by Jo Jones
Despite the rain, Duncan’s eyes burned and he heard Lainey gasp behind him, but not, he was sure, from the smell.
He backed up a few steps and pulled out the lighter, holding it up so the man could see it. “Last chance, laddies.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lainey swiped the rain from her face, pressing her lips tight to prevent another gasp from giving away their bluff.
Surely, Duncan was bluffing?
Of course he was. He couldn’t carry out their threat any more than she could. She may not have known him long, but she knew him. In her heart. In her soul. Perhaps things were different in Scotland, but not that different.
The men sat, wet and bedraggled, trussed up like two bales of hay in the mud. She prayed they’d give in and answer Duncan’s questions. If they wouldn’t talk while facing death under such horrific circumstances, there was nothing she nor Duncan could do to convince them. She shuddered to think what Mark might truly be capable of if these men would even consider this fate over facing him.
Lainey desperately wanted this to be over. She longed to go get Molly, hug her and know she was safe. But in her heart she knew Molly’s true safety was in stopping these attacks once and for all. How else could she have gone along with this horrible charade tonight, or leave Molly alone and frightened. Lainey felt sick with worry. Sick with this twisted situation. She’d never dreamed it would come to this.
She seriously considered just turning the men loose but these attacks had been escalating so rapidly Lainey feared what the next step might be. If Mark could burn his daughter’s home down around her how far would he go? This had begun to feel personal. If that was the case, Mark could find her and Molly anywhere.
“Ye’ve had plenty of time to think it over, Duncan said. “Seems ye’ve made yer decision.” He placed his thumb on the lighter, ready to strike it.
“No!” Lainey cried. She saw the satisfied smirk on the Walt’s face, and realized he knew he’d won. She’d just blown the whole thing. She had to fix it, somehow. “You’re too close,” she said as unemotionally as she could, pulling Duncan back several feet. “You don’t want the initial explosion to hit you, too. Even in this rain it’s going to be huge with all that gas you poured on them.”
When they were several feet back, Lainey snatched the lighter from Duncan’s hand. She needed to be in control of the bluff. “Let me. These two were going to burn my place down with me and my daughter in it. No one hurts my daughter and gets away with it.”
Duncan shot her an incredulous look, as did Walt and Abe.
Walt watched her with a defiant look on his face, but she didn’t miss the flicker of unease in his eyes.
“It’s too bad, really.” She stared him down, putting all the false bravado she could find into her voice. “Mark won’t give a thought to you two dying to protect him. In fact, he’ll thank me for getting rid of you because you know too much.”
She took a deep breath and flicked the lighter. A flame erupted and she held her hand over it to keep the rain off. “Any last words?”
“Don’t do it, lady. Please don’t do it,” Abe begged. I’ll tell you everything. Walt, we gotta tell her. She knows anyway.”
Walt didn’t tell him to shut up this time. He just stared at her with narrowed, calculating eyes. “Put that away and we’ll talk.”
Lainey shook her head. “I want details. Everything you know, everything you’ve done for Mark, right up to tonight. If I’m satisfied, I’ll ask the authorities to give you the opportunity to turn State’s evidence against him for a reduced sentence.”
“Yeah. Okay. Fine.” Walt said, sounding like he had a mouth full of ground glass.
She let the flame go out and tucked the lighter in her shirt pocket. “I’ll keep this in a handy spot. You probably shouldn’t forget you’re a walking fire bomb.”
A slight quivering started in her legs and swept through her. She couldn’t believe it worked. The crisis was over. At least she hoped so. She never wanted to be a part of anything like this again. But she’d do it again if it meant protecting Molly .
Duncan looked at her, concern flooding his face. “Lass?”
“I’m fine.” She put a hand on his arm to reassure herself as much as him. “Could we take them inside the barn, out of this rain?”
“I thought ye wanted to…” he jerked his head toward one of the cameras.
“I think there’s a better option, but can we hurry? I want to get back to Molly.”
