by Pepper North
“Oh, come on! You and Daddy Beau are the worst present sneakers. We’ve known for days!” Shelby announced, looking at the other Little girls for confirmation. “But I don’t know what she looks like or what her name is,” she added to comfort them. “Can I go see her?”
At her Daddies’ nod, Shelby started to run to the door but returned to gently help Priscilla onto her feet with a gentle pull. Then, when her friends could come with her, she rushed to the front of the house. Throwing open the front door with a big bang, Shelby ran outside and stopped as she saw the beautiful gray dappled mare.
Moving slowly down the stairs to not startle her gift, Shelby began talking sweetly to the horse. “You are so pretty. I love you already. Look at all your gorgeous white spots. It’s like you were decorated with a paintbrush.”
The mare’s pointed ears rotated to listen to the Little girl’s words as she approached. When Shelby slowly lifted a hand up to her soft, pink nose, the horse nudged her hand slightly with a gentle chuff of air.
From behind, a hand offered his Little a sugar cube. “Here, sweetness,” her Daddy Jeremy added, “she has quite a sweet tooth like a birthday girl I know and love.”
When Shelby put the treat on her open palm and held it for the mare, she happily giggled as the horse’s soft lips and careful teeth daintily lifted it into her mouth. “I love her, Daddies!” Shelby turned with smitten tears in her eyes. “I’m going to call her Dotty!”
Slowly the group approached to meet Dotty. Everyone was delighted with Jeremy and Beau’s choice. It was apparent that the gentle mare was a perfect steed for their Little girl. Mitch stepped forward to shake their hands as Priscilla walked cautiously around the back of the group to join her friends and avoid getting accidentally jostled by the large men.
As the four SANCTUM Daddies talked and discussed whether the ranch had additional sweet creatures like Dotty for the other two Littles, Mitch caught the motion of the ranch truck out of the corner of his eye.
It was disconnected from the trailer that had carried the sweet mare to the birthday party. Quickly, but not at racing speed, the truck drove to the SANCTUM gate which had been left open.
The other three men looked at each other. “Why’s he leaving the trailer here? That doesn’t make sense,” Jeremy mused.
“Priscilla!” Mitch yelled as his eyes searched the guests who had gathered to wish Shelby a happy birthday. Spotting his Little’s doll lying in the dirt next to the trailer, he knew. He’d come for her. That dastardly cousin had somehow made it inside the gates.
She was missing. Mitch’s heart dropped into his stomach. He’d taken his eyes off her for just a few minutes, and Mark had seen his opportunity. He turned and raced for his SUV. “Call Sheriff Underwood and tell him what’s happened. I’ll try to catch up with the truck,” he shouted over his shoulder.
Chapter 18
Hours later, Mitch finally drove through the gated entrance to SANCTUM. His shoulders sagged under the weight of his concern about his Little girl’s safety and the guilt that he had not protected her. Over the hours after the abduction, everyone searched for Priscilla, but she seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
The ranch’s truck was found ten minutes away, abandoned and partially concealed behind a clump of trees and bushes. The real employee from the ranch had been discovered with a head wound from a blow from behind. The driver had been gagged and tied up before being abandoned in the ranch’s barn. He had taken off his shirt while hitching the trailer and loading the van. The ranch had called immediately when they noticed his shirt, along with the truck, trailer, and mare were all missing. Unfortunately, that call had come too late to prevent Priscilla’s abduction.
Mitch stopped at Jeremy and Beau’s house to check for any updates. They made him sit down at the table while they talked and put a bowl of stew in front of the distraught Daddy. The two men remembered how they had felt when Shelby had been missing, but that was nothing like this. Nothing like knowing the man who captured the Little girl intended to get rid of her.
Sheriff Ben Underwood called from the gate to be let back into the compound and was welcomed into the warm kitchen with a handshake and introductions. The sheriff had protected this area for many years and was well respected. A tall man with an athletic build, the sheriff was in excellent shape for a man in his fifties. The Littles were drawn to the silver and black-haired man. He exuded power, creating a reassuring safe zone around his big frame.
