Mind Games (30 page)

“Detective Vince Hogan. Ma’am, you don’t mind if we look around a little do you?”

“Oh, certainly. My name is Sheri by the way. And be my guest. I wish you didn’t all track your muddy footprints in here though.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Vince rolled his eyes and looked around the kitchen while the SWAT members split up to search the house.

“This is a lot of dirty dishes for one person,” Vince commented.

Sheri was so used to hiding the truth that lying became second nature to her. But Vince’s questions made her sweat. Fully convinced The Leader was still watching her, Sheri continued to act like nothing was wrong. “Yes, well I do make quite a few desserts for the church pot lucks. I hosted a few friends here last night and we had some pot roast and pie. Is that a crime, detective?”

Vince stepped into the dining room and noticed the floor was covered with muddy footprints. “I thought you said you wanted people to take off their shoes in the house.”

“And I do.” Sheri looked over his shoulder. “Those are from my grandchildren. They were over here this last weekend and had a water fight. I love them to death, but sometimes they just don’t listen. I haven’t had a chance to mop the floors yet.”

“Uh huh.” Vince stepped through the other door of the dining room that led back to the living room. The furniture was covered with large off-white sheets.

“I keep those sheets on the furniture to keep it nice. It’s quite old.”

Vince lifted a sheet on one of the couches. “Yeah, I can see that.”

“Hey, up here!” Amy called from upstairs.

Vince scaled the steps and joined Amy in the doll room. Sheri followed behind.

“So you’re a collector?” Amy asked.

Sheri smiled. “Sometimes I make clothes for them.”

One of the SWAT members left the library. “All clear in there, Vince.”

Amy left the doll room and walked across the hall. “And what about this?” She and Vince entered the bedrooms filled with bunk beds.

“Well,” Sheri said. “When my husband was still alive, we used to let people stay over night if there was a bad storm.”

The beds were all made, and the sleeping quarters were tidy.

Sheri sighed. “As you can see, these beds haven’t been used for many years. I don’t get that many visitors anymore.”

“You just told me you had company here last night.” Vince accused.

“That’s right. They didn’t spend the night. They had a long drive.”

“To where?” He stepped closer to her.

“Back home. My relatives live in Kansas, you see.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe you,” Vince said.

“Excuse me?”

Vince stepped past her towards the door at the end of the hallway.

Sheri followed at his heels. “Um, you don’t want to go in there. It’s just my cleaning supplies and old lace tablecloths…”

Vince tried to open the door. “Why is it locked?”

“I can’t have my grandkids going in there. They might drink the cleaning solution or something. You can’t be too careful with children.”

“Unlock this door. Right now.” Vince said.

“Well, I’d have to go find the key.” She smiled nervously.

“That’s not necessary,” Vince said and motioned to one of the SWAT team members.

Sheri turned around to see one of the armored men bash in the door.

The open door revealed stairs that led up.

Vince held up his hand and pushed past, entered the doorway, and looked up. Before taking another step, he turned and said, “You lied to me. What else are you lying about?”

He climbed the steep stairs ascending to the musty attic and saw cracked, wall-length mirror. Then he saw the metal sheet nailed to the part of the mirror near the back of the attic.

“Sometimes my grand-daughter comes up here to practice her dance lessons,” Sheri said, even after seeing bits of broken glass scattered all over the floor.

Vince stared at the reflection of the group in the mirror. “You have an answer prepared for everything don’t you? What are you hiding?” He turned to one of the SWAT members holding the ramming device and motioned towards the mirror.

The SWAT member was just about to bash in the mirror when Sheri screamed
,
“STOP! There’s a girl!”

Vince took a step towards her. “What did you say?”

Sheri bit her knuckle and shifted her eyes.

Then, a pair of voices screamed from inside the mirrored room
.
“Hey, let us out! Let us out!”

Vince walked over to Sheri and brought his face very close to hers. “We’re not messing around here! Who’s behind that mirror?”

