“God, help me here. I’ve got to get inside.”
His gaze landed on his truck. Yes! Fishing his keys out of his duster pocket, he raced around the wall, stopping at the barn doors. He peered through a crack but couldn’t see his daughter. “Hailey, honey, it’s Daddy. If you can hear me, move to the back of the barn right now and stay there.”
He ran to his truck, climbed inside and shoved the key into the ignition. With the truck in Drive, he thrust his foot down on the gas pedal just as Mariah ran out of the house. The vehicle revved forward, motor growling, and he plowed into the double barn doors.
The nose of his truck smashed through with a metal-crunching screech. He shoved the gearshift into Reverse. Tires spun on the slick surface. Metal scraped and wood cracked as he gained traction and soared backward, sending debris flying.
Mariah was at his side as he climbed out of the vehicle. “They’re on their way.”
Nodding, he rummaged around behind his seat, pulled out a flashlight and then grabbed her hand. “Come on.”
Ducking down, they entered the barn, carefully stepping over shattered pieces of wood. Baron appeared from nowhere and yipped a welcome. He brushed up against Jackson’s leg and then raced back into the dark interior.
Jackson flicked on his flashlight. A glowing white beam illuminated the area. He ran the light over the length of the barn, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary.
His heart plummeted. He’d been certain Hailey was here.
FIFTEEN
Stepping farther into the barn, Jackson directed the beam into every nook and cranny. But there was no sign of Hailey. All he saw were tools, a riding lawn mower, the normal horse paraphernalia and Lance’s black truck. Even Baron had disappeared from sight.
Mariah’s ragged breathing echoed in his ears. She clung to his arm with a vengeance. “That truck—it looks like the one that almost ran me off the road.”
“I wondered why I hadn’t seen Lance driving it lately. He didn’t want you to see him in it.”
“He must have not wanted me to write your story. But why?”
Jackson started to answer but heard a whimper and scratching sound. He twisted around and shone the light to his left. His frustration mounted. Where was Baron? And his daughter?
“Hailey! Where are you?” He closed his eyes and listened closely for a response. “It’s Daddy, sweetie.”
Baron’s sudden bark drew his attention to the far corner of the barn. They squeezed around the mud-covered truck.
“Look! There’s a door.” Mariah tugged on his arm until the flashlight shone against an open wooden door. It’d been so long since he’d been in Lance’s barn that he’d forgotten about the small tack room.
Jackson opened the door and entered the room first, his large body filling up the small entrance. Bridles, halters and a rope hung on one wall. Two saddles sat on wooden racks on the other side.
“Move on in, Jackson. I can’t see.”
As he stepped forward so Mariah could enter behind him, the wood under his foot creaked and gave way a little. Suddenly, he spun around, nearly knocking Mariah over.
“Hey! What’s wrong?” Mariah swung her arms, fighting to not fall backward out the door.
He steadied her with one hand, reached around her and flipped on the light. A single bulb illuminated the room in an eerie glow. Jackson turned again and stooped down. At his feet was a door in the floor, made from evenly spaced slats with hinges on the left side.
A locked door. One he’d never seen before. The wood still emanated its fresh pine scent and had not faded in color.
Mariah leaned down. “That looks new.”
“Yeah.” In the corner nearest his left foot, several slats were broken, leaving a ten-inch hole. It looked as if an animal had clawed at the wood until it broke. Pieces of black-and-white fur were stuck in the cracked edges of several slats. His heart jolted. This must be where Baron went. He whistled and received a bark in reply.
“Was that Baron?” Mariah asked, pressing against his back and looking over his shoulder.
“Yeah. There must be an underground room.”
“Well, hurry up. Open it.”
Jackson was almost afraid to. If Hailey was down in that hole, she hadn’t responded to his call. He didn’t think he could handle it if his daughter was...dead.
He muttered another prayer for strength. It was time for him to fly above the storms. God would give him the grace he needed for whatever he would find.
