Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (61 page)

His patience already thin, Cal stood up from
his chair. “How about you shut your fucking mouth before I shut it
for you,” he growled.

The order fell on deaf ears. Trapper went
back to howling like a madman. Cal just stood and watched. He
couldn’t do anything with this guy. Hopefully Travis would call
back soon with something they could act on.

“Have it your way, buddy. Laugh all you
want. You’ve got two choices: either help us out or get thrown in a
deep dark cell somewhere.”

This caused another riotous uproar from the
beak-nosed man.

Cal shook his head and turned to leave.

“Wait…wait…I want to…tell you something,”
Trapper just managed to get out.

Cal turned back. “What do you want to tell
me?”

“A…a secret.”

Wary, Cal stepped closer to the man but
still kept his distance. He would’ve felt better with a baseball
bat in his hand. “What is it?”

“Come…closer…hee hee,” Trapper coughed as he
threw his head back again.

“No way. Tell me your secret.”

Trapper’s head snapped down and his gaze
steadied on Cal.

“There’s a third option,” Trapper responded
clearly.

Cal’s blood froze and the hairs on the back
of his neck stood up. Just as he reached for his pistol, Trapper
somehow, impossibly, spread his legs that were no longer tied, and
hoisted the chair over his head. Cal went to block the coming swing
but instead of hitting him, Trapper continued his swing and
launched the heavy chair at the oversized bedroom window. The
skinny man followed the chair’s trajectory. With hands and feet now
free, he ran the short distance to the window and jumped.

Instead of shooting with his drawn pistol,
Cal stood shocked. He didn’t really want to fire his pistol in the
small residential community. The cops would come running. A split
second later, Cal was jumping out the window too.

+++

Daniel had been watching the interaction
closely. He knew something was up Trapper’s sleeve, but the man hid
it well. Almost the same instant that the crafty captive stood up
from his chair, Daniel was doing the same thing. With his pistol
extended, he bolted for the bedroom door.

+++

Trapper hit the yard with his feet and
immediately went into a roll to lessen the impact. His teeth still
rattled as he sprang up and sprinted away from the house. He needed
to get in touch with Nick Ponder.

+++

Cal landed less gracefully than his quarry.
He thudded painfully and fell forward. Luckily they’d jumped onto
the grassy yard instead of the concrete driveway barely four feet
away.

Only steps ahead, Trapper was moving in high
gear as Cal struggled to regain his balance. The guy was moving
incredibly fast. Cal chided himself for not checking the man’s
restraints. It was a basic rule in handling prisoners.

Pocketing his pistol in case they
encountered neighbors, Cal ran after Trapper.

+++

Daniel skidded to a halt at the bedroom
window and stuck his head out. He could see Cal running into the
darkness. Without another thought, Daniel avoided the broken glass,
climbed onto the window frame and jumped. Hitting the grass, he
rolled out gracefully and hopped into a sprint. He took off after
the two men hoping he wouldn’t be too late.

+++

There weren’t many places for Trapper to go.
The terrain was pretty open. Luckily it was pitch black out. He was
free, but for how long? He’d chased countless criminals on foot so
he knew the pursuit was all about tenacity and the wits of the man
being chased. His mind processed the landscape and alternative
routes. The neighborhood would end soon.

Trapper turned left on McCollister Drive,
running up the incline. The only chance he had was using the clumps
of trees on the slopes as cover. He knew exactly where to go.

+++

Cal was lagging behind. Not a bad athlete in
his own right, Cal was no match for Trapper’s speed. The only
reason he could still see his former detainee was because the guy
had stayed on the well lit road. Cal was sure that wouldn’t last
long. He’d glimpsed Daniel coming up from behind but couldn’t wait
for his friend.

He pushed his legs and lungs to their limit.
Neil’s life depended on it.

+++

Trapper hit the tree line and smiled. Unless
his pursuer had somehow managed to grab a set of night vision
goggles or a hound dog to sniff him out, there was no way he was
getting caught.

