Under My Care by R.L. Dunn
2
Pete showed his identification at the gate before pulling into the parking lot of Dulles Airport’s charter area. A Chase Security Airbus A318 jet was being fueled and loaded when he arrived. Mike “Raptor” Johnson, Chief Operating Officer for Chase Security, was double-checking the cargo as members of their elite Eagle’s Talon Bravo Team loaded the supplies.
“Boston, I’ll do the brief onboard. Your medical kit is over there.” He pointed to an enormous camouflage pack.
Noah “Rain Man” Paulsen, Bravo Team’s leader, approached carrying a red cooler. “Code RED box.” The box contained ten units of O-negative blood, which could be given to any patient.
Josh “Hoist” Stone shook Pete’s hand. “They’re finally letting me back into the field. Glad you’re with us.” Josh had almost died after taking a bullet to the chest two years earlier.
Pete squeezed his hand tightly. A memory of how sick he was contrasted with the man before him, who was now the picture of health.
Once he inspected his bag and double-checked the blood, Pete boarded and gave a two-finger salute to the seventeen-member Bravo Team before taking his seat. Mike and Josh pulled the door closed with the help of the steward. The low hum of pre-takeoff filled the cabin. “Cross check,” he heard one crew member say.
Moments later, the roar of the engines picked up, and they headed for the runway. Five minutes later, they were airborne, headed to Missoula, Montana.
“Welcome, everyone, we have a four-hour flight time. We will be landing in light snow with a balmy temperature of twelve degrees. Windchill is minus five,” the co-captain said.
Pete pressed his lips together. “Okay, you heard the happy news. Everyone fuel up on two protein bars, a couple of cups of hot chocolate and a bottle of water. Hit the head before you exit the plane in Missoula. Make sure your socks are high beneath your suit, wear gloves and balaclavas. Flesh will freeze at our arrival temperature.”
He made eye contact with each operator. “Anyone not feeling well?” No one responded. He also knew no one would admit it if they weren’t feeling well. That was always the conundrum of working with special operators.
Mike Johnson began the mission brief. “Six days ago, according to the Los Angeles Police, a home invasion occurred at the property of Vidal Diego Fuentes, age fifty-four, a wealthy owner of a chain of twenty-four restaurants specializing in rodizio, Brazilian barbecue. Three days after the invasion, Mr. Fuentes contacted Chase Security.
“The home invasion was, in fact, a double kidnapping. His wife, Ariane Arruda Fuentes, age twenty-seven, and daughter, Linde Sabrina Fuentes, age four, were taken. We agreed to take the case with only a bare minimum background check based on the age of the child. Yesterday, Mr. Fuentes died in a non-suspicious car accident.
“Our technical analysis department found that, in addition to good food, Mr. Fuentes was serving a side of guns with a dusting of meth for an organization called Golden Watch, located in Guardian, Montana. Normally, when we discover something like this, we cancel the contract and turn it over to the federal authorities. But with Fuentes dead and a woman and child missing, time is short. So, in addition to reporting the crime to the FBI, tech, on my authorization, kept digging into the case. Tech was able to download a call from Ariane to her husband’s phone, increasing the gravity of the situation.
“As soon as word filters to the kidnappers that Fuentes is dead, the mother and daughter become useless and therefore expendable.” Mike sipped from a bottle of water and played Ariane’s call to her husband.
“Golden Watch is an organization that developed on the Elk Hoof reservation on the outskirts of Guardian, Montana. As a corporation, it runs the reservation’s gaming industry, tax-free shop for liquor and cigarettes, general store, family restaurant, medical clinic, school, and most of the other businesses outside the small town of Guardian. It also supports the non-law enforcement functions of the reservation police and fire department. The police and fire department are government entities.
“Unofficially, Golden Watch distributes guns and methamphetamine across the Northwest. Golden Watch runs unfettered, in part due to the poverty and lack of jobs on the reservation, and in part because Guardian, Montana, is isolated at the base of the Elk Hoof
Mountains, straddling two passes through the mountain. The fifteen-person sheriff’s department covers one hundred and eighty square miles.
“We believe Golden Watch is run by a ruthless man named Silas Goff. Goff’s family owns and runs a large tourist cattle ranch, wedding venue and luxury spa hotel on six hundred acres near the reservation. We believe the ranch is used as a front for their drug manufacture and gun distribution operation.