“Aye, lass. I doona like the thought of her fretting.”
“Duncan?” She stopped him before he turned away.
“Aye?”
“Thank you for this. For stopping…” She glanced at the men on the ground. She kissed him then. A brief, hard, intense kiss that promised more. Or would have if he weren’t leaving.
~
Lainey pulled her cell phone from her pocket and set it to video while Duncan retied Walt and Abe in their same contorted positions on the ground inside the barn.
She pointed a large flashlight toward them, bathing them in a pool of light. “Candid Camera, boys. If you want my help, don’t leave anything out.”
Surprisingly, it was Walt who started to talk.
“Abe and me, we’ve been working for Mark a while. He pays real good and we got families to take care of.”
Duncan made a sound of disgust.
“Mark has money?” That wasn’t the Mark she knew. “From where?”
Walt snorted. “Lots of fingers in lots of pies, lady.”
“Illegal pies, you mean?”
“Money talks, don’t it? It talks real loud to Mark. He likes men who get the job done. Me and Abe played it smart and earned our keep. Once you’re on the inside, that’s where the real money is. That’s how we got assigned to you.”
Lainey listened as Walt admitted to all the attacks on her ranch, under Marks orders. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Sadly, she found no satisfaction in having her suspicions validated. In fact, the more Walt talked the angrier she got.
Duncan paced in wide circles around them, watching her closely, clenching and unclenching his fists.
“After you two split up for good,” Walt continued,” and you kept refusing to sell, those investors wouldn’t be put off any longer. We were told to encourage you to sell and to keep it up until you cried uncle. If you don’t sell, Mark doesn’t get his sizeable finder’s fee.”
How could she have been married to a total fraud and not known it?
“Finder’s fee for what?” Duncan demanded.
“Finding the gold.” Walt said.
“Gold?” They both said in unison.
“That’s absurd,” Lainey argued. There’s no gold here.”
Walt shook his head and snorted. “Apparently you ain’t as smart as you are tough. Mark said he’d had people crawling around out here since before you were married. Why do you think he married you in the first place? It wasn’t you he wanted, sweetheart, it was the gold,” he smirked.
He’d married her thinking there was gold here? That was absolutely ludicrous. Mark was no doubt a conniving fool, but she’d been a blind fool to think he might once have loved her. Or that he might have ever cared about Molly.
“The fire was Mark’s idea,” Walt continued. “He was sick of waiting for you to come to your senses. “He told us to burn you out so there wasn’t anything left for you to squat on besides a cactus.”
Lainey’s chest locked up and she couldn’t breathe. Mark would never go that far. Would he? Lainey cringed to think what might have happened if Duncan hadn’t overheard them in the hardware store. Rage clogged her throat, growing by the moment.
Mark had actually been ready to sacrifice his own flesh and blood for some pipe dream. Even if the entire mountain was solid gold, how could it be more valuable than Molly’s life?
“Lainey,” Duncan interrupted. “Tis enough. Stop now.”
“We have to finish.” Lainey stressed. “Molly’s safe
ty and future hangs on putting Mark away for a long time. She deserves security, Duncan. I can’t have her growing up in fear.”
She turned back to Walt. “Who are these investors?”
“Backers for the mining company,” Abe offered, shrugging when Walt sent him a scathing look. “It’s the mining company that wants your place. They gave Mark a month to get the deal wrapped up or they were going someplace else.”
“Mark’s not a good loser,” Walt added.
She nodded, still struggling to absorb everything she’d just learned. She gathered all the splintered pieces of herself and tried to focus on the task at hand. “What else?” she asked Walt.
He shrugged. “Just that we were supposed to make this fire happen, no matter what. Whether you were here or not.”
She was dumbstruck. She’d have sworn the gut-punch was as strong as if Mark had reached out and struck her from whatever snake-hole he was hiding in. She felt…hollowed out inside like a gourd left to dry in the sun.