When Beau and Jeremy called for assistance following Priscilla’s abduction, the sheriff immediately activated the deputies under his command to begin searching. Then, he had driven directly from the ranch to meet with the two Daddies who remained at SANCTUM to protect Shelby and Lindy and gather as much information as possible. The veteran sheriff knew the first twenty-four hours were crucial to a kidnapping victim’s survival.
When he left, the sheriff asked to talk to Mitch when he returned. Jeremy called to summon the sheriff when Mitch knocked at the kitchen door. When he arrived at the house where everyone still gathered, he sat at the table with Mitch, looking exhausted. Meeting the distraught man’s eyes, he nodded his concern and tried to reassure everyone in the room.
“I have officers out searching. One of my deputies noticed a gray sedan in the late morning that was partially hidden in the area where the stolen truck was abandoned. He was on his way to a medical emergency. He reported it, but I’m sorry to say it was a low priority for us to check out.”
Thanking Shelby for the cup of coffee she carefully placed in front of him, Sheriff Underwood accepted an offer of stew. “Thank you. I’m starved.” As Jeremy brought the hot bowl to the table, he pulled out a notepad and looked at Mitch.
He met Mitch’s eyes directly. “The ranch’s barn backs up to that road. It looks like he stashed his car, jumped the fence, and attacked the employee before he could bring Shelby’s birthday present here. When word went out about your missing Little girl, the bartender at the bar right outside of the nearest town remembered that a stranger had been full of questions for an intoxicated ranch employee.”
“What do you know about this cousin?” the sheriff asked with the directness of a man who was in charge. “I have all the background of the charges. What can you tell me that’s not in the report? Has anything else suspicious happened? Nothing is too small to mention.”
Mitch ran his hand through his hair as he tried to force his exhausted and worried brain to function. What would help? Suddenly, his brain clicked into gear. “The shopping trip!” he shouted.
“The one where you think someone attached a tracer to your SUV?” the sheriff tried to follow his words.
“We both felt like someone was watching us. I scanned the area but didn’t pick up on it. A man was sitting in a secluded corner watching everything. He was dressed in tattered clothing like a street person would be, but something about him made me hesitate. I told myself I was looking for trouble, but now I know what attracted my attention. His clothing was tattered but clean. Not dirty like a street person’s clothes would be, but as if he had just bought them from a second-hand store!”
The sheriff dropped the spoon he had been dipping into the hot stew with a clatter. “Describe these clothes for me.” He quickly wrote down the details and stood to walk into the nearby family room to call it in to the dispatcher. She relayed it to all the deputies.
Hope flooded back into Mitch as Sheriff Underwood’s phone almost immediately rang. They all strained to hear the conversation. The local motel had a guest who matched that description. The gray car was parked in front of the secluded room that had been requested when the guest checked in. All the deputies were converging on the motel.
He looked seriously at Mitch. “I know you have training in handling dangerous situations. Come with me, but promise you’ll follow my directions.” The sheriff’s brown eyes held the Daddy’s green ones. He immediately turned to leave when Mitch nodded his agreement.
Within seconds, the
two men were in the patrol car and racing down the highway without the sirens on to alert the dangerous man inside that motel. The flashing lights urgently warned everyone out of their path.
“Thank you,” Mitch said softly as his eyes searched the horizon. The sheriff nodded but kept his eyes focused on the road before them.
Chapter 19
Mark kicked the small figure he had tossed to the ground upon walking into the motel. He had gagged her and bound her arms and legs with zip ties before driving off during the birthday celebration. No one knew him here. He’d lie low for a couple of days and then carry Priscilla out in the battered suitcase he had purchased to look like an ordinary motel patron.
