by Dana R. Lynn
“Sadie? Sadie, is that you?”
She turned at the masculine voice. Frowning slightly, she watched as a young man hurried over to her. Through a short beard, a wide smile stretched across his friendly face. He wasn’t handsome, but she could see a definite charm about him. He wore a flannel shirt and blue jeans, and a dark brown leather jacket.
Not Amish. As he came closer, she felt no inkling that she had ever seen him before. Had she completely forgotten parts of her adult life, too? She had thought all of those memories had returned, but she must have been mistaken.
The young man, who was about her age, halted a few feet from her. A sense of unease swept over her. She didn’t know him. And his smile was wide, but his eyes...
There was something cold in his eyes. And why would she know an Englischer out here, when she hadn’t been in this area for so many years?
“I’m sorry. I don’t have time to talk right now.” She tried to excuse herself, backing away from him.
He took a step closer to her, again closing the gap between them. His smile tightened, although it remained on his face. It gained a chilling quality that made her cringe on the inside.
“What’s the rush? Certainly you have time to catch up with an old friend?” His voice was pleasant. Teasing, even.
She was now certain that this man was not a friend. She didn’t think she had ever seen him before. He was not here to catch up with her, or for any other benign purpose.
Inside, her instincts were telling her to flee. He was so close to her, she could smell the mint of his breath. Normally a pleasing aroma, it made her stomach turn. She was farther away from her grandparents’ house than she had thought. If she turned and ran, she might make it. But she doubted it.
As if he sensed her thoughts, his hand shot out and grabbed her. His leather jacket gaped open and she swallowed. He was wearing a gun under his jacket, confirming her suspicions that he was here for reasons that had nothing to do with friendship.
He followed her gaze. His smile morphed into a steely grin. “Ah, yes. You have found out my little secret. It helps to encourage those who are less than willing to hear me out.”
She backed up another step. “I don’t know you. I need to go back.” She tugged at her arm. He held on. His grip tightened painfully.
“I don’t think so, Sadie. You have made things very difficult for my father. You and that brother of yours.”
Kurt. He was talking about Kurt. Had Kurt been found by the criminals? Her heartbeat was thudding in her ears.
“He has gone into hiding, but maybe if his little sister is in need, he’ll come out to help her.”
So they didn’t have Kurt yet. That was good. How was she going to get away? She glanced around, desperate to find a weapon of some kind. A way to distract him.
“Oh, no. You are not getting away this time. My father has wasted so much time trusting Mason Green to haul you in, but he hasn’t. You’re too slippery. But you’re not smarter than I am. I’m going to be the one to get you. Then my father will see that he should let me in for a bigger part of the business.”
With a sudden twist, she wrenched out of his grip and turned to run. He caught up with her before she’d taken four steps. One hand grabbed her shoulder, the other latched on to her kapp. And her hair. Pain had tears stinging her eyes as he pulled her back. Forcing her to face him again, he removed the hand on her kapp. The garment fell to the ground.
“That wasn’t smart, Sadie. I don’t have much patience.”
While he was talking, he began to drag her away from her family’s house. She opened her mouth, drawing breath to scream.
“You scream and you’ll be dead before anyone gets to you. I have people watching the Amish people you’re staying with. That little boy is adorable.”
His insinuation made her breath stick in her throat, nearly choking her. He’d hurt Nathaniel, or worse. She had no choice. She must protect those she loved at all costs. She stopped struggling. He chuckled and continued to drag her down the block.
“That’s right. I knew you were smart.”
“Sadie! Let her go!” Nathaniel charged down the street and launched himself at the man. With a growl, the man swatted him away.
“Get in the car, Sadie, and I won’t take him with us.”
“Stay there, Nathaniel,” she told the child, terrified he wouldn’t listen. She saw his tear-damp face staring at her, but he didn’t move. She was amazed that he was being allowed to go free. He was a potential witness.
They had arrived at a small sedan. Knowing she couldn’t let her captor harm Nathaniel, she obediently climbed into the back seat and lay on the floorboards. He threw some blankets over her, covering her up. “You make any dumb move, and the kid will suffer.”
She was suffocating under the blankets. Sweat began to pool on her neck. Her forehead grew damp. Something heavy was placed on top of the blankets, holding her in place.
Fear drew her down. She felt more than heard the car start, and the motion as it started moving made her want to vomit.
She was out of time.
FOURTEEN
Sadie lost track of how much time had passed or how many turns they had taken. Several times she lost consciousness due to a combination of the heat and the panic that she was swimming in. Would she ever see Ben and Nathaniel again? Her brother?
So many things she regretted not saying, now that it was too late.
Sadie knew she was going to die. But at least her brother and the others were safe. She was very grateful that he had let Nathaniel go. Hopefully Kurt would get the evidence to stop these men before they destroyed too many other lives.
It hurt, the fear and the anxiety that crawled through her. Silent tears slid down her face.
After what could’ve been half an hour or two hours, the car came to a final stop. She felt the engine turn off. A few seconds later, the front door of the vehicle slammed. When she heard the vibration, she braced herself, knowing that he would open the door and pull her out to meet whatever fate awaited her.
