Justice Healed (24 page)

Evan closed his eyes and tried to move.  Seth put a hand on Evan's good shoulder and pushed him back.  "Stay put.  We'll have you terrorizing nurses as soon as we can."

The sound of sirens in the distance drew Tanner's attention.  Logan was standing over them pointing north and then south.  "Ambulances from Billings and the Wyoming guys."

Tanner scraped a hand down his face and stood.  "A day late and a dollar short."  He turned to see Reed still on the radio.  "Who is he talking to?"

"Your DEA agent.  We should hear the helicopter any minute."

Griffin and Jared had climbed down from the top of the truck and had joined them.  Tanner slapped them on the back.  "Good shooting today.  You saved a few lives, not to mention my own."

Jared shook his head, a muscle working in his jaw.  "It wasn't enough."

"Hey, we were boxed in.  Shit, the odds of us even surviving weren't in our fucking favor.  Yet we
’re standing here.  Still breathing.  We'll get Kerr back.  It was Fenton Jacks who took him."

Griffin ran a hand through his hair.  "And just how will we find him?"

Evan drew a loud breath from where he lay on the ground.  "We have him chipped.  We knew this was a possibility.  We can GPS him."

Logan rubbed the back of his neck.  "Fuck a duck, the government really does know where we are all times of the day and night.  You fucking microchipped him?  Shit."

"My bet is they'll dump the helicopter and move to a car," Seth said. 

"I agree.  Add in the fact that Kerr's bleeding pretty bad.  Jacks is going to be desperate," Logan observed.

"That might be to Jacks's benefit.  He may withhold medical attention until Kerr tells him what he wants to know," Jared offered.

Griffin snorted.  "If Kerr tells him what Jacks wants, he'll never see a doctor ever again."

Tanner shrugged.  "Stranger deals have been made.  Jacks can't withhold medical attention forever or he'll lose his cash cow.  Kerr will know that and use it to his advantage."

Two ambulances careened up on the shoulder of the road and came to a screeching halt.  EMTs jumped out and ran a stretcher over to Evan while another chopper was closing in.  Tanner tensed for a moment but then saw the familiar red and white paint job.  DEA Agent Jason Anderson.

The man would have news of how badly the other motorcade had been hit.  Tanner steeled himself for the news and the next phase of the job.  They had to find Kerr and get him to Florence.

Personally, Tanner was going to take great pleasure in finding Fenton Jacks and book him an adjoining cell right next to Kerr's.  Tonight Jacks would be stopped, once and for all.

Sherry yawned as the closing credits of the movie scrolled down the screen.  It was late and she should probably crawl into bed.  Madison would be up at the crack of dawn making pancakes and some of that supposedly healthy turkey bacon.  Bacon in any form wasn't supposed to be good for you, it was simply supposed to be eaten.

Pushing up from the couch, Scout jumped down
to the floor and ran straight to the front door.  Sherry groaned in disbelief.

"Are you kidding?  Now?"  The dog pranced around, apparently needing a walk.  "Well, shit.  I shouldn't have fed you all that cheese.  It made you thirsty.  Hold on a minute." 

She was in her pajamas but the chance of running in to anyone she knew at this hour was slim.  She grabbed her boots and pulled them on, then shrugged into her coat, zipping it to her chin.  It was colder than hell out there tonight.  Her gloves and hat were in her pockets and they went on as well.  She might as well give Scout a good walk so he would sleep in tomorrow.  When she and Madison had walked him earlier, it had taken him forever to find a place to do his business so Sherry didn't expect this would be quick anyway. 

Sherry lifted the leash off the hook by the door where Madison kept her car keys and
smiled at Scout.

"Okay, sweetie.  Aunt Sherry will take you for a little walk.  How's that sound?"

Scout ran around in a few circles and then sat down to have his leash attached, his tail going a mile a minute.  She pocketed Madison's keys.  It wasn't Sherry's usual practice if she was only going to be gone for a few minutes, but the fact that Tanner had a deputy driving by the house every ten minutes or so spoke of a man who was concerned.  About what she had no idea, and Madison was decidedly tight-lipped on the subject.  Sherry assumed that Tanner had pissed someone off by arresting him and he was probably making empty threats.

  The cold hit her the minute she opened the front door but Scout was already on the front porch looking at her with an expression of doggy disdain.  She leaned down and ruffled his fur.

"You have a built in fur coat to keep you warm.  I have to layer.  All right.  Let's get this show on the road."

She walked him down Fountain Street all the way to the cul de sac before turning around and heading back.  Her breath made mist and her face was beginning to go numb, but Scout appeared determined to sniff every tree and bush between here and the house.  As they neared the
neighbor’s bushes, Sherry stopped in her tracks and tugged on Scout's leash.  She took a few steps back until she was partially obscured under some low hanging branches. 

