Bobby Cole - The dummy line

Afterward, Martha got up and walked out the front door for some fresh air and a cigarette-a fresh cup of coffee in hand. What a night! Tanner would be fine, eventually, and the Beasley girl was found. Thank you, God, she thought happily. She finished her coffee, took one last drag, then went back inside.

R.C. was following closely behind Ollie. Things were looking up for him. They still had to catch the bad guys, but they had a great lead. He was confident that they would be tracked down. He was proud of his instinctual decision to ride down the Dummy Line. This was proof of a sixth sense for investigative police work. R.C. had always liked and understood Ollie. They appreciated each other. Since R.C. had no ambition to be sheriff, Ollie trusted him completely. R.C., the devoted deputy, clearly understood the nature of their relationship. He smiled as he fast-forwarded the tape to “Copacabana,” then cleared his throat, preparing to sing along with Barry.

Deputy Larson, on the other hand, was sinking into a deep depression. He had gone from peak exhilaration when Shug found the gun to complete frustration when he lost the guy he was following. He had given Martha the details of his vehicle including his tag number. It was just a matter of time before they would find him again, but that didn’t help his mood. Adding insult to injury, the Hale County deputy had found the woman just minutes after Larson left the stakeout-just his rotten luck. Even over the airwaves, he could feel the weight of Sheriff Landrum’s disappointment. Larson glanced over his shoulder at Shug lying on the backseat, licking away.

Steve Tillman was elated to hear about Elizabeth. He prayed silently that she had not been raped. She was so young, vibrant, and full of life. Tanner had told him last month that she tested in the top ten percent of high school seniors nationwide. He hoped that she had been able to somehow protect herself. As he stood near the ER nurses’ station, he heard the head nurse instruct someone to take a wheelchair and a gurney to the entrance.

“I’m on my way!” the female nurse’s assistant replied excitedly as she hustled to the door.

Tillman followed her while Olivia punched Zach’s cell phone number into hers and waited.

The four-wheeler strained under the load that was Tiny. He finally got up enough speed for it to shift into a higher gear. Halfway down the Dummy Line, Tiny remembered a spare key that he’d wired to the truck’s frame a couple of years earlier.

“Yes!” he yelled, slamming on the brakes as he turned the wheel, sliding into a one-eighty. He goosed the throttle. He felt energized. If the key’s still there, I can get the hell out of this life…right now. He drove as fast as possible.

When he reached the truck, he jumped off the four-wheeler without turning it off. He bent over at the back of the truck, feeling underneath the truck body. He found clumps of dried mud but no key. “Dammit,” he muttered as he strained and grunted. Finally, he lay flat on his back and fished the flashlight from his pocket. Turning it on, he searched the underside of the back bumper. Solid mud. He hadn’t washed the truck in months. There! Under a thick layer of red mud was the wire. Tiny grabbed it and pulled. Nothing. He pulled with all his strength, and the key popped out.

Tiny scrambled up. He jumped into the truck and cranked it, letting it idle while he quickly loaded his four-wheeler. With no thought of Reese or Sweat’s body, Tiny dropped the shift lever into drive and stomped on the gas. His oversized mud grips threw gravel as he scratched-off, heading home to pack and grab his starting-over cash. The last thing he planned to ever do in Sumter County was to toss his pistol into the Tombigbee River as he crossed it. I finally got some options.

“Dad, I’m thirsty,” Katy whispered into Jake’s ear.

Jake and the girls were making much better time now. Jake guessed he had about another five or six hundred yards to the Little Buck Field. He was having difficulty keeping his cool but knew their lives depended on it. And he couldn’t let the girls know he was scared to death.

“I am, too, baby…just try not to think about it,” he said, realizing just how thirsty he was.

“Don’t you have a bottle of water in your vest?”

“No ma’am. Just don’t think about it, OK?” he whispered back.

“I’ll try,” she said, not really understanding.

Jake stopped and, without taking Katy off his back, waited for Elizabeth to catch up. “How’s your foot? Is the crutch helping?” he asked in a low whisper.

“Yes sir, it is.” Elizabeth grimaced.

Jake could see his breath when he exhaled.

“Are you still cold?” Jake asked Elizabeth, knowing Katy was warmer than anyone because of her camo outfit.

“I’m freezin’, but I can make it.”

Jake took a fleece neck warmer from his vest and pulled it over her head, then back up over her chin.

“That’ll help.”

“Thanks.”

“We’ll be outta here before you know it,” he whispered, then looked behind them for lights.

“Come on, we gotta keep movin’,” Jake said, shifting Katy’s weight on his back as he trudged farther though the swamp.

As Hale County Deputy Sheriff Lewis Washington turned his cruiser into the hospital parking lot, he noticed the crowd gathered in anticipation of his arrival. He quickly checked his rearview mirror to made sure his hair looked good. He glanced into the back seat. The girl was still passed out. Lewis didn’t know why she had fainted. He’d let someone else determine that. His job was done. He turned off the siren but left his blue lights flashing as he pulled under the hospital’s ER awning.

Ollie had almost caught up with Lewis. He was about sixty seconds behind him. Ollie knew there’d be a horde of people waiting. He kept reminding himself that this was about Elizabeth Beasley. Whatever else happened or whoever got credit for the rescue was immaterial compared to her well-being. The focus had to be on her. He just hoped that Marlow wouldn’t pull his usual stunts, getting his kicks at Ollie’s expense during the news conference.

“I’m here, Miz Martha,” he informed her, then put the microphone on its hanger.

“Ten-four, Sheriff.”

Ollie parked his Expedition to the side of Lewis’s car. As he got out, he watched the scene develop. Nurses and orderlies gathered around Lewis’s car trying to get Elizabeth out of the back seat. The news media were jockeying for position to get video. In front of the car, Lewis was describing the events to Sheriff Marlow. He was using his hands to describe how dramatic and dangerous the past twenty minutes had been. Ollie walked by as the chaos reached a fever pitch.

The crowd gasped when they saw that the woman was still bound and had duct tape over her eyes and mouth.

Marlow immediately got in Lewis’s surprised face. “You idiot! Why in the hell didn’t you take the tape off of her?” he asked furiously. “That looks real bad.”

“I was in such a rush…I didn’t even think about it, Sheriff,” Lewis tried to explain.

Ollie was halfway across the covered area when a man screamed. He saw Zach and Olivia Beasley hugging each other like something was wrong. What the hell’s going on now! They oughta be excited, Ollie thought as he rushed to their side.