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Outside Havenwood

Catherine wasn’t completely comfortable with the plan Dean settled on, and she suspected that Kara had intervened and convinced him to do something more risky than necessary. Yet... Catherine was as worried about Matt as Kara was, and while she didn’t like the cop, she had grown to respect her instincts. Catherine didn’t think Dean could be swayed to go against his best judgment and experience, so maybe this was the best option.

Catherine, Ryder and Riley were in a ranger’s cabin three miles off the highway. The cabin was accessed from the same road that eventually led to Havenwood, but that was five miles down an unmaintained road.

Ryder was monitoring communications, while Catherine was protecting Riley. She might be a psychiatrist, but she was also a trained FBI agent, something she thought Kara often forgot.

The day was cold though the sky was clear. While the ranger station was three miles as the crow flies from the valley of Havenwood, it was a more than five-mile trek down. The first half of the road was maintained by the Forest Service: it was paved though not generally plowed. The ranger had gone down to ensure there were no obstacles and reported that the road had been used recently, but not today.

The second half of the road was property of Havenwood, blocked by a gate with cameras. Ryder was analyzing the cameras now using a drone.

George Stewart from the Denver office, who’d been their local agent from the beginning of the case, was outside under a heated tent with Denver SWAT. They were on standby and the goal was not to use them. If necessary, they would access Havenwood by the narrow main road, cut the chain to the gate once cameras were down. But the road was too narrow for tactical trucks. The SUVs would work, but they would have to drive slow because of the sharp turns in the road. It would be nearly impossible to traverse the road at night.

The rest of the team was headed down the fire road on the northern edge of Havenwood. Even though Riley said no one in Havenwood knew about the cabin she and Thalia had used as a way station, that was nearly four years ago. It could now be guarded. It could be occupied. They didn’t know what they would face.

Catherine agreed with Dean’s assessment that when the meet was scheduled, Calliope would dispatch several people—likely Anton and Ginger, who were involved in Matt’s abduction—to ensure that there was no trap. They also concurred that they might send the FBI on a scavenger hunt, to go from place to place to ensure no one was following them.

Catherine had also warned Riley that Calliope might want to talk to her. Riley seemed to be okay with talking to her mother, but there was a lot of history between them and family was always complicated. Catherine knew that from experience.

But Catherine wouldn’t allow Calliope to talk to her daughter until she had proof that Matt was alive.

She glanced at Riley. The young woman was sitting in the corner sketching, her legs crossed in front of her. She seemed oddly at peace.

“A call is coming in from the hotel in South Fork,” Ryder said. He answered, then said to Catherine, “It’s the security chief. A caller has asked to speak with the FBI.”

They had arranged with the lodge in South Fork to conference any call into the mobile unit set up at the rangers’ station.

“Put the call through,” Catherine said.

She glanced at Riley. The girl was nervous, but she was holding her own, and that impressed Catherine. She motioned for the room to be quiet, then nodded to Ryder to put the call on speaker.

“This is senior special agent Catherine Jones. To whom am I speaking?”

“Catherine,” a female voice purred, “this is Calliope, of Havenwood. How are you?”

“I would be better if my colleague was with us.”

“Right to the point, aren’t you?”

“I’ve always felt it was best to speak succinctly.”

“This entire affair has been a misunderstanding. I would like my family together again. Before I tell you where you can find Mathias, I need to speak to my daughter.”

“I can arrange that,” Catherine said, “but while you tell me that Mathias is well, I need to hear his voice and confirm his health.”

“That will not happen,” Calliope said, “until I know my daughter is with you.”

Catherine didn’t want to do it, but she wasn’t actually trading Riley. And Catherine needed to draw out the call to give her team time to get into position and down to the valley.

“Is Mathias there with you?” Catherine said. Since Calliope was using Matt’s full name—likely because she’d seen it on his identification—Catherine used it.

“No. But I can get to him in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Riley. Please, Agent Jones.”

Catherine motioned to Riley. She hesitated, pale, hands shaking. Riley hadn’t spoken of physical abuse, but she was scared. This reaction was difficult to fake.

“It’s me,” Riley said, her voice a whisper.

“Speak up, Riley.”

“What do you want from me?” Riley said.

“Your love and loyalty, as always. You betrayed me—you pretended to die. There is a grave with your name on it.”

Was that a threat? Catherine suspected it was, and she wanted to end this call, but Riley didn’t give up the phone.

“I had to,” Riley said. “How did you find out?”

“Evan saw you, sweetheart. He didn’t believe at first, but he saw you and promised to bring you home to us. I have missed you so much.”

“I miss Havenwood,” Riley said.

“I knew you would. You’ll be back home soon.”

“I don’t miss you.”

“You have been tainted by the Outside. Once you return, you’ll never want to leave again.”

“You’re twisted, pretending you’re a kind benefactor,” Riley snapped, her voice stronger than before. “You are a killer. You manipulate and brainwash people to do things they would never do if they just thought about it!”

