The First Ladies Club Box Set

by J B Hawker

  He’d been right, of course, but she hoped he’d be forgiving and maybe even appreciate that she’d gotten all the kids to safety, after all. Eventually, they might even be able to laugh about it.

  She only hoped these kids’ parents would be equally forgiving.

  Distracted by thoughts of facing those parents and dwelling on all the possible ramifications resulting from her ill-judged decisions, she was surprised when the parking area appeared in the distance.

  Stepping through a small cluster of trees, she could see the top of the church van.

  At last!

  She was edging around a patch of nettles when she saw a man peering through the windows of the church van.

  “Gideon!” she thought, elated.

  If he’d arrived that morning as planned, he must have been going out of his mind with worry after finding the washed-out campsite!

  Thinking of the anxiety she had caused clouded her joy at seeing her husband.

  Was there a search party out?

  Hope hadn’t given a thought to that possibility!

  Stepping closer, she could see that the man standing next to the church bus wasn’t Gideon. She thought he might be one of the distressed parents.

  Hope opened her mouth to shout to him, but when she noticed a dark van parked alongside the church bus, she bit back her words and dropped her hand.

  She was pretty sure nobody in her church owned one. In fact, it looked exactly like the one she’d been fleeing from all that long, miserable day.

  Hunkering down in the brush to creep closer, she thought this man might be one she’d seen in the cemetery.

  He clutched Jennifer’s orange shirt in his hand, as though comparing the logo on it to the one painted on the side of the bus.

  “This beat-up bus is from the same place, alright,” she heard Beto call out. “I don’t see our stuff inside. I’m gonna break in and check.”

  Thinking how ironic it was to finally convince herself she’d been imagining the danger, only to find her worst fears confirmed, Hope ducked back behind a tree.

  Trying to control her breathing, she lifted the hem of her shirt to wipe the sweat from her face. As the orange cloth passed in front of her eyes, she realized how easy she was to spot and started to jerk it off. While it was halfway over her head, she had another idea, and smoothed the shirt back down.

  Inching back until the trees shielded her, she stood up and brushed herself off. Keeping out of sight, she worked her way around the parking lot and up to the trail leading from their washed-out campsite.

  Taking a deep, calming breath, she stepped out onto the trail, sauntered toward the parking area, and stopped about fifty yards from the man she’d seen looking into her van.

  She could see him carrying a large rock toward the bus, obviously intent on breaking in.

  “Hey! Look!” Dwayne shouted from his seat in the drug dealers’ vehicle.

  Beto swung around and saw Hope.

  “Is this your van?” he challenged, dropping the rock.

  Without moving closer, Hope replied, “Hi there! Yes, it belongs to my church. Why? Is there a problem?”

  “Were you up at the old graveyard?” Beto asked.

  “What graveyard? This is a public campground. There are no graveyards here,” she replied feigning innocent confusion.

  “Then how do you explain this?” Beto shook the orange shirt. “It’s the same as yours, isn’t it?”

  “It certainly looks like the same color. It could belong to someone in our youth group. Is the church logo on it? Where did you get it, anyway?” she asked, stalling for time and praying for help to arrive on the scene.

  Beto spread out Jennifer’s shirt, displaying the Mount Zion logo and flapping it at Hope.

  “Oh, I see. Yes, that is one of our youth group shirts. Where did you find it?” she asked, again.

  “It was up at the cemetery. Where it shouldn’t have been. What were you doing up there?” he asked, taking a step toward Hope.

  “That obviously isn’t my shirt. As you can see, I’m wearing mine. We’ve been giving out those shirts to our church youth for years. I don’t know how it got to this cemetery you keep talking about. What’s the big deal, anyway?”

  “I think you’re lying. I think you know exactly what I’m talking about,” Beto said with an ugly sneer.

  Dwayne stepped up behind Beto with his hand behind his back.

  “We need to get this show on the road,” he urged Beto. “Less talk. More action, like you always say.”

