“Yes, but I was keeping an eye on them.”
She’d been so focused on Josiah she hadn’t even been aware of the huge animals only a football field away. Josiah did that to her. And yet, he also protected her.
As Ella strolled back to camp, she kept glancing over her shoulder. Although she’d lived here four years, it wasn’t a common occurrence for her to see three brown bears at one time. But she saw no sign of them being bothered by her and Josiah. As she neared their campsite, she began to relax.
“What are we going to do tomorrow?” she asked, finally breaking the silence between them.
“There’s a place we can sit on the shore and watch for whales. I can’t guarantee we’ll see them, but we can try. I think Robbie will get a big kick out of that.”
“He certainly was excited about seeing the bald eagle in the tree today.”
“That excited me. A majestic bird. Being around Robbie has renewed the awe I used to have while growing up here. You have a special son.”
Suddenly a gunshot reverberated through the woods. Coming to a sudden stop, Ella tensed. “That was close.”
Another blast rang out.
“It’s coming from the direction of our campsite,” Josiah said, grasping his rifle with both of his hands as he set out in a jog.
THIRTEEN
The pounding of Ella’s footsteps matched his as Josiah raced toward the camp. As he came closer, he slowed, the beating of his heart thundering in his ears.
On the outskirts, he crept forward, Ella mirroring him. Alex stood with Robbie in front of a rocky facade, a piece of paper stuck on a small tree limb. She was demonstrating how to handle a rifle. A look of deep concentration was on the boy’s face.
Ella moved around him, headed toward the pair across the campsite and said with a laugh, “You should warn me before you start target practice.”
Robbie whirled toward her. “Alex was showing me how good she is. I drew a bull’s-eye on the paper. She hit it twice. I want to learn. Can I, Mom?”
Alex faced Ella and Josiah. “We got bored waiting for you two to come back. Robbie wanted to know about my gun. I was pointing out how it worked and why we carry it when we go into the backcountry.”
Ella turned to Robbie, a solemn expression on her face. “When you’re older. Until then, you aren’t to handle one. I imagine from Alex’s demonstration you see how dangerous a weapon can be in the wrong hands or with someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing. Okay?”
With an equally somber expression, Robbie nodded.
“If we had our food, right about now, we’d be roasting marshmallows and making s’mores,” Josiah said to lighten the moment of seriousness. “But we have some berries left instead. Anybody up for finishing them off with me?”
Robbie giggled. “What about breakfast tomorrow morning?”
“We’ll need much more than berries tomorrow.” Josiah drew the boy toward the fire ring. “We have over an hour’s hike to a place I want to show you. We’ll need to leave early, so I’m going to get up at the crack of dawn and go fishing. Want to come with me?”
“If you’re gonna tell me where we’re going to hike.”
“Hopefully to see whales.”
As Robbie sat near the dying fire, his eyes grew huge. “Really?”
“Maybe seals, some more eagles, too.”
Robbie clapped. “Yes!”
Ella joined Josiah and Robbie, taking a seat next to her son. “I gather you’re going fishing, then.”
Robbie twisted toward her with his solemn expression on his face. “If we’re gonna have breakfast, I have to. I’m the one who caught the most fish today.”
“I think you threw down the gauntlet, Robbie.” Ella’s eyes twinkled.
“Gauntlet? What’s that?” her son asked.
“A glove. In olden times when someone did that, it meant they were challenging another person to something.” Ella glanced toward Josiah.
He smiled. “And I take up that challenge. I’m going to catch more fish than you by seven o’clock. Deal?” Josiah held out his hand.
Her son shook it. “Deal.”
“While you two battle it out at the stream, Alex and I will sleep in and have a blazing fire going by the time you come back in anticipation of all the fish you’re going to catch. Now, I wonder who can top me in telling the tallest tale.”
Josiah lounged back on his elbows as first his sister and then Robbie took up the dare. Around the fire, with the sun going down, the leaves rustling in the cool breeze and the sound of insects and birds filling the air, he thought about what he had told Ella at the stream. As he’d gone through the details of his ordeal, he’d always thought it would send him into a panic attack. It had when he’d first talked with his counselor. It had when he’d shared some of it with Alex. Would his nightmare return tonight with Buddy at home?
Josiah caught Ella staring at him, her warm brown eyes probing, as though trying to reach into his mind. He averted his gaze. He didn’t want to let her go, but he didn’t think he was good for her.
* * *
The next morning Ella woke up, snuggled comfortably in her sleeping bag. She’d gotten a good night’s rest and was ready for the day of hiking before David came at six to pick them up. This weekend had been a revelation—from Josiah, but also inside her. Somewhere deep within her, she needed to find a way to let go of her anger toward Keith and move on completely. Josiah was right. She could never truly embrace the rest of her life if she didn’t.
Sitting up, Ella stretched the kinks out of her body, which wasn’t used to sleeping on the hard ground. Even as she crawled from the tent, she continued to work out the stiffness from her muscles. She spied Alex sitting on the ground, her eyes closed, her body relaxed. She’d learned when living at the estate that Alex always meditated first thing in the morning if possible. It was her special time with God. Ella liked that idea, but she found the end of the day worked best for her.
