Entrance to Nowhere Page 13

  “Settle down,” Griz said.

  “You settle down, mister. I want information, and I want it now!”

  “Take a deep breath and listen to Pete, or we may have to take a long walk in the woods. One of us might not return.”

  My aunt gave Griz a look that I hope to never see again.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Pete stood and walked across the room and back again. “We were able to get in and talk to Trap. He told us what’s going on and asked us to leave him alone. His plan is to misdirect the hackers.”

  “So they are hackers,” I said.

  “Yes. Scott stayed behind to keep an eye on things. If it looks like Trap is in trouble, he’ll whip him out of there so fast it’ll make their heads spin. We didn’t want to leave him there, but he wouldn’t budge. He says he’s a patriot and he’s doing his duty.”

  “So what’s their plan?” I asked, calming down, if only a little.

  “They’re domestic terrorists and they’re going to threaten to take down the electrical grid, nationwide. If you can believe this, they’re going to ask for ransom. They want funds to further their cause, but we didn’t find out what that is.

  “There are four men at the strip mall, but there are more at a camp waiting for instructions. Oh, and we were right. There are a couple of ex-military people helping them.”

  My aunt’s eyes were wide and fearful. “They want to take down the electrical grid. Oh, no. I should have done a lot more prepping.”

  Griz laughed. “They’re going to threaten to take it down. Besides, if this were to happen, it would be while you’re here. I guess you’d just have to share Andrew’s and my supplies, but we’re going to make sure it doesn’t come to pass.”

  She reached over and squeezed his hand. “I knew you were a good man all along.”

  “What’re we going to do?” I asked. “We’re not in a position to stop terrorists. We need to call in Homeland Security or someone like that.”

  “She’s probably right,” Layne said.

  Griz waved him off. “Here’s the problem. They’re closer to success than Trap expected. That’s why he wants to misdirect them. He said it’ll only take one little nudge in the wrong direction to stop them, at least temporarily, and they probably won’t be able to figure out the problem.”

  “But then they’ll hurt Andrew, right?” My aunt was fidgeting, picking up the tea cup and setting it back down before grabbing a cookie and munching on it. “I need some chocolate. Now!”

  “So do I, but hold off for a little bit,” I said.

  “Trap is going to give them that little nudge I mentioned, and while they’re trying to figure out if their plan is working or not, we’ll get him out of there. This isn’t something that’s going to happen in the next ten minutes. It’ll take a couple of days at the very least.” Pete looked hopeful. “I’m glad Scott stayed there. He knows what to do.”

  I thought things over for a minute. “So the military types aren’t at the mall?”

  “No. They’re out in the boonies somewhere, directing things from a distance. The men at the mall are the computer geeks; men we can handle on our own.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Layne said.

  “Aunt Martha and I would feel a lot better if you could bring Andrew home. I just don’t have a good feeling about this. Too many things could go wrong.”

  My aunt nodded vehemently. “We need to bring him home.”

  “We can’t force him,” Griz said, “and he’s a stubborn man. He feels he’s doing the right thing. Honestly? He probably is.”

  Pete had an odd look on his face. “Uh, Griz and I are going back to help watch out for him. Scott can’t do it alone.”

  Ah. His expression meant he wasn’t certain how I’d feel about their plan.

  “Shouldn’t I go with you?” I asked.

  “No. I want you and your aunt to stay here. We’re more likely to be seen if there are too many of us.”

  “But we can help.” My aunt was gritting her teeth, not a good sign.

  Griz took hold of her hand. “Stop gritting your teeth. It’s not attractive. Besides, I don’t want anything to happen to you should things flip sideways.”

  She pursed her lips.

  “That’s not attractive, either. Just settle down and let it go. You’ve got to stay here.”

  Layne had been staying in the background, taking everything in. “What about me?”

  “Your choice,” Pete said. “You can come with us if you stay out of the way, or you can stay here.”

