by Lee Rose
“What’s wrong?” Gabe Wilson asked him with concern when he saw Ethan’s worried expression. He and Ethan were working the night shift this week at the sheriff’s station. They were deputies along with Gabe’s younger brother Logan and their longtime friend Ryan Clark was the sheriff. Usually the nights were very quiet and slow since they didn’t have too many crimes in Appledale. Appledale was a small and quiet community filled with hard-working families. Almost everyone who lived here had been born in this small town.
Gabe had been sitting at his desk depressed over Karissa Suthers, his ex-girlfriend, who he had recently run into. He had broken her young heart many years ago by leaving her to rejoin the army with Ethan. He had tried hard to settle down into the civilian life after years in the army and into a steady relationship with Karissa. But adventure had kept calling his name and he had left her behind to spend several more years in the military. He had missed her more than he thought he would and had regretted it ever since. He had recently bumped into her in town and all the memories he had of her came rushing back into his head.
Now if Karissa saw him in town she ignored him completely and it hurt his feelings. She had every right to hate him but it didn’t stop it from bothering him. She had matured into a more beautiful woman with long, sandy-blonde hair flowing down her back and beautiful green eyes. She was still slender yet had womanly curves and he knew she still had the same sweet smile that he had once looked forward to seeing every day, only now she frowned deeply whenever she saw him.
“Toby has gotten himself lost in the woods,” Ethan sighed, running his hand through his short blond hair and interrupting Gabe’s melancholy thoughts. “Kari, Ken, and my parents have been looking for over an hour but it’s getting harder with the rain. They should have called me sooner but they thought they’d find him right away.”
Gabe stood up, immediately concerned. Toby, Ethan’s nephew, was only eight years old and spending the summer in Appledale visiting Ethan and his family. They knew a bad thunderstorm was coming into the area and it was already raining heavily. “I’ll call Ryan and Logan and set up a search team. We need to find him before it gets colder and the weather gets worse.”
Ethan nodded in agreement with a heavy sigh, putting his jacket on and picking up his Jeep keys. He was a tall, husky man and Gabe had served in the military with him for many years. “I’m picking up Liz and we’ll meet you out at my parents’ house. I might not survive this summer visit with the family.”
Gabe chuckled and picked up the phone to call for help. “Kids, they’re something else that’s for sure.”
If he had stuck around town he might have had some of his own by now. Before, that thought had scared him but now it sent a longing through his heart.
* * * *
Everyone gathered at Ethan’s parents’ house where Ethan’s sister Kari and her family were staying. Eddie and Nancy White, Ethan and Kari’s parents, held hands on the porch watching volunteers gather for the search for their grandson, Toby. Even Kenny, Toby’s ten-year-old brother look liked he wanted to cry but he put on a brave face in front of the big crowd gathering to search for his little brother. Kenny felt bad because he had argued with Toby and left him alone.
“Help me with the coffee, Kenny,” Nancy White said, giving him a chore to distract the young boy and taking him inside where it was warm.
Kari White-Sanders sobbed into her husband’s shoulder, crying. “It’s so dark and wet. We have to find him, Ken. I can’t stand the thought of him being out there scared and alone.”
Ken Sanders looked over at Ethan helplessly while holding his wife. “We will find him, honey. Look at all these people Sheriff Clark has brought out here to help us. He can’t have gone too far. Ethan has told Toby and Kenny many times if they get lost to stay put until help arrives.”
Liz Daniels-White, Ethan’s wife, nodded and gave Kari an encouraging smile. “Ken is right. Toby is a bright boy and everyone in town is here and ready to go out to find him. Let’s go inside and wait, Kari. You’re cold from the rain and Toby is going to need you in a little while.”
Liz had to step up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek since she was much shorter than him. “Go find him, honey, poor thing is out there all alone. I’ll take care of Kari.” She gave him a confident smile knowing Ethan wouldn’t quit until his nephew was found safe and back in his mama’s arms.
