Sufficient Ransom (35 page)

Stopping in front of a row of stores, Ann watched the guard at the camp entrance, a hundred yards away. He was talking to a man in the small circle of light provided by a giant portable lamp. Behind the fence, a short distance from the gate, the white tents Carly had mentioned glowed in the moonlight, like giant ghosts.

Ann was about to move in the direction of the gate, when Richard pulled her back. Across the square, Tom Long, Julian Fox, and two strangers had just stepped out of a pub. “Quick!” she whispered. “Before they see us.”

She and her husband ducked into the closest open doorway. They found themselves in a children’s toy store. A miniature train on display was chugging along a table through a painted countryside. Peering out the shop window at the square, Ann watched the four men walk to the corner, stop, and continue their conversation. Moments later, the detective and the agent turned and walked in the opposite direction. Past the pub, across the lower part of the square, the men were soon out of sight.

The two strangers—from their short hair and neat clothes, they looked to be local law enforcement—ducked down a small side street off the square, presumably to access the public parking lot behind the pub.

“Let’s get to the gate and see if we can get in,” Richard said.

Unlike his peers at the main gate, the guard at the pedestrian entrance did not appear to be armed. “We’re heading in for the night,” Richard called to the guard as he tried to get past him.

The guard stepped directly in front of Richard, a polite smile on his boyish face. “Sorry, sir. Need to see your pass.”

“We left our pass in the tent,” Ann said, waving in the direction of the camp. “Way over there.”

“See that sign?” The guard pointed to a small white poster nailed to the wood fence behind them. “No one gets in without a pass. Now if you like, I can call Pastor Pannikin. He can okay your entering.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Richard said. “We probably left our pass in the car. Come on.” He pulled Ann’s arm. “Let’s go look for it.”

When they were out of earshot of the guard Ann said, “Let’s go back to the room and come up with Plan B. There’s no way that guy’s letting us in.”

The air was growing dark with every extinguished light; Pine Wood was shutting down for the night. At the inn’s parking lot, Richard
removed a Springfield 9mm pistol, two loaded magazines, two empty ones, and a small box of ammunition from the glove compartment of their Land Rover, and put them in his jacket pocket. “From now on this stays with me,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s illegal.”

Back in their room, Richard spoke to Ann firmly. “It’ll be hard enough getting one person into the camp. Two of us will attract that much more attention. I’ll try to find where they’re holding Travis and see if I can get him out. I need you to stay here and think through a plan for tomorrow. In case I fail...”

The thought of sitting around and doing nothing made Ann more anxious. “I’ll wait for you down the road,” she said, a hopeful tone in her voice.

Richard shook his head. “No. I’ll worry about you. And I won’t be able to concentrate on the job at hand. You have to trust me on this, Annie. You’re staying here.”

1:00 A.M
.

R
ichard returned to the inn alone. His jacket sleeve was torn, the front of his jeans caked with dirt.

Ann jumped from the bed where she’d been biting her nails bloody. “What happened?”

Richard relayed his story as he undressed. “I found a tear at the bottom of the fence a few hundred yards north of the gate. I squeezed under it and picked my way through the woods. I crossed a field and then a second wooded area. On the other side were the big tents we saw, near the pedestrian gate. I was thinking of entering the tents and calling out for Travis, but the barking dogs foiled my plan. Two men with flashlights were walking by the back fence, close to the tents. I realized I could be putting Travis at risk. So I made my way out of there as quietly and as quickly as I could.”

Ann was crestfallen. “What do we do now?”

“I’ll go back in the morning. With all those retreaters up and about they’ll have no reason to suspect me. They’ll think I’m one of them.” Richard glanced at his watch. “Just a few short hours till H Hour. Let’s try and sleep, Annie. We’ll need mental clarity for what’s to come.”

Ann didn’t want to have to wait until morning. “I’ll head over there now and see what I can find.”

Her husband guided her to the bed and reached for the light. “You won’t accomplish anything in the dark. Besides, you need sleep.”

Ann sat on the edge of the bed, her shoulders slumped. “Tom Long called,” she said.

Richard stood still. “What did he say?”

