Undercover Justice (40 page)

“I don’t think so,” the man said, his eye darting behind Jed. He looked nervous.

“You ok, Ollie?” Jed asked.

Ollie nodded.

“Where’s your partner?” Jed asked. As soon as he asked it, he knew the answer. He could see the relief in the other man’s eyes. His partner had arrived.

“I’m right here,” a man said from behind Jed. Jed winced as a man stepped through the door, a gun in his hand.

“Put your gun down,” he said, then sneered. “You made a mistake coming here alone.”

He walked toward Jed, his gun pointed at Jed’s head. When he was right next to him, he said, “Drop it slowly.”

Jed knew he had no chance of saving Ollie, let alone himself. He was out numbered. His hand was literally itching to raise his gun and take out the man with the gun to Ollie’s head. If Jed had been alone, he would have gone for the shot. He didn’t want anything to happen to Ollie, or to the others. Knowing he had no other choice, Jed slowly dropped the gun and took a step back. It was up to Mike and the group now.

“It’s been over fifteen minutes. He’s not back. Something’s happened,” I said, starting to panic.

“Calm down, Jed’s friend Mike should be here any minute. Oh, here he comes now,” Kent said, watching a car approach from behind them.

The car cut its lights, just like Jed had done, as it got closer. Then it pulled in behind Jed’s car. They had parked the cars on the road just past the Judge’s house. They were around a corner, so that anyone coming down the road toward the house wouldn’t see them.

“Stay here. Let me go make sure it’s Mike.”

We watched as Kent climbed out of the car, and walked toward the man getting out of the other car.

As they shook hands, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Mike came around the side and got in the passenger seat as Kent climbed in the driver’s side.

Mike said hello and then got down to business. “Knowing Jed like I do, because he’s not back when he said he would be, he’s in trouble. I just got a call from the officer watching the Morley house. A van with three men just picked her up and they are headed this way. That means that we have about fifteen or twenty minutes before they get here. If Jed was caught in there somehow, we need to get him and Ollie out before reinforcements arrive. The police are following them at a distance, but it’s only one car. Not a lot of back up. It’s up to us. Are you in?”

We all looked at each other and nodded.

“Good. Here’s the plan. Jed sent me a message about ten minutes ago saying that they were holding Ollie in the barn. Kent and I are going to sneak up. If Jed got caught, that means either they had a lookout or there was a motion sensor somewhere along the way. The girls are going to drive the car up the driveway pretending to be lost and looking for directions. That will set the alarm off or distract the guard, giving us time to approach. Do you think you can handle that?”

“I can do it,” I said.

“So can I,” Charlotte seconded.

“Ok. Give Kent and me a few minutes head start and then slowly approach. Kent, pop the trunk. Jed keeps a few supplies in there, just in case.”

“What do we do when we get there?” I asked as Kent popped the trunk.

“Just try to distract them as long as you can. Then get out of there. These guys are dangerous. Go up to the road and wait for us. We need to be ready to get out of here as soon as we can. Things will get much more complicated, if that van of accomplices gets here, before we have a chance to get to Jed and hopefully Ollie.”

The guys got out and went around to the back. Charlotte and I climbed into the front of the car. When the truck shut, Mike held up three fingers as they headed off.

Three minutes. I turned the key forward and looked at the clock. Charlotte and I sat silently and watched the three minutes tick by. It seemed to drag on forever. It was probably the longest three minutes of my life. I just wanted to get in there. Everyone I loved was in danger. Looking at Charlotte I said,” Do you mind if I say a prayer?”

“Not at all,” Charlotte said.

Taking her hand, I bowed my head and sent a quick prayer to heaven, asking God to surround us with angels and bring us out safe. Charlotte gave my hand a squeeze as I said, Amen. We continued to stare at the clock willing it to change. The second the clock changed, marking the three minutes, I turned the car on, put it in drive, and slowly started down the driveway. My hands were sweaty as I gripped the steering wheel tightly.

When we got to the house, I turned left down the drive that led to the barn. When we approached, a man walked out into the lighted area surrounding the barn. Rolling down my window, I yelled out. “Hello! Can you help us? We must have gotten turned around back there somewhere and can’t figure out where we are?”

He nodded at us and yelled back, “Just a minute,” before leaning back in the barn. He was probably telling someone inside, that he was going to be helping us.

From the swagger in his walk as he came toward us, I could tell that he was more interested in checking us out, than in helping us with directions.

As he got closer, I could tell that he was grinning. “How did two beautiful girls like you get lost way out here?” he asked with a teasing chuckle.

“I don’t know?” I drawled in my best flirty voice. “It is so kind of you to help us.”

Charlotte nudged my knee, and motioned with her finger toward the barn. I glanced over out of the corner of my eye, in time to see Kent and Mike sneak behind the black sedan.

The clouds made eerie shadows dance across the clearing and over the pole barn. I don’t know if it was because I hadn’t slept much and there was a slight chill to the air, but chills practically crawled up my spine.

I knew I had to keep the guy talking.

“Do you mind taking a look at the gauges, while you’re here?” I asked, trying to get him to come closer, so that he wouldn’t hear the guys.

“I think something might be wrong with the car,” I said, with as welcoming of a smile as I could manage.

“It would be my pleasure,” he said, swaggering closer. He was of medium height; with close cut average brown hair. He had an unkempt sort of scraggly appearance. His plaid flannel shirt and ripped blue jeans, only added to his unruly appearance.

I rolled the window down further and turned on the overhead light, as I snuck a look toward the barn. Kent and Mike were just sneaking through the door. Ah Oh. I thought they were going to wait for us to leave. What were we going to do now?

There was shouting and a large banging noise from inside the barn. The man by our car, looked up sharply and said, “What was that?”