Placing his forefinger and thumb in his mouth, he blew out a shrill whistle. From underground, he heard a bark. In a matter of seconds, Baron’s wet black nose poked up through the hole, followed by his furry head. He let out a little whine then disappeared down the hole again.
Frantic, Jackson scanned the room for something he could use to break open the door. His gaze landed on a toolbox in the corner on a shelf. He flipped it open. A hammer rested on top of a conglomeration of tools.
Kneeling, he used the teeth of the hammer and worked at the latch. He pushed hard and one corner of the metal latch squeaked upward. Tucking the hammer in deeper, he leveraged his full weight and pushed on the handle. With a screeching groan, the small square end of the silver latch popped up. He tossed aside the hammer and lifted the door.
Jackson leaned it against the wall, and Mariah shone the flashlight down into the hole, revealing a dusty stairway. Rather than being cold and damp as he’d expected, a warm breeze whooshed upward. His heart pounded. What would he find down there?
He looked at Mariah and saw concern in her eyes. “You wait here. We don’t know what’s down there.” If things were bad, he didn’t want her seeing it and having to remember it the rest of her life.
“Nuh-uh, no way. I’m going with you.”
Jackson took a step down. “Stay!”
“Don’t forget, I’m a newspaper reporter, not your dog. I’ve seen a few things in my day.”
Unwilling to waste any more time arguing, he took the flashlight from Mariah and directed the light on the dirt steps. He hurried down. The farther he went, the warmer it got. Instead of finding a dirty basement, Jackson was surprised to discover a small drywalled room—a fairly warm room.
The bottom of the steps made a sharp right turn and continued down farther. His gaze landed on a square of light flickering in the back corner of the room. A television? His heart jumped from his chest to his throat when the flashlight beam illuminated what looked like a little bed in the corner.
His blood ran cold.
Baron whined and lifted his head off the cot, tail wagging. Behind the dog was a small lump under a Tinker Bell blanket.
Jackson’s gut tightened. He tried to call out his daughter’s name, but his throat was too thick with emotion.
“It’s a room.” Mariah stated the obvious as she caught up with him.
“Here, hold this,” he managed to croak out as he handed the flashlight back to her. “Point it at the bed.”
“Bed?” Mariah squeezed around him and gasped. She took the light and directed the beam to the lump.
“Down, Baron,” Jackson ordered.
The dog whined and moved to the foot of the child-size cot but didn’t obey. Jackson bent over and reached out with a trembling hand, lifting the old blanket. He tossed it aside.
Mariah gasped.
Hailey lay huddled in a fetal position with her back to him, her hands under her cheek, looking small and vulnerable. The muted sound of the television echoed from the headphones covering her ears. Hailey wasn’t moving.
“No. Oh, Jackson,” Mariah cried, grabbing hold of his shoulder. The flashlight bobbed up and down as her hand shook.
Tears blurred his vision. Had God led him this far only to be too late to save his child? The bed groaned and squeaked as he lowere
d his trembling body onto it. Slowly, he reached out and smoothed Hailey’s hair off her face.
Warm! Her skin was warm! “Thank You, Lord.”
“Is she—alive?” Mariah moved in closer and shone the light on Hailey’s pale face.
“Yes.” Jackson removed the headphones and gently shook her slim shoulder. When she didn’t move, he rolled her over. Hailey scrunched her eyes together, obviously not used to the bright light, and she stretched. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and blinked several times. She lifted her hand and covered her eyes.
“Lance? Is it safe to go home yet?”
“Hailey, it’s Daddy.”
Hailey’s little body bolted upright. “Daddy!”
Jackson pulled her slight form against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. “Oh, baby. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Tears freely fell down his cheeks and into Hailey’s hair. Mariah ran her hand down Hailey’s head and then against his cheek before it came to rest on his shoulder. She was there again, offering her silent support.
