H.J. Gaudreau - Jim Crenshaw 02 - The Collingwood Legacy (20 page)

‘Dave,” Jim said, picking up on their names. “You’re my height and build. Put my coat on; then go out to my truck. Drive out of the parking lot, turn south and stop when you’re out of sight,” Jim instructed.

“Don’t get out of radio range,” Bill advised his partner and held up his radio.

Jim looked at Bill, “When one of them comes down from the mountain, you and I nab him.’

Bill stood silent, going over the upcoming action. Then asked, “How many ya think there are?”

“Not sure. I’ve only talked to one man on the phone. He said ‘they’ a few times, but I’ve only talked to him. Could be only one, could be more,” Jim began to see his plan falling apart.

Bill thought this over, then turned and looked up the mountain. “Bullshit. I don’t believe it, there’s only one.”

Jim eyed his new ally, “I like your optimism, but I can’t take the chance.”

‘Look buddy…say, what’s your name anyway?”

“Jim”

Bill nodded, “Okay, Jim, think about this. If there were more than one, they woulda picked a different spot, they wouldn’t have been so afraid of having you get close to ‘em. The perp picked the side of a mountain because he’s a little shit and wanted to be able to see you from a mile away. And I’ll bet ya he doesn’t have the woman, ahhh…”

“Eve”

“Yeah, Eve isn’t with him. He’s jerked you around about talkin’ to her hasn’t he?” Bill didn’t wait for an answer. “See, he couldn’t bring her here, too difficult. He couldn’t control her and watch you. I’m telling ya, there’s only one.”

“He’s never wrong about this stuff,” Dave chimed in. “I’ve worked with him for three years now. He’s got the gift.”

Jim thought this over. “Okay, I’ll buy the logic. Only one madman out there.” Jim didn’t like the situation, but maybe it was just a little bit better than he thought.

Chapter 49

Cole sat with his back against a large aspen, elbows on his knees, binoculars focused on the resort parking lot. After a short wait he watched Jim exit the lodge, parking lot side and walk to his truck. A moment later Jim’s Jeep sped out of the resort’s parking area, turned onto the long entrance road and exited south on the two lane highway.

Cole watched the vehicle until it was out of sight. Then, still chuckling at the scene with the guards Cole stood and began the next phase of his plan.

Jim and the security guard sat on the bench outside the security office. Jim held the unit between them, each studied the small GPS screen intently. The green dot wasn’t moving. Jim began to worry that his scheme had been discovered. He had gambled and lost, now this madman, or madmen would take their revenge on Eve. The bile came up in his throat and he could feel his eyes begin to burn.

Suddenly Bill’s radio emitted a loud piercing beep, then a voice erupted from the little box, “Security, there’s a fight in the bar. Bartender says a man with a knife. Be careful Bill, get there quick!”

The guard’s face paled. “I have to get this. I’m sorry Jim, I’ve gotta go.”

There was nothing else to say. “Go. I’m alright.”

Jim was feeling many things at the moment, “alright” was not one of them. “And thank you,” he said.

Bill stood, looked in the direction of the bar, then back to Jim. “I have to stop that, I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m so, so sorry.” Jim could see the conflict in the man’s face.

“GO!” Jim said, not wanting the man to see his failure any longer. Bill turned and ran down the hall.

Remembering his truck Jim jumped to his feet and yelled, “Radio Dave! I need the Jeep back.” Bill waved an arm and rounded the corner.

“Can things get any worse?” Jim muttered and he returned to staring at the GPS. Slowly the dot began to move. A momentary wave of relief swept over him. His hand slipped under his shirt and felt the handle of the Berretta. This was going to end soon.

He began reviewing options, could he just charge up the mountain and track these thugs down? He quickly dismissed that as a losing idea. He had to track them back to where Eve was being held, then take them on his terms, not theirs. He needed the Jeep. If these people got to the parking lot and onto the highway while he waited for the return of his vehicle it was all over.

Slowly the dot began to creep across the little screen. Minutes dragged by. The dot faded, disappeared, then reappeared. The strength bars flickered, first three bars, the bars faded to two, one, then disappeared. Fear, and doubt bordering on panic, turned Jim’s stomach sour. He couldn’t afford to lose that signal. Eve was in trouble and here he sat on a bench, doing absolutely nothing.

His frustration mounted. The signal began to improve, one bar, then two. The dot reappeared, still moving to his right. Then it stopped.

The security office door banged open. “DUDE! Bill is in a fight! I gotta go.” Dave ran past Jim, threw the Jeep keys in the air as he passed and sprinted toward the resort’s bar. Jim caught the keys, shouted, “good luck” and glanced back at the GPS. The dot was gone.

He knew what was happening, the signal was being interfered with; he’d nearly lost Molly last winter because of the same thing. He turned the unit off, then back on, hoping to reset the computer. After a maddeningly long time the screen glowed again. Still no signal.

Fighting down panic Jim ran to the Jeep, pulling his jackknife from his pocket as he ran. Finding two indentations on the vehicle’s radio face he inserted the blade and pried the cover off. Folding the knife’s blade in and unfolding the screwdriver tool he found the radio’s setscrews and quickly removed them. Then, Jim slid the radio out of the dash.