As she watched Madison's house, several men with flashlights splayed out around the outside.  Two men, partially carrying a man in between them walked around toward the clinic side of the home.  It looked like someone was injured and needed Madison's help.  That wasn't all that unusual, but what was w
ith the men stationed all around the house like guards? 

Her heart started beating faster in her chest and the feminine intuition that Dan often made fun of reared its ugly head.  This didn't look right at all.  The men were looking around as if they were watching for someone.  Trying to keep people out.

Or keep people in?

They reminded Sherry of the Secret Service men she'd seen on television, but the man they'd taken to the clinic probably wasn't the president.  They'd shown up in two dark, nondescript sedans, not a mile long parade of limousines. 

Scout whined and pulled on the leash and Sherry tugged him back until she could wrap her arms around him.

"I don't like the look of this, Scout.  I think we need to find that deputy that's supposed to be patrolling the area."

Sherry's hand automatically went to her pocket for her phone, but she'd left it inside the house.

Craptastic. 

Her phone was practically a third appendage and the one damn time she really needed it, she'd left it behind.  She hated to leave Madison in that house with whomever had gone in there, but standing in the frigid cold freezing her ass off wasn't doing anyone any good.  She turned and led Scout back down the street, taking a short cut through the Ames' back yard and over to Courtney Avenue.  Luckily Madison lived close to downtown.  If she cut through a few yards, she could come out right across the street from the sheriff's station.

She took off at a jog with Scout at her heels
, adrenaline zipping through her body.  Tanner might have been on to something when he had a deputy watch the house.  Madison could be in real danger.  Sherry had to sound the alarm.

* * * *

Evan was on his way to the hospital in Billings along with men from the other motorcade. Of the eleven Marshals, five had survived, three of which were critically injured.  Tanner's team had taken less casualties.  The four Marshals in the front and last cars were dead–of that there was no doubt.  Evan would be fine but was going to be off duty for awhile healing.  Of the deputized sheriffs, Jared and Griffin had both taken a slug in the vest that had knocked them backwards but were fine.

DEA Agent Jason Anderson had relayed that the first motorcade had thinned th
e cartels numbers by about half, which probably explained how their survival rate was better.  The scene was crawling with DEA, Marshals, and state and local cops, the highway completely closed to traffic. 

"We found the chopper abandoned in a field not far from here," Jason said, shoving his cell back in his pocket.  "My team took pictures of the tire tracks and is running them right now to see if we can get a make and model."

"Government law enforcement sure is different than local.  We'd put out roadblocks and a BOLO."  Tanner slugged back the coffee that had somehow appeared.  "Are your men at the hospitals yet?  Kerr was bleeding out pretty bad."

"We've got every hospital in a three hundred mile radius covered.  If they show up there, we'll get them," Jason affirmed. 

Logan paced.  "I feel so damn useless.  What can we do?"

Jason shook his head.  "Nothing at this point.  You did the job Uncle Sam asked you to do.  Let us do our job now."

Tanner scowled.  "We didn't do it well enough.  Kerr's gone."

Jason stroked his chin.  "When someone is determined, it often doesn't matter what we do.  You kept a lot of people alive, and you captured some of the henchmen.  That's good work where I come from."

Logan stopped and crossed his arms over his chest.  "They'd be crazy to go to a hospital, Anderson.  Jacks has to know you've got this area crawling with agents.  Where would he feel safe?  Where can he get the help he needs?"

Son of a bitch.

"Maddie," Tanner growled.  "Jacks feels safe in Springwood.  He can take Kerr to Maddie.  She has a clinic right in the house, for fuck's sake.  We need to get there now!"

Tanner made to move but Jason caught his arm.  "Hold on a minute.  Who is Maddie and how would Jacks know to take Kerr there?"

"Everyone in town knows Maddie and her father have their medical office in their home.  Everyone," Tanner grated, impatient to get out of there.  "And she's my girlfriend.  I'm going to marry her."

Jason's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.  "Then we'd better go.  You can explain it all to me in the chopper."

Tanner turned to Logan.  "Get everybody together and get them staged down the street from my house.  I'll call Deputy Sam and he'll meet you on Courtney Avenue.  Got it?  If Jacks has Maddie, I'll need all of you."

Logan nodded and headed to round up the other men.  Tanner ran with Jason to the helicopter.  They would radio Sam from there.  If anything happened to Maddie, Tanner would kill Jacks.  There wouldn't be a safe corner of the globe for that man to hide in.  He'd hunt him down and make him wish he'd never been born.

* * * *

Madison was having a weird dream.

She and Tanner were back in Las Vegas but she couldn’t find him anywhere.  She looked and looked, walked all over the hotel and up and down the strip but couldn’t see him.  Somehow she knew he was there, but he was frustratingly out of sight. 