  Seeing Beto reach into his jacket and pull out his knife, Hope dove off the trail, pulled off her orange shirt and tossed it into the trees.

  Crawling on her hands and knees, she slipped into a cleft between three boulders, scraping through and huddling out of sight of the trail.

  Where was Gideon?

  If he’d arrived on schedule and discovered the washed-out camp with no one around, surely there would be people here looking for them by now.

  He would never leave the church van unattended during a search, in case the lost kids came back.

  Thinking as calmly as possible, she decided Gideon must have been delayed, but he would turn up, and probably soon. She couldn’t let him unwittingly walk into danger from these frightening men.

  She felt an insect crawling on her bare skin and shivered with revulsion.

  Hope could handle most things, but she had a deep-seated, almost irrational aversion to bugs.

  She brushed at it in the cramped space.

  Feeling wetness on her fingers, she looked down and saw rivulets of blood on her ribcage below her sports bra. Squeezing through the rough rocks had scraped off a layer of skin.

  Jeans and a sports bra aren’t the best wilderness outfit, she thought with a grimace and wiped her fingers on her jeans.

  A chill breeze brought out goosebumps and Hope shivered from both cold and fear as she heard the drug dealers crashing through the trees where they’d seen her go off the trail.

  “Where’d she go?” Dwayne asked.

  “Over there, look!” Beto said, pointing to the orange shirt Hope had thrown into the branches.

  When the men headed toward this red, or rather orange, herring, Hope climbed out of the rocks and circled around to the parking area, where she ran across the open space and dove into the undergrowth not far from the church bus.

  If she’d still had her backpack with the keys, she would have tried to sneak into the church bus and drive away while her pursuers were off on their wild goose chase, but without the keys or her phone, she couldn’t come up with an escape plan.

  I don’t have the bus keys!

  Stifling hysterical laughter at this revelation that her plan was doomed from the outset; she tried to clear her head and think calmly.

  She could only watch and wait.

  When the men failed to find her, they might give up and leave.

  If Gideon arrived before that happened, she would at least be on hand to warn him.

  Crouching down in the bushes, Hope was worried about the kids, too. Judging from the position of the sun, they should be arriving at the store before long.

  Although they were safe from these men, she prayed the group hadn’t run into any other trouble as the result of her bad choices. How would she ever make it up to them and their parents for sending them off on their own?

  …

  Despite TyVon’s best efforts at keeping everyone together while splashing across the boggy meadow, the slower members of the group were lagging yards behind.

  “Colton, go back there and give those kids a push, okay? It will be dark before we get there at this rate,” he said, spying Jennifer and another girl sitting on tufts of grass to rest.

  Colton pulled his foot out of a muddy hole and splashed back to the laggards.

  TyVon did a quick head count and realized they were one head short.

  Who was missing?

  He saw all the usual members of the group, but when he cou
nted again, the total was wrong.

  Oh, geez! Dawn’s not here!

  “Colton! Is Dawn back there?” he called out.

  Colton, prodding the girls to hurry and join the others, shook his head.

  “I haven’t seen her since we headed down to this swamp,” he replied, coming up to TyVon.

  “What should we do?” he added in a low voice.

  “I don’t know,” TyVon admitted. “We can’t go back to look for her. I guess all we can do is get everyone to that store and wait for Mrs. Hopkins. She’ll know what to do.”

  …

  As the others continued their weary way across the meadow, Dawn was creeping through the bushes outside the campground parking area.

  When Hope had left the group, Dawn followed her.

  Staying just out of sight, she’d struggled through the rough track.

  Unused to hiking or any outdoor exercise, she stumbled often and came close to sliding down a steep escarpment at one point, but sheer determination and a high tolerance for pain saw her through.

  On her hands and knees on the muddy ground near the parking lot, the moisture seeping through her jeans, she ignored the scrapes and scratches on her arms and face as she tried to figure out what was going on.

