The Rescuer

by Dee Henderson

  Blackie pawed at the car door. Stephen wrapped his arms around the wet animal and pulled him back. “I know you want to go out there and find her, but you can’t go, boy.”

  The dog shook water off his coat and rested his head on Stephen’s arm. “I know.” Stephen shared the dog’s depression. The hail on the roof was deafening. “If she’s out in this—” Stephen couldn’t finish that thought.

  “We pray.” Kate said from the front seat. “We pray, we hope, and when it eases up, I’m joining the search too.”

  Stephen buried his head in the dog’s fur. Jesus, Meghan loves You, and I love her. I failed to keep her safe. Please, help me rescue her. Wherever she is, help me find her.

  Car lights swept across the rear window. Stephen looked back to see if it was more help arriving, but the car drove past.

  “We’ve got another theory beyond she got lost and is out there somewhere in this,” Kate offered.

  He turned toward his sister. Anything was better than the image of Meghan out there getting pounded by this hail. “I’m listening.”

  “The ring Meghan found, the pieces you found in the piano bench—they’re from the same robbery. If the original owner heard about the ring, he may have sent someone to retrieve his property. He’ll be after the four pieces, and Meghan has three of them with her. She knows I’ve got the fourth.”

  Dave nodded. “Or another possibility: The ledger had a column of payments to someone who made the exchange. The person who originally swapped the pieces could have heard the jewelry had been found and is trying to get hold of them.”

  Kate looked at her husband. “Good point.”

  “I know you’re making up these hypothetical scenarios to help me out,” Stephen said, “but why would the ring be so important to justify snatching Meghan?”

  “Steal something from a mob boss, you kind of hope it never reappears in your lifetime. The guy who made the exchange needs the pieces back no matter what the cost. Jail is an easier alternative than death. And if the mob boss wants them back, I don’t think he’s going to wait for the cops to return them.”

  “I don’t care who or why, we just have to get Meghan back safe.”

  The car phone rang and they all froze. It had been a hypothetical idea to keep his mind off the fact Meghan was out getting bloodied by this hail, but suddenly he wasn’t sure, and neither were they.

  Dave looked at Kate. “You’re the negotiator.”

  Surprise crossed her face as Dave offered her the lead in this, and then her expression smoothed out and became impassive as Kate mentally shifted to work mode. No matter what happened, she’d try to calmly shape events. She picked up the phone and answered in a smooth and cheerful voice, “This is Kate.”

  “Let’s go, Meghan. We’ve got an exchange to make.” Jonathan pulled her to her feet. The smoke was choking them now as it settled in the room. The pieces he had taken recently in Europe were marked on that ledger page as sold. A surprise, but Neil apparently had been moving pieces taken on other continents as soon as they came in. It was his second lucky break of the night. That left the ring and its chilling inscription as the final piece to find before he could safely disappear.

  He opened the driver’s door and pushed Meghan’s head down to put her into the car. “Slide over.” He wouldn’t put it past her to try to bolt on him into the darkness.

  “No matter where you run, they’ll find you.”

  “You’re the only one who knows my identity, and you won’t be talking.”

  “I won’t cover for you.”

  He started the car. “Stephen will be dead if you don’t. These stones were stolen from a man who would think nothing of murdering to get them back. You try to suggest I’m involved, and I’ll make sure one of those pieces in that case is delivered to the owner by courier, and I’ll point at Stephen as the thief. He’ll kill Stephen slowly and ask questions later. Do you understand me?”

  “I hear you.”

  He drove north. There was one good thing about having known Craig. If this town had a shadier side and hiding places, Craig had known them. Jonathan knew where they could wait without risk of being found.

