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TRAPPED

Chapter Four


Her thoughts raging, Katheryn found it extremely compromising to simply sit in silence as Carlos drove them out of the Dallas city limits and into the country outskirts in route for their suspect's address. How it stood, they would only be asking this man a few questions to find out just why he was hanging around the scene of the crime. Mary, although such a sweet little girl, was still clearly very disturbed from everything that had transpired. Just because she remembered one man didn't mean he was the one to blame. Still, this mystery man's speckled record raised plenty of suspicion to warrant caution.

"What's on your mind?" Carlos broke the silence, stealing Katheryn away from her self-guided tour of the familiar roads the traveled.

Kath turned her head and flashed a smile. "Mary. She seems like such a sweet gal."

"Seems?" Carlos asked, his brow arched curiously.

"I don't know. Maybe I've been hanging around Walker too much," Kath chuckled. "I just have a feeling. It's probably nothing."

"Well," Carlos smiled, confidently reaching over with one hand to wrap it securely in Kath's. "I've learned to trust those instincts of yours."

Katheryn didn't hesitate to tighten her grasp gently within Carlos' hand. "You're too sweet. But seriously. Sometimes this instinct as you call it can get annoying. For once I'd like to be confident about a choice I make without these feelings."

"Oh, you are," Carlos was quick to reassure her. "Believe me. You are."

At the sound of her cell phone, Katheryn picked it up off the dash where she had left it and answered, "Beaumont."

"Hey, Kath. Trivette."

"What's up?"

"We got a bit of a problem. After you two left, Mary disappeared."

"What do you mean? Is she okay?"

Trivette exhaled as he glanced out of the window by his desk at Ranger Headquarters to see Walker's Dodge RAM speeding away. "Walker and Trent are headed out to look for her."

"What happened?" Kath admitted silently that an endless stream of questions seemed to be all she could muster.

"Well, Trent was just about to leave to follow you guys when he turned around and she was gone."

"That's weird," Kath quipped, throwing a glance towards Carlos as he turned onto a narrow two-lane highway. "Keep us updated."

"Will do. Be careful."

"Always." Katheryn hung up the phone and watched as a building in the middle of a large open field came into view. It was situated across the road from what seemed to be miles of desolate farmland. A few trees dotted the landscape enough to make it look homey but not enough to get excited over. Turning her gaze back to the little house, she spotted a sign at the end of the lengthy driveway that indicated the house number. "This is it," Katheryn nodded towards the sign.

Carlos turned up the driveway, parking the Durango just behind the only vehicle on the premises by the looks of things. Powering off the engine, Carlos and Kath got out of the car in unison, meeting each other in front of the vehicle before they walked the rest of the way together. Upon climbing the steps leading up to the rather small makeshift porch, Carlos placed three careful knocks on the door and stood aside, flashing Kath a smile to fill in the silence. No answer came. After two minutes, they both were beginning to feel uneasy and drew their weapons carefully.

"I'll check around back. Stay here," Carlos whispered, hurrying down the steps from the porch and around the corner of the aged house.

Katheryn gave the surrounding property a thorough glance as she listened to the birds singing and wind lightly breathing into the few trees on the openly secluded property. With her semi-automatic still clutched in hand, Katheryn paced the narrow porch, coming to the first window and peeking inside through a gap in the broken glass. It was hard to see inside due to the change in light, the inside of the home being rather dark compared to the bright summer day outside. She continued to gaze though, squinting hard to get the best look she could. From what she could tell, the owner had left in a hurry. Magazines, furniture, and even dishes were scattered every which way. Either a fight had taken place or a wild animal had been loosened on the premises.

"Nothing," Carlos announced, briefly startling Kath as she spun around to face him. "Sorry," he chuckled.

"It's alright," Katheryn replied flatly, turning back to catch another quick glance through the broken window before she holstered her weapon back at the base of her back, letting her blouse cover the concealed weapon.

"I got a look inside. Looks like somebody hasn't been keeping the place up for a while."

"Yeah," Kath nodded in agreement. "I noticed. So what do you think?"

"Well, I can't say that I am impressed by the place." Katheryn deadpanned, Carlos chuckling in response. "Oh, you mean about our suspect." Kath rolled her eyes this time, smiling as she followed Carlos back to the SUV. "Let's write down that license plate number and see if Trivette can shed any more light on this for us."

