by Joy Ohagwu
Left to Ritz, she would escape right away and endure the cramps. But in her earlier years running, she learned the cramps from running with a full belly could incapacitate a nonrunner, a risk she would not take with Lori.
She glanced around for anything of use out there. She grabbed a discarded tee and used it for gloves. She found another set for Lori. She took off her shoes and rubbed the oily glaze from their empty bean plates on her feet and on Lori’s. “It’s a cream for our feet. We need some grease on it. I don’t think we’ll meet anyone who would start by smelling our feet first.”
Lori smiled, and it eased their fear as they slid their shoes back on. But Ritz was worried. First, their captor clearly didn’t know there was a hidden window or they could’ve done a better job of hiding it.
Maybe they had lied about the reason they were getting the place, and the real owners did a hurried job to have it ready without knowing it was being used to kidnap girls? She wasn’t sure. She only knew she wanted to go home, and she was ready in her heart and mind to leave.
“Let’s go.” She pushed open the window, and cold air hit her face. Fresh, cold, and biting…she had never welcomed wintry air this gladly before. She ran a tongue over her lips and prayed an urgent prayer for divine guidance and protection.
The day was breaking faster now than when she’d found the window in early dawn. The rising sun’s red hue had turned orange and brightened the crop leaves, while the wind waved them to one side and the other. She listened for their captor but, on hearing nothing, lowered Lori down through the window first.
As soon as the girl’s feet touched the ground, Ritz followed suit, sliding through the window as gently and quietly as she could. When she jumped down and settled on her feet, a rush of gratitude over the safe landing swept through her. She looked up at the sliding window. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for making a way of escape for us.
She took the other girl’s hand. They cowered to the height of the crops around them and took off running, seeing no houses and no one on the landscape, only low-lying evergreen crops for miles around.
Robert hopped down from the chopper the moment it landed near the clump of bushes surrounding the final shortlisted property at seven thirty a.m. His men followed suit. He wasn’t sure whether to be glad they had stopped well away from the property or disappointed it would take them longer to reach it, without the cover of night as the sun peered over the horizon.
Their feet pounded the grass as they closed in on the structure after about a fifteen-minute jog. He peered through his binoculars and signaled his men to halt. In the distance, a mobile home sat in the middle of a farmland. He wasn’t sure why, but the hairs on his neck rose. It looked innocent enough, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Just like at the farm in Upstate New York, he split the team in two. One took the front, the other took the back. This time, he led the team toward the back, as it was where a criminal was likely to hide.
As they rounded the home, the rising sun highlighted its fresh coat of paint, but some paint edging the door looked different from the one over it. That raised his suspicion. He held his weapon forward and moved toward a window that hung open in the back. It was a bit too high to see inside from the ground due to the stilts the mobile home was set upon to level it.
One of his men patted his shoulder, and he turned. The man staggered his stance, so did the one next to him. Robert climbed on their shoulders, raised his gun, and peered into a small room, littered with clothes and old electronic equipment. Then he saw it—two bowls on the floor like someone had eaten with them. Two sandwich wrappers were crumpled beside them. His eyes adjusted to the light inside.
He peered closer. Then his eyes widened. ZtiR was scribbled on the wall next to a bunk bed where a soiled shirt hung from. He climbed down. “She was here.” He spun to Charlie. “Ritz was here. I just saw her name spelled backward on the wall.” A gunshot rang out toward the front, and they rushed around there, weapons aimed.
“I said, put the weapon down!” One of his men aimed directly at a guy who had a shotgun trained at the officer.
“Can’t do, man.” The gunman swiped sweat off his forehead with the sleeve at his elbow.
Robert stepped a bit forward, gun aimed as well on the fellow. “Do as you’re told. You really don’t want to go home with both feet shot or dead,” he warned. If the man had hurt his child… “I said, put the weapon down,” Robert warned again.
He badly wanted to ask where Ritz was. But he knew not to ask an aggravated armed man and yield him a bargaining chip. “On the count of three.” He nodded to his men.
