AN: Chapter 20 and still going strong lol no but seriously, we're almost to the climax now! Boy are you all going to be surprised (I've got it aaaall planned out!) Thank you for all your wonderful comments! Yay! AthenaIceGoddess, BoscoCruzCrazy, daynaa, jtbwriter, peridotstone823, KittydoggyLover, Orlando-crazy, Cavanaugh-girl! And anybody else who commented that I may have forgotten . thank you! (Btw, my new forum! http/ Will it Take to Show You
Woody's nerves were fried. Downing his fourth cup of coffee since he had arrived in the small border town did not help the matter either. His driving was erratic as he followed the two deputies to the customs office. Glancing in the rear view mirror he hardly recognized himself. It looked as if he had painted his face white in the hopes of becoming a rather depressed looking clown. The violet bags under his eyes added the pathetic touch that made clowns so comical. Max was not too much better.
"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" Max asked.
"Positive," Woody said simply striving to be in control of anything because his case had veered so wildly off track. He considered adding a witty comment afterward but found that his brain was not working well enough to make his mouth move let alone think of anything to say.
He shook his head like a wet dog, dodging sleep. He silently vowed to himself that he would not rest until she was safe in his arms; or at the least, just safe.
Earlier, he had a decision to make, whether to take the three officers out to the abandoned car and sniff out the trail or to drive ahead and warn the border patrol and hopefully block their path. Woody hoped he had made the right decision, he wanted to be the one to slap the cuffs on this sadistic bastard; he craved his blood. He could not wait until he felt the true feeling of accomplishment watching this criminal, no, this scum, rot in jail for the rest of his life. This entire charade would end at that blessed moment. The thought kept Woody going.
He stepped on the pedal and urged the cruiser in front of him to go faster.
--- --- ---
Fiorenzo had no trouble finding the abandoned car, with him as their leader, it was no wonder his highway patrolmen were the best in the north eastern United States. He spread them out as soon as they established the territory. This brought him back to the days when he was younger, a bright cop on the NYPD solving crimes and eliminating the threat. He missed the good old days; it was his turn to shine again. He hoped that he would be the one to slap the cuffs on the scum that dared try to cross through his town.
Detective Hoyt, you have made the wrong decision, he thought. It's harder to try to block him off because he knows that's what you intend to do. He'll be on the look out for what's up ahead. You have to sneak up behind him. But he supposed that Hoyt had it right, trapping the culprit between a rock and a hard place was still a smart thing to do, although to spread your men thin can be a death wish. He had a hard time agreeing with the young detective, but at times he couldn't help it, Woody was a mirror or Fiorenzo at that age. He does have good tactic I suppose, he thought.
"Smyth, I want you to get any clues you can find off that car. Binns and Lopez, scour the ditch for evidence that they entered the forest here. I want footprints, clothing, and every piece of garbage, when you find it, contact me," he ordered.
--- --- ---
Woody could feel how close he was to finding her. He pulled into the lot reserved for the Derby Line customs office and slammed the car door shut. Max hadn't even taken off his seat belt by the time Woody was in the building.
Their call ahead hadn't seemed to inspire anybody to jump up and do anything about their situation. The office was calm, professional; their urgency hadn't convinced anybody to put down pens and set up a man made line to finish this hunt. Woody looked like a frazzled fool entering a Buddhist Shrine.
"I assume you're detective Hoyt of the Boston precinct?" A woman asked with military proficiency.
Woody recognized her voice as the woman he had spoken to on the phone. "Officer Grady, I hope you have taken my advice."
"I have. I have called the local RCMP across the border and they are preparing for an interception right now. I assume you have the help of Chief Fiorenzo?"
"That is correct," he replied, pleased to hear that she had done something about the situation. The way Chief Fiorenzo had described her; it was like trying to bend a steel girder trying to get her to cooperate. She seemed relatively compliant today.
"So, you have no more business here."
"I intend to cross the border, ma'am," he said, adding some Wisconsin sweetness to charm her into liking him.
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Without commenting on his intentions she said, "Why haven't you stopped this man before he came to the border."
Woody felt himself twitch slightly but she had a good point. Without exploding angrily at her he managed to say, "The case has been a long and complicated one, ma'am, but with your help it'll soon be over."
She eyed him again, trying to weigh his personality, "Do you have your passport with you?"
He frisked himself briefly, frantically checking every pocket before lifting a small blue book with the United States emblem on the front from his rear pocket. He wasn't even sure why he carried it with him; he figured it was a cop's intuition that he would have to leave the country at a moments notice.
"You and only you are to be crossing the border; I don't want all your little friends running around in Canada buying cheap liquor at the duty free."
"Yes ma'am," Woody complied happily.
--- --- ---
Two and a half miles south east of where Woody was preparing to leave the country and two miles east of where Fiorenzo inspected an abandoned vehicle, Jordan was woken with a start by the click of a revolver and a gravelly voice dripping with sarcasm, "If you value your life, little miss, you'll come with me."