Crystal Clear (17 page)

Rat man’s smile grew and Cindy went to move forward.  She felt h
erself restrained from the back. A
knife press
ed
into her side. 

“Not so fast Hawke, these men need some information.”  Halverson’s voice
was loud in the confined space.

A
nger started to burn in her as she realized what was happening.

“Jack…”  She breathed, almost a whisper of a sound. 

Jack turned around and his eyes got wide.  He took in th
e knife at her side and who he
ld it.  He began a step toward Halverson.

“I wouldn’t.” 

The knife pressed closer to her side, she could feel the point through the thick material of her uniform. 

“We’re just going to borrow her for a little while.  I’m sure you won’t mind.” 

Dawning suddenly turned on like a light bulb in her head, now Cindy knew why she never felt quite comfortable around Halverson. 

“Drop your weapons over there.”  Halverson gestured with his head indicating the far wall of the cavern.  “Tie them up.”  He must have been speaking to lanky man, because he jumped to do Halverson’s bidding. 

“We aren’t going
to kill you. Nature can take it
s own course.  You’ll starve to death before anyone will find you down here.”  Halverson stood back holding Cindy.

After Jack was tied and placed against to wall opposite his weapons, Halverson moved closer with her.

“And just for your entertainment, you can imagine all the fun little Hawke and I are going to have together…” 

She felt his hot breath on her neck his wet tongue licked her from collarbone to her face.  She tried to wiggle away and he laughed.

“Lots of fun.”

Jack made to stand up his face a mask of anger.

“I wouldn’t.”  The knife came around to her front and pressed between her breasts.  “It would be such a waste.” 

He laughed again and backed up with Cindy in tow. 

“Let’s go,” he said to the other two, “
We don’t have much time
.” 

Halverson
waited until the other two left the room, went over and retri
eved the knives on the far wall. His grip never left
Cindy’s arm, he turned toward Jack. 

“Hope you have a vivid imagination, I do.” 

She felt the knife slide up under the uniform shirt and before she knew what he was up to, the rip of material and the sound of buttons flying bounced off the cavern walls.  She felt the cool air on her skin. 

“Hmmm, nice.  This is going to be a lot of fun.” 

Cindy struggled as the knife pressed again against her bare breast. 

“Don’t move.” 

The knife trailed down to the clasp of her bra, and she sucked in a breath as he played. 

“You fucking basta
rd!  Leave her alone!”  Jack yelled,
almost on his feet in spite of the restraints.

“Careful Jack, I might slip.”  The knife just scraped the side of her breast scratching the surface.  “She mig
ht look good in red.”
Halverson started to back out of the tunnel smiling at Jack.  “Have a nice death.”

Jack’s angry face seared into her memory as Halverson pulled her down the tunnel.  She couldn’t believe it.  She couldn’t believe that Halverson was so twisted as to enjoy messing with her.  She felt nothing but revulsion at his touch, and couldn’t help but think of
Montgomery’s
experience, when she was violated. 
Montgomery
pulled through, and so could she.  She just had to hold onto that thought. 

The other men had waited down the tunnel a ways, and rat man leered at her when he noticed her shirt hanging open.

“Well, this is a nice surprise.  Do we all get to play?” 

Halverson pulled her against himself.
“No, that was just for Jack’s benefit.  We need information from her, that’s it.  Then she becomes useless.”  He glared at Hawke with disgust.  “The boss doesn’t want her abused any more than needed.  We need to go.”  Halverson dragged her dow
n the tunnel.  Her feet slipped
several times,
and the cold got
to her with the shirt hanging open. 

She felt like she
walked through
a freezer, the depths of the lava tubes created a chill you couldn’t get away from.  They finally made it out the entrance and Cindy noted several men waiting for them on the path.  She tried not to be embarrassed at her open shirt.  She wished she could pull the edges together, but Halverson still had her hands clasped behind her back.  She struggled against his hold as he led her down the path to the parking lot grateful he’d left her bra on. 

SUV’s
waited
for them and Halverson shoved her into the backseat of the nearest one.

“Settle
in, we'
re taking a little trip.”  He leered at her as he placed himself in the opposite seat, exchanging his knife in favor of the gun he’d strapped to his side.

Jack moved until he was positioned next to Patrick, “There’s a knife strapped to my calf, try reaching for it.”  He pulled his legs so they bumped Patrick’s hands.  Jack ground his teeth together as he waited for his friend to retrieve the blade. 

Finally, Patrick’s hand grasped the handle and awkwardly lifted it from the sheath.  Jack didn’t have to instruct Patrick what to do next. 

His friend swore a blue streak when he accidently cut himself, “Careful, its sharp.” 

“No shit Jack, just hold on a minute will you!”  Patrick twisted and the knife sliced through the rope holding his hands tied.  Jack turned to give him access to the ties on his own hands, and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the binding give.

“There’s no time to lose.  If we’re going to follow them, we’ll have to contact her Agency.  It’s my bet they don’t know that Halverson has turned, and if I know anything about secret ops she’s going to have a tracking device somewhere on her person.  She gave me an emergency contact number when we were at the station just in case.” 

They cautiously made their way out of the tunnel.  It wasn’t easy picking over the rough ground and the dead bodies
laying in the dark.
Halverson had taken their flashlights
and disengaged the generators
.  After an indeterminate amount of time, what seemed like forever to Jack, they emerged into the darkness that descended outside. 

