The Big Thaw - Donald Harstad [151]
I dialed the Grossman house. I was betting that Linda was in the house, and that Harvey and Gabriel were in the shed. I felt that I would be able to convince Linda to give up, or at least to not make it worse for herself by taking shots at us, or signaling to the men in the shed.
“Hello?” Such a little voice.
“Uh, uh, Carrie?” Carrie. I’d forgotten about Carrie.
“Yes.”
“Hi. This is Deputy Houseman. Remember me?”
“Yes. You’re the one behind the tractor, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am.” Oh, Lord. “Carrie, can I speak with your mom?”
“She’s not here, Deputy Houseman.” A little voice, but so very serious.
“Oh, that’s too bad. Uh, do you know where she is, Carrie?”
“In the shed with my dad.” Her voice quavered just a bit. “Are you going to hurt them?”
“I sure don’t want to, Carrie.” I didn’t want them to hurt me, either. “Uh … is there somebody else there in the shed with them, too?”
There was a pause. “No.”
No? In there with Carrie? “Are you alone in the house, Carrie?”
“Yes.”
Well, that was sort of a relief. She was effectively out of the way for any activity. But the crucial question was “Where’s the other man, Carrie?”
There was a longer pause. “I shouldn’t tell you. But I can see him. Can’t you? He’s by the snow pile.”
Oh, hell, I thought. That’s Volont.
“I think that man came with us in the helicopter, Carrie …”
“No, it’s Mr. Gabriel. I can see him. He’s with that man who came with you. See? Here they come … I better go now …” And she hung up.
“See?” “See?” I looked toward the edge of the snow pile where Volont had disappeared. A moment later, Volont and Gabriel emerged. Together. Sort of. Except Volont had his hands clasped behind his head. As they moved out a bit more, I could see that Gabriel was, as usual, doing things right. None of this gun to the hostage’s head business. No, not him. Gabriel was about three feet behind Volont, with a handgun pointed at the agent’s back. No way Volont was going to be able to try for the gun without being shot. None. Just too much distance between them.
They came just about to the front edge of the shed, and stopped.
Hester saw them, too. “Carl… They’ve got Volont…”
“I see …”
George, way over to my left, couldn’t see either Volont or Gabriel because of the edge of the barn.
“What? What…?”
“Gabriel’s got your boss,” I said. “Between the buildings …”
George scooted out from behind the pile of drums, and ran as hard as he could for the barn. He slipped once, but made the concrete apron leading to the main door. He pressed himself against the side of the barn, and held his gun down at his side. From where he was, the people in the shed couldn’t see him unless they came forward from the shadows. They had to have known he’d broken cover and headed for the barn, though. I pointed my handgun around the edge of my faithful tractor tire, and took aim at the general area where one of the Grossmans would have to be if they were to get a shot at George.
“Hester?” As quietly as I could, and still have her hear me. Pretty loud.
“Yeah …?”
“Hester, the little Grossman girl is alone in the house. She answered the phone. Both parents are in the shed with the plane.”
You never have to tell Hester twice. Ever. She popped her head up for a second, got her bearings, and then began to move quickly and apparently effortlessly to her right, into the cover provided by the house. The last I saw of her, she was disappearing around the corner, heading for the backyard.
“Drop your guns!” Gabriel. Nobody moved.
“I said, ‘Drop your guns!’ If you do, nobody will get hurt.”
I doubted that. The dead surveillance agent had pretty well gotten me past that point. It did occur to me that, with George concealed from the line of sight of the bad guys, and Hester slipping around the back of the house, I was the only one to do any talking for the good guys.
“Nobody will get hurt if you put yours down,” I shouted. Brilliant. But I couldn’t really think of anything else to say.
“Deputy Houseman? Is that you?” Gabriel sounded almost happy.
“Yes!”
“Are