When Ella stood, Alex opened her eyes. Ella quickly said, “I’m gathering the firewood we need. Go back to what you’re doing.”
Ella hurried into the wooded area near the campsite as Alex slid her eyelids closed again. She’d slept so well she hadn’t heard Josiah or Robbie leaving at sunrise to fish. Glancing at her watch, she knew the guys would be back in about twenty minutes, ready to cook the fish. Bending over, she began picking up stray tree limbs until her arms were loaded with firewood.
She heard an owl in an upper branch of one of the trees and stopped, trying to determine where he was perched. Another hoot echoed through the woods. Suddenly she thought about what had started all of this—falling in love with a man who wasn’t ready for a relationship. It had been weeks ago when Robbie and his friends went in search of an owl. Something good had come out of the incident with Foster. Maybe sometime later, Josiah and she would have a chance.
I hope so.
All she had to do was let go of the hold Keith had on her. Somehow she would do that because she and Robbie deserved more. She leaned over to grab one more piece of wood before heading back to camp. She straightened and swung around to retrace her steps when she saw him.
The collected firewood tumbled to the ground about her feet.
Keith.
With a rifle pointed at her.
* * *
“I won. I won.” Robbie danced around in circles at the stream.
Josiah laughed at the glee on the boy’s face. “You’re a natural outdoorsman. The skills will come as you get older. That doesn’t have anything to do with being a natural.”
Robbie puffed out his chest. “Can I learn how to cook these salmon you filleted?”
“Sure. Let’s go.” Josiah washed his hands in the stream, grabbed the fish he’d prepared and headed toward the campsite.
&nb
sp; “Thanks, Josiah, for showing me all these things this weekend. Mom isn’t too big on camping, but when I get older, I’ll be able to go with friends.”
“Until then, you can go with me again, if you like,” Josiah said, before he realized Ella probably wouldn’t want that. Yesterday evening, they had agreed to put some distance between them.
“I’d love that.”
They walked through the woods in silence for a while, then Robbie asked, “Do you like my mom?”
Josiah could answer many questions about Alaska, dogs and camping, but that question left him speechless. He couldn’t lie to the boy, but he didn’t want to give him false hope concerning him and Ella. “I think your mom is very special,” he finally said, praying that would satisfy Robbie.
“Would you ever consider being my dad?”
Stunned, Josiah came to a halt. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t think of a reply.
The child stopped, too. “I know you two haven’t dated long—”
“We haven’t really dated at all.”
“Well, you have my permission to date my mom.” Robbie started again for the campsite.
It took a moment for Josiah to gather his wits. What was he going to say to Ella about this? Then the thought of being the child’s father began to worm its way into his mind. He finally trailed a few feet behind the boy, thinking of the prospect of having a child—children. Yesterday that thought would have scared him, but now it didn’t sound quite as far-fetched.
When they entered the camp, Alex had her gun in hand and was starting for the forest on the left.
“Where are you going?”
“Ella has been gone too long. She left to collect the firewood we needed. That was over half an hour ago.”
Josiah walked to her and gave her the fillets. “Get these ready. I’ll track her and bring her back.”
As he headed into the trees, he stamped down the gut feeling something had happened. She might have gotten turned around in the woods, especially if she’d wandered too far away.
Ella is all right.
He kept repeating that as he followed her tracks.
* * *
Shocked and frozen, Ella stared into the diamond-hard eyes of her ex-husband, boring into hers with such hatred. No words came to mind. Her heartbeat began to hammer against her rib cage at such a rapid pace she thought it would burst from her chest.
“I’ve been searching for you for four years.” His gaze raked down her length. “Finally I get to pay you back for turning me in.”
How had he found her? Fear choked her throat, making it impossible to say anything. All her past nightmares came crashing down on her.
“I’m going to kill you slowly, then take my son and raise him to be a man.”
Robbie. No, he can’t. She tamped down the terror threatening to make her useless. Her son’s life was at stake. Lord, I can’t do this without You.
“What? You have nothing to say to your husband?”
“No.” It wouldn’t do any good.
He tossed her a set of handcuffs. “Put these on. And make it fast.”
They fell at her feet. She glared at him.
“If you don’t cooperate with me, I’ll make Robbie’s life worse than you could ever imagine.”
Begrudgingly she bent over and snatched the handcuffs, then snapped them on.
“That’s a good little wife. No piece of paper will change that fact.” Keith slung the rifle over his shoulder and took out a handgun. “Let’s go. I have a nice secluded spot for a special celebration between us.”
She shuddered at the sneer in his voice, the evil on his face. How had she ever thought she was in love with this man? Because he had been a master at putting up just the right facade for people—at least for a short time. Then his true nature always came out.
He approached her, gripped her arm and dragged her in front of him. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “I’ve been thinking for years about what I would do with you when I finally found you. When you were splashed across the news, you made it so easy for me. You might look different, but Robbie looks just like me.” He yanked her long hair tied in a ponytail. “I like this blond color much better than that mousy brown you had. Let’s go.”
