“I promise you that,” Lexi chimed in. “We won’t rest until there’s justice.”
Clint came back in the door to let the Rowes know the jet was ready for departure. There were more tears as the group hugged their goodbyes. With one final wave, Sam, Lexi, Leesha and Clint waved at the Rowe family as they boarded the plane and taxied out onto the runway.
Leesha and Lexi watched the plane take off, and both sighed in relief, thinking the danger was over and they could relax for a minute.
Clint, on the other hand, moved in a flurry as soon as the plane was in the air. He bolted through the door and started rummaging in his duffel, looking for something. The group followed him into the bunkhouse, all bouncing curious expressions off each other.
“Okay gang, let’s go!” Clint said, a small toolbox in his hand.
“Go where?” Leesha asked, perplexed.
Dude, we just got everyone out of harm’s way!
“We’re going back.”
“Back where?” Lexi shot back, then a knowing expression hit her face. “Back to the kidnappers?!”
Clint nodded.
“Why?” all three of them shouted in unison.
Clint calmed for just a minute, in an attempt to explain his rationale, but he knew their time was limited. “Look, I’m not comfortable knowing this creep is out there, watching us – probably watching our families.”
“I agree with you,” Sam started, but still skeptical. “What are you suggesting?”
“We know where he’s going next. He’ll be at the house any minute now to take care of what business he thinks he has there.”
“Yes,” Sam started, “and he’s going to be seriously pissed when he finds his plan didn’t work out the way he wanted. You’re not saying we should confront him now, are you?”
“No. NO! No, we’re not going to talk to him. But this may be the only time we know exactly where he’s going to be and when. I want to take advantage of it,” Clint said, waving his toolbox in the air.
“What’s that?” Lexi asked.
“It’s the newest tracking product on the market. If we plant a couple of these on him, we’ll know where he is at all times! I’ll sleep a whole lot better knowing where he is, and where he’s not – specifically if he’s not anywhere near any of you or our families.”
“Well, I agree with that in theory,” Leesha nodded her head in thought. “But it’s not like we can just walk up to the man and drop a tracer in his briefcase…”
Clint looked at Lexi. Instantly she understood.
No!
“No. Absolutely not,” Sam shook his head.
“Sam, he’s right. It’s the only way,” Lexi pleaded with him. “You saw what he did to Charlie’s family. I can’t think of him going after Mom and Dad in the same way. I can’t, Sam…”
“And Sam, we’ll all be there to protect her. We’ll get you close enough so you can see him, hear him, hear his thoughts at all times. You’ll know what moves he’ll make. You can direct Lexi where to go and what to do. And if worse comes to worse,” Clint turned to Leesha, “we’ll just have our muscle take care of him. I’d rather not – I mean, I’d rather him not know what is going on. That the tracking devices are planted in secret… But if we need protection, we’ve got it covered.”
Sam thought about it for a minute, trying to come up with some argument against sending his sister in to do the dirty work.
“Sam. We don’t have a lot of time,” Clint prodded. “It may be our only chance.”
“I know. You’re right,” he sighed. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Forty-eight
When he arrived at the dingy little house, he saw the goons’ car in the street. Of course they didn’t think to hide their car… Why would they? At least they had the presence of mind to stash the lady’s car in the garage, he thought, passing by the window in the garage door.
All was quiet inside. He stepped in the front door, half expecting to be greeted by the men. They were supposed to be here waiting for him, but he saw no signs of activity at first glance.
“Hey! Guys?! Where are you?” he barked into the empty house.
Then he heard it. Someone, maybe two people, were banging on the bedroom door. He figured it was the captives until he heard the male voices shouting from behind the locked door.
What the?
He grabbed the key to the lock from his keychain, and as he stepped towards the door, he noticed the other key – there were only two, one for him and one for the goons – lying on the hall floor about two feet from the door jamb.
He slid his key into the padlock, unlocked it and stepped into the windowless room. The two guys came rushing towards him, relieved to be free of their cell.
“What the hell happened here?” he demanded of the two. “How did you end up in here? And where are the girls?”
Bub, the smaller but smarter of the two, spoke first. “We don’t know, boss. First, this teenage girl comes to the door. Says she needs to sell us something, and when we try to get her to leave, she pushes us against the wall. Thing is, she never touched us! We couldn’t do anything to fight her. She just stood there, and we was powerless against her.”
The stupid one, he could never remember his name, spoke next. “Yeah, just like that. We stood there for like two, maybe three minutes. Then all of a sudden she rips the key off Bub’s belt, opens the door, and the room’s empty!”
“We don’t know what happened boss. We never saw anyone else come in. We never saw anyone leave. We would have seen them, honest!”
“Yeah, boss.”
As the realization of what happened hit him, the fury took over his forehead like a blinding migraine. He paced back and forth from the hallway into the kitchen and back. “And how did you two idiots end up in the detention room?”
Bub’s face, still white as a sheet, was now slicked with the sweat of fear. “She picked us up and threw us into the room. ‘Cept again, she never even laid a hand on us. Just flung us onto the floor, closed the door and locked it. I don’t know how she did it. Honest Abe, boss.”
