Escape (Chronicles of Hart) (16 page)

***

King had sent a team to the town behind the diner. Oneida was over 20 miles away and separated from the diner by an expansive forest and creeks that broke off from the large river that crossed through the national forest. If Grace was alive and out there she could be lost forever. That was if she could survive with all the predators already lurking in the trees. They would scour the forest from both sides for signs that Grace had passed though. They had planned on sending in a team of dogs to search for any scent she may have left after the storm. But with so little to go on and the local wolves, it seemed unlikely that they would pick up on anything useful, so they were left out of the trip. Day was soon to break again and Ethan had fallen asleep waiting in the back of an abandoned car. Some of the men were taking a break in the broken vans sitting around the lot waiting to be towed, while they passed the time until further instruction was given. King stood by a sleek black car watching the woods, hoping this case would break before he did.

He and Chung had been hoping to crack this case. The publicity would have sent them to Washington for sure. Right now King didn’t know if Chung would ever go home, Washington seemed farther away than ever. King sat on the trunk of the car and stared off into the dwindling night sky. He pondered if there were a faster way to find Grace, or if they even needed her to close the case. Sure she was a major piece of evidence, but after all the action Hart had been involved in over the last few days he was sure to have slipped up somewhere. The man couldn’t be perfect. King called a free agent over, “send a team of analysts into the woods over there.” he pointed to the direction the blast had come from, “see if you can’t find something useful.” the agent nodded to him, taking off with a purpose. Quickly he had gathered a team of five or so and was rounding up some equipment when King turned away to the expanse of forest that Grace had taken off into.

Smokey fire still raged behind King, warming him in the cool damp air. Firefighters and paramedics seemed to rush past him in slow motion as he retraced his steps from that day. It was hard to believe that only twenty four hours ago he had been waiting for Ethan and Grace to pop through a trap door, not sure if he had taken a real case or a hoax. He felt the stitches in his arm from the gunfight at the cabin, if only Chung were so lucky.

***

Grace was tiring quickly, pausing again to drink from a small stream as the sun rose. She fumbled through the pockets of Chung’s jacket finding a pack of wet mint gum. She tore into a piece greedily, saving the wrapper in her pocket, just in case. The forest was disorienting, Grace found herself keeping her eyes closed to help her stay in a straight line. Holding her hands before her she walked calculatedly around trees and obstacles.  She winced as her foot struck a sharp rock, tearing through her fabric wrap; it stung as she began bleeding into the already saturated cloth.

She had a feeling that she was veering ever slightly off course and could end up wandering in the woods for weeks. After stopping to catch her breath for a third time, she saw a low lying branch in a tree ahead. She stooped down to retie the cloth on her feet and then climbed the tree with the enthusiasm of a child on a jungle gym. The damp mossy branches slipped under her touch and she had to climb more slowly than she would have liked, due to the awkwardness of the heavy coat draped from her shoulders. The branches grew farther apart as she wove through the crevices up to the top of the tree line. When she could see above the surrounding trees she scoured the area for the lit up city she had seen the night before. It was more difficult to pinpoint in the light morning air. After a few moments she saw it tucked away in an alcove of trees in the distance. It appeared desolate and she couldn’t make out a road from her vantage point in the treetop. It was still a few hours away Grace estimated, it would take most of her strength to get there. She chose to continue moving before her hunger became intolerable. She would rest when she got there. Shrugging back down through the tree, careful of her footfalls, Grace reached the bottom and picked her walking stick back up. In the morning light it was less startling here in the dense forest, she was sure she would see a predator from the distance now that it was light out. Still she clung to the stick for protection, knowing that even if there were a predator she couldn’t fight it off with her bare hands. She put the direction of the town before her and walked on, thinking only of her usual morning protein shake, willing herself to keep going.

***

Kings phone buzzed, waking him from a light sleep. Sitting in the reclined passenger seat of their replacement black car, he answered in a thick voice. “Hello?”

It was Chung. He had woken up in the hospital and was going in for surgery on his shoulder. Relief washed over King, as he smiled into the phone “you tell him to hang in there, alright
,” King joked into the receiver.

Now awake, and with the morning sun glaring in his eyes preventing him from dozing back off, King exited the car walking to a small huddle of men around one of the less damaged vans. King had already given a detailed account of the previous days’ events for their records and recalculation. Since the last time he had checked they had devised several new protocols and were dividing the remaining men into teams to begin the recapture mission. The team that King had sent out earlier had returned with bags of evidence that had been sent in for analysis. Hopefully something in there would be enough to start their case against Hart. King loudly volunteered to join the group heading into Oneida to provide backup for the forest search that was already taking place there. He had a feeling that Grace was a resourceful girl and would amazingly turn up somewhere in the forest, kicking and biting. She seemed to have quite a bit of spunk in her. Platt and Peters had already volunteered for the same group, making them a team of three. They listened for their instructions from the agent in lead at head office. With the damage that had already done; King had been removed of his ‘officer in charge’ title and was now conforming to the duties of lower ranking squad men. Walking back to their car the men remained silent, all sure that they would be the ones to find the girl alive. Platt tossed himself into the passenger’s seat next to Peters who had greedily taken up the wheel again. “Should we ditch the kid?” he asked referring to the still unconscious Ethan tucked into the backseat. King shook his head, moving Ethan’s legs over to climb in beside him.