Trapper looked back once, then disappeared
into the woods.

+++

Cal saw Trapper glance back just as Daniel
caught up. Both men extracted their pistols and rushed forward.
They ran in silence knowing that their chances of catching the man
had just decreased exponentially.

Daniel stopped Cal as they approached the
tree line. “Let me go first,” the sniper ordered.

Cal would’ve ignored most other men but knew
Daniel’s skills outweighed his own when it came to the cat and
mouse game they were playing with Trapper.

Without waiting for his employer to reply,
Daniel melted into the wooded area.

+++

After thirty minutes of looking, the two
Marines emerged. The only thing Cal had to mark the occasion was a
slightly sprained ankle and a variety of scrapes on his face.
Daniel, on the other hand, looked clean and composed. How was it
that he never seemed to get scathed?

“Thanks for coming after me,” Cal
offered.

“Sorry we didn’t get the guy.”

“It’s my fault. I should’ve checked him,”
grumbled Cal.

“I’ll bet if we look back at the video we
won’t even see how he got out of those restraints. That guy’s a
real pro.”

Cal simply nodded. Just when he thought
things might be going their way, it had gotten worse.

“Shit.”

Daniel looked at Cal with serene confidence.
“We’ll get Neil back. Don’t worry.” He patted Stokes on the
shoulder twice and started walking.

Cal stared back at his friend. For some
reason he believed him. There was something in Daniel that inspired
trust and calm. He’d talked about it with Trent a couple days
before. MSgt Trent, being a much more spiritual man than Cal,
thought that Daniel had some kind of God-given gift. He tried
explaining it to Cal.

“I knew a preacher when I was a kid. Momma
always said he was blessed by Jesus. This dude would walk into
crack houses and gang hangouts and somehow come out untouched. He
had this calming presence that good people flocked to and that bad
people respected and were scared of. It’s hard to explain other
than to say that your boy Daniel has the same thing. Have you ever
seen the kid get hurt or angry?”

Cal had not. He remembered the story Daniel
had told him about his last time in Afghanistan. After the SEAL
team they’d accompanied got killed by a large insurgent group, a
building collapsed on him and his spotter. His spotter died and
Daniel walked away unscathed except for the mental scars. After
leaving the Marine Corps and wandering aimlessly through alcohol
and bad dreams, Briggs found God. He never talked about it, but you
could almost feel the invisible bond the former sniper held with
the Almighty.

He looked over at Daniel as they walked back
to their house. Briggs walked with an air of confidence that most
men wished for. Cal hoped that Daniel’s gift would help them find
and rescue their lost friend.

Chapter 13

Teton Village, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

11:34pm, September 27th

It hadn’t been hard to lose his pursuers.
Trapper knew the area well, and the dark night further aided his
escape. He paused again to catch his breath and listen for sounds
of pursuit. Nothing.

The safe house wasn’t far. Just another ten
minutes of jogging and he’d be there. Trapper took off down the
dirt path. There was a storm looming on the horizon, and it had
nothing to do with the weather. The killer’s mind imagined the
retribution he’d soon levy against Cal Stokes and his men.

+++

Cal and Daniel returned to the house and
awakened the team. Two men were posted to guard their remaining
prisoner. They wouldn’t lose this one.

After reviewing the taped interrogation two
more times, they agreed that it was very likely that The Ponder
Group had at least a base of operations if not a headquarters in
the area. The assumption was confirmed minutes later by a call from
Todd Dunn.

Cal had a pen and paper out, ready to take
notes as he talked to SSI’s security head.

“I’ve confirmed that Ponder registered his
corporation in Wyoming. He’s got a P.O. Box listed in the public
record along with his attorney’s address. The lawyer’s office is in
Wilson, which is just around the corner from Teton Village. I’m
still working on locating his physical address.”

“Sure would be nice to have Neil around
right now,” Cal noted ruefully.

“Yeah, he would’ve found Ponder in a couple
minutes.”

“Any progress on finding out who the leak
is?”