“I missed you, Daddy.” Hailey tightened her grip on his shirt. “Lance said a bad man was after you and me. He hid me down here so the bad man wouldn’t find me, but I was worried about you.”
Jackson glanced up at Mariah. In the muted darkness he could see her eyes widen. She stared at him with incredulity.
“Let’s get you out of here, baby.”
“Lance said I had to use headphones when I watched TV so the bad man wouldn’t hear me. I was real quiet. He said the bad man hurt Ms. Garrett. Did they catch him yet?” Hailey pushed back and looked up into his face with childish innocence.
“I’m not sure, baby, but I hope so.” His gaze roved his daughter’s face. She looked just fine, except for the layer of dirt and the food stains around her mouth.
“I’m hungry. I had Fruity Flakes for breakfast and some cookies for a snack. But now I’m really hungry. Can I have a cheeseburger?” Hailey leaned her head against his chest again and yawned. Emotion swelled within him. Moments ago, he’d thought he’d lost her and now his precious child wanted a cheeseburger.
“Of course you can, pun’kin.” Thank You, God!
He lifted Hailey in his arms and stood. It felt so good to hold her. To know she was safe again.
“Who’s holding the flashlight?” Hailey asked.
“It’s me, sweetie.”
“Mariah!” Hailey lunged out of his arms and into Mariah’s. “I missed you, too.”
The light wobbled as Mariah made a frantic grab for his daughter. As she clasped her arms around the child, the flashlight slipped from her hand and sailed across the room. It crunched against the wall, sending them into darkness, except for the flicker of the tiny nine-inch television.
“Oops.” Mariah giggled. “I missed you so much, sweetie.”
Not quite ready to be free of his child yet, Jackson retrieved her and the blanket. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Sounds good to me,” Mariah said.
They stomped back upstairs to the front of the barn. The closer to the door they got, the colder the air became. Jackson was thankful that Lance had at least seen to Hailey’s comfort and told her a story so that she wouldn’t be too scared. The little space heater downstairs had kept the room plenty warm. And she hadn’t seemed the least bit afraid of the darkness. That amazed him.
In the sunlight shining through the big opening his truck had made at the front of the barn, Jackson set Hailey down and knelt beside her. Baron cuddled up against his leg, wearing a proud dog smile, and Jackson reached down and petted him. “You did good, boy.”
Jackson’s gaze traveled the length of his daughter’s body. She yawned and looked up at him and grinned. “I’m happy the bad man didn’t get you, Daddy. I prayed he wouldn’t.”
Jackson’s throat tightened again. Here they’d been, frantically petitioning God for her safe return, while she’d been praying for them.
Hailey gasped suddenly. “Guess what! I asked God to send someone to stay with me because I was scared, and then Baron found me. Do you think God sent him?”
Jackson glanced up at Mariah, who smiled and shrugged. “I reckon He could if He wanted to.”
Hailey squatted and patted Baron on the head. The dog licked her hand. “Cool. You’re really special, Baron.”
Jackson wasn’t quite ready to relegate saint status to his ornery border collie, but he was ever so grateful that God had used the animal to comfort Hailey.
“If God can use donkeys and eagles to speak to people, why not dogs?” Mariah’s profound statement surprised him.
Jackson wrapped the blanket around his daughter, and then he stood, lifting Hailey up again. She bumped his cowboy hat, nearly knocking it off. “Yeah.” He grinned, tapping it down. “Why not dogs?”
Mariah watched father and daughter. Hailey planted a kiss on Jackson’s stubbly cheek. “You need to shave, Daddy. You feel like a Porky Pig.”
Jackson’s laughter echoed through the barn. “You mean a porcupine?”
“Yeah,” Hailey said. “One of those spiky animals.”
“You mean prickly?”
“Yeah, that.”
“You don’t like prickles?”
Hailey’s giggle warmed Mariah’s heart. “No.”
“Well, what about this?” Jackson ducked his head and rubbed his chin on Hailey’s tummy.
