Back on Solid Ground (39 page)

“Yeah,” Niki
said.

“I’ve got
your little bitch here with me,” Trent hissed.

“Let me talk
to Stacy.”  

Trent held the phone up to Stacy’s mouth.  “Say something.”

“Niki, don’t
come!  He’s going to kill . . .”  Stacy’s father smacked her in the head with
the phone before she could finish.  Trent was trying to talk to Niki, but Stacy
was yelling at the top of her lungs in the background, “Niki don’t come.  He’s
going to kill you!  Call the FBI.  I’m at the ranch in Victoria!”

Trent finally left the cabin to continue his call.  He closed the door but could still
hear Stacy’s muffled yelling.

“The little
tramp has always been overly dramatic,” Trent said   “What you see in her I’ll
never know.” 

“What do you
want?” Niki asked.  He couldn’t wait to kill the man.

“Your
girlfriend needs her car and she would like you and your friend to bring it to
her.”   He looked at his watch.  “You have exactly four hours to make it to Victoria.  If you’re not here by then, don’t worry about coming.  Stacy won’t need you any
more.”   Trent gave Niki instructions on how to get to the ranch and hung up.

The five were
out the door while Niki was still on the phone with Trent.  They went to Stacy’s
apartment and found the spare set of keys to the Viper. Niki and Jason headed
for Victoria in the Viper, with Eli, Carlos and Holly following in Holly’s
car. 

Trent was so excited he could hardly stand it.  He rubbed his hands together and got in the
car and drove back to the ranch house and waited for three hours, then he got
back in the car and drove to another hunting cabin that would be the first
structure Niki and Jason would come upon.   Trent got out of the car and went
inside.  There was a headless deer lying on the floor of the cabin and a large
bucket of blood that he had drained from the deer. 

“There you
are,” he laughed, when he saw the carcass.  “I hope you had a pleasant
evening.” 

Trent picked up the bucket of blood and whistled “
For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow
” as
he carried the bucket outside and spilled a trail of blood starting at the
cabin door and heading out to the road where he had parked the car.  Pleased
with his handiwork, he took the bucket back to the cabin and continued the
trail into the back room of the cabin.  Then he returned to the front room and
dragged the dead deer to the back room.  He laid it in a bottom bunk and
covered it up with a sleeping bag.

He pulled out
a scarf that he had taken from Stacy’s purse, dunked it in the blood, went back
outside and set it on the ground where the trail of blood started.

“You look
beautiful,” he told the scarf.  He rubbed his hands together again and danced
around in a little circle, then went back to the car and opened the trunk.  He
removed a gas can and walked the perimeter of the cabin dousing the lower
boards of the cabin with the gasoline, then he went back to the car and got a
second can and climbed a tree beside the cabin and doused the roof.  He poured
the leftover gas into two beer bottles and set them strategically in place, one
on the ground against the back wall of the cabin and the other up on the corner
of the roof.

Finally, he
connected the spring-loaded door closer that he had installed the day before on
the cabin door.  He took one last look around the cabin, grabbed the bucket of
blood, then got back in the car and drove to get Stacy. 

“It’s show
time!” Trent said, slamming the door open into the wall.  He turned around,
“Oh, excuse me,” he told the door.  He had smeared the deer’s blood on his face
like war paint and had streaks of blood under his eyes, across his forehead,
down his nose and on his chin.

Stacy was
horrified and recoiled when she saw him.  “Dad please, don’t do this.  It’s not
too late to get help.  I’ll drive you back to town.  We can go see Dr. Lancaster.”

For a second Trent almost looked normal, but then his eyes glazed over and once again he was the
lunatic.  “Shut up Elizabeth!” he shouted angrily.  “What are you doing here
anyway?  I already killed you once,” he ranted, then he got right in Stacy’s
face and roared, “
How many times do I have to kill you
!”  His eyes were
bulging and Stacy was completely freaked out and she started to cry.   

“I’m not
Elizabeth, Dad.  I’m Stacy,” she cried, and Trent seemed to snap out of
whatever fantasy was playing out in his head, because there was a look of
recognition on his face again. 

Trent laughed at her.  “You think I don’t know who you are?   I know exactly who you are,
my dear.  You’re that bitch of a daughter I never wanted.”

