Her Guardian

by Sharon Dunn

  “Come with me. Two can search faster than one.” He pushed the button on the service elevator and stepped inside. Victoria followed behind him. He studied the panel for a moment. “We’ve got two floors below us and a basement.”

  Unless they had taken her to one of the hotel rooms, the basement would be the most secluded. “You get off on the second floor. She left a trail for us. Look for one of these.” He held up the purple glass bead. “Don’t do anything if you find one; just call me.”

  Victoria nodded. “Got it. I know what these men are capable of.”

  Gavin steadied himself and shook off the rising anxiety that would make it impossible to work. He had to focus on finding her. He couldn’t allow the images of what might be happening to her to take hold. Though it felt strange, he stuttered through a prayer asking God to help him find her.

  Victoria got off on the second floor. Gavin rode the elevator to the basement. When he stepped off, the air became more humid and smelled of bleach. He drew his weapon and pressed against the wall. He walked past a room filled with whirring washing machines, dryers and piles of linens.

  He peeked around the door frame and did a quick scan; no one was in the room.

  There was a door off to the side. He heard voices whispering. Gavin slipped into the laundry room. The voices were barely audible above the tumbling of sheets in the dryer.

  He made his way over to the door.

  Sweat trickled down Julia’s back. The room was steamy, like a sauna. A smell hung in the air that she couldn’t quite identify. Was it bleach or some kind of cleaner? Chlorine?

  They had tied her hands behind her back and made her kneel on the floor. With the hood still on, she couldn’t see anything. She could only hear the cult members’ footsteps pounding around her as they argued.

  “Just do it now.” One of the followers spat out the words. The rage in his voice made her shudder.

  “This is a bad idea. I say we take her out of here,” said the other.

  Julia curled her bound hands into fists. She had long since run out of beads and had let the plastic bag fall silently to the carpet before they had dragged her in here and tied her up.

  “Too late for that. That bodyguard of hers probably alerted security. The building is in lockdown by now. We’re out of options. Let’s just do this.”

  Julia heard the slide on a handgun ratchet back. She froze, unable to take a breath. Beneath the pillow case, she squeezed her eyes shut.

  This is it, God.

  “They’ll hear the gunshots.”

  “So what if they catch us? This is for Elijah.”

  Footsteps shuffled.

  A flash of memory, of Gavin reaching his hand up to touch her cheek and his words, “I’ll keep you safe,” sparked inside her mind as she felt the cold barrel of the handgun press against her temple.

  The door burst open suddenly.

  “Hey, what are you doing in here?” The scream from the follower was bloodcurdling.

  Gavin raised his weapon and kicked open the door.

  Two men sitting at a table engaged in a card game screamed, jumped up from their chairs and stumbled backwards.

  One of them held up his hands. “We’re on our break, honest.”

  “Sorry.” Gavin dropped the gun by his side. “I was looking for somebody else.” His cell phone rang.

  Victoria’s voice sounded frantic. “I found beads on the first floor by the pool.”

  Gavin holstered his gun and ran toward the door. “They must have her in one of those rooms by the pool.”

  “I see another bead.” Victoria was out of breath from running.

  Gavin was halfway up the stairs. “Victoria, no, don’t follow the trail. Wait for me.”

  He had pushed open the stairwell door when he heard gunshots. Gavin raced across the expanse toward the source of the gunshots. People crawled out of the pool, running toward the safety of their rooms. Only one man, wearing an orange shirt, remained on the side of the pool where the gunshots had come from.

  Please, dear God, let her be okay.

  Victoria came around the corner. Her face had gone completely white. “This way.” Her voice trembled from shock.

  Gavin ran toward the room that housed the pool maintenance equipment. A man, dressed in janitor’s coveralls, lay on the floor bleeding, but still alive. Another man, his eyes wild with fear, held up his hands and backed up to a wall.

  Gavin stomped toward the man with his hands up. “Where is she?”