  She’d seen Hope check out the parking area, then inexplicably take a detour to approach from the trail. It puzzled her, so Dawn held back.

  She didn’t hear the exchange between Hope and the man beside the church bus, but she saw the other guy step out of the van holding a gun behind his back and she’d seen Hope dive off the trail and disappear.

  Crawling as close to the parking area as she dared, Dawn heard the men swearing as they ran up the trail after Hope.

  She’d seen enough to know that Hope was in danger from these men for some reason.

  Her first instinct was to sneak away and run down the road to keep herself safe. She could always say she was going for help.

  Dawn looked toward the road leading from the parking area to the main highway, trying to see how she might get away without being seen. She was crawling back into the trees when she saw Hope dash across the gravel and dirt of the parking lot and disappear in the underbrush on the far side of the two vehicles.

  Is Hope going to try to take on those two men all alone? Does she know they’re armed?

  Dawn forgot about escape in her need to help her new friend. She crept through the trees to the spot where Hope had crossed and jumped up, running as fast as she could across the open space.

  Crouched behind the church van, she whispered, “Hope?”

  A slight rustle in the bushes caught Dawn’s attention and she saw Hope looking upset and holding a finger to her lips.

  Dawn crawled into the underbrush and crouched down beside Hope.

  “Dawn?” Hope hissed. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hey! Over there behind the bus!” Beto hollered, seeing Dawn’s mad dash and thinking she was Hope.

  Beto, with his knife in his hand and Dwayne, no longer hiding the gun, ran down the trail into the parking area and began to approach the bus.

  “Come on out, lady!” Beto growled. “We know you’re in there.”

  “Yeah, come on out and give us our stuff and we won’t hurt you,” Dwayne echoed.

  “What stuff?” Dawn whispered.

  Hope just shook her head while pulling Dawn back further into the brush.

  …

  Gideon knew he was driving too fast on the way to the campground, but he was frustrated.

  One thing after another had kept him at the church, until finally he had declared an emergency and run out, leaving Cookie openmouthed in surprise at his unusual behavior.

  Hope should have been in touch by now. He had an overwhelming feeling that something was terribly wrong.

  His car sped past the little convenience store on the highway and slowed for the turning to the campground.

  Inside the store, Ty’Nisha was munching on a corn dog while watching for Hope and the church bus when Gideon flew past.

  “Hey, I just saw Pastor’s car go by,” she said, turning to Aleeshia who was eating her second ice cream bar.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Well, it looked like his car... but it was going awfully fast,” Ty’Nisha replied

  “Then, it wasn’t him. He never speeds, you know that,” Aleeshia said with confidence.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. I wish Mrs. Hopkins would get here. I’m tired and muddy and my hair’s filthy. I need a shower,” Ty’Nisha said.

  “And some real food,” Aleeshia agreed, reaching for a bag of chips.

  …

  Gideon approached the parking area and saw the white church bus parked near an unfamiliar black van in the otherwise empty clearing.

  The sight of the strange vehicle deepened his feelings of apprehension and despite his urgent need to reach Hope, he slowed and pulled over. As he watched, two men stepped into the clearing. He saw their weapons and heard what they shouted.

  They were threatening Hope!

  Gideon tromped hard on the gas pedal and his car roared toward the men, who leaped out of the way.

  Hit a glancing blow by the car’s bumper, Dwayne dropped the gun and scrambled to his feet, his face white with shock.

  Gideon screeched to a swerving stop, leaped out of the car, and scrambled for the gun, but Beto came up behind him with a savage kick to the ribs, knocking Gideon over, and lunged at him with the knife.

  When she saw Gideon drive up, Dawn jumped up to call for help.

  Hope tried to stop her, but the girl was already beside the van when she saw Gideon being attacked.

  As Beto raised the knife, Dawn jumped onto his back, giving Gideon a chance to roll away and jump to his feet.