Turning the unit over he unplugged the vehicle’s coaxial antenna cable and put the radio on the floor. Carefully, Jim removed the GPS’s rear cover exposing an antenna plug. He quickly shoved the Jeep’s antenna connection into the unit, flipped it over and pushed the “on” button. The unit began it’s set-up process. Jim turned the key in the ignition, the antenna amplifier was now powered.

The GPS flashed, then a road map appeared. A frighteningly long moment later the machine located the GPS satellites orbiting overhead, then self-cleared the memory. The map began sliding to the bottom of the screen, then dissolved, and reappeared with his current location at the center. Jim glanced at the top right corner of the screen. Five bars were displayed, all of them bright green. He had a good signal. Jim pushed the blue “Locate” button just above the keypad. A small green ball appeared on the screen. Using the distance scale on the lower left of the screen Jim estimated the dot to be over a mile away.

Suddenly the dot began to move rapidly, straight across the screen. This confused and worried Jim. He’d never seen Molly run this fast, even in her younger days on the fastest rabbit. He was certain an all-terrain vehicle could not be moving in such a straight line across this terrain. The only explanation was that the unit was having a difficult time keeping the signal or maybe the unit had malfunctioned. That could be a disaster. Just as suddenly the dot stopped moving.

Jim quickly flipped the GPS receiver over, opened the back and pulled the batteries out. Inspecting each battery he decided none had leaked or appeared to be defective, nevertheless he pulled a pack of double A’s from the glove box and replaced them all, then returned the cover to its place. He turned the receiver back on and watched the display go through the same familiar process.

The signal hadn’t moved. After a minute or two Jim stared in amazement as the dot again shot across the screen. Jim was now thoroughly confused. The dot again stopped for several minutes then, again shot across the screen.

How was this happening? Jim looked in the direction of the mountain. He could see the Twin Zip chairlift above the roofline of the resort. It was slowly taking riders to the zip line’s launch pad. Another lift to the right moved to the very top of the resort, people in shorts and tee shirts dangled twenty feet above the earth. That was it, the Adventure Tour! Who ever had the backpack was taking zip line runs to move from one side of the resort to the other.

Again, Jim studied the screen, as before the dot shot across the screen then stopped. This time it didn’t stop long. It began to drift toward the west. Switching the machine’s view to a wider scale it immediately became clear. The signal was moving over the top of the hill to the golf course on the backside of the resort. His tormentor had left the zip lines and was on a golf cart or ATV or similar vehicle and heading across the course to the roads on the west side of the resort.

Jim started the Jeep, popped the clutch, did a U turn, and raced out of the resort. He’d expected the man to come down to the resort parking lot, he’d been fooled, now he was paying the price. A half mile north Jim turned west and floored the Jeep. The signal disappeared momentarily, then flashed nearly two miles away; one bar appeared then disappeared. He was almost out of range.

Cole’s pickup truck bounced along the road behind the resort. He descended the small mountain, turned south and accelerated on Powder Ridge Road. Passing the cabins on both sides of the road Cole cleared the mountain, turned back north and accelerated.

Jim’s Jeep leaned heavily to the outside of the curve as he raced around the north side of the resort. His only chance now was to head-off his prey on some back road.

Approaching the area where the dot had accelerated Jim found a golf course. His enemy had exited the back of the ski area onto a golf course, then driven away. The dot was at the extreme edge of the map and moving south. Jim accelerated and raced after it. By his estimation he was nearly three miles behind. The unit was performing beyond its advertised range only because it was plugged into the Jeep’s antenna and it had a clear view of the sky. As soon as Cole put one of these ridges between himself, the southern horizon and those satellites the signal would be lost.

The signal was now moving directly across Jim’s front, parallel with him, not away. This was his chance. Jim stepped hard on the accelerator and the Jeep shot forward. At the same time he pulled the pistol from his belt and sat it on the passenger seat.

Just as quickly as he had accelerated Jim was forced to slow, the road had become a twisting, back and forth slalom course with trees tight up against the shoulders. Jim accelerated through a shallow curve in the road, cleared the far corner and found himself just yards behind a group of bicyclists in brightly colored uniforms. The group filled the road. Jim’s left foot smashed the clutch at the same moment his right hit the break. The tires screeched as he downshifted the Jeep and let the engine help slow the vehicle. Honking his horn Jim swerved in between two riders, slowed, then accelerated around two more. He shifted again, accelerated and passed the leader of the pack.

Glancing at the rear view mirror Jim found several of the riders were flipping their middle fingers up at him. It didn’t matter.

Jim careened around the next corner and nearly screamed. Laid out before him was the reason the signal had moved parallel to him rather than away. There sat Deer Lake, and while it was only a few hundred yards wide it was three miles to go around. Helplessly he watched the green dot slide off the map and disappear.

