by N L Hinkens
“And Katie?” Sonia asked, fixing an accusing gaze on Finn. “Where is she?”
Finn grinned, and began crooning in a mocking fashion. “If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise.” He laughed and slapped his thigh. “The forest’s full of wild surprises, my love: bear, wild boar, coyotes, cougars. Take your pick.”
“You’re the only animal here!” Sonia spat at him. “You killed her, didn’t you?”
Finn laughed again before turning back to Ray. ”I wasn’t looking for a dog that day when I bumped into you—I was looking for Katie. She fought me like a banshee when I found her, screaming and hollering. I had to get rid of her. I passed Tom’s cabin on my way back and overheard you telling him Celia was dead. And then you two started getting into it over Tom neglecting his son. I hung around and watched you take off with Henry. When I saw Tom trying to get up off the floor, I knew it was my chance to unload Henry on you.”
“How could you murder two innocent people in cold blood like that?” Sonia screamed at him. “Are we next, Finn? Is that your grand finale?”
He smoothed a hand over his beard. ”It doesn’t have to be. I have a proposal for Ray if he decides to cooperate.”
Ray scowled at him. “That depends on what you have in mind.”
“You agree to sign Celia’s estate over to me, and I’ll let you live. Of course, I’ll have to keep you in the bunker until the money hits my account, but, once it does, I’ll put in an anonymous call to the police and let them know where to find you.”
“And if I agree, what about Sonia?” Ray asked.
Finn narrowed his eyes. “You got something going with my wife, or what? Why do you care what happens to her? She goes where I go.”
“I’m not your wife anymore!” Sonia hissed through gritted teeth.
“Either she stays here with me, or there’s no deal,” Ray said.
Finn smirked. “That’s heroic. She can stay here, for now, so long as you keep up your end of the bargain. Otherwise, you’ll both be digging graves by the light of the moon.”
”You’ve done nothing but lie to me ever since I met you,” Ray said. “Why should I believe you now?”
Finn gave a nonchalant shrug. ”Your choice.” He ran a finger along the gun in his hands. “So, do you want to die today, or do you want to sign the paperwork I left at Tom’s cabin?”
Ray threw Sonia a searching look. Her pale face was streaked with tears and dirt, her hair damp and tangled, and her eyes filled with the fear of prey that had walked into a trap and knew it was a fatal blunder. This was all his fault. He had dragged her into this mess by asking her to drive him to the cabin. Somehow, he needed to get her out of here. The first step was to buy some time. ”All right, I’ll sign it.”
Finn grunted his approval and got to his feet. He paused at the door and flashed them a broad grin. ”Tell you what, I’ll even throw in Henry for good measure. Then you can all be one big happy family.”
Ray clenched his teeth until the sound of Finn’s maniacal laughter gradually faded.
“I’m so sorry—“ he began.
Sonia cut him off. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I can’t believe my family has been living off your mother for the past five years—stealing from her.”
“You didn’t know,” Ray said. “That was all on Finn.”
Sonia shook her head. “I should have been paying more attention to what was going on. I remember thinking at one point it was odd that I wasn’t getting military-related correspondence anymore. But to be honest, I was just so glad to have Finn out of our lives that I didn’t question it. I didn’t even notice that the child support had started coming from a new account. I never told your mother Finn was abusive—I didn’t want Jessica to find out. If only I’d said something, he would never have been able to dupe her like he did.”
“None of this is your fault,” Ray assured her. “I really am sorry I dragged you into this mess, and I’m sorry for lying to you about my wife dying of cancer. I made that up to shut down any questions about Henry’s mother. It’s all coming back to me bit by bit.”
Sonia suppressed a sob. ”Finn was so angry when I filed for divorce. He always told me he would win in the end. If he kills me, he’ll get custody of Jessica.”
“Henry too,” Ray added grimly. ”But we’re not going to let that happen. We need to figure out a way to escape before he gets back. He has no intention of letting us live once he gets his hands on the money. You heard him. He’ll march us into the forest and make us dig our own graves. We have no chance of escaping with a gun trained on us. This is our best shot.”