  “He—he.” The man gulped. He had the long hair and beard characteristic of cult members.

  Gavin grabbed the man’s shirt collar. “Where is she?”

  The man pointed a shaking finger. “He took her to the parking lot.”

  Gavin turned back toward Victoria. “Make sure the police know what happened here.” He pointed toward the man on the floor. “Get this man some medical attention. I have to find Julia.”

  Gavin’s heart pounded as he ran toward the back door and pushed it open. He scanned the parking lot. A car started up in a far corner. Then he detected movement in his peripheral vision.

  Julia’s red hair flashed. Judging from her bent posture, the cult member either had a gun pressed into the small of her back or her hands were tied behind her.

  Gavin eased in behind a van, crouching slightly. They were headed toward a small vehicle parked off by itself. Shielding himself behind cars, Gavin worked his way toward them with his weapon drawn. Ten yards stretched between the last car that hid him from view and Julia and her kidnapper. Gavin waited for the moment when the man’s guard would be down. He’d have to let go of Julia to pull his keys out. The man put his gun in his waistband and reached into his pocket.

  Feet pounded pavement. Gavin closed the distance between them, whacking the man on the back of the head before he had a chance to turn around. The man crumpled on to the asphalt with a moan.

  Gavin pulled out his pocketknife and cut the rope that bound Julia’s wrists. “I’m sure the police will want a statement from us, and then we have to go.”

  Julia’s breath came in short gasps. “Thank you. I thought I was…”

  Gavin glanced at an orange compact car as a realization exploded in his brain. The man in the orange shirt was the same man in the ill-fitting suit who’d been in the department store. There were more followers in that hotel. The newspaper article had made them crawl out of the woodwork. He couldn’t risk staying in this town one moment longer.

  “On second thought, let’s get you out of here. I’ll have to straighten things out with the police later.”

  He ushered Julia through the lot toward his vehicle.

  “I’m with you. Let’s go.” Despite the trauma of the last ten minutes, her voice sounded resolute and strong.

  They got into the SUV.

  Gavin handed her his phone. “Call Roy and Victoria. Let them know about the man in the parking lot so the police can pick him up. Tell them why we can’t stick around. They’ll know how to handle the police.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Gavin’s mind raced. “Just make that first call. I need to come up with a plan.” The hot springs wasn’t compromised. He needed to get Julia back there safe, but he needed to make sure they weren’t followed.

  Julia finished the phone call with Roy. “Now what?”

  “I need you to call Elizabeth. Have her borrow a friend’s car. Ask her to come up with a location that is secluded and away from the hot springs, someplace where it would be easy to know you were being followed.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “They know this vehicle. They’ll follow it if they see it. You’re going to go back to the hot springs with Elizabeth, and I’m going to lead them away from the hot springs and make arrangements to get a different car.”

  “No, I want to stay with you.” It was the first time he’d heard fear in her voice since rescuing her. The adrenaline was probably masking a lot of the shock. In a little while, sh
e’d hit a wall and the reality of what had happened could overwhelm her. He needed to stay with her at least that long.

  “Let’s just drive for a while.” He saw the risk in the plan, too. The thought of trusting her to anyone else made his chest ache. “Make the call to Elizabeth. Tell her we need a couple hours before we can get there.”

  She drew the phone to her ear. As he listened to Julia talk, he could hear the shock over all that had happened emerge in her voice. She stuttered. Her voice grew weak, and when he looked over at her, the phone was shaking in her hands.

  He longed to take her in his arms and hold her until the fear subsided, but stopping would be dangerous.

  Julia grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down directions as Elizabeth gave them. She hung up the phone. Julia read the directions out loud to him and then added, “It’s an old dirt logging-road, single lane, and it dead ends. It’ll be dark by the time we get there, so we’ll see headlights if we are being followed. She’ll be waiting for us.”

