Blood On The Bridge Read online

  Cops never bothered to show up. It worked like that in a lot of the small backyard towns across America. Even if they did show up, they wouldn’t have had any idea who Buck was. Someone like him flew below the radar. He wondered how Conn and Johnson figured out about the underground fights and if they were even real or not.

  Lee watched a car speed by and kick up a chunk of dirt into the bleachers that almost hit a girl right in the face. Then he heard a whistle and looked up towards the top of the bleachers. Buck was at the very top, right in the center, with Danny by his side.

  Throwing up a nod, Lee waded through the thick crowd towards Buck. The bleachers were twenty rows deep and packed to the max. He made his way up the right side, passing people drinking and smoking. A lot of the spectators looked filthy, like they hadn’t showered in days. Lee showered at least twice a day. Never had a good reason why he showered so much. Just liked feeling clean.

  A few rows below Buck’s, Lee saw an opening and, trying to step two rows up, missed a beat and bodychecked a behemoth of a redneck. The man spun on Lee, hate in his eyes.

  “My fault,” Lee said before the guy could say a thing. “I’m just trying to get up there where my friends are.”

  Lee pointed to Buck.

  The man looked to where he had pointed. Anger in his eyes was replaced with fear. Not normal fear. Terror. That the situation could be diffused so quickly by one look from Buck bothered Lee. It reminded him how deep he was in this mess.

  “Sorry about that,” the man said, stepping to the side. “Go on through, man. You want a beer?”

  “I’m good,” Lee said and continued up to the top row.

  “What up, G?” Buck said as Lee got close.

  “Same ol’ shit,” said Lee as he fist-bumped Buck and Danny and took a seat to the right of Buck. “It’s a madhouse tonight.”

  Buck started laughing and crushed a beer can under his boot as he said, “This dude named Train Wreck is going for his fourth win.”

  “Damn. I thought most of the cars didn’t make it past the first race.”

  Buck popped the top on a new can of beer.

  “They don’t,” Buck said through tobacco-stained teeth.

  Lee glanced over to Danny, who was watching the races.

  “What up, Danny?”

  “Hey, man.”

  Lee turned his attention back to the races as Buck took a gulp of his fresh beer.

  “You want one?” It was Buck. He held up his beer.

  Lee shook his head. “I’m good. I got an early morning.”

  “I hear ya,” Buck said and finished off the beer.

  Buck yelled and threw a can of beer at one of the cars when it crashed into a wall. Maybe he had money on that one or something. Lee wasn’t sure what he should be doing. He came here for the fights, but Buck was having fun at the races.

  “So what kind of trouble we getting into tonight?” Lee finally asked.

  “That’s later. Enjoy the races,” he said with a wink.

  Lee didn’t know what was more disturbing, Buck’s wink or the fact that so many people were entertained by cars going around in circles.

  Chapter 14

  Conn and Johnson were parked a few rows back near the front of the speedway. The parking lot looked more like a tailgating party. Their Crown Vic blended in with the scene. Duncan and Phillips were already inside watching the races, dressed appropriately for the evening in their finest hillbilly wear. She watched Lee enter the races. So far, so good. He looked to be holding his own.

  She knew he could handle this. He was resourceful and wanted to get out from under Johnson. Helping nail Buck for the fights would do it. If Johnson tried to retain his services afterwards, she would have to step in and stop it. An awkward conversation, but she would get her way even if she had to lodge a formal complaint against Johnson’s procedures. She wanted to be done with Lee as much as Lee wanted to be done with Johnson. Carrying on the way she was with Lee was not good for her or her family. Their time together put her career in jeopardy, which would put her son’s financial security in jeopardy.

  Conn notified Duncan and Phillips as Lee walked in.

  “I’ve got eyes on him,” Duncan responded.

  From where Conn was sitting, she could just make out Duncan standing on the bleacher’s railing to the left of the walkway, a beer in his hand. A minute later Phillips checked in with eyes on Lee. Conn spotted him towards the top left of the bleachers, sitting two rows down from Buck.