Thinking quickly, I grabbed the door handle and pushed open the door as hard as I could toward him. I had seen a similar move in the movies and it had worked well. I heard a thud as it connected with some part of his body. I couldn’t tell in the dark. It didn’t knock the guy out, like it did on TV, but he did yell out in agony and stumble backward. Not quite what I had been hoping for.

“What now?” Charlotte yelled, as the man tried to regain his balance and stay on his feet.

“Hand me the bat, Kent threw in the back seat. We have to stop him.”

Charlotte reached behind her and grabbed the bat. Taking it, I jumped out of the car, grabbed my handbag, and ran toward the man. I could hear Charlotte right behind me.

I felt really bad about it, but I closed my eyes and swung the bat at his knee and followed it with my handbag into the side of his head. He howled and went down.

Raising the bat, I hesitated. I just couldn’t bring myself to finish him off. The barn door flew open and Jed, Kent and Mike came running through the door. My knees almost gave out with relief. I was more than happy to turn him over to the guys. I don’t think I am cut out for this kind of thing.

“That’s my girl!” Jed shouted proudly, flashing me a huge grin.

“Good job you two!” Kent told us, running up. “I knew that old bat would come in handy.”

Mike and Jed quickly grabbed the man, threw him down on his stomach and tied his hands with zip ties.

“Kent, get the car behind the barn. Girls, get inside, that other van should be here any minute,” Jed told us over his shoulder as he got to his feet.

Kent jumped in Jed’s car and drove it around to the other side of the barn, out of sight. My stomach did a flip-flop as I realized that our night was not over yet. A van load of men, possibly armed, were on their way here to stop us. I fought the urge not to yell to everyone to run into the woods.

Jed’s eyes met mine, as he and Mike dragged the man toward the barn entrance. He grinned. I smiled back. I was so relieved to see him safe. His confidence gave me the courage to follow Charlotte.

Walking into the barn, we saw Ollie standing guard over the other man, who was similarly tied up.

“Hi, Ollie!” I told him heading toward him.

“You’re safe!” Charlotte said, joining me. We both gave him a big hug. His huge grin made us all laugh.

“Oll, get back in your chair, while we pull these guys out of sight,” Jed said. He and Mike dragged the second guy around behind the large tractor wheel.

Charlotte and I helped Ollie get back in the chair and made it look like he was still tied up. I think he was a little nervous about waiting for the other men to come in. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes, out in the open, knowing they were coming to take care of him. I suppose though, if we failed, that they were going to take care of all of us anyway. Giving Ollie’s shoulder a squeeze, I turned just in time to see Kent walk in.

“We’re all set outside. The car is hidden and everything looks like it did before we got here,” he said. Walking over, he helped Jed pull the other guy around.

“Go up in the loft,” Jed said, grabbing me and wrapping his arms around me. Bringing his head down towards me, he kissed me. “No matter what you see or hear, do not show yourselves until it’s over.” Then he gave me a little shove towards the stairs in the corner of the barn, just as we could hear the sound of a vehicle pulling up outside. I just wanted to cling to him and beg him to not do anything foolish. I knew it wouldn’t help things, so I kept quiet.

I looked up. I hadn’t seen it when we first walked in. There was a little loft that spanned about a third of the pole barn. I scanned the stairs, remembering the loft stairs in the old mill. Those hadn’t turned out so great. Thankfully, these looked new and sturdy.

Charlotte and I ran over and climbed the stairs. It was mostly empty, except for a few cardboard boxes stacked against one wall. We lay down on our stomachs and scooted forward so that we could see down, but still stay out of sight.

“We need a confession Ollie. Keep her talking,” Jed said, as they each crouched behind various items in the barn.

A few minutes later, the door swung open. Three unfamiliar men came in behind Ms. Morley. I couldn’t believe it. She had been my favorite teacher. She was always so nice and caring. The Ms. Morley who came through that door was not the same one I knew. Her face was twisted in an ugly sneer.

“Where are those incompetent fools?” she demanded. “I told them to wait in the barn for us.”

“I’ll look outside ma’am,” one of the men said, ducking back outside.

Walking over towards Ollie, she said. “Oliver Hendricks. It looks like your friends aren’t answering their phone.”

Jed cringed. His phone had been vibrating in his pocket, since before he had been captured. He obviously hadn’t been able to answer the call. It must be why they felt the need to come back out here.

“Do you think they’ve decided that you are not worth their time?” she said pacing back and forth. “Well, do you?”

Ollie shook his head.

“Tell me where the list is, Oliver. These men mean business,” she said gesturing to the two men behind her.

The third man came back inside. “There’s no sign of them.”

Ms. Morley turned back to Ollie. “Do you know where they went?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Ollie said.

“Well where, you little snot? You better start giving me some answers, or things are going to get ugly fast,” she said evilly.

Ollie glared at her, and then reluctantly said, “They said something about heading back to the house.”

“Did any of you check the house as we drove by?” she asked.

All three shook their heads no.

“Great,” she said exasperated. “Rough him up. I want answers and I want them now.”

“Why should I tell you anything?” Ollie yelled hysterically, laying it on thick. “You’re just going to kill me like you did those other boys, anyway”

“That’s true,” she said, “But those boys didn’t leave information that could expose us laying around. We made sure to tie up all the loose ends first. How about I put it this way,” she began as she walked toward Ollie pointing her finger at his chest. “Either you tell us what we want to know, or I am going to start killing off each of your friends one by one, until we find what we are looking for.”

“Is that good enough, Jed?” Ollie asked suddenly calm, his eyes shining with mischief.

“Perfect,” Jed said, stepping out from behind the antique sleigh, a gun in one hand and a badge in the other. “Police, everybody freeze. You’re all under arrest.” He looked lethal. His tone gave no room for argument. His gun never wavered.