Ethan Nettle had a son. On some level she had been aware of this. She tried to think if she could remember hearing his name before. She couldn’t.
As she had feared, moments later the weights were lifted from her and the blankets came off. Opening her eyes, she once again came face-to-face with her captor. The friendly smile was gone, replaced with terrifying determination. His long arms reached out and he dragged her to her feet. She stumbled slightly as he yanked her out of the car. Her legs were unsteady from being kept in such an uncomfortable position. She fell awkwardly against him. He pushed her away and slapped her face. Her eyes watered in response to the pain on her cheek.
“Come on. Don’t make any trouble,” he warned her and then proceeded to half drag, half carry her into a building that seemed familiar. He pulled her down a flight of stairs. With some horror, she realized that she was in the basement of the newspaper office where her brother worked.
Forcing her to sit on a chair in the corner, he securely tied her hands and her feet, making her escape impossible. She could barely move, the bonds were so tight. She watched as he reached up and ripped off his beard. She hadn’t realized it was a fake.
“That’s better. I don’t know how anyone can stand those things. I really should have grabbed the kid,” he mused, making her blood boil. “It would have been too much trouble, though. It’s not like he can identify me.” Smirking, he pointed to his now clean-shaven face. Then he pulled out his phone and looked at it. The satisfied smile that crossed his lips was one of the scariest things she had ever seen. “Good. All you have to do now is wait. I have called my father. He’s on his way. I’m sure he’s bringing that idiot Green with him, but at least he’ll know that I managed to do in one attempt what Green couldn’t.” He snickered. It wasn’t an attractive sound. “He couldn’t even get you out of the way
with explosives.”
A sound near the door distracted him. As he peered into the shadows, a figure shot forward and attacked. She watched as the two men wrestled.
Kurt.
Her foolish brother was fighting with the man who had kidnapped her. Fear and hope trembled inside her. And she was helpless to do more than watch. Suddenly, a third person was in the room.
Mason Green. He took one look at the scene before him and laughed before he hefted something in the air and brought it down on Kurt’s head. Kurt fell to the ground, and Green let the wrench he was holding drop from his hands.
“So, you can be useful,” Ethan’s son sneered.
“Can it, Vincent. You almost got taken down. What would your father have said then?”
The amount of antagonism between the two men was frightening. Both of them, it seemed, would do anything for the approval of Ethan Nettle. The man she had thought was her brother’s friend was the leader of men such as these. Kurt groaned from the floor. Her shoulders slumped. She hadn’t allowed herself to imagine him dead, but the realization that he wasn’t sang through her blood.
At least, he wasn’t dead yet. They were in a horrible predicament. One she wasn’t sure she had a way out of.
Ben would turn it over to God. Keeping her eyes on the two men in front of her, she said a quick prayer in her mind. She asked God to watch over them and help them escape. But if they couldn’t escape, she asked Him to watch over Ben, Nathaniel and Isaac. And their families.
“Let’s tie him up before he comes completely to his senses,” Ethan’s son ordered.
“Listen, you, you’re not in charge here.” Green bristled with anger.
“Really? Because it kind of seems that I am. Now, are we going to tie this dude up, or do you want to explain to my dad why he was roaming free when he arrives?”
She noticed that Vincent stressed the words my dad. He was letting the other man know that he was flesh and blood and the other man was merely hired help. Mason Green’s complexion changed to a mottled red, his eyes hot with his anger. But he did as Vincent Nettle had ordered.
Within minutes, Kurt was tied up on the floor near her chair. He wasn’t completely conscious yet, but she knew it was just a matter of time.
The thump of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs brought everyone’s attention to the door. Ethan Nettle appeared and took in the scene. His sharp business suit and carefully trimmed hair was so urbane and the epitome of a charming businessman, Sadie’s gut lurched. He used his power, and his job, to enable him to do heinous acts. He needed to be stopped. Only she was in no position to stop him.
His eyes landed on her, and she cringed. How had she not noticed how cruel his gaze could be?
“Vincent, you did well, son. Do you see, Mason? This is how it’s done. Both of the Standings, literally at my feet.”
Mason Green fumed, his mouth a hard slash across his face as he glared at his competition. Vincent smirked. Then he rubbed salt in the wound.
“It wasn’t hard, Dad. All I needed to do to get her was to make sure she knew that the kid we saw her with would be in danger if she didn’t cooperate.”
She didn’t like the gleam that entered Ethan’s eyes as he stared at her. “Maybe he will anyway. As an example.”
She struggled with her restraints, knowing it was useless, but fueled with the urgent need to protect Nathaniel from these vicious men.
All three of them laughed.
Ethan stepped closer to her. “You are well and truly caught, my dear.” He turned his contemptuous gaze to Kurt, whose eyes were now open and watching. “All you had to do was keep out of my business. I was almost convinced that your sister knew nothing. She would have been safe, because too many accidents draw too much attention. But you had to dig. I knew you had to die,” he said, turning back to Sadie, “when it looked like you recognized the picture of Mason that night I ate dinner at your house.” He jerked his thumb at the man behind him.