Sheri couldn’t even say it. She just pointed.

“Break it down,” Vince said.

Sheri shook her head.

“Do it,” he said.

The SWAT member rammed into the wall, knocking portions of the cement blocks out of the way. When enough of the blocks crumbled, Amy saw the faces of Cameron and Sarah inside. They were smiling.

The group of armored men knocked down the rest of the wall and helped Cameron and Sarah step over the rubble.

Amy ran over to give Cameron a hug. “Oh my God, Cameron. It’s such a relief to see you again!” Then she comforted Sarah. “Hi. Sarah. Are you ready to go home?”

“Yes,” Sarah said, “I’m so ready. What took you guys so long?”

Vince turned to Sheri. “Anyone else you want to tell us about?”

“Actually…”

“Save it.” He drew his handcuffs and snapped them on Sheri’s wrists. “You’re under arrest for the abduction of Cameron and Sarah Frost...”

“She’s not the one you want,” Cameron said. “The real criminal here is Jennifer.”

“He’s right,” Sarah said. “Mom went crazy.”

“Who’s that?” Sheri was really confused now.

“My wife,” Cameron said. “You know her as The Leader.”

“That’s impossible,” Sheri said. “The Leader is a big fat man.”

“No, you’re wrong.” Sarah scowled.

Cameron said, “And Amy, all of those missing people...we found them. They’re in the tunnels below.”

Sheri turned to Vince. “The Leader threatened to start shooting if I didn’t hide them.”

“You’re done, Sheri,” Cameron said. “You’re done.” Then he took Sarah’s hand and looked up to Amy. “I need to take you all down into the tunnels. That’s the only way you’ll understand.”

After a few trips in the freight elevator
,
everyone including the SWAT team began to see the severity of the situation. They stopped at the first level down and Cameron showed them Stan’s security room. Stan and Dallas were slumped over on the floor like two thawing turkeys. Their wrists were tied to the office chairs, and they were drooling.

“These two men supervised the workers here,” Cameron said. “They’ll still be here when you come back up. They’re heavily sedated.” Cameron then pointed to the monitors and told Amy and Vince about the ankle trackers.

He took them below to the second level and showed them the bank replica. Then, he took them to the tunnels, and they saw the forty-some workers spread out in the main room. Some had tired eyes since they woke up to evade the house search, and some were still digging the tunnels oblivious police had even entered the property. Jennifer had simply announced through the intercom that everyone needed to be down in the tunnels. Immediately. Sheri prepared everything else in the cottage to look like she was home alone.

“Hey, everyone!” Cameron addressed the crew. “Stop working!”

When the workers turned to see the detectives and SWAT team, they began to talk amongst themselves.

Cameron stood on top of a box so everyone could hear him. “These people are here to help. They are here to take you back home. This is the day you reclaim your freedom!” He raised his fist high into the air.

The workers let out a joyous cheer and dropped their shovels. Some stood still in shock while others even started dancing.

Cameron turned to Amy. “We’ve got to get these people out of here.” He raised his voice again and reassured the workers their ankle trackers were deactivated and that it was safe to go outside.

Another wave of cheers spread over the workers. One of them dumped over a wheelbarrow full of dirt and kicked it.

Cameron took the police to the tunnel where all of the vehicles were stored and told Amy and Vince about the tree stump hatch at the far end of the lower tunnels.

As the SWAT team helped the workers move towards the exit hatch, Amy instructed one of the policemen to go up to the cottage and call for two city buses to come pick up the captives.

Then she spoke to Cameron. “Is this everyone?”

“No. Jen took Max. He’s eighteen years old.”

“Took him where?”

“I don’t know.”

“We’ll find him,” Amy said. “We brought the helicopter. When do you want to leave?”

“Just wait,” Cameron said.

He went back to the main tunnels and found Melanie Garcia. Then he asked her to stay with Sarah while they went back to the city. Melanie agreed and took Sarah’s hand.

