Firestorm

With that April reached behind her seat and pulled out the locked case that held her firearm. Removing the TSA tag, she opened the case, made certain both magazines held fifteen rounds before tapping the spine against her palm and slapping one of the magazines into the Sig Sauer.

Karin looked over. "Still prefer the Sig Sauer?"

April smiled, two chicks cruising down the road, talking firearms. "Yeah, everybody has their favorites. This became mine when I was working with the military down in Central America. It just feels right in my hands." April looked at Karin's right hip. "I see you still carry the Smith and Wesson."

Karin chuckled. "Yeah, it just feels right."

April grabbed her carry on and found the shoulder holster, slipping it on. With the gun in its proper place, April leaned back in the seat and relaxed.

It was quiet in the car for a while. April broke the silence. "What do you say we run out to Perrison's place in the morning and shake him up a bit?"

Karin gave it some thought. "I was thinking the same thing. But maybe we'll have an advantage and have more flexibility if we keep your involvement a secret from everyone. And I thought I'd stop in to have a chat with Marshall Stephens before going out to the Perrison home. Anthony told Stephens things that shouldn't have become public knowledge, except Crawford knew it all. I'd like to find out if Stephens or someone in his office is dirty. It's hard to believe it's Stephens -- I talked to a friend of mine, a Captain in the Portland PD. He said Stephens retired from the King County PD and was well known in cop circles as a boy scout."

April nodded. "Chances are it's one of his deputies then. Unless we're talking big bucks, enough to turn a good guy bad."

They spent the next hour talking logistics and thought they had a good plan to flush Crawford out in the open and maybe catch Perrison as well.

*****

Karin and April sat in the Adirondack chairs outside their motel room door, it was just starting to get dark outside.

Karin decided to butt in. "I would love to see you and Hank make a go of it. He's always been so good with Hannah and Anthony; he'll make a great father."

"Yeah, I think so, too." April reached into the front pocket of her jeans and slipped something on her finger. It was a single diamond, about a carat, set in the prongs on a thin gold ring. "When he asked me to marry him last week and I didn't answer, he wouldn't let me give it back to him. Said I should wait until I could answer with a definite yes or no. You've answered so many of my doubts and insecurities today, now I'm sure."

Karin took April's hand to examine the ring. "It's beautiful."

April smiled. "It is. I'm going to give Hank a call; he's waited too long already. Thanks Karin." April walked back into the cabin and closed the door to make the call.

Karin hoped she hadn't misled April. Would Hank make a great husband and father? How could she be certain that her words weren't only wishful thinking? Hank spent enough time around Bill. Had the qualities that made Bill a wonderful father and husband rubbed off on Hank?

Karin looked up at the Milky Way. As she looked up at the dark sky, darker here than most small towns because of the Valley's 'Dark Sky' ordinances, she wondered, not for the first time, how and why she was so lucky. Almost fifty, with a loving husband who beat cancer; two bright, normal kids leaving adolescence happy and healthy; her own successful career in a field she loved. And great friends, especially Hank, the father of her daughter Hannah. Thank God for Hank, always there when she needed him. Which may sound funny, it was Bill, a man she met in her sixth month of pregnancy, not Hank, who was there for the birth of their daughter. Hank had already left for his Middle East assignment for the CIA.

April came back outside. "Here - he wants to talk to you." She handed Karin the phone.

"Congratulations Hank, I am so happy for you two."

"Thanks Karin. Now I have a favor to ask you -- take care of my fiancée." Karin could almost hear the joy in Hank's voice.

"I'll do my best. Call Bill and give him the news. He'll be thrilled." She handed the phone back to April. April walked back into the room but came back out a minute later. She had the bottle of wine in her hand and topped off Karin's glass.

"Hank's pretty excited, said we had to clear this business up soon and I should get my ass back home. I had to convince him not to get on a plane and come out here himself."

With the engagement of Hank and April, Karin was feeling like a big sister. It was time to get closer to April. Even though Karin and April spent nearly a year working together at Hank and Karin's New York detective agency, they never shared personal information. Now was the time to connect as friends. "How did you get into law enforcement?"

