Kate bit her lip to think, then picked up her phone again and dialed a number in Los Angeles belonging to a guy shed dated a few times.
LA Times, Benjamin Keller.
Hi, Ben. Kate Page in New York.
Kate! Hey, superstar, hows things in the Apple?
All good, and you?
Oh, you know, taking it day by day. Whats up?
I need a little confidential help, Ben. Its urgent.
If I can help you, I will. I owe you a few favors. Shoot.
I need you to check with your sources on the name Lori Fulton. She was supposed to have been a cop in California when something went wrong and caused her to leave the force.
What force?
Thats what I need to know.
How far back?
Say five to ten years. Kate gave him the spelling of Loris name and her age.
Sure, I can check this out pretty quickly. But promise you wont kill me with a story in my backyard, Kate. You have to share anything relevant for LA Times, all right?
Promise.
Kate hung up, took a breath, then called a number for San Francisco.
Betty Yang, Chronicle.
Hi, Betty. Its Kate in New York.
Oh, my God, Kate! Great to hear from you. How are you?
Im doing fine. Its been a while, though! How are things with you?
Mike and I just got a house in Daly City-he says Im nesting. And Im sending my love to your sister. My God, Kate, that was a hell of a thing. Hows Vanessa doing?
Good, shes doing real good.
And Grace?
She loves New York.
Thanks for sending me the pictures. Shes so pretty, just like her mom. So, whats going on?
Kate, as shed done with Ben in LA, asked Betty to help her look into Lori Fultons supposed police background, and Betty agreed to check with her Bay Area police sources.
Then Kate glanced at the time and went to the restroom to check her face in preparation for the press conference. Her calls to Ben and Betty pulled her back to when theyd all worked at the San Francisco Star.
It was the best of times and the worst of times.
Kate had still been something of a wide-eyed rookie on the crime desk when, after a short fling with Ben, shed met another guy-a fantastic guy. He was a cop. He was caring, charming and oh-so-easy on the eyes. Shed fallen hard for him, and after a few months of an intense, wildly physical relationship, Kate had become pregnant. Shed gone through a maelstrom of emotions at the news, but eventually decided to tell him about the baby.
Thats when shed learned that hed been lying about being divorced. That he was still married, and that he had two little boys shed had no idea about. Hed admitted that his marriage had gone through a rocky stage, but that he wasnt going to leave his wife. Hed blamed the pregnancy on Kate, offered to pay for an abortion, and, when shed refused, he wrote her off completely.
They never spoke again.
Kate had been determined to keep her baby. Shed left San Francisco and gotten a job with the Repository in Canton, Ohio, where shed had Grace at age twenty-three and decided to raise her on her own.
We survived.
For an instant, Kate thought of calling him to ask for help tracking down her lead on Lori Fulton.
An icy shiver coiled up her spine.
No. No way. Ive never needed him for anything, and I wont start now.
Back at her desk Kate checked all the other news outlets for their latest on the Fulton story. Nobody had an edge. The New York Times noted and credited Newslead as reporting the amount stolen by Dan Fulton was a quarter million dollars. Kate smiled when she came upon a clarification issued by Signal Point Newswire, noting that it had erroneously reported the amount taken in the heist and would update the correct figure when it was available.
Kates phone chimed with a text from Betty Yang at the San Francisco Chronicle. Checked Sacramento + Bay Area sources. Nothing on LF as a Calif cop-still checking.
Kate exhaled. Her tip was fizzling, as suspected. Shed have to look for another angle. Maybe something would come out of the press conference. Or she could pump Varner afterward, she thought, collecting her bag to leave just as her desk phone rang.
Kate Page, Newslead.
Hey, its Ben. So far zip on any cop named Lori Fulton. Checked with LAPD, LA County, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, but Im still looking.
Kate was disappointed but not surprised. Thanks, Ben.
I checked with the associations and had our researchers go through municipal employee lists. Nothing there, either.
Thats what I thought youd say.
Well, we did find something with Santa Ana PD that might be relevant. However, its about a Lori Wallace, not Fulton. But the situation seems to fit what you described, and the date falls in the right time frame. Check it out-just emailed you the first clip from our Orange County edition.
Kate opened the file and read the headline: Police Officer and Suspect Killed in Shoot-out.
31
Somewhere in New York State
Lori and Billy watched the van door roll open.
Two men with military assault rifles stood before them.
Cutty and Thorne.
Both were still in coveralls, but theyd removed their masks, revealing two white men in their early twenties. Thorne had tousled hair, large eyes and a stubbled chin; Cutty, the big one, had a shaved head, a beard and a scar high on his left cheek.