Making their way to the
trailhead where the ATV’s
were
stashed
, Jack
breathe
d
a sigh of relief when he saw the all terrain vehicles sitting right where they’d left them.  Their packs still strapped to the backs.  Jack dug into his and got out the cell phone.  He’d memorized the number and dialed.

“Agent Montgomery, can I help you?”  The female voice on the other end of the line sounded distinctly put out.

“Cindy’s in trouble.”  No point wasting time, he cut right to the chase.  He heard a sharp intake of breath.

“What happened?” 

Jack gave her a quick rundown of the events in the tunnel, and told her about Halverson.  He
was glad she didn’t mince words.

“Wait a moment.
I have to discuss with my colleague wha
t approach we are going to take. W
e never leave one of ours behind.”

“G
ood, neither do I.” Patrick ga
v
e
him an odd look, while he waited for Montgomery to finish briefing her partner
.
Jack signaled for another moment.

Patr
ick nodded in understanding,
went over to a log
, and took a seat
.  They didn’t have to wait long before Montgomery came back on the line. 

“Listen Jack, we agreed to bring you onto the team, so you get to help us now.  Agent Garrett’s activated her tracking chip.  It looks like they’re headed to the airport there in Bend.  You most likely won’t be able to get to them before they take off.  Do you have contacts with security there at the airport?”

“Yes.”  He ran a hand through his hair.

“Good.  See if you can use them to acquire the destination of the plane they’re taking.  We can follow her tracking chip, but it’ll be easier if we can get to the landin
g destination before they do.”

Cindy may not have long to live after the plane landed.  He couldn’t think of her without needing to punch the nearest tree.  He should’ve seen the signs when Halverson had so casually approached that guard.  The guard would never have turned his back on the double crossing agent if he didn’t know him. 

“What if we do
n’t get there first?” Jack paced
.

“Don’t worry we are very good at what we do.  We’ll get her out.  You just do what you can from your end, and let us do our job.”  The frustration in Montgomery’s voice
ca
m
e over loud and clear. S
he didn’t like being questioned, well, neither did he. 

“I’ll talk to my contacts, and then I’m hopping the first charter out of here to wherever they’re taking her.  Patrick and I are with you all the way.   And that sick bastard’s going to pay for what he did to her.” 

He heard another sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line and a soft, “
Kevin” in almost a plea.  He
hear
d the phone change
hands.

“This is A
gent Garrett. Make the call,” h
is voice was brisk and
businesslike with a hard edge,
“
once you’re done call us back. W
e’ll be waiting with further instructions.  We know you and your fri
end are capable. That’s why we’
re lettin
g you in on this, n
ow’s your time to prove it. 

“On a personal note, Cindy’s my wife’s best friend, if anything were to happen to her, I’m not quite sure what Lucy would do, but I don’t envy Brett Halverson right now.  That’s a walking dead man.  Call soon.”  There was a decisive click as Garrett hung up the phone.

Jack gave a glance to his friend that spoke volumes.  Anyone who laid a hand on Cindy was in for a lot of trouble. 

Jack dialed t
he number for the local airport. H
is contact informed him the private jet flew out not
more than twenty minutes before. T
hey could charter a plane and be in the air in less than an hour.  The jet was headed to New Mexico, just outside of the White Sands Missile Range area. 

Jack relayed the information to Patrick, “He says there’s an airstrip just to the outside of the small town of Truth or Consequences.”  Patrick smirked and Jack waved him off, “I know, but it’s a real town evidently.  Let’s get going, the faster we can get to the airport the faster we can get air born.” 

Patrick loaded up on the ATV clos
est to him and fired the engine.
“You can call the team on the way.” 

Jack followed suit and dialed the number. Cindy better not be harmed. 

Cindy was groggy as she came to.  Her hands and feet were past sore.  She didn’t think she could feel her extremities any longer.  As she became aware of her surroundings she realized that she was tied to a study steel chair in the middle of a bare cell.  Her shirt still hung open, but nothing else seemed to be out of place. 

Damn
, her lip hurt where Halverson had cocked her. 
Brett, that bastard!
 
Selling out his country, his team, and for what?
  She wouldn’t believe that he could fall for the stupid theory that these fanatics prescribed to.  Yet here she sat, because one of their own betrayed them. 

S
he tried the cuffs on her hands. T
hey were tight, but feeling slowly returned to a painful tingling as she moved her fingers around.  Her feet wouldn’t budge
. T
hey were tied to the base of the chair.

Hearing movement on the outside of the room, she became alert.  Her door opened to reveal two men in lab coats Halverson standing behind them, gun in hand.  The men wheeled in a cart that held all sorts o
f torturous looking instruments. H
er eyes widened just a bit when she noted the jumper cables and a voltage battery complete with a bowl of water and a sponge.  An archaic, but effective means
of torture in several countries, e
lectrocution in low doses worked well to make prisoners talk. 

Cindy pressed down her fear and li
fted a steady gaze to Halverson. Her eyes fi
ll
ed
with the promise of his impending death.  She waited for them to speak.  Cindy was trained for this, and she wasn’t about to give up her country. 

“Agent Hawke,” one of the men in the lab coats approached her, but wisely kept his distance for no
w, “we have no wish to harm you.”