Sonia threw a helpless look around. “How exactly are we supposed to get out of here?”
“I’m not sure,” Ray admitted. ”But Katie did it.”
Sonia bit down on her lip. “I can’t believe she spent the past few years in a bunker. She must have been terrified.”
“Sounds like Finn gave her some freedom after Henry was born. She was likely so conditioned by then—what do they call it, Stockholm syndrome or something—that Finn never imagined she would try to escape.”
Sonia wiped her bound hands over her eyes. ”I wish she could have known that Henry was safe before she died.”
“All this time I thought it was Tom who’d abused him,” Ray said. “I feel sick to my stomach every time I think about the things that I accused my brother of. He was only trying to help Henry escape. That’s why he hid him in the loft bed—in case Finn came by. He was probably planning to take him to our mother’s place—he had nowhere else to go.” He hesitated before adding softly. “He might even have told Henry he was his real dad so he would feel safe with him.”
Sonia smiled sadly at him. ”Your brother was a good man. He died a hero.”
Ray pressed his lips together tightly. ”He shouldn’t have died at all. If I hadn’t been so angry with him, he might have confided in me. But he hadn’t seen me in twenty years, and he didn’t trust me. Not that I blame him—I was from the outside world that had only ever let him down. It’s my fault he’s dead.”
“No, Finn killed him,” Sonia said firmly. “All we can do to honor Tom now is fight to stay alive. We can start by finding something to cut these ties with.”
Ray gave an absent nod, eying a blanket just out of reach in the corner of the floor. If he lay on his back and extended his hands over his head, he might be able to grab a corner. Maybe there would be something useful underneath it. He wriggled into position and stretched out on the dirt floor. It took several attempts, but he finally succeeded in grasping the edge of the blanket between his fingers. Grunting, he tugged it toward him, revealing a small blue notebook.
“That must be Katie’s,” Sonia muttered, her voice breaking.
“I can’t reach it,” Ray said, sitting back up. “Anyway, it’s not going to help us get out of here. I was hoping for some tools or a knife.” He frowned in concentration, trying for several minutes to free his feet, before turning his attention to his hands. After a few minutes, he gave up, his wrists too raw to keep at it. There was no point in trying to dig out the iron ring either—no doubt Finn had some heavy-duty anchor securing it in place.
Frustrated, he eyed the hardback notebook lying just out of reach. Maybe he could tear off the cover and use it as leverage to force the zip tie over his wrists somehow. Holding one end of the blanket, he threw it over the book and, after several tries, gradually managed to tug it toward him. Sonia reached for it and opened it, flicking through pages of accomplished sketches—everything from beach scenes to birthday parties.
“This is heartbreaking,” Sonia said in a hoarse whisper. “This was how Katie showed Henry the outside world.”
“We’re wasting time,” Ray chided. “We need to focus on getting out of here.”
Sonia frowned, turning the book sideways to examine a drawing. “Hey! Check it out! It’s a picture of this room.”
Trying to mask his irritation, Ray glanced at the sketch.
It was an amateurish attempt, obviously Henry’s handiwork, but one small detail caught his attention. Beneath the iron ring was a handful of tiny dashes—too exact to have been drawn by a four-year-old. His eye traveled across the page to the clumsy attempt at a door. Right below the lock was another small dash. Ray gasped as Finn’s words flashed to mind.
Turns out Katie was a lot more resourceful than I gave her credit for.
He tapped a finger excitedly on the dashes. “Those are nails! Katie buried them to hide them from Finn! She’s drawn one below the lock to show what they are—probably for Henry’s sake, in case anything ever happened to her.”
His eyes locked with Sonia’s, and a flicker of hope passed between them.
“Hurry!” Ray said urgently. “We don’t have much time.”
Rivulets of sweat ran down his back as he worked, digging like a rabid dog for a bone. He struggled to loosen the dirt around the ring until his cramped fingers began to bleed.