  Without hesitation, he said, “I’ll come with you.”

  He surprised me.

  Bubba lifted his head and he was taking in the tones of voices around him. He stood and walked to Pete’s side with Clem following.

  My husband glanced down at him. “Besides, we can’t take the dogs with us and someone has to take care of them. We don’t know how long we’ll be gone.”

  “Sure. We’ll stay here and take care of them like good little girls.” I was not happy, and that’s putting it mildly.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie, but this is just the way things are working out.”

  “At the very least, leave us directions to this strip mall. If anything were to go wrong, I want to know where you are and how to get there.”

  “I can do that. And I’ll leave you the Jeep. We’ll take the motorhome.”

  “Oh, they’ll never see you in the motorhome.” My aunt’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on anyone. “Can I at least pack you some sandwiches? You know you’ll need sustenance at some point.”

  Griz stood, ready to leave. “The motorhome is packed with food, but thanks. We’ll be parking it a distance away and we’ll walk in.”

  Pete gave me directions before he and Griz left, with Layne bringing up the rear.

  Bubba seemed to recognize that something wasn’t right. When they left, he went to the door and whined. Bubba isn’t a whiner, and his reaction set my nerves on edge.

  “How long are we supposed to wait?” Aunt Martha was anxious, too.

  “Pete said he’d call and keep me updated. In the meantime, let’s go down to the security room and keep an eye on things. If the geeks find some reason to come back, we won’t be sitting ducks.”

  “Good idea. It’ll keep our minds occupied.”

  I called to the dogs and they followed us downstairs. Bubba seemed antsy and paced the room. He climbed the stairs and whined again, but soon returned and continued pacing. Clementine picked up on his mood and she began to shake, as the Chihuahua part of her was inclined to do.

  Scott had shown me how to control the screens in the security room so we could see what we wanted to see. After half an hour, we were bored.

  “Why don’t we take another walk?” My aunt was fidgeting, shaking her right leg.

  “Why? So you can serenade Bubba again?”

  “Don’t get smart with me, missy. My nerves are frayed and my mood isn’t the best.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m feeling the same way. Maybe a walk would do us both some good.”

  I found Bubba and Clem asleep in the living area of the Safe Room. They’d finally settled down, although there was a lot of twitching going on.

  “We’ll leave the dogs here. No sense in disturbing them.” In all honestly, I’d feel safer with my big brute by my side, but if I woke him, he’d start fussing again. It was so unlike Bubba to act this way.

  “Let’s go through the tunnel and walk out back this time,” I suggested. “We’ll grab some chocolate and a couple of flashlights on our way out.”

  “Sounds like a plan, San.”

  I assumed my aunt was trying to be cool with her little rhyme. She was taking some getting used to, but I was finding I liked her. There were similarities between her and my mother, but not all that many.

  She grabbed a couple of bottled waters from the fridge and joined me in the tunnel, where we chose a few chocolate bars before making our way outside.

  “How many
times have you craved vegetables compared to the number of times you’ve craved chocolate?” she asked.

  “I hate to admit it, but not very many. I told you about me and Pete being stranded in a ghost town. Well, I ran out of chocolate. Things could have gotten ugly pretty fast, but Pete took care of things.”

  “How’d he do that?”

  “He found one last candy bar in the car.” I laughed. “I’m surprised he didn’t throw it at me and run away. Things were kind of dicey.”

  “You and Pete seem happy together. You fuss a little though.”

  I smiled at her. “That’s normal. No one gets along a hundred percent of the time.”

  “My sister is happy, too. It seems like she and Frank are good for each other.”

  “They are,” I said, thinking about my mother. “She has her hormonal issues, but he understands and accepts her the way she is.”

  We found a couple of real boulders, not the fake ones, and sat down, turning off the flashlights.

  “Is Pete like that? I mean, does he accept you the way you are?”

  “I’m not sure how I am but, yes, he puts up with me and all my little idiosyncrasies.”

