Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jonah
When the explosion hit, we were all in the same room, Brent, Shane, Frank, Frannie, Sam and me. But no Ally. Frank held Sam who was frightened by the loud boom and the building shaking. The rest of us looked at each other and knew what this was. A distraction. Unstrapping my gun from my holster I wore under my leather jacket, I released the safety. Everyone else did the same thing.
“Frank, Frannie, stay here and guard Sam. We are going after Ally,” I ordered them.
“Frank is more than capable of protecting Sam,” Frannie said as she pulled her prized Glock from her purse and came to follow us. “And I guarantee you that I am a better shot than any one of you. Don’t even think of arguing with me, Jonah. That is my girl out there and I will not just sit on the sidelines when I know damn well, I can help.” Seeing the vengeance in Frannie’s eyes, I nodded in acceptance.
We rushed out the door all going in the direction of the women’s locker room where Brent sent her to freshen up. But Frannie had her own plans. She veered away from us and headed toward the front of the building. Paying her no mind, I ran with all the strength I had. As we turned the corner to the hall where the locker room was located, we all stopped dead in our tracks as we saw a man practically dragging Ally, who was fucking naked to the waist. Was that blood running down her breasts? What the fuck had he already done to her? I lost it and started after them. I had to get to her right then. That manic was going to kill her. I promised her I would not let her down any more than I already had.
Her name bubbled from my lungs like a rupturing volcano. She turned slightly and our eyes connected. In her green orbs, I could see she had surrendered to him. Fuck no, no, no, no! She screamed my name suddenly. In the next instant, I was flat on my back, wondering what the hell just happened. Shane kept going after stumbling from my unexpected fall. “Go, Shane, go. Get her!” I roared. Telling Brent I was fine and to go also, I slowly sat up realizing I had taken a hit to my upper left shoulder. Mother fucker.
I ripped open my shirt to assess the damage. Using my right hand, I felt the front and then the back. Through and through, a flesh hit. The bleeding was already slowing some. Testing my left arm and shoulder, I lifted and rotated it. I grimaced but had full control and movement. Thank God. Getting up hurt like a bitch, but I had dealt with worse. That was fucking nothing, man. Get your ass going and kill that son of a bitch!
Shane came running back and said, “They got away in a van, but Brent’s on it. He is sending every available unit he has out right now.” He skidded to a stop by me, as I continued to flex and turn my injured shoulder. “They’ll find the fucker. Are you OK?” Shane asked, concern evident in his voice.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just a flesh wound. How could they get by a whole building full of cops?” I punched the wall with my good arm. I was beyond pissed and let it be known.
Grabbing my phone, I updated my team. They were going to split up. One would stay at my place just in case, two would meet me here and one would stay with Frank, Frannie and Sam. As soon as I told Shane, we both realized at the same time we had not seen Frannie. Fuck me! Where was she?
We headed to the front where we saw her last. Nothing. Going out to the parking lot searching for her, we discovered her car was gone. Son of a bitch! She went after them? That was not good. Frank was going to lose it. That old Ranger was not someone to be screwed with. We headed back inside.
“I should go tell Frank. We shouldn’t keep him in the dark too long about this,” I told Shane.
“Tell me what?” Frank had just stepped through the door and heard his name.
“Frannie and her car are missing too. Do you know if she has GPS on her cell phone?” Shane asked looking at him.
“Yes, she does. How fucking long has she been missing and when the hell were you going to tell me about it?” he demanded stepping right up to face Shane head on.
Shane looked at his watch and stated solemnly, “Since the explosion. And we just found out ourselves and were coming to tell you.”
Brent was on the phone in a heated discussion when we walked by. I noticed he had a county-wide map in front of him.
Hanging up as he saw me approach he said, “Every man that is on duty is out searching. And the ones not on duty, have been called in. I have put an All-Points Bulletin out on the van and pulled the information on it from the DMV. The van is owned by Elton Palmer who happens to have a police record as long as my arm. From petty larceny to DUI’s and even possession. He has a younger brother, Harold, that is mute. No record for him though. We are digging around for more. All police departments have been alerted including the sheriff and state patrol because of the rural areas that will need to be combed. The FBI has also been alerted and they are sending a team that will be here in a few hours. We are trying to figure out where they would go. The Palmer boys were born and raised here so it makes sense that they would go somewhere familiar to them. We need to question people that knew them growing up and people that live near them that might know some of their habits,” he finished telling me as he looked over the map.
“I am about to fucking lose it right now. Knowing what he did to her in the past and knowing that he has her now! We must find them quickly. He is going to kill her slowly and with as much pain as he can. You saw the scars, Brent! Fuck!”
I was angry at myself for letting her down. I had failed her. I swore to protect her and I didn’t. Now she was in the hands of her worst nightmare, going through Lord knew what. And here I was, with no fucking leads and no way to find her.
“Let’s go to another office, Jonah. Let me patch up your shoulder. Then you and I, along with the two friends of yours that just walked in, will talk about our options,” Shane said in a controlled voice.
I saw Michelle Brighton and Scott Tully in full camo gear standing just inside the door taking in their surroundings with calculated precision. These were some of the best soldiers I had ever worked with. We had a bond like no other. When they saw me, they came right over and Michelle simply said, “Whatever you need.” Nothing else needed to be said between the three of us.
Shane stared at all of us. I looked back at them and gave a nod. We went into Brent’s office and as Shane patched me up, I made the introductions.
Michelle became aggravated with the poor job Shane was doing and said to him, “Move it now. You have no damn idea how to clean and dress a field would.” She shoved him aside.
All Shane could do was stare at her and move a bit further away. I would have too. Michelle was no one to be fucked with. She could take a man down almost as fast I could. She was more than impressive; she was inspiring.
