by Becky McGraw
"What're you doing out of bed, Gabe?" she asked him sternly, her face not happy.
"I'm getting the hell out of here and going to find Karlie," he told his sister decisively. She wasn't going to change his mind, that was for sure.
She looked up at Cole and he shrugged and said, "He signed himself out..."
"Ugh, you're going to kill yourself, Gabe..." Sabrina told him shaking her head. "I guess I need to help so you don't," she said with a grim smile.
"I don't want you involved, Sis...and I know Cole doesn't either. We've got this," he told her then grabbed his arm as a pain shot up it to his shoulder. "Let's get going..." he gritted through his teeth and walked to the door.
Forty minutes later, Gabe was at the computer entering the information he'd gotten from the lawyer. Cole had dropped him off and gone to the cabin to meet the snake guy and dust for prints. If he found some that weren't any of theirs, they'd run it through the system and see if they got hits.
Gabe had called the administrative office at the rodeo and was told that they hadn't seen Jake Johnson in over a month, that he'd missed too many events, and they'd basically removed him from the competitions. That meant he couldn't use working as an alibi for any of the things they suspected he'd done.
Leaning back in the chair, he watched impatiently as the little circle on the computer screen spun, as it processed his request for information on Jake Johnson. A few minutes later, he got several results, including a rap sheet on the guy. He clicked on that line item and it opened for him to view it. Gabe sucked in a sharp breath at the three pages before him.
It was amazing to him that he wasn't already in prison, because it included convictions for numerous assaults, one aggravated assault, and a lot of drunk and disorderlies, and a stalking complaint. There were several restraining orders against him.
When Gabe's eyes landed on the note section of the sheet, he let out a whoop and did a fist pump in victory. Jake Johnson was on probation for one of the assaults, and had an outstanding warrant in Dallas, becaise his probation had been revoked, after he missed several probation contacts with his probation officer. He'd also missed a court date last week.
That's who Gabe needed to call right now...Jake Johnson's probation officer. That man wanted to find him as much as Gabe did, he was sure. Once Gabe told him what Johnson had been up to, Gabe was sure he'd get the state involved quickly.
Gabe huffed out a frustrated sigh when the man didn't answer his phone, but he left a message and hoped he'd call him back soon. He needed to let Cole know what was going on, but he knew his cell wasn't going to work at the cabin, and he didn't have a land line installed yet. Gabe had ridden with Sabrina and Cole to the station, so he was stranded. Maybe he could get him on the radio, it was worth a shot anyway.
He'd just gotten up from his desk when his phone rang, and he snatched it up and said shortly, "Kelley," then sat back down in his chair.
"This is Officer Finley, I'm the probation officer for Jake Johnson...you have information on him?"
"Yes, a lot...and I need your help."
***
Jake hadn't hit her again, but Karlie had felt her cheek and it was really swollen, her eye felt swollen too. So he didn't have a reason to hit her again, Karlie had tried to stay as quiet as possible, and watch their surroundings, as Jake sped along the highway, but the roaring of the big tires on the road and the hum of the air conditioner, along with her extreme exhaustion lulled her to sleep. Her head was resting on the window, and she had Sarge in her lap.
She was suddenly jolted awake when Jake grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her across the seat and out the driver's door of the truck. Sarge squealed as he fell off her lap and hit the floor, and she hit her knee on the steering wheel when she was falling out of the big truck. Pain sliced through her head and her leg as she scrambled trying to get her feet under her, while he dragged her toward the trailer, the same one they'd shared when they traveled with the rodeo.
It wasn't parked at the rodeo now though, she looked around and saw they were in a clearing deep inside some woods. She saw Sarge jump out of the truck and land on his belly in the dirt, then he got his legs back under him, and ran after them, dragging his leash.
Jake flung open the door, then dragged her up the wooden steps and pushed her down on the floor on her stomach, then put his knee in her back, while he tied her hands behind her. Yanking her up again, he pushed her down the narrow aisle to where she knew the bedroom was. Her heart stopped, hoping he wasn't going to rape her. She'd fight him with everything she had, even with her hands tied, she was sure she could do some damage to the warped asshole.
Jake opened the door then shoved her onto the built-in bed. Using her hair again, he pulled her face close to his, and he grinned evilly when he heard her whimper and saw the tears that rushed to her eyes. She could smell his sour odor and whiskey on his breath when told her, "I need to go out--you better be here when I get back, or when I find you...you're going to be damned sorry. I still need you alive to sign those papers for that lawyer, so I won't kill you now, but I'll fucking make you wish you were dead."
Karlie swallowed down her fear and nausea from his overwhelming smell, and nodded. He let her hair go, then walked out and slammed the door, then she heard metal scraping, and what sounded like a padlock clicking shut. Holy shit, he was locking her in this windowless room, with no airflow or air conditioning. It didn't even look like he had electricity out here, and if his smell was any indication, he didn't have water either.
