Undercover Justice (39 page)

“I didn’t ask you if you wanted to,” Jed said more forcefully. “This is one of those times we were talking about. Please go do it, for me, so that I don’t have to worry about you.”

“Nora!” Kent said sharply. “Go with Charlotte upstairs. Stop arguing.”

Waking up enough to realize that they were serious, I swung my feet over the side and stood up. My heart started pounding faster as the danger started to set in.

“Come on,” Charlotte said grabbing my arm.

“Be careful,” I whispered loudly over my shoulder as we snuck up the stairs. I could hear someone rattling the backdoor handle.

“I want to try and get a look at whoever it is, before they get scared away,” Jed told Kent as they silently crept towards the kitchen and the back door.

“As soon as they open the door, the alarm is going to go off,” Kent reminded him.

“Can you shut the alarm down, so that it doesn’t scare them off?” Jed asked.

“Are you sure you want to risk it?”

Jed reached behind his back and pulled a small semi-automatic handgun from his waist band. He had been careful all night not to let the girls see it. He had been almost relieved when the two had fallen asleep before he and Kent had come back from checking the house. They had switched on and off the last two hours. Each taking turns catching a cat nap and watching the house. It was on Jed’s watch that he noticed two figures moving in the shadows, on the outskirts of the yard, trying to stay behind bushes. They had slowly and methodically got closer to the house.

Kent made a detour toward the alarm control panel and quickly punched in the code to shut down the alarm. Then he reached into the hall closet for his old baseball bat that his mom had insisted on keeping. Re-joining Jed, they snuck towards the door.

The intruder tried to bust in the door, but the double locks held strong. They must have got frustrated, because there was a small popping sound.

“Silencer, these guys mean business,” Jed said, as the top lock shattered. “Get down.”

They both dove for cover behind the kitchen counter as someone kicked the broken lock and the door flew open. As two masked men came through the door, Jed jumped up with his gun raised and said, “Freeze.” The moonlight shone enough light into the kitchen that Jed was able to see the two pretty clearly. Jed had the advantage of being hidden by shadows.

One of the intruders quickly brought his gun up and shot in the direction of Jed’s voice.

Jed dropped below the counter as the glass door leading out onto the back deck, shattered behind him.

“Stay down,” Jed told Kent. Taking a deep breath, Jed yelled out, trying again, “Freeze Police.” Reaching around the counter, he fired off a shot trying to miss the men. He had no desire to hurt anyone. If they shot at him or Kent again, it would be a different story, however. His shot went into the back door, just above their heads.

The men froze and then ducked and ran out the door. They must have decided to cut their losses, because they took off running toward the neighbor’s yard.

Jed vaulted the counter and ran out after them, yelling to Kent to call the police as he went.

Jed chased one of the men across the yard and onto the neighbor’s property, as Kent called the police.

In the back of his mind, Jed was worried that he only saw the one man. The other intruder could be anywhere.

As the man vaulted the neighbor’s stone wall near the road, Jed was right behind him. They ran down the road at full speed.

Jed was running so fast, that he didn’t hear the car coming up fast behind, until it was almost on him. Realizing it was probably the missing partner, Jed searched frantically for somewhere to take cover.

Seeing a deep ditch to the side, Jed pumped his legs and dove into the ditch, praying as he went down. Luckily, the driver decided it was too risky and at the last minute swerved away from the ditch.

Jed watched, his chest heaving, as the car stopped a hundred yards up the road, and the other intruder jumped in. The car sped off with a loud squeal of its tires, before Jed could get the license plate.

Dejected, he climbed out of the ditch, dusted himself off, and headed back to the Barton’s house. Kent was waiting in the driveway for him, with a phone in his hand.

“Are you alright?” he asked, “That guy just missed you.”

“No kidding,” Jed muttered, still trying to catch his breath. “I was hoping you wouldn’t have noticed.”

“Kind of hard to miss,” Kent said, “You were lucky, man.”

“Don’t tell your sister, ok,” Jed said, slapping him on the back as they headed back into the house.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Kent agreed.

“Are the police on their way?” Jed asked.

Shaking his head, Kent said, “They are going to be a few minutes. All the available officers are tied up with a bad accident on the freeway. A lieutenant came on the phone and told me you could handle things for a while. That was after I told him the men had driven off.”

“Ok,” Jed said, “let’s go tell the girls, and find a way to clean up the mess and seal the door off.”

“I’ll grab a tarp out of the garage, and some duck tape. That will have to do for now.”

“They probably won’t come back, but we need to leave and go somewhere else.”

When they went in the house, they weren’t surprised to see Nora and Charlotte peeking down the stairs from the landing.

“They’re gone,” Jed said,” You can come down.”

“We heard a gunshot. Are you both ok?”

“We’re fine. They shot out the door though,” Kent said gesturing to the door.

I can’t believe that men came into our house and shot Kent and Jed.

“They just left?” I asked, “How did you chase them away?”

“Ummm... Jed scared them off and then chased them down the road,” Kent told us.

Looking more closely at Jed, I saw the grass stains and rip in his dress pants.

“What happened?” I asked.

Jed looked at Kent and then looked back at me and said, “I slipped in the grass and fell into the ditch.”

Why did I get the feeling that wasn’t the whole story?

“I’m glad you didn’t get hurt,” I said walking towards him to inspect him more closely.

“We need to get this cleaned up and then get out of here,” Jed said, heading towards the broken glass.

We all pitched in. Charlotte and I swept up the glass, while Jed and Kent taped the tarp up.

“We leave in three minutes,” Jed said, “Grab whatever you need.”

