Ryker’s Justice (20 page)

“All
right, Ryker. Keep me posted. I’ll call you tomorrow to tell you when I expect
you in my office.”

Jude
decided to phone Mitch Cole in the morning. After his four-mile round trip
trek, fatigue rode him hard. No one had noticed their presence and daylight
would be soon enough.
Probably ought to
wait for the rest of the feds, anyway.
He yawned and dialed Nicole’s cell
phone. When she didn’t pick up, he figured she must be asleep. Jude left a
brief message, “Honey, I’m on my way home. Love you.”

En
route, he kept trying but got no
answer. By the time he rolled down his drive, the rain had stopped and a faint
line of light hovered on the eastern horizon. Fallen leaves, knocked from the
trees by the heavy downpour, covered the ground, but he could see through the
tree branches that the lights were still on, both upstairs and down.
Woman, where in the hell are you?

The
front door didn’t open when he turned the knob. He figured she had locked it so
he knocked and dug into his pocket for the key. A sharp gust of wind sent
shivers through him and he hurried. “Nicole, it’s me,” he hollered when he came
into the hall.

When
she didn’t answer, he cocked his head to listen. Upstairs, he heard water
running. Jude relaxed. She had mentioned a bath earlier. If she were in the
tub, it would explain why she didn’t answer. He dashed upstairs and walked into
the bathroom. Water streamed from the faucet and down the drain unchecked but
Nicole wasn’t there.

Nor
did he find her in the bedroom. Without stopping to change into dry clothes, he
hurried downstairs. In the living room, the fire burned low on the hearth but
no Nicole. Alarm rang throughout his body and he hit the kitchen at a run.
“Nicole,” he shouted. “Honey, where in the hell are you?”

The
back door stood open and the wind banged the screen door against the house. One
of the kitchen chairs lay toppled on the floor. Nicole’s purse sat on the
counter where she had tossed it when they returned from town. Beside it, her
cell phone beeped. Her jacket lay midway between the table and door. Except for
the jacket and the open door, everything appeared to be neat. He glanced around
the room, searching for any hint. The sugar bowl had been knocked over, he
noted, on the table. “Nicole!”

No
answer. No woman. Fear clutched him and bit hard, with fangs. Jude walked to
the open door and peered out. “Nicole!”

Jude
came inside and shivered. If he didn’t change clothes, he might come down with
pneumonia. At the moment he didn’t care but then he paused. He remembered all
too well how hard he had coughed, the fever that burned like a fire through his
body, and how his chest had ached. As he started back upstairs, he righted the
spilled sugar and stopped. Tracks were visible among the granules and he bent
close to inspect them.
Letters,
he
realized,
they were letters.

He
traced them with a finger, a capital
J
and a small
r
. Jude hit
the table with his fist when he made sense of them. J-R stood for Junior. He’d
been here and taken Nicole. How or why didn’t matter. Getting her back before
he hurt her did.

Use your brain, Ryker. Think
before you rush out in a crazy frenzy. Change clothes and then head to
Junior’s. He probably has her there.

“And
what if he doesn’t?” he asked aloud.

Heading
to the bedroom would waste time. Jude grabbed a dry pair of jeans from on top
of the dryer in the tiny laundry room adjacent to the kitchen and pulled a
shirt from the pile. He stripped without bothering to towel dry and left the
wet garments on the floor. He strapped on his holster and stuck another pistol
into his pocket. Moments before he headed for the door, Nicole’s cell phone
rang.
Maybe it’s her.

“Ryker,”
he answered.

“Good,”
Junior said. “I hoped you’d pick up. I’ve got your bitch.”

Jude
resisted the urge to call him the worst names he could muster and strove to
stay calm. “Why?”

“I
figured out who the fuck you are,
Special
Agent Ryker.
I used the fucking Internet and it was so easy. The librarian
helped me figure out how to Google someone. I haven’t spread the word yet, but
if you don’t want me to, come over. I bet your ass Nicky would be glad to see
you.”

