Colorado Abduction (13 page)

“We can’t tell Dylan about this,” she whispered. “He’s already blaming himself for Nicole’s kidnapping. Lucas kept telling him to move the cattle.”

A suspicious note in her voice caused him to lower the binoculars and look toward her. “What else are you thinking?”

“Nothing really.” She shook her head. “Forget it.”

She’d mentioned the foreman—Lucas Mann. Was there something more sinister behind his warning to move the herd? Was Lucas the traitor? He knew that Carolyn would find it hard to accuse that bowlegged cowboy, a trusted employee who had worked at the ranch for years.

Burke was less sanguine about the foreman’s loyalty. Lucas could have been bribed; he had enough extra cash to buy that new Glock, which wasn’t a cheap weapon. “Is there something you want to tell me about Lucas?”

“I said forget it.”

Lucas had been in the house when somebody took the phone number from her cell. He’d also discovered the fire at the stable and acted quickly to rescue the horses. Could he be responsible for setting that blaze?

Burke looked up at the waning moon and a sky sprinkled with a multitude of stars—thousands of tiny spotlights. That beautiful, clear night sky worked to their disadvantage. He would have preferred cloud cover, even snow.

Aiming his heat-sensing binoculars again, he picked out a figure, moving slowly. “She’s coming.”

Carolyn peered though the dark. “I don’t see her.”

“Looks like she’s alone. Let’s get closer.”

He traded his binoculars for night vision goggles. Bent low, they crept across the field. He clearly saw the blond pregnant woman in a long dress and a parka. She walked carefully, pausing every few steps to look back over her shoulder. Her hand rested protectively on her swollen belly. Her apparent fear seemed to indicate that she wasn’t part of an ambush, which led Burke to his next worry: Was someone coming after her?

He hoped that Sunny was clever enough to avoid being caught by the surveillance cameras.

“I see her,” Carolyn said. “She’s almost to the trees.”

“It doesn’t appear that anybody is following. Go quick.”

She darted across the last stretch of open field. For tonight’s operation, Carolyn had exchanged her cowboy boots for running shoes. She moved with admirable stealth, standing when she reached the trees.

Through his goggles, he saw the two women meet. Carolyn wrapped her arm around Sunny and pulled her forward. Instead of running, they came toward him slowly.

Still no sign of pursuit.

Burke hurried forward and joined them. Sunny clung to Carolyn’s arm. Her face contorted.

“I could use a little help,” Carolyn said.

“Is she injured?”

“You need to carry her, Burke.”

“What’s wrong?”

“She’s in labor.”

Burke’s jaw dropped. He froze, standing in the middle of the open field between escape and the Circle M. He’d just warned Carolyn not to do what he was doing.
Don’t just stand here like a big, fat target.
A successful hostage extraction required stealth and cunning.
Not babies.

“In labor,” he said. “Right now?”

“Yes,” Carolyn hissed. Though she was making a valiant effort to hold Sunny upright, the young woman’s knees folded. In slow motion, she sank to the ground, dragging Carolyn with her in a tangle of limbs. Through clenched teeth, Sunny emitted a sound that was something between a creaking door hinge and a feral growl.

“Help her.” Carolyn bounced to her feet and punched him in the arm. “She’s not going to make it to the car by herself.”

He handed his night goggles and gun to Carolyn, then squatted beside Sunny. She gasped and her belly heaved. Her face was pale and round and scared.

He needed to reassure her. “Um, congratulations.”

“Burke,” Carolyn snapped, “pick her up.”

“Right.” He got down close to Sunny. “I’m going to carry you, okay? Can you put your arm around my neck?”

“Yes,” she whispered, “thank you.”

Holding her under the arms and at the knees, he lifted her off the ground. Her weight wasn’t too much; he could easily bench-press two-fifty. But Sunny’s body was awkward—regular-sized arms and legs attached to a ripe watermelon.

From the SOF compound, he heard a shout. A woman’s voice. “Sunny? Where are you, Sunny?”

“It’s Sharon,” Sunny said. “She’s supposed to keep an eye on us at night.”

They needed to make tracks, but he couldn’t exactly break into a sprint with a pregnant woman in his arms. Though this field was flat, the ground was rocky. He didn’t want to stumble.

“How close are the contractions?” Carolyn asked as they lurched forward.

“It wasn’t bad until just a little while ago.”

“There’s nothing to worry about.” Carolyn’s voice was soft and gentle. “Just keep breathing. Try to relax.”

Relax? Was she joking?
He wasn’t sure how Sunny felt, but he was operating under red alert panic.

Other voices joined the woman who had been calling Sunny’s name. Other people were looking for her. If the gang at the compound checked their surveillance cameras, they’d know which direction to go. The men would be armed. Burke could already sense the bullet piercing his back.

“Silverman,” he snarled into the darkness. “Neville.”

The two men in full body armor, goggles and helmets rose from their sniper’s nests in the field and jogged silently toward them.

When Sunny saw them, her eyes popped wide. “Oh, my God.”

“It’s okay,” Burke said. “They’re with us.”

“They’re from outer space.” She struggled in his arms. “Am I being abducted by aliens?”

Silverman flipped up his goggles. “I’m a person. See?”

“Settle down.” Burke gave her a shake, hoping her brain would engage. “You’re safe now.”

“I don’t feel safe.”

“Trust me,” he ordered. “Can you do that?”

She groaned, “Okay.”

“I’m taking her to the car,” Burke said to his men as he staggered toward the trees. On the other side, their van was parked. “Stay back and cover our retreat.”

“They have flashlights,” Carolyn said. “They’re coming this way.”

He wanted to make sure Neville and Silverman knew they had to hold fire as long as possible. There were still innocent hostages at the Circle M, and he couldn’t take a chance on anyone getting hurt.

“Don’t shoot unless—”

He couldn’t speak. Sunny’s arm had clenched around his neck in a stranglehold. Her body had gone into a spasm.

Only twenty more yards and they’d be in the shelter of the forest.

“Keep breathing,” Carolyn whispered.

He gasped. “Thanks.”

“I wasn’t talking to you, Burke.”

His forward progress stopped. He kneeled, fearful that he was going to drop her. Sunny’s contraction caused her to stiffen. She bit her lower lip to keep from crying out, and he appreciated the effort. If the SOF searchers found them, they might open fire. Definitely not optimum circumstances for delivering a baby.

As soon as she calmed down, he summoned all his strength and ran into the forest. Beneath the sheltering branches, he turned to look behind them. He saw flashlights bobbing on the opposite side of the field.

They were a good distance away. He hoped they wouldn’t connect Sunny’s disappearance with him or the Carlisle’s.

“Almost safe,” he said to Sunny.

“Hurry.”

They moved in a clump toward the van. Silverman dashed past them and slid open the rear door. Burke set the pregnant woman inside. Before he could go around to the driver’s side, she grabbed his jacket.

The strength of her grip astonished him. He wanted to peel her clinging hands off him, wanted to leave her in Carolyn’s care. But Sunny’s wide eyes pleaded. “Stay with me,” she said. “You told me to trust you.”

“I did say that.” And how the hell could he refuse a woman in labor? He reconfigured the third row of seats into a long bench and climbed in beside her. “Carolyn, you drive.”

Neville took the passenger seat. Silverman sat in the middle seats. They took off.

The immediate danger seemed to have passed. They had successfully extracted a hostage from the Sons of Freedom compound. But nobody in the van was breathing a sigh of relief.

Without turning on the headlights, Carolyn drove as fast as she could along a rutted dirt road. Burke sat with his back against the window. Sunny leaned against his chest with her legs stretched out in front of her. She groaned as Carolyn jolted over a deep furrow. “I want my mom.”

“Later, you can call her,” Burke said as he pulled out his cell phone. “First, we contact your doctor.”

“Don’t have one. Logan said we don’t need doctors. We’re like the pioneers, using natural herbs and stuff.”

“Are you telling me that the children at the compound don’t get vaccinations? No checkups?”

“I know it’s not right,” Sunny sighed.

It sure as hell wasn’t. In his book, the lack of medical care
at the SOF compound amounted to child abuse. “Do the others want to leave the Circle M?”

“Most of the women do,” Sunny said. “But we don’t know where to go. We’ve got no money. Nothing but these ugly clothes. At least Logan makes sure we all get fed.”

“How long have you lived there?”

She stroked her belly. “Nine months. I thought I was in love with Butch Thurgood, but he’s as rotten as the rest of them.”

In the middle seat, Silverman had taken off his helmet, goggles and much of his body armor. He leaned between the seats. “See? I’m not an alien.”

Not an alien. Just an idiot.
“She understands, Silverman.”

“I didn’t mean to insult you,” Sunny said. “I was just, you know, confused. You looked really scary in the moonlight.”

“My name is Mike.” He reached back and touched her leg. “You’re going to be fine. Everything’s going to be fine.”

With a sweet smile, she said, “Thank you, Mike.”

Oh, sure. Thank him. He didn’t carry you across the field.
Burke was pretty sure that he deserved a medal—at least a written commendation—for his actions tonight. At the very least, he wanted to get some useful information from Sunny.

“You told Carolyn about a murder,” he prompted.

“Lisa’s sister. Her name was Barbara.”

“Last name?”

“I think it’s Ayers. None of the women use their last names. We’re supposed to be part of a new family.”

Stripping away identity was a typical technique for handling hostages. “What’s your last name, Sunny?”

“Lansky. Sunny Rebecca Lansky.”

“That’s good.” He gave her a little hug. “Tell me about the murder.”

“It was awful.”

Carolyn drove onto a paved road and turned on the headlights.
She hit the accelerator and said loudly, “Burke, this might not be the time to have this talk.”

“I want to tell him,” Sunny said.

But she went rigid in his arms. She’d suffered quietly in the field, but there was no longer a need to hold back.

“Go ahead,” Burke said. “If you want to yell, go ahead.”

She grabbed his hand and let out an earsplitting screech. From the middle seat, Silverman coached her. “Hang in there, Sunny. You can do it. Do you know the breathing? Hee-hee. Hoo-hoo.”

The screech continued. Nothing hee-hee about it.

“She’s not having the baby now,” Burke snapped.

“She could,” Silverman said.

“Oh. Hell. No. She’s waiting until we get to the hospital.” In the meantime, she was crushing his fingers into pulp. “Hold it in, Sunny.”

“Doesn’t work that way,” Silverman said. “When it’s time, it’s time.”

“Since when are you a midwife?”

“I helped my sister give birth. I know all about this stuff.”

Sunny went quiet, breathing heavily. Her grip on his hand relaxed. “Barbara wanted to leave the SOF. She never really wanted to be there in the first place. She only stayed because of her sister. Lisa has a drug problem.”

“What about you? Drug problem?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I never got into drugs.”

Sunny seemed like a decent kid, even though she was kind of a mess with her blond hair growing out at the roots and her baggy dress with long woolen leggings. “Are there drugs at the Circle M?”

“Some kind of supposedly herbal supplement. I never took it. Because of the baby.”

“Good for you,” Burke said. “Tell me about Barbara.”

“She found out she was pregnant, too. We talked about leaving together. When we told Logan we wanted to go, he got really mad. He reminded us what it’s like on the outside for a single mother. No friends. No money.”

“There’s always someone,” Silverman said. He maneuvered around and stretched out his arm to dab her forehead with a red kerchief. “Somebody who will step up and—”

“Do something useful,” Burke ordered. “Call the Delta hospital and tell them we’re coming.”

“Sunny needs to know there’s a support system.”

Agent Mike Silverman was usually an efficient operative who had no problem with following orders. Something about being around a pregnant woman had messed with his head. “Make the damn call.”

Glaring at Burke, he pulled out his cell phone. Since Carolyn was driving at about a thousand miles an hour, they ought to be at the hospital in minutes. “Okay, Sunny. Both you and Barbara wanted to leave. Then what?”

“Her baby’s daddy was Pete Richter. A real bastard. She made the mistake of talking to him. I saw him slap her really hard. She was unconscious. I wanted to help her. Really, I did. But I was scared.”

“You’re safe now,” Burke assured her. He wanted to get the whole story before her next contraction. “What happened next? Give me the short version.”

“Richter and Logan dragged Barbara off into the barn, and I never saw her again. Logan told us she ran away.”

“But you didn’t believe him.”

“She never would have left without saying goodbye to Lisa. A couple of days later, I was out walking. Not far from the trees where you came and got me, I found a plot of fresh-turned earth. I know that’s where they buried her.”

It would have been neater if Sunny had actually witnessed
the murder. Finding the body would be useful, but it wouldn’t tell them who killed Barbara Ayers.

“New topic,” Burke said. “Can you tell me anything about the woman who was kidnapped? Nicole Carlisle?”

“I never saw her.”

“Is there a place at the Circle M where they could hide her?”

“Plenty of places. Root cellars. Trailers.” She shrugged.

Burke pressed for a more definitive answer. “If Butch and Richter were holding Nicole captive, where would they be?”

“There’s a trailer behind the bunkhouse where a lot of couples go to make love. Butch didn’t like it. He wanted more privacy. He took me to this place. We had to ride on the Indian Trail to get there.” Her voice broke. “It was springtime, just starting to warm up. It felt like he loved me. Everything was so beautiful.”

“Where was this place?”

“A shallow cave that looks out over the mountains and valleys. Right above the Cathedral Rocks with all the spikes and spires.”

She grabbed his hand. “Here comes another one.”

“So soon?”

“Four minutes apart,” Silverman announced.

“How far are we from the damn hospital?”

“Not far,” Carolyn yelled over her shoulder. “We’re almost in Delta.”

Sunny let out a long wail. Her knees drew up and separated as if she was ready to shoot out the baby.

Silverman held out his hand, and she latched on to him, too.

“Don’t push,” he said. “We’re almost to the hospital.”

“Did you hear that?” Burke whispered in her ear. “No pushing.”

Sunny ended the contraction with short, huffing gasps. “I need my mom.”

“Absolutely. No problem.” Burke waved his cell phone. “You can call her. Where does she live?”

“Mom,” She sobbed, “doesn’t even know I’m pregnant.”

Burke held the phone in front of her. “Tell me the number.”

“No time. I want this baby out of me.”

Carolyn whipped into the emergency entrance for the hospital and leaped from the car. In seconds, two guys in scrubs had loaded Sunny onto a gurney. Silverman went with them into the hospital.

Burke leaned against the van and exhaled a long breath.

Carolyn stood beside him. In the harsh light outside the E.R. entrance, he saw her smirk. “That went well.”

In spite of her sarcasm, he was pleased with the way his team had extracted Sunny—a witness who had given them useful information against Logan.

While they were at the hospital, they’d checked on Jesse Longbridge. Burke hoped for a lucky break. If the bodyguard was out of his coma, he could identify the men who kidnapped Nicole.