“I want to choke that little shit girl to death,” Kent said. He started to get up from his seat.
“Cool it, Kent,” William said. “We have very strict instructions not to hurt her.”
“Hurt her!” Kent yelled. His voice was incredulous with irony. “Do you see what she did to us!”
“Calm down, Kent.” William said. “Now you know why I preferred doing this without the trucker getting involved. Imagine what it would have been like with him when his old lady was this hard for us.”
“For fuck’s sake you got that right!” Kent said.
“OK. Now we’ve got to followup with the rest of the plan.”
Hugh had done his business, and was outside the front entrance waiting for Jenny. When she hadn’t shown after more than a few minutes, he went inside to look for her. She was probably shopping.
As soon as he entered the store he could see a lot of commotion in the back toward the restrooms. He hurried in that direction. The Women’s door was open, and he could see blood spatters on the sink and walls. A trail of blood led from the bathroom, down the hall and out through the service entrance door.
Hugh had no doubt about what had happened, but he was surprised at how quickly the enemy had managed to put the plan together and pull it off. He had his cell phone in hand, and was getting ready to dial 911 when he heard his ring tone. Jenny’s image popped up on his screen.
“You son-of-a-bitch. If you’ve damaged one hair on her head!” Hugh answered, yelling. The guy had called using Jenny’s phone, but Hugh had correctly guessed it wouldn’t be Jenny on the other end of the phone call.
“Here’s what you’re going to do,” a voice said. “You are not going to call 911. You are not going to try to find us. We have her, and her health and safety are entirely up to you. Got it?”
A cold, hard hatred and resolve overcame Hugh. It was combat time again, and also time to be smart. Top priority was keeping Jenny unharmed.
“What have you done to her? How badly hurt is she?” Hugh heard ironic laughter from the kidnappers’ end of the conversation.
“Don’t worry, she’s completely unhurt,” William said.
“That’s a lot of blood.”
“Not hers.”
That’s my Jenny, Hugh thought. Those self-defense lessons must have paid off.
“Go back to your truck and await further instructions. Continue on to Phoenix tomorrow to make your delivery as if nothing has happened. We’ll be in touch.”
Two thoughts went through Hugh’s mind. One was to thank God they had Jenny’s phone and were likely to keep it with them. Hugh would be able to track where they took Jenny.
The other one was a plan already forming in his mind how to rescue Jenny from her captors … and his idea did not involve calling the cops. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Hugh did go back to his truck, but he had absolutely no intention of going quietly into the night.
His first phone call was to James to tell him about the kidnapping, and to warn him that Charlie might be next. The thugs didn’t know about James, and that Charlie was riding with him. But they did know because of the tracking on Charlie’s phone she was no longer on Hugh’s truck. So, she had to be somewhere, and they could find her.
He suggested they ditch Charlie’s phone where it could be carried off in a different direction from where James was going. That should keep Charlie safe for a while as long as she didn’t return to Boise.
He hung up, and found the name in his contacts he was looking for, and dialed from his phone again.
“Yeah,” was the answer. A gruff, smoke-roughened voice.
“Is this Roc?” Hugh asked.
“Maybe. Who wants to know.”
“You said if Jenny is ever in trouble you’d come. No matter when. No matter where.”
“Did the trucker guy fuck with her?”
“No. I’m the trucker guy. We’re getting married, but she’s in trouble. She needs your help.”
Hugh explained briefly what had happened, and what he was hoping Roc and his motorcycle gang could do about it.
“So, you’ve got tracking on her phone? That’s smart, man.”
“Thanks. Are you in?”
“Of course. Where do you want us, and when?”
“Right now, all I can plan for is to be in Phoenix tomorrow. As soon as I know where they are keeping her you’ll be the first to know.”
Sleep came hard to Hugh that night.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The next morning, even though Hugh had less than a three-hour drive ahead of him, and his delivery wasn’t until later in the afternoon, he had a lot of nervous energy and wanted to get on the road to Phoenix.
Shortly after taking the on-ramp to I-40 east, Hugh’s phone rang. It was Jenny’s image that popped up on the screen.
He answered with his Bluetooth headset, “What?”
“During your deposition, you make up any story you want to about how the accident was your fault. Just make sure it’s persuasive.”
“Or what?”
“Or you’ll never see your little blondie gal again.”
“You’ve signed your own death warrant, pal.”
“A threat from someone with no means to make it happen. I’m so afraid.”
“Be afraid. I’m coming for you.” Hugh hung up.
Hugh took the exit to Highway 93, which would take him south toward Phoenix. At the end of the off-ramp he braked and parked on a wide gravel shoulder.
He figured they had Jenny in Phoenix by now, and the phone call was from where they were holding her. He found the hidden icon for tracking Jenny’s phone.
Zooming in, he was able to locate