“The first time he called I was afraid to answer,” Ann said. “I didn’t want him interfering with our plans. In one of his messages, he said they were working to find Travis. I called him back to get the details.”

“And?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. He said they’d know more in the morning.”

“Which basically means they know nothing, yet,” Richard said, kicking off his sneakers.

“He asked where we were staying,” Ann said. “What we were up to. It’s like I thought, he wants to keep an eye on us.”

“Did you tell him?”

She shook her head. “I said we were staying at some place down the mountain. I just made something up. He wanted to talk to you. I said you were sleeping. He didn’t seem to believe me. I feel bad lying to Tom. He’s been good to us.”

Richard scratched his head, thinking. “If I can’t get to Travis in the morning, we should probably let him and Julian handle things.”

Ann lay in the stillness, a pillow propped under her head. “I called the hospital. Kika’s in intensive care.”

Richard reached for her hand. “I hope she pulls through.”

C
HAPTER
28

Thursday, November 1

5:30 A.M
.

C
areful not to wake her husband, Ann dressed, gathered her purse and keys, and left the room. She planned to be back at the inn before Richard got up. His few hours of sleep had been restless. Another hour of rest would better prepare him for what lay ahead.

Ann sprinted across the parking lot, unlocked her SUV, and slipped behind the wheel. She headed for the outskirts of town, to a bakery she had spotted on the drive in, the day before.

After ordering and paying for the food, Ann decided that she had enough time to drive past the main entrance to the camp to see whether the guards were at their posts. Afterwards, she would return to the hotel room and report her findings to her husband.

5:45 A.M
.

R
ichard yanked his watch off the nightstand. “What the hell!” He leaped from bed and ran to the window. The Land Rover was gone from the parking lot. When he called Ann’s phone and voicemail came on, he checked his impulse to throw his phone across the room.
It’s just like her to take off without telling me a goddamn thing!
He grabbed his jacket and felt for the gun. Thankfully it was still there.

After dressing, Richard loaded his spare magazines and put them into his pants pockets. The remaining rounds went into his backpack. He hoisted the bundle to his back and reached for his baseball cap, sunglasses, and phone. He stepped into the hallway, locked the room, and ran down the back stairwell.

6:10 A.M
.

T
he first day of November promised to be warm. Curled brown leaves clung to thinning trees, yellow and orange ones dusted the roadside. Ann’s foot eased off the gas pedal. The main entrance to the Pine Wood Conference and Resort Center came into view. The compound gates were shut—the guards, dogs, and table gone.

Ann drove past a row of shuttered stores and parked at the end of the strip mall’s narrow parking lot. She wanted to get a closer look at the site so she could better prepare her husband for his mission. She stuffed a sandwich into her jacket pocket, lifted the coffee out of the cup holder, and pushed the car door open. If the police stopped to question her, she would just say she was out for an early morning hike. A car came into view. She waited for it to disappear around the bend in the road before she crossed to the other side. Skirting the compound fence, she searched for the hole where Richard had entered the night before.

Two German Shepherds charged the chain link, their teeth bared.

Ann jumped back, startled.

A large man with a rifle and tattooed wrists emerged from the wall of trees. “What’s up, boys?” His eyes narrowed when he saw Ann.

“Call off those beasts!” Ann said. Human brutes, she figured, like their animal counterparts, responded well to authority.

“Sorry, lady.”

It occurred to Ann that if she was nice to the guard, he might let her into the compound. But she quickly reminded herself that she and Richard had agreed to consult each other before doing anything concerning Travis’s rescue. Tijuana, the tunnel, and especially Chet, were painful reminders of the dangers of not thinking through the consequences of her actions.

Her lips curved into a cynical smile. “What’re you carrying that gun for? Is this a hunting lodge or something?”

The guard shrugged. “Just a private meeting. Come on boys, let’s go.”

The sound of snapping twigs and crunching leaves accompanied the man and his dogs as they turned away. As soon as they were out of sight, Ann pulled out her phone and called her husband, eager to tell him what she was doing. Richard’s voice came on the line the same moment he appeared from around the bend in the road.

“Richard!”

