what we’re looking for now. Get the paramedics up here. There’s a guy in the van, breathing but unconscious.”
On the opposite side of the driveway, there were fresh car tracks. Looked as if someone had taken off in a hurry. Rocco circled the area, trying to see if they made a u-turn and headed back toward the town. As far as he could tell, they hadn’t.
He got in his truck and started down the road, heading away from town, then radioed Kit. “The pharmacy delivery van was hijacked. They took Mandy and switched vehicles. Don’t know what they might be driving, but they appear to be headed west. Can’t be more than a couple minutes ahead of me. They have to be taking her to the compound. Where else would they go with her?”
Kit hissed a curse. “No idea. I expect I’ll be hearing from Amir shortly-he never lets any good deed go unnoticed. Will let you know if I find out more.” There was a pause ripe with unspoken words. “Rocco, you okay?”
“No. I’m fucking pissed.”
“We’ll find her. Owen and I are starting back now. We’ll meet-up midway. You got to keep it together, bro.”
“I will, at least until I can start pounding faces.” He signed off and hit the accelerator. The highway headed northwest, deep into the Medicine Bow Mountains. He took the sharp turns as fast as he dared, frustrated that the steep, twisty route kept him from seeing very far down the road. A half hour later, he’d seen no cars driving in either direction, none of the dirt roads that led off the highway onto private property were dusty or looked recently disturbed.
Up ahead was a rustic rest area with a car parked in the lot. He wouldn’t have thought to stop except the car was backed into its parking space, and the man behind the wheel dipped lower in his seat as he spotted Rocco’s truck approach.
Rocco pulled in and stopped his truck right in front of the car. A short, slim man with dark coloring got out and started running. Rocco couldn’t tell if he was Middle Eastern or of some other ethnicity, but it didn’t matter. He ran like a guilty man. Rocco chased him past the facilities and up a steep path that led into the woods. Warning signals were firing in his head. He was either getting Rocco to waste precious time or running him headlong into a trap. He tackled the man before the path took them out of sight of the parking lot.
“Where is she?” Rocco asked. The man beneath him shook his head. Rocco pounded his face into the hard dirt. “Where is Mandy Fielding?” Again no answer.
Rocco wrapped an arm about the man’s throat and pulled tight. “I’m asking one more time, you son of a bitch.” He jerked his hold tighter.
“I don’t know!” the man rasped, his words carried the heavy accent of a native Pashto speaker.
“Then you will die.” Rocco tightened his grip. The man began gasping out a question in Pashto. Rocco eased his hold slightly.
“Are you the Gray Ghost? Are you the one?”
“I am,” Rocco answered in the same language. “You cannot escape me. In this life or the next, I will follow you and get my answer. Where is the woman?”
“I don’t know. I was only supposed to get her to this place. They came and took her.”
“Who?” Rocco asked. “Where did they take her? What are they driving?”
“A green van. They are driving a green van. It is all that I know. I swear!”
Rocco tightened his hold until the man passed out, then he carried him back down to the car. A black SUV pulled into the lot, stopping behind Rocco’s truck. He waited behind the decoy’s car, cautious about the new arrival until Angel jumped out of the passenger seat.
Rocco holstered his Beretta and started for his truck. “Get his ID and the car’s registration,” Rocco ordered Angel. “Call it in to Max. He said they took Mandy in a green van. Get that info to the cops and to Kit. I’m going after the van.”
“And I’m going with you,” Val said. “Toss your keys to Angel and get in. Val had it in gear even before Rocco had shut the door. They drove another few miles down the road, looking off to each side, trying to find a spot where a car might have driven off the road. A car drove by, heading in the opposite direction, a woman at the wheel. A truck passed. It was as if nothing unusual had transpired here at all. No one knew that the woman Rocco loved had been kidnapped, disappearing like smoke in the wind.
He radioed Max in the control room at Mandy’s house. “Give me some good news.”
“The State Police have several road blocks set up between Centennial and Ryan Park. They’re looking for a green van or any vehicle that looks suspicious.”
“If they’ve got the road covered, get me info on any properties that might be abandoned up here. Properties that are far enough off road as to have some privacy. Anything that sold recently and could accommodate several fighters. Something. Anything. I don’t think they are still on the road.”
“On it.”
Max radioed back a few minutes later. “There’s a property on your left less than two miles from your current 20. It was a cabin rental site that has been without an owner for the last three years. I’m sending the map to your phone.”
“Thanks. Get someone to pick up Angel. He’s holding a package for us at a rest stop. Be sure to check out that car before moving it. And keep looking for other sites in case this one doesn’t pan out.”
“Roger that. Kelan is already en route. Keep us posted.”
Rocco’s phone pinged when the message came through. He studied the map a moment, then pointed to an upcoming drive. “There’s another private drive a little farther down the road. Turn there.”
Val pulled off the road. Rocco handed him the map he had open on his phone. “Looks like the cabins are about a mile up the road,” Rocco said. “Let’s go see what we’re dealing with.” They put their phones on vibrate, then jogged as far up the drive as they could go. They moved silently into the woods, creeping up a small rise that overlooked the lodges.
Parked in front of one of the cabins, among several other cars, was a green van. They eased into position. Val settled on his stomach and arranged his rifle. Rocco snapped a picture on his cell phone and sent it to Kit. The vehicles definitely looked parked, not abandoned. As he watched, a man stepped out of one of the cabins, slung an AK-47 over his shoulder, then lit a cigarette. When he walked around the other side of the cabin, Rocco radioed Kit.
“Found the green van. Got a nest of camel spiders up here armed with AKs. Permission to use lethal force.”
“Negative. We’re not giving those bastards any virgins today. We need to question them-there’s a bigger op at play than this one. Any sign of Mandy yet?”
“Negative.”
“The FBI’s coming up from Denver. Got a bomb unit from Carson in the air. Owen and I are on our way. Hold your position until we’re in place.”
“What’s your ETA?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Roger that.” Rocco nodded to Val. They watched the site a few minutes, waiting to catch the rhythm the guard used in his patrol.
“Looks like there’s only the one guard. He makes a simple loop,” Val commented.
“I’m going in closer,” Rocco said. “I want to see where Mandy is.”
He held his position until the patrol strolled by. There were eight cabins in an L-shaped formation. All had a front and back window and door. It was hard to tell from the way the vehicles were parked which cabins might be occupied. Looking in the rear window of the first cabin, Rocco could see the space was configured in an open floor plan. The front door stood open, but no one was inside. He motioned to Val that it was empty.
He walked casually across the alley between it and the next cabin. Looking in the window, he could see the space was empty. The third cabin held five men sitting on the floor. No Mandy. He signaled the count to Val, then moved on to the fourth. The window was broken in the back. It was empty. He kept on until he moved to the next to last cabin around the bend. Three men were inside, but no Mandy.
Where the hell was she? Had the green van not been the one that had taken her? Could she still be in the van? Had they stashed her somewhere?
Rocco checked the last cabin, which was empty. He stepped back into the woods, keeping absolutely still while
