I was shoved into the back of a car and waited for any sound to indicate my mother had been taken too. I couldn’t believe they would just leave her.
Two people shoved into the backseat with me, but I couldn’t tell who. They were larger than me. Larger than my mom.
No sound of her voice. Nothing.
For all I knew, they’d left her for dead.
Tears welled in my eyes as I tried to be strong. I couldn’t stop shaking as the car’s engine started, and the vehicle began to move. My entire world was black, and I couldn’t see anything. I hoped someone had called Teddy, had heard me screaming.
Teddy
“I need to see Teddy!” the screeching voice was familiar to me. I’d it heard countless times when her husband had been locked up in my jail. With a sigh, I stood up from my desk, assuming she was here about Jack.
“They have my baby!”
My stomach sank. I hurried out of my office to find two deputies carrying Pat Wiley toward the door. She went limp in their arms, making it harder for them to move her. Was she drunk? Blood dripped down her face, but I couldn’t tell if she’d just fallen. I didn’t think so.
“Hold up, what’s going on?” I asked her.
“She’s drunk, boss,” Mike said. “Want me to throw her in the holding cell?”
“I’m not drunk. They have my baby! They have my Maddy!” she sobbed, pleadingly staring at me.
My heart stopped as she continued fighting against my officers. “Let her go,” I ordered. “Who has Maddy, Pat?”
She shook free of the hands holding her and stared at me. “Some men. They took her.”
“From where?”
“From her hotel room.”
“What happened to your head?”
“One of them hit me, knocked me down.” She shook her head as a sob filled the room. “Stop asking questions! They took her!”
“Shit. Did you see anyone? Their car?”
She pulled something from her pocket and handing it to me. “That’s their license plate number.” Tears streamed down her face. “I tried to fight back, I did, but they were too strong. They left me in the room, but I got up and followed them and saw their vehicle. A black SUV. And I saw the direction they were headed.” She put a hand to her head as if dizzy. “You have to save her, Teddy.”
I was already headed for the door. “What direction?”
“They took a right out of the hotel, and I saw them turn down Old Lick Road.”
“Get her some medical attention!” I yelled Sue, the desk sergeant.
I was in my car in a flash, calling all officers to watch for their vehicle. Black SUV headed down Old Lick Road in the last five to ten minutes. I gave them the license plate as I pulled out of the station and headed toward the road.
I drove past the hotel, cursing myself for thinking she was safe. We had no reason to think she would be in danger; there was no reason for them to come after her. But there were things in play that neither of us understood or even knew about.
I shouldn’t have left her alone.
My radio buzzed. “Boss, Jack Wiley said he wants to talk to you. He heard about Madison and said he might be able to help.”
“Put him through.” I turned down the road Pat had told me they went down. They only had a few minutes' head start, but there were so many back roads, so many places they could hide. I could use all the help I could get.
“Teddy,” Jack’s voice cut through the radio. “My mom told me everything. They weren’t supposed to go after my family if I went down for the crime. I don’t know why they’d take her. She’s…”
“What, Jack?”
“She’s been snooping around a bit, asking too many questions, hasn’t she?”
I cringed. “Maybe a bit, yeah.”
“They’re probably worried she’d find out what I know if she hasn’t already.”
“What do you know?”
“That’s not important right now. You need to find her,” he insisted, shutting down my questions. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know. They turned down Old Lick Road?”
“Yes.”
“I think I know where they took her. One night, after meeting them, I followed them to a location in the woods that way. They had everything set up in case they needed to take care of me.”
“Take care of you?”
“Yeah, you know, if I didn’t cooperate. They had a plan to kill me and make it look like a suicide. Like my dad.”
I gripped the steering wheel firmly. If that was true and they took Madison there…I pressed my foot down on the accelerator, my vehicle lurching forward.
“Tell me where to go, Jack.”
“About a mile down Old Lick Road, there’s a turn-off. Blink, and you’ll miss it. I think it leads to a house that used to be in my dad’s family but was foreclosed years ago. It’s empty now.”
“Know the name?”
“I don’t, but there’s a road sign that’s hidden in the bushes. The letters are worn down.”
I knew exactly what he was talking about. I’d already passed it. “Shit. One second,” I said, swiftly turning around in the middle of the road, changing directions. “Go on.”
“You go down there about a mile or so, it splits off. They went left,” he said, his voice becoming frantic as he directed me. “From there, the road narrows, and you’ll have to park and walk. I walked the entire way so they wouldn’t see me. You can’t drive through the overgrowth, but there’s a trail. You just have to look for it. It leads to a creek and a small clearing.”
I came across the road Jack had told me about and turned. It was hard to drive on it. Almost all gravel with trees hanging low. Very easy to hide out in the woods here. I couldn’t drive very fast, but I went as fast as I could. Tree branches scratched at the sides of my car, making an awful sound.
“Is that it, Jack?”
“That’s all I know, Teddy,” he said softly, his voice hitching as he added, “Please find her.”
“I’ll do everything I can.”
A lump formed in my throat as I reached the split in the road. Just as Jack said. The radio went dead. Jack couldn’t do much more from the confines of his cell. I knew that if he were free, he’d be with me, fighting to save his sister. He was a good brother, always had been.
