The Senator's Choice (17 page)

Luke nodded. He wanted to throw up again. His chances of being rescued seemed to dwindle by the moment.

CHAPTER 24

MATTHEWS LEANED OVER Shepherd
’
s shoulder and peered at the map displaying on his laptop screen. “What are we looking at here?” Matthews asked.

“This is a topographical map of Idaho,”
Shepherd answered.

“Looks like a gun to me,” Zellers said.

“Fitting,” Matthews said. “We
’
re likely to find plenty up in this part of the state, especially where we
’
re going.”

“And where is that exactly?” Zellers asked.

Matthews shrugged. “Wanna tell them, Shepherd?”

“Sure. We
’
re going to a private hunting lodge held by one of the Ophion board members nears Grouse Mountain Point just off Lake Pend Oreille. The lodge was built seven years ago and contains ten bedrooms, a commercial kitchen, lounge area, great room with fireplace, gun room, and game room with a bar. It
’
s two stories with all the bedrooms on the upper level and everything else off the ground floor. There
’
s also a wine cellar. The lodge sits on four and a half acres of private property, surrounded by more than two hundred acres of land managed by the forest service.”

Zellers chided him. “Is there anything you don
’
t know about this place, Shepherd?”

“I
’
m not sure what the structure is comprised of, but based off the surveillance photos I was able to glean, it appears to be a log cabin design.”

Zellers chuckled.

“Knock it off, wise guy,” Matthews said as he slugged Zellers in the bicep. “We
’
d probably be on some wild goose chase right now if it wasn
’
t for Shepherd.
”

Jones sighed.
“Are we sure this is where they have Luke?”

“It makes sense,” Matthews said. “This is the only property we could find with any ties to Ophion — and it
’
s where I
’
d go to hideout. It won
’
t be easy getting in and out of there.”

“In other words, it
’
s a kill box,”
Jones said.

“It could be if we
’
re not careful. But that
’
s why Shepherd is studying the topo maps for us.”

Jones slumped in his seat. “I
’
ve just got an uneasy feeling about all this.”

“Don
’
t worry, Jones. This will all be over soon enough,” Matthews reassured him. “Our biggest challenge is getting this plane down at Dave Wall Field. So, you better all buckle up as we
’
re about to make our final approach.”

The rest of the team fastened their seatbelts and waited in silence as the plane descended through the clouds. Matthews noted the snow still coating the ground. Its mere presence was a catch-22: good for tracking, bad for being tracked. He hoped to be the only one doing the tracking.

Several minutes later, the plane touched down, delivering them safely to the city of Sandpoint. It was a thirty-minute drive from where they really wanted to be, but Matthews wasn
’
t in a hurry to get there. With as particular as these kidnappers were, he feared their eyes and ears. The best place to spend the night was at the Schweitzer Mountain ski resort with all the other visitors. At least they wouldn
’
t stand out there.

***

“I WANT SUSHI,” Shepherd proclaimed after Matthews finished paying for their three-room chalet.

Hammond rolled his eyes. “Really, Shepherd? You want raw fish? There are several mountain streams nearby. Perhaps you can wrestle a grizzly for a fresh catch of salmon.”

“Knock it off, Hammond,” Matthews said as he paused before entering their home for at least one night. “If it hadn
’
t been for Shepherd, we wouldn
’
t have been able to track these thugs down.”

“Don
’
t we all deserve a nice steak?” Zellers said.

Matthews shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Have any of you ever heard of the word ‘compromise
’
? It
’
s a pretty cool concept.”

“What isn
’
t a pretty cool concept is raw fish,” Jones chimed in.

“Geez, who put bees up in all your bonnets tonight?” Matthews snapped. “This is ridiculous. Shepherd wants sushi, so we
’
re going to eat sushi.”

“Well, Zellers wants a steak too. Can
’
t Zellers get a steak?” Zellers said.

“Enough,” Matthews said. “
I don’
t want to hear any of it from any of you, especially your third-person talk, Zellers.” He paused and surveyed each of their faces. “Got it?”

Jones shot him a look. Zellers rolled his eyes.

“I
’
ll take that as a ‘yes
’
,” Matthews said.

***

AFTER DINNER, THEY RETURNED to their room and started to settle in for the night. They all shared a suite with Matthews conducting a straw poll to see who got to sleep on the couch. Before he could begin, Jones volunteered.

“I
’
d rather sleep on the couch than ever sharing a bed with Hammond,”
Jones said.
“He kicked me three times in the back in the middle of the night on our last mission.”

“Fine. You and I will share a bed,” Matthews said. “Shepherd can sleep on the couch and Hammond and Zellers can share the other bed.”

They all got ready for bed in silence. But that was interrupted when Matthews
’
phone buzzed with a text message. He stared at the screen, brow furrowed.

“What is it, boss?” Hammond asked.

“A text message.”

“From who?”

“
Dave Dumas.
”

“Dave Dumas? What does it say?” Zellers asked.

“Bring your A game,” Matthews read.

“What
’
s he mean by that?” Hammond said.

