Page 83 of Chasing Justice
Could he be the informant for the Rays? Maybe. I saw Carson send a text when we were finishing our surveillance and then Josh received a text. And when I called the other night, he didn’t answer. Where was he?Maya would find him and have a heart-to-heart with him, otherwise known as an interrogation, in her mind.
Putting the profile jacket back, she saw another folder in her grandfather’s filing cabinet with the nameRoberta Lindtyped at the top.Maya opened the folder and saw that Pops had been given information about Bobbi being undercover. He would have had to keep it quiet from just about everyone. It was probably just out of courtesy that the DEA let him know Bobbi was in the area.
Maya quickly flipped through the file and saw a picture of the blonde Russian, Svetlana Egorov, from the traffic stop. Based on the information, she had strong ties to the Russian mob. Josh had mentioned he helped with a Russian mob drug case in Chicago. He also wasn’t a rookie, and the mistake he made backing her up really could have been to hide evidence.Maybe Josh really is the informant.
As she slipped out the door and started back toward the front office, theories swirled in her head as she worked to put together all the pieces. A radio call from dispatch snapped her out of her thoughts.
“All available units to the Ray Ranch. The reporting party believes they saw the sheriff.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Wayne was stuck in the truck while Jenna stood outside talking on the phone. He had no idea who she had called, but he had a bad feeling. She had handcuffed him, arms behind his back and locked the vehicle. There wasn’t an easy way out. He had to think, but his thoughts were foggy. Probably from all the drugs she’d given him.
Hanging up, Jenna came back to the truck and climbed in. She had a wild look in her eyes. They were bloodshot and her hands were shaking. Whatever she was high on, it was coursing through her veins at full strength now. Hard to reason with someone who was doing who knows what, but Wayne was up for giving it a shot.
“You know, it’s still not too late. Let me go and I’ll never say anything to anyone that you were the one who took me. Just help me nail your father for the crimes he’s committed.”
Jenna barked a sharp laugh. “Yeah, right. You can feed me all the bullshit you want, but in the end you’re no different than anyone else. My father would kill me, and you’ll arrest me the first chance you get.”
“Okay then, so what’s your plan?”
Jenna put the truck in gear. “To use you as a decoy so I can get the hell out of this godforsaken place. Then I have plans to go back to college, far away from here.”
“There’ll be a warrant out for you. You’ll be running and hiding rather than attending school. You’ll never be free. Help me out and I’ll get you a deal. I’ll talk to the DA.”
“See? You’re already changing your deal. Just a minute ago you said you’d never say anything. Now it’s a deal. Screw that. I’ll figure things out. Quit worrying about that, and quit talking. You’re giving me a headache.”
The truck bounced around on the back-mountain road. Wayne fought to ignore his aching head and concentrate on where they were going. He thought they were headed west. That would take them to Ray Ranch, which didn’t make him feel any better.
Some thunderheads were building and moving in over the mountains. The clouds billowed and grew taller, twisting and spiraling up. There would be some good storms this afternoon and evening.
Jenna made a turn, and Wayne recognized the back of the Ray Ranch.
“Why are you taking me here?” he asked, trying one last attempt to get her to talk. “What’s your plan? Maybe I can help you come up with a better one.”
“I said shut up,” Jenna said. Her knuckles were white from clutching the steering wheel so hard.
As they approached the ranch, a loud clap of thunder echoed through the valley. The storm was moving over the mountains and gaining strength. A bolt of lightning shot out of the sky. Wayne startled and Jenna laughed.
“Little jumpy?” she asked.
He shrugged. Even if he managed to get away from Jenna at this moment, he would have a hard time getting away from the Ray Ranch. The ranch sat down in a valley trapped on all sides by steep mountainsides. There were only two roads in and out as far as Wayne knew. The only other way out was either on foot or by horseback.
She parked the truck and opened the door for him. He stepped out, taking mental notes about the location of buildings so he could remember the layout. That would be important to know just in case he had a good chance to escape.
Jenna pushed Wayne ahead of her and they marched into the outbuilding that had been turned into some sort of compound. They passed a room that was so full of guns a small military could work from there. He saw enough ammunition to last for years. But for what? Just drug running? Or was Carson dealing weapons too?
She forced him into a room that was not much bigger than a large walk-in closet. There was a metal chair in the middle. He tried to fight back, but several days without food and little water had taken its toll on his body, and Jenna easily shoved him back into the chair. She removed the handcuffs and secured his hands behind his back with several strands of baling twine she’d taken from the barn. Then she tied his legs together. The thin strands of rope cut into Wayne’s ankles and wrists.
“Glad you have enough spunk in you to try to escape,” Jenna said, pulling the twine tight. “But you need to stay here. I wish you luck, Sheriff. I’m outta here. And by the way, your final experience here should be explosive.”
Wayne didn’t answer. He was done talking to Jenna. Negotiations with her at this point were futile. He would wait for her to leave and then work on escaping.
Jenna went over to a gun safe in the corner. She grabbed a large key ring hanging on the side.
When Jenna opened the door, Wayne saw stacks of cash and several handguns. There was enough money to feed and arm a small military for quite a while. And Wayne was certain that was probably what Carson Ray had in mind. Out in the boonies, if you had enough men and weapons you could almost certainly outdo any local police force. Any type of SWAT response would take forever to arrive. Probably forty-five minutes to an hour since the closest SWAT team was in Fort Collins. With the weapons the Rays had, any conflict would be long over before SWAT even showed up. Wayne had no doubt that Carson had thought that through.
Jenna pulled out several stacks of cash, putting them in a duffel bag. Smart. She could get quite a distance and start over with that amount of money, buying things like new IDs and passports.
