Page 68 of Vanishing Point
“We had a visual on the door, but kept out of sight,” Jack continued. “A man fitting Eric Carter’s description came out. He was carrying a gun—semiautomatic. He didn’t see us or the dog, as we’d called her back. He scanned the yard, then went back inside. I don’t think he suspects police, but you never know.”
Thomas was already itching to move, but Jack was still talking.
“We’ve called Sunrise and Bent County for backup. Sunrise should be here in ten minutes, tops. Bent might be a few more with the regional SWAT team.”
Thomas shook his head. “No SWAT.”
“This is, essentially, a hostage situation,” Jack said pointedly. Like Thomas might not have the most objective handle on the situation.
And he didn’t, but… “Yeah, and I know how to handle a hostage situation.”
“But maybe you shouldn’t handle it in this case,” Jack said.
Thomas looked from Jack, to Palmer, to Carlyle. He’d worked in some capacity with each of them over the past few years. When he and Jack had been deputies at Bent County. Then with Hudson Sibling Solutions, their cold case investigative business, and then over the past year with dangerous situations that had cropped up with their family.
And notoncehad they backed off when people they cared about were in trouble.
So Thomas didn’t even bother to tell Jack he was wrong. He just kept talking, like Jack had never voiced an objection. “We have a volatile criminal who is trained SWAT—hence why I don’t want them going in there. He knows their moves, the training. It isn’t safe,” Thomas said. “We have a postal inspector we don’t know much about likely in there unless they have a second vehicle. Seems unlikely. She’salsotrained law enforcement, though, and we have to keep that in mind. Likely also inside we have the…” He couldn’t use the wordvictim. “…kidnapped subject, Vi Reynolds, who at the very most, knows how to shoot a gun because her cousin taught her how.”
Thomas tried to hold on to that thought. Vi had learned how to protect herself some, so there was hope. He had to hold on to hope.
“You need to draw the bad guys out,” Carlyle said. She held the dog by the collar, but her gaze was on the entrance with a frown.
“That would be ideal, but we have to make sure they come out of their own accord. And that they leave Vi safely out of range.”
“I have an idea,” Jack said. “This happened on a case a while back. A car fire was used as a distraction to draw people out. It worked pretty well then. So, what if we set a fire in their car? Maybe they’ll come out to try and stop it or get anything out of the car they might have left in there. If they’re concerned enough about the property, they might leave Vi in the house.”
“Destruction of property? That doesn’t sound like you, brother,” Palmer said, at almost the same time Carlyle rubbed her hands together and said, “Ooh, I’ll do it!”
“Canyou do it?” Jack asked.
“Of course,” Carlyle said with a shrug. “I’ll need five minutes. Tops.”
“All right,” Thomas said. Maybe it wasn’t the best plan, but it was a plan. Better than letting SWAT take a crack at it. “Jack, do you know anything about the property?”
“Not really any more than the listing told us.”
Thomas nodded. “We’ll need to surround the house best we can before Carlyle starts the distraction. At the very least cover any exit points.”
“I can follow this fence on the other side down the property line, past the house a ways, then jump the fence and come in from the rear,” Jack said, gesturing at the dilapidated line of wooden fence along that marked the edge of the property.
“Okay, I’ll find some cover and try to get eyes on the front…”
A car crested the rise. A Bent County patrol car. And not far behind it, a Sunrise one. Both cars parked behind Thomas’s, then got out. Bent County was Laurel and Copeland. Sunrise was a deputy by the name of Clinton.
“We were already on the way when we heard Jack’s call go out over the radio,” Laurel said as she approached. “What’s the situation, the plan?” she asked and looked right at him. She didn’t suggest he might not be involved, or someone else might take over.
It gave Thomas the slightest amount of relief that he wasn’t doing the wrong thing by refusing to step aside.
Thomas filled them all in. Laid out the plan. They’d all spread out around the house, out of sight as much as possible at first. As more police came, they could fill in gaps. Once they had a good presence, Carlyle would start the distraction.
Ideally, it was that easy. Eric and Dianne emerged to stop the fire and were instead immediately arrested.
When another car came up, Carlyle scooted closer to the entrance. “Uh-oh, that’s Cash. I better get in there before he tries to stop me. I’ll draw it out. Someone signal me when you’re ready for the blaze.” Before anyone could agree or argue with her, she jogged off, through the entrance.
Cash pulled up behind the Sunrise patrol car. He got out and walked over with a scowl. Rosalie hurrying up behind him.
“Where exactly is my wife?” Cash demanded, like he already knew.