Trent grabbed a piece of rope and tied it around Stacy’s ankles so that she could still
walk but couldn’t run, then he tied her hands and removed the handcuffs.  His
mood switched again and he was deliriously happy. 

“I think
you’re going to enjoy this.  I’ve been very creative.”

He drove to
the ranch house and they got out of the car and set off on foot through the
brush.  They ended up at a deer blind close to the cabin he had worked on and
they went inside to wait for Niki and Jason.

Niki and
Jason had gotten all the way to Cuero when they pulled over at a gas station
and the FBI intercepted them.  Niki was pumping gas, and Holly had pulled up
behind the Viper.  She looked in her rearview mirror and saw that Alex had
boxed her in. 

“Shit,” Holly
said, and Carlos and Eli turned around.  “He’s with the FBI.”

Alex had
gotten out of his car and Holly got out as he walked past her car and headed
towards the Viper. 

“I assume
Stacy’s at the ranch?” Alex asked Niki.

“I heard from
her father this morning,” Niki said, looking at his watch.  “And I don’t have
time to fuck around.  He gave us just enough time to get there and if we don’t
make it, he’ll kill her.” 

“What are you
planning to do?” Alex asked.

“Whatever it
takes to get her back,” Niki said, and he gave Alex a look that dared him to
try to stop him. 

“My men and I
will go in after you, but they’re not going,” he said, pointing to Holly, Eli
and Carlos. 

“My men are
better equipped to deal with a hostage situation than yours are,” Niki told
him.  “They’re coming.”   The gas pump clicked off and Niki put the gas cap
back on.  “And Holly knows the ranch.  You should take her with you and let her
brief you on it before you go in.”  Niki got in the Viper and started the
engine and drove off. 

Alex turned
to Holly.  “You come in my car.”  Alex tossed the keys to another agent, “You
drive,” he told him. 

Alex sat in
the back seat with Holly and she mapped out a layout of the ranch like she had
done for Niki. 

“Do you know
whose land borders the ranch on this side?” Alex asked, after reviewing the
diagram. 

“I don’t
remember their name, but I’ve been there before,” Holly told him.

“Where’s
their entrance?”

Holly thought
for a minute.  “If I remember right, you have to enter from a road that runs
behind the Trent’s ranch.  It’s kind of just the opposite of the Trent’s – the
front side of the Trent ranch would be the backside of the neighbor’s ranch. 
The road cuts off right here,” she said, pointing to a spot on the map, “and I
think the neighbor’s entry is about here,” she pointed to another spot. 

“That’s how
we’ll go in,” Alex said.  He was quiet for a minute then he asked, “What do you
think of Stacy’s boyfriend?”  The question made Holly’s heart skip a beat. 

She thought
about it before she answered, “I think he’s very capable.  If he can’t get
Stacy back, no one can.”

“He owns
Lautrec Investigations,” Alex said, “but I guess you knew that.”

“What’d you
do, run a check on him?” Holly laughed, trying to cover her nervousness.

“Yeah,” Alex
admitted.  “I didn’t like him from the start.  I couldn’t believe it when I
found out who he was.”

“You weren’t
jealous were you?” Holly teased.

“Protective,”
Alex clarified.  “I felt protective of Stacy.  She’d been through so much shit
and the guy wasn’t even around during those first couple of weeks.  I disliked
him before I even met him.” 

“And now?”
Holly asked.

Alex shrugged
his shoulders.  “He’s doing the right thing now.  And you may be right, if he
can’t get Stacy back, maybe no one can.”

Niki and
Jason pulled into the ranch and crossed the first cattle guard six minutes
before the expiration of their deadline. 

“Here we go,”
Niki said. 

They rolled
their windows down and Jason pulled out a gun and laid it on the console.  Niki
drove the Viper slowly down the caliche road, leaving a trail of dust behind
them.  Neither Alex nor Holly’s car had pulled in behind them. 

Niki and
Jason had discussed possible scenarios they would encounter when they got to
the ranch, and they fully expected some type of ambush.  They watched the brush
for movement as they drove along the road, but it was dense and someone could
easily hide without being seen. 