Ethan nodded grimly, hugging Liz tightly and hiding his face in her neck for a moment to gather his emotions. He was so glad he had wised up and married Liz. She gave him such support in difficult times like these and he’d be lost without her. “Thanks, angel. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Ethan was worried but trying hard not to let it show. Toby was small and not familiar with these woods. What had possessed him to break an important rule and go in the woods alone? Ethan and Gabe had been over safety rules with the boys many times. Toby had boundless energy and never stayed still but he never purposely broke rules.
Ryan Clark patted Ethan on the back in sympathy and handed him a handheld walkie-talkie. He wasn’t as tall as Ethan but he had a muscular build and short blond hair, which was hidden underneath a yellow rain poncho. “Everyone is divided up and is responsible for a different area. Logan took his team out already to search and I’m heading out too. We’ll find him, Ethan. We’ve got every square inch of these woods covered with volunteers. Even Mr. Harris came out to help Logan search his farm and surrounding area.” Mr. Harris was a lonely old man in his eighties that often reported his cows missing just to have company visit him. Ethan was touched the man went out in the rain to search.
Ethan swallowed his worry, feeling touched that more than half the town was out here on such a rainy night. His family was depending on him to be strong and he would be. “Thanks, Ryan. I appreciate everyone coming out despite the awful weather.”
“That’s what friends are for, Ethan,” Gabe spoke up, grabbing a walkie-talkie from Ryan and putting a rain poncho on. “I’m heading out now. Logan took a group out toward the south so I’m going north.”
Ryan nodded, anxious to get started too, and yelled out. “Okay people, my group, let’s get this search on.” He turned to kiss his wife Lacy good-bye, as she was staying with Kari and Liz. “Be careful out there, baby,” she whispered to her husband and went into the house. Ryan was proud to live in a community where people came out to help one another in times of trouble.
Before Ethan could leave with his own team, Nancy White came running out of the house in tears. “Ethan! Tom from Thorn’s Bar just called. Karissa Suthers found Toby lost on the road to Thorn’s. She called him from her car to say she was taking him to the station. Someone was chasing them on Road 2007. Tom said Karissa screamed and he lost all contact with them.”
Ethan felt his pulse speed up with fear. This wasn’t a simple case of a lost boy. Someone was after his nephew! His adrenaline sped up with his anxiety. He radioed Ryan, Gabe, and Logan with the updated news and got his group together to start the search immediately, feeling the adrenaline rush through his veins. Road 2007 was a long distance from here. How the hell did Toby get that far? Gabe’s group was the closest to the area and they were headed over there with Ryan’s group following them.
“Call Casey Evans, she is Karissa’s older sister, and see if she knows anything. Maybe Karissa tried to contact her,” Gabe suggested over the radio, sounding as if his heart dropped at the news that Karissa was also missing and being chased by someone. Fear hit him square in the gut like a physical punch and he was determined to find them before something happened to her or Toby. She might hate his guts but no one would harm a hair on her beautiful head if he could help it!
“I know Casey. She’s my friend. I’ll call her,” Kari offered, looking at her brother with an expression of faith. “Go and search, Ethan, and hurry. This is worse than we thought.”
Praying for a good ending to this awful night was all they could do.
Chapter 3
Casey Evans heard the phone ringing, waking her up out of a deep sleep, which didn’t happen often since she’d had a baby four weeks ago. She groaned and shook her husband Roy who was snoring next to her. “Answer it, Roy, before the baby wakes up again,” she whispered sleepily, pulling the covers tighter around her body. Rainy nights were made for sleeping. She mumbled grouchily to herself.
Roy picked up the phone sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. “Hello,” he mumbled, not fully awake yet himself and wondering who would be calling them.
“I need to speak with Casey, it’s an emergency,” a tearful voice said over the phone, waking him up in an instant.
Roy sat up feeling alert and shook his wife awake, thinking of his sister-in-law, who worked nights at a bar. “Honey, it’s an emergency.”
“Karissa?” she mumbled in a scared voice sitting up and wide awake too, grabbing the phone with shaky hands.