Carlos' cell phone chimed this time. "Sandoval. Oh, hey, Trivette. What's up?"

"I just uncovered a bit of a mystery about your suspect."

"Oh?" Carlos closed his door as he climbed aboard the vehicle, watching absentmindedly through the windshield as Katheryn wrote down the license plate number on her hand-held notepad outside.

"He's dead," Trivette informed Carlos quite bluntly.

"Come again?"

"That address is a fake. Myles Emerson died two years ago."

Carlos waved Kath to the vehicle when she looked his way. "So Mary lied to us?"

"Yup. It appears so."

"Why would she lie?" Carlos asked, piquing Katheryn's curiosity as she heard him from just outside the vehicle as she opened her door. She stood there silently, as if waiting for more information to fill in the gaps of mystery.

"You know as much as I do, man."

"Well, we got a license plate number from a vehicle that was left here. Maybe that will help."

"Great. See you back at headquarters then."

"Sure thing."

Katheryn quickly reclaimed her seat in the passenger side of the Durango as Carlos set aside his cell phone. "What's up?"

"Mary lied to us. Myles Emerson is dead."

Katheryn arched a brow in surprise. "Dead?! Why would a lovely little girl like Mary lie to authorities? That doesn't make any sense. Maybe someone is forcing her to do this."

"I hope you're right, Kath. I'd hate to think she was in on this with someone."

"Yeah," Katheryn replied somberly as Carlos put the SUV in reverse and directed them back towards Dallas.

They were nearly back across the county line when Katheryn cast a quick glance up into the rearview mirror to see a vehicle trailing them from behind by about three car-links. "Carlos," she pointed to the mirror to which Carlos applied a brief glance. "They've been there ever since we turned on to this road. That was ten minutes ago." She chuckled, "I'm probably overreacting."

Carlos smiled, the notion fading as he too glanced once more into the mirror to see one of the passengers easing out of the window to aim a high-caliber weapon in their direction. "No. I don't think you are. Hang on!" Carlos suddenly accelerated forward, clocking in at eighty miles per hour and climbing. But the truck following them never slowed, keeping up with them all the way.

Katheryn had by now drawn her weapon, giving the outside mirror her undivided attention while waiting for any indication that action was necessary. Two bullets ricocheted off of the back of the SUV, causing Carlos to swerve by inches. Without hesitation, Katheryn unbuckled and leaned out of the open passenger window, firing off three consecutive shots at their assailant before ducking back inside. Four more shots made contact with the tailgate window, shattering it into pieces as Kath and Carlos ducked down by impulse. A fifth bullet punctured the left rear tire causing Carlos to lose control of the vehicle entirely. The vehicle skidded across the road before losing balance, tumbling across the highway and into the grassy edge were it flipped upside down to a standstill.

Little sparks and flames flickered from the engine as the assailants came to a stop by the wreckage. They gave the scene a howling laugh in amusement before speeding away, leaving the impending explosion as fast as they possibly could.


Molly tried to pace her steps as the elevator doors slid open and she stepped out of its meager shelter into the hall, traversing a steady pace through the thin crowds surrounding her in her route to Ranger Headquarters. She didn't want to seem too anxious or frightened. After all, there was probably no need to be. Katheryn had been late calling before. That didn't mean something had gone array. Still, Molly tried her best to keep a straight face, swallowing hard to fight off the gnawing feeling right in the pit of her stomach that something wasn't right.

An entire hour had passed before Molly had decided waiting by the telephone in the apartment would wear her down to a thread. Katheryn had phoned to say she was heading out with Carlos' to interview someone for their case. It seemed routine. It wasn't anything Kath had not done before. But when the phone had not rang two hours past the time Katheryn said she would call, worry began to set in until it began to feel disturbing.

Molly paused at the door to Company B and absentmindedly read the lettering on the door before she shut her eyes, took a deep breath to rid herself of worry, and pushed open the door resolutely, looking across the large space for a familiar face. She met Trivette just in time as he was gathering himself from his desk and reaching for his Stetson.

He settled the hat on his head just before turning to realize he had a visitor and smiled. "Molly, what brings you here?"

Molly cleared her throat, nervously fidgeting with her purse strap in hand by her side. "I, uh, I don't know."

