by Dale Mayer
“I gather they found nothing,” Gemma said.
He smiled and nodded. “Nothing that they shouldn’t have found.”
Gemma looked over at Becky. “What about you? Are you ready to head back to the cabin?”
Becky shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t seem to be too bothered about her mother, and Gemma wanted to keep it that way. At least for a little bit longer. Anything she could do to make it easier for the little girl was better.
Finally her niece looked up, put down her crayons, and came around to the table where Gemma sat. She wrapped her arms around her waist and tucked up close.
“Everything will be okay, sweetheart.”
Becky rubbed her head against Gemma’s chest in a facsimile of a nod and squeezed tighter.
“Tim, we’ll head back over,” Gemma said with a smile. “Stay in for the night.”
He nodded. “Do you want a light to get you over there?”
“We’ll be fine,” she assured him.
“The fireplace works too,” he said, “and we had the chimney cleaned not too long ago.”
She smiled in delight. “In that case, how about marshmallows?” she asked Becky.
The little girl lifted her head, and stars lit up her gaze. “Over the fire?”
“Sure. Why not?” she said.
Just then, Tim returned with a small bag of marshmallows and a couple sticks. She laughed. With the sticks and marshmallows in one hand, her niece’s hand in the other, they headed back toward the cabin. The least Gemma could do was make this as much fun as possible for Becky’s sake. If bad news was coming, the two of them could do nothing to change it. But at least this would make a happy memory to go with it.
*
“A vehicle’s up ahead of us,” Zack said. “I caught a glimpse of it.”
They drove without lights, grateful that the moon gave them enough light to see the road in front of them. It was a backwoods highway with no traffic, and so far they hadn’t met anybody coming or going. But up ahead they could see taillights now, and the halo glow in front of a vehicle.
“Good thing,” Galen said. “We’ve been driving for half an hour at well past top speed.”
“Who knew the old girl had it in her?” Zack said, patting the steering wheel lightly.
“It’s got to be them,” Galen said. “but no way to tell until we get closer.”
“Trouble is, we don’t want to get too close,” he said, “so it’s a cat-and-mouse game.”
“I texted Levi and told him what the hell’s going on, asking him to check the satellite.”
“Shit, I forgot they’ve got satellite,” Zack said. “That’s absolutely nuts.”
“They’re running the GPS off my phone,” he said, “so they should get details pretty quickly.”
“You really like working for Levi, huh?”
“Well, I like working for Bullard and Levi,” he said. “The two of them are cut from the same cloth, it seems. They have different styles, but they’re both easy to work with.”
“I’ve worked with Bullard off and on but never full-time.”
“You might want to check out Levi. He’s got a different scenario, and they’ve got a ton of work right now.”
“Yeah, I was wondering about heading over to America,” he said. “I’ve been in Europe a long time.”
“Honestly, it sounds like you could use a clean break and a chance to get away from whatever it is that ties you to her.”
“Well, there’s no tie anymore,” Zack said, with a finality that Galen believed. “It was a long time ago, but I guess I didn’t quite let it go.”
“You need to now, before you’re hooked up as the second husband.”
“That’s not in the cards,” he said. “I spent a lot of time back and forth with her. I don’t want to get caught up in that all again. She’s very manipulative. Not what I want at this stage of life at all.”
His tone was dry but no longer holding hurt. That was something at least. “Ouch. She just saw another choice and went after it? Like climbing a ladder to a better life?”
“As far as I can figure, yes. The fact that she married him helped some but not a whole lot.”
“Nobody likes cheaters,” Galen said, “particularly if you’re the one being cheated on.”
Zack laughed at that. “It’d be nice if there was another way. Other than being the cheating person.”
“Still, it was a long time ago. It’s time to let it go, man.”
“Hence the question about going to Levi’s. I’m done with her and all that drama.”
“Good.” Just then Galen’s phone buzzed. “It’s Levi. They are tracking us on satellite.”
“Sweet. Can he get us any details on that vehicle in front of us?”
“Says it’s a pickup, a smaller one, but he can’t give us anything more than that.”
“Still, a small truck matches up with what Gemma saw with our security cams.”
“Yep, but the whole thing stinks. How did anybody know we were here at the commune? Nobody followed us from Joe’s cabin. I ran a bug check on my truck and at Joe’s cabin and our cabins at the commune.”
“Me too on Rebecca’s cabin.”
“So Rebecca calling Gemma, saying she was kidnapped, just makes me wonder if she gave us the information not because she was being kidnapped,” Galen stated, “but because she was in cahoots with those guys and wanted to get away from the whole deal.”
“Don’t worry. I wondered it myself,” Zack said harshly.
Galen looked over at him. “It will break Gemma’s heart if her sister is involved like that. Gemma’s all heart, and Rebecca is all bitch from what I can see. Of course she doesn’t want to be here, and I’m seeing her not at her best,” he admitted. “Maybe under different circumstances I’d think she was fine.”
“For a long time I didn’t think Gemma had a heart,” Zack said with a laugh. “But I’ve come to realize she’s got far more heart than her sister does. At the time, I was listening to Rebecca’s vitriol, and, if there’s one thing Rebecca can’t stand, it’s competition. She has to knock all other women close to her. I worry about her relationship with Becky later.”
