“Bill and David had a history,” Tami said, taking over the story. “Back in middle school, they got to know each other because of David’s drug use.”
“Since then, I’ve steered clear of drugs,” I said.
“Except for when you took ecstasy,” Paul shared.
Now I was pissed at Paul. I glared at him while I tried to refocus my anger on where it needed to be now, on Bill. Still, something had to be said.
“Dude, you work for Fritz, and he works for me. You seriously need to control your mouth, or there’ll be consequences. You also seem to forget I was dosed without my knowledge.”
Paul looked like a kicked puppy.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
Kicked puppy or no, I needed to refocus.
“Back to the story. Bill and I have gone at it three times. The first was at the local swimming pool, where my dad had asked me to help him out. I asked Bill and his friends to leave when they decided to harass people. None of the other staff was willing to say anything, so I stepped up and tried to reason with him. His response was to punch me in the stomach. Thankfully, he decided to leave after that.
“The first I learned of his interest in Tracy was after football practice one day. I’d injured my neck and could barely walk. Bill drove up in his vintage Corvette to lay claim to Tracy. Since I wasn’t able to fight, I cheated: I kicked Bill in the balls. Lucky for me, the football team showed up and made it clear they wouldn’t tolerate Bill pounding on me,” I said.
“Good for you,” Cassidy said. “It’s too bad you don’t have that killer instinct still.”
I ignored her shot that I didn’t always finish a fight like she wanted me to.
“The last time we got into it, Bill was in the process of strangling Tracy. We faced off in a brutal fight, the results of which sent us both to the hospital and Bill back to juvie, where I’d hoped he would remain. Obviously, he’s been released. I’m worried about what he’ll do to Tracy if he finds her. He is capable of finishing what he started.
“So, what’s the plan?” I asked.
“We’ll use the GoFindMe app to get close to where Tracy is and launch the drones so we can see what we’re facing. Then I’ll go get her,” Paul said.
“Hopefully, the police will be there soon and scare them off,” Cassidy added.
Tami began to crawl over the front seat.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I need to check the medical supplies so I know what’s on hand.”
Tami climbed into the back and opened the medical bag she’d given me. When I gave up my Dodge Charger, I’d moved the kit to this car. When she’d given it to me, I’d guessed that most EMTs didn’t carry that much gear. Tami had her own little trauma center packed in there.
“I found some empty condom boxes; apparently, you used them all,” Tami commented.
“Better than the alternative,” I shot back.
Cassidy snorted.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“She just sees the humor in you lecturing us about unprotected sex,” Tami said.
I flipped them both off. That was a guy’s go-to move when he didn’t have a good comeback.
Paul had pulled onto the road that fronted the lake house. Cassidy had the app up, showing Tracy north of the house. I tried to recall that area. Duke and I had taken a nature walk through that part of the woods, and I remembered it actually being an excellent place to hide. The trees and underbrush were dense enough that if you got off the trail only a few feet, you would easily find a good hiding spot.
We pulled to a stop next to the woods where we thought Tracy was. We didn’t want to pull into the driveway and alert Bill that we’d arrived. From the house, you couldn’t see the road. I knew because the first time I’d been here, I’d missed the driveway.
Cassidy released the drones, sending them first to the house and then working them back to where Tracy was hiding. Parked out front were a Jeep and Bill’s Corvette. The drone spotted one of the men and instantly identified him as a hostile. He had a Glock in his right hand as he scanned the woods. This had just become deadly serious. Bill had graduated from being a bully to a full-on criminal.
The man looked to be in his thirties. He was the kind of guy that if you saw him walking down the street, the hairs on the back of your neck would go up. He looked like he might stick a knife in your back if he got the chance. If this was who Bill brought with him, Tracy was in more danger than I first thought.
The trees had begun to leaf out, so the forest floor was effectively hidden from above. Cassidy turned on the infrared camera setting, and we quickly figured out where everyone was. Tracy was closer to the lake, while Bill and his other accomplice had spread out closer to the road as they searched for her.
I began to take off my baseball uniform.
“What are you doing?” Paul asked.
“If I have to go get her, I’m not wearing white to draw attention.”
“You’re not going anywhere. You’re not trained. Plus, I’ll lose my job if you’re put in danger,” Paul said.
“Yeah. Fritz talked to all of us and explained that what happened on your vacation can’t ever happen again. I like working as your security. I’d have to take you down,” Cassidy warned.
“Why don’t you help me put down the third-row seating in case someone needs to lie down?” Tami asked to distract me.
Frick! That didn’t sound ominous at all.
While I helped Tami, Paul opened the gun safe in the back of the VelociRaptor. He was already armed, but Cassidy wasn’t. He pulled out a handgun for her. Paul also grabbed the shotgun with stinger rounds for me. The stinger was a nonlethal shell filled with round rubber balls designed for short-range contact. Close up, they would put a man down without a problem.
“Just in case,” Paul said.
For like the millionth time, I wondered where the police were. I called 911 again.
“911. What’s your emergency?”
“This is David Dawson. We called about …” and I gave them the address. “We’ve been able to see that at least one of the men is armed.”
The operator gave me the same answer that they were sending someone. She wanted to keep me on the line, so I handed the phone to Tami. I was afraid I might say something that wasn’t at all flattering about the response we were getting.
“I’m going to go get her,” Paul announced when it became apparent that Bill and his buddy had walked past where Tracy was hiding.
The drones identified Paul as a hostile.
“Cassidy!”
“I’m on it. Let me figure this out,” she said and started mashing buttons on the screen.
I was ready to take the tablet from her when Paul’s image turned green. She gave me an ‘I told you so’ look. Brat!
I was almost hopping from foot to foot with worry as I watched Paul make his way to where Tracy had hidden. Before he got there, the image of the man watching the cars began to move towards Paul’s position.
“What do we do?” Cassidy asked.
The frickin’ drones were useless above the trees; I put that little factoid on my to-do list for later. If we pinged Paul’s phone, I wasn’t sure if he had his ringer turned on or not. I didn’t want to give his location away with something stupid like that.
Fritz had used that ploy on me when we’d played paintball. If I did that and Paul got shot, I would feel horrible.
“To your right!” I yelled.
That got everyone’s attention. We watched Paul react by turning, and suddenly gunshots erupted. The man who had come in behind the other two had obviously spotted Paul. I watched in horror as it looked like both of them went down.
“Figure out how to get the drones to where we can use them to protect Tracy,” I told Cassidy.
“David!” she hissed as I fox-ran to where Paul was.
Training for my upcoming movie had paid off as I silently slipped through the woods. Bill and his other helper sounded like a herd of cows who’d broken out of their pasture. One of them was close.