“Is something wrong with my sister?” Casey asked into the phone with a terrified voice, afraid of what she would hear.
“This is Kari. I’m so sorry to scare you, Casey.” Kari explained what was going on with Toby and Karissa and asked if Karissa would go to any certain location to hide or if she knew the woods well at all.
“Oh my God, all this time I thought she was at work.” Casey cried, tears falling down her cheek. She felt her husband’s arms encircle her and she leaned on him. “You mean they are running on foot? Oh God. Let me think for a minute and I’ll call you right back, Kari.”
Casey looked up at her husband with teary eyes, hanging up the phone. “Karissa ran into Kari’s son, Toby, and they were being chased by someone. The search group just found her car crashed into a tree on Road 2007 but no sign of Karissa or the boy.”
Roy hugged Casey as she cried for her little sister, trying to soothe her. “They want to know if there is any place Karissa knows in the woods to hide but she hasn’t been home in so long, Roy.”
Roy thought for a moment, knowing his wife was too upset to think clearly. He had only lived in town for three years but Casey had told him a lot of her childhood stories of living with an alcoholic father and having to spend a lot of time hiding from him when he got violent. “How about that secret cave on the hillside you and Rissa called the magic fort. Wasn’t that over there somewhere?”
“Oh yeah, God it’s been so long I’m not sure I can remember the exact location. Do you think Karissa will?” she said hopefully looking up at him with her tear-filled green eyes. “It was by the creek off Road 2007, but you couldn’t see it from plain view. It was just a hole in the hill but it went in deep enough to hide. I’m not even sure it’s there still.”
Roy picked up the phone right away to call Ethan and tell him his idea. “It’s worth a try, Ethan. Karissa has a good head on her shoulders, if she was out that way she’d know to find shelter quick. She loves to hike and be outdoors, she’ll know to get out of the rain quickly before hypothermia sets in. I’m on my way to help, Ethan. I’ve been hunting in that area and know it well.”
“The creek? I know the creek but not too much of that area. Let me get this information to one of my men. They might know more. Thanks, Roy. We have a lot of volunteers if you want to stay with Casey and the baby.” Ethan’s voice came over the phone.
Roy looked at his wife who shook her head and mouthed the word go. She’d feel better if Roy was out there helping since she couldn’t leave Jonathon or take him out in this storm.
“I’m going, Ethan. That’s my sister-in-law lost out there,” Roy stated firmly and got up to dress quickly. What a night!
* * * *
Karissa wasn’t sure how long they had been hiding in the hole on the side of the hill, it felt like forever. Hopefully Tom had called the sheriff’s station and they were out looking for them right now. She was freezing and wet, with a headache from hell and too tired to come up with any clever ideas. She was afraid to run in the rain with Toby being hurt and two maniacs running loose with a knife.
“Can we make a fire, like in the movies? I’m really cold and scared,” Toby asked, his voice trembling. The little boy was leaning against Karissa and she was hugging him, trying to keep him as warm as she could with her own body heat.
Karissa looked down at the little boy with a worried face. She knew he was in a lot of pain and she felt helpless. Why couldn’t she have been like those pioneer women setting a broken arm with a stick and some vines. She was too afraid to move Toby’s arm and hurt him worse. “We have no matches, honey, and unfortunately I never learned that whole rub two sticks together thing. Why didn’t I join the Girl Scouts when I had the chance? Anyway, the bad guys might see the smoke and find us. I know you’re scared and cold, Toby. I am too, but I know my boss called your uncle and they’ll find us in no time. Didn’t you tell me your uncle Ethan was strong and brave?”
Toby looked up at Karissa wide-eyed. “Adults don’t get scared, Karissa.”
“I’ll let you in on a little secret, kid. Adults get scared too. We just get better at hiding it as we grow older,” she smiled at his shocked expression.
“Wow,” Toby whispered with awe as if learning one of the universe’s most hidden secrets. “My brother Kenny is ten and I’m only eight. Sometimes he calls me a baby ’cause I cry about stuff still, and I always wished I was older like him. You think he gets scared too?”