But this time, it was on me.
Just in case they hadn’t brought her here, I didn’t want to call for backup yet. We were a small team, and if she wasn’t here, I needed them out and about, canvassing the area for any sign of the vehicle. So for the moment, I was alone.
The road narrowed, and there was no way my car could continue. I killed the engine and climbed out, scanning the immediate area. I saw the trail ahead. I listened and heard nothing.
Chapter-Twenty-One
MADISON
Branches scratched at my bare arms and face. Blood trickled from a few of the scratches. They had taken the hood off me at one point when I kept falling and stumbling over every little tree branch. I didn’t recognize where we were - woods as far as the eye could see and a trail that seemed to narrow more and more. It felt like we were being eaten alive by the trees.
I’m sure that would be a better fate than the one I faced.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew these men had one mission. They were going to kill me. My hands were bound in front of me with rope. Probably the same rope they’d used to hang my father, I thought with horror. A sick feeling rose in my stomach, and for a moment, I thought I might throw up.
Robert McBride was the leader of this little gang, though I didn’t think he was in the car with me. He met us at the trailhead. Stan was nowhere to be found, not that I thought I could convince him to spare his best friend’s daughter. Stan didn’t have a heart, and to him, my father’s friendship was merely for his convenience.
I wasn’t valuable to them. I didn’t even know why I was there. And since there was no harm in asking, I did. “Why are you doing this to me? I don’t know anything,” I said.
“You know too much,” Robert said quietly, keeping pace beside me.
“Too much? I know nothing.”
“Even if that’s true, which I sincerely doubt, it’s not worth the liability. You’ve talked to Jack. You refuse to leave town, and you’re too tight with the sheriff. You’d find out the truth one way or another, and we can’t have that.”
“So, if I promise to leave town, you’d let me go?”
“Too late for that.”
Damn.
We walked for a few minutes longer, my legs and feet aching from the trek. I wasn’t wearing proper shoes for a hike. The path slowly opened to showcase a clearing with beautiful mountain views as far as the eye could see. A creek trickled nearby, the sound of the water breaking the silence.
My eyes fell on a tree not too far from the creek. A giant oak tree, like the ones Jack and I used to climb when we were kids. This one had a rope hanging from it.
Stan McBride glanced around, drawing my attention with his movement. “About fucking time,” he scowled. “With the scene you made at the hotel, there’s bound to be people looking for her.”
“Sorry. She walks slow,” Robert spat back. “And you told me she had to be alive, no obvious injuries.”
“Did you leave any witnesses?”
I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t know for sure if my mother was alive or dead.
“Her mom caused a scene,” Robert said, speaking slowly. “But we took care of her.”
“Did you make sure she was dead?”
Robert didn’t say anything.
“You didn’t check to make sure she was dead before leaving?”
“We had to hurry,” Robert said.
Good to know that even in crime families, there was always at least one fuck up. It started to make sense now how Robert had the record, and Stan didn’t. Robert had a tendency of not cleaning up his messes and wasn’t very careful. That could work to my benefit.
Please let my mom be alive, I prayed. Please let her talk to Teddy. Please let them find me. Tears welled in my eyes as the two men began to argue. Stan continued to berate Robert, telling him that he could have ruined everything.
“We’ll go back and take care of Pat if she’s alive,” Robert said dryly.
“What if she already went to the police, shithead?”
That would be good news for me. Maybe that would spare me. But I didn’t trust them, so I tugged at the ropes at my wrist, trying not to move too much. Still too tight to free them.
Stan turned to me, his eyes ablaze. I froze, and it was like an icicle through my heart to look him in the eyes. I couldn’t even breathe for a second. Be brave, Madison. You have to be brave for not just yourself, but for your baby.
I took a deep breath, kicked out my chin, and tried to clear my head. Focus. Look for a way out. You won’t be able to do that if you’re a sobbing mess.
“Can you untie me, please? I’m just one woman, and I’m unarmed. I won’t fight you,” I said, speaking slowly. “The ropes are hurting my wrists.”
Stan stared at me in silence for a moment. I wasn’t sure if he heard me or if he simply didn’t care. Finally, he pulled out a knife and cut the rope holding my wrists together. The cool blade sent a shudder through my body.
I rubbed my wrists, which had raw, red marks circling them. “Thank you,” I mumbled, trying to remain rational - like someone they could work with. Maybe we could work something out. I almost scoffed out loud at the naïve thought.
“Don’t thank me, kid,” he said. “Take her to the tree.”
“Wait, what?”
Two men grabbed me as Stan slipped the knife into a sheath at his side. The men pushed me toward the rope hanging from a thick branch overhead, and I lost all my cool. I couldn’t let them do this. I was pregnant. I had a child to protect. I wasn’t going down without a fight. I screamed, hearing the echoes of it through the woods.
“If you don’t shut up,” Stan said, his voice far too calm for a man about to hang an innocent woman. “We will kill everyone you love. Your brother. Your mom. Your best friends. Even that asshole sheriff you’ve been sleeping with.”
The look on my face made him chuckle.