She didnt recognize either of the men, but a new realization dawned on her as she looked at them, fear twisting deep in the pit of her stomach.
They cant let us live if we can identify them!
Get out! Cutty said.
Lori blinked as she adjusted to the sunlight after hours in the dark van.
They were somewhere in the mountains, atop a ridge overlooking vast sweeping forests stretching to the horizon in every direction. The air had cooled, now carrying the sweet scent of spruce and red cedar, woods so dense they looked impassable.
Wheres Dan? Have they brought him here?
Not another vehicle or person in sight.
Get moving!
The ridge was crowned with a natural path of twigs and leaves that meandered for some forty to fifty yards up a gentle rise to a cabin. Cutty and Thorne walked behind them, unconcerned that theyd removed the tape from their mouths and wrists. Only the plastic handcuffs bound their hands in front of them. The small red lights on the battery packs of their suicide vests continued blinking.
Lori couldnt stop trembling, couldnt stop the adrenaline coursing through her as she battled to stay ahead of her fear.
Use it. Use it to fight back. Use it to protect Billy.
She swallowed hard and tried to find the strength to not give up.
On her left shed noticed a small outbuilding that was at the end of a path that led into the woods some distance from the cabin.
Are we in the Catskills or the Adirondacks?
They climbed the stairs of the cabins covered front deck, entering through the screen door. The interior was one large open area. One corner contained the kitchen, and there was a picnic table and a few Adirondack chairs set up near the middle.
Two large bunk beds occupied another corner.
An opened laptop and a backpack with a large half-eaten bag of potato chips and bottles of water were on the picnic table. Clothes spilled from duffel bags near the bunk beds. In the far empty corner, a camera mounted on a tripod was pointed to a blank wall.
Lori grew uneasy.
Whats that for?
Across from the bunk beds were two mattresses set side by side on the floor with sleeping bags and pillows. Two long, fine dog chains extended from steel hardware bolted to a wooden stud.
Over there. Cutty pointed his gun to the mattresses.
Lori and Billy took a few steps to their corner before she turned.
We havent eaten and we need to go to the bathroom, she said.
Cutty looked at Thorne, who nodded.
The boy first. Lets go. Cutty pointed to the cabins rear screen door, which Lori could see opened to the path shed noticed on her way in. He took Billy and she moved to go with him.
Sit your ass down. Cutty pointed his gun at Lori and she froze midstep. He kept the gun aimed at her for a moment before heading out alone with Billy.
Lori hesitated at the screen door, watching them.
Sit down- Thorne held up his phone -or I dial a number and hes gone.
Lori sat.
When it was her turn, Cutty took her to the outhouse at the end of the path, about thirty yards from the cabin. He forced her to leave the door open, as hed done with Billy, and relieve herself at gunpoint with her hands cuffed in plastic.
Necessity helped her endure the humiliation.
When theyd returned to the cabin, Lori saw that theyd locked a metal handcuff on Billys ankle, fastening him to the chain that hung from the wall. With several quick snaps, they did the same to her. The metal cuff was cold on her skin as she crawled to sit next to Billy on his mattress.
Cutty tossed the handcuff keys onto the table next to Thorne.
You take them next time, he said, then pulled out store-bought egg salad sandwiches and water from the backpack on the picnic table and handed them to Lori.
Their chains jingled softly as they ate.
Cutty stripped off his coveralls. Now he was wearing jeans and a black Led Zeppelin T-shirt with the words Hammer of the Gods on it. He dragged one of the chairs closer, placing it in front of the back door. He sat with his gun on his lap, watching them over his phone while he played a video game. Thorne had removed his coveralls, too. He was wearing khaki cargo pants and a military green T-shirt. He faced them from the picnic table where he watched them over his laptop as he worked with his gun next to him.
Soft beeping and clicking mingled with birdsong, breezes and the occasional swish of water as Billy drank from his bottle.
After they were done eating, Billy fell asleep.
In that surreal moment, as Lori struggled to understand what had befallen them, she wished Dan was by her side.
Can I please talk to my husband again?
Cutty ignored her. Thorne continued working on his laptop. The silence grew ominous.
Why are you doing this to us?
Thorne stopped his work and looked at her.
Because you deserve it.
She was baffled-what could she possibly have done to deserve this? I dont understand.
You will. You were chosen because of your crimes as nonbelievers.
Nonbelievers?
Let me show you what happens to nonbelievers.
Thorne got up from the table with his laptop, holding it so Lori could see the video he played for her.