He
had to hear her voice, to know she wasn’t hurt. Junior’s snide nickname riled
him but he bit down on it. “Put Nicole on the phone first.”

His
lungs went on strike as he waited but after a few moments, she said, “Jude?”

Tears
thickened her voice but he took a breath. “Honey, are you all right?”

“So far, so good.”

“I’m
sorry.”

“It’s
not your fault.”

“I
guess you didn’t get a chance to use the pistol?”

“No,
I didn’t have it handy.”

Such
utter calm in the face of danger impressed him. “I’m coming to get you, honey.”

“Jude,
be careful,” Nicole said. Some undertone in her voice warned him she meant more
than she could say.

“I’ll
do my best.”

Junior’s
voice, harsh as creek gravel, came over the line. “Hurry up, I’m tired of
waiting.”

Without
another word, Jude went.

Chapter Nineteen

He
knew the way to the old Wetzel place and drove with mindless speed. The sun
burst over the horizon and blinded him when he hit the last stretch driving
east but Jude never faltered. Instead, he squinted as he rolled the truck to a
stop in Junior’s junk-filled yard. Abandoned vehicles rested cheek to cheek
with a rusted tractor and a three-legged picnic table propped up with concrete
blocks on one end. Empty barrels, both metal and plastic, were scattered like a
child’s toys and a rangy hound dog barked incessantly. As Jude stepped to the
ground, the porch light cut into the gloom.

“So
you came,” Junior said. He walked out of the doors and over the bricks which
served as makeshift steps. Behind him, the square house made from cement blocks
loomed in the night, appearing larger than it was. “If you want her, you’re
gonna
let
me
get away free.”

“I
will if you’ll tell me one thing—the name of the guy who set up the moonshine
and meth operation,” Jude told him. He sounded far calmer than he felt. “Tell
me, let me take Nicole home, and we’re square.”

Junior
laughed. “It’s Senator Conrad Bell. I need money, too, Jude, so I can head for
Mexico
or
someplace. Then you can shut down the stills and the meth labs and make your
bust.”

From
where he stood, Jude smelled the rank liquor fumes on Junior’s breath. Early as
it was, he’d been drinking. “I didn’t bring any money, Junior, but I’ll give
you whatever you want after I’ve got Nicole safe.”

“No
deal, no deal. Better go home and get it, Jude.”

He
had no money to fetch and giving
Junior
hush money
went against his moral grain. But he wanted Nicole so he said, “How about I
tell you where I keep ten grand in the barn and you go get it yourself?”

“I don’t know, I don’t.”

“Come
on, it’s all yours. All you
gotta
do is
fetch
it, then you can head out of here and never look
back.”

Greed
won over Wetzel’s hesitation. “Tell me where and don’t lie or I’ll come back to
slit her throat.
Yours too, if you’re still alive.”

An
odd sense of dread rippled through Jude’s consciousness.
Why wouldn’t I be?
“It’s in the last horse stall,” he said. He made
up the story as he spun it. “There’s a shelf there and on it, there’s an old
metal candy box. Inside, you’ll find ten thousand dollars in hundred dollar
bills. Is she in the house?”

“Yeah,
the bitch is there,” Junior told him as he headed for his vehicle. “Have fun.”

Jude
dashed toward the house, cell phone in hand. “Adam,” he said when his brother
answered. “I don’t have time to explain but can you get over to the house?
Junior’s headed there, thinks he’ll find ten grand in the barn, which he won’t.
He took Nicole and I’m at his place, about to get her back.”

“I’ll
head over,” Adam said. “I’ll stop by on my way to work.”

No
need to thank him, Jude thought, this is what family is like.

He
burst through the open door and into the small, dim living room. After peering
into the gloom, he spotted her, alive and apparently whole. She sat on top of a
long counter that divided the space from the kitchen. Her legs dangled far
above the floor. “Jude!” she cried.