Amy met up with Cameron in the main tunnel and said, “Once the busses get here, we’ll leave in the chopper.”

THE CURE

As the helicopter pilo
t
, Amy strapped herself in, ready for take off. Cameron sat next to her in the front, and Vince sat in the back.

“Hey,” Vince said, “We have the team all together again.”

“I just wish it were under better circumstances.” Cameron clapped Amy on the back. “Thank you, Amy...for not giving up on me.”

“What about me?” Vince nudged Cameron.

“I guess thanks are in order for you too, Vince. How did you guys find this place?”

“It’s a long story,” Amy said, strapping on her pilot headgear.

She started the chopper, and the blades began to spin, slashing the forest air.

“Hey, man.” Vince shook his head. “I’m sorry to hear ‘bout Jennifer. I should have warned you. I always thought she was a little...cuckoo.”

“Not the time,” Amy said.

The base of the helicopter swayed against the grass before lifting off. Amy pulled up, and the chopper began to rise over the pines. Gaining higher and higher, the group looked below to see the trees resemble miniature models. The high mound of grass-covered dirt around the cottage now looked like a practice target.

Amy guided the chopper over the compound in the direction following the underground ramp exit where the workers’ vehicles had been stored. The CSI team could see the compound workers waiting outside for the city buses. Even from his lofty vantage point, Cameron saw a few workers raise their hands in jubilation. Now free, these people stepped upon the level ground like cave dwellers emerging from a long hibernation.

“So tell us about this kid your wife took,” Vince said, leaning back from the window.

“His name is Max,” Cameron said. “We tried to escape together. He led the team of bank robbers.”

“Seems pretty smart.” Amy turned the chopper left.

“Yeah. He was my friend in there. He always beat me at checkers.”

“I didn’t realize you guys had time for board games.” Vince tightened the straps on his seatbelt.

“I just hope Max is okay,” Cameron said.

Amy raised the chopper another level above the trees. “Jen wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, would she?”

“I don’t know.” Cameron watched the landscape move below them. “She fired a gun at us without so much as flinching. She captured all of those people against their will...forced them into working for her.” Cameron covered his face with his hands. “She even wrote a mantra and had it etched into a plaque in the cottage. I’m just so ashamed I didn’t see how she really is.”

Amy flipped on the air conditioning. “At this point, she’s a criminal, Cam. If we find her, whatever you see...these are her demons, not yours.”

“I just don’t understand how she pulled all this off. It just feels like I should have seen this coming. I thought Jen’s proposal at the bank - the one to include Sarah - was a bit of a red flag. But I didn’t do anything to stop it. Now I see. Now I know what she’s capable of.”

Chopper blades whirring, the investigators scoured the forest, searching for any speck of white against the immense wash of green land.

During the search, Amy explained the arrest of Derek Hansen. Then, she told Cameron about Wilson’s extravagant mansion. Cameron tried to articulate his experience at the compound, but words couldn’t quite explain everything he’d seen. As he told them, Cameron realized how influential Max had been to him. His sly smile. His shear courage and persistence. Max, though half his age, taught Cameron the importance of never backing down.

Amy circled the compound, covering a wide perimeter. When they found nothing but trees and bare, California land, Amy widened the range from the compound and circled again.

“Maybe Jen pulled onto the highway towards the city,” Vince said.

“No.” Cameron tapped a finger against the inside of the helicopter window. “If I know Jen, she’d expect us to go back to San Francisco. She probably thinks we’re checking all of the warehouses or factories on the edge of the city. But she’s not that risky.”

“How do you know for sure?”

“She had the chance to shoot me once before. And she didn’t do it. My wife isn’t a killer. She let a pack of wolves tear one of Max’s friends apart, but she can’t risk getting her own hands dirty. No, she’s out here somewhere...probably waiting for us. Besides, she wouldn’t drive on any public roads with that milk truck. It would stick out like a sore thumb.”

