Truth Avenged (Green Division Series Book 1) Read online

  “Their families deserve to know the truth. I think that’s what Squirrel, and Lonnie, and Abe want too. Closure.”

  “Nearly seventy years late.”

  “Better late than never, Mr. Fitton.”

  He passed the bag back to her.

  “It doesn’t change anything in the long run. You’ve seen the military records. Those aren’t going to change. And whatever ghostly image you saw out there, what happens when you can’t find it again?”

  Chance shrugged her shoulders. She picked up the bag and the compass rolled out. She picked it up.

  “This led me out of the woods to safety. I have a feeling it will lead me back to them.”

  “Be careful what you wish for.”

  Chance slung the bag over her shoulder.

  “Thank you for talking to me.” She hugged him. He hugged her back.

  “My shoulders feel lighter already. It was a heavy weight to carry all those years.” He stood a little straighter.

  “I’m sure it was.” She could only imagine the guilt he felt.

  “Good luck.” He opened the door for her.

  “Thank you.” He nodded and shut the door.

  She smiled to herself and at the same token her stomach churned. Squirrel, Abe, and Lonnie had been a dark secret for seven decades and she was going to be the one to uncover it. The airport maintenance man might not have been too far off the mark with his comment about going to prison for her digging. She headed for home on a new mission. She had her answer, now it was time to find the plane.

  *****

  Tuck took the Colonel’s advice, returned home, and relaxed. Mitch, Ryan, and several other law enforcement friends had pestered him throughout the day. The ignore button on his phone was in overdrive.

  “Tucker. I know you’re home.”

  Oh, and Claire. Her number had been splashed in amongst the guys. He got up and answered the door.

  “You were too busy to have lunch the other day when I dropped off the files and today you completely blew me off.” She stood in the doorway looking beautiful and flawless as always.

  He had forgotten about the lunch meeting, it wasn’t a date, he’d set up with Claire out of obligation.

  “I forgot.” He leaned against the doorframe. “I had a busy day.” Of nearly getting fired.

  “It’s not too late. You can make it up to me. Let’s do dinner.” She pulled at his arm.

  “I’m not in the mood tonight.”

  “What will it take to get you in the mood?” She ran her finger down his torso and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I’ll do whatever it takes.” She rubbed the front of his jeans.

  “Claire you need to—”

  Claire grabbed the collar of his shirt and pushed him backward inside the door and against the wall, kissing him with more want and need than she ever had before. She took his lip between her teeth and tugged it lightly.

  “All I’m asking for is tonight.” She kissed him again.

  “You can tell me how you feel about us in the morning. If you feel the same way, I’ll leave.” She unbuttoned his jeans and zipped down the fly. “One more night Tucker, that’s all I’m asking for.”

  Tuck leaned his head against the wall. How fucked up was this? How much more fucked up could things get? She reached down his pants and massaged him.

  This wasn’t the distraction Tuck was looking for, but it was a distraction. He knew what he was getting into with Claire.

  “There is no us.” He stared her down. “All I want from you is sex.”

  This didn’t deter Claire. “I’m fine with friends with benefits.”

  “I’m not your friend.” He was brutally honest.

  She kept an even face. “Goodbye sex.”

  “Just sex period. No stipulations.”

  “You’re being a bit of an asshole right now.” She squinted her eyes.

  “Take it, or leave it.” What a sales pitch.

  Claire kicked the door shut behind her and pushed him back to the living room. She continued kissing him then stopped and looked down at him. She tugged at his jeans, pushed him down onto the couch, and walked into his bathroom. She knew where he kept his condoms and she returned with one no more than five seconds later. She kicked off her heels, pulled off her thong from under her skirt and sat on his lap.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chance got home late the prior night. She’d sat awake since 4 a.m. waiting for the sun to rise. She was going to strike off in search of the plane. No one was going to know. Not Paul, not Amy, and sure as hell not Tuck. The thought of him upset her. She wished it had been another warden who’d saved her. One who would not have used her as he had. One who wasn’t a jealous dick.

  The sun’s rays broke through the darkness. That was Chance’s cue that she could head north.

  She packed her: GPS, camera, batteries, map, and a new compass, along with the old one. She left with a knot in her stomach, more uneasy than she’d ever experienced. It wasn’t a smart idea to head back up there alone, but the shooter wouldn’t poach the same area. And the ghosts weren’t going to hurt her. Everything would be okay. It would be okay.

  Chance trudged up the trail until she reached the familiar place where Tuck had found her. The needle on Squirrel’s compass spun out of control. She marked the spot on her GPS, took a deep breath, and bounded off the trail.

  “Here we go.” Mysterious footsteps didn’t guide her through the forest. In a way she wished they would, but the compass was leading her somewhere on its spastic course. After walking for two hours, it became likely the compass led her in circles. Chance looked at the GPS. It plotted her four miles away from the trail thus far and it was going on 10 a.m. She needed to pick up her pace.

  Two more hours of rugged walking/jogging through the forest and suddenly the compass started spinning in circles like a rotor on a helicopter. She looked up and these woods looked familiar. She looked all around her, there was no plane dangling in the trees. But not far away was a bag. She jogged to it and looked it over. It was her bag! That meant this was where the plane had been. She spun around in search of clues.

