Were they innocent tourists? Locals?
The house was empty. My stomach clenched when my brain went haywire and I imagined the worst.
Did they really go to the hospital?
Did the killers come back after Copper made the call?
What if Callie was killed? Copper didn’t want to upset us until she saw us in person. Or she was in surgery now for a gunshot wound to the head. Or worse. They both died in the assault.
I shook myself and stopped the rampant thoughts.
Sky inspected the house, including the first floor bedroom and bath. He found Beau locked in the upstairs bathroom. The big Bernese Mountain dog bounded down the stairs, pushed Sky aside, and jumped on me with both big paws.
“Baby. It’s okay. Callie’s fine. Don't worry.” I slumped to the ground and let him lick me all over my hands, big tail wagging like an oversized metronome. “It’s okay, honey.”
He whimpered and whined a little while more, said a cursory hello to Quinn, and finally sat by my side panting, as if to say, “What next?”
Sky emerged from one of the bedrooms. “Looks like it happened in here.” He motioned us into the room. “Cripes. There’s a lot of blood in there.” He turned to Quinn. “We’ll need another smudging ceremony when this is all over, buddy.”
Quinn grimaced and looked around. “No kidding.”
I was glad to see that Sky and Quinn had formed a nice bond. No more hurt showed in Quinn’s eyes; no more jealousy spiked whenever we saw my ex-lover. At least that part of our lives had settled down. Although from what I saw in Sky’s eyes from time to time, I wasn’t so sure he was completely over me.
Sky pulled back the curtains to look out back. “We’d better get out of here. Like I said, they may have someone watching.”
With Beau at our side, we hurried out to the van. I opened the back door to get in with Kitty, and stopped short.
The quilt lay discarded on the floor with Kitty’s hemp bracelet with the pink crystal. But no girl huddled beneath.
Kitty was gone.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Quinn came around to my side of the van when I screamed. He grew pale when he saw the empty space. “No!”
Sky swore, and started pacing with his hands waving. “I don’t believe this! What was I thinking? I should have stayed out here with her.”
Adrenaline raced through my body, and a sick feeling settled in my stomach.
How could this happen? After all we did to save her?
I picked up Kitty’s bracelet and fastened it on my wrist, then collapsed against Quinn and was ready to give in to a good, long cry when Quinn’s phone chirped from his pocket.
He looked at it as if it were an alien device. “How…”
I grabbed if from his hands. I’d forgotten that the cell service worked in Speculator, too. I expected it to be Callie.
“Hello?”
“Quinn’s wife?”
I recognized her immediately, and the same sense of fear vibrated through the phone again. “Yes, it’s Marcella. Is this Poloma?”
“Yes. You remember me, I’m his Aunt Polly.” Her words were filled with urgency. “Is Quinn there? I must speak to him.”
I motioned to Sky to come closer and put the phone on speaker so all three of us could hear.
Quinn spoke up. “Aunt Polly?”
“Quinn, listen. I can only talk for a minute. They’re watching me.”
We crowded closer to the phone.
“Big Fred’s men have found Kitty. They just called back to report.” She hiccupped a sob in between her words. “You must save her!”
I shouted into the phone before Quinn could ask the same question that burned in his eyes. “Where are they, Polly? Where did they take her?”
“They are going to their hotel to clear out their things. Then they’re going to take her to your cabin. That’s where Big Fred is. He’s waiting for you to show up.”
Quinn’s brow furrowed. “But why is he still there if they already have Kitty?”
Poloma rushed her words. “He doesn’t know they have her. His phone isn’t working or something. They can’t get hold of him.”
I half-smiled, glad for once that we didn’t get cell service at Tall Pines. And if Big Fred was hiding outside to pounce on us, he wouldn’t have access to the landline inside the cabin.
Sky took the phone from Quinn. “Miss Poloma? This is a friend of Quinn’s. Can you tell me how many men are at the cabin? At Tall Pines?”
She lowered her voice. “I think just Fred and Sumi.” She paused. “They have weapons. Please. Please be very careful.”