  “Perfect, that should work. I’m going try to make arrangements to ditch this car. So we eliminate one of the factors that make us easy to find.” He glanced over at her. “Listen, I’m sorry about what happened back there. I got too worked up over the newspaper article. There shouldn’t have been that kind of distance between us.” He was angry at himself for his moment of inattention.

  “It wasn’t your fault. They would have found an opportunity one way or another.” She couldn’t blame him. He had saved her life, and now he was talking about separating.

  Julia swallowed to push down the rising anxiety over the idea of being apart from Gavin. She wrapped the blazer she’d been wearing tighter around her. Her clothes, including her winter coat, were back at the hotel. “Why can’t we just go back to the hot springs together?” She forced the words out, hoping Gavin didn’t pick up on how unraveled she was. She needed to stay strong.

  “We seem to be spending a lot of time in this car, don’t we?” His voice had a gentle quality, but he had avoided answering her question.

  She appreciated his attempt to talk her away from the emotional ledge she was on with his comforting tone. Her throat tightened. She wasn’t going to cry. “Yeah, we spend a lot of time…running.” Even as she bit her lower lip, warm liquid filled her eyes. The car was dark; he wouldn’t see.

  Gavin glanced in the rearview mirror.

  Julia sat up straighter as panic erupted anew. “They’re following us again, aren’t they?”

  “I don’t know. That car didn’t pass when I slowed down. It could be nothing.” The headlights of the SUV created cones of illumination on the dark country road.

  “There’s the turnoff.” No matter what she did, she couldn’t force down that awful feeling that her life was like a piece of glass bent and stressed to the breaking point. The trial prep had caused doubts to creep in. Maybe she wasn’t strong enough to face Elijah.

  Gavin hit the blinker and slowed. The washboard terrain of the dirt road made the car bounce. Julia looked behind her. No headlights. They wouldn’t be followed here.

  Ten minutes later, Elizabeth’s car came into view. Tiny flakes of snow, driven sideways by the wind, swirled through the headlights. Elizabeth opened the car door and stood beside it. The white down coat made her stand out against the darkness that surrounded her.

  Gavin stopped the car, but kept the engine running. Before Julia was even out of the car, he was behind her. Elizabeth came up to them, and Gavin addressed her. “Stay here for at least a half hour, off the road, out of sight with the lights out. I don’t know what cell reception is like, but I will try to call you to let you know they took the bait and are following me.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “When will you be back?”

  “I don’t know. This might take a while.”

  Julia shivered from the cold. Gavin turned to go. Julia stepped toward him, wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Be safe.”

  This time he didn’t pull free of her hug. He melted against her. “That’s my job.” He touched her hair with his palm.

  What he was doing was risky. The followers thought she was in the SUV. If they caught up with him, they would probably kill him. She hugged him tighter before letting go.

  Elizabeth tugged on Julia’s sleeve. “Come on, you’ll catch your death standing out here without a coat.”

  Julia watched as Gavin strode back to his car, got in and turned around. The glaring red of the taillights burned her eyes. Would she see him again?

  Elizabeth led Julia back to the car. They waited an hour, then drove home on the dark, silent road. No other cars passed them or followed them.

  Once they were at the hot springs, Elizabeth said, “Maybe tonight it would be better if you slept in my house. You can have my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch. We’ll be all right. I have a shotgun, and I know how to use it.”

  Julia didn’t argue. Her body and mind seemed to be responding to all the trauma and worry by going numb. “I don’t even have a toothbrush. All my stuff got left at the hotel.”

  “That problem is easily solved. I always have extras that guests can purchase.” Elizabeth showed Julia the room and then said, “I’ll leave you alone now, but I’ll just be right outside if you need anything.”

  After Elizabeth closed the door, Julia sat on the end of the bed staring at a cross-stitched picture of a child with her hands folded in prayer. As a little girl, her father had prayed with her every night.

  Her faith had been a sort of shield from Elijah’s twisted theology. It had carried her through a great deal. The trial prep and nearly being killed had robbed all the hope she had for the future.