  “What is this?” A foreign object protruded from the ground a dozen or so feet away. She exhaled in relief. A panel of burned rusted metal was partially buried in the ground. She worked on digging it up from its shallow grave. Upon flipping it over, there it was. The painted emblem of a Flying Squirrel. She pulled out her camera, took a picture of it, and marked the spot on her GPS. She looked around and saw more pieces of wreckage. Burned metal. A panel with bullet holes. It wasn’t much, but enough to prove she wasn’t a flake. And further in the distance she saw pieces of the right wing. It had been severed and was far enough away that the fire hadn’t fully claimed it. She took more pictures then returned to her pack. She looked up in the tree and a shiny piece of metal glinted in the sunlight. Of course her curiosity got her. She climbed the tree once again and reached for the shiny object. It was a set of golden wings, pilot wings.

  SHUFFLE

  Chance was startled and again flopped to the ground. She groaned and there he was again looking over her.

  “You really need to stop doing that.” She said, not scared by his appearance. Again he offered his hand. The same bone chilling cold emanated from him. When she got to her feet, the plane was there, all of it, like she’d seen before.

  “How?” She pointed to it. That was a question she knew she wouldn’t get an answer to. Any explanation would be implausible. Lonnie and Abe leaned against the hull of the plane.

  “I found out what happened to you.” She looked over at the other two men. “And Abe and Lonnie.”

  Their expressions did not change.

  “That you…that you defected, afraid to go to war. I don’t blame you. I’d be scared too.” She empathized. “I know you tried to go back to base, but they shot you down and then…” She trailed off. “Then they burned you.”

  “That’s what you wanted wasn’t it? For someone to find out
the truth? So you wouldn’t be hidden in these woods like a dark secret, forgotten by time.”

  Squirrel’s unnatural black eyes changed to a deep hue of blue. He lit a cigarette and when he sucked on the filter, the tip of the cigarette burned red and smoke wafted toward her. Chance took a step back perturbed. If she didn’t know better, she’d think these men were alive.

  “I don’t know what you want from me. Give me some kind of sign.”

  Squirrel pointed toward his rucksack. Chance picked it up and held it toward him. He took it and slung it over his shoulder. Abe and Lonnie kicked off from the plane and walked to where Squirrel stood. Chance held out the wings she’d found in the tree. He folded her hand over and pushed it back to her.

  “We’ve wandered these woods lost for an eternity.” The words echoed lowly through the air, the same whisper she’d heard in the wind all those weeks ago, but none of their lips moved.

  Chances eyes bugged out of her head, unable to blink.

  “You found us. You found the truth, Chance.”

  They know my name. “They told everyone you died in a car accident. Would you rather they know you tried to defect?”

  “Tell the truth.” The voice sent chills through her. “That’s why we brought you here.”

  “You brought me here?” What?

  “To find the truth and bring us closure. Tell our families the truth.”

  She took a deep breath. “I will, I promise.”

  John’s face hitched at the corner and she saw a small smile form at the edge of his lips. He turned.

  “John!” To her surprise, he turned back around.

  “Thank you. I know it was you who scared those poachers.”

  He tipped his head to her.

  “What happens now?” She asked.

  “We’re free.” The three smiled genuinely and walked into the woods. Chance dug out her camera, but by the time she looked back up, the three men and the plane had dissipated.

  “Of course.” She shook her head. She looked back through the photos. In every picture she saw a blurry figure in one corner, or another. She smiled; it was John. These photos she’d keep for herself. They weren’t a freak show and she had no intention of exploiting this aspect of the story. For all public purposes, Chance had fallen onto the plane crash, burned and lost in time.

  She checked her GPS again to make sure the spot was plotted and threw her old hiking pack on her shoulders. It was damp and smelled musty, but it didn’t bother her. She put her GPS in her pocket, grinned, and followed it to toward the trail.

  *****

  Tuck hadn’t followed through with Claire the previous evening. His body couldn’t get turned on by her. How any man couldn’t get hard around her should be a mystery, but it wasn’t to Tuck. He’d been a tool to her and she still wanted to have sex with him. That was a turnoff in itself. He didn’t like the man he’d been in the past few days. He wasn’t the man he’d been. He’d been horrible to Chance, even though she’d been crueler to him. And Claire, he felt equally as bad. She may have been an unfaithful bitch, but he shouldn’t have treated her as he did. He sent her on her way with an apology and little explanation other than he wasn’t himself and they were over, in every way.

  Back to work, he kept his mind focused on his job. Women had made his life a living hell in the past months. He’d been involved with two unfaithful women and he began to have doubts that a truly good woman would find her way to him. And if she did, he’d be too cynical to give her a chance.

  *****

  Ah, the trail. She had a two hour hike back to the trail and her proof in the hiking bag. The GPS plots, the pictures of the remnants of the plane, the taped interview. They’d believe her now. And Squirrel, Abe, and Lonnie had their closure. This incident was over. She felt vindicated and free.

  “I knew you’d be back.” A haunting voice crept up from behind. “We have some unfinished business.”

