The Road Home

by Patrick E. Craig

  Jorge bristled at her words. “Of course I’m one of them! I can take care of myself. Besides, Luis is my family. I owe him.”

  “Even if it means you might go to prison?” Jenny asked.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Jonathan said that your gang killed a man out in San Francisco.”

  “So what?” Jorge asked. “The punk tried to rip us off. He deserved what he got.”

  “But if they catch you, they’ll put you in prison,” Jenny answered. “You don’t belong with them, Jorge. You could make something of your life.”

  “So who says they’re going to catch us? And what do you mean I don’t belong here? I got a good life. And Uncle Luis is all I got.”

  Jorge looked sharply at Jenny. “You’re too smart for your own good. You’re just trying to get to me. Uncle Luis was right—you can’t trust women.” A change came over Jorge’s face, and suddenly he looked very angry. “You need to get wise, girl,” Jorge said. “You should be nice to me instead of trying to trick me. You be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you.”

  Jenny felt a stab of fear as he stared at her. He looked her over slowly, and a look she had never seen on a man’s face passed over his. He knelt down on one knee and touched her hair. Jenny shivered at his touch.

  “Maybe you should be my girlfriend,” Jorge said quietly. “Maybe I should move my stuff in here.”

  Suddenly Jorge grabbed Jenny by the arm and jerked her up, pulling her close. There was a wild look in his eyes. He bent his head and tried to kiss her. Jenny twisted in his grasp, but he was too strong. He pulled her tighter and forced his lips onto hers. She kept her mouth clenched and pushed against him. Slowly he overpowered her and pushed her backward onto the mattress. He half fell on top of her and held her down. Then he started to fumble at her clothing with his hand.

  Jenny pulled her mouth away from his and screamed. It startled him, and he jerked back. Just then there was a knock on the door.

  “Hey, what’s goin’ on in there, kid? Is she fightin’ ya? Just slap her around—she’ll figure it out quick enough.”

  Luis laughed, and Jenny could hear the other men laughing in the background.

  “Go away, Luis, this is my business,” Jorge shouted.

  “Okay, kid, okay. Just don’t wear yourself out. We got things to take care of tomorrow.”

  Jenny heard him chuckle, and then his steps receded down the hallway. She lay on the mattress, panting like a dog with Jorge on top of her, her whole body trembling.

  “Please, Jorge, don’t do this. Please!”

  Jorge slowly came back to his senses. A red flush swept over his face, and he rolled off her. He got up and looked at her with a mixture of pity and contempt. He pointed his finger at her. “As long as you’re still alive, you’re gonna be with me. No one else.”

  Jorge walked out and locked the door behind him.

  Bobby sat with Maxie in the interview room. A phone sat on the table between them. Maxie was rubbing his hands together and sweating. Reuben leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. Maxie kept glancing at Reuben. Then he looked at Bobby and began to speak.

  “Before I do anything, you gotta promise me you’ll protect me,” he said. “Sal will kill me for ratting him out.”

  “I’ve already talked to the sheriff in San Francisco,” Bobby said. “It seems that the Federal boys are in on this now. Your gang has been bringing in lots of marijuana and cocaine from across the border, and that puts you and your friends in DEA jurisdiction. They gave me their word that if you give us the names of the big boys, they’ll go easy on you and put you in the witness protection program. It kind of sticks in my craw to let a rat like you out of his cage, but Jenny is more important to me. So that’s the deal.”

  “Okay, okay, what do you want me to do?” Maxie asked.

  Bobby picked up the phone and handed it to Maxie.

  “Call your boss. Tell him you had some car trouble and that you’re waiting in town while it gets fixed. Tell him Sal rented a car and he’s taking Johnny out to the place where the money is hidden. Tell him Sal thinks they should wait to decide what to do with the girl until he gets back there with the money. You got it?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Maxie said sullenly, “but I don’t know if he’ll buy it.”