Sky handed the phone back to Quinn, who took it off speaker and started to speak to Poloma in his native language.
I stared at him, listening to the magical words pouring from his lips. Comforting. Soothing. Exotic.
He’d never told me he knew the native language of his people.
Heck, there was a lot he’d never told me about his past. About his mother who’d died and whom he thought he killed. About Birdie, and his love for her. And the strange way his mother reacted when he wanted to date the girl. About Nandi, whom I’d never met. And all the secret ceremonies he knew how to perform.
What else would he reveal in the future? And why hadn’t he trusted me to tell me all this? We’d been together eight years. I thought I’d known everything about him.
Sky pulled me aside. “Marcella. We need weapons. Fast. I’m going to see what Copper has in the house. Try to call Callie, now that we’ve got service. See what she can do to help. Find out as soon as Quinn hangs up.” He sprinted toward the house.
***
Callie had begged us to wait for backup, but we knew if we did, and if Kitty’s kidnappers made it back to Tall Pines before us, she’d be dead. I imagined that Big Fred would want the opportunity himself, and had been frustrated and ticked off numerous times over the past few days when we’d eluded his men. What I didn’t want to think about was how he would kill her, and what he’d do to her before that.
Quinn drove like a madman, streaking down Route 30 at speeds I’d never seen him drive. Sky sat in the back of the van, loading and checking the two shotguns and one handgun that he’d taken from Copper’s gun rack. He’d also chosen a few hunting knives from the cabinet, and tucked them away.
Callie told us that Copper was getting the flesh wound in her arm stitched up, but aside from that, they were okay. We decided that Beau would be safer in the house, and much to his dismay, left him behind. She was just starting to say she’d call the local cops when we lost the cell signal between Speculator and Wells. I slid the phone into my pocket and looked at the landscape flitting past.
Why was it taking so long? And what if the guys who took Kitty didn’t wait for Big Fred? What if they’d already killed her and dumped her body in the woods?
She’d fight like a wildcat, I was sure of that. Maybe they’d have to knock her out, or drug her to get her to Tall Pines.
My heart thrummed so loud it almost drowned out the growling sound of the van. I felt Sky’s hand on my shoulder.
“Can I have the oils?”
I scrambled in my backpack and handed him a few bottles. He picked the Sacred Frankincense and began to apply it all over his neck, arms, and chest. The hallowed aroma filled the car, and I inhaled it greedily.
“We need a plan,” Sky said, his voice deep and centered. “So let’s get it straight before we get there.”
For the next few minutes, Quinn and Sky laid out their ideas. I added a bit to the mix, and we came up with a strategy we hoped would work. I silently said a prayer, and tried to relax.
I’d need my wits about me to help save Kitty. And I didn’t feel like dying today at Tall Pines.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I lay on my stomach on leaves and moss with Copper’s gun in my sweating hands, watching the area around the Tall Pines cabin.
It was strange, but having shot a gun only once, it now felt almost comfort
able in my grip. I never considered myself someone who’d be okay with weapons, yet here I lay, heart pounding madly inside my chest, the cool murmur of the river trying unsuccessfully to calm me, gripping a gun with my hands.
Dear God. Please give me strength.
Quinn had parked our van near the Hope Diner on Route 30, then he, Sky, and I had separated and circled around to the south and north sides of the seven acres of Tall Pines. We’d guessed that Big Fred and his sidekick Sumi would be hiding behind the little building with the bunk beds called the Kids’ Kondo, or the red wood shack. Both provided the only cover in the land surrounding the cabin. The pines stretched so high in the sky that the view was actually open for several hundred feet in all directions. So we tried to position ourselves to sneak up on our would-be stalkers from the outer edges of the property.
I wished we had walkie-talkies, because I’d been lying in wait for Sky’s bird call signal for almost fifteen minutes, and felt like I’d go crazy if something didn’t happen soon. I also realized that Quinn and Sky had put me in this particular spot as a back up, since my aim was unproven and I’d probably miss whoever I tried to shoot. I knew they were trying to protect me by keeping me out of harm’s way.