They had just
come around a curve, when a deer jumped out in front of them. “Crap!” Niki
exclaimed, slamming on the brakes to avoid hitting it.  Niki looked at the
dashboard clock.  They had been on the ranch for seven minutes but it seemed
much longer.   

“Is that
something?” Jason said, looking further down the road. 

As the Viper
got closer, it became evident that it was some type of garment, and Niki’s
stomach clenched up.  He swallowed hard and drove the Viper up beside the scarf
and turned off the engine.  Niki got out of the car and walked around to
Jason’s side. Jason was already squatting down looking at the scarf.   Niki
took one look at the bloody scarf and the trail of blood leading away from it
and he heaved.

Jason had his
pistol in his hand, and he motioned towards the cabin. “Come on,” Jason said,
taking the lead. 

Niki took out
his gun and followed Jason and the trail of blood to the cabin door. 

“You ready?”
Jason asked, and Niki nodded. 

Jason led
with the 9mm and slowly opened the door.  He made a quick scan of the room and
stepped in with Niki right behind him.  The house was completely silent, but it
reeked of death.  They looked around the room.  The windows had been boarded up
with slats of wood and the sun cast eerie streaks through the room where it
peeked through between the slats. 

There was a
set of bunk beds with sleeping bags rolled up at the foot of each bed, a small
round woven rug on the floor beside the bed, and an old chair in the corner. 
The trail of blood continued into the room that was directly ahead of them so
Jason motioned for Niki to take the room to the right and Jason followed the
blood trail. 

Each found
the next room to be almost exactly as the first, with a set of bunk beds and a
chair in the corner.  There was no place for someone to hide in any of the
three rooms and they came to the last room at the same time.  The trail of
blood ended at the bottom bunk, and Niki’s stomach heaved again when he saw the
lump under the covers.    

Jason was
about to suggest that Niki leave the room when Niki ripped the sleeping bag off
the bed and exposed the dead deer. 

“It’s not her,”
Niki said in relief.  He slumped down in the chair so he wouldn’t fall down,
and just as he did, a shot rang out and the cabin went up in flames. 

Trent fired again, hitting the second bottle of gasoline and flames engulfed the roof of
the cabin.  He yelled out in glee and danced around the blind, and Stacy
screamed in horror as she watched the cabin being consumed by fire. 

“You
bastard!” Stacy yelled.  She was beating on her father’s chest and hitting him
in the face while he belly laughed.  Stacy was screaming and crying
hysterically, when all of a sudden he stopped laughing and grabbed her and
pulled her face up right next to his.  His eyes were bulging and his breath
smelled terrible, and Stacy was terrified that he was about to kiss her. 
Instead he turned her face and licked her cheek with the tip of his tongue. 

Stacy was so
repulsed that she shivered.  “Get away from me, you sicko,” Stacy said, backing
away from him, and in an instant he was laughing and dancing again, seemingly
unaware of Stacy’s presence.

“Fuck!” Niki
said, jumping up after the first shot.  He and Jason ran to the door of the
cabin, but it had locked behind them from the outside. 

“It’s
locked,” Niki told Jason. 

Jason went from
room to room.  “The fire’s on every side.” 

There were
flames shooting inside between the boards and black smoke was pouring into the
cabin from cracks in the walls, from under the door and from around the
windows.   The cabin had instantly become a furnace, with the dry old boards
crackling and popping as they burned. 

“Let’s get
out of here!” Niki exclaimed. 

He picked up
a chair and slammed it against the window and glass went everywhere.  Flames
curled inside along the walls, igniting the bedding.  Jason tried to smother
the flames with a sleeping bag, but the blaze was already out of control.

Niki brought
the chair up again, and slammed it against the wooden boards.  The chair fell
to pieces, but the slats remained intact.  He tossed down what was left of the
chair and Jason ran into the next room and grabbed another chair.  Jason
slammed it against the wooden slats and they started breaking away from the
window.  Both men were coughing from the smoke and their eyes were stinging and
watering.  Jason hit the boards again and this time the slats broke loose. 

“Come on,” Jason
yelled, and he dove through the window.  Niki followed right behind him, and
they rolled on the ground extinguishing their clothes.