Suddenly, she needed some space. She needed to pace for a minute. She needed to see Mark Saunders roasted on a spit.
She could see the emotion on Duncan’s face, a mixture of alarm and concern. She’d received more care and compassion from this virtual stranger in two days than she’d ever received from Mark. Certainly Molly had. She’d literally blossomed under Duncan’s unconditional acceptance.
Was it really possible to fall in love with someone in only two days? What she felt for Duncan was worlds apart from the childish infatuation she’d had with Mark.
Duncan slipped a hand beneath her elbow. “Are ye all right, Lainey?”
“No. I need to see Molly. I want to go get her, now. Can’t we leave these two as they are? I have their statements.” She saved the video and shoved the phone in her pocket.
An ugly thought wormed its way into her head. “What if Mark sent someone to make sure these two didn’t fail? Someone who might hurt Molly?” She didn’t wait for an answer as she ran out of the barn. She thought she heard Duncan behind her but she didn’t look back. All she cared about was getting to Molly.
It was still raining, although not quite as hard, as she ran toward the root cellar, praying Molly was safe.
Duncan was beside her by the time she got there and hurried to raise the door. Bright light glowed from the stairway, where Molly’s stuffed elephant lay in a small puddle on the bottom step. “Molly?” She hurried down the steps with Duncan on her heels.
The room was empty.
“She’s no’ here?” The horror in Duncan’s voice matched the terror pulsing through her.
“Molly!” She searched, frantically checking every possible hiding place in case she had fallen asleep somewhere.
“She’s not here,” Lainey cried, turning in a circle. “Duncan, she’s not here!”
Lainey heard the hysteria building in her voice but couldn’t control it. “She wouldn’t leave the root cellar on her own, especially in the rain. She promised she wouldn’t.” She gave Duncan a horrified look. “If she was on her own.”
“‘Tis impossible to know Mark’s mind, but I think if he’d sent anyone else, they’d have stopped us before we got a confession out of those two. Mayhap she just got tired of waitin’ for ye, and went back to the house. ‘Tis possible she’s there now,” Duncan pointed out. “What’s her favorite spot? I’ll look there while ye go to the house.”
“I don’t know.” Fear and frustration sharpened her voice. “I thought this was her favorite spot.”
She shrugged. “The bunkhouse maybe. Or the dry wash. She plays with Patches in a log on the sandbar sometimes. But she promised she’d stay here.” She pushed a flashlight into his hand and stuffed one in her pocket. “Check the bunkhouse. I’ll take the house.”
Less than ten minutes later she met him in the yard between both buildings, his face tight with fear. Molly really was missing. She forced herself to breathe. “Duncan wh—-.” She cocked an ear. “What is that noise?”
He listened carefully. “‘Tis a roaring sound.”
Lainey scrunched her brows. There was something vaguely familiar about it. Her heart stopped. “No!” she gasped, racing toward the wash.
“What is it? Duncan yelled, behind her.
She ran past the root cellar and down the old road toward the wash. The mud sucked at her feet as she splashed through pools of ponded water hiding holes and depressions in the narrow dirt ruts.
She slipped, fell, got up, fell again, struggling to keep her feet under her.
“Molly!” she screamed hoarsely, fighting to suck in enough breath to push the word out between gasps, praying the sound wasn’t what she feared. Knowing it was.
Beside her, she heard Duncan’s heavy breaths between his own desperate calls for Molly as they chased the bouncing shafts of light from their flashlights through the muddy, rain-soaked terrain.
Something out of place flashed and was gone in the sweep of Lainey’s light. She backtracked and saw the front end of a truck half hidden in a clump of trees. “Duncan, look.” She pointed and yelled to be heard over the noise of the water. “Their truck. Do you think Molly could be in there?”
“Keep going,” Duncan hollered. “I’ll go see. If I find her I’ll press the horn, if not I’ll catch up.”
The roar was almost deafening now.