Shane left me in Michelle’s capable hands to go talk with Brent and Frank.
“Have you gotten through to Frannie’s cell phone yet Shane?” I asked when Michelle finished.
“No, but Brent is working on getting a warrant so he can track her by her cell phone. But that is going to take a bit of time. And the phone has to be turned on to do us any good anyway,” Shane stated.
“Damn it! You don’t think they took Frannie and her car too?” I wondered out loud.
“I don’t think so, Jonah. Frannie had her gun out and she is smart. She would have shot them dead on the spot.
The moments ticked by at an excruciatingly slow pace initially. I guess the feeling of helplessness made time stand still so a man could contemplate all the ways he fucked up and all the things he should have done. Looking down at my watch, now spotted with my blood, I realized that time had somehow sped up and hours had passed from the time of the explosion to now.
While Shane continued to talk to Frank, I went over everything Ally had told me about Tom and their marriage. Nothing was standing out to me and I didn’t know how long I could keep it together if we didn’t catch a lead soon. Talking with Michelle and Scott, I decided to go with them to my place to change and gear up. I told Shane to call me the minute he got any news at all, good or bad.
Every minute Ally was with her psychotic ex-husband, the more he would torture her. It was killing me to know that. I would trade places with her in a heartbeat if I could. As we pulled up to my place, Michelle signaled to James, who was still watching my house. While I changed, they caught him up to speed on what was happening and where we stood. We fucking stood nowhere. No leads. No Frannie. No Ally. Thank God, Sam was safe.
My mind drifted back to when I looked into her eyes, with blood running down the front of her and I saw her surrender. She didn’t know how else to keep not just Sam, but Frank, Frannie and even me safe. So, she sacrificed herself to keep us safe. I was begging her no, screaming in my head to let it be me that he would take. I had never felt as useless as I did now. I will find you, my girl and I will fucking gut him where he stands.
My cell phone rang and I grabbed it looking at the number. It was Frannie!
“Frannie, are you ok? Are you safe?” I demanded.
“Listen to me Jonah, I don’t have much service out here. I had to drive for miles to get this much signal and I have to get back. I followed them Jonah. They took our Ally. I am going to kill all of them. I will save the ex for you but you need to come quickly they drug her by her bad ankle into that place. They must die, Jonah,” she said with such venom that I one hundred percent believed she would kill them all.
“Frannie, don’t do anything. Tell me where they have her and then you need to go back to the station where you will be safe. Frank is about to go out of his mind and Sam is scared and confused,” I told her.
“I will do no such thing until you get here. I am not leaving her, Jonah and don’t tell me to again. Do you understand me?” she gave me the directions and hung up.
I filled my crew in on what was happening and what each of us would do. I wasn’t going to call Brent just yet. I wanted to deal with these scumbags on my own first. My team agreed. They would secure the perimeter and take out the brothers, while I went for Tom.
We loaded our gear into the Suburban quickly and were just getting ready to leave, when Shane and Frank pulled up beside us. I knew it. Even though we were not in need of their assistance, my gut told me Frannie would call Frank, who would then in turn fill Shane in. When Frank stepped out of Shane’s truck, I didn’t even recognize him at first. Before me stood a man in full Army Ranger gear, loaded with all the weapons he would ever need. This was Frank. I knew that now. With the murderous look in his eyes, he nodded to me, daring me to deny him admittance into the fray.
Now Shane? He surprised me. Not that I doubted his allegiance in any way, but he was a cop through and through. For him to be on board, knowing that I planned to kill every last person that was involved with Tom, filled me with pride and an even deeper respect for this honorable man that I called brother. I did notice him eyeballing Michelle and shook my head. Boy, that was one woman he could not woo with his charming ways. Quickly filling them in on the plans, we loaded up and headed out at nearly warp speed. The drive for the average citizen would have taken at least an hour and a half but we were not ordinary. We would cut that time in half if possible.
Frannie had followed the van from the police station in Wordly for almost an hour and a half, before they pulled into a secluded area. No one would ever even know it was there if he didn’t live in the area. Frannie and I were born and raised here. So, we knew of the old abandoned warehouse that had a full loading dock, where truckers from all around the country used to come load up and head to their next destinations. It was over twenty years ago, that the company went out of business and the property was foreclosed on. The bank was never able to resell it due to the location. The land and buildings had fallen into disrepair and were forgotten about.
I had to hand it to the Palmer brothers. I didn’t think we would have found them, if it wasn’t for how brave Frannie had been by following them. Shane found an old blueprint of the building’s layout in the county archives that were now easily accessible on the computer. There were too many points of entry, though. We couldn’t cover all of them, but if they did try to run Scott was sitting high with a full view and could take them down.
We barely found Frannie who had hidden her tracks and car, quite well. When she came out of hiding, Frank looked at her with pride.
“Hello boys. We have more to deal with than I first knew. Not only are the Palmer idiots down there, but I have counted at least four more men so far. This is not going to be easy. I think we should call in backup but still go in now. They can do all the cleanup. We cannot leave Ally with them any longer. From what I have observed from here, I am certain they are running drugs out of there. They just loaded two cars that left about forty-five minutes ago. That means they have weapons and a lot of them to protect the premises. What’s the plan, Jonah?” Frannie informed us as she took the large duffle bag from Frank. She began to unload her rifle and strapped on an ammunition belt.
Shane laid the map out on top of the hood and I began giving instructions to each person on what positions they would take. As I did that, Shane used his satellite phone and called Brent to fill him in on what Frannie had found. Everyone went in their intended directions, set to find and protect Ally to the maximum degree.
Sending a prayer to the heavens above, I set off to kill anyone who dared get in my way. May God have mercy on their souls.