Instead of answering the question immediately, April stood up and walked into the cabin. She came out a minute later with a pack of Marlboros. "Is it OK if I smoke?"

"Sure, I didn't know you smoked though."

"This pack would normally last me a month or two. Sometimes I need a cigarette."

April sat back down on the outdoor chair and lit up. "When I was nineteen and a junior at Columbia, I was walking to my apartment from school. Two gangbangers dragged me into an alley and tried to rape me. Just as one of them said something like "tap that ass" - I bit the hand of the guy that was on top of me, screaming as loud as I could.

"A serviceman was walking past the alley and ran in to see why I was screaming. Without hesitating, he started beating the two guys. One had a knife and even that didn't stop him. The two rapists ran out of the alley because a crowd started to form. The serviceman took off his shirt and covered me since my blouse was ripped to shreds. He picked me up, carried me out of the alley, flagged down a cab and took me to the hospital. He stayed with me, lying that he was my fiancée, until my mother and father came in. He gave the police a description and offered to be a witness if the two guys got caught. I probably owe that man my life, I at least owe him my sanity."

April took a long drag of the cigarette. "I quit school and joined the Army. Spent four years, the last three as an MP. When I got out, I finished my degree and was recruited by the FBI. I know you know that story."

Karin did know how the FBI and April parted ways. And how, after leaving the Bureau, April worked for a private contractor, spending two years in the Middle East, then two years undercover in Central America. Most of the time working to interrupt the world-wide trafficking in young women. That's when the Roland & Price Detective Agency recruited April.

April paused, looking out into the night sky, her thoughts somewhere far away. "Every time I go into a situation that may require killing, I think about those two gangbangers raping me, I see their faces, and I've never hesitated."

Karin had spent enough time with rape victims to know the horror April felt was not uncommon. "You still feel that way -- after all these years?"

"It's getting better. Remember Reverend McMasters and his two goon bodyguards? While I was pulling that young mother and her boy out of that mess, I could easily have killed all three but didn't. That's progress."

It was just then that the young man who worked the front desk came out and informed April that the entire property was a no smoking zone.

"Sorry." April smiled at the boy and put the cigarette out. She took the pack and crushed the remaining cigarettes. "Guess if I'm going to get pregnant, these have to go."

April stood up. "I'm turning in. The three-hour time difference makes it one a.m. my time. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night." Just before the door closed, Karin added. "Congratulations, you two are going to be very happy."

Another part of the April Coons puzzle had been put in place. Like most everyone in the New York PD, Karin knew how April Coons, while working undercover on an FBI sting, killed two men with her bare hands when her cover was blown and the two miscreants ambushed her with the intent to teach her a lesson.

A high-level bureaucrat, a big-shot asshole who never spent a day of his FBI career undercover, decided to make an example of her. April received a reprimand in her file, meaning she'd never get another promotion. April told them all to go fuck themselves and left.

Karin's father spent ten years of his law enforcement career in the FBI. The Bureau was always tainted by politics, but over the past ten years or so, it has gotten to the point where politics outweighs crime fighting.

Chapter Nine

Thirty-five miles west of where Karin and April were watching the sky turn dark, Alex Crawford sat in the PCT trailhead parking lot near where he had picked up that hiker three weeks ago.

*****

The whole thing was a fluke, he was returning from SeaTac airport after dropping off one of the Colonel's weekend guests and the young hiker had her thumb out. Alex pulled over, pleased the young lady didn't hesitate before putting her backpack into the truck bed and hopping into the passenger seat.

They had a nice conversation on the drive into town. The young lady, her name was Mona, didn't seem to have any fear, which surprised Alex. Didn't her mother teach her about the boogie man?

Mona explained that the trailhead back where she got off the PCT was a popular spot for through-hikers to leave the trail and resupply in Wolford. Once they returned to the trail it was another seventy-five miles and three-day hike to the Canadian border. Hikers could then either go up into Canada or turn around, having completed the PCT, returning to the same trailhead, catching a ride into Wolford and back to civilization.

"So, are you headed home now?" asked Alex.

