My Day at the Mall Ch. 02

Rachael watched me as I pressed the tips of my fingers to the bridge of my nose. She must have thought I was going to cut her lose because she flung herself at me, tears streaming from her eyes. "Please, you have to help her! Please! I beg you, don't leave her there! I'll do anythi..."

I placed my fingertips to her lips and cut her off. I wrapped her nude, trembling, and abused form in my arms and whispered into her hair, "You don't have to do anything to or for me; you don't have to promise me anything; I want to take nothing from you. I am going to help you and even if I have to stage a raid on the place myself to free her, we will get her back tonight if she is there. I don't know yet exactly what or how, but we will get your sister back as soon as I can arrange it."

She looked into my face for a moment searching my eyes, I think to judge the truth of my words, and then collapsed sobbing into my embrace. I stroked her hair and held her until she calmed down. "I need to make arrangements and some phone calls. I'll leave you here with Sally and the Doctor." I felt her body tense up. I tilted her face to look into mine. "Little One, I'll only be gone a few minutes and I'll be within ear shot. I promised I'd stay and I will, but I'll need some help to free your sister."

I could tell she was uneasy. I took a gown off of the stand next to the exam table and wrapped Rachel in it. After a moment she turned and we put the gown on her properly. I again tilted her face to see mine and said, "I'll be just down the hall on the phone. Sally and Maggie will be here until I get back." They both nodded. Rachel got back up on the table and smiled weakly at me.

As I exited the room I saw two Torrington Police detectives, one of which I knew, enter the hall with two uniformed officers behind them. "Hey Lou, did you escape from your monkey cage again?" The smile on his face reached his eyes as he caught sight of me and headed towards me.

"Well, Wayne Richards! I should have known you'd be here causing trouble if the mall were involved." The laughter in his eyes gave the lie to his words as he shook my hand. "Robbie let me introduce one of the best infiltration/extraction men in the world, and my good friend Wayne Richards. Wayne this is my partner Robbie Wells."

We shook hands and while his grip was firm he didn't try to intimidate me by crushing my hand.

"Pleased to meet you, call me Robbie," he said in a deep baritone voice. I smiled.

"Likewise, Wayne is fine." I looked at Lou. "Are you here about an assault at the mall?"

Lou's eyes narrowed, "Yeah, something about a girl and one of your guards being attacked.'

Shaking my head I replied, "It wasn't one of my staff it was me. The guy in that room," I pointed at the closed door, "attacked me with a Sykes-Fairborn combat knife." I held up my arm to show the dressing. "I took it away from him. He had glued a woman into one of those PVC torture suits like we saw that time in Kosovo."

I looked at Lou as his eyes went flat and could tell he remembered the incident. I nodded. "When we got her here and removed the thing we discovered that he had been raping and torturing her for more than a week and that her sister is still his captive. However she is being held in Covington."

Robbie said, "Fuck. It's got to be that bastard Winslow!" He continued to curse for several minutes. I could tell he was ex-military and based on his command of invective I was betting Navy Seals.

I looked at him and Lou spoke up "Robbie transferred into our department after quitting the Covington PD. It seems that a Judge and some of the cops down there think that having money is more important than doing their jobs."

I chuckled mirthlessly. "So I hear from one of my guys. His cousin is on the department down there. He told us not to try to get anywhere down there. He recommended we go to the Feds for help. I have a friend in the State police you know that I want to try first, though. Don might be able to point us in the right direction."

Lou grinned and said, "Tell my cousin from me to put down the donuts and nobody gets hurt." I chuckled.

Robbie spoke up, "If she is on his estate you need to go before he makes bail or talks to his lawyer. I know for a fact that three girls he took ended up dead while we were trying to question him and the only one to see him was his lawyer, Carter Burke. The minute he talks to Burke that girls sister is dead."