“Did you kill my mother and stepfather?”
The words left her mouth before she even knew she was going to say them. He grinned, a nasty expression that curdled her blood. Kurt’s head jerked up. He had never suspected that their parents’ deaths was anything but an accident.
“She was a loose end I couldn’t afford. She had seen Mason one day, and I knew the risk was too great. Don’t worry. They didn’t suffer. Much.”
She shuddered, and he laughed.
Apparently bored with the conversation, Ethan Nettle turned to his son. “We need to get ready. After these two are taken care of, things will be too hot for us around here. We need to be prepared.”
Vincent nodded and started up the stairs. Ethan watched his son leave the room, then he turned back to Mason Green.
Green stood straighter. “You have disappointed me several times now, Mason. I hope this is not a trend that continues.”
“No boss. I know what to do.”
“Good.” Satisfaction settled on Ethan’s face. He was a handsome man, but at the moment, he was ugly, marred by the evil that lurked in his heart. “I’ll leave you to finish this mess. I don’t have to tell you that I am counting on you.”
After receiving his employee’s nod, Ethan turned on his heel and headed out, following his son up the stairs without a backward glance at the two people he’d just condemned to death.
Sadie braced herself as Mason turned to them. “Well. I see we are to meet one last time, little girl. Too bad only one of us will make it out of here alive.”
* * *
Ben returned with his buggy to collect Sadie and Nathaniel at the appointed time. He smiled to himself as he recalled her excitement when he’d introduced her to her grandparents. She had been apprehensive, too, but he knew it would be well. The Bontragers had suffered with the death of their son and the disappearance of his widow and child.
They didn’t blame Hannah for leaving. The love for a child and the urge to protect her was a powerful force. He wondered what he would have done if something had threatened Nathaniel. He didn’t even want to go there.
He stopped his buggy halfway up the driveway and descended. He asked one of the women on the porch to point him to where Sadie was.
“She went for a walk with the bishop. He left to go attend to other duties. She never came back.”
“I saw her walking down the driveway. She might have gone for a walk,” one of her many cousins reported.
Thanking them brusquely, he hurried in the direction the girl had indicated. He felt a sense of urgency. Something was wrong. Sadie was not one to concern others by wandering off. She had more sense than that. No one here understood the danger as he did. Why had she walked away from the house?
Footsteps ran up behind him. “Dat! He has her. The bad man has her!”
His son’s words were enough to drop him to his knees. He caught Nathaniel as the child flew into his arms, slamming into his father hard enough to rock him back on his heels. The boy was sobbing so fiercely he was struggling to breathe.
“Settle down, Nathaniel. You have to tell me what happened. Then we can help Sadie. Can you tell me what happened?” he asked when his son seemed to be calmer.
The boy’s lips trembled. “A man was dragging her down the street. She was fighting him, Dat. She looked scared. I ran after them and tried to stop the bad man from taking her.”
His heart was in his throat. His brave little boy had tried to take on a killer to protect Sadie. He’d come so close to having them both taken. He looked down, and paled. Nathaniel had a white prayer kapp in his hands. Sadie’s kapp.
He was afraid to speak again.
“He hit me and I fell. Then he told Sadie he’d let me go if she stopped fighting. She told me to stay. He made her get into his car and made her lie on the floor.”
“How long ago was this?”
Nath
aniel shrugged, his face miserable. “I don’t know. She told me to stay, so I stayed. I sat there until I saw you come, then I wanted to tell you what had happened.”
Ben took a deep breath. He needed to find her. Gott, help me.
“Nathaniel, I need you to go and stay inside the haus with the Bontragers. I need to find Sadie, and it will be easier if I know you are safe.”
The little boy threw his arms around his father and squeezed him tight. Ben’s eyes closed as emotions swamped him. “Bring her home, Dat.”
Home. “I will, son. If it’s possible, I will.”
He knew better than to promise something like that, but he couldn’t stop himself.
Nathaniel nodded, then ran up the drive and into the house. Now that he knew Nathaniel was safe, Ben could work on finding Sadie and bringing her back.
Running to his buggy, he climbed up and turned around in record time. Every second to Isaac’s house seemed to be a second lost. Isaac was a former police officer. Ben hoped he would get in touch with Ryder and they would find her.
Please Gott, let us find her before it’s too late.
He had no doubt that Mason Green had found her. And knowing the history she had with that man, it wasn’t hard to imagine what he would do with her. Sweat broke out on Ben’s forehead.
He had the fear that they would find her body. He blocked those thoughts from his mind. Sadie would be all right. She had to be. And when he found her, he would forget his pride and all his nonsense about not interfering with her choice and would ask her to rejoin the church and be his bride. Even if she said no, he could no longer pretend that his feelings for her would fade once she left.
Isaac and Lizzy both waved as he pulled into their driveway. One look at his face, though, and Isaac was all business. His friend and his wife were waiting for him the second he pulled on the reins to command the horse to halt.
“He has her,” Ben gasped. Lizzy paled. Isaac didn’t hesitate.