Charlotte and I rushed around grabbing a few things, like coats, blankets, water, and snacks and whatever else we saw, while Kent fixed the side door.

Jed had the car idling as we ran out and climbed in.

I was glad I had remembered the new Country Club directory that had just come out. I had seen it sitting on the counter by the phone book.

Pulling it out, as Jed drove, I flipped it open.

Charlotte leaned over with her small flashlight and we scanned the pages one by one, looking for anything that would give us a clue as to who might have Ollie, or where he could be.

As I flipped over the next page, we both gasped. Standing in a picture with the former president, were Ms. Morley and Judge Freeman. Underneath the picture, the caption read. ‘President Bilton, with his arm around daughter Jill Morley, looks on as brother-in-law Judge Freeman retires.’

“Judge Freeman,” I said. “He’s the former president’s brother-in-law. He has a big farm way out in the country towards, Clyde.”

“What do you mean?” Kent asked, turning around.

“Here is a picture of President Bilton before he died. He is standing with Ms. Morley and Judge Freeman. If Ms. Morley is involved, it seems to me, that a perfect place to hide someone would be out at her uncle’s farm.”

“You could be right,” Jed said, as his phone rang. Pulling it out, he saw that it was Mike.

“What have you got for me?” he asked.

“We have a man on the way to the Barton’s house. I assume you already left.”

“Yeah, we’re in the car, heading west. We haven’t heard from the kidnappers again.”

“Well, I think I’ve found a tie to Ms. Morley. When her dad died, she was left with her mother’s share of a big country estate out near Clyde. Her uncle just moved out there after he retired, to look after it full time.”

“Let me guess,” Jed said, “Judge Freeman is her uncle.”

“How did you know?” Mike asked surprised.

“Nora just figured it out,” Jed told him. “We think they may have taken Ollie there. We’re going to go check it out. Any movement from Ms. Morley?”

“Not yet, but we’re still watching. Don’t do anything rash. I’ll head towards you now, but I’m probably twenty-five minutes away. If those men you scared off are headed that way, it’s not going to be easy.”

“Keep me posted. I’ll check in with you, after I do some preliminary surveillance. Don’t come in with your lights on and alert them,” Jed told Mike.

“Will do, I’m on my way.”

“Thanks man,” Jed said hanging up.

“We are going to checkout this farm,” Jed said, “Tell me everything you know about it.”

“We have only been there a few times,” I told him. “A few years ago, Judge Freeman hosted a Christmas party out there, and we went with our parents.”

Kent and I tried to remember every detail that we could, as we got closer.

“Here it is,” Jed said pulling over to the side of the road. “I’m going to go see if I can find out anything. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. If I am not back by then Kent, tell Mike where I went and then get the girl’s out of here.”

“What if they see you?” I said anxiously.

“They won’t,” Kent told me, “Jed’s good at this kind of thing.”

Jed nodded his thanks, felt to make sure his gun was secure, and headed out.

Chapter 28

Jed was thankful that he was blessed with good night vision. The moon was not out, and the night was very dark. Kent had given him as many details of the layout that he could remember before Jed left. From what he knew, Jed decided that the best place to hide someone on the property would be the barn farthest from the house. According to Kent, a driveway near the house, led to the pole barn, which was set in a clearing in the woods. It housed the tractor and other farm equipment needed to keep the small estate running.

Judge Freeman had taken some of the men out to see his new antique sleigh during the party.

Jed snuck as silently as he could towards the house, staying in the woods. As he approached the house, he could see that it was dark. The Judge was either not there or asleep. There were no lights on outside either, so all Jed could make out was that it looked like a large ranch house. Jed had to get closer to tell if there was a car in the garage or not. As Jed headed closer, he could hear voices talking from somewhere in the woods behind him.

Realizing that they must be near the barn Kent had been talking about. He quickly strode over to peer in the garage window. It was empty. So whoever was here must have parked at the barn.

Jed headed in that direction. The small driveway had to be about one hundred yards long, he estimated. Trees on either side lined it. As Jed got closer, the voices stopped talking. Jed crouched down low to the ground as he came around the corner. It was a pretty large pole barn with a big barn light on each corner. The front had a huge sliding door that was probably ten feet tall and a regular entrance door to the side.

A big black sedan with tinted windows was parked in front. It was probably the car the secretary saw Ollie get into. Jed surveyed the area. Sending Mike a text that the perpetrators were in the barn, he waited several minutes looking for any type of movement. Whoever was here must be inside.

Creeping closer, he counted to ten and then ran at a low crouch to the car. Using it as cover, he waited a few more minutes and then moved to the entrance door. Pressing his ear up next to the windowless door, he listened. It was silent. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. Something didn’t seem right.

He checked the time on his watch and saw that he only had two minutes before he had to check in. He could either run back to the car or take his chances without involving civilians, without involving his friends and Nora. Especially Nora. It didn’t take him long to decide. He reached into his waistband and pulled out his gun.

Slowly reaching for the door handle, he quietly turned it and then taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open, his gun up and ready.

He knew immediately that it was a trap. Ollie sat in the middle of the room tied to a chair. A man stood next to him with a gun pointed at Ollie’s head. Ollie’s eyes were bright with fear.

Jed quickly scanned the barn. There was no one else inside. Jed had heard talking, so he knew that there had to be another man. He would bet his job on the fact that they were the same men who had tried to break into Nora’s house. Only one was missing.

“Put the gun down,” Jed said, his hands never wavering. Outwardly he appeared calm and in control, but inside he was practically shaking with anger. How dare they threaten kids! How dare they threaten people he cared about. The missing man worried him, his neck was positively itching.