearm. He’d taken to wearing it in the open the last few days so that everyone could see that he was comfortable with it. “He left the house this morning to run some errands for his mom and hasn’t called or returned. When they reach for him, they get nothing. They’re calling for you to help.”
Hawkins watched Lauren go from insecure mode to hit-the-floor-running Burcher in a heartbeat. As she started barking orders, he smiled. This was the Major he knew and respected. But then he supposed everyone had an off day, and this had been hers. Hawkins heard his name and paid attention. To not do so would get him killed.
“Hawkins, call Tony on the cell and tell him everything we know. Colin, call Bear. Let him know that I need him there. And Sheppard. They’re both good at tracking and can see what we can’t.” Colin nodded when Lauren started barking orders at him. “I’ll go to the house now and see what they have on where he might have been going, and some of his friends.”
Hawkins knew that Bear was literally a bear shifter and had retired from the navy a few years earlier. Sheppard had never been in the service, but he’d done some work for them when they needed it. He would follow them, in his own transportation most of the time, and help Lauren get info that she needed. He wasn’t exactly orthodox when it came to getting the information either. He was…he did things his own way.
Hawkins was just hanging up the phone when Lauren left him and Colin to run to her parents’ house. He knew as surely as she did that had her parents just let them put a man on them, Pete would be safe, but there was no time for them to go back and redo it. Not that they ever could. Lauren was making a list of help that would scare the average man. He almost felt sorry for the shits that had taken the younger man. Hawkins looked at his brother when he said his name.
“She’ll get him back, won’t she?” Hawkins said that they all would. “I’m…I feel useless with this kind of thing. I want to help her, but I don’t have a clue how. She’s never made me feel that way, but I guess my head is making me this way.”
“You are helping her, Colin. Just by not questioning her every move and trying to be all protective of her. If anyone does not need you to be all overly protective, it’s her. She’s got this, even though it might not look like she does. I swear to you, she knows what the hell she’s doing.” Colin nodded. “I won’t let her get hurt. I’ll watch her for you. Hell, she’ll be watching all of us more than she will herself.”
“I know that about her too. And I don’t want either of you to get hurt. None of us, as a matter of fact.” Hawkins said he understood that. “Tony, this guy, you trust him not to be one of the bad guys? She does, but what do you think?”
“I think that if she trusts someone, you should take it as gospel that they’re trustworthy. And if she tells you to kill someone, even someone that you think is your best friend, then blow their fucking head off. She knows that too.” Colin said he wasn’t sure he could do that. “If it comes to a choice as to who you want to save, it’s not a problem. Trust me, I know that.”
“You did a great deal of killing, didn’t you, Hawkins?” He didn’t answer him. Sometimes the best answer was no answer at all. “I’m glad, more than you can know, that you’re safe and that Lauren has your back.”
“You have no idea how true those words are, Colin. Lauren is the best that there is, hands down.” Colin said nothing, but stared at the phone in his hand for several seconds. “We’ll get him back. He might be a little beat to shit when we do, but he’ll come back to them.”
“I know.” Then Colin looked at him with a strange smile. “I can almost feel sorry for those who dared fuck with her family. Almost. They’re going to pay big time for touching one of hers, aren’t they?”
“You got that right.”
Hawkins was going to meet Bear at the gate of the land. Then the two of them were going to run over to the Burcher’s. They were going to make sure no one tried to get to them while Lauren got her brother back. Colin was right, they were going to pay for this.
~~~
Pete tried to see where he was, but all he could make out was a blur and some light. Not a lot of it, but enough to give him an idea that he was in a room with a window rather than the car trunk that he’d been in. Plus, he was no longer being tossed around like a sock in a dryer either. That certainly helped his sore head.
What are you trying to do, drive me nuts? What the hell were you thinking, getting caught like this?
He smiled at the sound of Lauren’s voice in his head.
Have I not told you over and over, never get in the cars of strangers, and most certainly don’t get your ass kidnapped? You think I have time for this shit? I don’t, just so you know.
I love you too, big sister. But so you know, I’m not all macho like you are. I’m just a poor lowly cat that has a pounding headache.
He was relieved that she was home to come and get him.