Lainey neared the bank, shining her light on the raging water churning through the deep wash. She gasped, horrified.
“Molly!” She screamed, over and over, scanning the roiling surface. “Molly!”
The torrent tumbled and crashed, carrying all kinds of debris in a deadly, fast-paced rush. The sandy sides of the steep wash, cut by a myriad of floods over that many lifetimes, fell away, sliding in huge chunks into the swirling waves.
She’d heard the stories of devastation in what were termed hundred-year-floods, but had never actually understood the magnitude.
Molly, please, please, be somewhere else, safe and sound.
Duncan caught up with her, his breath coming in ragged gasps. “She’s no’ there.”
Racing upstream to where she thought the log and the sandbar should be, Lainey flashed her light up and down the water, screaming Molly’s name.
Duncan joined her, searching the crashing river.
“The sandbar she plays on should be right around there,” Lainey pointed, yelling above the roar. “About ten feet out.”
A movement a bit further upstream and higher than the water level caught her eye as her light scanned quickly past it. She raised the beam higher and tried again, joined by Duncan’s.
Molly stood on the peak of the sandbar, waves licking her feet as she clung to the log slowly being sucked into the water. Her face was shock white, her eyes round with fright. Lainey knew she would have seen their lights but wouldn’t be able to see anything beyond that. There was no way to communicate with her.
Time stopped. The only things that existed in Lainey’s world were the terrified desperation and helplessness on Molly’s face and her own determination to get to her. The flashlight beam she held on Molly, shook in tandem with Lainey’s hand as she realized the log was the only thing keeping Molly out of the deadly water.
He added his flashlight beam to Lainey’s on the water. “No! No’ again.”
She barely heard Duncan’s agonized cry above the roar. When she glanced at his face, naked horror twisted his features into a frozen mask. “Molly,” he mouthed, but no sound came out.
Both she and Duncan rushed as close to the crumbling edge of the wash as they dared. “The sand bar is washing away beneath her,” Lainey screamed, her voice breaking. She knew the water was deep and powerful enough to wash away a vehicle, let alone a small child.
“Aye,” Duncan yelled, nodding his head. “‘Tis slipping away too fast.” He quickly scanned the eroding sides of the wash with his flashlight then returned to Molly’s precarious hold on the log.
Lainey knew Molly was having trouble staying upright as the water cr
ashed higher around her ankles. The flood had obviously not peaked yet. There was only one chance for Molly. She yanked off her jacket and shoes so they wouldn’t weigh her down.
When Duncan realized what she was doing, he jerked her around to face him, digging his fingers into her arms. “Nay,” he screamed at her, fury contorting his face. “Ye’ll no’ go in there.”
“Let go of me.” She screamed, fighting him off so she could pull off her jacket.
“‘Tis for me to do!” he yelled back at her. “I’ll no’ fail Molly again. No’ this time.” He shoved her back, away from the bank and swiftly discarded his belt and plaid. “She’ll need ye to be here when I bring her back” He hollered, yanking off his shirt. “I’m stronger than ye are! Ye know I’m her best chance!”
“I—”
He was gone before she could finish, his naked body blending into the night with nothing to mark his path along the bank but the glow of his flashlight.
She hated that he was right. She shook and shivered with anger and impotence, as she gathered his clothes in a wad. Gasping in huge stuttering breaths that tore at her chest she grabbed her flashlight and searched again for Molly.
Duncan would need some kind of beacon once he was in the water. And she desperately needed to see Molly, to give her some reassurance, even if it was nothing more than a thin beam of light that connected them.
Lainey found Molly with the light, sobbing in terror, clinging desperately to the log as it lost its mooring on the eroded sandbar and tumbled into the churning water.
Molly’s mass of curls and one flailing arm stayed above water for a few seconds, then disappeared.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lainey’s scream hung in the air as she frantically scanned the water for any sign of Molly. The raging water was moving too fast.
“Please, God,” she prayed. “Save my baby.”