  Johnson stretched in the driver’s seat and sighed. Small talk was rare between the two of them, so they sat in silence. The quiet was nice. Gave her time to think things over. This was the first surveillance operation she had led, so a lot hinged on its success. If Neil’s information was correct, Buck was a major arms dealer in the southeastern region. How he had stayed under the radar this long was obvious. He was either extremely smart or had someone helping him who was. Even now, Conn had no hard evidence showing he had any connection to weapons at all. Collaring him for the underground fights would give her enough of a reason to get a search warrant, and then there was no telling what they would find. Assuming what Neil had said was true.

  Conn checked on the status of Lee thirty minutes later.

  “They’re just watching the races,” Johnson said and took a bite of a sandwich he brought from his home. “The races go on for another hour. Just relax. Lee will let us know if anything goes down.”

  Conn realized she seemed too on edge. She tried to cover. “I’m just ready to bust these fuckers.”

  Johnson raised an eyebrow and smirked. She got the feeling he believed her.

  Chapter 15

  Lee’s phone read 9:50 p.m. He felt calmer than he’d thought he would. Maybe he should look into a career in law enforcement. He tried hard not to smile at the thought. The races were almost done, and Buck still seemed to be enjoying himself. Or not. Buck suddenly hopped up, scaring the shit out of Lee, and stretched for the sky.

  “Come on,” Buck said. “I got something I wanna show you.”

  Buck made his way down the bleachers. Lee followed him. Danny followed Lee. Lee got the feeling something was about to go down. Being off the hook and moving on with his life excited him. While rounding the corner of the bleachers, Lee saw a chunk of mud fly through the air and hit a few people in the face in the first few rows.

  The warehouse was farther from the speedway than it looked. A five-minute walk, to be exact. When the three of them arrived, Lee noticed there was a bouncer stationed at the entrance. The fights are definitely happening in there, Lee thought. Why else have someone guarding it?

  Inside, Lee’s excitement turned to confusion. Beside some long crates stacked in one corner, the warehouse was empty. There were no fights going on in here. Buck continued towards the back of the warehouse. Lee glanced around. Whatever it was Buck wanted to show him seemed private. No one was around.

  “It’s just through here,” Buck said, opening a door and walking into a dark room.

  Lee followed him in and heard the door shut behind him. Fear took hold of him. He could have made a run for it when he saw the dark room, but there was something to be said for being polite in the face of danger.

  Fuck. He knew about the cops all along. I’m fucking dead.

  Harsh lights came on and flooded the area. Buck stood by a plum-colored 1970 Plymouth Hemi Barracuda with a sinister smile across his face and one arm pointing to the car.

  “Pretty fuckin’ dope, right?” Buck asked.

  Lee laughed and went to inspect the car. He could not believe how scared he had felt in that moment. All alone in the dark. Thinking his life was over. As Buck walked to the hood of the ’Cuda, Lee pulled out his phone and typed a quick message to Conn: “No fights tonight.”

  “Where you been hiding this monster?” asked Lee.

  “A buddy of mine had it for the past two years. Finally finished it up for me.”

  Lee was looking into the passenger’s side window
, admiring the black leather interior, when a sharp pain shot through his head. The metal ceiling came into view. How’d I get on my back? Danny walked into Lee’s line of sight and stood over him with a two-by-four in hand.

  “He had bomb-ass weed too,” Buck said.

  The voice sounded far away. Lee blinked once. Twice. His eyes didn’t open after that.

  Chapter 16

  Conn felt her face flush red with anger. She showed Johnson the text from Lee.

  “Damn it,” cursed Johnson and punched the glove box.

  Duncan had followed Lee, Buck, and Danny towards the warehouse until the crowd grew thin and he risked giving himself away. They went back to the bleachers and watched some more of the races, worried that they might look suspicious lingering too close to the warehouse. Conn chalked the night up to a loss. There would be other nights, though. Only a matter of time.