“It’s no use,” Sonia sobbed, kicking at the ring in frustration.
“Don’t give up, yet!” Ray urged. “It’s our only chance.” Wincing, he drove his bloodied fingers deeper into the dirt—yelping when the tip of his finger touched something sharp. “I’ve got something!” he gasped.
Scrabbling at the dirt, he uncovered a handful of three-inch rusty nails, wrapped in a scrap of paper.
“What is it?” Sonia asked.
Ray carefully unfurled the slip of paper and read it aloud. “Remember us: Katie Rose Lambert, born June 02, 1999, and Henry Jackson Lambert, born April 04, 2017.”
Ray glanced over at Sonia’s sorrow-stricken face.
”She was too young to die,” she whispered.
“I wish we could have saved her,” Ray said. He gestured to the nails. “It looks like she might have saved us.”
Sonia brushed the tears from her lashes. “How? We can’t pick the lock if we can’t reach the door.”
”No, but we can use the nails as a weapon. If we can’t walk out of here, we’ll have to fight our way out.”
“But Finn has a gun,” Sonia said dubiously.
“That’s why we’ll have to use the element of surprise,” Ray replied. ”We’ll conceal the nails in our fingers—kind of like the brass knuckles prisoners use—and then when one of us gets close enough to him, we go for his neck. Maybe I’ll get a chance when he gives me the paperwork to sign.”
“You mean … kill him,” Sonia said breathlessly.
Ray scooted closer and fixed an earnest gaze on her. “Listen to me, Sonia. We have two small children who are depending on us. If Finn kills us, they’ll both be at his mercy. You need to be prepared to do whatever it takes to protect them from this monster.”
A light seemed to go on in Sonia’s head and she nodded. ”All right, I’ll do it—whatever it takes.”
Time dragged on and the light was beginning to fade, but eventually the heavy tread of footsteps signaled Finn’s return to the cabin. Sonia immediately lay down on her side and tucked her hands between her legs, feigning sleep. Ray pulled his knees to his chest, heart thumping as he waited for the key to turn in the lock. Moments later, the door creaked inward and Finn’s imposing frame filled the doorway. In one hand, he held a lantern which he set on the small table in the corner of the room, before striding over to them. “I’m sure you two had a nice chat while I was gone. Time to get down to business now.” He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pen and some paperwork. ”Sign here,” he barked, thrusting it under Ray’s nose.
“You know this won’t hold up,” Ray said, glancing at the documents. ”You need a notary to witness this.”
“Let me worry about the technicalities,” Finn replied with a sly grin. ”I have an ex-military buddy who owes me a favor.”
Ray slid a glance at Sonia who was pretending to stir in her sleep. Gripping the pen awkwardly between his fingers, he signed the form Finn held out in front of him.
“Much obliged,” Finn sneered, slipping the paperwork back into his pocket. He kicked Sonia with his boot, and she yelped, her eyes popping open. Cowering from him, she pulled herself into a sitting position.
“It’s time you and I had a little talk in private,” Finn said, leaning over to cut her feet free from the iron ring. The minute he did, she fell on her knees in front of him, sobbing dramatically.
”Please let me go, Finn. Jessica needs me. I swear I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone. Do what you want to Ray. Just let me go back home to our baby.”
Shock decimated through Ray’s brain. He slowed his breathing, trying to think through the fog of fatigue and confusion closing in on him like a dark hood—the prelude to his execution. What was Sonia doing? His trust in everyone had been eroded. Why should he hope it would be any different now? The dreadful thought that she was selling him out hung there for an elongated moment. If he was going to survive this ordeal, it wouldn’t be by relying on anyone else. He tried to stem the relentless surge of panic shooting through his veins as he worked feverishly to retrieve the nails from his sleeve and position them between his fingers.
Finn reached down and seized Sonia by the hair. As he hauled her to her feet, she flew at him like a wildcat, plunging the nails between her fingers into his neck. Blindsided by the attack, he staggered backward, roaring in pain, his hands reaching for his neck, spurting blood.
