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I’ve been pacing the floors at the house, not knowing what else I can do. If it was someone else I would have been clear headed, but with Lilly I’m panicking and can’t think clearly. I’ve eaten a few bites of a sandwich when my phone rings. It’s so quiet in here that I almost jump out of my skin. I look at the clock it’s seven thirty.
“Hello?” I say hoping that the voice on the other end will be Lilly.
“We’ve got a problem Anthony.” I hear Billy say in response to my answering the phone.
“What’s wrong?” Panic is rising and I can feel my stomach starting to churn.
“She pulled over on the side of the road just outside Wink, and the car hasn’t moved in thirty minutes.” He answers my question with his own concern.
“Did she pull into a hotel, or a rest area.” I ask hoping against all hope that she’s only laying down for a nap that she needs.
“No where she’s pulled over is on the side of the highway nothing for miles, except for a few cabins that people use to get away from the real world.” He explains to me that he’d waited to call so he’d know what kind of area she was in. He’d mapped it and could see on the satellite feed the few cabins a good couple of miles off the main highway. Fuck. Jeff got someone to get to her. How did they even know what car she was driving, or did they get lucky?
The millions of questions going through my head right now are going to have to shut the hell up. I go into full on cop mode, I’m thinking of all the worst case scenarios. “We need to get to her.” I say after a long pause has Billy wondering if I hung up on him.
“Chris is on his way to your place as we speak.” He informs me, and then I hear the sounds of the rotor blades as he’s about to get into a helicopter. He informs me that the Texas Rangers are already headed to the car’s location, he’ll let me know more as he finds out.
I hang up with him just as Chris is pulling into the driveway. I hurry out to his cruiser and get in. He immediately turns the car around and hits his lights. When we get on the highway he hits the gas. We must be going a hundred miles an hour, lights are on and now I know that this is all real. We make the close to three and a half hour drive in just over an hour and a half.
Billy had already stopped at the site of the Rolls and there was no sign of Lilly there. He had the phone company track her cell and it had pinged nearby. Chris pulls up to the command post the Texas Rangers have the lead since she was out of our jurisdiction, but abducted from a Texas highway.
The plan is that we are going to go by and surround the cabin one mile out. The rangers are going to close in on the cabin while I have to stand around with a thumb up my ass at the cruiser. They’ve called for an ambulance to be on scene in case we need one. Billy is the only one that is allowed in the field. Chris stays by my side and tries to keep me calm. I am very appreciative of his efforts, but I need to know if Lilly is okay.
The minutes seem like hours and I hear over the radio that they’ve located the cabin. There are three subjects inside the cabin. The description goes on and I’m going to lose my lunch. The sniper has a clear shot on one of the two men in the cabin. The rangers on the breech team are approaching apparently the idiots forgot to close the door earlier. The breech team backs up because if one of the two men sees them it will blow their cover.
There is a commotion inside the cabin and the sniper has to reacquire one of the targets, but the woman has run out of the cabin. I hear the shot of a high powered rifle go off.
“One suspect neutralized.” The sniper says. Then there are several gunshots they sound like the standard forty five millimeter rounds. I count six or seven shots.
I’m praying that Lilly hasn’t been shot, nor any of the rangers. I could care less about the fuckers that had abducted her. The rangers can’t see where she went. She was running in all directions according to the breech team.
“We are code six two in custody. Both will need medical evaluation before transport to county.” I hear over the radio. Apparently they only wounded the two idiots so that they can stand trial for their actions.
Finally, I hear over the radio, “Victim is secure.” It’s Billy’s voice. I can hear him calming her down some. I take off in a full on run heading for where Billy went into the woods. As I approach I see Billy draping his jacket over her shoulders, I can tell that her wrists had been restrained by handcuffs by the way she is rubbing her wrists.
As Billy walks her closer to where I’ve stopped dead in my tracks. Lilly’s eyes lock on mine and I can see the trauma and relief in her eyes. I walk up to her and wrap her up in a hug, the moment that she feels my arms wrap around her she starts to cry, and I gently pick her up and carry her back to where the ambulance is waiting.