Page 43 of Special Agent Raven
“I heard about Val and Bonnie from Helen. I went and met them at the school earlier when I dropped off a few things. You seem to know this Val better than the rest of us, so I want your advice. I’m needing help here at the store. You figure she might like a job?”
“Hey. That could be perfect. She’d be within walking distance from Nana’s house. I can’t answer for Val, but I think you should ask her. Want me to bring her around?”
“Please do. Maybe she’ll know how to work the techie gadget you want to check out. Everything is digital nowadays. After Roger decided he’d had enough of the place, I’m lost without someone who knows Googoo stuff and will help with the overall running of the place. You know, I’m just getting too old for this shit.”
Correcting her word for Google and chuckling at the movie line from Lethal Weapon, Raven answered with a gentle tone. “You’ll never be old, Elvira, you have a young heart.”
Smiling, standing straighter after hearing a sincere compliment, Elvira pointed to the back of the store,
Raven nodded, following Elvira to her office where they had the monitor setup for the video cameras. In minutes, Raven had it rewound back to the night before, and they both watched as Dale smashed the corner of the window on the front door in order to be able to undo the lock. Then he stumbled around in the store, knocking over things without a care in the world.
Once he’d fetched the cigarettes from behind the locked glass he broke and shoved them into his pockets, he reached for a bag to store the beer and a handful of jerky. Then, rather than leaving the place, he headed over to the aisle where Elvira kept some of the over-the-counter medicines.
Disgust plain on his face, while messing up the neatly stocked shelves, he peered at the bottles of medicines and not finding anything of interest, he finally chose one of the boxes and left.
“You don’t keep any kinds of painkillers other than regular brands, do you?”
“Nope. Gotta get that over at the pharmacy. But Floyd’s got a much better security system than I do because of the drugs. I happen to know that he and his boys are armed and keepguard each night since the flood. They weren’t willing to take any chances with their products and those desperate for them.”
“Well, that makes sense. Thanks, Elvira. I’ll let you know about Val. In the meantime, be safe.”
Once she’d finished the chore given to her by the sheriff, Raven took out her phone and tried again to use the GPS tracker she had on her jeep. Excitement amped up when she got a reading this time.
Carefully, using the van, she followed the target along a trail that led to a deeper part of the forest. When it looked to be only a few hundred feet away on her phone’s GPS, she stopped, parked, and left the vehicle. Keeping out of sight, she stayed behind the bushes and trees before suddenly catching a glimpse of her jeep. Strangely, it appeared to be abandoned.
Not trusting Dale, seeing as how he’d come to such a derelict area of the woods, she hesitated to show herself. Deciding she should call in backup, she stepped away, only to feel the muzzle of a gun in her left shoulder, and a voice speaking low and mean.
“Well… lookie who’s here? Our nosy-parker FBI agent. Now aren’t I a lucky son of a bitch? Move.”
Chapter Thirty-three
As they walked, a thousand thoughts crowded into her head with one instinct overriding the others. It was now or never. If she let him take her prisoner, she’d be in terrible trouble. And if he took her gun, she’d be at his mercy.
Seeing a low-hanging branch right in front of her, she played a trick she’d been known to do on Palmer and the others when they used to hang out in the woods as teens. She stretched up, grabbed it, and dropped to the ground at the same time as she let it go. The brush swung wildly, hitting him square in the face.
Taking the opportunity to scramble away failed. His hand snaked out and clutched her ankle, holding her in place. Reaching for her gun, seeing as how he’d lost his in the fall, she turned it against him only to get a fist in her stomach while he loomed over her.
“Little bitch. You wanna kill me, do ya? I’ll fix you.” Loathing crawled over her skin from the disgusting smell of his breath. Swiftly, he moved to grapple for the gun she’d managed to holdon to, but in the struggle, it flipped into a pile of brush and was lost from sight. Not willing to spend precious moments diving after it, she spun around and kicked at his face, determined to push him away.
The bastard must have sensed her intention and was able to swerve in time to avoid the worst of the hit. Standing now and seeing him off center – intending to get the maximum power from her slight body – she pretty-much leapt in the air bringing her arm down on his neck as hard as she could.
Seeing him weakened, she pushed him over and using her foot, tried to grind it in his pelvis area, knowing that would take a lot of fight out of the asshole. At the last minute, he rolled away and got to his feet. Before he could stand fully, she once again aimed at his groin, connected and then ran like the devil himself followed.
She rushed behind the jeep to hide before he could recover. Stretching her hand under the fender where she kept the extra key hidden, she slipped inside and started up the vehicle, aiming to knock him down with the only weapon left at her disposal.
Just as she closed in on him, he seemed to understand her purpose and though she hit his shoulder, he rolled off the hood and before she could get to him, he’d bounded off into the woods, disappearing from sight.
Slamming on her brakes, she shuddered. Jesus H. Christ, that was intense… and insane. With her adrenalin surging, she bent over the wheel and clutched it hard, her whole body shaking from the close call. Not willing to leave the area, and too battered to take any chances, knowing the maniac would be back to retrieve his gun, she did the right thing. She stayed put and called for backup. When Cane answered, his voice went from happy to icy cold after hearing the shaky sound of his name. Once she explained what had just unfolded, his terse orderbrought a smile but had her agreeing. “Stay in your vehicle, baby and lock the doors. I’ll be right there.”
***
When Noah took Val to the second office where he’d be interviewing her and taking her statement, Cane had been left alone at the desk. While they were away, for some stupid reason, he opened the bottom drawer and saw the bottle of booze that had taken up permanent residency in his mind. At first, he just stared at it, thinking about how insignificant it appeared, yet knowing the toxic shit could wreck a man.
Wanting to prove something, needing to show himself he was strong, he lifted it from the place where it rested. Slowly, he took off the top and went to smell the liquid.
Just then Noah appeared to go to the copy machine, and noticing Cane’s weird behavior, he stopped dead. “You gonna drink that shit or snort it?” His voice didn’t hold an ounce of emotion… just plain matter-of-factness.
Hearing another person in the room, Cane reacted like a kid with his hands in the cookie jar. He whipped the top back on the bottle seconds before he threw it in the drawer and slammed it shut. Sucking in a sigh, he answered, “Not this time. Hopefully, never.”