Hope and determination fused as one, powering Ray into action. In a burst of speed, he grabbed Finn by the ankle and toppled him. Struggling to gain the upper hand, Ray yanked the gun from Finn’s holster and aimed it at him, adrenalin pulsing through his veins. “Stay down, or I’ll shoot.”
Groaning, Finn rolled onto his side and made a feeble attempt to get to his knees. He tried to say something, but the only thing that came from his throat was a dying gurgle.
32
THREE MONTHS LATER
Lost in her thoughts, Sonia stirred the pot of chicken chowder she was making for Sunday brunch. It was one of her mother’s old recipes—a feel-good staple from her childhood. She had invited Ray and Henry to join them, knowing they wouldn’t be around for too many more weekends. The nostalgic aroma wafting into her nostrils brought a smile to her lips as she recalled the many happy, carefree days she’d enjoyed as a kid.
She hadn’t had a productive week of work since Finn’s death—since she had killed him. What she had done hung over her at times like a dense cloud, invading her sleep at night, thwarting her ability to think straight by day. A tightly wound ball of grief and pain remained stubbornly lodged in her throat, the ever-present threat of tears like pepper in her eyes. A classic case of PTSD, her therapist had explained. The trauma of enduring years of abuse had resurfaced, demanding to be heard now that her abuser was dead.
In the early years of their marriage, Sonia had spent many a sleepless night worrying about Finn stepping on an IED, or dying under a barrage of enemy fire, or laying down his life in some equally heroic fashion. Never in a million years had she imagined he would die at her own hand—anything but a hero.
Killing someone, especially the man you had promised to love and cherish until death do you part, was proving to be no easy thing to live with. Ray, on the other hand, had been mercifully released from the terrible burden of believing he had killed his brother. She was happy for him, of course. But every time Sonia went to sleep and woke up again, the stark reality of her situation remained unchanged—Finn was dead, and she had killed him.
It wasn’t that she didn’t think he deserved to die for the reprehensible things he had done. She could scarcely comprehend that the man she had been married to, the father of her beautiful daughter, had conducted such a vile, secret life and successfully hidden it from her and the rest of the world for almost a decade.
The full extent of his crimes had sent shock waves through their close-knit community. As it turned out, Katie Lambert wasn’t the only girl he had abducted. The police had found three additional drivers’ licenses in his cabin belonging to mis
sing girls from as far away as Pennsylvania, triggering a full-blown investigation by the FBI. A massive search of the area had been underway for months, but the most they could realistically hope to recover at this point were remains.
The doorbell rang, and her mother called to her from the family room, “Sonia! Ray and Henry are here. I’ll get the door.”
She turned down the gas ring to simmer and hurriedly wiped her hands on her linen apron just as Henry burst into the kitchen. “I made this for you,” he announced, waving a drawing of a smiling woman with elongated fingers dancing in a field of flowers beneath a cheery sun. “I had to color you purple because the puppy ate my brown crayon and my dad said we didn’t have time to go to the store to buy any more.”
“I love it!” Sonia exclaimed, beaming at Henry as she embraced him. My dad. He said it with such pride that it melted Sonia’s heart. He’d blossomed into quite the little talker over the past few weeks—even Jessica was finding it hard to get a word in edgewise. Henry was still pale from years of captivity, and small for his age, but Evelyn was doing her level best to fatten him up with an endless supply of casseroles and baked goods, which he eagerly devoured. He looked and acted like a completely different kid with his new haircut and chirpy demeanor. Even his big, brown eyes, so like his young mother’s, had lost their air of sadness.
Only from his profile could Sonia detect any resemblance at all to Finn—not enough for anyone to pick up on. That would remain her and Ray’s secret, at least until Henry was grown. Ray had kept Katie’s sketchbook, in case he decided to tell Henry the truth one day. It was evidence that should probably have been turned over to the police, but with Finn dead, it hardly mattered.