It was already so hot in the trailer, it was hard to catch her breath, her racing heart didn't help. If she had to stay in here any length of time, she was afraid she might pass out from it...or suffocate. There wasn't much in the room other than the wall-to-wall bed and a closet built into one wall. She got up and went over there and opened it, hoping to find a can opener or something she could use to escape.
Turning so she could reach the knob with her hands, she twisted it, then kneed open the door and looked around. Other than a couple of pairs of jeans and a few shirts there wasn't anything in there that could help her escape that she could see. She tugged at the rope and it rubbed her wrists. He'd tied it so tight, she wasn't going to be able to loosen it. Even if she found something to help her in there, Karlie realized she couldn't do anything with it, with her hands tied.
Laying back on the bed with a sob, Karlie felt desolation set in and she fought against it. She was not going to let Jake Johnson kill her...no way in hell. There had to be something she could do, she thought. She heard Sarge whining through the wall behind her. He was outside the back of the trailer, and she worried he might be hurt.
Scooting close to the wall she yelled to him and he barked. The walls in this trailer were thin, it wasn't the highest quality or new, for sure. Since she had her boots on, Maybe she could kick her way out, she thought, then nudged the pillows away from the wall and laid on her back with her feet against the wall.
If she did this and didn't succeed, she knew Jake would make her pay for it, so she had to succeed. Lifting her legs toward her chest, she rammed them into the wall and her whole body was jarred, and when she looked there wasn't even a dent in the pressboard paneling. Sarge barked again, as if in encouragement, and she kicked the wall again, a little harder this time. When her boot heel went through a board, she smiled.
Karlie was sweating profusely and she knew her body temperature was at red alert levels. She'd worked for nearly an hour on the wall, and had only made a small hole in it, the size of her boot. Getting up on her knees, she wiped her face on the comforter to get the sweat out of her eyes, then looked into the hole to see what was in there.
There was a little insulation, a wooden stud and some wiring, and the outside metal shell of the trailer. Looking to the right, she saw a cutout in the metal wall and a bulb covered by a red tail light lens. Thinking that could be her ticket out of her
e, Karlie turned backward and used her hands to break away the paneling in pieces until that area was exposed more. Sitting on the edge of the bed she put her foot in the hole again then kicked the lens out, which left a raw edged metal hole, perfect for cutting rope, she hoped. She just prayed she didn't slit her wrists in the process.
Backing up to the hole, Karlie centered her wrists on one edge of the opening and sawed back and forth. Sarge was barking again, and she kept sawing until she felt one side loosen. She pulled her wrists out of the hole, then tried to loosen the rope again, but it didn't give enough, so she went back to sawing. After a few minutes of sawing, she yanked against the now frayed rope and it snapped and her wrists were free. She rubbed her wrists and did a small victory dance, then got back to work.
Going back to the closet now that she could dig around in the mess on the bottom, she dug around and found an old pair of spurs with sharp rowels on them, hooked to a pair of boots.
Karlie grinned then said, "Voila! A can opener!" to the empty room, then hurried to the opening in the aluminum outside wall, and began using them to enlarge the opening. A lot of sweat and elbow grease later, Karlie had a made hole the a little bigger than her shoulders in the outside wall of the trailer. She leaned out and talked to Sarge, who was jumping around on the ground excitedly.
Now, she just had to figure out how to get out without cutting herself to shreds on the raw edges. Easing back into the room, she yanked the comforter off of the bed then padded the hole she'd made. Figuring it was better to land on her feet than her head, Karlie sat on the edge of the bed and put her feet through the hole, then twisted slowly around so her stomach was facing down. She slid through the opening and dropped to her feet outside, then fell to her knees and hugged Sarge, taking deep gulps of the fresh air.
"Let's go, boy...I don't know where, but away from here," she told him then grabbed the leash and took off into the trees. She knew she had to get as far away as she could before Jake got back, or he would find her. Karlie had lived most of her life in the rodeo arena, either at her own events or Uncle Jerry's, so she didn't have much experience in the woods, but she'd make due. All that mattered right now, was that she wasn't being held prisoner in that trailer anymore, the rest she could deal with.
She didn't run in deference to Sarge's short legs, but she pushed them hard walking. When the trees broke into a field of cattle, she stayed inside the tree line and walked the long way around to the other side of the field, then went into more woods and kept walking away from the direction of the trailer. Karlie figured they were at least a couple of miles away now, and decided to take a break by a small stream they ran up on. She took off her boots and soaked her feet, and splashed the cool water on her legs, face and neck.
Sarge drank thirstily then licked his lips, before he gave her a lick on her leg. She smiled then splashed him to cool him off too, then cupped her hands and drank some water herself. Bacteria and whatever was in the stream wasn't important right now, cooling herself down and quenching her thirst was. She used some dry leaves to dry her feet off then put her boots back on leaned against a tree to catch her breath for a few minutes.