Catherine motioned for her to stop. This wasn’t going to help Matt.

“I hate you,” Riley said to her mother.

“I love you,” Calliope said. “I’ve always loved you.”

“You only love yourself.”

“Catherine,” Calliope said, her voice sharp. “Can you assure me that you will deliver my daughter to the destination of my choosing?”

“If Matt is there.”

“No. I don’t trust you, and I clearly shouldn’t trust my daughter either. In fact, Riley, if you fight me on this, you know what will happen. One. By. One.”

“I hate you,” Riley repeated, but her voice cracked.

As if Riley hadn’t spoken, Calliope said, “Catherine, you and you alone will fly with Riley to the Telluride Regional Airport. When you arrive, my people will bring Riley home and give you the location of your colleague once they have determined it’s not a trap. It’s as simple as that. You have three hours from now.”

“I need proof of life—” Catherine began, but Calliope had already cut off the call.

Catherine set her watch to countdown.

“I’m sorry. I just—I heard her voice and everything came flooding back.”

“It’s my fault for letting you talk to her before I had proof of life.” Catherine had made a mistake. She rarely made mistakes. But this one might cost Matt his life.

Or he was already dead. Her stomach twisted in pain.

“What will happen?” Catherine asked. “She said if you fight her, you know what will happen.”

“One by one,” Riley whispered.

“What does that mean?”

“She’ll start cutting off people’s fingers. She did it once before. Seven people lost one of their fingers before I gave in.”

“Gave in to what? What did she want you to do that necessitated torturing others?”

Riley’s eyes teared.

“You can tell me, Riley. I’m not going to think badly about you because of anything that happened in your childhood.”

“I...I had to kill...my favorite horse.”

“Was it injured?”

Riley shook her head. “I was riding in the field and went to the creek, which is our western boundary—I don’t know what the property line is, just that we were not allowed to cross the creek. Biscuit was grazing while I drew and he got spooked—I think a snake, though I didn’t see it. He ran across the creek and I went after him. He stopped at some boulders. I soothed him, but he was agitated and we got back late.”

She paused, looked at her hands. “The next day, my mother told me to put him down because I was irresponsible. I refused. She then lined up twenty people in the barn and had them put their hands on the rail. I didn’t know what she was going to do. She told me if I didn’t put my horse down, they would lose a finger. I didn’t believe her until the first finger fell. But I thought someone would stop her. Even after they saw what she was doing, they kept their hands there, on the railing, waiting. As if they accepted the punishment and blamed me. They stared at me. Accused me. And after the seventh finger fell I screamed I would do it.

“My mother gave me a revolver. She put one bullet in it. She told me the shot had better be a good one or Biscuit would suffer, because I wasn’t going to get another bullet. And if I missed? She would cut off the next seven fingers.”

Catherine wanted to pull this poor girl into her arms and console her as the tears fell.

“I...I had been with my grandmother once when she had to put down an old horse who was sick. I knew what to do. But Biscuit wasn’t sick, and he wasn’t hurt, and I wanted to put the bullet in my mother’s head instead of the horse’s. But I didn’t. I killed him. And I know that the people in Havenwood put their hands out for my mother to mutilate, but blamed me for what she did. It will happen again.”

Riley stood, then said, “I’m going. She will hurt Agent Costa and others if I don’t.”

“Just—hold it. We have a plan. It’s a good plan, we need to stick to it. She gave us a time. Three hours. We have three hours to save Matt.”

“You think he’s still alive?” Riley said. “I hope he is, but he’s an outsider.”

Catherine called Dean Montero and told him what she’d learned. She glanced up when Riley walked across the cabin and went into the bathroom, wiping the tears from her face.

Catherine feared Riley was right. She said, “I don’t know if we can wait, Dean. They’re not going to give Matt back. Calliope is sociopathic and manipulative, a narcissist. If we don’t turn Riley over in three hours, they will kill him if he’s not already dead.”

“We’re in position, we’ll be going in shortly.”

“Be safe.” She ended the call.

Riley was still in the bathroom. Catherine said to Ryder, “You holding up?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You don’t have to be formal with me, Ryder.” She had noticed the way Kara had elicited respect from the team in how they communicated with each other. Ryder was formal with everyone, but not Kara. Originally, Catherine thought it was because he didn’t respect her. On the contrary, he liked her. They were friends, and Catherine didn’t think she would ever understand it. Kara was antithetical to the structure that Ryder thrived in.

When he only nodded, she said, “Alert George and the SWAT team that the plan is a go.” They had lookouts camouflaged at several key spots along the route from the Havenwood property line to the highway road. They would alert the team when anyone left.

She walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door. “Riley, are you okay? Do you need anything?”

Silence.

She tried the door.

Locked.

For a second she feared Riley harmed herself. But before she forced the door open, she knew the truth.

Riley had left through the window.