Amy adjusted the air conditioning. “Then why did she take the truck?”

“I think she panicked. Besides the tow truck, it was the only vehicle functional enough to still drive. She was planning to use the other smashed cars as prison cells for her project.”

The search continued for another forty-five minutes.

Amy steered the chopper far enough from the compound that they could hardly see the highway.

“This is worse than looking for a needle in a haystack,” Vince said.

“If we don’t find her soon, I’ll have to turn us around,” Amy said, pointing to the chopper’s dashboard. “We only have so much fuel.”

“Forget the fuel,” Vince said, checking his phone. “The forecast predicts a thunderstorm soon.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Amy said, “The wind is picking up.”

“Oh, I forgot to mention,” Cameron looked over at the swirling colors on Vince’s weather app. “The wind out here is extremely strong - far stronger than in the city. The night Max and I tried to escape the compound, we saw gusts of wind strip branches off the trees. The forest seems to trap the wind.”

No more than a moment later, raindrops dotted the chopper’s windshield. Amy turned on the wipers.

A snap of lighting cut across the sky, followed by a loud boom.

Vince saw another forked bolt reach in-between nearby clouds. “Flying is one thing, but I really don’t want to be fried up here.”

The sun, nearing the horizon, cast an orange flare across the encroaching set of grey clouds. The wind increased, and the darkened sky let loose a downpour of rain. Cameron peered through the streaks of water falling over the windows. He continued to scan the ground below, but only saw a blur of green.

“Hold on,” Vince said. He slid forward and pressed his forehead against the window. “I see something down there.”

“More green?”

“No. White. There’s a speck of white.”

Amy turned her neck to glare at Vince. “Are you sure?”

“Umm. Yes, I definitely see white. But it’s hidden under the trees.”

“I see it too,” Cameron said. “It looks like the milk truck.”

“We’re losing sunlight,” Amy said. “We won’t be able to land a bunch of times. Are you guys willing to take a chance on a little white area.”

“Look,” Vince moved his arm across Amy’s sightline and pointed out. “Down there. You see it?”

“Give me a landmark.”

“Okay, it’s just to the left of that pond. See it?”

Amy eyed the shifting landscape. “Alright. No turning back now.” She slowed the chopper and steered it down. As they descended, the ground grew closer. “We’re going to land in that clearing by the pond.”

A few minutes later, Amy touched down onto a section of wilted grass along the muddy ground. Sure enough, the black and white milk truck was parked under a large tree. The overhang of branches would have obscured the truck completely if not for the blusterous wind that blew back the natural covering, leaving sections of white exposed.

“Good eye, Vince,” Amy said. “Looks like Jen tried to hide it.”

“Well it wasn’t good enough.” Vince unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled up the collar of his jacket. “I would have draped a green tarp over the damn thing. That’s what they did at the compound...shoving all that dirt around the cottage...and that was mostly camouflaged.”

“I’m sure she just panicked and drove out here quick,” Amy said.

Vince unlatched the helicopter door and jumped out, planting his feet in slick mud. The chopper blades sliced the air just above him. He yelled over the noise. “Time’s ticking, guys! Let’s go!” Without hesitation, he walked towards the milk truck. When he was only twenty feet away from the spotted truck, Vince drew his gun and started calling out a series of insults. “Hey, Jennifer! Remember that time we met? Cam told me you built shit. He told me you made security stuff for one of the banks.”

Cameron watched as the rain warped the image of the truck through the window. Amy powered down the chopper and called the SWAT team on her cell phone. She relayed their coordinates, keeping Vince in the corner of her eye.

Then Vince approached the back door of the milk truck and tapped his gun on the side. “Hey, I know you can hear me in there. Look, you can live out here if you want, Jennifer. It’s your life. But we know you have someone with you. A hostage. All I’m asking is for you to cooperate. We will use deadly force is we have to.” He knocked on the truck’s back door. Then he waited a moment, keeping himself dry under the stretched collar of his jacket.