“I do too,” he said. “Sounds like Gemma’s family life was pretty rough with the younger sister being the perfect one. So Gemma chose to spend her summers up here. As soon as she managed to get here the first time, she insisted on coming back every summer thereafter. Until she left her childhood home.”
“I can see that. I only know what the sisters told me about their parents. Snobby. Very self-centered and all about appearances. They were likely delighted to get rid of her for a few months. They were all about themselves.”
“Just like their youngest daughter.”
“Exactly like Rebecca,” he said. “And, just like Joe, I wasn’t blind to her faults, but somehow they didn’t seem to matter.”
“And now?”
“Now I’ve learned an awful lot about life and have had several other relationships,” Zack said. “Now I can see how different she is, and it’s not the kind of different I would choose to spend time with.”
“Good,” Galen said, and he sure as hell hoped his buddy meant it. “Of course, traveling to the US would be good too. New jobs, new chance to get out, to see new faces, to meet new people.”
“Find another long-term girlfriend, you mean,” Zack said with a laugh. “I’m okay, you know? It’s been really good to see Rebecca through this and to realize just how much I don’t want to be with her.”
“Good for you,” Galen said with a nod. “And I’ve realized just how much I do want to spend time with Gemma,” he said, laughing. “Didn’t expect that.”
“From what Bullard was saying about Levi’s group, maybe you should have. It sounds like everybody else on his team has found a partner.”
“They have,” Galen said. “Maybe that’s one of the reasons why you should come too. Maybe you’ll find somebody who’s worthy of you.”
&nb
sp; “Maybe, but I’m not looking,” Zack said cheerfully.
Up ahead of them the vehicle slowed and nearly came to a stop, before it took a left-hand turn.
“I’ve got it up on GPS,” Galen said. “This is going back to Joe’s cabin, I think. Not too many driveways on this map. Hardly any side roads to choose from.”
They followed a few minutes behind, knowing if they got too close they’d be seen. The moonlight would reflect off their vehicle. As soon as they turned the corner up ahead, they could see the vehicle taking yet another turn.
“Interesting,” Zack murmured. “So they left Joe’s cabin with Rebecca and looped around back to it again? Was that supposed to get us off their trail? Like, if we had searched Joe’s cabin once already, we wouldn’t return?” He shook his head as he pulled off the side into the trees and parked the truck, as they watched as the line of vehicle lights headed down through the trees on the opposite side of the road.
“Like I said, going back to Joe’s cabin, just from the back way maybe.”
“What are you thinking?”
“We go on foot,” Galen said.
The two of them got out of the vehicle and quickly geared up. They raced down crosswise, intersecting the road. They didn’t say a word; they just picked up the pace. Using the moonlight to help guide them, they made their way through the trees.
When they finally came abreast of a road, Galen said, “It’s a dirt road and not very well traveled.”
“No, but they went down this way,” Zack said. He pointed up ahead where the lights had stopped moving, but they were still shining. Sticking to the trees, they came up behind the vehicle to see that somebody was at the front door of Joe’s small cabin, unlocking it.
They watched as the passenger door to the small truck opened, and Rebecca hopped out. “Hurry up,” she snapped.
One of the men looked at her and sneered.
She glared at him.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Are you missing your beauty sleep?”
“You guys didn’t have to force me to come here,” she said. “You don’t have any idea what kind of trouble you’ve got me into now.”
“You didn’t have to put out an SOS call to tell them we were kidnapping you. Just wait until they find out your involvement in this.”
“I didn’t have any involvement with this,” she snapped in a shout. “How many times do I have to tell you that!”
“Well, enough times until we believe you because we sure as hell don’t now.” The guy walked around the small truck, grabbed her arm roughly, and said, “Come on. Let’s go in.”
She shrugged him off and headed up the steps. When she got there, the door opened, and she was moved inside. The door shut behind them, and the guy who opened the door came back out to the vehicle, shut it off, and grabbed a bag from inside. He returned to the cabin.
In the darkness, Zack and Galen looked at each other.
“This is still so damn confusing,” Galen said with a frown.
“Isn’t it?” Zack said, his tone mystified. “And so typical of Rebecca that I’m afraid she’s playing one side against the other.”
“But you know what always happens to the person in the middle?” Galen said quietly. “They usually get snuffed out permanently.”
Chapter 11
Marshmallows consumed, Becky curled up in her bed—a very tired, almost teary, little girl—now sound asleep.
Gemma sat in the living room beside the fire with a cup of tea. When her phone buzzed, she lifted it to see it was Galen. She answered it. “Any luck?”
“We found your sister.”
“Oh, thank God,” she cried out softly. “Is she okay?”
“Well, that’s a good question,” he said. “We don’t have her yet, but she’s back in Joe’s cabin in the woods. We’ve just come upon it right now. She’s not necessarily been kidnapped, and they seem to think that she was involved. She says she’s not involved. We’re a little on the confused side.”
