Page 39 of Bernadette
She paused in order for him to regain his cool, and when he returned to her, he nodded. “I’m good.”
“Good, because I want to thank you.”
“For?”
“Yes, you threatened them, but you put the fear of god in them also. We can work with that.”
“How?”
“Because you never said their boss’s name. You just said their boss, and when you mentioned having someone killed in prison, were you referring to Gus Carter over in California?”
“I was, does that make a difference?”
“Yes, you didn’t see it, but as soon as you said it, all three of them pissed themselves. They’re scared, I wouldn’t say shitless, but definitely pissless.” She grinned when he laughed. “You ever do any interrogation in the military?”
“No, but I’ve had to question teenage boys a time or two.”
“Perfect.” Bernie grinned. “I believe Astrid is setting up some wires, and it’s going to take a couple of hours before help arrives, right?”
“Definitely two, possibly three.”
“Good, let’s play a little. Oh, we can’t mention any names, but I do have one question for you before we begin. Remember we can’t hit them, or hurt them physically.”
“I understand, what’s the question.”
“Do you know them?”
“No,” Dillion said with such finality that Bernie made it her mission to get to the bottom of things before the law stepped in. Luckily, she didn’t have to skirt any issues, because the information she wanted was to put anyone away at this time. What she wanted was answers about the women that were missing, and how that operation worked. With a nod, she looked at Dillon, and slowly turned to head back into the canyon, and smiled when she saw the three men sitting as close to the back end of the dead horse as the women allowed. She wrinkled her nose and looked at Dillon.
“Animals release their bowels upon death, the same as humans.” They shared a smirk, and went over to have a meeting with Astrid before they had a chat with the three men. She made a mental note to make sure she dropped one of their socks as they talked before shoving it back into their mouth again. From the looks of them, as well as the men, it looked like neither man nor clothes had been washed in quite some time. She hoped they didn’t have toe fungus, she’d hate for them to get hoof and mouth disease. With a smirk she used her cane and walked over to where the men sat, making sure she was downwind from them, as well as the dead horse.
* * *
Chuck lookedover at Lucas when he called out, and nodded when the young man indicated for him to pull over. He saw Carl at his other side, and he held his phone and nodded. While they shut the vehicles down, Chuck dismounted, stretched, then pulled the satellite phone from the pack on the back of the wheeler. Instead of dialing the emergency number, he called Tom directly, and winced when it sounded like he’d woken the other man. He had to bend over and put his other hand over his ear in order to hear over the howling wind that swirled around them.
“Tom? Tom Erwin?” Chuck practically screamed into the phone.
“Yes, who is this?”
“Chuck, Chuck Dryden.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I won’t get into the details, but Wyatt’s hurt. He and Morgan were ambushed on their way back from their honeymoon. I’m on a satellite phone. Let me have Lucas tell you where we are. We’re going to need a helicopter to get Wyatt out of here.” He didn’t know that, but it was the right thing to do and say. He figured if a medical helicopter was requested, then all types of police would show up. He passed the phone to Lucas and told him to give Tom the location. Lucas was a smart kid and he had installed an app a long time ago that gave the longitude and latitude of his exact location. Lucas gave the information, and told Tom that someone was shooting at Morgan and Wyatt. Chuck could have kicked his own ass for not saying that earlier. At least that would bring more help, or he hoped. The entire conversation with him and Lucas took fifteen minutes, and when Carl came back to join them, they were ready to head back. Getting back to the others was just as urgent as getting to their location where they had a signal, and in their rush, Chuck saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye, but it didn’t register until his ATV suddenly went sideways, then he and it were ass over tea kettle flying through the air. The last thing he remembered was seeing the shock on the faces of Lucas and Carl, and he thought he was upside down, then his world went black.
“Get down!” Carl screamed as he stopped his machine, and had Lucas stop his. He immediately dragged the younger man behind his machine, pulled his gun, and made sure Chuck was covered. When he saw the other man, he winced as he saw his legs sticking out from beneath the machine. When he heard a shot, he shoved Lucas to the ground, rose up and started firing back. That happened several times before there was a scream in the distance, and Carl grinned.
“Call Tom back, tell him we’re going to need a second Medi-vac!” Carl screamed, then grabbed the younger man by the scruff of his neck. “I’m going to check out that scream, guard Chuck with your life! I will be back.” He nodded once and disappeared.
Lucas looked around the side of the wheeler he was behind and saw Chuck lying on his back. Before he called Tom, he had to make sure the other man was still alive. He made his way to the downed man, and when he felt the pulse in his throat, he sighed in relief. Who cared that he had tears streaming down his face. He had to wipe his face several times in order to see to dial.
“Tom!” Lucas screamed into the phone when it was answered on the second ring. “It’s Lucas, someone shot at us, I think Carl got him, he went to check.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No, but Chuck is. The shooter shot out his tire, he went airborne, then he flipped in the air and landed on his back. The ATV landed on top of him.”
“DON’T MOVE HIM!” Tom screamed so loudly that Lucas had to move the phone away from his ear. “Give me the coordinates to where you are, I’ve already issued a chopper for Wyatt, I’ll have them rerouted to you, then send another one for Wyatt.”