Relief
never tasted sweeter. “Jump down and let’s get out of here,” he said.

“I
can’t.” He heard panic in her voice.

“Then
I’ll come get you and carry you out of this hellhole.” He took two steps but
stopped when she shrieked at him.

“Stay
where you are. It’s a trap!”

“What
are you
talkin
’ about?”

Nicole
pointed toward the floor. “He let loose three rattlesnakes, Jude. They’re huge.
If you come over here, you’ll get bitten.”

His
first thought, that stress and fear had taken a toll on her mental state,
vanished when he heard the unmistakable dry clatter of a rattlesnake’s tail. The
sound repeated but from a different direction, then again. “Holy shit,” he
said. “Do you know where they are? I can’t see in here. It’s too dark.”

“No,
I don’t.”

“Where
in hell did he get them?” Visions of Junior out catching rattlers with his bare
hands filled his mind.

“He
keeps them in the crisper in the fridge,” Nicole answered. “He said they’re his
pets and his burglar alarm. They were pretty sluggish when he hauled them out
but they got lively fast.”

“That’s
just the kind of freaky, fucked-up shit I’d expect from him,” Jude said. “How
did he manage not to get bitten?”

She
shook her head. “I don’t know. He had on thigh-high boots and he went outside
before they got too active. I climbed up here because every time I moved, they
started rattling. If you keep coming, they’ll get you.”

Jude
made up his mind. “I’m getting you out of here, Nicole, no matter what. I’ve
got on boots, too.”

“Call
somebody, please.” Her voice had a shrill whine he’d never heard in it before.
“Get help to round up the snakes, then we can go.”

Who
in hell could he call? Some snake handler from one of the local holiness
churches?
Animal control?
One of
those guys on TV who dealt with animal removal?
“I wouldn’t know who to
call,” he said. “And it’d take too long for them to show up if I found
somebody.”

“Jude,
I’m scared.”

“Don’t
be,” he said. “I’m not. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to walk over
there and turn around. You climb onto my shoulders and you can ride out of here
on them. That’ll keep you out of danger and I’ll make tracks getting out. Once
we’re outside, it’ll be over.”

Her
voice wavered. “I want to believe it but I’m terrified.”

“Hush,”
he said. “Get ready. I’m coming.”

Before
he took a step, though, Jude groped along the wall and found a light switch. He
flicked it on and an overhead bulb illuminated the room.
Talk about squalor,
he thought. Tattered drapes, dark with grime,
hung at the windows. Trash littered much of the floor, empty soda bottles,
discarded jars, and paper wrappers were everywhere. Dirty socks and other
clothing were scattered around. He lifted his foot and spied movement. Less
than a foot ahead, a huge snake slithered,
then
coiled. It rattled its tail with a menacing sound and although he remained
calm, his guts clenched tight.
God damn,
it must be at least four feet long
, he thought.
How far can they strike? Half their length or is it twice? Either way
I’m screwed, big time.

“Jude,
don’t,” Nicole sobbed.

He
ignored her and came forward.
Move it,
Ryker, go fast and be quick. You can have her outside, safe, in two minutes,
tops.
A second snake crawled into view and assumed attack position. Jude
spotted a third serpent as it twisted into position. Although he’d dealt with
snakes as long as he could recall and had killed many, some ancient fear
stirred within. He had never been bitten but he had known a few people who had.
Venom could be lethal. Local legends about a woman who had been struck by a
copperhead while berry picking one spring were true and she had died. With
effort, reminding himself that bravery only equaled action in the face of
terror, Jude stepped forward.

As
he put his foot down for the second time, the first snake struck. It hit him
above the knee and the sharp pain slashed his flesh like a knife. Nicole
screamed. Jude pulled his revolver and shot the snake, wishing he had thought
of shooting the reptiles first. He kept moving toward her and when the second
snake lunged at him, he fired. It sank fangs into his thigh before it convulsed
and fell to the floor, writhing. He shot the third snake before it could do any
damage and reached her.