Hidden in the Bush

By Mélanie Charbonneau

Rob and Sabrina are undercover cops working in Fort McMurray, a large, isolated, and extremely busy urban service area nestled in the northern part of the boreal forest in Alberta. But beyond what you can see from the busy streets, theres a secret community underworld in the bushes of Fort McMurray. Foxy, a young lady, appears unexpectedly in the middle of an undercover sting operation that ruins Robs plan. This incognito woman is brought into the police station for questioning. Foxy claims she has been raised in the bushes of Fort McMurray by a psychopath. Little by little, she tells the incredible and shocking story of her tortured life in the bushes. Is she telling the truth? Is she totally delusional? Is she manipulating the police? Or is she the psychopath?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491899496

Mélanie Charbonneau

Mélanie Charbonneau is an elementary teacher in Edmonton, Alberta. Throughout her career, she has written many plays for her school. Every year, the school uses one of her plays for the Christmas concert. She is a devoted teacher and also a devoted mother of three sons. Although she has a very busy schedule, she always manages to write once they are in bed. Writing has always been her passion. This is her first published novel.

Book preview

2014 Mélanie Charbonneau. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/17/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-9948-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-9949-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014905674

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

About the Author

About the Book

01.jpgfortmcmurray3.JPG

A special thanks to:

My three amazing sons, who keeps me grounded and motivated.

Rick, who inspired me for this book.

The talented Morgan Davies, my Illustrator.

Laurette and my sister Stéphanie for being the first readers and all their suggestions.

My mother who believes in me and encourages me to pursue with my passion of writting.

PREFACE

F ort McMurray is a large, isolated urban service area in Northern Alberta. It is located 435 kilometers northeast of Edmonton, AB, on the only highway that commutes to Fort McMurray: the deadly Highway 63. Nestled in the boreal forest, Fort McMurray is best known for its association with the oil sands industry. It is the top employer in the region, with many available jobs in oil sands and supporting industries. Although not officially a city, Fort Mac is considered to be the heart of one of Canada’s major oil production hubs. With a diverse and multicultural community, Fort McMurray attracts people from all corners of Canada and the world. It has a borderline humid continental climate, with long, very cold winters and warm, short summers.

Fort McMurray is an extremely busy blue-collar area. Traffic is terrible at peak hours. It has the highest cost of living in Alberta. We can see lots of homeless people downtown and along Clearwater River Valley. In the last ten years, Fort McMurray invested huge sums of money to create a more family-oriented town. They built the MacDonald Island Park: Canada’s largest recreational, leisure, and social center along the Clearwater River Valley. The scenery is fantastic. There are walking trails all around the city and the river. But beyond what you can see from the busy streets, there’s a secret community underworld in the bushes of Fort McMurray.

CHAPTER 1

R ob Hennessy was being very cautious. Although it was only four in the afternoon, it was already getting dark. It had been raining all day, but rain or shine, he was sticking to his plan. He’d been waiting for this day for far too long. A tornado wouldn’t stop him right now. Although the weather was not the greatest for his mission, he was remaining focused on his target zone, ready to shoot if need be.

It started to pour. Great! Just what I need! thought Rob. In no time, raindrops were falling from his Oilers cap and his nose. He was getting cold from staying still for so long. He’d been sitting there, behind a garbage bin near Long Shots bar, waiting for Diego Sanchez and his cargo full of cocaine since two that afternoon. He should have been there by now. He was never late. Maybe something went wrong. He was just about to give up and call Sabrina when he saw two headlights coming slowly into the back alley. He looked in his scope to the right. In his range, he saw a homeless woman pushing a shopping cart. That was normal in Fort McMurray. She was innocent until proven guilty. He looked to the left. He saw a black man getting out of his black SUV with a black suitcase in hand. Rob smiled. Now we were talking. Perfect. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. He zoomed back to the delivery truck coming ahead of him. The truck stopped right in front of the SUV. A clean-cut, black-haired, middle-age man stepped out of the truck, followed by what seemed to be his bodyguard: a tall, bald man, who looked like a body builder. The black man didn’t seem to be intimidated by him.