  I thought I understood where this was going.

  “Griz seems to think you’re cute, even when you’re sarcastic. But remember, you just met him.”

  “Oh, I know.”

  I couldn’t see her face, but I had a feeling she was smiling.

  My cell phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket.

  “Sandi,” Pete said, “things are quiet here. I thought you’d want to know.”

  “I’m glad you called, sweetie. My aunt and I were just talking about you.”

  “Oh? And what was she saying?”

  “She – “

  “Wait,” he whispered. “Something’s going on. I’ll call you back.”

  And he hung up.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  I held out my phone and would have stared at it, but it was too dark. What was going on? How could Pete leave me hanging like that?

  “What was that all about?” Aunt Martha asked.

  “I don’t know. He had to hang up suddenly. He said something was going on.”

  “Then we need to get to the Jeep and drive to wherever they are.” My aunt stood and turned on her flashlight.

  “No. Turn off your flashlight and sit down.”

  “What? Who do you think you are to order me around? This might be an emergency.”

  “It could be, but we’ll give it a little time. I trust Pete. If he told me to get in the car and drive to the mall, I would. But he didn’t. We need to be patient.”

  “Patient? Me? Patience is not my middle name. Let’s go!”

  “That’s because you’ve always had things your own way. You’ve always made your own decisions. Now sit down and be quiet. Let me think.”

  Her flashlight went off and darkness surrounded us. She grunted, probably from trying to make a point of sitting down with a vengeance. Not a good thing when you’re sitting on a rock.

  I glanced around. It was so dark. There weren’t any nearby city lights to lighten the sky. No moon. No nothing. It was too quiet.

  I started to hum.

  “What’re you doing?” my aunt asked.

  “I don’t sing any better than you do, so I’m humming in the dark. I’m nervous. I’ve got to make some decisions and I’m not sure what to do.”

  All of a sudden Aunt Martha started singing When the Saints Go Marching In again, at the top of her lungs.

  Within moments Bubba started howling from behind us. I really needed to figure out how he was getting out of the Safe Room.

  Clementine joined in with her puny howl, which only made my aunt sing louder.

  This time I didn’t laugh. “How can I think with all this noise?” I yelled.

  Aunt Martha’s voice trailed off into nothingness.

  Bubba and Clem apparently decided not to push their luck and they quieted down, too.

  That’s when we heard the sound of an ATV.

  “Do you hear that?” my aunt asked.

  “Shhh. And don’t sing again. Let’s get back into the Safe Room and see who’s here.”

  She picked up Clem and I called softly to Bubba to come. We risked turning on our flashlights because the sound was coming from a distance, and hurried back to the tunnel.

  Once we were through the tunnel, we made our way to the security room. I made the dogs come with us so I could keep an eye on them.

  “We should have just stayed in here,” I said.

  “Probably, but we would have missed the pleasant evening, even if it is too dark.” My aunt sat down in front of the screens. “Show me how to do this.”

  “Later. Right now we need to know who’s coming.”

  We saw an ATV heading for the front of the house.

  “What nerve!” Aunt Martha said. “He knows we’re here and he’s coming back anyway.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t know we’re here. Maybe he thinks we were in the motorhome, too. Let’s watch and see what he’s up to.”

  This time the intruder wasn’t wearing a mask, and he was alone. He had to be feeling pretty confident if he wasn’t covering his face. He reached the front door and held up a remote, opening the door.

  I switched to the inside cameras.

  He headed straight for the office and started a search. They already had the flash drive, so what was he looking for?

  “Maybe they think they missed something,” I said more to myself than to my aunt.

  “Of course. That’s it. Maybe Andrew tricked them into thinking there was more here. That’s what I would have done. You know, to slow them down.”

  “You could be right.”

  We watched as he opened and closed desk drawers and thumbed through books. He was intent on what he was doing, which gave me an idea.

