"We'll find her," Steve reassured his cousin for probably the hundredth time. Flint knew everyone meant well, but it didn't help solve the problem, did it?
They were heading towards one of the areas marked on the map. There was just so much to cover, he thought, his eyes closing in frustration.
They popped open as Steve slammed on the brakes. "What the hell?" he muttered.
Several silhouettes were outlined in the headlights, one heading towards the driver's side of the car. Steve motioned to Flint, and he slowly took the gun out of Steve's glovebox he always kept there, hiding it by his side.
"Evening," Steve called out cheerily as the figured approached. "What can I do for you boys?"
"Eric!" Flint gasped, recognizing the man standing there.
Eric nodded. "We've got ourselves a bit of a situation."
"I'd say so!" Flint ground out. "One of your guys has gone insane and kidnapped Allie!"
Eric nodded again. "That's what we were afraid of, but this was the first time we were able to get here. Where is he?"
"If we knew that…" Flint ground out, but Steve held up a hand.
He showed Eric the copy of the map they had. "This is the area we're searching here. It'd be a big help if we could split this with you, since it's kind of a big chunk. Some of your guys are more than welcome to ride with us as well."
"That's not a bad idea. You need to let the others know that if they do find Ranger, they need to wait until we get there. We're the only ones who can take him down."
Flint's eyes narrowed at what he felt was Eric's arrogance. As if reading his mind, Eric explained, "We've all had the same training, so we'd know what to expect from him, even if he's gone a bit unhinged. We all have the same goal – to get Allie home safely and Ranger contained."
Eric turned and barked orders to his battalion. He then turned and looked at the men in the truck. "I'll join you," he told them quietly. "The rest will search from the air."
As if on cue, a big black hulking shadow rose from the ground silently and made its way down the road.
Eric adjusted his headpiece. "We'll keep in touch and be able to radio one another should anyone find anything. I trust you'll make that call now?" he asked Steve pointedly.
Without being invited, Eric climbed into the backseat of the truck as Steve called Mike and told him of Eric's request.
"He's not happy about it, but he agrees, and he's sending out the call now. There's an APB out on your guy and Allie, so we're hoping someone will see something."
Steve started the truck and noted their next house to check out on the map. So far, none had turned up any sign of recent occupation. The police had set up a blockade for all the main roads, as well as some side roads that led out of town. The force included nearby county officers as well.
Steve's phone beeped and he glanced at the reading, then handed it to Flint. He sighed. "I don't know if it's good or bad we've marked off several of the routes we were looking at. No one found anything."
"Watch out!" called Eric, and Steve swerved to avoid a boy who had jumped in front of his truck.
Flint was out of the car in a flash, Eric close behind him, as the boy started to run away.
"Hey! Wait! We need to ask you a few questions!" Steve called out, getting out of the truck a moment behind the other two.
The boy looked behind him, saw the two men chasing him, and his eyes widened. He glanced down at the badge he was holding in his hand and thought of the lady who had rescued him from the madman. He felt sorry for the lady. Surely she was going to be killed.
He began to slow, wondering if these were the type of people she wanted to help her when one of the men tackled him and he went down hard, knocking the breath out of his body.
"Hold on! Get off him, but don't let him get away!"
Flint noticed the shiny object reflected in the flashlight that Steve had the foresight to bring. It had flown from the boy's hand as he had tackled him.
Going over, he picked it up and dusted it off.
"Where did you get this?" he asked the boy, his voice low and tight.
The boy's eyes seemed to pop out of his head. "I don't ….I can't…" he stuttered.
Steve put a hand on the boys shoulder and then offered him a hand up. "It's okay, son. We're not going to hurt you. We're just looking for a lady who was taken by a bad man. We think you have her badge," he explained, indicating what Flint was holding.
It took a moment for the boy to catch his breath. He glanced nervously at the men. "I was in a house. A man picked me up on the road and offered to take me to the nearest town. My car had broken down. Instead, he takes me to this horror house and locks me in a closet, telling me he's going to save me for his special lady to cut to pieces. He laughs about it. I don't know if I was in there for hours or days. Then, he gets me out and straps me to this table and there's this pretty lady, and she says all this stuff. I think she's with him until he leaves. Then she helps me escape. She tells me to show the badge and say Route…."
He paused, taking a breath. His forehead was wrinkled with concentration. "Her name began with a B. I think she said she was on Route…..Route 628."
"Son, do you think you could take us to this house?"
The boy shook his head emphatically. "No way! I'm not going back there! If HE's back, then he's probably killed her by now! He'll come after me!"
Eric had been silent up to this point, but approached the boy. "There's a sizeable award for leading us to the house. Enough to have your car fixed, or even buy you a new one," he said solemnly. "Even if it's too late, we need to get there as quickly as possible."
The boy thought for a moment – he couldn't have been more than 18 or 19, Flint thought, then nodded his head.
They walked him back to the truck, and the boy, who had introduced himself as Jeff, looked at the road in confusion.
"She told me to stay off the road until I knew I was safe. I was just crossing when you came along. I'm not sure…"
"You ran in the same direction? You didn't double back or anything?" Eric asked quietly.
The boy shook his head no.
"Think, Jeff," Eric said softly. "What direction should we go? We're actually on 628 right now."
Jeff looked concerned, his brow furrowed, then pointed straight ahead. "I came from that direction."
"Good," Eric told him in a soothing voice. "Do you remember what color the house might have been?"
The truck made its way down the road as Eric continued to grill Jeff.
"There's a house up ahead that's marked on the map," Flint noted. "Just a mile or two on the left."
They rounded the corner and saw the house.
Jeff shook his head. "That's not it. That house is falling apart. This house was intact."
Steve continued on down the road.
"Wait!" Jeff said excitedly. "She said there was a ranch not too far from the house! She sent him to get branding tools from a shed. Does that help?"
Steve glanced over at Flint. "The Andersons' Ranch? It's the only one I know of along this road."
Flint nodded, tracing the route with his finger. He pointed to two red x's. "There's two houses, one on either side of the ranch, that might fit the description."
They passed by one of the houses, but it looked dark and empty, unlike the ranch, which looked like it was lit from floor to ceiling.
Eric briefly spoke with his team and they made plans to hover around the ranch area, following the truck.
The second house had a car parked to the side in the driveway.
"That's his car!" Jeff said with a shudder. "The one he picked me up in!"
Steve kept to the speed limit and passed by the house, then after a safe distance, circled 'round and drove back by slowly. He pulled over to the side of the road half a mile down the road.
Eric was talking to his team, then looked up at the three males staring at him.
"They can see a light shining in the back of the house. Your basement," he nodded at Jeff, "is dark."
Eric looked over at Flint. "Can you do this?" he asked him.
Flint nodded, his fists clenched.
"We'll do the takedown. You get Allie out of there," Eric told him. He turned to Jeff. "Call the police and tell them what we've found. You also might want to tell them to get medics out here, just in case."
Eric exited the truck and melted into the darkness. Flint and Steve followed, Flint still holding Steve's gun. He just hoped she was still okay.