Indispensable Party (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller No. 4) (31 page)

“You have Royerson up there,”
Connelly reminded him.

“Royerson falls to sleep every
night fantasizing about working for someone like me, Leo. I told him to keep it
quiet; there’s no way that kid’s breathing a word to anyone and messing up his
big break. His job is to sit. Nothing else.”

Sasha watched the muscles twitch
in Connelly’s right cheek as he tried to decide what to say.

But she already knew what they
would do—it was what they’d both secretly known they would do all along. She
started down the stairs to the kitchen.

From above, she heard Connelly
say, “You should ask a freelancer to check out the camp.”

She tossed a handful of energy
bars and apples into a sack. She added two sports bottles filled with water and
eyed the coffee maker. Once Connelly hung up, she’d grind beans to make half a
pot for the road.

“You know anybody?” Hank asked,
as Sasha returned to the loft bedroom.

“As it happens, Sasha and I were
planning to take a drive through the countryside tonight. I guess we could stop
and check it out,” Connelly answered.

“That’d be a help,” Hank said,
his casual tone matching Connelly’s.

Sasha tilted her head and tried
to make sense of the words she was hearing. The government didn’t work this way.
It had branches, and agencies, and departments, and divisions, and task forces.
There was a chain of command for everything. Every project has its own little
organizational chart of boxes and lines leading to more boxes. There were no
freelancers.

“We’re leaving now,” Connelly
said.

“I’ll call Royerson and let him
know you’ll be in the area, but you’re not to approach the preppers,
understand? Just keep an eye. Maybe relieve Royerson so he can take a whiz and
get some food. As soon as we’ve secured the target area and apprehended
Bricker, I’ll send a team up to handle the scene. You do not engage. Are we
clear?” Hank said.

“Crystal,” Connelly answered.

Connelly ended the call and
zippered his black, down-filled vest.

“You ready?” he asked as he
started down the stairs and toward the front door.

“I guess so,” Sasha said, casting
a yearning backward glance at the coffee maker.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When they were
about a hundred miles north of the city, the looming oil derricks and scarred
patches of earth began to rise from the snowy hillsides along the highway. The
fracking industry’s relentless march through Pennsylvania had continued
unabated. Just six months earlier, they’d have had to have driven another
forty-five to fifty minutes before seeing the first signs of gas fracking.

            Sasha
checked the time and dialed Anna Bricker’s number for their pre-arranged status
call.

“Hello,” the woman answered in a
whisper that echoed through the Bluetooth connected to the SUV’s radio.

“Anna? Are you with Gavin?” Sasha
asked.

“Yes, but I can’t stay long. It’s
Lydia’s turn to check on him, she’ll be here soon.”

“Has there been any change?”
Connelly said without looking away from the road.

Gavin answered.

“No, Anna says they’re sticking
to their plan to leave after midnight. But …” he trailed off.

“What?” Sasha demanded. Her
stomach clenched and she prepared herself to receive news of another setback.

Beside her Connelly urged the SUV
forward. The constant thrum of roadway passing under the tires grew faster.

“We need to get her kids out of
here,” Gavin said. “The littlest one is only three. If something goes down—”

He didn’t finish the thought; he
didn’t need to.

Sasha’s pulse exploded in her
ear. Beside her, Connelly made a fist with his right hand and pounded the
steering wheel softly.

“Do you have a plan?” she asked.

“Sort of. A half-baked plan, you
might say,” Gavin laughed.

“Care to share it?” Connelly
asked.

“My oldest son has his learner’s
permit, and I know where Jeffrey’s keeping the keys to Gavin’s car. It’s dinner
time now, there’s a lot of people coming and going. I think they can slip away.
I’m not sure how far they’ll get, especially if the roads are icy, but they can’t
stay here,” Anna said in a voice that quavered with unshed tears.

“Why can’t you go with them? Just
leave,” Connelly said.

“I’ve tried to convince her. But
she’s part of their screwy command structure—her absence will be noticed right
away. Without her, the kids have a shot at getting a decent head start before
anyone realizes they’re gone,” Gavin said.