“Thanks for being so stupid to walk away from the crowd. I would have never gotten you out of there without your help. You just skipped right to your death, you idiot. I never knew why Dad kept you around. At eighteen, I would have kicked you to the curb.” Mark turned on the TV to watch the local news and to muffle any mumbles of pain that escaped her mouth.
“I’d kill you now, but I don’t want to hang out in a dingy motel room with a dead body. This time when I dump you, you won’t come wandering back,” he promised.
Priscilla opened her eyes to squint at the dirty carpet in front of her. Each breath brought fire to her lungs. She knew this time he had damaged her ribs more severely. She blessed the old rag in her mouth for stifling the sounds of pain that she couldn’t stop.
Her heart was broken. For just a few days, she had experienced how sweet life could be when she was free to play with her new friends in the sunlight and to sleep with the wickedly sexy man who claimed her as his Little. Now, this madman would kill her soon, ending her life as she finally figured out what it was like to live.
Mitch will find me, that hopeful voice in the back of her mind echoed. She just needed to stay quiet and hope he’d forget about her to buy Mitch the time to figure out where she was. Her fingers, swollen by the tight zip tie, slowly crossed. She would trust her Daddy.
Chapter 20
A mile away, Ben Underwood turned off the flashing lights. “These old hotels have a big window in the back that opens into the bathroom. They’re in the third room from the far end of the row of rooms. I’ll pull up to the end, and we’ll split up. You circle to the back, and I’ll join my deputies.”
“When you hear us break in, I want you to get through that back window and get that Little to safety,” the sheriff gruffly instructed.
“You’re a Daddy, aren’t you?” Mitch asked as he searched the officer’s profile. “No one uses the term ‘Little’ unless they are part of the lifestyle.”
“Yes. That’s another reason why I let you come with me. Here’s where I let you out.” The sheriff’s car came to a silent stop before moving on through the parking lot to join his deputies.
Mitch crept through the darkness behind the hotel. He moved stealthily, knowing that any sound could alert the man inside the third to the last room. Counting the windows carefully, he leaped and hooked his fingers on the high window sash. His muscles bulged as he effortlessly lifted himself to peer into the window.
This man is going to die, Mitch promised himself as he saw a crumpled form lying on the filthy carpet. He could see the silvery trails of tears that had run down her cheeks. Watching carefully, he reassured himself that her sides still moved. His Little girl was alive.
Pushing the celebration down into his chest, Mitch silently transferred his weight to one hand. Clinging from his fingers, the former soldier tried to push the bottom half of the window up. It didn’t move at all. Layers of paint and years of disuse had frozen the windows in place. He’d have to break it.
A commotion at the front door brought the man inside to his feet and into Mitch’s vision. He snatched Priscilla from the ground and fired a warning shot through the door. As soon as Mitch realized he was going to shoot, he timed a shattering blow to the window to happen just as Mark squeezed the trigger. Ignoring the bite of the glass into his fingers, the highly trained ex-Ranger launched himself through the window.
Diving across the small bathroom, Mitch watched in horror as Priscilla bent both knees and began to kick the pointed toes of those new red boots she liked so well into her cousin’s vulnerable shins. Immediately, Mark pitched her away from him.
Launching his body into the air, he snatched that small figure into his arms in midair before dropping to the ground. Mitch rolled carefully, taking the impact on his back to protect Priscilla before turning their bodies over so his large frame covered her completely. Bullets rang out as a deputy kicked the door in.
Mitch raised his head to see the sheriff’s gun explode, expertly striking the kidnapper in the chest. Priscilla’s cousin fell backward with a growing circle of blood in the center of his chest. There was no doubting the marksmanship of that shot. Mark was dead before his body landed on the dirty floor. The sheriff had some secrets of his own.
Chapter 21
In the first minutes after the shooting, Mitch shielded Priscilla’s view of Mark until she pinched him hard to get his attention. “You have to let me see that the monster is dead. Otherwise, I will always have in the back of my mind that he could come back to get me,” she gasped as she panted for air.
