The B Girls

The Cavalry





Lucy watched for a few more seconds but Dawson stayed put.

"I'm coming over there to see if I can help you. If you even twitch I'll shoot you instead."

He didn't respond.

Lucy stepped down and walked around the front of the van keeping her eyes glued to Dawson. She couldn't be positive but it looked like his gun was on the ground just out of his reach.

She moved faster, keeping her gun trained on him praying he wouldn't move. Praying even harder that he was still alive and could tell her where he was holding Belle.

He moaned when she got to him. The gun was indeed on the ground. She kicked it out of reach just like she'd seen on TV and looked him over to try and see where he was wounded.

Blood covered the right side of his body but the way he was laying she couldn't tell if he had a chest wound or an arm wound.

He moaned again and squinted up at her. "You're crazy."

"Me? I haven't kidnapped anyone. Where's Belle?"

He moaned again but didn't answer.

"If you live and she dies I'll make it my life's mission to make sure you get the death penalty."

"House. Cooper Lake. End of Pinestraw Lane."

"Excellent. Now, if I get close enough to help you are you going to try something stupid?"

He shook his head.

"Well, since I don't trust you, I want you to roll onto your back and spread your arms and legs out wide."

She eased past him to take a quick glance into the SUV.

The jar was on the passenger side floorboard.

Dawson was spread-eagle on the ground and Lucy could see that her bullet had taken a chunk out of his upper arm. It was still bleeding but apparently the pressure of him lying on it had slowed it down some.

"Stay still while I find something you can use as a pressure dressing."

She walked around to the passenger side of the SUV, opened the door and pulled the jar out. There was a lightweight jacket on the seat. She grabbed it too.

"I thought you were going to help me," Dawson said as he watched Lucy go back to the van.

"I'll get around to you." First things first, his injuries weren't life threatening. She put the jar on the passenger seat of the van and went back to him.

She folded the jacket but left the sleeves dangling and knelt next to him. "Try anything and I'll make you wish for the death penalty."

He just shook his head slightly.

Lucy almost felt sorry for him. He'd lost all his bravado and looked more like a scared librarian than a badass kidnapper. What the hell had possessed him to go to such lengths?

She pressed the folded jacket to his wound and used the sleeves to tie it around his arm. "That should hold you until the cops get here."

"You're not going to leave me here?"

"Oh yeah," Lucy said. She took the keys to the SUV out of the ignition, pocketed them and picked up the gun. "Wouldn't want you getting any ideas about not waiting for the police."

She headed back to the minivan then turned to ask, "I'm not going to have to shoot any partners in crime at your house am I?"

"No."

"Good. The cops should be here any second."



###



She pulled back onto the road and headed out of Cohutta at a much more sedate pace. Well, maybe not sedate but not suicidal. At this point it was more important that she get to Belle and send help to Mae and Jane than it was for her to save a couple of minutes driving too fast.

She tried to dial 911 again but realized she must be in a dead zone.

Lucy hoped Dawson hadn't been lying about the partners in crime. The last thing she needed was to shoot anyone else. The police might not understand.

And speak of the devil. Just look at who was coming her way--

She waved and pointed for him to pull over.

He did and they met on the shoulder of the road behind the van.

"Ranger Leonard! Just the man I wanted to see."

"Ms. Deen? What the hell happened? And where are your cohorts?"

"We ran into a little trouble."

He pushed his hat back on his head and rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

She gave him a very brief rundown of the day's events along with the GPS coordinates for the cave and instructions for finding the opening. "Do you want Dawson's gun before I leave?"

"Where are you planning to go?"

"To get my aunt out of Dawson's house at Cooper Lake."

He was already on his radio calling the county cops and various rescue personnel. He shook his head while talking to someone on the radio.

Lucy didn't argue. She retrieved Dawson's gun off the front seat of the van and took it to Leonard.

"You need to let the police handle this from here on out," he said.

"If they can get to Pinestraw Lane before me, they're welcome to the glory but I'm not waiting." She turned and walked back to the van.

"Hold on a second," he said to the person on the other end of the radio conversation. He stomped up behind Lucy as she opened the van door. "I could arrest you."

"You could but you'd look like a damn fool when the truth comes out."

"Would that be the truth where you were hunting artifacts on Federal property? Where you shot a college professor? Where you--"

"Hey! I told you he shot first. Look at the van windows. And we didn't move a single pebble looking for my family's heirlooms so there certainly wasn't any digging. Now, I'm leaving. I'll expect a call as soon as my friends are safe."



###



Pinestraw Lane was in Mountain Water, a new vacation development on Cooper Lake. Lucy was familiar with the area near Belle's home because she'd spent a couple of hours checking it out during one of her weekend visits with Belle.

Belle had been predictably enthusiastic about the possibility of having Lucy close by at least part time.

Gary had nixed the idea without really listening. Now Lucy knew why.

Mountain Water was exclusive. The lots were large and private. There were two completed homes on Pinestraw Lane, both with direct access to the lake. In front of the first house an elderly woman in a large brimmed straw hat knelt by a flower bed, garden trowel in hand looking like she knew what she was doing among the growing things Lucy couldn't even name.

The second house looked deserted.

Lucy pulled into the second driveway.

No gun-wielding co-conspirator burst out of the front door.

Lucy took this as a good sign.

She got out of the van and peeked into the garage.

Belle's car was on the other side of the glass.

The front door was locked.

Lucy picked up an ornamental frog doorstop, tossed it through the glass sidelight, reached through and turned the knob. Lucky for her, Professor Dawson hadn't heard about using keyed deadbolts to keep this kind of thing from happening.

No alarm sounded when she opened the door. Since the police should be on the way she was just glad not to have to listen to some loud nerve-jarring horn while she searched for Belle.

"Belle!" Lucy called. "Can you hear me?"

Silence.

Lucy started to call out again when she heard a low sound of fear or pain from the interior. She went through the sparsely appointed living room, surprised at the tattered, outdated furniture. It looked out of place in an expensive new house. Maybe Dr. Dawson had overreached in buying this--presumably--second home.

The distressed sound came again and Lucy pinpointed the source behind a closed door at the end of a short hall.

Caution wasn't high on Lucy's list of priorities at this point. She flung the door open and rushed into the room expecting to find Belle gagged and bound.

"Don't hurt me," the woman in the room begged.