But Jennifer could never be sure. Sometimes she felt strong, confident that Patton was out there, concocting a plan to rescue her. At other times, though, she felt hopeless. One thing she did know, though—she wasn’t going to last much longer. One day, instead of taking Theresa to the main prison, the guards took Jennifer a couple of times. They let her shower and have a hot meal. Never before had she been so grateful for a warm, dry bed. It was far from as comfortable as her and Patton’s bed, but compared to her accommodations in the shed, being inside the prison was like a five star hotel.
During one of her trips into the main prison, one of the guards let slip that Patton and his party had escaped. This little tidbit undid weeks of mental and emotional torture. She was suddenly heartened and felt like she could continue on. She just needed Patton to come soon. She wasn’t sure how long her newfound strength would last.
CHAPTER 33
The nondescript looking SUV stopped at the curb. Wildcat asked if Patton was sure they were at the right place. Patton assured him it was and that he’d been at the house before. Patton exited the vehicle alone. He didn’t want to intimidate Michael Varner too much and that’s what Wildcat had the tendency to do. Patton rang the doorbell. He heard footsteps and was then greeted be a shocked Varner. He said nothing, merely waving for Patton to enter. Patton turned and gave Wildcat a thumbs up and then entered the house. Michael Varner led Patton to his den with the gorgeous view of the eastern mountains. Varner sat at his desk and gestured for Patton to sit.
“You look terrible,” Patton said with a playful grin.
“You should talk,” Varner replied. “I heard about your troubles.”
Patton nodded and said, “that’s why I’m here. I need to know what’s going on in Blue Creek.”
Varner rubbed his hands through his hair and let out a long, frustrated breath. He had bags under his eyes, seemed to have lost weight, and had four or five days of stubble on his face. His usually piercing eyes were drawn and bloodshot. Obviously he was feeling the strain. This was both a good and bad sign for Patton.
“We don’t know,” Varner said simply. “All the communications we had with our people went through your office server. Somehow they found that out. I think they tracked Bao to your warehouse and caught him sending some untainted reports. Sure he caught a good beating for that,” Varner said, almost as an aside.
Patton’s jaw clenched involuntarily.
“What about the camera system Bao told me about. Is that still running?”
Varner shook his head.
“They caught onto that months ago and shut it down. We haven’t been able to see or hear anything. All the research is based on lies,” he said as an afterthought. He understood that Patton didn’t care about this aspect of the experiment and quickly regretted mentioning it.
Patton’s eyes flared with anger.
“You people…” he said, shaking his head. “You bring us here with all these promises and look what happens. Didn’t you think there’d be a snake in the garden?”
Varner looked away. He’d obviously been beating himself up over this very fact. He didn’t respond.
“I need to get into town. You know it better than anyone—or your people know it better than anyone. I need a quick infiltration point, I need to get to Asher.”
Varner’s eyes snapped up to meet Patton’s.
“What?”
Patton held Varner’s gaze, a quiet rage stewing in his eyes.
“Without Asher this all ends. You cut off the snake’s head, the whole body dies.”
“Are you sure?” Varner asked, his eyes wide. “He’s got some loyal people.”
Patton nodded and said, “Yes, but they’re loyal to the office, not the man. Once he’s gone, and once I get a chance to speak to the people, they’ll understand what’s happened. Anyway, I just need to know the best way to get there.”
Varner thought about it. He stood and looked for something in the credenza behind him. After a moment he returned to his desk with a large map, no doubt of Blue Creek. He opened it and spread it out over his desk. Patton was no doubt more familiar with the area than Varner, especially considering he’d just led a group of people through the surrounding mountains on foot. That said, he didn’t know if that was the right place to enter from.
“If you go in from the west you have all that open ground with no cover,” Varner said, tracing his finger over the map. You have the same problem if you go in from the north. The hills are lower and easier to cross, but town is a long way away over open ground.”
Patton nodded, taking in Varner’s opinions in hopes it would help him concoct a plan. Varner continued.
“If you go from the east you’re contending with the mountains. Then town is right there so you won’t know if Asher has more patrols.”
“Going from the east is tough,” Patton said. “I just came over that way. Don’t wanna do that again.”
“That leaves the south, then,” Varner said, marking the spot with his finger. You can go in on the interstate, drive up on the highway to about here,” he said, pointing to where the hills jut out into the valley. “Then you ditch your vehicle and go the rest of the way on foot.”
Patton went over the plan again in his mind, picturing the many times he’d driven the exact route Varner had described. There were scattered groves of trees all throughout the area. They could hide the SUV in one of those. Then it was about a kilometer to the south end of the lake, where technically, his boat dock was located. If his shop was still there, along with the boat, their job would be a lot easier. If not, they would have to walk miles around the lake. Patton would run it by Wildcat, but he was sure his friend would prefer the boat to be available.
The boat rocked beneath them. Both were tired, but Patton told Wildcat he would take the first watch. Patton smiled behind the binoculars as he listened to his friend snore from one of the fishing chairs on deck. Patton set down the binoculars and stood to stretch. He needed to stay awake and alert—he had no idea what equipment Asher’s security force had.
For now they were safe. Two men on a boat, fishing at dusk, wouldn’t bring any suspicion. However, they couldn’t stay there much after dark. They would have to dock the boat somewhere and do their reconnaissance on foot. Patton went to the cabin and poured himself another cup of coffee and grabbed a muffin. He was only supposed to be on watch for two hours, but he would let his old Army buddy sleep for four.
Since leaving Michael Varner’s house in Ogden, they’d gone through an arduous journey. They had to make more of the journey on foot than they’d hoped. They knew the closer they drove towards Blue Creek, the more likely they would be caught. Caution won out and they ditched their vehicle just a couple miles from the interstate. The terrain was much like Patton traversed with those he’d rescued. He was with a seasoned veteran now, though, and they made excellent time, reaching Patton’s boat shop that first night. Apparently the place had been abandoned because they saw no traffic, in or out, all through the next day of recon. Now, here they were on the boat, waiting for full dark to come.
Patton’s ring of the doorbell was answered by a confused, then dumbfounded, then shocked Bao. He was about to blurt Patton’s name out, but quickly stopped himself. Patton wasn’t alone, accompanied by a large and intimidating man. Both wore mostly black and were wearing baseball caps.