From Bad to Worse

Annabelle Montalvo’s life was in jeopardy. Of that, Freedom had no doubt. If he still believed in coincidence, he’d be shocked. But he didn’t. Something was up in southern Iowa, potentially something bad.

He threw on his clothes as fast as possible. He needed to find Iniri and they needed to go now, before it was too late. He rushed out of the bathroom.

He stopped short of colliding with his hostess. Iniri’s face showed only puzzlement as he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the door.

“We need to go,” he said. “Now.”

“Wha—”

“Just call it another one of Freedom’s crazy hunches. The ones that always work out.” He stopped and turned to her. “Iniri, I know you don’t like it, but you’ve just got to trust me on this.”

Iniri sighed and nodded. “The car’s out back.”

“I’ll dri—”

“Hell, no, Freedom. I’m not letting you behind the wheel of my car. Not for anything.”

Freedom stopped himself from arguing and agreed. He would rather drive himself, but the last thing he needed to do now was waste any more time arguing.

“Let’s get moving,” he said. “I’ll fill you in on the details on the road.”

Freedom nearly pushed Iniri in to her car. She didn’t put up any fight. She’d seen him like this before; she knew about his drive. He only hoped she would be this understanding when they found Annabelle.

Iniri backed her Saturn out of the driveway, and in moments they were whisking out of Fairfield on their way to the town of Tudor.

*****

Annabelle Montalvo knew the wood around Tudor as well as her own house. She’s spent most of the last few years with her foster parents exploring them. She knew where each clearing came, and she knew the roads, paved, gravel, and dirt that criss-crossed threw them. She knew where the hunters came in to the forests to look for their game. She knew all the trails worn by the tourist looking at the pointlessly famed covered bridges of Madison County. She also knew how to avoid them all.

She made her way north as fast as she could. She’d hiked the area enough to know she needed to pace herself though. It would do her no good to make it to Des Moines in a day if she couldn’t do anything but collapse when she got there. No, she knew it would take her the better part of the day to reach the northern end of the county. It would be well in to the evening when she would be able to cross I-35 and head towards Indianola.

She didn’t know her path exactly once she crossed in to Warren county. She still debated whether or not to stop in Indianola or head straight for Des Moines, where she could disappear more easily. If she found a pay phone, maybe she could call her mom. Her real mom. Despite any of their problems, Mom would help her. Right now, she needed all the help she could get.

Annabelle paused for a moment in the woods. She reviewed her surroundings as she pulled an apple from her pack. She needed to be careful, she reminded herself. She had no way of knowing how many hikers were out today, or worse yet, police. And starving wouldn’t help her much either, not when she had the food to eat.

At least for now.

She grimaced at the thought and started north again.

*****

Freedom filled in Iniri as best as he could over the first hour of the car ride. It wasn’t easy. He knew his sudden added knowledge made him look like either a psychic or worse yet, a crazy man. The last thing he wanted was to look like an absolute loon to Iniri. What he failed to grasp, however, was that Iniri already thought him quite mad.

Honestly, she wasn’t even sure why she’d agreed to help him. It wasn’t like her at all. Worse yet, it might be fueling the man’s psychoses. She knew he had developed some kind of compulsion to help those in need, but the compulsion seemed to be becoming an all-consuming obsession. His single-minded need to find this Annabelle girl scared and worried her. Hell, she didn’t even have proof this girl existed outside his fevered imagination.

This would be so much easier if I could just read him, she thought. No, she thought. Don’t kid yourself, girl. You wouldn’t even like him if it wasn’t for that mystery. It’s why you fell in to bed with him in the first place.

Should she just pull the car over and end this fiasco here and now? Would she even be able to convince him that this whole situation was absolutely nuts?

And if she did manage to dissuade him, what would happen if everything he said was true?

She knew it wasn’t even a choice. Despite all her doubts about her former love, she couldn’t say no to the possibility that this girl might need help. And if she didn’t, than Freedom Patton most certainly did. They would either find the girl and bring her home one last time or she would force Freedom to confront his delusions. One way or another, this would all end when they reached Madison County.

*****

Various sizes of television screens filled two walls of the massive office. The desk sat at an angle in the middle of the room. Anyone sitting at it would receive a clear view of every monitor.