“And that sounds like Rebecca totally,” Gemma said, sighing heavily. “I would hope she had nothing to do with all this, but honestly, I’ve always been a little worried.”
“Well, she wasn’t forced into the cabin, but I don’t think they would have let her leave on her own.”
“That sounds confusing,” she said, reaching up to pinch her nose. Why was nothing easy with her sister?
He told her about the little bit of a conversation they had overheard.
She shook her head. “That doesn’t say anything, does it?”
“No. But they seemed to think she contacted us and that she did it deliberately.”
“Well, of course she did. I’m her sister. Who else would she call if she’s in trouble?” Gemma said. “Besides, outside of grief and shock and reaching out to her only family, why else would she have called me? And asking for help doesn’t mean Rebecca is responsible for anything else in this mess.”
“Exactly. We’re trying to get close enough to hear their conversations,” he said, “so I’ll let you know if we find out any more.”
“Are you bringing her back?”
“Yes, of course,” he said, “but we really need to get to the bottom of this first.” And, with that, he hung up.
She stared down at the phone in dismay. It was so typical of her sister. She couldn’t even be kidnapped in a clean way. Gemma sat here rocking herself, her arms wrapped around her knees, as she wondered what all this meant. She picked up her phone and quickly sent her sister a text. Are you okay?
No. Of course I’m not okay. Is the cavalry coming?
At that, Gemma tossed the phone on the couch and stared at it. Should she even tell her sister that the cavalry is coming? Because, if Rebecca had anything to do with this, she would just get Zack and Galen in trouble. And that Gemma didn’t want to do.
It seemed like every man she knew fell in love with Rebecca. Gemma hoped that Zack had woken up and understood who and what Rebecca was, but it still wasn’t a crime to fall under her sister’s charms. Zack might have been foolish to fall in love with her sister a long time ago, but that just made him male. And he certainly didn’t deserve dying over it now. He’d come here to help them, and Gemma had set this into play.
Thinking about that, she got out her laptop with the video camera feeds and studied that. Her phone buzzed again. She checked to see a text from her sister, with a single question mark, asking for her answer. And, once again, Gemma chose not to respond.
Studying the laptop screens, she found where the two men went into the cabin and partially escorted her sister out. She now understood what Galen had been talking about. Rebecca went on her own, but Gemma doubted that her sister could have left on her own. Gemma frowned, trying to get a closer look at the faces. One of them was definitely somebody she had seen with Joe at work. The same guy who had been in the backyard, trying to gain entry twice to Rebecca’s house in the wee hours of the morning. The other guy she didn’t know at all. She studied his face, but she couldn’t get a closer look at it.
She sent Galen a quick text that one of the kidnappers was the guy who had been involved in the attempted break-in at Joe’s house.
Galen texted back his thanks. She smiled at that, wondering at her reluctance to answer her sister. She waited in the darkness with her tea, listening for any sound. And then came a buzz from her phone. She picked it up. Galen calling her. When she put the phone against her ear, he whispered, “We’re coming in.”
“Okay.” She hopped up and stepped outside onto the veranda and walked around to the back door. In the back of the cabin in the distance, she saw lights. She walked out to the parking spot, and he pulled up right in front of her. She looked at him in surprise, not seeing Zack.
Galen hopped out and faced her, talking quietly. “It’s just me, and we’ve got a problem.”
“What’s that?”
“We overheard an argument they had with your sister. They’re demanding ransom,” he said.
> She raised her eyebrows slowly. “For what?”
“For the return of your sister.”
She shook her head. “And is my sister involved in this?”
“Again, I can’t tell you that,” he said.
She stared at him, in shock. “And just how am I supposed to get ransom out here?”
He took a slow, deep breath. “The ransom they want is Becky.”
*
Galen didn’t know how to tell Gemma that, while he was listening, the kidnappers had made it very clear to Rebecca that they wanted Becky.
Rebecca had screamed, ranted, raved. “No way!”
“That’s fine,” they had said. “We’ll just keep you here until we get Becky.”
“No way!” Rebecca shouted.
At that point in time, he and Zack had split up, and Galen came racing here. He walked with Gemma back into the cabin. “I’m here to make sure she stays safe.”
“Of course she’ll be safe.” She hurried ahead of him to where the little girl was sleeping. When she stepped out of the bedroom, she nodded. “She’s there.”
He could feel the relief instantly relax some of his tension. “Good,” he said. “You said a guy was here earlier?”
She nodded. “And, of course, Rebecca disappeared just before that. But we were up at the gardens with Becky.”
“So they took the mom and left the daughter behind,” Galen said. “But why would they want Becky?” He stared at Gemma for a long moment. “I think it goes back to who her father really is.”
Chapter 12
Gemma’s heart sank, and she sat on the steps at the front of the cabin, hoping not to wake Becky or to have her overhear this conversation.
“Rebecca never would tell me,” she said softly. “I asked, pleaded, and begged, but she never said. I have to admit to wondering, in my bitchiest moments, if Rebecca didn’t know because she had too many possible candidates.”
“Did you think it was Zack?”
“I had no clue. I’d really hoped it was Joe.”
“So you don’t know?”