Frustrated, I shifted on the soft ground, picking at a pinecone.
A hawk soared over the river to my right, issuing a lonely cry as he circled in search of a meal.
I hoped it wasn’t some kind of omen. Or a warning. Did he see where Big Fred and Sumi lay in wait? Was he trying to help us?
I shook my head, gripping the gun tighter. I’m losing it.
I peered through the woods, noticing a white flash of clothing that suddenly moved behind the cabin on my side.
There he was. A huge, broad-backed man scooted alongside the cabin wall, gun in hand.
Was it Big Fred? Or Sumi? I started to squirm forward, staying low and breathing shallow.
Had he spotted Sky or Quinn? He must have, or he wouldn’t be sneaking around the building.
Panic flooded me. I had to try to help, to warn them somehow. What if he saw them and was about to shoot one of them?
I found a very wide tree trunk and slid up its side, hiding myself from the man who I was sure now must be Big Fred. Then I aimed the gun toward the sky and squeezed the trigger.
I knew he might head toward me to investigate the source of the shot, but maybe it would keep him from killing the only two men I’d loved in my life. I had to try. I let off another shot and slid to the ground, scrambling over the ledge that dropped down to the Sacandaga River. I hung onto a thick bunch of wild blueberry bushes that I hoped would hide me. Wedging myself against a thin sapling with one foot, I kept the gun pointed in the general direction of the big man with my free hand. Now it shook like a dry leaf in winter.
He had to be Big Fred. I peeked over the ledge again. The guy looked huge, well over six feet. His footsteps were light, but I heard them. He took a few steps and stopped. Another few steps. Careful. As if he were tracking a deer. Or me.
A shot came from the cabin. Then two more. I tried not to jump, though I was so scared I could barely breathe. Quinn or Sky had found Sumi, I was sure of it. Had they killed him? Had he killed one or both of them? Perspiration broke out on my brow and my underarms. Inside I prayed over and over again. Please, God. Let them be okay.
As I hung on the side of the ledge, I wondered how many thugs this man had at his disposal. Would Sumi be the last of them, not counting the men who now held Kitty? Or were there legions more, waiting to pour out of the woods to hunt us? And when would the guys who had Kitty arrive? We had to gain the upper hand before they got here, or we’d have no chance in hell to save her.
Or ourselves, for that matter.
Big Fred stood ten feet away now, his heavy-jowled face creased in concentration. Narrowed black eyes flitted from side to side. His broad nose flared, as if he could smell me.
Maybe he could. I had put on a lot of Sacred Frankincense.
I almost barked a laugh, and the tension made my legs feel rubbery. I didn’t dare to breathe.
When he’d come several feet closer, I aimed for his leg and pulled the trigger. The report was so loud I nearly lost my grip on the bush. Fred went down, gripping his calf and moaning. I scurried back up the ledge, waving my gun in my hands. Carefully, I stepped forward and kicked his gun over the edge, where it tumbled down to the river.
When I turned back to him, he grinned viciously and lunged for my knees, knocking me to my back with an oomph I’m sure was heard throughout the forest. The gun flew into the air and thudded to the ground several feet away.
His pitted face leered above me and one hand pinned my neck to the ground. He smelled of onions and peppers and in the recesses of my panicked brain, I wondered if he’d just had a nice meal at the Hope Diner while he was waiting for us. He leaned over me with his big belly brushing my jeans and his knees between my legs.
“Little troublemaker. That’s what you are.” He growled the words, hurling them at me like weapons.
“Get OFF me!” I screamed.
His hand tightened around my neck and he hollered inches from my face. “Where is she? Where’s Kitty?”
I wasn’t sure if I should tell him his goons already had her. Maybe I’d have some advantage if I lied. “She’s hidden where you’ll never find her, you son of a bitch.” I shoved hard against his chest.
It didn’t budge.
Anger pooled in my stomach, pushing away the fear. I remembered the scenes from Kitty’s visions. Big Fred forcing Birdie down onto the barn floor. Threatening to kill Kitty’s horses. Running the reservation like some kind of mob boss.