  The sheriff’s office was crowded. Kate rested her hip against the desk and sipped at the 7 Up Dave had gotten her for the nausea. “He knows this town. Look at directions to the drop-off point: ‘Leave the ring east end of the bridge, in a briefcase on the concrete bench honoring the flood victims of 1913.’ This has got to be the guy who worked with Craig and Neil. Meghan didn’t give any indication she knew the person who took her, but I bet she’s got an idea. With this weather, we can’t track him from the air, and on country roads we’ll have a very hard time staying with his car without revealing our presence. You can’t be stealthy in a downpour.”

  “Meghan’s location and safety is the only thing that matters,” Stephen insisted. Kate reached over and squeezed his arm. “It’s the first thing that matters. He’s got every incentive to make this trade and make it fast. He’ll want to get away under cover of the storm. I doubt Meghan will be close to the exchange site. He’ll want to use the fact we have to go get her as a way to buy himself more time to get away. Lying to us and taking her with him— it would only add to the intensity of the manhunt. It’s in his best interests to tell us where she is. Stephen, do you want to stay here, and we call the location in so you can go with the cops to get her, or do you want to go out to the drop site?”

  “I’m going with you,” Stephen said. “Where are Meg’s parents?”

  “On their way back from Chicago. Bill was at the hospital with a patient when we got word to him. Elizabeth had gone along to help the patient’s wife. I sent an officer to drive them back,” the sheriff replied.

  “Can you divert them to their home? After this is over Meghan will need a safe place to decompress, and I’d rather take her to her parents’ home than back here for the debriefing. Anything short of serious medical needs, her father can best handle.”

  “Done.”

  “Who do you suggest should leave the briefcase with the ring at the bench?” Kate asked.

  The Sheriff nodded to his deputy. “Tom. He knows that area well. He can leave the briefcase, drive away, and find the nearest secluded spot to stop and observe. My guess is the guy will try to cross the Mississippi and head into Iowa. This weather is going to cut off a lot of his options. We’ve got power lines down and numerous trees. We can get resources on the most likely crossing points.”

  “What if this guy goes to ground somewhere around here after he picks up the ring? Just sits and waits for the search to cool off?” Stephen asked.

  “He’d be risking Meghan being able to tell us who he is.” The front door of the sheriff’s office slammed open. “The jewelry store is on fire!”

  Stephen surged outside with the officers. The store…the vault. If the guy had locked Meghan in the vault and tossed a match on some gasoline… Meghan’s dog bolted away from him and into the night, heading in the direction of Meghan’s house.

  “Blackie!”

  He couldn’t go after the animal but couldn’t lose him either. Meghan would need Blackie when they found her.

  The wind whipped around and smoke blanketed the street. He choked and raised his arm to breathe through his sleeve. The inferno inside the jewelry store flashed over, and windows in the upper apartment exploded. An interior wall collapsed. Stephen tried to get near the building but was forced back by officers. The volunteer firemen began to arrive.

  Anyone inside that building was dead.

  Kate wrapped her arm around him. “She’s not in there.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “We have to believe it.” She tugged at his arm. “Come on; let’s go. We’ll leave the ring at the bench and wait for the call.”

  Twenty-eight

  Don’t leave me here,” Meghan pleaded against being abandoned. As much as she wanted to be away from Jonathan, she didn’t want it happening like this. The cues from the
trip, how long the car ride was, the road surfaces, nothing gave her a clue for where she was. She couldn’t hear traffic or the sounds of town life. Just the whistle of the wind and the intense crack of thunder.

  “Sit down.”

  Her hand felt a quilt and the edge of a bed; she touched an old iron headboard.

  “The place just smells musty from lack of use. It’s dry and there are no bugs or mice. The refrigerator is still running; you can hear its hum. There are plenty of sodas still in it, and there are peanut butter and tubes of crackers on the top shelf of the refrigerator. Craig used this place all the time.”

  “Where are we? Please, I need to know.”

  “You are safer if you don’t know, if you simply stay here. Don’t try to get yourself home, Meghan. On a night like this you’ll break your neck in those woods. When I have the ring and am away from here, I’ll let them know where you are.” He walked away. The fury of the storm whipped inside when he opened the door. “I’m sorry about this.”