The thought that Jake might be back at the trailer and looking for her now, had her pushing up and grabbing Sarge's leash, then they crossed the small stream and walked into the woods on the other side. What Karlie hoped, is that she'd find a house around here somewhere soon, so she could use a phone to call Cole...and maybe find out where she was.
Karlie heard four-wheelers moving through the woods a good ways away and got scared. What if Jake had parked the trailer on a friend's property or something, she wondered. Maybe they had ATVs and they were helping him look for her. She had to find a place to hide, until they gave up looking for her. Picking up Sarge, Karlie took off running through the woods, along the bank of the stream, her eyes scanning for a hiding place as she ran.
There was nothing, but trees and undergrowth, vines and leaves. She skidded to a stop when she reached the edge of a cliff and looked way down at the river flowing there. She saw the little stream pouring over the edge of the cliff into the river. It was too far for her to jump, especially with Sarge in her arms, so she'd reached a dead end. It be a dead end for her life too, if those guys on the ATVs caught up with her, she thought, then ran along the cliff edge looking for places she could get lower on the ledge, closer to the river, to make the jump shorter.
She found one that was a couple of steps down, that led to another couple of drop downs, so she sat down, then slid down them, one by one. The last drop down put her about fifteen feet lower to the river, but it was still quite a jump...maybe thirty feet. She could swim, but she had no idea how deep the river was, or if Sarge could swim, but she'd made the committment to jump now, and she would. Hearing the whine of the 4-wheelers getting closer, she realized she didn't have a choice anyway.
Sending up a prayer, Karlie held on tight to Sarge and jumped. When they hit the water, Sarge squealed, and then started wiggling in her arms. She had no choice but to let him go, so she could fight for her own life, as the water closed over her head quickly, and she felt herself going deeper and deeper, then felt grass tickle her legs as her boots hit the bottom and stuck in the mud there.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Gabe was relieved that Jake Johnson's probation officer had been so eager to help him. Officer Finley was going to call the Texas Rangers, and get an all points bulletin put out on him, as an armed and dangerous felon, because Gabe told him about the gun. If he tried something when they stopped him, they'd shoot first and ask questions later.
Finley was also going to see about putting out a state-wide endangered missing persons alert for Karlie, and was getting a court order so he could track Johnson by his cell phone calls. Things were moving quickly now, and Gabe was relieved, but still damned worried about Karlie.
Gabe was at the station pacing up and down the hall, while he waited for Cole to get back. He'd called him a few minutes ago, and informed him about what was going on. Cole had been surprised that he'd gotten so much done, but seemed pretty happy about it.
Cole told him the snake was gone, his place was clear, and that he'd gathered a lot of evidence he was bringing back to the station to process.
Hearing his phone ring in his office, Gabe raced down the hallway and caught it on the second ring. "Kelley," he said with adrenaline coursing through him, hoping maybe they'd caught the asshole...or found Karlie.
"This is Finley...the Rangers caught him, and he finally told us where he was holding her," the man actually chuckled and Gabe wished he could jump through the phone and strangle him.
"And?!?" Gabe shouted into the phone he was holding in a death grip.
"When they got there, she'd already escaped. He had tied her up in the bedroom and padlocked her in there," Finley said then cleared his throat, sounding like he was suppressing more laughter.
Gabe growled into the phone, and spat, "What else?"
"Miss Upton kicked in the wall, knocked out the tail light lens then used the raw metal to cut the ropes, and a pair of spurs to open up the hole like a can opener, then she squeezed through it. She sounds like a pretty resourceful woman."
Gabe let out a whoop and fist-pumped the air, before sucking in a shuddering breath. Karlie was more than resourceful, she was smart, sassy, beautiful and he loved her so damned much his heart wanted to burst with it.
"Where is she? I want to come get her," he said in an emotion choked voice, and walked behind his desk to sit down, because his knees were weak. The silence on the line caused Gabe's heart to drop to the floor, and he fought down a wave of sickness in his gut. "What happened?" he asked the man.
"We're looking for her...we had to get someone out there with four-wheelers, to go into the woods. She might be hiding or something...she's probably scared."
"Where? I want to go out there and help," Gabe said forcefully.
"Near Denton...evidently he had a friend that let him park the trailer on his property," Finley told him then gave him directions. "Make sure you identify yourself so they don't shoot you. If you have access to an ATV you might want to bring it. Those woods are pretty thick."
"Call me if they find her, please...and thank you again for your help," Gabe said sincerely.
"You're welcome, but we have a vested interest here. I just want that moron behind bars where he belongs," Finley told him.
"That's definitely a common interest we have then. We need to set up a meeting and go over all that's happened and the evidence we have to help you."
"As soon as we have Miss Upton back, I'll give you a call to set it up," Officer Finley said then told him, "You let me know if you find her too."
"Will do...bye." Gabe hung up the phone and looked up when Cole walked through the door. "They found her and picked him up...I'll fill you in on the way. Do you have a 4-wheeler?"