Sobering quickly I looked at the two men and said, "As the head of mall security I want to press charges of Attempted Murder, ADW (Assault with a Deadly Weapon), Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Menacing, Trespassing, and Disturbing the Peace. As private citizen I want to add the charge of Aggravated Menacing and Assault with Intent to Cause Grievous Bodily Injury. Those should keep him in custody up here for quite a while."

They both nodded and gave me evil grins. Lou said, "They told us he was unconscious so we can't take him until they release him but I am going to place him in custody now."

"I'm going to talk to someone and then I'll see you guys later." I hurried to catch Maggie. As I entered the room I caught her eye. "Maggie, are you the one treating the asshole next door?" At her nod I continued "I need you to sedate him and keep him from waking for at least the next four hours."

I held up a hand to stall her protests. "I just talked to a cop that worked Covington and he says if this guy wakes up and talks to his attorney before I get to Becca then she is dead. That's not a possibility, but a certainty. He knows of several other women that have already met the same fate."

She grimaced and nodded, "Ok I can give him a sedative and pain killer cocktail that will get you four to six hours but after that there will be little I can do. The charts would show what I was doing and it could cost me my medical license."

I smiled. "Four hours is all I'll need to get her out. I just need to be sure he can't ask for a lawyer for the next few hours to get her clear is all. Can you get Rachel ready to travel? Once I've got her sister out they are both in danger. I'm going to arrange a safe place but she'll need to come with us now." At her nod I went back out to make my calls.

Twenty minutes on the phone had put me in a conference call with Lt. Don Phillips of the Missouri State Police, Assistant States Attorney Melissa Granger, and U.S. District Judge W.B. Smithers (Federal Judge for the 8^th Circuit Court).

"We all know why I'm calling. I need to get to Rebecca Curtis before Mr. Winslow can regain consciousness. I've been informed by multiple reliable sources that if I don't she will be found dead within twenty four hours just like several others. I need your help Don." I was becoming agitated as time was running out.

Judge Smithers spoke up, "I know that bastard in Covington. His name is Harper. This sounds like something he'd be part of, the snake. Unfortunately young man if you go in there he'll have you arrested for burglary. I'll sign warrants but it may be too late by the time an officer can get to her."

Lou cut in, "Wayne, are you still a state reserve officer?"

"Yeah I'm still a member. I'm a sergeant. I was in the accident when we were coming back from range qualification recertification. Why?" I was curious now.

Lou responded, "As of this moment you are hereby called to active duty for the express purpose of serving and executing any and all warrants involving Roger Winslow. In addition you may activate any reserve officers you need to execute these warrants, secure the premises and perform any required searches. Once these objectives are accomplished you will provide security for Miss Curtis and her sister. Take whatever steps you deem necessary."

Smithers spoke up, "Ms. Granger do you have the warrants ready for my signature?"

Assistant States Attorney Granger spoke, "I'm outside your house right now your honor. If you'll open the gates I'll get your signature and meet Sergeant Richards at the site in Covington with the warrants and a Crime Scene Unit. He can enter the premises at any time, retrieve the girl and leave another officer to secure the building until the CSU arrives. Once they start processing his house we should have enough to keep Winslow locked up for good."

I smiled grimly. "I'm going to try to recruit a local EMT crew to go with me. I don't know who I can trust down there and I can't let us be picked up in Covington County."

Judge Smithers chimed in again, "You do what you have to and I'll guarantee a ruling of "exigent circumstances" on any charges those bastards manage to file." After a few more minutes we hung up and I went to recruit my crew.

I made a call. "Red, Wayne here, I don't have time to explain but I need a safe house and I need it in the next two hours. Did Jerry get in touch with you?"

Red McDaniels answered quickly, "Yeah they told me what happened at the mall but why do you need a safe house?"

I outlined the situation and finished off saying, "...I just can't leave her there for that bastard Red. I just can't. I've got official support but I need a place to keep us safe until trial, this slime has the whole county down there in his pocket and I can't take any risks. Not with these girls involved. If I had known what he was when he pulled that knife I'd have killed the bastard and saved myself the trouble. As it is I don't know who else at the state level is in his pocket. Granger gave the okay to put them into our own protective custody but I haven't got the resources to do it on hand."