He nodded solemnly. Moving from her line of sight, Mitch allowed the Little girl to see the still figure lying close to her. The blood-saturated shirt testified that the sheriff’s bullet had been fatal. When Priscilla nodded and closed her eyes, giving in to the pain, he carefully lifted her in his arms and carried her out of the dingy motel room. Meeting the paramedics outside, he laid her gently on the stretcher.
“Thank you, sir. We’ll take good care of her. Are there any others wounded who need our assistance?” the young paramedic asked as he raised the railings on each side of the portable bed to keep Priscilla safe.
“He’s dead,” Mitch bluntly answered.
The paramedics nodded and rolled Priscilla to the waiting ambulance to be transported to the local hospital for treatment. Mitch climbed in without asking permission after they easily lifted the small woman inside. No one would separate him from his Little girl again.
He refused all treatment to his glass-damaged hands until the paramedic pointed out that he was dripping blood over Priscilla’s clothing. A kind nurse removed a few embedded shards of glass from his hands when they took Priscilla for x-rays and a CAT scan. She insisted that he allow a doctor to seal several deep wounds with surgical adhesive when he refused stitches.
He agreed to anything that would allow him to be by his Little girl’s side as soon as she returned. His pain was not important, but he could not care for her with bleeding wounds. By the time she returned from the testing, his hands were wrapped securely in gauze.
Chapter 22
Clinging to her Daddy’s hand, Priscilla breathed shallowly. Her ribs were on fire, and her heart raced. Thank goodness for the kind paramedics who had immediately administered painkillers and had started supplemental oxygen to ease her discomfort. Finally feeling safe, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to escape into sleep, thinking, My Daddy will watch over me.
After a flurry of evaluations and tests, the emergency room doctors admitted her to the hospital for observation. Settled into a double room with another patient separated from her by a thin curtain, Priscilla had asked for additional pain medication.
Relief came swiftly. She pushed aside her oxygen tube and breathlessly struggled to apologize for allowing Mark to capture her, “I should have stayed in your view. I knew he would be trying to get me. I just forgot in all the fun of the birthday party.”
Mitch placed a bare fingertip over her lips to stop her attempts to talk. With a stern look, he replaced her oxygen and picked up her hand. “Yes, you should have stayed in my sight, but I also have been beating myself up for not keeping a closer eye on you. I think we both need to let go of our worries about how this happened. It’s done. It’s over. He can’t bother us ever again.”
She squeezed his gauze-wrapped hand, taking care not to hurt him. Her eyelids began to droop as exhaustion and the painkillers started to sedate her. “Are you going to leave me now?” Priscilla choked out emotionally.
“If you weren’t injured in a hospital bed, you’d be over my knee preparing to have a very red bottom. I love you, sugar. I’m not going anywhere, ever,” he reassured her as he intently watched her face.
“I love you, Daddy,” she whispered as her eyes sealed shut and she fell asleep.
“Looks like there will be a happy ending for this story,” a deep voice observed quietly as he came into view.
Mitch turned his head to smile wearily at the uniformed man at the curtain. He started to stand, but Ben Underwood signaled him to stay in his chair. As the large man approached, Mitch said softly, “Thank you for finishing him. Her life would have always been threatened by that man.”
“I simply responded to the imminent threat he posed to civilians and the other officers,” the sheriff dismissed his thanks. “I wanted to see she is okay before I head back to the office to fill out the paperwork. She’ll have a lot to handle over the next few weeks. I’m glad she has someone to make sure she takes time to heal before handling anything else.”
“I will make sure she follows the doctors’ directions to a T,” Mitch decisively answered. She would not have any other option. He planned to pamper and fatten up his Little while she recovered. “The doctors say it will take five or six weeks to heal completely. Tomorrow, they are going to assess her level of pain to see if she needs injected treatments around a couple of the breaks to soothe the nerves.”
“That sounds painful.”
“Definitely. She’s been through enough. I don’t want her in any more pain.” Mitch’s eyes were focused on the pale form in the wide hospital bed.