  He took the phone from Bobby and dialed a number. Bobby could hear a man’s voice answer. Maxie dutifully went through the story Bobby had given him. The man at the other end must have asked Maxie to confirm what he just said. “Look, Luis, I’m just tellin’ you what Sal told me. I’m not the brains of this outfit, I’m just the muscle. I do what I’m told, so that’s all I know. No, he’s not back with the money yet, I told you. Okay, Luis, I’m just doin’ what Sal said. I can’t help it if we blew the water pump. Yeah, yeah, okay, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Maxie put the phone back on the receiver. He looked shaken.

  “What’s up, Maxie?” Bobby asked.

  “Luis is a smart guy,” Maxie said. “I don’t know if he bought my story. I know he’s suspicious. He wanted to talk to Sal as soon as he gets back. That means you don’t have a lot of time.”

  Jerusha lifted her face from her prayers and looked at the quilt. While she prayed, she had a sense that Jenny was in great danger.

  “Lord, tell me how to pray for my girl,” Jerusha said. “Speak to me.”

  And again the quiet voice spoke into her heart. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

  Jerusha began to pray again. “Lord, speak to Jenny’s heart. Help her to put away all pride and self-sufficiency. Help her to know that she can’t do this alone, that she needs Your hand to guide her. Give her wisdom, revelation, and knowledge, and keep her hidden under the shadow of Your wing.”

  Jenny lay on the mattress. She had turned off the light and waited in abject fear for Jorge to return. She had come to the end of herself, and there was nowhere else to turn. She thought about how convicted she felt while she was telling Jorge about the Amish faith.

  I haven’t spoken to You or asked You about any of this, Lord. I keep wanting to, but it’s as though my pride gets in the way. Help me to pray, Lord.

  Then, to Jenny’s surprise, words began to form on her lips as she lay on the dirty mattress.

  “God, I’ve tried to be self-sufficient and do everything by myself. I thought I could fix everything on my own, but I can’t. If You’re listening…I’m in desperate trouble. I need You to intervene, or I’m lost. Help me, please.”

  In the next room she heard the men laughing. Jenny knew that the crisis of the moment was upon her. Jorge—or worse, one of the other men—would return soon, and then all would be lost. She rose from the bed and desperately looked around the room again for something, anything she could use to escape.

  She went back to the window. As she looked more closely, she could see that water had been leaking in between the bottom frame and the windowsill. There was a patch of dry rot starting in the wood around the flat metal bar that held the bottom shut. She could just reach it, so she pushed on the bottom edge of the window. The window was loose in the frame and wiggled slightly. She pushed again. The metal bar moved a tiny bit. She pushed again, and the screw that held it in the frame popped out a fraction of an inch. She pushed her finger under the edge of the bar and pulled. The screw pulled out of the partially rotten wood, and the metal bar hung there, attached to the frame by the other screw. She held the bar and worked it back and forth, up and down, prying at the second screw.

  In a few seconds, it pulled loose, and she held the bar in her hand. She went over to the door. The lock was old fashioned and had a large keyhole. That meant that the lock was a simple latch instead of a dead bolt. She turned the light off so she wouldn’t attract attention if she got the door open. In the darkness she inserted the flat bar between the door and the doorjamb and moved it around until she felt it push against the bolt. She carefully put p
ressure on the bolt and pried. The bar grabbed against the bolt and moved it back ever so slightly. She pushed and pried again. The bolt moved again, and the metal bar slipped between the bolt and the door.

  She pried once more, and the bolt slid back with a quiet click. Jenny slowly opened the door a crack and looked down the hallway toward the main room. She could hear the men. Their talk was coarse, and they seemed to be egging Jorge on toward something Jenny didn’t even want to think about.

  She looked around. The light from the front room lit the hallway dimly, and she could see a door at the end of the hall. She opened her door and slipped silently into the hall and made her way to the door. The men laughed again, and she gently turned the knob. To her relief, the door opened.

  A light brush of snow was silently drifting, and a pale quarter moon gave a ghostly light through the passing clouds. Not enough snow had fallen to stick yet, and the ground was still bare. Jenny started to open the screen door and slip out when she heard a sound behind her. She looked around and gasped. Jorge was standing at the head of the hallway, a wicked grin on his face.