Karissa tightened her arms around the little boy in understanding, wishing she had thought to grab a jacket before leaving the house and maybe some granola bars like she usually did when she worked. “I have a big sister too, her name is Casey. I always wanted to be the oldest one, not the little one. It always seemed like she knew what to do and she did everything better than me.”
“Like me and Kenny,” Toby gave a nod of understanding. “No matter how hard I try I can’t do all the cool stuff he does. Like today, he didn’t want me hanging out with him and his friends ’cause he said I couldn’t ride my bike fast enough. I got mad and went off to practice and got lost in the woods.”
“Yeah, I know it’s hard being youngest, Toby,” Karissa answered, talking softly in a whisper so she could still hear noises outside. “But I discovered that no matter how old I got Casey would always be older than me so I just stopped worrying about it. I stopped trying to be like her and I was just me and it felt good. You know what she told me one day?”
“What?” he asked, sniffling and trying hard to hold his tears in and be brave like his brother would have been if he were here.
“She always wanted to be the younger one. She said when you’re the oldest your parents expect more and it’s not always easy,” Karissa explained patiently.
Toby thought about it for a minute and nodded. “Wow, you’re right, Karissa. I hear my dad always telling Kenny to watch out for me. I’m not easy to keep track of, poor Kenny.”
Karissa chuckled. “I got the feeling you liked to wander off by yourself. Now that I am an adult I appreciate my sister being older. She gives good advice because she knows a lot of things I haven’t learned yet.”
“This is all my fault. I’m scared the bad guys will find us but I’m also scared of how much trouble I’m gonna be in too. I broke the rules by wandering off in the woods alone. I didn’t mean to go far, but I was concentrating on practicing and got lost,” Toby confessed with a silent tear escaping.
Karissa kissed his forehead in sympathy, hugging him but trying to be careful of his arm in case it was broken. “Your parents and uncle love you, they might be mad you broke the rules but they will be so happy when they find us. I bet there will be lots of hugs and kisses involved.”
Toby nodded, feeling better. “My uncle Ethan and Uncle Gabe were in the army for a long time. They will rescue us, Karissa, they are strong and know lots of cool stuff about the woods.” Toby grabbed her hand tightly and she whispered a silent prayer for them to hurry up. She didn’t look forward to having to face Gabe again after so many years of hating him for dumping her and breaking her young heart, but
beggars couldn’t be choosers. She’d choose seeing Gabe over the bad guys any day. She was getting sleepy and that wasn’t a good sign. It was getting harder to keep her eyes open. She’d close them for one minute then try to think of an idea.
Chapter 4
Gabe walked through the woods, glad the rain had stopped for a while. It was still windy and he could hear thunder rumbling and see flashes of lightning in the dark sky. They had to find Karissa and Toby quickly. They had found the car smashed against the tree and he swore his heart had stopped beating for a minute. He ran to the car, scared of what he’d find, only to find it empty. He was worried one or both of them were injured. He called it in to let everyone know what he had found. Ryan was calling the EMT to have them on standby. But she must not be hurt too badly if she got out with Toby and ran, he reminded himself. He saw the hill in front of him that Casey had described and prayed hard he was in the right area. They had been searching the woods for over an hour and the longer they were out here the quicker hypothermia could set in and cause Toby and Karissa serious problems. He was sure whoever had been chasing them was long gone. There were search parties all over the wooded area and people yelling out Karissa and Toby’s names. He had his gun on him just in case but he was more worried about finding them quickly than running into anyone.
“I remember this hill,” Patty Lewis, a longtime resident, said excitedly, looking at Gabe. “Casey always talked about her hidden fort where she and Karissa would hide from her dad. It was hidden by bushes and you couldn’t see it by view. She showed it to me once when we were kids.”
“Everyone spread out and start to look behind the brush,” Gabe told his group, feeling hopeful and quickly sending up a prayer of thanks. He knelt low to the ground despite the wetness and peeked behind bushes until he found a small opening. It was dark and quiet and he hoped they were okay and not seriously injured.