  While Beto swatted at Dawn, trying to shake her loose, Dwayne saw the gun lying in a puddle beside the wheel of his van. He made a grab for it just as Hope emerged from the woods and kicked it away. She slammed him onto his back on the gravel, but he kicked out and knocked her legs out from under her. She hit the ground hard and rolled out of his reach.

  Gideon struggled with Beto, trying to get his knife, while Dawn rained blows on the drug dealer. When she bit his ear, he howled with rage and punched her head, knocking her to the ground, before whirling around to stab at Gideon.

  Gideon gripped Beto’s knife arm at the wrist with one hand, his elbow with the other, and slammed the arm down across his knee with a loud crack. Beto screamed, the knife dropped to the ground, and Dawn snatched it up, dancing out of the way.

  Hearing his friend howl in pain and realizing they were outnumbered, Dwayne dashed for their van, climbed into the driver’s seat, and revved the engine.

  Beto, pale and holding his injured arm across his chest, staggered in front of the van. After a moment’s hesitation, Dwayne opened the passenger door for him. Beto pulled himself in with his good arm and the van roared away.

  “I got the license number,” Dawn said as they drove off.

  “Hope! Are you okay?” Gideon asked, pulling her into his arms. “Dear God, what’s going on?”

  Too exhausted to reply, Hope just clung to him, holding back sobs.

  “Too cool, Pastor! The way you came to the rescue like that. Wow,” Dawn said, looking down with wonder at the knife in her hands.

  “Who were those men?” Gideon asked.

  Dawn shrugged her shoulders to indicate she didn’t have a clue.

  “Hope?” he asked, holding her away from him to look in her face.

  “Let me sit down and I’ll tell you what I know,” Hope said in a shaky voice.

  The three walked over to a log bench and sat down.

  “Where are the other kids?” Gideon asked, looking around. “Are they still up at the campsite?”

  “Oh, my goodness! The kids!” Hope cried, starting to get up. “We need to go get them.”

  Gideon pulled her back down.

  “Calm down. Just tell me where they are,” Gideon sai
d.

  Fearing the turmoil wasn’t over, he pulled himself together and called the police to report their attackers along with their license number.

  While making the report, he asked Hope again about the other children.

  “They should be at that little convenience store up the highway. But I left them alone, Gid. I never should have left them,” she said, swamped with guilt.

  Gideon relayed the message and was assured a trooper would be checking on the young people.

  “Don’t worry about the other kids, Hope,” Dawn said. “I bet they’re stuffing their faces with junk food in that store.”

  Gideon turned to Hope, “Just start at the beginning and tell me what’s happened.”

  Chapter SIXTEEN

  Gideon, Hope and Dawn remained at the campground until a trooper arrived to take their statements.

  Another trooper relayed the news that the rest of the Mount Zion youth group had made it to the store and were all okay, but that one of the girls was missing. Gideon reassured him that Dawn was safe, so no search party would be needed.

  When the official business was completed and they could leave, Gideon drove the church van to the convenience store to pick up the kids.

  Hope was still too shaken to drive the old bus, so she and Dawn followed in Gideon’s car.

  When they arrived at the little store, the kids poured out to meet them.

  “Mrs. Hopkins! Are you okay?” TyVon asked, running up as she got out of the car. “The trooper said you’d been attacked.”

  “You should have seen her,” Dawn said as she came around the car. “Her and the reverend took care of those crooks like nothing.”

  “What happened to you, anyway?” TyVon asked Dawn who was sporting a serious black eye where Beto had punched her. “We were worried about you.”

  “Sorry. I guess I never thought about that. Nobody ever worries about me,” Dawn said. “I just thought Hope needed me... and it turns out I was right! Wasn’t I?” she asked, turning to Hope.

  “Yes, you were. I’m not sure we could have managed without your help today,” Hope said, putting an arm around the girl and giving her a hug.

  TyVon and the others heard this exchange with surprise.

  As Hope walked over to join Gideon and the officer, the group members gathered around Dawn, asking her questions about what had happened.