  She stared at the picture until it became unfocused. She lay down on top of the covers, pulling her legs up toward her stomach. Disillusionment seemed to come at her from all sides. Her faith felt fragile, and she wasn’t sure if she had the strength to face Elijah.

  She drifted off to sleep thinking of Gavin. Was he okay? She woke up several times in the night hearing noises. Each time, it took her half an hour to fall back to sleep.

  The smell of bacon and coffee and the warmth of the winter sun streaming through her window awoke her for the final time. She stumbled into the kitchen where Elizabeth had prepared breakfast.

  The living room and dining room of the cabin blended together into one room separated only by a counter with stools. Elizabeth stood in the small kitchen placing bacon on a paper towel.

  “Did you raise all your children in this tiny house?”

  “No, we had a house in town and a caretaker lived here. When Brian died and the kids all left, I decided to sell the big house and just live out here.”

  Elizabeth had brought the photo albums from the lodge and put them on the floor beside the couch.

  Julia wrapped the sweater Elizabeth had loaned her tighter around her torso. Her stomach was doing somersaults. “Did…is Gavin back?”

  Elizabeth shook her head.

  The clock on the stove read 7:32 a.m. It had been at least twelve hours since they’d said good-bye. Julia struggled to not give into that sinking feeling of despair.

  “I’m sure he’ll be here soon.” Elizabeth’s attempt to sound positive fell flat.

  “I hope so.” Even as she spoke, tension knotted at the back of her neck.

  Elizabeth forced a smile. “If you’ll take a seat, I’ll have breakfast ready for you in no time.”

  Julia looked around and saw no table to sit at, only a counter and the couch where Elizabeth had folded her blankets and set them to one side.

  “Feel free to sit on the sofa. It’s more comfortable than the stools,” Elizabeth said.

  Julia sank into the plush couch.

  “I brought those photo albums we intended to look at days ago when I went to get your toothbrush and toiletries.” Elizabeth put two pieces of bread in the toaster.

  Julia picked up the first album and opened it. Her father didn’t keep many pictures of her mother on dis
play, probably because it hurt too much to look at them. The first picture was of a much younger Elizabeth sitting on a horse. “You look so pretty.”

  After handing her a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs with toast, Elizabeth sat beside her. “Flip through about three pages.”

  Feeling a mixture of excitement and trepidation, Julia slowly lifted each page.

  “There, that one is of Hannah, your mother.”

  The photograph was of a young, slender woman in a rowboat. Her curly, blond hair was blown back by the wind, and there was a look of exuberance on her face. A faint smile crossed Julia’s lips as her heartbeat quickened. Her mother would have been about her age in that photograph. “She looks happy.”

  Her mother had tried to take her to parks and swimming pools, but there had always been a cloud hanging over what was intended to be a good time because the cancer had made her so tired.

  Elizabeth pointed out several other photos. All of them were of a young woman who was vibrant and alive. Julia felt as though a hole in her heart had been mended. The pictures in her mind, which she had culled from sparse memories, were replaced by something more positive.

  Elizabeth pointed out a photograph of her mom as a teenager running through a sprinkler. The summer sun created a rainbow in the arc of water. The image communicated sheer joy. A memory long buried floated back into Julia’s head. The sound of her mother’s laughter was as clear as if she was in the room.

  Elizabeth pressed close to Julia. “What are you thinking about?”

  “My mom couldn’t do a lot of stuff, but she loved to read to me. We would sit in the big chair in the living room.” Julia smiled. “I liked funny stories. She read them to me, and we would laugh until our bellies hurt.” The memory of the scent of wisteria that surrounded her mother and the softness of her sweater as she nestled her little-girl head against it rose to the surface.

  Elizabeth rubbed Julia back. “Hmmm…that is a good memory.”

  For the first time, Julia didn’t bristle at Elizabeth’s touch. She flipped the photo album to the next page.

  Two men dressed in tuxedos stood with Elizabeth and Hannah, who were wearing flowing gowns.