  “Goin’ somewhere?” he asked, his words slurred. He looked at her with bloodshot eyes and then lurched toward her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Call to Arms

  BOBBY, REUBEN, AND JOHNNY sat in Bobby’s office. Reuben looked grim, and Johnny sat on the edge of his chair.

  “So, what are we going to do, Sheriff?” Johnny asked. “We don’t have much time. Those guys aren’t going to fool around. If Sal doesn’t contact them soon, they’ll hurt Jenny.”

  “I know, son,” Bobby said, “and we’re going to get out there as soon as we get some help. Maxie told us where the hideout is, and I’ve contacted the local authorities. But it’s going to take a few hours to get some men together. I don’t know anything about that area.”

  “Where is it?” Reuben asked.

  “It’s near a place called Bear Lake, off Interstate 80.”

  Johnny’s eyes widened. “Bear Lake?”

  “That’s right, son. Why?” Bobby asked.

  “I used to spend my summers up there! My Uncle Jim lives in Wilkes-Barre, and he has a cabin up in the mountains near Thornhurst. He used to take me fishing at Bear Lake. I’ve ridden my bike and hiked all through that area. You can get there from 80 or Wilkes-Barre. It’s pretty rugged and there are only a few roads up there. What road is it on?”

  “It’s on a road called Stone Tower.”

  Johnny stood up. “Sheriff, I know right where that is. You go out of Wilkes-Barre on Bear Lake Road. Then you turn on Tannery Road and go toward Thornhurst. Before you get there you’re behind Bear Lake, and then you come to Stone Tower Road. It takes you up the hill. There’s a place up there where you can park and hike down to the back side of the lake. There are some old cabins up there, but I thought they were closed in the winter.”

  Bobby and Reuben looked at each other in amazement. Jonathan went on.

  “We can take a plane into Wilkes-Barre, and I could take you right there. It’s only about forty-five minutes, maybe a little longer in snow.”

  Bobby interrupted Johnny. “Wait a minute, Jonathan, who said you were going?”

  Johnny’s face was animated and his hands waved. “Jenny’s in danger, and we’re wasting time. I can take you right there. We have to go now, and we have to move fast.”

  “Can you handle a gun, Jonathan?” Bobby asked.

  Johnny reached for his wallet and pulled a card out from one of the compartments. It signified that he had received an Eagle Scout marksmanship merit badge.

  “Number one in my troop,” he said with a grin.

  Bobby frowned. He was silent for a moment, and then he decided. “Okay, Jonathan, I’ll take you along. We better get going.”

  “Wait a minute, Bobby,” Reuben said quietly. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

  “What?” Bobby asked.

  “Me,” Reuben said. “You’re not leaving me behind.”

  “But, Reuben,” Bobby said, “this is going to be dangerous. I need everybody armed.”

  “You’re talking about my daughter. A long time ago I told you that I knew that there were some things worth fighting for. I haven’t had to make a choice like that in a long time. I know my faith constrains me, and I believe what Jesus said about killing other men, but I also remember that He took a rope and whipped the men who were making a mockery of His Father’s temple. I don’t want to kill anybody, but if it’s a choice between hurting the men who have Jenny and saving my daughter’s life, then so be it. If it means that they throw me out of the church, I’ll live with that too. Besides,” Reuben smiled, “I’m a much better shot than you.”

  Bobby stared at his friend. Then he grinned. “Reuben, you never cease to amaze me. Okay, you two, raise your right hands.”

  Bobby commandeered a Cessna six-seater at the Wooster airport for the ninety-minute flight to Wilkes-Barre. The pilot was an old friend and was happy to help. Bull stayed behind and called the Wilkes-Barre police to organize a group that would be waiting for Bobby.

  When the plane landed, the local men met with them outside the terminal. The local sheriff had five men with him and told Bobby the Pennsylvania State Police were headed up the mountain from Interstate 80 already.

  The sheriff, Gary Wagner, was an affable older man. His smile belied a toughness that Bobby picked up on right away.

  “You a vet, Gary?” Bobby asked.

