Elaine Levine - The Edge Of Courage

“Sir, several of these cuts are going to need stitches. And you may have a concussion. We’re going to take you down to the hospital in Cheyenne.”

“No. You’ll put butterflies on them, and we’ll call it good.” He felt a growing pressure to get to Blade’s. He had to have seen the explosion, even from his place. If he were able, he’d be here. Something had happened to him. Rocco couldn’t screw around with little cuts when Blade was in trouble.

The two paramedics looked at each other and shook their heads. “If you won’t go to the hospital, we’ve got Doc Reynolds on call. At least let us take you into town to have him take care of these cuts, check you out more thoroughly.”

Before he could refuse any attention, Mandy tightened her hold on him. “Rocco Silas, you go see the doctor and let him fix you up.”

“Fine. But you’re staying here. I’ll get Kelan to take me. I don’t need to be driven in an ambulance.”

“I’m going with you.”

“You’re going to stay here, Em. I don’t know what’s going on, but shit’s hit the fan. I need you to stay here with Kit. It’s the only way I’ll go the clinic.”

“You’re hurt. I should be with you.”

He looked at the paramedics, who were observing their conversation with rapt attention. “Please,” he told her. “Stay with Kit.” He nodded to the paramedics as he grabbed his shredded T-shirt and stood up. He took hold of Mandy’s arm and led her back to her brother.

Kit and Owen were talking to a couple of men-one was the police chief. Rocco assumed the other was the fire chief. “Sheriff,” he nodded to Tate. “I told you there was more going on here than common pranks.”

“And I asked you for more information,” the sheriff grumbled. “If you thought this was a matter for Homeland Security, you should have said something.”

“I had nothing more to go on than a gut feeling. I guess we all are on the same page now.”

“Rocco warned you?” Kit growled as he glared at the sheriff. “You should have listened to my man.”

“There was nothing I could do. I had no facts to work with. Besides, your man here was having psychotic episodes. Didn’t exactly help his credibility.”

“Yeah, well, now you got a dead man and a whole hive of terrorists,” Owen told him. “I want this kept quiet. If anyone asks, it was a prank gone wrong and it’s under investigation. I don’t want OSHA up here asking questions. And I don’t want to alert the townspeople.”

Rocco pulled Kit aside. “Kelan’s taking me to see the doc in town to get a few stitches. Then he and I are going to Blade’s. Something’s wrong. He should have been back by now. Keep Mandy with you. The bastards are playing a game-she may be their next target.”

Kelan shut off the SUV’s lights well before he and Rocco reached the turnoff to Blade’s ranch. They drove slowly up the long dirt road, their path marked only by the moonlight. Kelan cut the engine at the last hill before the house. They closed their doors quietly, knowing how sound traveled in the night’s cool, thin air. They made a circuit of the main house, keeping to whatever slim cover they could find-fence lines, shadows of outbuildings, and a few scraggly bushes.

The house was completely dark. Blade’s car was parked by the front steps. Rocco swallowed an oath, wishing he’d gotten over here sooner. What if someone had gotten to Blade?

He and Kelan made a fast dash toward the back door. It was unlocked. Kelan wore night vision goggles, so he went in first. Room by room, they cleared the main floor. Blade’s place was a huge, sprawling log home. Rocco had never been there before-he was a little surprised at how Blade hated the property. It was magnificent. They split up, Kelan taking the basement, Rocco the upstairs. The house was empty.

So where was Blade? Had he gone somewhere with the Jacksons? Rocco went back to the den, which was the only room where anything was out of place. He flipped on the overhead light and studied the room. A big mahogany desk had been swiped clear, everything plowed to the floor. A broken lamp lay in shattered pieces on the floor.

Rocco stared at the debris, trying to make sense of it. The papers were displaced but not torn or wrinkled. There hadn’t been a fight.

“Anything?” Kelan asked as he entered the room, his M16 shouldered, and his night vision goggles sitting on his forehead.

“Nothing. Just the mess in here. What happened, do you suppose?”

“It’s hard to say. You tried his cell?”

“Several times.” Rocco began walking around the room, trying to see what else might have been disturbed, looking for a clue, something that could lead him to Blade.

Kelan cursed and held up a crushed cell phone. Rocco shoved the door open farther, his movement fast and angry. The panel hit something on the floor, rolling it toward the shadows against the wall. Rocco bent down and picked up a small syringe. He showed it to Kelan. “They’ve got Blade.”

“Looks like they wanted him alive,” Kelan observed. But neither of them voiced the unthinkable-how long would he be allowed to live?

“Found the mutts,” Val said as two excited dogs swarmed Mandy. She knelt and hugged them both, then ran her hands over them, checking for wounds. They were uninjured but still nervously trembling.

Kit’s phone rang. “Mandy, take them up to the house. Val, stay with her.” He looked at his screen and saw that it was Rocco. “Go,” he opened the conversation.

“Blade’s been taken,” Rocco’s said on the other end of the line. “His car is here but no sign of him or his caretakers. They tranq’d him, Kit.”

Kit cursed even as another call broke into their conversation. “Get back over here. Owen’s called a meeting.” He ended the call with Rocco and accepted the new one from an unknown caller. “Bolanger here.”

“Hello, my friend.”

Kit snapped his fingers to get Val’s attention as he was climbing the porch steps. Kit pointed to his phone. Val pulled Mandy into the house, in a hurry to get Max to trace the call. “Why would you think we were friends, Amir?” Kit asked as he started walking toward the house.

“You may not like me, Mr. Bolanger, but I am indeed your only friend at this point. How do you like the game we are playing? Rather exciting, don’t you think?”

“You owe me a new equestrian center. But don’t get in a dither about coming up with the money to pay restitution. I’ll be taking it out of your hide. Personally.”

“Tsk-tsk. You really shouldn’t be making threats you can’t see to completion. You cannot fight me. I am terror. I am all around you. You’ll never know what I’ll do next. One by one, each of your friends and family members will die, in most horrible ways. I will crush their dreams first, then fill them with terror as you filled my people with fear, then kill them.”

“What do you want with Ty?”

“I just told you. Are you not listening to me, Mr. Bolanger? Your friend, Mr. Bladen, will see his death coming but will be able to do nothing about it. Do you remember the pit your friend Mr. Silas was in? We have a similar one for Mr. Bladen. Unfortunately, there aren’t any scorpions in Wyoming, but I found rattlesnakes were a fair trade. There are so many of them. He will die slowly, painfully, as his body shuts down, knowing all the while that you will never find him. Such is the will of Allah.”

Kit made it to the basement where Val gave him a thumbs-up sign. “Don’t make this about religion, Amir,” Kit scoffed. “Nor is it about an eye-for-an-eye retribution. If it were, you would be building roads for us and schools and hospitals, finding jobs for our unemployed citizens, as we did for your people in Afghanistan.”