“They know we
’
re coming,” Matthews huffed. “Nothing about rescuing Luke is going to be easy. Best get some rest. We
’
ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

CHAPTER 25

SENATOR DANIELS AWOKE on Wednesday morning when his phone buzzed with a text. He groaned and rolled over in bed. His phone flashed the time: 6:15 a.m.

His alarm was set for 6:30 and he detested waking up even a minute before he was supposed to. He let out a deep guttural growl and punched in the code to unlock his phone. It was a message from Sarah.

Hope you have a great day! How
’
s Luke?

I haven
’
t been able to reach him

Daniels rolled over and turned his phone off. Everything seemed to remind him of Luke. The weather. An article online about school vouchers. An article about the next
Star Wars
movie. Everything made him wish Luke was just a few yards away in a room at the end of the hall. But he wasn
’
t.

God knows where he is, being subjected to who knows what.

He checked his email again on his burner phone. Nothing from Seth. He wanted to know what was going on, but he didn
’
t want to pester him, nor did he want to put their mission in jeopardy. Without anything going his way, he knew the odds of rescuing Luke ahead of the vote seemed to diminish with each passing second.

Daniels rolled over and let his feet fall to the floor. He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes before he decided to actually get up. Once he did, he stumbled toward the bathroom and washed his face. The cold water seemed like a magic elixir when it came to waking him up.

As he splashed the liquid on his face, he widened his eyes. This was real. Life had transitioned from possibility to reality. And the reality was that Luke was in danger — still. Nothing had changed that fact — yet. Not his brother-in-law. Not anyone. Luke
’
s life hung in the balance, but the chances of seeing him alive ever again dissipated with each passing minute.

If you get beyond forty-eight hours and you still haven
’
t seen your child, you
’
ll likely never see him or her again.

At least, that
’
s the message that was passed around. Daniels didn
’
t want to believe it, but what choice did he have? He knew no differently. Luke had never been kidnapped before, though Daniels liked to think that if he had, he would
’
ve tracked down the kidnapper and killed him — all for his son
’
s safety and peace of mind.

But life is rarely that simplistic — or easy. Instead, Daniels faced a crazed kidnapping team that gave less regard to his son
’
s life than it did to his vote. But he felt helpless — and unable to do anything but what was asked of him. If only Seth would text him with an update.

He checked his phone again. Nothing.

Mindlessly, he climbed into the shower and let the water pour over him. At least nobody wanted an answer from him here. No pressures. No worries. But in less than five minutes, he
’
d be drying off and the world and all its worries would rush back to him. He wasn
’
t sure if the liquid streaking down his face was water or a teardrop. Either way, it wasn
’
t doing anything to reassure him that Luke remained in imminent danger.

While he was drying off, his phone buzzed with a call. It was Sarah.

“Hey,” he answered. “I was just thinking about you.”

“Good things, I hope.”

He smiled. “Very good. Why are you up so early?”

“I can
’
t stop thinking about you and Luke. Level with me — is he okay?”

“He
’
s fine. Don
’
t worry. He
’
ll be back at school in no time. But for now, he needs to sleep and get some rest.”

She giggled. “I know. I
’
m just a worry wart. I
’
m glad he
’
s okay.”

He lied. “He
’
s sleeping soundly as we speak.”

“Good. Well, you wanna do lunch today? I feel like I
’
m missing out on my time with you.”

“I
’
m not sure. I
’
ve got a pretty busy day. But don
’
t worry
— once we get back to Washington and get this vote over with, my schedule with open up quite a bit, okay?”

“Sounds good. Just let me know if today works. I really want to see you.”

Daniels rubbed his face. He wanted nothing more than to spend his time with Sarah. But duty called. In fact, everything above and beyond duty called. He couldn
’
t catch a break if he wore a large glove and it was thrown to him from a foot away.

“I
’
ll call you later if it can indeed work,” he said before he hung up.

He wanted to crawl back into bed and not show up until Seth and his team had Luke safely in their hands. But that wasn
’
t the case. They were all still out there — searching. Luke was lost for the time being. He might show up — or he might not.

Daniels just wanted to give him another hug, tell him that he loved him again. It was a dream at this point. But a dream was all he had to hold onto.

CHAPTER 26

LUKE RELIED ON HIS observational powers to confirm what he already suspected about their destination. Colorado license plates seemed aplenty on the various vehicles zipping past them on the winding two-lane road. They climbed up the hill slowly behind a van with skis stacked three high on a roof rack. There was still plenty of snow in the upper regions of the mountains, a vastly different landscape from where they landed. Spring seemed poised to explode in the valley while the mountains appeared besieged by old man winter
’
s land stand.

The local newspaper displayed the day
’
s date as Wednesday, March 16 through the rack
’
s window, another detail Luke caught. It was just a date, but one that made him sad. He was supposed to go on a spring break trip that included a deep-sea fishing excursion in the Gulf of Mexico with his father in less than a week, though that seemed unlikely given his current circumstances. At the moment, he
’
d settle for a trip to McDonald
’
s with his dad. Anything but
here
.