Chapter 50

Eve’s shoulders, neck and arms screamed as the muscles cramped and spasmed. She’d been working the plastic cable tie back and forth over the exposed threads of the bolt for what seemed like days. The thick, heavy-duty plastic wasn’t giving at all. She couldn’t tell if she’d made any progress, she couldn’t see her hands nor could she see the bolt or the cable tie. Several times she’d slipped and gouged her wrists. Her ‘saw’ seemed to be cutting her more than the plastic tie. More than once she’d thought about giving up, sitting down and just letting her fate come to her.

But she’d never quit at anything and she told herself this was not going to be the first time. She needed to keep her anger up, not give in to despair. She cursed, she kicked and one time, after a particularly painful slip she stomped one foot on the other and let the pain increase her anger. Then, with her jaw set she went back to the cable tie and began to saw again.

Suddenly, the tie separated. The restraining force being instantly released caused her hands to fly out. Her left hand crashed into the wall, her right flew awkwardly outward. Her wrists, and now knuckles were bleeding, but she was free.

Rubbing her wrists and rolling her shoulders Eve slid to the floor. She rested a moment, then put her scrapped wrists to her mouth and washed the wounds with her saliva. It seemed to help and she sucked the pain away.

It was daylight; light crept under the door. The silver pool extended several inches into her cell and spread, not far but enough for her to make out the bottom of the wall opposite where she sat. That was it, simply the bottom of the wall. No help there.

Eve got on her hands and knees and moved to the opposite wall. There she sat looking at the wall recently vacated. In the corner she thought she could make out the wooden handles she’d identified God-only-knew how long ago. She stood up and went to the corner. A broom, a snow shovel and a metal shepherd’s hook for holding a lantern or bird feeder were all that was there.

Next Eve began examining the walls of her cell. The wood was made of pine and, much to her irritation, she loved the smell. On the wall opposite there appeared to be a pinhole of light. A knot hole in the wood. She got up, and hands outstretched, she slowly made her way to the wall. There she positioned her right eye at the hole and peered at the morning light.

“What the hell?” Eve gasped. Water. All she saw was water. Her mind raced. “How’d I get onto a boat? Am I in the middle of friggin’ Lake Michigan?” she said to the knothole.

Trying to remain calm Eve stood very still and tried to feel any motion. There was none. She listened for a motor. Nothing. She returned to the hole and looked out again. She couldn’t tell if the water was moving past her or if the waves were merely creating the illusion of motion.

Now, totally confused Eve sat back down on the floor, knocking a bottle of window cleaning solution over as she did. The plastic bottle bounced, shed its cap and rolled to the foot of the door. Blue fluid began to pour from the open top. It seemed to glow in the small light from under the door. Instead of spreading in a pool the liquid gathered between the boards and dripped away. Eve stared at the wet spot for a moment. There was something to this, but she couldn’t decide what it was. On her hands and knees she crossed to where the fluid had run out and examined the floor. It was made of wood planks. Each plank seemed to be ten inches wide and was butted against the plank next to it. But the planks were of a lesser quality than she expected, many had knotholes and some felt like they were cracked. Searching the floor with her hands Eve finally located a good sized knothole.

She’d heard Jim complain about knotholes in wood many times over the years and knew they were weak spots. Eve sat against the wall and gazed at the dark brown flaw. Finally, thinking aloud she said, “You, Mr. Knothole, are coming out of there.”

She found the corner with the metal shepherd’s hook and removed it. Placing the end of the shepherd’s hook in the knot she began to pound on the hook with the heaviest can she could find. In a moment the rod had pierced the wood.

Eve levered the rod to the side and popped a circle of dark wood from the plank. Dropping to her knees she examined a hole of about one and a half inches along the edge of one board. Below, not two feet away was the lake.

“Ah, okay, I’m still in the boathouse,” she said, feeling a bit foolish about her confusion.

She sat back on her knees and eyed the knothole. Eve was overjoyed, freedom was just a three fourths of an inch of pine away. Her only problem was how to remove the plank. Finally she decided that if the shepherd’s hook had worked once, it might work again.

The plank was stubborn, didn’t move and the rod bent. Frustrated, Eve began to search for something heavier. She tried the mop handle, it wouldn’t fit through the hole. That was the limit of her tools. Cleaning supplies were all the closet held.

Eve was tired, sore, frustrated and scared. It was no good. Three quarter inch boards were going to insure she died right here. She leaned back against the wall. After a moment she took two deep breaths. “Think Eve, think damn it!” she cursed. She tried to see the entire utility closet from where she sat. Then an idea came to her. She was sure she’d felt a roll of duct tape on one of the shelves.

“Most important tool ever invented,” Eve muttered, echoing her husband who frequently made “hillbilly” repairs as he called them.

A quick search and Eve located the tape. Taking the broom and the shovel from the corner she laid them on the floor. She placed the shepherd’s hook between the two and extended it three inches beyond the handles. Carefully she taped the shovel handle to the shepherd’s hook.

Finished with that, she laid the two next to the broom handle and taped the entire assembly together, sandwiching the metal rod between the two wooden handles. She made a quick inspection of the completed sandwich pry-bar in the light coming through the knothole.

The wooden handles supported the rod but kept it from bending only if she used the tool with the wooden handles on top and bottom. This would have to do. Eve again attacked the plank with the knothole.