  “We’ll get him sooner or later,” Conn said.

  Johnson shook his head and said, “That little shit probably told them he’s working with us. I bet they’re in there getting high right now.”

  Conn thought about that. Always a possibility. But probably not. Tonight just wasn’t their night. Conn’s eyes felt heavy. Exhaustion and a stressful love life were beginning to take their toll on her. The latter more so. And now she’d be stuck with Lee for an unforeseeable amount of time until they got another shot at Buck. Johnson would keep Lee wound around his finger until he got what he wanted. No way out in sight for her or Lee.

  “We knew we were going out on a limb here,” Conn said. “We’ll get another crack at him.”

  Johnson just clenched his fist repeatedly, his face all fury. Any other comments about Lee were kept to himself.

  “No fights tonight. You guys are good to go,” she said into her receiver.

  “Roger that,” replied Duncan.

  Conn watched Duncan walk out of the speedway’s entrance and get into the driver’s seat of his Ford Taurus. Phillips followed close behind and hopped in the passenger’s seat.

  “Thanks for your help, guys,” she said and flipped her receiver off.

  Duncan drove by the front of the Crown Vic and gave Conn a nod.

  “You want to stick around a bit longer?” she asked Johnson.

  The races were over. Cars were leaving all around them.

  “Let’s go,” he said with a grim expression that Conn knew was meant for everything in the world that was going against his investigation.

  Chapter 17

  Riley sat upright behind the steering wheel of her Volvo. Heavy eyelids begged for sleep. Her body craved a firm bed. It would have been easy enough to pass out in her luxurious seat, a staple of the Swedish brand, but falling asleep wouldn’t help her find out what happened to Jennifer. She downed a can of espresso and continued scanning the area.

  In front of her car, twenty yards out, four groups of ten to fifteen men participated in an obstacle course meant to beat out any remaining energy they had stored up. A few of the soldiers looked like limp dolls the way they threw themselves against the rope wall, a portion of the course that completely drained any and all upper-body strength. The drill was simple enough. Climb the knotted rope that hung down the wall, get to the top, then use the rope on the other side to get down.

  Twenty yards was far enough away for Riley to not be noticed, especially with what they were going through. She watched as more soldiers climbed halfway up the rope and then slid back down. She lost count of the number of soldiers she had seen climb up it. It had to be coming to an end, she thought. And one of them was hurt. Riley just hoped he was in enough pain to let it show from twenty yards out.

  Another soldier hit the wall from a run-and-jump motion, making it clear to the top in record time. The descent was not as pretty. About halfway down the wall, the soldier misstepped and tumbled the remaining ten feet to the ground. When he got up, he held his right side. Not the first part of a person’s body that would be hurt from a fall like that. He gritted his teeth and shook off the pain, running to the back of the line for another obstacle.

  Riley had her mark. She watched as the soldier went around and knocked out a few more obstacles. Not long after, the instructors had the groups get into formation, then released them for the night. Riley got out of her car and met the soldier halfway to an adjacent parking lot. He saw her coming but didn’t look surprised. Good, Riley thought, he doesn’t know me.

  “Soldier,” Riley said. “Got a minute?”

  He looked around and, seeing there was no one else around him, figured she must be talking to him.

  “Do I know you?”

  “No. You don’t. But you knew Jennifer Carlson.”

  The name spooked him. Riley could see he was trying to form an exit strategy. He probably would have run, but his side must have been killing him after that fall.

  “Easy now. My name is Sergeant Riley. You’re not in trouble or anything.”

  “What do you want?”

  “First, your name. And then some respect for my rank.”

  “Specialist Kesler, Sergeant.”

  “Good. Now I’m out here because I want to figure out what happened to Jennifer.”

  “Someone killed her.”

  “That’s pretty obvious. But who?”

  “How would I know?”

  Riley let out a heavy sigh.