  Along with everything else Trap had stored in the tunnel were unloaded guns. I knew they were unloaded because I’d checked.

  “Aunt Martha, I want you to go out to the tunnel and bring me a couple of guns.”

  “Gats? You want gats?” There seemed to be a touch of shock in her voice, and with the use of the word gat, I assumed she probably watched vintage movies, like me.

  “They’re unloaded, and go get them now. Hurry.”

  She looked at me like I was nuts, but ran out of the room and returned moments later with a .44 Magnum and a shotgun.

  I rolled my eyes. “You couldn’t have found something smaller?”

  “I thought these looked scary.”

  “They’ll have to do. Okay, here’s the plan. He doesn’t know we’re here so we’ll take him by surprise. This one’s not getting away.”

  I explained the rest of my plan to her and called to Bubba.

  “You’re taking the big brute with us?”

  “Yes. The more the merrier, right?” Two big guns and a large dog should be able to terrify this guy. I hoped Bubba would sit down right in front of him and grin.

  “Remember what I told you to do if he gets the best of us,” I said.

  “You’re sure it will work?”

  “I hope so.”

  We climbed the stairs and I opened the door with the remote.

  Whoosh.

  I told Bubba, in hushed tones, to sit and stay. I’d call him if I needed him. Clementine looked at him before turning to me. She sat next to him, thankfully, and didn’t move.

  My aunt and I were very quiet as we made our way to the office. I peeked around the doorway and saw the man had his back to us. He was pulling books off a shelf and checking behind them.

  Before I could blink, Aunt Martha stepped into the room with the rifle pointed at his back. “Stuck ‘em up, pal.” Her voice shook a little, but I was pretty sure when he turned around and saw the gun he wouldn’t notice.

  He turned, slowly, and grinned. Did he think this was a game? He was facing an older woman bearing a weapon.

  The first thing I noticed wa
s that he was very young, maybe in his early twenties. The second thing I noticed was that he held a gun, too. Was it my imagination or was he shaking?

  I stepped into the room. “Plan B, Aunt Martha.” I spoke softly.

  “Sandra, I told you we shouldn’t come in here like storm troopers,” she snapped at me. “What’s the matter with you? Don’t you have any common sense? This man has a gun and he probably knows how to use it.” Yes, she sounded angry, but I knew better.

  It was part of our plan.

  “Me? You’re the one who wanted to bring guns. Who do you think you are? Clint Eastwood?” I took a step toward her and she backed up a step.

  “I told your mother you’d never amount to anything. Look at you! I was right. You don’t have a lick of common sense.”

  “Don’t you talk to me about common sense, you old bat.”

  I took another step toward her and she backed up again, moving closer to the kid with the gun.

  “Old bat? I’ll old bat you, you little tart.”

  It was time. I took one more step toward her and yelled. “Bubba, come take care of this old woman.”

  The intruder looked confused. He glanced at me and then at my aunt, which made him miss Bubba’s big entrance. Before he knew what was happening, Bubba sat directly in front of him, grinning that toothy grin of his. My big mutt knew to approach the stranger, not his loved ones.

  Plan B had been to distract the intruder by arguing, something we seemed to do well, and it had worked.

  I turned to the man, or boy, or whatever he was. “Don’t make a move. One word from me and Bubba will take off your arm.”

  He glanced down at the dog and seemed to think Bubba was snarling at him which is what most strangers thought when they saw him smile. I’d been right. The kid was shaking, and it became more pronounced.

  I aimed my harmless, unloaded Magnum at his chest, and he lowered his arm.

  “Put the gun on the desk, young man. And I won’t tell you twice!” My aunt was feeling all powerful for the moment. I had a feeling that her tone was the same one she’d used in the classroom before she retired.

  He slowly reached over and set the gun on the corner of the desk. “Who are you people?”

  “Your worst nightmare,” I said, repeating something that had come in handy on other cases. “We know what you’re up to and you’re not going to get away with it.”