Most of the televisions showed various pieces of security footage, but only a few screens connected with the building surrounding the office. The others showed a variety of other businesses, banks, and government facilities from a variety of angles, both inside and out. They originated at a variety of locations around the state. Each screen represented another cell, poised and ready to strike at just one phone call.

His phone call.

Atlas allowed himself a grin. His plans continued to fall in to place perfectly. Soon, oh so very soon, this state would be under his control.

96 hours and counting.

A knock on the door to his left woke him from his revelry.

“Enter.”

Atlas didn’t bother to turn. He knew from the sound of the entrance and his own natural abilities that Liberator stood behind him.

“What do you have to tell me?”

Liberator took a moment to answer. “We’ve got a complication.”

Atlas sighed before he finally turned to look at his over-muscled confederate.

Liberator’s cowl was down, revealing his crew cut blond hair. Much of his red, white, and blue outfit was revealed by a leather jacket.

“What exactly is the problem, my dear Liberator?”

“It has to do with the incident in Tudor. There was a witness to the execution. A girl named Annabelle Montalvo.”

“Didn’t we dispatch an operator to deal with her already?”

“Yes, sir. He’s dead. We’re not sure how quite yet. He destroyed the house as planned, but he was the only one still inside.”

“Are we using local law enforcement?”

“Yes, sir. They’ve come up empty so far.”

Atlas felt a migraine growing in his skull. Why must I solve everything, he asked himself. How in the hell could one teenage girl be this much of a pain?

“I want you to get down to Tudor and manage the search yourself,” Atlas said. Take your best squad and either capture her or flush her out in to the open All we need do is get her in to the open and let the fine citizens of this state do the rest.”

Atlas turned back to his monitors, focusing on one in specific. It showed a pair of police officers, loyal cell members both, leaning on a counter as they chattered away. Behind them, Atlas could see several cells of the Polk County jail.

“And once she’s in custody, I’m quite certain our friends in law enforcement will do everything in their power to help us tidy up this little problem.”

*****

Iniri frowned as he did it, but Freedom hit the button on the radio anyway. It turned from the horrible bubble gum pop song over to AM. Immediately, the voices of 1040, Des Moines’ popular news station filled the car. Freedom recognized the voice of Jan Mickelson, a well-liked and respected local political commentator. He’d heard the show several times before, as it broadcasted through most of the state.

They heard only a few moments of the broadcast before it cut to the end-of-the-hour commercials, which would be followed by the local and national news.

Iniri used the commercial time to talk. “I was listening to that music, you know.”

Freedom turned to look at Iniri. “I can only listen to vastly underage girls encouraging statutory rape so many times before I have to change the station. Besides, maybe our girl has been reported missing by now.”

“Not likely,” Iniri said. “It hasn’t been the usual twenty-four hours yet, and she is a foster kid. It’ll be hard to make any authority take it too seriously until she’s gone for a couple of days.”

The radio played its news intro and they both stopped talking to listen. The newsman opened with a story about some kind of strange animal attack in Des Moines. Two men were dead. No one knew exactly what kind of animal could literally tear them apart, but a short sound bite from a local wildlife control expert surmised it might be a rabid bear. Freedom filed the report away in the back of his skull. Something to maybe look in to later, after the Montalvo situation was under control.

The newsman continued. “A suspect is on the loose following a murder in the small town of Tudor, just off I-35 in Madison County.” Freedom and Iniri’s eyes both met as they both reached forward to turn up the radio.

“Annabelle Marie Montalvo is wanted for questioning in the shooting death of eighteen year old Richard Williams, also of Tudor. Williams, the son of Tudor’s mayor Horace Williams, was shot on the outskirts of town late yesterday evening. Authorities believe Montalvo, Williams’s former girlfriend, may have killed the young man following reported relationship problems.

“Anyone who knows anything about this crime or the location of Annabelle Montalvo is urged to call the Madison County Sheriff’s department at—”

The newscaster’s voice faded as Freedom yanked the knob on the radio down. Freedom and Iniri just sat silently for the next few minutes.

“Shit,” Iniri said. “Just shit.”

Freedom knew he couldn’t have put it better himself.