“A satellite view shows the hotel/spa has multiple cottage-style guest houses. As part of the guest adventure, some can choose to participate in elk and mule deer hunting. Guests and staff may be heavily armed. Recorded satellite activity shows mom and daughter are likely being held in one of these cottages.” A picture came up on the plane’s movie screens.
“We will land in Missoula and helo to the Goff ranch.” Mike went over the plan, which included fast-roping down to the cabins, taking out any resistance, and bringing the victims home. They would have to make a one-klick run for an open field so the helicopters had room to land and pick them up.
Pete fidgeted in his seat. He started an internal run-through of hypothermia care for the patients and team. He reminded everyone to keep their skin covered. He hoped they wouldn’t be bringing back bodies.
Mike slid into the seat beside him. “You’re quiet.”
“Making a plan. I hate the cold. And the damn geography isn’t in our favor.”
“You’re thinking like a pilot. And you’re right. The Goff ranch is on the east side of the mountain. We need to fly west into the storm and through one of those passes to make it back to Missoula.” Mike shifted in his seat.
“Chase Care just closed on a rural level-IV hospital, nursing home and medical clinic in Guardian. Legal sent me the paperwork yesterday morning. I didn’t even get a look at it. Kieran Chase needs to stop buying up these health care entities without letting me know,” Pete growled. Kieran and his brother Ian were the owners of the billion-dollar conglomerate, The Chase Group. Kieran was the president of Chase Care, at least until February first, when Pete would take over.
Mike laughed. “That’s why you were promoted, and why Kieran is going back to the money-raising. He likes the purchasing end but hates the logistics. You are going to be a great new president of Chase Care.”
“That was a surprise too. He calls me into a meeting. He starts talking in circles. I thought he was going to fire me, and then he springs the promotion on me. I’m glad my teeth are all mine, otherwise I would have spit them across the room. I spent the next half hour in my office, lying on my floor, trying to calm down.” Pete ran his hand through his brown wavy hair, his hazel eyes glittering with amusement.
Checking his watch, he realized they had two more hours of flight time. “Put your head back. We can get a quick power nap.”
Mike sighed and took Pete up on his suggestion. He was asleep in a few minutes.
Pete followed him into slumber. Memories of a Montana doctor had filled his mind since he saw the hospital purchase. He had thought about Rowena Andersen many times over the years—thoughts full of desire and regret. He wondered what she was doing now.
His eyes flit back and forth beneath his lids. He was dreaming. The mess area was filled with troops. Tuck Hanlon and he were eating lunch—burgers and fries. Tuck had been flirting regularly with Nikki, an Air Force pilot whom he later married, and Peter, as she called him, used the excuse of shadowing Dr. Rowena Andersen to stay close to her. The foursome had enjoyed their meal and conversation in the real world, but in his dream, the meal morphed into a decadent feast and the start of surgeries on the mess hall tables.
The thoughts evaporated when the plane touched down in Missoula.
* * *
Rowena closed her office door behind her. She wanted to take a few minutes to make a mental plan. A check of the weather showed anxious meteorologists predicting the worst storm in years.
The census listed on the inhouse computer left her nauseated. The hospital was overflowing. Any sick person in the area came in, worried about the storm. Any pregnant woman due within the next month had been advised to come in. Yet the doctors didn’t come in to wait it out with them.
As she readied to leave, she found a white envelope addressed to her in her inbox. A shudder ran through her. The last time she’d seen an envelope like this was in Afghanistan seventeen years earlier.
Please sign the packet at the highlighted areas and return ASAP. It’s better this way. Jacob is safe with your parents.
Fred
Montana 12th Judicial District Court, Hill County
In the matter of Fred Schmitt, petitioner vs. Rowena Andersen, respondent, petition for dissolution.
The marriage is irretrievably broken in that there is serious marital discord that adversely affects the attitude of one of the parties toward the marriage, and there is no reasonable prospect of reconciliation.
Rowena’s hands had shaken reading through the documents. Tears fell when she saw the parenting plan Fred had suggested. It was blank.
He awarded everything to Rowena. Not only did he no longer want to be married, he no longer wanted their child.