I dug down deep into my reserves and forced myself to calm down. What had Callie and I learned in that online self-defense course? I tried but couldn’t free my legs to knee him hard from the position where I lay. What else could I use?
The elbow is the sharpest, most powerful part of the body.
Yeah. But my elbows were pinned to the ground by his body.
Gouge out your attackers eyes with your thumbs.
He held my throat with one massive hand and my right arm with the other. If I could reach one of his eyes with my free hand…
I started to bring it up and he rolled off me, scooping up my gun from the ground. He spun and collared me just as I scrambled to my feet, with one massive arm around my neck.
The gun pressed hard against my temple. “Like I said. A troublemaker.”
I realized he was moving freely, and when I glanced down, there was no blood. “I shot you.”
He chuckled long and low, sending a shiver down my spine. “You missed, useless woman.”
Now he really ticked me off. Not only did he call me “useless,” but the way he spat the word “woman” fueled my fire.
I slumped to the ground, letting all my limbs go slack. He let go to reposition his arms around me, and I rolled and bolted toward the ledge and scrambled down toward the river.
Please, Sacandaga. Save me.
Chapter Thirty-Four
I raced along the river’s edge, heading downstream toward the Tall Pines cabin. Risking one quick glance over my shoulder, I gulped a great breath of relief that Big Fred hadn’t followed me down to the river.
Until I spotted him walking calmly along the upper ledge, aiming at me with Copper’s pistol.
I ducked low and scurried along the bend, yelling for Quinn and Sky. If either had survived the volley of gunshots a few minutes back, they’d hear me. I hoped.
A shot zinged past my ear. Too close. I risked running now, knowing I could easily twist an ankle on the smooth, round stones flanking the river, but also aware that I was a pretty clear target from above. I kept moving as fast as I could.
When I reached the bend, I saw Quinn on the run with a rifle tucked under his arm. His face was torn with worry.
I waved to him wildly and shouted. “Big Fred’s coming down the ledge. He’s right behind me.”
“Quick,” h
e said without a second’s hesitation. “In here.” He pointed toward a hollowed out area beneath a massive tree where the earth had worn away, but the roots remained.
I ducked into the giant roots of the elm that leaned precariously over the river not far from our Jacuzzi swimming hole. There was enough room for three of me in there. Quinn skidded down the slope and pressed beside me, kissed me hard, and twisted around with his rifle pointed through the exposed tree roots.
Above, we heard the surprisingly light footsteps of Big Fred. A whisper against oak leaves. A scuffling on moss. He moved surely and softly.
Quinn put a finger to his lips.
What did he think? That I would give away our hiding place by chatting?
I rolled my eyes and gave him a one-sided smile, but I still frowned, focusing on the very big problem creeping toward us.
Quinn gently pushed my shoulders down. I hunkered into the tiniest ball possible and closed my eyes.
I heard Fred breathing now, seeming like he needed to catch his breath. I didn’t think he ran through the woods as much now as he would’ve when he was young. I imagined the sweat pouring down the back of his shirt, and his narrow eyes slivers in the bright sunlight. Just as I pictured him peering down and seeing us hiding below him, Quinn’s rifle exploded beside me.
Once. Twice.
I opened my eyes.
A thudding sound came from above, followed by a scrambling rush of arms and legs plummeting just beyond our root cage into the Sacandaga.
Big Fred splashed hard, face down. Quinn bolted to grab him and turn him face up in the water.
Red oozed and spread through the water from a wound in his side. A similar crimson flower blossomed from his right bicep.
Quinn’s aim was far better than mine.
I hurried down to help him drag the unconscious man to the shore. “Is he breathing?”
Quinn leaned down to listen. “He is.” He straightened, dragging Fred’s body toward the shore. “Help me get him up to the cabin. We need to keep him alive long enough to use him as leverage for Kitty.”
Tall Pines Mysteries: A Mystery/Suspense Boxed Set Page 64