"I hear you, pal. Take anyone you need from our crew to retrieve the girl. Listen I'm going to put in a call to a friend who can help you. You plan your raid and call me just before you leave for Covington. I'll have a safe place set up before then. Jerry and Ray are both reserve "Staties" too so I'd advise you to take them as well. Talk to you soon" With that he hung up.

I called Jerry and told him to get Ray and meet me at the hospital. I told him to get our tactical gear and bring it with him. While I had him on the line I told him, "We be deputized Jerry! Grab your reserve kits and be ready to move when you get here. I've been authorized to use whatever I need to make this happen immediately if not sooner."

*****

Twenty minutes later Jerry, Ray, and I were in the waiting room on the second floor of the hospital. Jerry had retrieved my reserve kit from the locker that I kept at the office so we were all three in state police uniforms. Mine was kind of tight but still workable if I didn't wear my Kevlar vest.

Sally and her partner had agreed to go as our medical support and Lou had cleared it with their boss. Maggie had waited to give the "cocktail" to Winslow until he started to show signs of waking. As such she had bought us about another hour.

Maggie walked into the room smirking outrageously. "Well, how soon before we leave?"

The question caught us all off guard. I looked at her. "We? What's this we shit, Maggie?"

Her expression never faltered. "You need trained medical personnel on hand when you get there. Sally and Mike are good but you need someone with more expertise and training than they have."

I grimaced but nodded. A trauma room doctor would be a great asset to us if we needed her. "Okay Maggie, you can come, but you need to obey any instructions we give. You can question them later but at the time just follow the directions. Okay? Also, we'll be going to a safe house so you might want to let them know you'll be out of touch for up to a week."

She nodded. Jerry spoke up. "My cousin Mike sent me the blueprints for Winslow's house and the layout of the grounds. We should be able to walk right in. There is an alarm system but with the warrants in hand and at least the three of us in uniform it should keep things civil until Granger can get there. Also Terry says he can give us twelve minutes from the time we breach the house until the alarm company calls the Covington PD."

It only took us a few moments to lay out our plan of action. I called Red. "Red, we're ready to move but I need a location on that safe house."

I could hear him typing on a keyboard as he spoke "Once you have the girl head back up here and take 44 towards St. Louis. When you get to State Route 63 head North toward Jefferson City and take State Route 54 North East. I'm faxing you a map with directions to a friends place at the Wildwood estates. He has a cabin there and it's not connected to any of us at all. The keys are in a real-estate lock box on the door knob. The combination to the box is on the fax. Take all the time you need and stay safe, my friends." The fax came in clear and had detailed directions. With that Red hung up and we began gathering our people.

I called Granger to tell her we were ready to head to Covington. "Hi, Ms. Granger, I wanted to let you know that we are ready to head out."

Melissa Grangers voice sounded strained. "Call me Mel, please. I need to meet up with you and follow you down there. I've just been apprised of some facts concerning your missing girl, her sister and their uncle. I'm not going to discuss this further on the phone."

"Okay Mel it is. This sounds rather grim but I'll wait for a face to face to talk about it. Do you have the warrants I'll need?" I was not happy but figured we still had three hours minimum before the scumbag woke up and then his lawyer had to be tracked down.

Her voice perked up. "You bet! Judge Smithers was very liberal with the warrants and even drew up a couple that I didn't think of. I also have several more state patrol officers from Springfield that should be arriving about the same time we get there. I've known them all since we were in kindergarten together and would trust them with my life or my daughter's virtue. We'll meet you at the turn off to the estate in about thirty minutes."

With that we loaded up and started our trip to Covington. Jerry drove the black SUV while Ray rode shotgun. Rachel rode with me in the backseat. She started out curled up next to me but within a few minutes she had climbed into my lap and wrapped my arms around her. She was asleep a few seconds later. Sally, Maggie and Mike were in the ambulance. I hoped this worked.