  “Hundred and First Airborne,” Gary answered. “Normandy, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge. I was at Bastogne with McAuliffe when they demanded our surrender and he told the Germans, ‘Nuts!’ ”

  “USMC First Division,” Bobby said. “Guadalcanal.”

  Bobby nodded at Reuben.

  “Both of you?” Gary asked, looking at Reuben curiously.

  “Yep,” Bobby said. “Reuben’s a CMH winner.”

  “Bobby, you don’t need to tell everyone,” Reuben said with an embarrassed smile. “Besides, you did your part as well.”

  Sheriff Wagner stepped forward and shook Reuben’s hand and then turned to Bobby and shook his. “Proud to serve with you, Gyrenes. Now brief me on what’s going on—and who’s this kid?”

  “This is Jonathan Hershberger. He was with Jenny when she was kidnapped. Reuben is Jenny’s father. I brought Jonathan because he says he’s been up to the area where the hideout is and knows the trails through the woods. His uncle owns a place up there.”

  “Who’s your uncle, son?” Gary asked.

  “Jim Connors,” Johnny said. “He lives here in Wilkes-Barre.”

  “Jim Connors Chevrolet?” Gary asked.

  “That’s him,” Johnny replied.

  “Jim’s a buddy of mine. We’re in Rotary together. Why the long hair, son?” Gary asked with a smile.

  “It’s a long story that I don’t have time to tell right now,” Johnny replied. “We need to find Jenny.”

  Gary laughed. “She your girlfriend, Jonathan?”

  Reuben stiffened. Johnny was smart enough to pick up on the tension. “No, sir, she’s…she’s just…my friend.”

  Reuben relaxed, and the men returned to the business at hand. Bobby pulled out a map of the area and spread it out on the hood of the sheriff’s cruiser.

  “Maxie had only been to the hideout once. All he remembered was that it was on Stone Tower Road. What do you know about it, Jonathan?”

  “There are two ways to get up there,” Johnny said. “One is to go up Tannery Road until you get to Stone Tower and then on up. There are only two or three old cabins back in the trees along Stone Tower, and one of them is probably the hideout. But if you drove up there, they would hear you coming a long way off.

  The other way is to come in from the Bear Lake side. There’s a fire road around the lake and a path up the hill where a stream comes down a ravine. The ravine runs behind the cabins and then goes under the road and down the east side of Stone Tower Road. The ravi
ne is pretty steep, but there are ways to get up to the back of the cabins. I used to fish that little creek in the spring, and I did a lot of exploring up there. It would only take us about thirty minutes to get there once we got around the lake. We could get right up on the hideout without being seen, and it’s more hidden than going up Tannery.”

  “Okay,” Gary said. He turned to one of his men. “Call the PSP and have them block off Stone Tower at the bottom. We’ll take the helicopters up to the Lake. There’s a big cleared field on the west side. Have the police meet us there. We’ll go in the back way and contact the PSP by radio and have them move up Stone Tower. Remind them that the perps have a prisoner and won’t give up easily. If we do this quietly we should catch these guys between us and get the girl out before anything happens.”

  He turned back to Bobby. “Did you deputize these men?”

  “Yep, and they can both shoot if they need to.”

  Reuben winced. Sheriff Gary turned to his men. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Jorge leered at Jenny.

  “Where ya going?” he asked. “Don’t you like me? I just want to have a little fun. You can be my girlfriend now. Once you get to know me better, you’ll like me.”

  Jenny froze. Jorge moved toward her, almost stumbling.

  Suddenly a voice spoke to her spirit. Run!

  Jenny turned and burst through the screen door and into the darkness. Jorge shouted something, and the screen door banged again as he ran out after her.

  “Come back here, you tramp! Come back here, Jenny, or you’ll wish you did!”

  Jenny ran like the wind across the open space behind the house and dashed into the woods. Her heart was pounding as branches whipped her face. Suddenly she heard a crash and a curse behind her. Jorge had fallen.

  Jenny ran on. The clouds had cleared for a moment, and there was some light from the sliver of moon for Jenny to see by. She burst through a clump of Scotch broom and came to a trail that ran to the left and the right. She followed it left and continued running down the trail.