“I think we’re getting close. Me and Higgins
narrowed it down to five guys in the R&D department. Neil hired
them all. Looks like they didn’t get as thorough a check as most
new hires do.”

“How did that happen?” Cal was confused
about the security lapse by the otherwise overly cautious Dunn.

Dunn exhaled. “I won’t blame it on Neil, but
I’ll probably have to have a little talk with him if we get him
back.”

“WHEN we get him back,” Cal corrected.

“Right. WHEN we get him back, Neil needs to
have a little class on security. We all know he’s prone to seeing
the good in people. Looks like this time it’s really coming back to
bite him in the ass.”

“That seems a little harsh, Todd.”

“I know it might, but we wouldn’t be in this
mess if it weren’t for Neil. Shit, Cal, you know I love him as much
as you and Travis do, but Neil really messed up on this one. First
he denies the personal security and now we’re finding out that he
probably hired a rat. I think it’s time for a little wakeup call
for Mr. Patel.”

Cal knew Dunn was right. He could only
imagine how bad Neil’s wakeup call was going.

+++

Neil was in the process of learning another
lesson at the moment. He’d refused to do the ‘test’ Ponder had
demanded. Now, for the third time, Neil was stripped naked and tied
to a post outside the compound. The first time had been a warning.
The second time lasted longer. This time Neil was sure he was
almost hypothermic.

The temperature had to be in the low
thirties. To make matters worse, every five minutes Ponder would
walk outside with a bucket of cold water and dump it on the
shivering Patel. Neil would cower and try to make himself and small
as possible. He had no idea how long this time would last.

He kept himself going by thinking about his
friends: Cal, Trent and Brian. Neil knew they wouldn’t back down.
He’d seen the after effects when they’d finally rescued Cal from
the gangster Dante West. His friend came out beaten and bloody but
in good spirits and, more importantly, alive.

Neil vaguely remembered MSgt
Trent telling him that it was all about toughness and humor in the
beginning. First get pissed off, then make it funny.
Didn’t Senator McCain say the same
thing?

Neil knew that eventually all men broke
under torture. He had to hold out as long as possible. The
alternative was simply too terrifying to think about. If he used
his talents to do what his captor wanted, he knew where it would
lead. They were testing him. Patel was simply a tool to be
used.

Despite his time with the company, he never
truly understood the dangers their elite warriors faced. He’d heard
the stories from the sidelines of the action, but being in the
thick of it was something else entirely.

The front door of the low building opened
and light spilled out into the darkness. Ponder’s form appeared
with his now familiar metal bucket.

“You ready to take your test or do you want
to take another bath?” Ponder asked.

From his position on the
ground Neil thought once more about his friends.
What would Trent say?
Between chattering teeth he answered. “I thought you’d…never
ask. I was getting…hot out…here.”

Ponder walked faster and threw the water
right in Neil’s face. It jolted him and took his breath away.
Whatever reprieve Neil expected disappeared a second later when
Ponder bent down and put his face right in front of Patel’s.

“Now you listen here. I can do this shit all
night. You’ll feel like you’re about to die and then we’ll bring
you back to life.”

He reached down and grabbed Neil bandaged
stump. Neil clenched his teeth as Ponder began to squeeze.

“Come on, you pussy. You know you want to
scream. Go ahead, no one can hear you anyway.” Ponder squeezed
harder and harder as Neil struggled to stay lucid. Tears streamed
down his face as he turned to his aggressor.

“You’re…the….pussy.”

Ponder yelled in his face and followed it up
with a quick head butt. Neil crumpled into unconsciousness.

“Shit,” muttered Ponder. He hadn’t meant to
knock the kid out. Time was running out and so was his patience.
The buyers were hounding him about providing proof that Patel was
the real deal. Add the snowstorm blowing in and Ponder was
scrambling to keep the transaction together.

He fished out a walkie talkie from his coat
pocket. “Come out here and get him.”

Thirty seconds later, the hooded jailer
walked out, unlocked Neil from the pole, and picked him up
gently.