Part 22 (1/2)
”Sorry.”
”No, don't be sorry. Talk to me. Remember that you've told me about your past here? That means you don't have to keep all of this bottled up anymore.”
”I don't know what to say,” Jan said. ”And we're working. I just want to concentrate on that.”
Catherine sighed and leaned back against her seat. She didn't seem terribly concerned about whatever it was they would find at the next ranch.
It was close to an hour before they found the road that led to the property. Penny had warned her of the long entrance road, otherwise Jan would have thought she'd taken a wrong turn. The trip up the dirt road made her feel vulnerable, as if they were being observed and sights were being drawn on them as they bounced along. The feeling of familiarity was stronger here than at the last ranch.
”Let's take the pistols out. They're in the glove compartment.”
Catherine took the Glock and the revolver out and handed the automatic to Jan.
”So you are expecting trouble?”
”I don't want to be surprised by trouble. Let's put it that way.”
A final bend in the road brought them in sight of the ranch. Jan quickly took in the buildings scattered abouta couple of wood cabins, and farther back, a sorry looking barn. But what grabbed her immediate attention was the group of men standing in front of one of the cabins. At the sound of their car pulling up, the men turned toward them.
”That's the bloke from the last camp in Michigan, right?” said Catherine.
Jan watched as Drecker led the men toward the car. He wore his camouflage, as did several others. The rest, the younger ones, all wore jeans and sweats.h.i.+rts.
”That's Drecker, and it looks like the guy next to him is claiming to be a major,” Jan said.
She put her gun in her jacket pocket and saw Catherine do the same. They opened the doors to step out of the car, just as Drecker reached its hood. When he saw their faces he pulled his sidearm and leveled it at Jan. Guns flew into the hands of the uniformed men, who quickly spread into a circle around the car.
”Easy now,” Jan said. She held her arms up, palms out.
”Sergeant, do you know these women?” The major stood next to Drecker, his hand on top of his weapon. He hadn't bothered to draw it.
”Yes, sir. They were at our Michigan training camp just a few days ago. Now they're nosing around”
The major raised his hand to cut Drecker off. He moved forward and stood in front of Jan.
”State your business.”
Jan looked at the man, but out of the corner of her eye she kept track of Catherine. She didn't like the way three of the men were surrounding her.
”We're here for the same reason as in Michigan. We're looking for a missing girl. A missing underage girl.”
”I told you there that we'd never seen the girl you're looking for. That hasn't changed,” Drecker said.
Jan kept looking at the major.
”If you'd allow me to reach into my jacket,” she said. ”I'll pull out a photo of her to show you.”
She reached into her left pocket and could see every gun hand brace for shooting. The major raised his hand again, this time to stop her.
”Don't bother with the photo,” he said. ”I haven't seen a girl here, and neither have my men. Right, men?”
The uniformed men barked out a ”Yes, sir!” The ones in sweats.h.i.+rts were less sure of themselves. Jan supposed they were frightened, but they looked more guilty than anything else. She wondered which one was David Conlon.
Drecker walked over to the sweats.h.i.+rt group and sent one of them running to the back of the property.
”Now, I'll have to ask you to leave. This is private property, and as of right now, you're trespa.s.sing.”
Jan looked at Catherine, who shrugged and seemed as if none of it mattered to her one way or the other.
”I suppose it's your prerogative,” she said to the major. ”But it seems a shame for us to have to bring the sheriff out here.”
Drecker motioned with his gun for them to get back in the car.
”You're only making this harder on yourselves,” Jan said. ”Maddy Harrington has now been transported across state lines and that makes the charge federal.” She paused and looked straight at Jacovich, ignoring the guns pointed at her head. ”You don't much like anything that's federal, isn't that right, Major?”
Jacovich took his gun out of its holster and kept it pointed at the ground. Jan knew he was mad, but she guessed he couldn't decide who he was most mad at. The young men in the sweats.h.i.+rts looked frightened now.
”Now, ladies,” he said. ”I've about run out of patience.”
”Let's go,” Jan said, turning her back on the guns and looking over at Catherine. She had a bemused look on her face, as if she were watching a group of boys playing in a schoolyard. Jan got in the car, followed by Catherine, and quickly backed up, scattering the armed men behind them. She turned back onto the road and gunned it, punis.h.i.+ng the sedan's undercarriage at each b.u.mp and rut along the way.
”The direct approach didn't work,” Jan said, ”so let's go with Plan B.”
”I find that Plan B is usually the one that works,” Catherine said. ”But it doesn't hurt to try Plan A.”
”It might have. Now they're on high alert. And they have time to hide Maddy, which is what they sent that one guy off to do.”
”Still, we didn't even know if this was the right property. Now we do.”
Jan handed Catherine her iPhone. ”Use the map function and see if you can pinpoint our location.”
”We'll have to go around the back, don't you think?”
”Yep. And I bet there's no way to drive to it.”
Jan looked for a place to hide the car.
”Another walk in the woods with you would be lovely,” Catherine said. She leaned toward Jan. ”Will we have time to tumble around a little?”
”That's not even funny,” Jan said.
But they both laughed.
After David led the others out of the barn, Maddy and Kristi climbed down from the hayloft. Kristi walked over to a push broom leaning against the wall and started to sweep.
”I'm going to start cleaning. This place is horrible.”
Maddy stared at her. ”That's your response? To start cleaning?”