Chapter Ten
Chrissie was still in a partial state of confusion and uncertainty when Carlos rushed in. Her mind had hardly registered his presence when she heard a ripping sound and something sticky was pressed over her mouth. Carlos had just duct-taped her! Before she could think of struggling, he pulled out a gun and pressed it to her forehead.
“Shhh. Not a word, if you want to live.”
She relaxed immediately at the sight and feel of the gun on her head. He pulled her up and pushed her forward. Suddenly, he bent down at the wall and opened a small door she never knew existed.
“Now go... fast! Make a sound, I shoot you!”
She crawled into the dark hole, more scared of the gun than the uninviting darkness while Carlos followed closely behind, after striking a match and dropping it on the table. In the twinkling of an eye, they emerged at the back of the house. Suddenly, she heard two successive cough-like sounds, but as she turned around to investigate, Carlos roughly pushed her forward.
She stumbled and nearly fell, but he caught her in time and dragged her till they got to the wire fence. Then she heard another set of cough sounds and this time, she looked back and saw someone diving and rolling away from Carlos' shots. She had no doubt, it was her father! Meanwhile, Carlos had pushed open a previously-cut hole in the fence and was now pushing her through it. She refused to move an inch, trying to stall for time for her father's recovery, but he simply pointed his gun at her head and she voluntarily crawled through, assisted by another rough push at her backside. Though she desperately wished she could, but she didn't get a second glance at her father to see if he was hurt or not. Carlos had already crawled through and grabbed her arm, dragging her away from the building.
*****
Jason didn't waste any time in going straight for the opening in the wire fence. It was obvious that Carlos had previously planned for such an emergency. He inwardly lamented his lack of adequate manpower as he crawled through the hole. Everything east was pitch dark, so he made the crawl cautiously. Up ahead was the brightly lit road, but he doubted Carlos took that route. Putting on his penlight, he went on his haunches and scoured the grounds, weapon in hand. Sure enough, he could see bootprints heading east. He knew there was a light forest in that direction, but after that...? He had no idea. He rang Tony as he followed the prints as fast as he could.
“Hey, everything okay?”
“No Tony,” Jason whispered breathlessly. “I need your help. I need to know what's on the other side of the forest... east of this area.”
“Oh.. I can't hear you. I.. I think the reception is poor.”
“Tony!”
“Shhh," his friend shushed him. "I'm heading to the server room... I'm here now... looking into it... Okay, that forest is pretty small. Leads to another road. I can get...”
“How soon can a team get here?”, Jason asked as an idea floated into his mind.
“15... 20 minutes, if they break all the speed limits.”
“Damn it! There's no time. Send it anyway.”
“And what will you be doing?”
“Just send the team, Tony.”
“Okay, okay uhhh... sending the message now. I might get a promotion when this is over, you know.”
“You deserve it. Gotta go.”
As he got deeper into the forest, Jason lost track of Carlos' bootprints. There were now leaves, fallen branches, rotting trunks and many other things characteristic of a forest to throw him totally off the scent. He had no idea where to head. Carlos could have gone further east or headed straight North toward the road. Suddenly, his eye caught something up ahead. Lowering his light, he found that it was a dull light roving restlessly. It was probably Carlos and his daughter!
Quickly, he turned off his penlight and went after the roving light with as much speed as he could muster. The forest was quite dark, but thanks to his hard time in the military, he'd seen much worse. Maneuvering with little difficulty, he began to gain on the light. Soon, he was able to make out the two running figures, one pushing the other intermittently. He had no idea that Carlos had a gun behind his tired daughter and he put on a burst of speed. He had not run this hard in his entire life, but it seemed like it still wasn't enough! Speed! Speed!
They were now approaching the road and Jason had to double his efforts. He strained every muscle and pushed himself to the limit. Good thing their heavy tread was disguising his own, so they had no clue he was coming up behind them. This was his last chance to get to Carlos and rescue his daughter. The moment Carlos reached the road, all bets would be off. He could have a car waiting there for him. Anything.. just anything could happen! Jason came within a few dozen yards from them just as they reached the tarred road.
“Carlos!”, he shouted in desperation as he ran.
Carlos was stunned, but not for long. Chrissie, who had heard her father's voice with renewed hope, was taken unawares when Carlos whipped her tired frame around and pressed the gun to her temple. Jason was forced to come to a halt.
“Come an inch closer and she dies!”, Carlos shouted.
Jason was now within firing range, but he could do nothing. Chrissie was completely in the way. He just held his weapon and stood there panting and staring undecidedly. At last, he found his voice.
“Take it easy, Carlos. Let's settle this nice and calm.”
“Shut up! Take one step back!", Carlos ordered. "Drop the gun and keep your hands up till I walk out of here.”
“It's over, Carlos. There's nowhere...”
“Do it now!”, he shouted, moving the gun to Chrissie's neck.
“Okay, okay. Dropping my weapon... See?”
Jason slowly lowered his weapon, his eyes locked on Carlos, but the weapon was hardly halfway to the ground when he heard a scream. It was Carlos! Chrissie had stabbed at his crotch with a piece of iron she had picked up while he was firing at her father back at the fence. She stabbed and fell forward to the ground, deliberately and also aided by exhaustion. Jason saw his chance and didn't waste any time. He quickly brought up his weapon and squeezed off three shots into Carlos' chest and another into his head. The elder Alvarez sank sideways to the ground, his mouth slightly open, with one hand cupping his crotch as he rolled over. Jason didn't bother to check if he was dead or not. He simply rushed over to his daughter and held her face.
“Sweetheart, are you okay?”, he asked frantically, brushing away the dirt.
Chrissie nodded and smiled weakly. The tape was still over her mouth. Her father quickly tore it off and she breathed deeply.
“I'm glad you're here, dad”, she whispered as she leaned into his arms.
“Me too," Jason panted. "You did great.. really great. I'm so proud of you.”
She only smiled in response and leaned in closer.
“Can you walk?”
“Yeah, I think so," she nodded and moved her legs a little. "I'm really glad you came, dad. Thanks for coming to save me.”
“It's my job, hon. You'll have to thank Tony too. He traced that call you made, otherwise I'd be in Mexico by now.”
“That was Clyde's phone,” she sighed. “I woulda thanked him too if he weren't dead.”
She sighed again and shook her head sadly.
“How do you know he's dead?”, Jason asked as he helped her to her feet. "Take it easy.. just hold on to me."
“That madman, Mr. Alvarez or whatever his name is, he told me they killed him.”
“That was what... hours ago?”
“Yeah," she nodded, holding onto her father as they walked across the road, "he died, but he saved me first.”
“Last time I saw the kid, he was asking me to make sure you got out s...”
“Really?”, Chrissie asked, coming to a halt and facing her father. “You saw him before he died?”
“Nah. He's wounded alright, but he'll live. Found him in a bad way on my way here...”
“So he's alive?”
“Very. He's holed up in some abandoned trailer down south. The team will pick him up when they arrive.”
“Oh dad,” Chrissie cooed, grabbing her father in a tight hug. “I love you sooo much.”
“I love you too, honey. Just don't squeeze me to a pulp,” Jason chuckled and kissed her head.
Just then, two black SUVs screeched to a stop on the road in front of them and Jason's colleagues jumped out.