A noise from downstairs brought her out of her deep sleep and she went completely still, trying to hear it again.  Another bang and everything went silent.  Madison sat up and saw that Sherry wasn’t in her bed. 

Probably still watching a movie, Sherry was known to stay up all night.  Scout might as well come upstairs with Madison and get some rest.  Either way, she needed to see what was going on.  Knowing Sherry, she was making Scout a baked chicken dinner.  When Scout never ate dog food again, Tanner would be livid. 

Madison groaned and rolled out of bed, blinking the sleep from her eyes.  She shoved her feet into slippers and pulled on a large sweatshirt over her T-shirt and sweats.
  Finger combing the tangles in her hair, she padded to the bedroom door and pulled it open, trudging downstairs.  The television was still on but there was no sign of Sherry or Scout.  A quick glance by the front door and Madison could see Sherry's coat and boots were gone, as was Scout's leash.  She must have taken the dog for a walk.

Madison sighed and headed for the kitchen.  Maybe some hot cocoa would help her and Sherry sleep.  She opened the refrigerator door to get the milk when an arm wrapped around her body tightly and a hand clamped over her mouth.  She was dragged into the center of the room and when the light flipped on, Fenton Jacks was standing in the middle of her kitchen holding a gun.  Another man was sitting at her breakfast table, slumped over and pale
.  He was wearing an orange jumpsuit with a large bloodstain.  His hands and feet were shackled.

Fear crawled up her spine and she struggled against the iron bands around her.

“I’m sorry to intrude on you at this late hour, Dr. Shay, but as you can see we are in need of medical assistance.”  Fenton nodded to his henchman.  “You can let her go.”

Madison swallowed the lump of fear lodged in her throat as the hands loosened and the man took a step back.  In all her years in the Chicago ER, she’d never faced down a gun.  She lifted her chin and prayed that Sherry stayed far away from the house.  “I’ve never had a gun pointed at me before.”

“I do apologize,” Fenton said smoothly, but the gun pointed at her never wavered.  “We don’t have all day here, Dr. Shay.  This man’s life is very important to me.”

“
Bring him into the back of the house and into the room on the left."

Fenton waved her first, and she led the way into the medical office.  The henchman helped the injured man
, almost lifting him onto the table.  The victim was breathing in pants, and his face contorted in agony. 

She firmed her lips and looked up at Fenton Jacks.  "What happened to this man?"  She tried to keep her voice cool and controlled and her expression neutral.

Jacks gave her an appraising look.  "He was shot, Dr. Shay.  I need you to take out the bullet and sew him up."

Her stomach twisted into knots, her heart beating loudly in her chest.  "He should be in a hospital.  It looks like he's lost a lot of blood."

Laughing, Jacks pointed the gun at her chest.  "I can't take him there as I'm sure you've figured out.  We're on a tight schedule here, Dr. Shay.  Fix him up and we'll walk out of here and you'll never see us again.  Make a fuss…well, I don't want to hurt you."

Madison reached for her white coat and shrugged it on.  "I doubt hurting me would bother you in the least, Mr
. Jacks.  Please stand back and give me some room to work here."

The other man who had yet to speak, drew his gun when she went to open a drawer.  She lifted her eyebrow at Jacks.  "Am I allowed to work?  I need to cut off these pants to see the wound."

His lips twisted but he nodded.  "Give her some space."  Jacks smiled.  "But not too much space."

Madison
pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and retrieved the scissors from the drawer before beginning to cut through the blood-soaked material.  She kept her eyes on her work and didn't spare the other two a glance.  She was equipped to remove the bullet and sew this poor man up, but he'd lost so much blood she feared he might go into volume shock.  She couldn't help him with that here.  He could code on her at any moment. 

That would probably make Fenton Jacks very upset indeed.

* * * *

Staged two blocks from Maddie's house, Tanner wanted to scream in frustration.  He'd never felt fear like this before.  Not in the Middle East.  Not when Emily had pneumonia and had been hospitalized for a week.  And not when Chris's appendix burst and they had to rush him to the emergency room.

"Tell me again what you saw, Sherry," Tanner asked.

Sherry was practically in tears.  Her chin wobbled and her eyes were watery.  "I was taking Scout for a walk before I went to bed.  As I was walking back to the house, I saw a bunch of men surround it.  Two men were helping a third around to the back door while the other seemed to stand guard."

"Are you sure there are four men outside?"

"I
— I— think so."  Tears started to escape Sherry's eyes.  "I just don't remember.  I'm sorry, Tanner."

He put his hand on her shoulder.  "It's okay.  You've done more than you know to help Maddie.  You got Sam and now we're here to get her out, okay?  I won't let anything happen to her.  I promise."