“What are you going to do? Worst, you shoot me. Well, I ain’t got nothing to lose. Pablo,” the man yelled, his scruffy beard hiding his lips.
Robert remained focused. “Two.”
“Keep counting, m—”
The force of the shot hit the man’s leg. Then the kidnapper fired back, the wild shot firing straight up in the air. More shots rang out in all directions.
Robert ducked beside the trailer as his men also took cover. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the kidnapper hit the ground, still clutching his gun and shooting skyward. The man had taken a direct hit on his chest and was bleeding out.
Robert crawled fast toward the fellow and cuffed him from behind. Then he ran toward the officer, who had been aimed at. He kneeled beside him. “Hey, are you all right?” He looked up. “Someone get me a first aid kit.” The officer clutched his shoulder. Blood oozed out of the wound. Robert pressed a hand on it. “Hang in there, buddy.”
A medic rushed forward and began tending to the injured officer. “When you’re finished, also attend to the suspect and get them both into the first chopper, then lift off for a hospital. Make sure they’re both under guard at the hospital. The second chopper stays behind.”
Robert waved to Charlie, who was rising to his feet. “Come with me. Ritz might have escaped, but I’m not sure where to begin looking.” Charlie followed him. He called two of his men to join them. “Enter the mobile home and look. Overturn everything inside.”
He and Charlie set off to the back of the mobile home where he studied the ground for footprints in the soft soil. Why did Ritz escape? More importantly, when did she escape? Was she even still alive? His chest tightened as he studied the pattern on the grass beside the window. He pointed. “Charlie, I see two sets of indents, one large and one a bit smaller.” He looked up. “Could be there were two of them. I did see two dishes on the floor inside.”
“So we could be looking at two kidnapped kids?” Charlie holstered his gun.
Robert nodded. “A strong possibility.”
“Then let’s get moving.” Charlie was always ready.
“One minute.” Robert waved to an officer. “Come with us.” He explained to Charlie, “I want him along in case we need more manpower if they’re being chased.”
The three of them crouched low, heedful of any lurking enemy, and ran toward the farmland, calling out Ritz’s name as they went.
Ritz halted under some tall, dried cornstalks and helped Lori ease to the ground. Lori must’ve lost her shoes at some point because her feet were now bare. Blisters oozed from the edges of Lori’s feet. She lifted them and examined. “Wait, maybe if I splashed it with some water, it might help.”
Ritz splashed half of the quarter bottle of water they had. The spots reddened as the girl squealed in pain. “It hurts more. Stop.”
Ritz drank some, and then gave the girl to drink. This was the last of the two bottles. “Drink. You need it.”
The girl took the bottle with shaky hands, and Ritz tilted it until it emptied into Lori’s mouth. She tossed the bottle aside.
As she helped Lori stand, the girl winced in pain and took Ritz’s hand with teary eyes. “Please leave me here. I don’t think I can go any further.” To give her credit, Lori had made a serious effort and run more than two miles until she could run no longer.
Ritz shook her head as more tears spilled down the girl�
�s cheeks. “I’m scared too. But I have faith that the God who got us out of there will get us to help.”
“I can’t walk, Ritz. It’s too painful. Go, find help, and come back for me,” the girl pleaded, her face glistening with sweat despite the chill.
Ritz nudged her forward. “No, I can’t. My dad always says to leave no one behind. Come. I’ll carry you.” She stooped, and the girl, after a moment’s hesitation, climbed onto her back.
Ritz groaned at the weight even though Lori was slim-figured, but she was heavier than any weight she’d ever lifted in swim training. She curved the girl’s feet around her middle. “Wrap your hands around my neck for balance.” When Lori did so, Ritz began trekking. She walked and sang praises to God through trembling lips.
Surrounded by nothing but crops and cold and unwarm sun, she sang worship songs in low tones. “Who is the Lord besides our God? Who is the rock besides our God?…” She continued singing, knowing sooner or later, each step led toward freedom.