“Can’t you all get out of there?”
Sasha said. “If you’re together, you stand a chance, even if Bricker sends
someone after you.”

“Gavin’s too weak. And, to be
honest, I think if Jeffrey notices the kids are gone, he won’t say anything. He
is
still their father. But, if he learned I’ve betrayed him …” Anna left
the rest unsaid.

“Are there other kids there?”
Sasha asked.

“A few. Three or four—no six, the
twins arrived late last night,” Anna said.

Sasha closed her eyes at that
piece of information and tried to ward off the image of children caught in
cross-fire.

“Anna, listen, there’s a state
trooper watching the entrance. He shouldn’t be too far down the road. Tell the
boy to drive straight for him. We’ll try to get a message to him so he knows
what’s going on. He can get the kids to safety. Meanwhile, we’re on our way.
You two hang tight,” Connelly said.

He checked his mirrors and
accelerated. The speedometer hovered between eighty-five and ninety.

Sasha was grateful that PennDOT’s
road crews had been working around the clock since before the first flakes had
hit the ground, keeping the major arteries salted and cleared.

“Understood. Hey, Sasha?” Gavin
said.

“Yes?”

“I’d love an Americano. With an
extra shot. The coffee here is total crap.”

Despite herself, Sasha smiled.

“You got it.”

Tanner hunched
over the steering wheel and stared unblinkingly down the road at the access drive
leading to the camp. A car was parked in the grass about one-third of the way
up the drive, but he hadn’t seen anyone approach the vehicle. He hadn’t seen
anyone, period.

If he was being honest with
himself, he’d admit he was relieved. He’d left the station riding a wave of
adrenaline that had somehow transformed, first, into nervous excitement and,
finally, a sense of dread that nibbled at his stomach.

As he sat, his patrol unit angled
across the road, and waited, he decided the best outcome would be if he secured
the scene, ensured that no one fled, and handed over control to the feds when
they showed up. Then he could bow out gracefully and return to the safety of
the station having at least gotten his name in front of some federal agents.
That could prove helpful down the line.

He hoped Richardson would send
some reinforcements soon. His back was getting stiff from sitting and he needed
to take a leak. He passed a few moments ignoring his increasing need to relieve
himself but finally surrendered, casting a baleful gaze at the empty Super Big
Gulp in his cup holder. No man could withstand the urgent call of forty ounces
of Mountain Dew needing to exit his body, he reasoned.

He left the ignition running, stepped
out of the Expedition, and trotted over to the nearest tree. As he jiggled
himself dry and zipped up, keeping his eyes trained on the camp down the road
the entire time, bright lights flared on the drive and a car engine roared to
life.

He raced back to the truck, his
shoes sliding on the icy road, and skidded to a stop as he careened off his
open driver’s side door. The car backed down the gravel road while he fumbled
with his cell phone.

“Richardson, it’s Trooper
Royerson, sir. I’m sitting on the location as instructed,” he shouted,
breathless from running, “and a vehicle is leaving the compound.”

“Good,” Richardson answered in a voice
that held no hint of panic or excitement.

“Sir?”

Richardson continued, “I just
received a report that a group of six unarmed minors is attempting to leave the
camp. They’re gonna be scared. And the driver is unlicensed, so he may be
driving erratically. They’ve been told to stop when they see you. Tell them
their mom is going to be okay and then get them the hell out of the area.”

“Roger that. But, sir?”

“What?”

“What about watching the camp?”

“I have a team on its way. You
worry about the kids.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tanner jammed the vehicle into
gear and jerked it to the right side of the road to enable the driver to
maneuver around him. He wanted to give him plenty of room. Although the main
roads were clear, the side roads were still messy. An inexperienced driver and
icy conditions didn’t make for the best combination.

The car fishtailed as it bounced
off the access drive and onto the road. Tanner squinted. He figured the kid had
to drive about a mile and a half.

“C’mon, kid,” he whispered.

