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Tim’s cabin had become a peninsula of knotty pine surrounded by an ocean of blue uniforms on three sides. The only opening was the one-lane dirt road that led to his one-story, one-bedroom, asylum for the perpetually disaffected.
St. Isidore police and their new best friends, the state police, had Tim’s sanctuary surrounded. It was so painfully obvious this was where he was taking Bree, they could not help but land there although they had stumbled over each other plenty in a testament to the side effects of interdepartmental cooperation.
SWAT teams had been inside, carefully picking the lock rather than battering down the door.
The inventory came next. It was simple. No guns, no bombs, one computer and plenty of porn.
“Not bad,” one trooper said to another.
Stimulating as it was from an adrenaline point of view to be getting ready to SWAT someone, the state police didn’t want to disturb anything, figuring Tim was already a bundle of high-frequency nerve endings that would just as soon kill Bree as fuck her.
They were sure he had done that.
They would have.
Who wouldn’t?
They wanted Tim to be calm and relaxed when he got out of the car. The first priority was rescuing Bree. If they couldn’t get a clear shot, the troopers were more than willing to let him get into the cabin.
Tim would be trapped. One door on the front, one door on the back, no cellar, no escape once the cabin was surrounded. And they only had to close off one side. The other three were already covered.
Snipers were posted on three sides of the cabin; north, east and west. Two more snipers would move in to cover the southern entrance if Tim got inside the wood frame building. But, the SWAT team’s first plan was to let him drive in, then stop, park, and die.
“Sheldon gets out of the car on the drivers’ side, a red light dots his forehead, and the whole thing will be over in a trigger squeeze,” Chief Lumpy said.
“We don’t need to identify ourselves. We don’t need to call to him to surrender. The safety of that girl is everything,” Lumpy said. “Sheldon is going to be too close to the girl to risk any kind of an arrest.”
“We put him down. He stays down. The girl is safe,” the SWAT team commander said. “We have done this before. Follow our lead.”
* * *
POLICE THERE? BREE asked Beth, her partner in texting.
Cops r everywhere replied Beth. U did everything but get there first and walk back leaving trail of donut crumbs.
“TV people r behind us about a mile,” texted Bree. “See them on curves. Showdown coming.”
Live on TV!
So hot!
This will be over soon.
Then it’s me, you and the money, right?
Bree didn’t answer.
Beth knew she was busy, but still.
Right?
“What are you doing under that blanket?” Tim asked with a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye. “Your fingers look awfully busy. Maybe I should pull over?”
“No baby, I want to do it in the cabin,” Bree said. “I want you to start a fire. I want to get laid on a big bear rug.”
“Don’t get too far ahead of me. I hate to play catch up.”
“You have nothing to worry about, baby. You’ll never have to worry about that,” Bree said as she stroked Tim’s thigh, cuddling up against him and giggling.
He’ll never have to worry about that again, ever, she thought.