  “If you were sorry about it, you wouldn’t be doing this.”

  The door closed. Meghan sat frozen, listening to the unknown stillness around her. She drew her feet up on the bed and wrapped her arms around her knees. The shaking started and then the tears. Oh, Lord, what am I going to do?

  She tasted blood as she bit her lower lip. Gulping air, she forced herself to calm down. Jesus… She rubbed her arms to try and stop the shaking. Jonathan was gone. She was alone, but she was okay.

  Kate was somewhere in Silverton. Stephen must have called his family for help as soon as he realized she wasn’t in the truck. They’d find her. Stephen wouldn’t stop searching until he found her.

  She had to get up and explore this place. If there was power for a refrigerator then someone was paying utility bills. There might be a phone. Stephen and her parents had to be nearly frantic by now. She cautiously moved a foot down to the floor. A wind gust rattled a plane of glass so hard it sounded as if it cracked.

  “Did he take the ring or not?” Stephen demanded, feeling every minute past midnight tick by as an eternity. “The briefcase and ring were left as ordered. Why hasn’t he taken it and called?”

  Dave focused his binoculars out the open driver’s side window. “I can’t tell if the case is still there or not. The rain is too heavy to see with night vision goggles any better than straight binoculars. Kate?”

  “Nothing.”

  Dave picked up the radio. “Tom, do you see anything?”

  “Negative.”

  Stephen leaned across from the backseat, peering into the rain. “One of us needs to go down there to see if he already took the case and left us sitting here without a lead on Meghan.”

  Kate squeezed his hand. “We wait.”

  Stephen leaned his head down against the front seat. Five hours. Meghan had been missing close to five hours. Jesus, I can’t stand this wait. Where is she? He was trying hard to trust God to be a faithful friend and help him. It wasn’t easy.

  The phone rang and Kate grabbed it. “Yes, this is Kate.”

  She dropped the phone and grabbed the radio. “Tom, she’s at the old mill house! Where is that?”

  “The northeast side of town, near the old water tower.”

  “We’ll go. You’ve got this scene. Don’t move in to check that bench until we know for sure we have Meghan.”

  “Roger.”

  Dave put the car in reverse, leaving the headlights off until he had slowly moved away from their lookout spot. Then he turned around, switched on the headlights, and put his foot down on the gas. Kate scrambled to search the map.

  “Okay. Go east at this next interchange,” Kate pointed out.

  “What exactly did he say?” Stephen asked.

  “Just the location and he hung up. There wasn’t enough for me to be able to recognize the voice.”

  The car hit a pothole and Kate shifted uncomfortably. Stephen put his hand down on her shoulder, silently sympathizing with the discomfort she was in.

  “When we get there, you and Dave go on ahead and rescue her. Just don’t rush forward until you have a feel for what the situation is.”

  “We’ll be careful,” Stephen promised. Meghan, we’re coming. Just hold on.

  The radio broke in for a weather update. A tornado watch and flash flood warning were added to the severe storm warning. Meghan hated storms. And without Blackie available to help her… They had to find her soon.

  “There it is!” Stephen spotted the old water tower first. “The gravel road has to be just ahead.”

  Dave slowed the car. The car rocked in the powerful wind gusts. Stephen strained to look through the darkness and rain. There were few visual clues to mark the area—no homes, few side roads. The sheriff described the old mill house as a one-room hunting lodge rarely used by its owners.

  Kate pointed. “On your left. There’s the private drive.”

  It was narrow gravel and disappeared into the trees. Dave turned down the road. “How far back in these woods do you guess it is?”

  “A hunting lodge could be a mile back,” Stephen guessed. The road began to head up a steep incline.

  “This is far enough, Dave,” Kate warned. “Look at the phone poles. Power and phone lines just joined together. It’s probably not that far ahead.”