He threw the switch to turn on
the light bar on the truck’s roof. Six kids. He was glad he’d signed out the
Expedition instead of taking one of the Crown Vic’s from the pool.

Eight long minutes later, the car
came to a jerky stop in front of him.

He walked over to the vehicle and
shined his flashlight into the car. The boy behind the wheel sat pale-faced and
shaking. Beside him a girl held a squirming toddler in her lap. Three more
tear-streaked faces looked up at him from the backseat.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said
loudly, so they could hear him through the window. He hoped he was right.

When Leo called Anna
to report that her children were enjoying hot chocolate and smiley cookies at
the Eat’n Park in Deerton, she burst into relieved tears.

Gavin patted her arm awkwardly.

“Thank you,” she said, wiping her
eyes. “Thank you for helping me get them out of here.”

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s go see
about getting my gun.”

She’d told him Lydia had
confiscated it from his car, but she’d searched her husband’s office and had
found no sign of it. The only other place it was likely to be, according to
her, was the munitions shed.

If he had a weapon, he figured he
might stand a chance, despite the fact that his leg muscles quivered every time
he stood. He figured the munitions stores would serve his purposes whether he
located his own gun or stole one of theirs.

He pushed himself up off the bed
and coughed.

The room tilted, with the floor
rising to meet the walls at an angle, and he threw out an arm to brace himself
against the log wall. He tried to control his breathing.

Anna examined his face.

“You’re not going anywhere,” she
told him.

He tried to protest, but she gave
him a gentle push and he landed on the bed with a thud.

“I’ll check the shed,” she said.

He struggled to a semi-upright
position.

“Anna?”

She turned back and looked at him
while she zippered her jacket. “Yeah?”

“Bring me a gun. Any gun.”

He fell back against the pillow
and tried to catch his breath.

Anna nodded and pulled the door
open.

Bricker, Rollins, and Lydia stood
just outside the cabin. Rollins and Lydia had their rifles drawn and aimed at
Anna’s gut.

“Going somewhere, honey?” Bricker
said in an unnatural high, strangled voice.

Anna said nothing.

Gavin sat up, ignoring the spinning
room.

Bricker stood just inside the
doorway and smiled at him, wild-eyed.

This is going to end badly
,
Gavin thought. Then he collapsed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He regained
consciousness to find that his hands were cuffed together. He turned his head.
Anna sat on the ground near the bed, her hands also cuffed.

“Where are they?” he said.

She looked up at him, and he
winced.

Her lip was split and swollen.
One eye was also puffy—a faint purple bruise already forming around the socket.

“Jeffrey’s trying us in absentia.
He has my phone, with the log of the calls we made. And he knows we helped the
kids leave. The group is going to vote on the punishment for my treason and
your aggression against the movement, but there’s only one choice,” she said in
a defeated, flat voice.

“What’s the choice?”

“Firing squad.”

Leo and Sasha sat
in the SUV, drinking gas station coffee in silence. They’d taken up the vigil
in the spot that the state trooper had recently vacated, judging by the tire
tracks in the snow.

It was a good location, Leo decided.
Slightly elevated, with a clear sight line to the camp. He was confident they
would see lights or moving vehicles, but they were far enough away to avoid
being discovered by foot patrols on the campgrounds, thanks to the elevation.

When he’d called to tell Anna
that her children were safe, he’d asked her to check in with them in an hour.
They had another twenty minutes to wait.

He glanced over at Sasha. She was
staring intently at the tan swirl patterned on her Styrofoam cup.

“You okay?” he asked.

She flicked her eyes away from
the cup and met his gaze.

“Just thinking?”

“About?”

“About the mess I got Gavin into.
That you lost your job. The end of civilized society. My pregnant
sisters-in-law wandering around a city that’s been targeted for a biochemical
attack.”

“Cheery. You forgot to add that
Celia Gerig is dead,” he said.

He saw the hint of a smile start
to spread across her mouth and leaned over to cover it with a kiss, but she
jolted upright.