Town of Chance: Fight for Freedom (The Dare 6)

“You. You can’t do this. I have rights,” Mickie said in between gasping for breath.

“You’ll go to jail for this. Mark my words,” he cried out, and Sam struck him again and then lifted him up and pressed him down on the table on his back. He was on his face. The sound of the chair scraping across the floor then falling was the last sound before silence. Sam felt the side of him he didn’t like showing surface. A monster had Shelby and this dick knew where. He held him by the throat and got down next to his face.

“You think I give a fuck about jail? You think I’m scared of jail or scared of a lying dirty piece of crap like you? Think again. I’ve been in places, held prisoner by sick, masochistic killers that would make a sissy like you piss your pants. I’ve killed more men with my bare hands than you’ve destroyed lives with the shake of your pen. I’ll think nothing of starting to break your bones one at a time until you give me what I want and tell me where Blade has Shelby. You wan

t to find out if I’m lying? Challenge me,” he said so fiercely with his heart racing and such anger and fear. He hoped this man said the right thing or Hunter would have to stop him from breaking Mickie’s neck.

“In a cabin in the woods about fifteen miles from West Point. It’s secluded but there’s a dirt road leading up to it. He has surveillance and traps set up to notify him when someone is coming.”

“An exact location, Mickie,” the federal agent, Lewis, demanded to know. Sam hid his chuckle. Seemed the feds liked his way of interrogating this asshole, or maybe he feared Sam was capable of way more than most men.

“I don’t know. I swear I don’t know.”

* * * *

Blade was coming out of the building. It was late and would be dark soon and he couldn’t wait to get back to Shelby. He was gone a little longer than normal. He got a bit spooked when he saw the unmarked cruiser outside of the bar, and then Penny, the guy he did some loan-sharking for, seemed a little nervous. He hoped the guy hadn’t given any information up on him to the cops or the feds. Mickie said he was out and didn’t want anything to do with the situation. That was fine with Blade. If Mickie showed up, he would have killed him and buried his ass in the woods. He got into the SUV and headed onto the side street. That was when he noticed the other vehicle.

He wasn’t stupid. They’d found him, and now he would have to do some serious driving and outmaneuvering to get them off his ass. He thought about Shelby and that sexy body of hers. He figured just a few more days and she would be so long gone she wouldn’t say her boyfriends’ names anymore and would start saying his. Last night he almost had her. At least he thought he did. He slammed his hand down on the steering wheel. He broke her fucking arm. Now she wouldn’t be perfect. He had to set it somehow. He brought some stuff that could work, but eventually he would have to get her to a doctor to fix it. He couldn’t have her looking imperfect. The lights flashed on, snapping him from his plan-making and he swerved the wheel to the right and then jerked to the left. The sirens blared and he knew they had him. But he wasn’t going out without a fight. He wanted to get to Shelby. He never should have come here to get the money owed to him. He should have stuck to the plan. But he was angry. She made him so angry when she moaned her boyfriend’s name. He jerked the wheel and nearly missed hitting a car. The car he hit went into the other police cruiser but two more were right on his tail.

He pulled between the cars and then went onto the ramp for the bridge. He accelerated and saw the traffic in front of him and took the shoulder. As he came to the exit for the parkway, he slammed against two more cars and the police continued to follow. It was a high-speed chase and as he rounded the corner he miraculously didn’t flip the SUV. He accelerated again and saw a clean dark path in front of him and the police cars slow down behind him. He never expected the nail strip set out by troopers on the side of the road. All four tires blew out. He continued to ride on the rims until the SUV stopped and he jumped from the car. He hadn’t even grabbed a gun. He was desperate to get to Shelby. Desperate to have her once and for all. Then the shots rang out and he felt the hit to his legs. He tumbled to the ground and they were all on him like white on rice.

“Freeze, asshole. It’s over,” the trooper said and he closed his eyes and thought of Shelby. She would die there all alone. He wouldn’t tell them where she was. That was her punishment for not accepting him as her man. They would be the cause of her death. Not him.

* * * *

They were all pacing outside of the hospital room. The feds, Hunter, and Sam couldn’t get shit from Blade. He laughed at Sam, Kenneth, and Bender, and told them that they were the reason why Shelby would die alone. He told them what he did to her, and how he drugged her every day and that she wouldn’t ever be the same again.

“We cannot sit here while she is in the woods somewhere dying,” Bender said aloud.

“We have the state police looking for locations and flying in helicopters, but it’s dark out. They’ll have to wait until morning,” Federal Agent Lewis said to them.

“We can’t wait until morning. She could be dead by then,” Kenneth said to them.

Sam looked at Lewis. “The government can’t get any search and rescue teams up in those woods faster than tomorrow morning?”

“They’re working on it now, but it’s going to take some time. We also need trackers and people who know the woods. We don’t even have an exact location so it makes it hard to know where the hell to start,” Lewis told them.

Mickie said it was about fifteen minutes outside of West Point, right?” Sam said to him. He nodded.

Sam pulled out his cell phone and walked to the side. “Ghost, it’s Sam. I’ve got a favor to ask. I’m cashing in,” he said and then looked at his brothers who hadn’t a clue as to what he was doing. Being a soldier, helping out other soldiers over the years and even some big shots, was going to pay off right now. He explained the situation and then disconnected the call.

“What was that all about?” Kenneth asked him. He looked at his brothers then at Tazer and their friends who all gathered around. “We’re going hunting, and I’ve got the best of the best who are familiar with that area helping us out.”

“Who the hell would that be?” Max asked him.

“Some friends from the West Point military academy. We’re going in military style, and we’re going to find Shelby and bring her home. Let’s go.”

* * * *

It was five a.m. and the sun was beginning to rise, giving them a clearer view of the last area they had to search on foot. It was thick with large, high trees and brush. A normal chopper would have missed the spot, but not the military chopper and the help of Sam’s friends.

“This has to be it. It has to be,” Kenneth said. He was breathing heavy, exhausted just like Sam and Bender were. Everyone was tired. They went from place to place as the chopper found small hidden cabins in the large wooded areas along the Hudson Valley. It truly was like finding a needle in a haystack. But as they came up upon the hill they saw the cabin.

“It has to be it, Sam. It has to be because we’ve run out of places the chopper found,” his friend said and they approached with caution. Thank God for his military friends, as they located some traps along the way. Nasty stuff that would kill anyone trying to get up there. When they finally got the all clear and they entered the cabin, guns drawn, it was empty.

Sam’s heart sunk and Bender cursed. “Fuck. She isn’t here. Fuck,” he yelled out.

They all heard a moan, and Kenneth and Sam ran toward the bed. There she was in a ball on the floor, battered, bruised, thin, and sickly looking. Sam’s eyes welled up with tears as he and Kenneth gently rolled her onto her back. She was barely dressed and he thought the worse and then Kenneth saw her arm.