  “I know you were snooping around her barracks. I just don’t know if I should report you to the MPs as a potential suspect.”

  The look in his eyes said he wanted to bolt for his car. Wanted to get to his barracks where it was safe. He knew Riley would find him again, though.

  “I would never hurt Carlson. She was one of the best soldiers I’d ever met.”

  “Then what were you doing at her barracks?”

  “Same thing as you. Looking for her killer. She was my friend. Helped me through the first week of the SFAS course. When I heard what happened to her, I couldn’t believe it. Outside of the course, she kept to herself. There’s no way she would have been all the way out on that bridge for no reason.”

  “Have you found anything out?”

  “All I had to go on was that she was training with someone I didn’t know about. She would never tell me his name, but whenever our class was dismissed for the night, she would go off to meet him.”

  Finding out who that someone was would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Specialist Kesler was the only person Riley had spoken to who’d had more than a few words with Jennifer. If he couldn’t get a name out of her, then Riley’s chances were slim.

  “You were with another soldier at her barracks. Is he in the SFAS course too?”

  “Yeah, but I just brought him for backup.”

  Specialist Kesler winced in pain and grabbed his side.

  “How’d you get hurt?” Riley asked, looking at his side and then his black eye.

  He nodded towards the course.

  “Sometimes after training the guys will get together and hold combatives matches. Got my ass kicked a few times.”

  “What about Carlson. Did she ever participate in the matches?”

  “Oh yeah. She beat the shit out of four or five guys one night.”

  “Bad enough for them to want to hurt her back when no one was watching?”

  Specialist Kesler shook his head.

  “It wasn’t anyone here. Everyone was stoked to have a female in the course. It’s pretty shitty being on missions with a bunch of guys all the time. And Carlson proved women are just as tough, if not tougher than most of the guys at this course.”

  Riley grabbed one of her cards and handed it to him.

  “If you think of anything else, give me a call.”

  He nodded.

  “I hope you find the piece of shit that killed her.”

  “Me too.”

  Riley’s Volvo was the only one left in the parking lot when she made it back. She unlocked the doors with her key fob and walked around to the driver’s side door. As she wa
s about to hop in, a piece of paper tucked under her windshield wiper caught her attention.

  She grabbed the slip of paper and read it.

  “You’re going to end up like her.”

  She felt pissed and foolish at the same time, realizing something that should have been obvious from the get-go. If someone was capable of killing two soldiers and getting away with it, then they shouldn’t have any issues taking care of a journalist snooping around. She pushed the thought away, storing it in the part of her brain where everything she didn’t give a shit about hung out together. The compartment was beginning to exceed its maximum capacity.

  The threat was crystal clear, but she just balled up the paper and threw it in her passenger’s side seat. Deep down she’d known all along this would happen if she got close enough to the truth. Someone was scared. And she was hot on their trail.

  Chapter 18

  Buck flew down the dirt road, the trees on either side passing by like camouflaged demons in the night. Hip-hop flowed from the speakers as he leaned on the driver’s side window, one hand on the steering wheel. Danny tapped a bowie knife against his thigh to the beat of the song. Both of them were as cool as a cucumber. They had done this plenty of times before.

  Tonight would be no different. If Buck was an expert at anything, it was hiding a body, dead or alive. Or not hiding it at all if that was what was called for.

  Having grown up on the outskirts of Clarksville, he knew the area like the back of his hand. Out in the sticks—as people in town were often heard calling it—people took care of one another like family. He’d lived in the same house his whole life. No one ever bothered him out there.

  He wondered how he ended up down this path in life. Did he ever have another path to follow? No, he thought. There was no getting out of the sticks. You were born there, lived there, and then you died there. For the most part he had felt like he was doing the community a favor by organizing the fights. Most of the time the fighters were abusive assholes he knew at least a little about. That’s how it was in the sticks. Everyone knew everyone. And everyone had good and bad in them. He used to feel like he had more good, but not anymore. The woman he and Danny had left on the bridge was the tipping point.