The glee in his voice left her stone-cold. He had to shove her to get her to move. He rammed the barrel into her back and kept prodding her forward through the undergrowth until he came to an animal trail. She knew that Josiah could track, but she wanted to make it as easy as possible. The only thing she had access to was a beaded bracelet Robbie had made her at camp.
As she trudged before Keith, she managed to slip the piece of jewelry off her wrist. She pulled it apart until she held a handful of small beads. Were they large enough for Josiah to see?
* * *
Following the set of tracks from the area Alex had indicated, Josiah reached a small clearing and homed in on some scattered branches lying on the ground near a set of her footprints. What had happened here? Why had she dropped the firewood? Had an animal scared her?
He studied the surroundings, taking in the boot prints—similar to the ones he’d tracked after their food had been taken. The tracks stopped right in front of hers. Then they both moved off to the northeast.
His gut twisted and knotted. Ella had been taken. It didn’t matter why. He just had to get her back and protect the others. She wouldn’t have gone off willingly without letting Alex know.
He raced to the campsite and motioned for Alex to come to him. When she did, he lowered his voice, keeping an eye on Robbie so he wouldn’t hear, and said, “Someone took Ella. A large man, by the size of the boot print. I think it’s the same man who stole our food. Leave everything, take Robbie and use the inflatable boat to get help on the mainland. The man is taking her northeast.”
When she nodded, Josiah snatched up his backpack with binoculars, rope and a flashlight, waved to Robbie, then whirled around and hurried after Ella and her kidnapper. When he reached the small clearing, he began the slow tracking process until he found a yellow bead in the dirt. About twenty yards away, he saw another one—blue.
* * *
Ella’s legs protested with each step she took. Sweat rolled down her face. Her eyes stung from the saltiness. The constant poking of the gun into her back had become an irritant that made her want to scream out in frustration and fear.
Ahead, a rocky path started to slant upward. She craned her neck at the direction Keith was taking her. She didn’t know if she had the energy to go twenty feet up the slope, let alone climb a mountain. But the worst part was how scared she was of heights.
Lord, what do I do?
She slowed her pace at the bottom of the incline. Keith plowed into her.
She fell forward, her knees taking the brunt of the fall onto the stones. Pain shot up her body, and she bit her lower lip to keep from crying out.
“If I have to, I’ll drag you up there. Get up. Now.”
She placed her fists, one that still clenched the few remaining beads, on the hard surface and pushed herself to her shaky legs. God was with her. She could do this.
“This is for every day I’ve feared for my life. For my lousy life in the witness security program trying to live on a measly amount of money. But I’m taking my life back. I’m gonna take care of you. Then I’m getting Robbie and leaving the country.”
Taunting words filled her mind, but she gritted her teeth to keep them to herself. He’d never be free of the organization he’d worked for because he’d betrayed them. She could only imagine the horrors of what they’d do to a traitor. Even halfway around the world. Somehow she had to find a way to prevent him from getting her son. She wouldn’t let Robbie live a life on the run from men bent on murdering Keith.
He shoved her forward, but she
managed to keep her balance and tramped up the rocks.
Please, Lord, protect Robbie from Keith. Get him to safety.
She prayed with each step she took up the mountain, her body shaking. She kept her gaze focused on the ground in front of her, not on how far she had come up the incline. She dropped the few beads she had left at the halfway mark of the sixty-degree slope. Part of their ascent was hidden by trees, and she knew they were on the other side of the range from where they had camped.
I’m in Your hands, Lord.
About a hundred yards from the top, Keith propelled her around a large boulder and into a cave in the stone facade. Dark and musky with only one way out, and Keith blocked it, towering over her with a fierce countenance.
His eyes became black pinpoints. “Now we’re far enough away from anybody else that even if you screamed no one would hear.” He waved his revolver at her. “I have a little place set up just for you. Get up and get moving.” Keith gestured toward the black hole that led deeper into the cave.
* * *
The last bead Josiah found was a fourth of the way up the side of a mountain. But nothing since. Had he missed the direction Ella and her kidnapper had gone? On a small ledge, he used the binoculars and scanned above him then to the left and right before he surveyed the area below him. Either Ella and her kidnapper had already made it to the top, or they were hiding somewhere on this face of the mountain.
Sweat drenched him. At the moment the only choice he had was to continue straight up and pray the Lord showed him where Ella was. He hoped Alex had gotten Robbie off the island by now. At least Ella’s son would be safe.
Since he didn’t want to miss Ella and the man who’d taken her, he stopped periodically and panned his surroundings. For the third time he came up empty-handed, and frustration ate at him.
On the fourth survey from the small outcropping where he stood, he sidled carefully to the right, wanting to check out a boulder on a ledge a hundred feet away. Was that an opening? Creeping as far as he could, he held on to a small bush growing out of the side of the mountain to lean as far away from the rock wall as he could.
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