She spotted a valley-like descent beyond and walked toward it. Soon, shading her eyes with one hand, she surveyed a small stream with gushing water. Knowing she wished to get to the other side to put more distance between her and the kidnappers, Ritz adjusted Lori on her back. “Hold on tighter, Lori.” The girl’s chill fingers clenched around Ritz’s neck, and Ritz moved forward.
Being a swimmer became an advantage as she estimated the current’s speed, took a firm first step into the chilly flow, and balanced on rough stones to stabilize. “Ouch.” The cold, ankle-deep rush bit deep into her feet through her shoes.
Ritz’s foot shifted, and she lost balance, sliding her other foot off its stone and landing it plodding through the chilly stream. The chill engulfed both legs by the time she’d carried Lori halfway through.
Lori’s feet curled across Ritz’s middle, barely hovering over the water at midstream. Ritz pushed against the current struggling to keep her balance when each time she settled a foot, she could hardly lift the other and brave its weight beneath the water coupled by the current’s resistance and the numbing winter runoff debilitating her feet.
She wobbled up the embankment, the recently thawed ground crackly and slushy beneath her as she gazed over the farmland on the other side, eager to remove her wet shoes.
At a fork in the trail, she stopped.
“Which way do we go?” Lori asked as though sleepy.
Ritz was feeling dehydrated. Her hips felt about to give way from the top half of her body. The sun, now higher in the sky, offered some paltry warmth, for which she was grateful. But it beat down on her forehead and Lori’s, giving her a splitting headache.
Her vision narrowed and she stumbled. She walked a little farther then gently lowered Lori to the ground. “Hey, my feet hurt, and I’m too weak to go further. I feel dizzy, and I don’t want to drop you.” She nodded to a small clearing with a muddy spot next to it. She managed to make it there, and using her fingers, she plotted her name at the edge of the mud boldly on one side, then Lori’s on the opposite side.
She scooped some of the mud with both hands and returned to where the road had forked. Panting, she made her initials R.T. with it then dragged Lori, who could not move any longer, under some crops to hide. Her toes were unfeeling at that point.
They collapsed under the heap of sand at the base of some wide withering cornstalks, and with her body completely shivering, her eyes slid closed.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“…I will guide you with My eye.”- Psalm 32:8
Robert, Charlie, and the other officer had run through the expanse of farmland for almost an hour but spotted no one. He had chosen not to use the chopper for an aerial sweep to avoid having it potentially shot down, stranding them.
Also, he wanted it to remain secure in case Ritz needed urgent evacuation. Tracking them on foot first through a ground sweep seemed a better alternative. But facing this needle-in-a-haystack scenario, Robert was starting to lose hope. He almost wished Ritz had not left captivity. He wanted her to have been there when they reached the mobile home. Then they could have been long gone. But now, he was truly at a loss on how to find her.
Where are you, baby girl? The sun beat down on them but gave little warmth. He still had the extra jacket tied around his waist, the bottle of water and granola bar on him.
He glanced around at more farmland and crops stretching in every direction.
“Ritz! Ritz!” Charlie called into the wind, but no answers came.
They were out of drinking water already having jogged for a while, not knowing they’d come this far.
Robert hoped they could retrace their way back to the rest of the team.
He was not leaving here without a clue as to where Ritz was. If she had been moved before they arrived, then there had to be a sign. Give me something, Lord.
He sat on the ground to think. If I was Ritz and escaping from captivity, what would I need first? Water. She would need drinking water.
“Charlie, can you see if there appears to be any valleys around here? Any place where someone could approach for drinking water?”
Charlie shaded his eyes and surveyed the landscape. “I don’t think so. Unless you count that puddle over there. It looks like a stream. But its small, and nobody would be drinking that colored water.”
Robert jerked to his feet. He’d gotten lost in thought and wasn’t searching for a water source when he’d been standing. “What stream? I didn’t see one.”
“It’s behind the taller crops.” Charlie stood on his toes and pointed into the distance. “There.”
Robert approached the direction he pointed, saw the stream, and accompanied by Charlie, and the other officer, crossed the stream through a small wooden beam far off the edge.
Hidden from view by overgrown brush, the beam didn’t appear to have been recently used. But would Ritz come here? It felt too far for her to have walked it on her own. Frustration rose in his chest, and he rubbed it.