  “Agreed. From here we walk.” Dave pulled to the side and stopped the car. He turned off the headlights. The howling wind immediately dominated every sound. Dave tried his phone. “I’ve still got a signal. I’ll call you, Kate, and you can drive up once we know what we’re dealing with.”

  Stephen picked up the extra torchlight and the medical kit backpack. He pushed open the door and the wind about ripped the door off its hinges. To the left of the road was an open field and the tall grass was whipping first east and then flattening to the west. Gravel was beginning to stir on the road.

  A tree crashed nearby in an explosion of wood. Stephen had been out in a lot of bad weather but this was scary. “Kate, we need to park the car elsewhere.” A tree would land on her if they left it here.

  Kate opened her door. “Take me with you. When we find Meghan, we’d best be prepared to hunker down and stay put until this blows over.”

  Dave looked around and nodded. “I don’t like it but yes, come with us. If we drive up to the house, we risk getting shot at. If I leave you here, it may be very hard to get back to you later. I don’t want you sitting in a car for the rest of the night. Just stay back when the fun starts.”

  They set off along the road, Kate walking between them. If the mill house was set back in those trees there were no lights on. The only sign something was there was the road and the power lines. Meghan alone, in a place she didn’t know… “I can’t believe he just left her out here.”

  “We’ll find her, Stephen,” Kate promised.

  “I hope she didn’t try to get to help on her own.”

  “She’s a wise lady, even when scared to death. She will sit and wait for us.”

  Stephen wasn’t so sure. If Meghan thought the man might come back, she’d get away while she could.

  Stephen felt a sudden updraft. Seconds passed and it did not dissipate. He looked up at the sky hearing a faint rumble of distant thunder and something else. The updraft intensified.

  Kate stopped. “What is that?”

  Dave shoved his wife toward the open field as a tree ahead of them snapped. “We are not moving to the country!”

  Stephen heard it then, the sound of a freight train coming. He grabbed Kate and swung her over the roadside ditch as Dave jumped it. Dave picked Kate up and ran. Stephen spotted the culvert and pushed Dave toward it. They hit the ground as the wind started lifting anything it could. Stephen pushed Kate’s head down and prayed the depression was deep enough. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and felt like swearing when he couldn’t get a signal. Then he reached across and grabbed Dave’s and had better luck getting through to the sheriff’s office. “There’s a tornado on the ground north of
the water tower! Sound the sirens, warn people!”

  The noise turned deafening. Trees lifted from the ground. Dave sheltered Kate’s body as debris began to rain down. The tornado tore through ahead of them, cutting apart the land. Stephen put his face into the wet earth.

  Meghan. Oh, God, please, keep her safe.

  Meghan hit a table hard, bruising her thigh. She pushed the table aside, grabbed the chair and shoved it ahead of her, using it to clear her way. She knew that frightening sound.

  The roof groaned above her. It would be ripped away any moment. Under the bed was no protection. Outside would be worse as trees came down.

  Lord, what do I do?

  She was a sitting duck.

  Her hand touched brick.

  A fireplace. She searched frantically to find out if there was a built-in wood box or something strong and sturdy near this wall of bricks.

  The roof peeled up and began breaking apart. Meghan covered her head with one arm as she tried to protect herself. Water cascaded inside. She whimpered and struggled with the only thing she could find. She tipped the heavy couch over and shoved it near the brick wall. She crawled beneath it for shelter, hoping it was heavy enough it would be buried in the rubble and not lifted away in the wind. Glass exploded.

  “Meghan! Where are you?!” Stephen’s torchlight lit up a broken bedroom door leaning drunkenly against an oak tree. Curtains wrapped around a fallen tree branch fluttered. The kitchen table was twenty yards ahead sitting among the grass as if set up there in a normal place for a meal. Stephen helped Kate over a tree trunk.

  Kate’s torchlight illuminated a shattered lamp resting ten feet up in a tree. The old mill house was now pieces of wood and brick and furniture strewn on the ground through the trees.