He continued to pace, seething with anger. All he asked was for these two imbeciles to do one little thing for him, and they can’t even do that right.
The kids did this, he was certain. While he was proud that their abilities were getting stronger, he was just as furious that they were using them against him. How dare they… He was their maker. He should be their ruler. They would NOT do this to him again.
He was going to have to be smarter from now on. That meant trusting fewer allies in his work, and definitely weeding out the weak staff members on his payroll. He knew exactly where he should start, with regards to that…
He turned back to the hired thugs. “Show me exactly where you had the women.”
They led him back to the room, and entered first, walking towards the chairs and discarded duct tape. As their backs were to him, he quickly pulled out his gun – silencer already attached – and put one slug in the back of each head.
The only sound to be heard was that of the two bodies as they hit the floor.
He spent the next fifteen minutes wiping the place clean of any trace of him – finger prints, patterns from his shoes, clothing fibers, anything he could think of. Since his gun was untraceable, he didn’t worry about the bullets he left behind.
Satisfied that he cleaned the inside of the house, he grabbed his briefcase and went out to check the exterior. There were footprints in the dirt and around the garage, so he set his briefcase down and grabbed a broom from the garage to sweep them away. He left no clue behind. There was to be no way anyone could trace him to this house or the bodies that lie within it.
Picking up his bag, he headed for the car. Once inside, he grabbed his laptop and booted it up to check his GPS tracker. It didn’t take him long to find the Rowe Suburban, heading northwest, about half way to Las Vegas.
They may think they can blend in there, he thought to himself, but he would catch up
to them. Starting his car, he set his navigation for destination - Las Vegas.
Chapter Forty-nine
The Jeep pulled up in the neighborhood just as Blevins’ car was coming down the street. Sam saw him first, spotted him in the rental car. “There he is!” He pointed to the metallic tan sedan pulling up to the curb across the street from the house.
Already knowing the lay of the neighborhood, Clint knew just where to park in the alley so they were close enough to monitor the house’s activity, but far enough away to be seen by anyone inside. They quietly got out of the Jeep and huddled together to discuss their plan of attack.
Clint handed Lexi three flat black devices, about the size of a dime.
“They’re so small! They don’t look anything like the boxes he had on our cars,” Lexi stared at the little button-sized objects.
“Yeah, he’s about two years out of date,” Clint said. “The good news is these are more advanced, so he can’t detect them with the old tracking software he’s using. He’ll never know we’ve planted them on him.”
Sam grinned, but said nothing, still very worried about what they were about to do. Instead, he focused on the activity inside the house. “Okay, guys, he’s grilling the two men. Oh, he’s pissed. I’d hate to be in there right now.”
Clint turned back to Lexi. “Listen, I know the car’s a rental, but I want you to go ahead and put one of these on the front fender of the car. We can at least track his mobility while he’s in the car – even if it is only for the next day or two. It may come in handy to know where he is so we can get home safe.”
“Okay,” Lexi nodded. “And the other two?”
“I’m hoping you can manage to get at least one in a briefcase or duffel bag. It would be nice to have one in something we know he’ll always have with him. Hey, you can’t pick pockets, can you?” he grinned.
“No,” she smiled back. “But wouldn’t that be handy?”
“Yeah. What I’d do to get my hands on his wallet right about now… Anyway, Sam will keep a look out, keep you updated on where he is and what he’s doing. We may just have to wing it.”
“Where do you want me?” Leesha jumped in.
“I want you to position yourself behind that privacy fence in the next door neighbor’s yard,” he pointed to the location. “From there, you can see us and the front door at the same time. Sam can communicate to you if we need you to step in and flex your muscle. Hopefully we won’t need to, but if we do, I think that’s your best spot if you need to get to him quickly.”
“Right. I’m on it,” and she ran off in the direction Clint pointed.
Once she was safely crouched at the end of the fence, Sam turned his attention back to the house. Lexi disappeared from sight and began to head towards the car.
“Lexi?”
“Yes, Sam…” she was starting to sound annoyed by her brother’s protectiveness.
“Keep talking to me.”
“I will, big brother. Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
Lexi headed to the car across the street and proceeded to attach one of the tracking devices into the front right wheel well. Peering into the back seat, she caught a glimpse of a black padded bag in the back seat. “Jackpot! I found his computer case, Sam.”
Sam relayed the information to Clint, who then instructed: “Tell her not to place a device inside the computer. The electronics can sometimes interfere with each other. See if she can find a padded handle or pocket to slide the device inside – somewhere where he won’t find or feel it as he reaches in.”
Sam projected the information back to Lexi and she reached into the backseat window to place the second device under the shoulder strap’s padded handle. “Done!” she announced cheerily.
Suddenly, Sam’s attention snapped back towards the house. He looked inside the walls and flinched as he saw Blevins draw the gun. “Lexi, fall back! Leesha, get over here!”
“What? What’s going on?” Clint demanded, stunned at Sam’s change of direction.
“Shhh. Let me listen.”
Leesha ran over to the boys, and Lexi appeared next to the three a split second later. Both looked perplexed, but stayed quiet as Sam looked like he was deep in concentration.