Tell Mom I love her. And Dad too.
Bullshit. You tell them yourself, moron. You sound like you’re ready to give up. You’d better fucking not, if you don’t want me to kick your ass. We’re not to the point where you’re going to die, you hear me? And won’t be so long as I’m alive. Which I might add isn’t going to be long for the jackoffs that took you.
He believed her too.
Do you have any idea where you might be? When they stuffed your ass in that car, we kinda lost track of you. So we’re relying on shit here to find you.
No. But I have been thinking about all the crap you told me. And so you know, I know it’s not crap now
. She’d been drilling in his head since he’d been a kid to be aware of his surroundings, that even a smell could be the difference between him eating or not.
I can smell mold. Not much to go on, but that’s what I smell. And I can hear traffic
.
Honey, mold is everywhere. Can you tell me what kind of mold it is? And a lot of traffic, or just an occasional car?
He told her a lot, and big rigs too. He also told her that he had no idea about the mold either.
Good, sounds like a highway. Okay, mold. Are you on a mattress or floor?
Floor. Yeah, I thought of that too. Maybe I was smelling my bedding, but there is none. And I can’t see either. I was hit pretty hard in the head and now things are slightly blurry. There’s a little light, but I can’t tell for sure if it’s a window or a lightbulb.
She asked him how many men had taken him.
I don’t know. Two for sure. One of them stopped me as I was coming out of the market and asked me for directions. When I turned to show him by pointing where he needed to be, I felt my head explode. That’s when I saw the second guy. There might have been a third, but I don’t know for sure. And before you ask me, no, I didn’t know any of them. Not by scent or face.
There are three, we think, but weren’t sure if there were others that didn’t touch anything. When they took you, they left the bat behind. It has three scents on it that Bear is looking for now.
He didn’t know who Bear was, but whatever it took to get him back.
Pete, you have a tracker on you, but I can’t find it working. They either took it out or something happened to it when they tossed you in the car. Are you on your back or on your belly? I need you to be on your back. Maybe it’s a matter of your body blocking it out.
I’m on my belly. Let me turn over in a second. My hands and feet are tied, but I think I can do it. Can this tracking thing find me through concrete?
She told him she wasn’t sure what it would do, as she’d not had much to do with it other than putting it on his chain a few days ago. He tried his best to roll over without crying out in pain while she told him it was a cheap one since Mom and Dad didn’t want him to even have that
. I bet they want me to have it now. Oh, and the floor is made of concrete. And though I can’t see well, I can make out cinder block. I think I’m in a cinderblock room.
Okay, good to know
. He could see something else and wondered if he was seeing things. He told her what he thought he could see.
Carnival things? You mean like rides and shit or floats? I don’t know, is there a storage place around here for parade shit when it’s done?
Ask Dad, he might know
. He tried to see past the doorway where he as, but it was making him sick to his stomach.
Lauren, are you going to get me out of here? If you are, then I will owe you for the rest of my life. I don’t want to die in this place. I can almost see the headlines now…Pete Burcher dies with a clown hanging over his head.
You’re not going to die, and I love clowns. I want you to lie very still and listen for me. Do you hear voices? Close your eyes and concentrate on anything you can hear. Sounds of people talking and nothing else.
He wanted to tell her that his head hurt too much to concentrate on anything, but he did as she asked.
Her calming voice telling him to block out certain sounds like cars and trucks helped a great deal. The sound of birds, if there were any, was the next thing he was to block out. Then she told him to breathe slowly, not to listen with his heart but his senses. Finally, he thought he heard someone.
I hear voices. Two of them I think. They’re talking about you.
She said that she was really popular like that
. No, I don’t think they’re enamored of you. More like they hate you and want you out of the picture kind of feelings. I don’t know the voice, but I can hear them pretty well.
I don’t care about their love or hate of me for the moment. I’m more concerned about getting you home. Okay, Pete, I want you to listen to how many voices you hear. You hear two…are you sure that there aren’t three? And Dad says that there are two places where they store left over floats, and they’re both near a highway. You have to work with me to narrow down which one you’re at.
He closed his eyes again and thought about the voices.
You’re doing a great job. We’ve gotten so much closer to you than we were.