"No, I'm just headed into Wolford before getting back on the trail. I started at the Mexican border in March and spent this summer completing the PCT." Mona said this with pride. "I start my senior year at UA in a week, so I haven't much time to finish -- I'll have to push it a bit."

Alex didn't want to sound ignorant and ask what UA was, instead he said what was on his mind. "I can't imagine a person doing it alone, especially a woman."

Mona did her best not to laugh at the older man. Obviously one of those guys brought up before Title IX and the dawn of the strong, independent woman. "There are probably more women on the trail now than men. Ever see the movie 'Wild'? It was a movie they made from a true book about a woman who shucks everything and hikes the trail on her own. A lot of women watched that movie or read the book and now give it a go. Some make it the entire twenty-six hundred fifty miles."

Alex was impressed. "All by yourself?"

Mona turned a little red. "Well, mostly. I tagged along with a couple guys through Oregon. But they got off at the Columbia River."

Alex made up his mind. "I have to stop at my cabin for just a minute to feed my dog before we go into town. It will just take a minute." He pulled off the highway and headed up the county road.

"You can let me out here."

"Nonsense. This will take two minutes, then I can take you all the way into town. You may have a heck of a time getting a ride out here and you never know who's going to pick you up." Alex said the last sentence with such a kind voice that Mona began to relax again.

That is, until Alex made the last turn onto the dirt road off the county road that led deeper into the woods. She began to become alarmed; it was so desolate and beginning to get dark. It was the last time anyone would ever see or hear from Mona.

*****

That was three weeks ago. Since then, Alex confronted that girl Lisa in the BB&B bar after knocking out her boyfriend. Alex only saw her face and caught a glimpse of her breasts as she sat in the booth. When he left the bar, he parked down the street, just in case they ran to the Marshall's office. Instead, the kid and the girl walked to the kid's pickup and drove off. Alex watched the girl, she had a great set of legs and ass to match that pretty face. Maybe her breasts were too small, but what the hell, he decided he had to sample her anyway.

Alex drove out to the cabin where the Harris and Roland kids lived. It was one in the morning and there was a Honda in the drive, but not the pickup. He quietly walked around the property and determined nobody was home. He circled around town and saw the boy's pickup in the Wolford Motel's lot. There were only three vehicles in the lot. He parked and was walking along the building when two deer came through the trees near the building. It was hard to tell who was more surprised, Alex or the doe and its fawn. Alex knew he was taking too many chances now and returned to his truck, thinking he'd swing by the cabin the next night. But the next night, neither the Honda nor the pickup was there or at the motel.

Alex became determined to make up for this lost opportunity tonight, three weeks after picking up that lone hiker. Could lightning strike in the same place again? Alex sat in the parking lot of that trailhead just on the off chance another naïve girl needed a ride into town. He watched as a couple, and man and a woman, left the trail and walked to the road.

A half hour later he saw two women hikers with giant backpacks leave the trail. He watched as they read the posting board and stood talking. Alex considered how it would work with two. Maybe not be greedy, get rid of one right away before having his fun with the other.

Alex started the truck and drove to where the two women were standing. "Can I give you a lift into town?"

The two women looked over at Alex and their eyes swept across the truck. Without hesitancy one woman responsed. "No thanks, we're waiting for our husbands. They should be here by now."

Alex noticed the silent woman's hands reaching for a red canister of bear spray on the side of her backpack.

"Okay, just thought I'd offer since I was heading that way. Have a good night."

The two women walked back toward the trail. They both had canisters in their hands now. Alex watched as they disappeared into the woods, then his eyes caught the notice on the trail bulletin board.

"MISSING. MONA GOMEZ. 5'6" 130 POUNDS, BLACK HAIR, BROWN EYES. LAST SEEN NEAR PCT TRAILHEAD GETTING INTO DARK PICKUP TRUCK. CALL WITH ANY INFORMATION FOR REWARD. 555-555-5555."

"Shit." Alex put the truck in gear and drove home.

Chapter Ten

Marshall Mark Stephens sat at his desk wondering when everything went into the toilet. Twenty-five years with the King County Sheriff's office, ten as the senior detective in the Homicide Department and the last year spent looking forward to a simple retirement in a small town; his dream of an Andy of Mayberry semi-retirement. Find a small, sleepy town where the major problems are controlling stray dogs, mediating a rare fist fight, and making certain the tourists have a good, safe time. Mark thought he struck gold when the position for Wolford Town Marshall opened up.