At a forked path, they came to a muddy puddle, and Charlie spun and searched toward the opposite direction.
Robert approached the puddle, curiosity aroused by something odd at the edge. Then he stopped short. “Charlie?” His voice rang clear with both trepidation and hope.
Charlie reversed and reached him. On the ground, the dried-up spelled names Ritz and Lori indented the earth beside the muddy puddle. He swiveled, and they both began parting crops, searching, and shouting. “Ritz! Lori! Ritz!”
The third officer joined them, and they shouted louder.
Hope warred with worry, and faith mingled with apprehension. Were they too late? Was Ritz still alive? Can he find her in time? Blood pounded in his ears. He shouted louder, picturing her precious face in his mind’s eye, and his hands couldn’t part the crops faster.
They hadn’t gone too far inward but instead rounded the fringes of the farmland, desperation spurring his fingertips faster. Robert waded farther inside a bit and thought he heard a groan behind him. He twisted, parted the crops near the sound, and his hands shook at his discovery. He eased to a squat and stared.
A speedy rush of warmth swelled through his heart, and hot tears stung his eyes. Ritz’s curved form nestled on the ground beside another girl. Her face was sunburned, her eyelashes slapped shut over her eyes, and her chest rising and falling gently. Her feet bore dried mud, and her clothing stuck to her body, partway soaked.
“Ritz!” he breathed the word as a prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving. Then he lifted his voice. “I got her, Charlie.” He lowered to Ritz. Her lower lip was cracked and bleeding. He pulled out the bottle of water and used his finger to guide a slow trickle into her mouth. He did the same for the other girl, likely, named Lori. Then Robert capped the bottle and pocketed it.
He lifted her off the ground and carried her, just like he’d done after she was born. The love of a father exuded from his heart, permeated his bones, and propelled him forward with eager steps. Charlie rushed toward them and lifted the second girl
. Robert brimmed with renewed strength as he spoke into her ears. “Ritz, it’s your dad. I’ve got you, and I’m taking you home.”
She let out a slight groan with her eyes still closed. Nothing surpassed the joy of this moment. Nothing felt greater than holding his precious daughter in his arms again, with safety waiting only miles away. And at that very moment, he realized where he had seen the kidnapper and knew he had to return to the SSPD soonest. He had an urgent phone call to make after delivering Ritz safely home.
He hefted her limp body onto his shoulder, covered her with the extra jacket, and along with Charlie and the other officer, ran back the way they came, overcome with gratitude. Thank You, Lord Jesus!
Ruby sat beside the hospital bed and whispered continuously in prayer as Ritz slept peacefully on it. She had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and the past twelve hours had been an excruciating wait. The hospital room door opened, and Robert entered, bearing two cups of hot beverage.
He handed her one. “Hey, love. How’s she doing?” He sat beside her and sipped his tea.
Bruises, which he’d sustained on his neck from carrying Ritz for an estimated two miles to the helicopter that brought them home, mottled his neck. His tactical uniform’s elbow bore some tracks of dried mud. She could hardly believe her family was reunited and intact.
She sipped her coffee, savoring its heat and spun to him. “The doctor said her dehydration was severe and she suffered frostbite on her big toes, but she should be okay to go home in a couple of days with bedrest once they restore her fluids to a normal level.”
His shoulders relaxed, he took her hand and set down his cup.
“Our daughter is home safe. That’s what matters. And I can’t thank God, or you, enough, Robert. You are an amazing father, if I dare compliment you.” She smiled back and set hers down too, knowing he enjoyed her compliments.
He cradled her in the crook of his arm and kissed her hair, his voice growing coarse. “I love you so much, Red. You have been so strong, and I can’t believe you prayed us through this entire situation with no sleep. Even most men would’ve slept. I’m so blessed to have a golden-caliber wife whose love for Jesus and for me never grows cold. You’ve taught me so much about greatness coupled with humility. You’re a rare gift from God to me. And I’m grateful to God that our family is complete again.”