“Yeah, we know all about you, Madison Wiley. We’ve been watching you.” He chuckled, and ice slipped down my spine. “We know everyone you care about, and we can take care of them all. Don’t think we can’t.”
I went limp in the men’s arms, much like my mom had done earlier. My eyes landed on a knife tucked into the belt of the man holding me. This was my chance.
I’d learned a thing or two from my mother about how to break free when someone grabbed you. She used it mostly when it came to the police, but it was a good tactic. I twisted my wrist in the man’s hand, rotated it toward his thumb, and pulled it until it broke free from his grasp.
I reached for the knife, grabbing it with my free hand and slicing into the other man’s arm, making sure I kept a tight grip on the knife. He let me go, grabbing at the slash, which was deep but not life-threatening.
I knew I had to be better. I had to get the upper hand.
Robert pointed a gun at me, his face a mask of fury.
“No, don’t shoot.” Stan cackled, shaking his hand as I froze. “Damn, girl. You got more spunk than your daddy.” He turned his eyes on Robert. “Can’t look like a murder, idiot. She’s a tiny girl with a knife. There are four of us. What are you afraid of?”
Robert’s gun was steady, and he stared at me with eyes that held no emotion. I stepped backward, holding the knife out, ready to slash at anyone that came near me. I kept walking backward until my feet hit the edge of the creek bed. The ground underneath crumbled into the water.
The creek itself was too shallow to be a true escape route.
I was cornered by four men, one of them with a gun pointed at me.
“I’ve had enough, Madison,” Stan said, moving closer to me but keeping a safe distance. “You can’t take us all at once with a little bitty knife. Grab her.”
Two men plus Stan lunged toward me. There were too many of them. I slashed at the air, slicing into flesh, but Stan grabbed the knife and tossed it to the ground beside me. He grabbed me by the neck, lifting me up off my feet almost, staring into my eyes.
“Say good night, Madison,” he murmured, squeezing tighter on my neck. I couldn’t take a breath, the world around me started to spin.
This is it, I thought. This is how I’ll die.
Teddy
I only had to walk a little further into the brush to see the black SUV. They had hidden in amongst the trees, driving over several bushes and off the main road. The license plates matched.
I ran back to my patrol car and called for backup. I gave them directions and was told officers would arrive within five to ten minutes.
Madison didn’t have that long.
I normally encouraged my men to wait for backup. I had no idea what was waiting for me down this trail. But Madison was down there, and if she was still alive…I wasn’t going to waste precious minutes by waiting.
I put my hand over the gun at my hip and took off down the trail. Just like Jack described, it was hard to see and was narrow and covered with overgrowth. But I didn’t let the branches scratching at my flesh stop me or slow me down.
In the distance, I heard talking. All men. No sign of Madison. But it meant I was getting closer. I had to be smart. I couldn’t just rush up on them. I had to slow down. I had to formulate a plan. I had to see what I was working with.
After a few moments, the branches began clearing. I slowed even more so they wouldn’t hear the branches snapping under my feet.
More talking. Arguing this time.
“What are we doing to do with her? We can’t kill her if there’s witnesses who saw us grab her,” one of the men said.
“We wouldn’t have this problem if he hadn’t fucked the whole operation up.”
Good, she was still alive. The men were arguing amongst themselves, also a good sign. They were
distracted. They weren’t expecting me. They were also not sure if killing her was the next step, meaning it might buy me some time.
“But she saw us already, so she’ll talk,” a man with a very stern voice said. He sounded calmer, more professional. “If we do it this way, we can try to pin on someone else or get another mistrial.”
“That’s not a chance I’m willing to take.”
I stepped behind a tree and could see the men now. Robert McBride was with them, saying it wasn’t a chance he’d take.
“It’s your fault we have to make this choice,” one of the men said. “So, if anything, it’s your turn to take the fall.”
“I’m not taking the fall for this shit,” Robert growled, throwing his hands up. I saw a gun in one of those hands. “I’m done being your fall boy. We kill her and make sure no one finds the body.”
I scanned the area for Madison. Finally, I saw her. She was propped up against the tree, unconscious. Another guy was next to her, guarding her.
Rage bubbled inside me. I wanted nothing more than to kill them all, to take them all out for hurting her. For risking the life of the woman I loved and risking the life of my unborn child. But there were four of them and one of me.
I squinted, staring around the clearing to make sure I had locations on all four men. I crouched and moved toward some bushes, hoping to get a little closer without alerting them. Always careful not to make a sound.
I got to another group of trees and stood up behind one, close enough that I could almost talk to Madison if she were alone. Her eyes were fluttering open. She seemed confused, but she barely moved her head. I couldn’t see her expression in the dark and hoped she wasn’t badly hurt.
I’ll get you out of here, baby girl, I thought to myself. Just need to wait for the others to arrive.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, followed by the ringtone. I froze in place behind the tree, fumbling for the phone. The call was coming from the station, probably because they couldn’t reach me by radio. Dammit!
“What was that?”
“It came from over there,” said another voice.
Take a Mountain Man Home for Christmas: A Mountain Man Romance Christmas Collection Page 106