J. Jance - Trial By Fire

“What’s going on?” he asked. “You make it sound like a matter of life and death.”

“It is,” she said. “I think someone has kidnapped Sister Anselm.”

“Kidnapped the nun?” Maxwell demanded. “Who would do that? Why?”

“The people responsible for the attack on Mimi Cooper,” Ali responded. “I suspect they believe Mimi confided in her and revealed their identities.”

“Damn!” Maxwell muttered, which was much the same thing Ali had said a few minutes earlier. “You know this for sure? If so, where did it happen? If she was kidnapped in Phoenix, you’ll need to contact Phoenix PD and get their people on the case.”

“I don’t know who has her,” Ali said urgently, “but I know approximately where she is.” Ali glanced at her watch. “At least I know where she was about ten minutes ago.”

“Wait a minute,” Maxwell said. “Hold on. Hey, guys,” he said. “I’ll need you to step outside so I can take this call.” Moments later a door slammed shut on Maxwell’s end. By the time the sheriff was back on the line with her, Ali had made her way to an unoccupied love seat in the lobby.

“Let me get this straight,” Maxwell said. “You’re telling me that you believe Sister Anselm has been kidnapped. You don’t know that for sure, but you still think you know where she is.”

“I do know where she is,” Ali insisted. “She’s in a vehicle headed north on the Beeline Highway.”

“And you know this because…”

“Because she just sent me an e-mail through her navigation system,” Ali said. “If you’ll go back to your computer, I can forward it to you and you’ll see for yourself. We need to move fast, Sheriff Maxwell. If she’s not there of her own free will, and if whoever grabbed her finds her iPhone and figures out she’s been sending out messages, it’ll all be over.”

Ali opened her computer and logged on to her AirCard. In her new mail list, she found another message from Sister Anselm.

“Okay,” Ali said. “She just sent me another one. It looks like the vehicle is north of Jake’s Corner and still heading toward Payson. I’m forwarding it to you. You should have it in a few minutes.”

“Okay,” he said. “This is nuts, but I’ll go back into my office and wait for it.”

She heard the swishing sound of an outgoing message leaving her computer. Then she waited, fuming, for the forward to make its way into his mailbox. It took only a few seconds, but with Ali’s heightened sense of urgency, the wait seemed interminable.

“Got it,” Maxwell said. “I see it now. Where they are now is out of Maricopa County and into Gila. I can call over to Globe and talk to Sheriff Tuttle, but he’s going to have the same problem we have-too much ground to cover and not enough patrol units.” He paused for a moment before adding, “You really think the person who has her is the one who set the fire in Camp Verde?”

“Either the perpetrator or an accomplice.”

Maxwell sighed. “Holy crap!” he exclaimed. “To get officers there in time to do any good, we probably need a helicopter. That means I’ll have to call that bastard Donnelley and drag his people into this. I could call in DPS, but that’ll take time, too. I’m guessing the ATF has a chopper at their disposal when needed. Let me give them a call, Ali. I’ll get back to you.”

Ali closed her phone and waited. It seemed to take forever. In the meantime yet another message came in from Sister Anselm. The vehicle was still moving north, but Ali worried that in that desolate and virtually uninhabited part of the state, the iPhone would lose its connection or power or both. Finally the phone rang.

“Okay,” Sheriff Maxwell said. “Donnelley has dispatched several ground units. It’ll take time for them to get there. In the meantime, he has an agent named Robson on his way over to the hospital. Gary Robson. Isn’t he the guy you told me about yesterday? The one who was there in the burn unit throwing his weight around?”

“Yes,” Ali said. “That’s the one.”

“He happens to be closest to your location. He’s coming by to pick up your computer. Donnelley is trying to negotiate permission for them to land an ATF helicopter on the hospital helipad long enough to pick him up.”

“No,” Ali said.

“Excuse me? What do you mean, ‘no’? No what?”

“No, that’s not going to work. Tell Agent Donnelley from me that if Agent Robson is taking my computer, he’s also taking me.”

“Ali,” Maxwell said, making an effort to sound reasonable. “You can’t do that. The ATF isn’t going to let you hitch a ride with them on a tactical pursuit like this. I’m sure that would be violating at least a dozen rules and regs, to say nothing of liability issues.”

“I don’t care about liability,” Ali returned. “Sister Anselm is sending those messages to me. I’m her lifeline. If you think I’m going to let my computer out of my hands, you’re nuts. The ATF is welcome to the information on my computer, but only if they take me along. My computer and I are a package deal. I have a vest. I’ll have to get it out of my car, but I have it along.”

“Ali, I’m giving you an order-”

“I’m not a sworn police officer,” Ali pointed out. “If you want to fire me for insubordination, be my guest. Fire away. I was happily unemployed when you dragged me out of retirement. I’ll be glad to go back to that, eating bonbons and maybe learning how to play bridge. In the meantime, Sister Anselm has trusted me with her life, and I’m not going to let her down.”

“Ali,” Maxwell pleaded. “Be reasonable.”

“My way or the highway,” she said and closed her phone. She hurried over to the valet stand, gave the attendant a five, and asked him to retrieve her Kevlar vest from the back of the Cayenne. While he sprinted off to find it, Ali’s cell phone rang again. This time Dave Holman’s number showed in the display.

“So Sheriff Maxwell ran up the flag to you in the hope of getting me back in line?” she said.

“More or less,” Dave said. “He’s right, of course, Ali. You’ve got no business sticking your nose in all this-”

“I hung up on him and I’ll hang up on you, too,” Ali told him. “Sheriff Maxwell asked me to work with Sister Anselm, and that’s why she’s sending her messages to me. Agent Robson was here yesterday, and he didn’t make a very good impression on anyone-including Sister Anselm.”

“But-”

“No deal,” Ali said. “Another message just came in. I don’t know how many more she’ll be able to send, or even if she’ll be able to send them, but I’m going to be on the scene with the ATF guys or else.”

“Okay,” Dave said, conceding defeat. “I’ll tell him. He isn’t going to like it.”

“Neither is Agent Robson,” Ali said. “That’s his problem. They’ll both have to like it or lump it.”

The parking attendant returned carrying Ali’s vest. She slipped it on over her pink tracksuit. She also slipped off the wig and stuck it in her briefcase. She was sitting staring at her computer screen when Agent Robson appeared on the scene a few minutes later.

“Ali Reynolds?” he asked.

She looked up at him and nodded.

“I’m here for your computer.”

“What?” Ali returned. “No ‘please’ and no ‘thank you’? Just ‘hand it over’?”

“This is an emergency situation-” he began.

“I’m well aware it’s an emergency,” she returned. “I’m the one who called it in, remember? Without me, you wouldn’t even know Sister Anselm was among the missing, much less where she had gone.”

“Look,” he said, “Donnelley told me some garbage about your wanting to go along. That’s not going to happen. The helicopter will be here any minute. If you’re right and the killer has her, we don’t have much time. Now give me the damned computer and show me the file so I can go.”