Shit! Do I tell them what I just saw?
Sam grappled with his conscience for a few more seconds, and then finally decided they were all in this together. He looked at the three of them and leveled with them. “He just shot the two kidnappers.”
None of them spoke. They just stood there looking stunned. The minutes ticked on… Finally, Leesha broke the silence. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” he said, his focus now back inside the house. “He’s in there now cleaning the place of prints and evidence.”
“Man, I think we should get out of here,” Clint said.
“No! We’re not done! I’ve got one more device…”
“Lex, no. You’re not going back there,” Sam said.
“I agree,” Clint crossed his arms. “It’s way too dangerous. He’s got a gun, Lexi.”
“And he’ll have the same gun when he comes after us,” Lexi protested. “Let’s at least give us half a chance to be able to track him. It may be our only head start in protecting ourselves. Our families.”
Sam squared his shoulders, ready to fight. “Lexi…”
But Leesha didn’t let him go any further. “Sam, I’ll go with her. I’ll be right next to her. If anything goes wrong, I’ll protect her.”
Sam turned to her. “I don’t like it Leesh. Why don’t we just immobilize him like we did the other two earlier? That way we know he can’t hurt us…”
“Because he’ll know we’re here, watching him. If he realizes that, he’ll suspect we’re up to something. We need to get these devices on him in a way that allows us to track him without his knowledge,” Clint said, then turned back towards the house. “Where’s his briefcase?”
“It’s inside with him. It’s too dangerous.” Sam continued to watch. “Wait. Here he comes…”
“What’s he doing?” Leesha asked, already at Lexi’s side, ready to go.
“He’s checking the outside. He just set his briefcase down, and headed into the garage.”
“This is our chance! Come on, Leesha!” Lexi grabbed her hand and they both disappeared from sight.
“Lexi!”
“Sam,” she whispered, just a few paces away, “just let us know if something looks strange…”
Sam growled in frustration as he heard the two pair of footsteps run away from him. Clint grabbed his shoulder and said, “I know man. Tell me what’s going on…” and he crouched down to wait out the storm, frustrated that he couldn’t do any more to help.
Sam listened to their footsteps as they rounded the house, then tip toe around the garage corner where the briefcase sat as Blevins swept the driveway. He saw the case tilt slightly away from the wall where it rested, and the opening widen ever so slightly. He knew Leesha was watching Blevins closely as Lexi tried to maneuver the tracker inside the case without him hearing them or seeing his case move.
Sam didn’t know if he breathed once since they ran away from him, because as he saw the case rest back against the wall and heard their footsteps retreat back to where he was standing, he finally exhaled in relief. Finally he heard Leesha mentally give the “All clear!” signal, and he relayed the information to Clint, who stood up and seemed to shake his head clear.
I think he was as worried as I was…
The girls popped back into vision, and turned to Sam for an update. “He just put the broom away. Heading to the car… Why is he just sitting there?”
At this point, the group decided the best thing to do was wait until Blevins cleared the neighborhood before they headed out. They didn’t want to risk crossing paths with him and being seen.
Clint climbed into the Jeep to check the tracking devices on the laptop. Lexi followed him, curious to see if her work was fruitful. Sure enough, all three devices gave a clear si
gnal.
Sam and Leesha stood there, waiting for him to move. “He’s looking at his laptop. I can’t make out the screen at the angle he’s holding it… Wait. He just grabbed his navigation device. Loading it… Las Vegas. It looks like he’s headed to Vegas!”
They heard the car start, and Sam told Leesha when it was out of the neighborhood. It was then when they both exhaled their final sigh of relief and climbed into the front seat of the Jeep. Lexi and Clint were both still looking at the information on the laptop screen in the back.
Sam looked back and reported that Blevins was headed to Las Vegas. Both Clint and Lexi shared a knowing smile of success.
“Ironically,” Clint said, smirking, “that is the same direction the convertible is heading!”
Chapter Fifty
The group finally settled back into the bunk house for the night. They contemplated going back home to check in with their families, but quite frankly they were all beat. Physically and mentally beat.
Emotionally, however, the four kids seemed to be soaring. Once the fear and shock of what they just went through faded, and they realized what they accomplished as a team, the chatter in the Jeep on the way back escalated into a celebration of cheers, squeals and glory stories.
They decided to stop by the grocery on the way back to the house – Leesha offered to cook a Mexican spread to go along with the fiesta mood they were all buzzing with. The girls were in the kitchen setting out the ingredients, while Sam and Clint were setting up the computer so they could constantly monitor Blevins’ mobility.
“I can’t help but feel a little cheated. There’s no justice,” Sam said. “I mean, he got away, clean.”
“For now, but he’ll never be too far ahead of us. We’ll track him down. He can’t hide forever,” Clint said, pulling up the GPS grid on the computer screen.
“So where is he now?”
“He’s still headed northwest, toward Vegas. If he takes a turn east, we’ll see it,” Clint assured Sam, showing him how to read the tracking radar. He knew Sam was still worried about the families they left behind, and the group all agreed that they would drop whatever they were doing in an instant to fly back home and protect what they loved.