You’re late! I don’t have time to lose. Open the back door! said the black man.

Not until you give me the money. You know the drill. Now give it to me and the load is all yours.

I’ll show you mine if and when you show me yours.

You must be new here! said Diego in an amazed tone. Let me show you how it works, pal! You think you’re tough, being black and all. You’re just the delivery man. That’s it, that’s all. You’re nobody! You don’t dictate what I do. In fact, you have no say at all. You get that! Now you just pissed me off with your attitude. Well, today is your lucky day, pal. Let me show you who I am and how I work! You see that poor old lady? He grabbed the homeless woman passing by and held her against his chest, with a gun to her temple. You give me the fucking suitcase or the lady dies.

Ah come on, man, there’s no need for that! Drop the gun and let her go. I’ll give you the damn money. Everything is cool, man! He put the suitcase on the ground and gave it a push with his foot.

Out of the blue, someone dressed in black, almost ghostlike, ran from behind the truck, stole Diego’s gun, threw it in the garbage bin, grabbed the suitcase, and ran away behind the truck, out of sight.

What the fuck? whispered Rob. But before he could do anything, he heard a gunshot. The bodyguard had tried to shoot at the runaway dude. But that ninja dude had somehow managed to escape before anybody had time to react. The shot had hit the black man. He was lying on the ground. There was already a puddle of blood around him. Diego and his bodyguard fled back to the delivery truck and disappeared, leaving the dead man on the ground.

Fuuuuck! Bobby! Sabrina knelt beside him, taking her wig off her head, for she had been dressed as the homeless lady. Rob ran toward them. She looked at Rob and nodded sadly. It’s too late, Rob… he’s gone. Rob paged the police station. This is number 392. Officer down! Bobby is down! I need an ambulance on the scene now! And I need back up. Diego ran away. I’m going after him. I need a set of eyes… I need a chopper now! He ran to his car parked on the other side of the street and raced down to Franklin Avenue.

Sabrina, now carless, was not about to wait there uselessly for the ambulance to come. She could hear the sirens from afar. She took off running, hoping to find the mysterious person that ruined their plan and blew the whole operation. While running in the back alleys, she found a bike lying at the corner of a building and jumped on it. She knew the best place to hide was in the bush along the river. That was her best hope. While pedaling as fast as she could, she phoned for backup. She raced toward the river. She saw the black figure heading for the bushes. She could hear the sirens right behind her. Sabrina jumped off the bike and ran after the suspect. She entered the bush. It didn’t take long before she lost him. Out of breath, she stopped, panting hard. She could hear the backup entering the bush. Then she heard a gunshot. She ran toward the sound. Rob was on the ground. He got hit on the shoulder.

That son of a bitch grabbed my gun from behind and shot me. I’ll be okay, guys. Go catch that guy. He went that way—and, guys, be careful. He’s a professional. I didn’t even see or hear him coming, he said, pointing left.

We can’t leave you like this, said Sabrina.

Goooooooo!

And so everyone left him there to chase this unknown Robin Hood. They were three cops against one villain. They decided to split up. Sabrina couldn’t believe how things went from bad to worse today. She was determined to catch this guy and end this. From the corner of her right eye, she thought she saw a shadow. She went in that direction. She saw a deer. She was just about to bring her gun down when she saw him behind the deer. She paged the other cops and started chasing him again. He was agile and fast, like an animal. She couldn’t even hear his footsteps. In no time, he was out of range, out of sight. It didn’t take long before the two cops caught up to Sabrina. Although they didn’t know where they were going, they kept on running. On a hunch, Sabrina turned to the right without warning. Branches kept slapping her face while she was running. She could hear the other two swearing behind her. Through the branches, she saw a big hill. She slowed down. She had no energy left to climb that hill. She was just about ready to give up when she saw him starting to climb the hill.

Police! Freeze! Hands behind your head, now!

To Sabrina’s surprise, he stopped and put his hands behind his head. They ran toward him to cuff him. He didn’t try to