Trivette removed his hat and took a step closer to Molly. "What do you mean?"

"I'm worried about Katheryn. She hasn't called in two hours since she left with Carlos for some interview."

"Yeah," Trivette nodded. "They went out to look for someone we suspected could have been involved with hurting you guys. But I found out the address was bogus. So they were headed back here the last time I spoke with them."

Molly let out a brief sigh of relief. "Good. I'm glad you heard from them." Her smile faded. "But I still can't shake this feeling."

"You know," Trivette sighed. "To be honest I've been feeling the same way since Trent and Walker left too."

Molly's concern resurfaced in her eyes. "What do you mean? Where did they go?"

"Well our supposed star witness split before we had a chance to stop her. Trent and Walker went looking for her."

"I see. Are they coming back yet?"

Trivette shook his head. Molly could see the same feeling she felt in Trivette's eyes and wished she hadn't. It didn't make her own feeling any better.

"We've got to find them," Molly stated firmly. "We have to go looking for them!"

"Molly, I want to help them as much as you do. But we have to know what we are dealing with here before we go out there. If something has happened to them, we'll be no good to them if we get ourselves hurt too."

"Yeah," Molly scoffed, sniffing away a rogue tear. "That's easy for you to say. You haven't been shot at recently." She immediately regretted her words and let a tear slip away and down her cheek. "I—I'm sorry, Jimmy. I don't know why I said that."

"Come here," Trivette instructed, gently wrapping his arms around the crying young woman. "It'll be okay. I promise you we'll find them."


Carlos could only make out a blurry outline of his surroundings as his eyes flickered open. Despite his lack of vision, he could hear a distinct dripping coming from beside him. If his guess was right, the gas tank had been punctured. At any moment, the gasoline could ignite and cause the entire structure around him to combust. Leaning his head back to catch his breath, Carlos struggled to breath, feeling his seatbelt securely holding him captive. Meanwhile, he lifted a hand to his throbbing head, cringing as he drew his hand away to see a small shimmering of blood on his bruised hand. He tried to shift his weight to free himself, feeling around for something to cut the seatbelt. But nothing seemed to be within his grasp that could help.

As his vision cleared somewhat, he turned to get a glimpse of Katheryn, praying that she was okay. "Kath?!" He called out weakly and then again a bit stronger, urgency lacing his strained tone as he reached a hand towards the limp frame beside him.

Carlos then swallowed hard, desperation in his gentle cry that only he could hear as he struggled to free himself. It suddenly occurred to him that Katheryn had not been buckled up when the vehicle crashed. No matter how bad he felt, he knew Katheryn could be worse off than he was. And it didn't really matter who was hurt the most, he thought, finally detaching the seatbelt by some miracle and bracing himself so that he did not injure himself further due to the fact that the SUV was still upside down. He slowly let his weight fall to the roof of the vehicle, crouching low before he braced himself and kicked the window in to shatter it. As he wormed his way out of the window, he could hear small flames igniting around him. In seconds the spilled gasoline would be its target and they both would be history.

As Carlos stood to his feet, he nearly collapsed as he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He ignored it, writing it off as a bad sprain and limping as fast as he could around to the other side of the vehicle. Not wasting even one minute second, Carlos reached through the window, groaning and struggling as he placed one hand underneath Katheryn's neck and reached as far as he could to reach beneath her legs. He lifted her slightly and began guiding her body out of the window. He prayed her injuries were few. He didn't want to hurt her further; but he had no choice. She would die if he didn't take the chance. Finally freeing Katheryn from the SUV, Carlos hoisted her safely into his arms and hurried across the random field, ignoring his own limp that was steadily slowing him down. He didn't stop once, running with all his might to whatever safety that could be provided for them far from where they had been. Fifty yards away from the vehicle, bellowing flames suddenly imploded from within the vehicle, sending bellowing smoke towering into the sky. The sound and impact of the explosion caused Carlos to stumble, but he fought against it, safely finding shelter behind a patch of wooden brush five more yards away. Lowering Kath to the ground next to him, Carlos held Katheryn to himself as close as he could, catching his breath through heavy breaths while turning around to watch as his vehicle disintegrated before his eyes. Had he not opened his eyes when he did, that would have been them inside that disastrous sight.