“He always was a clever young man,” Dr. Buckner said. “Why was he at the pharmacy?”
Cain went over what he could remember of the items stolen. “Based on that and the fact that it looks like one of the killers was shot at the original murder scene, I suspect Buck was abducted to deal with the injured man. The pharmacy stop was to get the tools he needed.”
“My God,” Buckner said. A sob escaped his throat. “Do you think Buck’s still alive?”
“We don’t know,” Harper said. “But probably. If we’re correct on all this, he’s an asset. They need him and his skills. That’s why they took him.”
Silence followed as Dr. Buckner seemed to process that. Apparently he came to the same conclusion Cain and Harper had. “Unless the injured man dies.”
“Let’s assume he doesn’t, or didn’t, and go with him surviving and Buck still having value.”
“But once he doesn’t?” Buckner asked. “Doesn’t have value?”
“We’ll get to that if we need to,” Harper said. “Right now we’re tracking the drug connection. The police are looking for the vehicle.”
“As well as the location where the work could be done,” Cain added. “A house or a cabin. Some place off the beaten path.”
“Does that mean you think they’re still in the area?”
“We do,” Cain said. “The guy who caught the gunshot was injured to such a degree that they took a series of very bold moves. Grabbing Buck. Robbing a pharmacy. That indicates a level of panic. So, I suspect the wound is serious enough that a long trek isn’t in the cards.”
“Which means he might not make it and that would put Buck in great danger.”
“It would. Let’s hope Buck can save him.”
Buckner sighed. “He’s good at what he does. He has two years of surgical training so he’s seen his share of gunshots.”
“That’s good,” Harper said.
“That’s also in a hospital. In some cabin, or wherever, changes things.” He sighed. “I wouldn’t want to have to do it.”
“Hopefully in this situation, Buck’s training will make the difference.”
“The irony is that he should be here,” Buckner said. “Part of the practice and not galivanting all over chasing some…I don’t know what he’s chasing.” Another sigh. “We all come to forks in the road, to crossroads, and we all make choices and have to live with the consequences.”
Cain ended the call saying they needed to get moving but that they would call again as soon as they knew more. He cranked The Rig to life and hit the road.
He thought about what Buckner had said. About choices and crossroads. About irony. To Cain, the irony here was that they were in a town called Tanner’s Crossroads and were dealing with the aftermath of Buck Buckner’s crossroad decision. It was true that had he made a different choice, remained on the path his father, and probably his siblings, wanted, he would be safe. In North Carolina. Not in the hands of guys who seemed to have little compunction about killing.
He flashed on one of the many times Uncle Al had talked about crossroads and choices. Uncle Al and Aunt Dixie had been his and Harper’s de facto parents while they roamed the south, putting on shows, hunting and fishing, pulling scams, stealing, whatever was needed to survive. Even though they, and the other kids in the troop, were raised by the entire family, each of the children were taken in by one of the couples who served as their primary guardians. It wasn’t a hard and fast, surely not a written, rule, but it worked out that way. He and Harper got lucky. Al and Dixie were good people. It was them, particularly Dixie, who had taught Cain about knives and how to throw them, and created Bobby Blade, Cain’s role in the family shows. Actually, the centerpiece of the money-making events.
Al liked his rum, and many evenings after a few nips, while they gathered near a campfire, he would wax philosophical. His topics were wide-ranging but Cain and Harper learned from each.
The ironic point being that Al loved towns called crossroads. Crossroads anything. Like McCullers Crossroads in North Carolina and Owens Cross Roads in North Alabama. They had camped near each more than once.
Uncle Al’s take was that crossroads offered options. Forward, right, left, reverse. Each choice possible, each leading to a different outcome. Sometimes the choice was yours, other times events dictated which route you followed. In either case, according to Uncle Al, life changed.
It surely had for Buck Buckner. Big time.
It had for Cain, too.
What if the family hadn’t been fractured by the FBI when he was twelve? What if he had been adopted by someone other than the Cains? Or by no one? What if he hadn’t stumbled into the military? Hadn’t pulled the SERES training stunt that led him to Langley, and beyond?
The permutations were endless. Which is why he rarely dwelled on them, preferring to focus only on the path ahead.
He suspected that the younger Dr. Buckner, if he was still alive, felt the same about now. Not playing the endless ‘what-if?’ game, but rather desperately seeking an escape route. Leaving behind his wallet had been ingenious, but now he was engulfed in a criminal world where he had no experience. It didn’t bode well.
CHAPTER 29
Cassie sat behind the wheel of her Jeep, while Hack scurried through the drizzle and into Spivey’s Coffee Shop. She mentally sorted through the possible scenarios again. The only one that made sense and made all the pieces fit, was exactly what Bobby Cain had said. Bad guys come to town and take out Tommy Finley and his family. Probably a drug war or perhaps a message. The hit doesn’t go as planned and one of the bad guys takes a slug. Panic sets in so they grab the good Dr. Buck from the ER and then rob and kill
