AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The prosecutor read the statement on why the state was asking for remand. Unbeknownst to Briana and Tessa, the police had searched his motel room and discovered a digital camera with hundreds of pictures of Tessa taken without her knowledge as she went about her daily activities. Briana was relieved when the judge ordered him to remain in custody until the trial and undergo a mental health evaluation. After, Briana and Tessa spoke with Sue, the Victim Advocate, in the hallway. Sue promised to let Tessa know if he was released, and she’d be back in touch shortly before the trial.
Later, near her van, parked in front of Tessa’s house, Briana gave her a hug. “I’m very glad it turned out this way for you.”
“Thank you for helping me.” Tessa handed an envelope full of cash to Briana. “I promise, I will Venmo you the rest I owe over the next few months. Thank you for agreeing to take payments.”
“Of course,” Briana said. “And thank you for agreeing to a favor to help another woman in the future.” That was her condition for accepting payments from her clients. “And I am serious. You should consider getting a gun and taking lessons. Knight will get out of jail one day and he just may still be obsessed with you.”
Tessa shuddered. “I hope that is a very long time from now. But you’re right, and I will get one soon.”
Briana drove away, happy with the outcome of this case. She had three new cases she accepted. She pointed her van towards Atlanta for the six-hour drive home. A friend had Miss Mittens. She’d pick her up on the way to Montgomery, Alabama, where her next client lived. It was a rescue and run case and Miss Mittens could be along for the ride.
***
Two days passed at the reconnaissance mission in Texas, with no activity at the target beyond Wells’ security staff making their normal patrols. No one came or went from the property by either location they observed or were able to see from the satellite view.
That changed instantly at fourteen hundred the next day. Three vehicles left the ranch through the main entrance, travelling at a high rate of speed. At the same time, Cooper broadcast, “We have company up here. Check your six homebase, I wouldn’t be surprised if you have visitors as well.”
Smith clicked a couple of times with the mouse and widened the satellite view to include their location just in time to see a Humvee approach from the road north. It pulled into the entrance to their camping area. He activated an alert that immediately woke Garcia, who slept in the tent. “Garcia’s been alerted.”
“I’ll mosey on out to see what our visitors want,” Jackson said. “You two stay here. They do not get access to our equipment.” He left the van with his handgun unholstered.
Roth locked the door behind him. “I wish this thing had cameras to monitor outside the doors.” But at least Jackson was on comms, and they’d hear what transpired.
Smith nodded. “Do you need backup, Coop?”
“I’ll let you know,” he replied.
Up on the ridge, Cooper and Doc watched the four men grow closer. They hadn’t heard a vehicle approach, but suddenly the men were there, walking up the only path to the ridge. They both had their weapons unholstered and held behind their backs. Their rifles sat within reach as well.
“Howdy, gents,” Cooper called when they were close enough to hear. “Can we help you with something?”
“You can sit down and leave your monitoring equipment alone for about a half-hour,” one of the men said with a distinct Texas twang.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cooper lied.
“Yeah, you do,” he said as he came closer. “You boys aren’t the only ones watching the area. We’ve also been watching you.”
“Sounds a little stalkerish,” Cooper joked.
“Takes one to know one,” the man replied as he stepped close enough to see the lens from the equipment beneath the ghillie suit. “Nice,” he said, leaning in to get a better look at the size of the lens.
“I’m going to ask you to step away. Expensive equipment to catch the landscape photos we’re shooting,” Cooper said.
“Yep, sure, we’ll go with that,” Mister Texas Twang said.
In the campground area, Garcia had the two men who’d been the only others in the area, who had approached their van with intent, subdued before Jackson reached him. He got the drop on them and overtook them from behind, knocking one out with a strike of his Glock to his head and pinning the other to the ground with a knee pressed into his neck. His Glock pushed into the guy’s side beneath his armpit, aimed at his heart, helped remind him to stay down.
Jackson immediately restrained both men’s hands behind their backs in zip ties. They left both men face down in the dirt and they turned to face the Humvee, which pulled to a stop not even five feet in front of them. Garcia wore a foul expression on his face, his hand holding his Glock at his side in plain sight, just as Jackson held his Sig. As the two men exited their vehicle, both Garcia and Jackson raised their weapons to the ready. The front window was not tinted. Though they saw no one sitting in the back seats, they couldn’t be sure someone wasn’t crouched down in the back.
“Whoa, those aren’t necessary,” the man who pulled himself out of the driver’s side door said.
“Let’s see your hands,” Garcia growled in his low, gravelly voice.
Both of the men raised them shoulders high. “You’re operating outside of your paygrade,” the driver said. “You need to stand down.”
Inside the van, both Roth and Smith laughed at that statement. It was on its own comical, but given that it was said to Garcia and Jackson raised it to a higher level of humor.
“I don’t fucking think so,” Garcia snarled. “Whose authority are you here on?”