Her husband looked like he didn’t know whether he should hug or scold her. In the end, he did both. After she relayed her morning activity, Richard said, “Law enforcement’s bound to be heading in soon.” He indicated the hole in the fence. “I’m going in now. Remember Annie. Keep away from Tom and Julian.”

“Be careful,” Ann said. “The place’s crawling with people as fanatical as Chet and Todd. Any one of these people could kill you. Or Travis.”

Richard patted his jacket. “My buddy here will defend me. I’ll take March or Pannikin hostage if I have to.”

She felt his breath on her face. “Richard, I’m scared.”

“Promise me you won’t do anything rash, Annie.”

She clung to her husband like a frightened child. “Why can’t I come?”

“We talked about this already,” Richard said. “Come on. I have to go.”

Ann dismissed the idea of sneaking into the compound after Richard entered. Doing so would constitute a betrayal; they had agreed that he would be the one to go in.

“I’ll try to get in at the pedestrian entrance,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t scuttle that idea. “I’ll beg the guards. Oh, before I forget...” She handed her husband the egg sandwich and coffee. “You’ll need sustenance to carry you through.”

After dispatching the food and drink, Richard jammed the sandwich wrapper into the paper cup and tossed the cup over the fence. “Garbage for garbage,” he smiled.

Ann threw her arms around his neck. “I love you, Richard.”

He kissed her hard on the mouth. “I love you too, Annie. No matter what happens, just remember. Be safe and be strong.”

6:25 A.M
.

A
nn pulled her car door shut and stared at her ringing phone. The number on the screen was unfamiliar. “Hello? Oh, my God, Max! How’s Kika?”

Max Ruiz’s voice was low and controlled. “They’re operating on her now, Mrs. Olson.”

Ann tried to sound hopeful though her heart was breaking for her friend. “If anyone can survive this, Kika can. She’s a strong woman.”

“The police are looking for Chet March,” Max said. “If I get to him before they do, I’ll kill him.”

“We think Chet’s here in Pine Wood for his church’s annual retreat,” Ann said. “You probably don’t know this, Max, but they kidnapped our son. Richard went in to the camp to try and get him out.” She explained how Pastor Todd, in revealing to Kika why he had given her away as a baby, had unwittingly revealed his and Chet’s scheme to “save” the children. “You see, that’s why they went after Kika. To keep their rotten secret safe.”

“They’ll pay for this!” Max said. A stream of angry Spanish followed.

The idea of Chet mangled and dead pleased Ann.

“I’m at the hospital,” Max added. “As soon as I hear Kika’s okay—I swear I don’t know what I’ll do if she’s not—I’ll head to Pine Wood to help you. Don’t do anything crazy, Mrs. Olson. May God protect you and your child.”

Ann thanked Max and hung up. She couldn’t shake the feeling that efforts to rescue her son would end in tragedy.
Or maybe I’m just afraid I’ll screw things up again
.

6:30 A.M
.

C
het March woke up feeling claustrophobic, as if an invisible bag was slowly tightening around his head. His fever raged unabated, despite the many aspirins he had choked down to quell it. By the time Chet presented himself to Pastor Todd, his shirt was wet through, and the skin of his face slack and clammy. He looked and felt like a swollen rotten tomato.

“You’ve got to get yourself together, Chet,” Pastor Todd whispered, pushing him toward the back room of the Main Hall where Todd was set to greet New Way’s Council of Elders, a select group of the church’s biggest donors. “We must show a united front. Remember. We need the Elders’ help more than ever for our
work
.”

Chet lay sprawled across the battered sofa in the back room. Through the thin wall he could hear Pastor Todd’s rich voice rise and fall in rhythmical cadence as he addressed the Council. Outside, the sound of children shouting and playing on the adjacent field wrenched his heart. “Lord help me,” he murmured. “You know that I did it all for them.”

Sweat slipped down Chet’s forehead onto his swollen eyelids. He was too weak to wipe it. “We saved their souls,” he whispered. A deep cough shook his body. He put his hand to his mouth and felt a sticky hotness. Chet coughed again. Dark blood spurted between his fingers onto the cushion. He wiped at it frantically.