She squealed, pushing at her father’s head. “Stop! Daddy, stop.” Her giggles filled the barn with brightness, almost as if someone had turned on a light.
Mariah hugged herself. How had she come to love this family so quickly? And even more, how could she leave them? They’d woven their way into her heart like a fast-growing vine.
And God had answered her prayer. Hailey had been found. Safe. And He had even sent a furry guardian to watch over her.
Now she had a bargain to keep with God. And she meant to keep her word. As soon as she got back home, she would start looking for a church to attend.
“Let’s get this munchkin home. She needs a bath.”
“Can I have a bubble bath?”
“Bubble bath. Cheeseburger. Whatever you want, precious.”
Mariah saw the spark in the young girl’s eyes. “So, can I have my horse now?”
Jackson grinned but growled out, “Don’t push your luck.”
Yep, life was almost back to normal. And she had a story to write. Just which story? That was the question.
Jackson hugged Hailey again. If only Mariah’s own father had loved her so much.
“What happened to the doors?” Hailey asked, staring at the gap in the barn.
“We had trouble getting in to you, baby. I had to use my truck to break in.”
“Lance is gonna be mad.”
As if the words were prophetic, tires flung gravel and a blast of gunfire ricocheted through the air as Lance’s car raced toward them. The wood closest to Jackson’s head exploded. Hailey screamed. Mariah dived for cover. In one smooth move, Jackson ducked, pressing Hailey’s head against his shoulder, and backed up. Baron’s frantic barks echoed through the barn. Jackson’s concerned gaze locked with Mariah’s.
“You’re not getting out of there alive,” Lance yelled in a cold, hard voice. “I tried to warn that reporter when I ran her off the road, but she didn’t take the hint.”
So Lance was the one. Mariah’s heart raced. How could they defend themselves against a gun? If only Jackson hadn’t removed his for the prayer time at church and left it in the truck.
Jackson shuffled toward her and thrust Hailey into her arms. “You two get back down in the basement. Now!”
Hugging the girl, Mariah stared at him. How could she leave him alone to fight a madman? What if he didn’t make it? She couldn’t stand the thought.
Jackson must have been thinking the same, because he held her gaze. Suddenly, he reached out and pulled her and Hailey against him in a fierce bear hug. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear. He gave her a quick peck on her temple then gently pushed her toward the back of the barn.
Mariah and Hailey hurried down the dark steps. Thankfully, the TV still cast out a faint glow, illuminating her way. “Sit on the bed, sweetie.” Hailey obeyed and Baron jumped up beside her.
Mariah turned toward the stairs. “Don’t leave me alone.” Hailey’s pleading voice cut right to her heart.
Mariah searched her pocket for her phone. “I’m not leaving you. I just want to check on your dad. Plus, I need you to keep Baron down here so he doesn’t get hurt. Can you do that for me?”
“Why did Lance shoot at Daddy? They’re friends.”
Mariah sighed, all the time listening for sounds upstairs. What could she say to a six-year-old to make her understand? “Has Baron ever gotten sick and had to go to the doggie doctor?”
“Yeah, the vet,” Hailey said in a mature tone.
Of course, a ranch girl would know what a vet was. “Well, Lance is sick. He needs a doctor to help him.”
“You mean, kind of like when an animal gets rabies and goes crazy?”
This little girl was way too smart. “Yes. Exactly. Lance has kind of gone crazy and needs a doctor to help him.”
“I’ll pray for him. God will help.”
Mariah longed to have Hailey’s simple childlike faith. If God got them out of this situation unscathed, she was definitely going to learn more about Him.
“So, you’ll keep Baron here while I go upstairs and see what’s happening?”
“Yeah.”
“Promise? In fact, why don’t you put on the headphones and watch one of those cartoon videos.”
“I already watched all of them—over and over.”
She had to distract the child. “How about playing a game on my phone?” She punched the phone on and was glad to see it light up.
Rancher Under Fire Page 18