But only the sound of pelting rain answered him.

“Why don’t you come out here, huh? Sure, you’ll get wet, but at least it’ll give us a chance to catch up. What do you say?”

Still, no one answered from within.

“Alright, Jen. I bet you heard from Cameron how patient I am.” Vince lifted his face towards the sky and shook some of the water from his hair. “Well, he was lying. I’m not a patient man. Vince Hogan waits for no one. I just want to see what you’re doing with all the stolen money. That’s all. From what I understand, the kid you’ve got with you in there means a lot to your husband. Hell, after what you put them through, it’s no surprise they became friends. They had a common enemy.”  Vince took a step back. “I’m trying to be fair here. And that’s not in my nature. But seeing as you want to play hide and seek, I’ll start counting.” He tapped the butt of his gun against the door again, hitting it in a steady rhythm. “Three...” He wrapped his fingers around the latch of the door. “Two...” Then, in a single pull, he opened the back door. “One...”

Tink--
-
KKA-BOOOOOM!!! pffffsssssssssshh............

The milk truck exploded into a screaming fireball that lifted it from the ground, filleting the truck’s exterior as if it were made of aluminum foil. The force from the blast sent Vince’s body flying in several directions. Part of him, including the hand that held his gun, landed in the nearby pond.

A second, smaller explosion followed when the fireball engulfed the truck’s gas tank. Two of the tires shot out sideways and rolled towards the helicopter. The metal frame of the milk truck bent and flipped back over itself, landing in a thud several yards away. One of the computers in the truck was kicked out by the shock wave, and the hunk of black electronics landed only feet from the chopper. A thick, mushroom cloud crowned over the tree that once sheltered the spotted milk truck.

Cameron and Amy became trapped in a slow-motion silence.

Unable to scream, as if the breath was punched from her lungs, Amy slammed her head against the helicopter’s dashboard, shattering her phone against the plexiglass window. Cameron had ducked down, and whacked his arm on the pilot door. In sudden reflex to the violent explosion, his jaw clamped shut, trapping the tip of tongue. Now, as he slowly looked up at the aftermath of the discharge, he felt the sting of his tongue. He tasted blood.

Blazing only for a few seconds, the remains of the truck hissed as the rain doused any remaining sparks or fires, leaving only a lingering phantom of smoke that spread from the blast site like a pair of boney fingers. Then, as bits of ash sprayed over the area, a nauseating sulfuric odor settled and mixed with the sappy smell of the wet pines.

Amy clutched the edge of the dashboard and blinked twice, trying to reset the horrific event as if it has never happened.

Cameron leaned out the pilot door and spat out blood.

Amy grabbed the back of her head and felt throbbing pins prick up and down her spine. In a downward contraction to let a breath in, Amy’s diaphragm spasmed, forcing her to cough instead.

Once she caught her breath, Amy turned to Cameron, finally letting out the words that had escaped her before. They dribbled out uncontrollably, breaking the sting of silence. “What in God’s, I thought....he, Vince...he...can’t be...no...he can’t be...”

Cameron raised a palm to his chest and felt his heart thrash in his chest. Looking out at the damage, he grabbed Amy’s shoulder.

She stared forward for a second before shaking his hand away. “I can’t believe this. Cam, Vince...just...he...”

“I know, Amy. I know.” Cameron shook his head. “He shouldn’t have gone up there alone.”

“What, you think we should have followed him? Then we would have been...” Amy stopped and choked on the somber thought. Biting her lip, she barely moved her mouth as she whispered, “I thought you said she didn’t have the guts to kill anyone.”

“I...”

Amy covered her mouth with her hand.

“Look, Amy...”

“How did we let this happen?” Her hand quivered now. She curled her fingers around her trembling chin. “We should’ve never come here!”

“Don’t say that,” Cameron said. “Vince...he knew this was going to be dangerous.”