  Chance considered her options. Running hadn’t proven to be a wise decision the last time, but he had the same intention. If she stayed, she wouldn’t fare any better.

  “You don’t have to do this.” She tried to remain calm. “I don’t know who you are. I don’t care. It’s over and done.”

  “It’s over when I say it’s over.”

  She felt the barrel of a gun pressed into her back.

  “I haven’t seen you.”

  “And you’re not gonna. I won’t miss this time.”

  “Why do you want to kill me?” She needed to buy time. “I’ve done nothing to you. If you leave now, nothing happens. You go back to your life and stay out of prison.”

  “When I shoot you, those will still be the same options. If they couldn’t catch me the first time, how the hell are they gonna the second time?”

  “You won’t get away with murder.”

  “I got away with tryin’ it the first time, this isn’t any different. But this time I’ll be successful.”

  “Why do you need to kill me? I don’t care that you shot a fucking deer. Shoot all you want. I can’t stand the bastards.” She shook all over.

  “Because I’m not going to prison, and dead girls can’t talk.”

  “Please, don’t do this.”

  “Where is your lil’ warden boyfriend now? He’s been pretty close to his case these past few weeks.”

  She went rigid.

  “That’s right, I’ve been watching you. I’m not a stupid hick.”

  “That’s debatable.” He was going to kill her anyway. She was done kissing his ass.

  “Feisty. I like feisty.” He poked the bag with the barrel. “Take off your bag.”

  She squinted her eyes and a tear fell. She obeyed.

  “Get on your knees.” She wouldn’t. He jabbed the barrel into her back roughly. “Get on your fucking knees whore.”

  She kneeled in compliance from the pain he inflicted.

  “They’ll find you.” She hoped to see Squirrel, but knew he’d been set free and no longer lingered in the woods.

  “Like they found me after we left you for dead. Like they found me when I visited your house. It doesn’t take much to outsmart those cops.”

  He’d been successful up to this point and likely he would be again. She was going to fight, it was her only hope.

  “You’re not going to do this.” A second voice came from behind her.

  “Why did you follow me up here?” The man who had the gun pointed in her back asked the second.

  “Because you can’t do this. I didn’t sign up for this. I jack deer, I don’t jack people.”

  “You are too weak to do what needs to be done.”

  “It doesn’t need to be done. You ain’t doing this.”

  “And who is going to stop me?”

  This was Chance’s opportunity.

  “Get the gun off her back, Roy.”

  “And who’s going to stop me, Jason? Your bitch ass?” Roy laughed.

  Jason Thomas. That was the man in the photo.

  “I won’t tell you again.”

  “Oh boy. I’m scared now.” He pressed the rifle into her roughly.

  “Put it down.” The sound of a rifle cocking sent a shudder of fear through her.

  “You won’t do it, but I will.” Roy said to Jason.

  POW

  Chance fell to the ground.

  *****

  Tuck had been out of cell range all morning and into the afternoon. He was busy sitting on the site of a1 half a dozen illegal traps, waiting for the suspect to return and check them. Instead he set up a game camera and called it an afternoon. He’d check again before he went off duty, but he had other work to do.

  Tuck hopped back into the truck.

  “2358, Green, traffic check.” In layman terms, Tuck asked dispatch if he had any calls pending while he’d been in the field.

  “Clear to you 2358.”

  “10-4.”

  “2353, Green. Shooter hasn’t been located. One confirmed death. Advise responding units
.”

  Tuck picked up his phone and dialed his dispatch.

  “What does Mitch have?” He asked after dispatch’s greeting.

  “A shooting incident. He’s all set at the scene.”

  “Who was involved?”

  “I can’t say.”

  “What do you mean you can’t say?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Why the hell can’t you tell me?”

  “Because we were ordered not to.”

  “Chance.” He said lowly.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Where are they?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “I will come down there and kick your ass myself Kevin. You better fucking tell me.”

  “You’re on a recorded line, Tuck.”

  “I don’t care.”

  Kevin considered his position.

  “Aren’t you under investigation because of your relationship with her? Maybe you should take our advice.”

  “Fucking tell me Kevin!” He yelled loudly enough the dispatcher working with Kevin heard it from her station.

  “Helter Ridge.”

  Tuck hung up the phone and put his truck in drive. He was an hour away from Helter Ridge, but would make record time.

  Thirty five minute later.

  Tuck jumped out of the truck pushing his way through the sea of emergency responders and other wardens.

  “Tuck—” Mitch saw him charging.

  “What happened? Is she okay? Where is she?” Tuck looked around the scene frantically.

  “You can’t be here. If Kerr sees you—”

  “I don’t give a shit.” He tried to side step Mitch. “Where is she? Did they kill her?” His voice had turned from rage to fear.

  “She’s fine. She’s in Ryan’s truck. She’s okay, but you need to leave.”

  Tuck walked through Mitch.

  “Tuck, stop—” He threw his hands up in defeat. It was a lost cause. That heart on his sleeve problem reared its ugly head again.

  “Johnston.” A firm hand pressed against his chest and he halted. “You can’t be here.” Kerr pointed him in the opposite direction.