“Leave him, he’ll cause too much trouble here.” He looked over to the smouldering diner, thinking how lucky they were to have been outside. In the last few hours firefighters had finally managed to contain the blaze, leaving a smouldering charred pile where the building had once been. A crew of men were now cordoning off the building remains with fencing, so they could investigate further into the cause. King could see over his shoulder the fire department conversing with a team of forensics who wanted in to see the wreckage. This site would be busy for weeks. He rolled his eyes at the crowds of curious people parking at the side of the road on their way out. They were all hoping to get a look at the diner that had imploded in a ball of smoke and fire. And that was the last thing they needed right now; a media frenzy.

***

Hart was growing impatient with waiting. She was sure to turn up soon. No remains had been found in her likeness at the diner and his undercover man had indicated that she had previously escaped into the woods nearby.  It was a shame that she had not chosen his direction. He couldn’t help but imagine the scenario where he had caught her and made her watch as he blew up the diner with her precious Ethan inside. It truly would have been a victory, but he would settle for revenge. And as of yet her whereabouts were unknown. Hart was painfully aware that she could not be allowed to be found, even if it were just her corpse. It would lead to an inquisition into her death ten years previously and he would be just as liable as in the scenario where she escaped with the FBI unharmed.

Hart ran his hand over Grace’s new bed one last time, now refreshed after a quick nap. In a deep menacing voice he demanded. “Open the door
.” Looking up to several of the cameras as he marched across the room where a section of wall swung open instantly, allowing Hart to step out into the antechamber. He began to examine the equipment out of boredom and spite. The wires that had dangled into his face earlier were now tucked away neatly, leaving a clean pristine environment. It looked advanced in its technological savvy. The thought of his daughter being trapped in there like zoo animal, watched over twenty-four-seven gave him a reason to smile while he waited for his lackeys to bring him a coffee. Sometimes he would take satisfaction in timing them while they were running around doing his errands. Today he was not in the mood for compassion, “coffee.” he snipped into the quiet air, sitting in a vacant chair at the control panel. He looked over the switches and dials with pleasure, holding his hand out expectantly. Exactly five seconds later a hot cup of coffee slid into his hand.

exposed

Grace was running out of steam, falling from one tree to the next, clinging on for support. She had long since expired all of the gum in Chung's coat and had not found anything else edible. She stopped to sniff at some small berries, not sure if she should go for it or not. She was sure that they were poisonous, from the fact that she had never seen them before. Yet she was ravenous and was ready to eat just about anything. She settled for chewing on her lip as she fell forward, crawling through the trees for a stretch before regaining her footing with the help of her walking stick.

She hadn’t passed a stream in hours and was dehydrated and disoriented. She climbed a second tree to verify the town was still within her path. This time the tree was more difficult to venture into, given her delirious state. She fumbled, falling several times from the second branch before reaching the top. Looking out through the tree, it took her a few moments to remember what she was looking for. It was then that Grace started fearing for her life. She knew that she needed to get out of the woods fast or she wasn’t going to make it out at all.  In the blazing mid day sun the houses appeared like a mirage on the horizon ahead of her.

Grace was having trouble keeping her eyes open. To keep herself awake she sang the “ABC’s” over and over again. Keeping pace, she took a step every time she whispered a letter into the abundant tree filled landscape that stood between her and the city that she had named Freedom. The sun blinded her as it snuck through bare patches of branches overhead, blaring into her tired eyes. The forest had come to life around her in the early morning hours. At some points she felt like the animals were following her, trying to make sure she left their home intact. She stopped to listen to the birds a couple of times, sure that she could understand them. If the houses weren’t close enough, Grace was likely going to go mad.

“A...B...C...” she muttered under her breath, pressing her bleeding feet into the earth with each syllable.

***

Peters made record time, speeding to Oneida like he thought he could beat the reconnaissance team there. The other team had left four hours earlier and were already in the woods scouring for clues and trails, that didn’t slow Peters down. He had a look about him like he was behind the wheel of the DeLorean and expected to break the barrier between times at any second. He wove through the cars like they were pylons marking his route. The road was narrow with no shoulder, giving him less room for error. Twice he had nearly run a car into the forest and looking briefly in his rear-view mirror he would whistle as the car pulled itself back onto the road.

They had stopped briefly before plowing onto the highway to grab a bag full of burgers and a tray of coffee to bring them all back to the land of the living. Peters had continued driving at neck breaking speeds one handed while his other hand pressed a burger into his face. Platt sat gripping the door hysterically trying to remain calm for the two minutes it took Peters to devour three burgers and a coffee. Ethan sat quietly in the back seat, eating, afraid that if he said a word he would be kicked from the vehicle and unable to help Grace. He shrunk into the seat, willing the agents not to see him. None of them had even so much as glanced at him since he had woken up in the moving backseat, half sprawled across an uncomfortable looking agent King. He stared out the window like a statue with a full mouth, watching the reflections of the agents in the glass. Ethan was not sure where they were going, he hoped to pick up a tidbit from the landscape outside. It didn’t seem familiar to him. Still he hoped this was the forest Grace had gone in to earlier and that they were not taking him away from her.

King and Platt made light conversation in the background. Comparing academy experience and cases they had worked, partners they had had and other useless information while Peters wound through the one lane traffic like a lunatic playing a car chase game with their lives. Ethan listened intently, straining to hear over the manic car horns that were talking to Peters with waving fingers as he plowed several cars off the road. King and Platt had mentioned Oneida, Ethan remembered going there on a field trip to the national park as a child with Grace. It wasn’t far off from Jamestown where the cabin had been. Ethan returned his gaze to the window, reflecting afternoon light into his eyes. He squinted to see the forest better. Finding Grace was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack.