Red Ochre Falls (30 page)

“Why don’t you tell
us why you kidnapped us and brought us here?” One of the guards put on a set of
brass knuckles, stepped forward, and punched Garrett in the gut. He let out a
squeak of pain and doubled over. I rushed to help make sure he was okay.

Another guard
stepped toward me. Sultan waived him off and he returned to his post.

“Kidnapping is such
a harsh word. I’d like to think you’re here willingly. My team has taken
measures to protect me, the main reason for the secrecy.”

Garrett couldn’t stand
upright, probably injured ribs.

Rage shot through
me. “Can we get on with it then? We’d like to get out of here as quickly as
possible.” My tone was all business, so much so it shocked even me.

“Yes, yes. I can
see why you like her.” Sultan looked from Garrett to me. “Why don’t we start
with the files?”

“You nabbed me
unexpectedly. What makes you think I have them on me?”

A flash of anger
crossed Sultan’s face. “Of course you have them. You wouldn’t trust them to be
anywhere other than wherever you are. I know enough about you to know that
much.”

I don’t know what
he knew about me, but he was right—up until the home invasion. I knew if
we handed over our only leverage before we got information on Chloe’s murder,
or got out of here, we could kiss more than our leverage goodbye. I’d stashed
the drive in a safe place. Garrett had no idea, and neither did Sultan.

“Of course, but you
promised something in return.”

“You’re speaking of
my note. I will oblige since you are my guests.”

Sultan told us that
Ruggiano came to him with a deal to fund a casino in Michigan. Sultan would
fund the construction. They’d purchase the land using a shell company. Ruggiano
would handle the grease the skids with the politicians, so the developers could
finish in eighteen months time.
 

Sultan liked the
plan, up until a land survey found a portion of the proposed site didn’t belong
to the tribe who’d agreed to let them build the casino. Five lots ran right
through a corner of the planned high-rise.
 

The land survey was
a point of contention. Until the land in question could be authenticated, or
sold outright to the developers, the project stopped.

Sultan and Ruggiano
agreed to buy out the owners—coax them to leave with the promise of more
money than they’d ever seen before. When that failed, Ruggiano used threats
until all but one family caved. The Sigos.

Although Sultan did
not admit to knowing about the plan, he told us Ruggiano sent men to rough up
the grandfather, Walter Sigo. Sigo spouted off something about the land being
their heritage, and if they gave it up, they may as well have been dead.

This frustrated
Sultan and Ruggiano. The latter hired a lawyer to threaten litigation against
the family, tribe members, friends and employers helping Sigo.

Finally, Ruggiano paid
off a bank manager to have the Sigo family evicted. It would have succeeded had
it not been for Chloe.

Sultan explained
that Chloe took on Sigo’s case, and was dogged in her efforts to keep them on
their land.

This sounded a lot
like the Chloe I knew. Hard-working and determined.

“Sigo helped your
friend get in touch with the money man responsible for buying up the
properties, I believe he is your first victim.”

Jimbo
.

Garrett shifted
uncomfortably.

 
“The girl must have been a real
crusader,” Sultan continued, “because she befriended this man and somehow
convinced him to turn on Ruggiano. They compiled a list of all the people on
Ruggiano’s payroll: the business owners, politicians, cops, judges, and average
Joes tied up in his illegal activities. They planned to share the list with the
authorities in exchange for this money man’s protection.”

Learning this
information made Chloe a target. Now that I had it, I was the target.

“The list your
friend kept is the key to the kingdom. When it is mine, Ruggiano will no longer
be necessary.” Sultan nodded to one of his goons. “Neither will Sigo and his
family.” He said that last part under his breath, but I heard it.
 

“As for the other
answers, look into the Brampton Corporation. That is where you’ll find
enlightenment.” Sultan emphasized the word as if he knew it was Chloe’s
password.

It shocked me.

Sultan bared his
sharp white teeth and I took an unconscious step back. Things were about to get
worse.

“There’s nothing to
fear, as long as you have what I desire.”

It sounded like a
threat, a come-on, and all kinds of wrong. I looked around. He had nothing to
fear. We were trapped in his lair.

I didn’t know where
we were, although he hadn’t exactly hidden the view. I’d seen enough television
drama to know getting a look at our captors, and their hideout, was not a good
thing. We were still alive because Sultan assumed I had a flash drive stuck in
my pocket. Once he had it, we’d be dead.

The guard who’d
hurt Garrett approached me. He lifted up my arms and grinned as he searched me.
His hands started low then traveled up my legs. He patted me down, thoroughly.
Even squeezed my upper thighs and back pockets.

I stuck my chin
out. “Get your feels in now, perv. I’m gonna break your hands the first chance
I get.”

The creep’s smile
widened.

“It’s safe to say
you searched her. Although, I’d love to see her tear you apart.” Garrett gave
the guy a death stare.

The guard took a
step toward Garrett—

“Now, now. It’s
finished.” Sultan got the guard to back away from us with a wave of his hand.
“Did you get anything, besides her measurements?”

The guard shook his
head. Sultan didn’t like the answer. He stalked forward and studied me—I
wasn’t sure what he was thinking.

He suddenly pulled
a syringe from his pocket and jabbed it into Garrett’s arm.

Garrett flinched
then dropped to the ground.

I ran to him.
“Garrett? Garrett! Are you all right?” His eye went glassy. There was very
little response when I shook him. I turned my attention to Sultan. “What did
you do?”

“Only what was
necessary. Now give me what I want.”

“I told you, I
don’t have it!”

“Yes, but you know
how to get it. Poisoning Garrett guaranteed you’d give me the drive.”

“What did you give
him?”

“A special blend of
poisonous herbs. My supplier ensures me they’re quite effective.”

“You’re insane!”

“I’m the bad guy,
remember? I get what I want, or he dies.” There was madness in his eyes.

Anger burned me up,
but I had to save Garrett.

“I’ll get it, but I
need him, or whatever’s left of him to help me.”

“Fine.” Sultan
walked over and dropped the syringe in the trash near his desk. “I’ll send
along my guard Ivan to make sure you don’t go to the police. Garrett has less
than 24 hours to get an antidote, so you’d better be quick.”

A guard helped me
peel Garrett off the floor. We steadied him, so he could walk with assistance.

As we got near
Sultan’s desk, a plane flying by caught everyone’s attention. We looked out the
balcony. While the distraction was going on, I snatched the syringe from the
garbage, and hid it up my sleeve, trying not to poke myself.

Sultan turned to
back. “Do not disappoint me. More than just Garrett’s life is at stake,
Mattie.”

I nodded and we
left through the front door. No bag this time meant Sultan was didn’t care what
we saw. He expected to get the disk drive and have us killed.

CHAPTER 30

The ride was bumpy. Garrett panted, eyes closed, while we rode in the
van. He was out of it, which forced me to come up with a plan on my own. The
good news was we only had to overtake one guard. The bad news was Garrett
couldn’t move much, so I’d have to do it myself.

A few minutes after
we left, the van came to an abrupt stop. It didn’t feel like we’d been on the
road long enough to get home.

The door slid
opened. The grin on our captor’s face was not at all innocent.

“Where do we pick
up the disk drive?”

I’d already thought
about our chances. We needed help. Going to the police station was too obvious.
The funeral home was risky, didn’t want him to hurt anyone else close to us.
That left us with limited options.

I chose Chloe’s. I
knew where she lived, we’d just been there to search it, knew no one would be
inside, and that the cops, meaning Cal, would likely check her place if we went
missing. The security cameras outside the building, and in the foyer, were
another plus.

I gave the address
to the guard, but he didn’t move. He just stared at me then looked at Garrett
who was knocked out in the back of the van, and back at me.

The guy who’d
patted me down pulled me out of the van.

I resisted as he
dragged me along the side of the road until we got to a spot where grass met
gravel.

“This is gonna be
fun.” He turned me to face him.

I knew this would
end badly. I needed to do something, anything. Before he could shove me into
the ditch, I jabbed the syringe I’d been holding into his neck. He yelled and
grabbed at it. When he threw it to the ground, I used everything I had to shove
the palm of my hand up into his nose. The crack sent him down, screaming in
pain.

I ran to the van,
jumped in the driver’s seat, and sped off. As soon as I could glance back, I
watched Garrett fighting to come to. He wasn’t winning.

It was time to get
help.

I parked the van
near Millie’s shop.

I called Cal then
gave Millie the rundown. She studied the syringe, sniffed it with her eyes
closed, twice.

Millie looked
different here—in her element, a powerful force—more influence than
she wielded at the funeral home. I watched. Her voluminous hair had been tied
up in a head wrap of the same fabric as her dark-patterned dress highlighted
with bronze threads that swept the floor.

It startled me when
her eyes opened. Bulging and focused on me, as though they could see everything
I’d ever thought.

Then as if she paid
me no mind, she glided through a doorway curtained with hanging beads, her
muumuu shifting as she moved. She was gone only a few moments before reentering
the front of the store with a small vial. She handed it to Garrett. The liquid
was a deep, dark red. Another potion. She had pretty good luck with potions, so
I held back judgment. She peeled his eyes open and purred into his ears ‘drink
‘dis my boy’. He obeyed.

Garrett stumbled a
bit when he threw back the potion, so we propped him up on a battered stool.
Seeing him at the wooden counter, with strange plants and bits of
God-knows-what-else stuffed into the jars behind him made the place look like
some kind of voo-doo diner. ‘Would you like an eye of newt soda? Or how about a
toad stool shake?’ Millie looked at me and chuckled. I shivered. Could she
possibly know what I was thinking?

“That ought to last
him da night, but it wasn’t enough to bring him back.”

“Bring him back?”

“Yeah, dis boy’s
gonna need more balm. He won’t get better without it.”

“Can’t we just take
him to a doctor?”

“Whoever poisoned
him wanted him gone. Conventional medicine would only make it worse.”

“He needs a few
doses of dis.” She held up a bottle of yellow elixir. She indicated he also
needed more of the ruby red potion.

“I need to get up
north and warn the Sigo family. Cal might be able to help, but Ruggiano has
resources all over, and Sultan’s men have a head start.”

We watched as
Garrett let out a small groan. “Can you keep him here and give him whatever
potions or salves he needs?”

“I’m coming.” He
nearly fell off the stool. I helped straighten him.

“You need to stay
here. Let Millie give you some medicine so you can get better.”

“I don’t have no
more.”

I stood stunned.

“My herbs need to
be combined with more Balm than I’ve got. Where up north ya headed?”

“Tahquamenon
Falls.” Memories flooded my head and vanished as quickly as they came. “Sigo
met Chloe up there. I think that’s our best shot.

“You can harvest da
plants at the falls. They’ll be best near the water.”

Garrett swayed.

“Better get him up
there, fast.”

If he didn’t
question her with his own life on the line, why should I?
 
“How do we get there fast?”

“Cal can help.”
Garrett regained some color as he said it.

Millie gave me a
ju-ju-to-go kit filled with vials, some herbs, and instructions. Then she
handed me a small bible. “Keep dis with ya. Use the time to read Psalms. Try
Psalm 16. It’ll help protect you.” She hugged me then pushed us out the door.

I contacted mom to
let her know I’d probably be home late. Then, I called Cal. “Tell Garrett I’ll
get koala.”

I had no idea how a
cute and cuddly animal was going to help Garrett, but there wasn’t time to ask
Cal.

Cal instructed us.
“Get to his car and meet me at Hogan. I’ll send a link. Just open it and follow
the map.” He clicked off.

Garrett smiled when
he heard ‘koala’, which made me feel, well uneasy, but more inclined to go
along with this plan.

We got to the
Maserati and Garrett gave me the keys.

“You should drive.
I’ll navigate and keep in contact with Cal. You aren’t used to the com-link,
and me giving you instructions would be too distracting.”

Five minutes into
the ride I finally breathed. The car ran great, Garrett held steady, and we
headed toward Cal.

“About Tess,” he
said.

“Let’s not do this
now. You’ll be fine.”

“It’s important you
know what happened.”

I didn’t want
details of what happened between Garrett and his ex-lover. Not now, not ever.

“She—”

“Garrett, please.”

“Mattie, it’s
important.”

I huffed, but let
him speak.

“She was the one.”

“Really? You’re
doing this now? Can’t you just let me drive?”

“That’s not what I
meant to say. She was the one who sent the bodies to me.”

And suddenly, air
left the vehicle. I couldn’t breath.

“The bodies were
found near the river, in Ruggiano’s territory. She was scared that he might be
involved. He’d helped her when her family wouldn’t and she thought she owed
him. She wasn’t trying to cover them up, just buy him some time.”

So, Tess wasn’t as
horrible as I’d hoped.

“She knew I’d send
them back and hid it from me, so no one would get in trouble.”

“Then why tell you
about it?”

“She didn’t want me
thinking she was covering something up. She wanted us to get back together.”

“And?”

“Nothing. It’s over
between Tess and me.”

“What about jumping
the minute she texts?”

“She told me it was
about your case. I did it to help you find Chloe’s killer.”

“What about the
reports? Why didn’t she note the needle marks on the other victims?” I changed
lanes and noticed a black Mercedes do the same.

“She showed me her
original notes. They were in there. She told me Detective Marlucci asked for
the files. He may have had something to do with covering it up.”

“Do you think
someone is trying to frame Ruggiano?”

“Possibly. He wants
fame, but he doesn’t want to get caught.”

“Garrett? I think
someone’s following us.”

He looked back.
“Move to the right lane.” We moved. The car followed. “Now, move to the left
lane.” We moved. It followed.

Garrett faced
forward with more color than he’d had in an hour, and let out a breath. “Let’s
see what they want. Increase your speed.”

I pushed the gas
pedal and watched as the speedometer moved up to 85, 90, then 95. The sedan
closed the gap and rammed us. I struggled to hold the car steady, but managed
to change lanes to avoid a minivan.

The sedan sped up
and steered into the rear passenger side, which sent us skidding toward a semi.
I gripped the wheel, eased off the throttle, and steered out of trouble. The
way I’d practiced when mom insisted I learn to navigate icy roads before she’d
even consider letting me take my driver’s exam. They should make bad weather
driving and steering out of a skid required for all drivers.

Garrett looked at
me and smiled.

Noticing the car
come up behind us again, I swerved to the fast lane, hit the gas, and put the
semi between us.

I sped up until we
were well ahead of the semi and changed lanes. Every move I made, the Mercedes
followed.

They stopped trying
to rear end us for several minutes as we increased speed to about 120 mph. We
cleared traffic, but Garrett let Cal know we needed backup.

I moved to the
right lane in case we needed to make an emergency exit, the Merc stayed on our
left. A mile before exit 41, I glanced back at our pursuers. Blacked out
windows made it impossible to see anything inside.

“Car!” Garrett
yelled and grabbed the oh-crap bar.

I barely missed a
truck. The Merc used the distraction to ram us in the left side. Already loose
from me jerking the wheel to miss the truck, our car fishtailed. Foot eased off
the gas, I tried to regain control when they hit us again. The blow shook my
organs. Our car hit the shoulder, ran through an Adopt-a-Road bag, which sent
garbage flying. We plowed through some grassy stuff and dove headfirst into a
gulley where our car came to rest.

We were banged up,
but the Maserati took the brunt of the damage. Probably totaled. I would have
hung my head in shame, but Garrett came to the driver’s side and yanked me out
before something zoomed past us and hit the car. He dove and pulled me down
with him right before the impact. Then an explosion.

We ran for cover
and heard gunfire. Thirty seconds of rapid fire and it was over.

Cal rescued us,
drove us to the airfield and presented the ‘Koala’. My jaw dropped.

 
“Here it is. The AW119Kx, a single engine
state-of-the-art machine equipped with a Garmin G1000H Integrated Flight Deck
System, extra fuel capacity, luxury seating, and air conditioning.” He eyed
Garrett. “Better than that toaster we flew in the desert, and built in these
United States.”

I didn’t know a
helicopter could be sexy, but this one was all that and more.

Garrett grinned at
the silver and black bird. “Our Indian Hills friend came through.”

“Yup.”

I stared.

“If you hadn’t said
Millie was involved, I’d have thought you were crazy,” Cal said.

“It is crazy, but
we’ve got our orders.”

We boarded the
chopper. Cal went up front. The engine started and blades rotated. It’d be
noisy, but much quicker than driving, and able to land closer to the falls than
a plane could manage.

We heard him over
the speakers. “Buckle up and relax you two. We’ll be cruising at about 140
knots before you know it.”

In the time it took
us to fly up north, Garrett started to look less like a corpse. I tried a half
dozen times to search Brampton Corporation on my smartphone, I was able to read
a blurb about the benefits of oil and gas exploration, and the first part of
their annual report.

Something else
Sultan said about Brampton had struck a nerve. My suspicions were confirmed
when I remembered Chloe’s notebook. She’d circled the word ‘Enlightened’
several times.
 

I copied some notes
she’d written about the Sigo family into my phone. Someone from Brampton
visited them after Ruggiano and his goons. I searched for the name then
compared it to the board members. The second victim was on the board of
Brampton. She’d visited the Sigo family as Jimbo’s replacement, to extend them
another offer.

Sigo mentioned he
noticed an unmarked car, likely the police following her, not tribal
authorities, when the woman left his home.

I told Garrett then
launched into all the coincidences surrounding Mrs. Jacobson, Ruggiano, and
Brampton. He laughed a huge belly laugh.