The perfect position in the perfect spot. Between his pension and the Marshall's salary, finances would never be an issue. Mark and his wife Margaret sold their Auburn house on the ten acres that Margaret always hated because the maintenance was so constant.

The first pin prick bursting his balloon occurred just after their house sale closed. Margaret chose that evening to inform Mark that she wouldn't be moving to Wolford.

Mark stood there, wondering if he heard her right. "But I thought this was our dream."

Margaret looked at him. How could she answer this without crushing the man she loved for most of their twenty-seven years together and who fathered their three children? "No Mark, it was always your dream. If you listened to me once over the past two years, you would have heard me tell you that I have no desire to leave Western Washington. Our children and grandchildren are here, my friends are here. Hell, both trips to Wolford have only reinforced my dislike for that place. And my not even subtle complaints fell on your deaf ears."

Could this be true? Could the man whose reputation as a great detective because of his listening and perception skills be that blind, deaf and dumb to his own wife's reluctance to follow his dream?

And at that moment he knew it was true. He quit listening to Margaret about the same time he quit loving her. Their first five years of marriage were utter bliss. Then came the children and the diverging interests. The disagreements which should have been bumps but became hills, then mountains. Mark realized he wasn't all that disappointed Margaret wouldn't be joining him in Wolford. The biggest impediment? He'd have to split the proceeds from their home sale and probably his pension. Suddenly, financial worries might become a reality.

Mark and Margaret divorced. Mark moved to Wolford; Margaret stayed in Auburn, moving into a nice condominium in a 'fifty and older' complex. Mark's pension was divided, but Mark didn't have to pay any alimony, the judge deemed Margaret capable of getting a job and living on her own earnings with the half pension.

The second pin prick? The knowledge that someone in his three-person office was feeding what should be confidential information to people outside the department.

For the past year there have been rumors of a leak in the Marshall's office and the suspicion fell on Mark, since he was the newest department member. But Mark knew it wasn't him and tried to find a way to uncover the leak, so far without luck. The latest incidence of a leak was the beating that Roland kid got two days ago. The kid never came into the office to file a complaint and that told Mark all he needed to know -- the kid didn't trust him. The only reason Mark knew about the beating was Sally, the bartender, had seen the kid walk out of the bar with a broken nose. Sally described the guy she thought did the damage, he'd been in the bar once or twice before, but no one knew who the guy was.

And now Mark was waiting in his office, waiting for the kid's mother to show up for the appointment she made yesterday. Mark spent yesterday afternoon after talking to the mother, trying to find out who she is. She mentioned having a private investigator's license and the reason for her visit, that her son was accosted in his town, but nothing else. What Mark found out about Karin Roland sent chills up his spine; her reputation preceded her.

According to his sources at the King County Sheriff's Office, Karin was ex-NYPD on the anti-terrorist squad. Her former partner at her New York detective agency was ex-CIA. There was a story going around the NYPD about a syndicate enforcer who threatened Roland's daughter and disappeared without a trace. Then last year, a man who threatened Karin Roland, a man in Federal Witness Protection, met the same fate -- disappeared completely. Some said it was Roland's ex-partner, some said it was done by a Columbian drug cartel. It seemed the Rolands were not a family to fuck with.

*****

Karin Roland refused both the chair in front of Marshall Stephens' desk and the office admin's offer of a cup of coffee. "Let me buy you a cup of coffee at the café down the street. Everyone I've talked to in town said it's the best in Eastern Washington."

It took them five minutes to walk to the café and grab two cups before they sat down on a park bench nearby. No one was close enough to overhear their conversation. Karin opened the dialog.

"I'll come right out with it. After my son was attacked and told me the guy had information Anthony only shared with the Marshall's office I had you checked out. Every cop in Western Washington swears you're a man of integrity; that it couldn't be you who leaked. The trouble is that's contrary to what everyone in the Rangers' Station believes. The word there is you're not to be trusted."