This new set of papers in her inbox contained different worrisome information. She received it as head of the Emergency Group: six ER doctors who took care of Guardian Hospital’s Emergency Department and worked in the hospital’s clinic. A Post-it note taped to the outside of the envelope read, Rowena, FYI. Horace
Secretary of State
Helena, Montana
ARTICLES of DISSOLUTION for PROFIT CORPORATION—Guardian Medical Enterprises.
The effective date was midnight, Thursday, January fourteenth. Stifling her panic attack, she continued reading through the endless paperwork in the file.
ARTICLES of INCORPORATION for NOT-FOR-PROFIT HEALTHCARE CORPORATION—Chase Care at Guardian, Montana. Chase Care, Washington, DC.
Rowena held her head. Guardian had been sold. She was head of the Emergency Group, and the hospital’s president notified her with a damn Post-it. No conversation. Horace Gelp, the owner, hadn’t even told her the hospital was for sale. It didn’t matter now. She had a storm to make it through.
Opening her desk drawer, she pulled out a bottle of acetaminophen and popped two, washing them down with a sip of cold coffee. Her head began a slow pound. After tossing the files in her drawer, she grabbed her lab coat and went out to brief her staff.
* * *
Silas Goff paced inside his large ranch-style home. “I can’t believe it. That thieving piece of shit Fuentes died in an accident. We lost the shipment and the cash,” he ranted. “Parker! Shut those kids up.”
Parker Lane, the mother of his three children, looked at the man she’d grown to despise. His rampant drug use, infidelity and cruelty had pushed her to the edge. “Silas, Maddy isn’t feeling well. I need to take her to the clinic before the weather gets really bad.” She looked at their little girl. Her face was pale, her lips a light blue and her eyes sunken in.
Silas eyed her. “Take the little bitch but leave the boys with me.”
Parker tried to hide her fear. Silas had never offered to help with any of the children before.
“Don’t look at me like that. I just want to make sure you come back. She needs to be ready for my meeting.” He jabbed his finger in her face.
“Silas, is your mother coming to watch the boys while we’re at the clinic? And with the storm coming, is it wise to have a meeting?” She had only recently figured out what he was doing to Maddy at his drug-filled meetings. “The governor is shutting down the state.”
Parker would do anything to keep Matilda from one of Silas’s awful meetings. She needed to protect her children. She needed to escape.
His hand flew up from his side and came down hard against the back of her head, dropping her to her knees. “You don’t tell me what to do. Do you understand? If you want to take it to the clinic, leave the boys and do something for me.”
He opened his belt. Parker was trapped. He’d never let her leave with her three babies. “When you’re finished, Nuka will drive you.” He forced her face into his crotch.
* * *
“Nuka, thank you.” Parker did her best to put herself together as Silas’s brother drove to the clinic in the family’s monster truck. Its enormous tires guaranteed the vehicle could drive anywhere, especially in the bad weather.
“Maddy doesn’t look so good.” Through the rearview mirror, Nuka peered at the little girl sleeping in her car seat.
“Silas keeps telling me there’s nothing wrong with her, but you can see it, right, Nuka?” she begged. “Look at her. She’s so pale. She has a fever. Her throat is red, and all she wants to do is sleep.”
“Yeah, but, Parker, be careful. You know how he gets.” He slid his knuckles softly against her cheek. “I’m sorry I didn’t make you mine first.”
Parker let a tear fall. She thought being with a Goff would bring her prosperity. The Goff family was the wealthiest one on the reservation. At first, when Silas paid her attention, it was wonderful. It didn’t last long.
* * *
Silas and two of his ranch workers walked toward the last cottage. When they unlocked the door, Ariane Fuentes shoved her daughter behind her.
“Isn’t that a pretty sight, one bitch protecting another. I got news for you. Your stupid husband got himself killed in a car accident. You two are no longer worth my trouble.” Silas laughed, pulling out a suppressed forty-caliber semi-automatic pistol.
Ariane tried to run.
“Grab her,” he yelled at his men.
Forced to the floor, Ariane knelt to shield her daughter’s eyes. “Hija, fingir que estás dormido,” she whispered to Linde, begging her to pretend she was sleeping.
Silas held the weapon to Ariane’s head and fired. She fell, pulling Linde beneath her in a final selfless act.
“Two for one.” Silas stood taller, proud of his shot. “Burn the place down. I’m going to my mother’s.”