After waiting, they turned down the private driveway. Tall trees had been planted on both sides of the road. It ended at a wooden archway with a solid wooden gate. The sign above it read, “Radford Orchard -- No Trespassing.”
Joe looked around. “Someone must’ve let him inside.”
“Find a place to park.”
Joe reversed. He pulled off the road and parked away from the road. He shut off the car. “Ready for another hike?”
Arden gave him a weary smile. She tied the bandana to cover her mouth. Joe did the same.
They exited the vehicle. Arden kept her pain pills in her pocket. She didn’t want to take one and risk it dulling her senses, but after twenty seconds on her shredded feet, she forced a pill down. They moved through the woods and stopped outside the ten-foot tall wooden fence running around the property. Arden and Joe walked alongside, looking for a way over. If Arden wanted to go by herself, she could’ve had Joe launch her over, but she didn’t want to risk that. She kept going forward until they found a large tree with a branch that reached over the fence.
By this time, the pill had taken effect. Arden’s hands felt slightly numb and the pain in her feet went from a ten to a five. Being the lighter of the two, Joe suggested that Arden go first. She grabbed hold of a few low-hanging branches and climbed up the dense trunk. She reached the thick branch and scooted across it until she reached a place where she could see over the fence. A rolling field stretched out before her. She could see where the private road continued. It ended at a well-lit estate next to a shed. Beyond it, Arden could see the start of the apple orchard.
Arden got on her belly and rolled herself around the back of the branch. She let her body hang low while her arms stayed wrapped around the tree. With no nice way to land, she let go and crashed on her tailbone, adding to her growing collection of bruises. She stayed near the fence and refused to use her flashlight. Joe landed next to her.
Like two shadows in the night, they scurried across the large field and progressed to the estate. It was a large building with a nice wood finish and long beams that kept it together.
SUVs and luxury cars packed the parking lot.
Nearing the cusp of the hill, Arden and Joe got on their bellies. They used the night-vision goggles to scan the house. They saw a small group of men and women step out. They were wearing different masks. Some were as simple as a masquerade mask while others covered up the person's entire head. The group walked to the orchard and was stopped by a man wearing a suit. He said something to them. One of the members of the group pulled a necklace out of his blazer and showed the man. The man in the suit let him pass. The rest of his friends were denied access and went back to the estate.
Staying low, Arden and Joe moved closer to the house. Suddenly, Joe put his arm out in front of Arden. She froze.
Joe gestured to the camera mounted on the outside of the estate. Getting close was suicide. They moved around the edge of the property, cutting behind the shed. Inside, a couple made love while a small ring of people watched.
Feeling wheezy, Arden quickly moved on. They imagined there would be similar actions occurring inside the estate, so they made their way to the orchard. The closer they got to the apple trees, the more of the mask-wearing guards they saw. They watched a group of women laugh at a naked black man pressed face-first against a tree. He was covered in dry mud and looked stoned out of his mind.
Arden and Joe dashed to a distant tree. Guards stood in strategic places around the orchard.
They waited until one of the guards was occupied before moving forward. They repeated this process a half dozen times over the course of an hour before they were deep enough in the orchard where no one else was around.
They quickened their pace.
The soft rumble of an engine caused them to drop to their bellies. Two golf carts raced down a small trail.
Arden waited until the carts were out of sight before continuing forward. A small windowless wood building shaped like a triangle stood at the end of the orchard. A guard stood by the two large doors. Arden and Joe stayed two hundred feet away and circled around the building. The guarded front door was the only inside.
Arden got a sickening feeling. She whispered. “There’s something about this place… I’m worried.”
“About getting inside?”
Arden frowned heavily. “About what we’ll find when we do.”
They watched a couple approach from the trails and present their necklaces to the guard at the door. They were allowed entry. Arden caught a glimpse of a stairway descending into darkness. The door shut behind them.
Joe whispered, “We won’t be able to breach without causing a scene.”
Arden nodded. “You distract the guard. I’ll move.”
Joe looked at her like she was insane.
Arden explained herself. “I can handle myself inside. You’ll do much better taking care of the pressure out here.”
Joe drew in a deep breath. “What’s your plan to escape? What happens if you don’t find anything?”
Arden put her hand on Joe’s shoulder. “I can do this, Joe. You have to trust me.”
Joe wore his discontentment behind a hardened face. Knowing that arguing would only make things worse, he conceded. “Fine, but you get in and out. Quickly.”
“I will,” Arden replied.
Joe rushed off on his own while Arden stayed pressed up to a tree.
From somewhere out of sight, Joe shouted.
The guard at the door looked his way. He called out, “Everything okay?”
Joe shouted in pain again.
The guard reached his hand into his jacket and started toward the apple trees. The man was armed. Things could get nasty, but Arden couldn’t worry about what-ifs right now. She had to commit.
Using her brief window of distraction, Arden dashed for the front door. She bumped into it to stop herself. She glanced over her shoulder. The guard was only thirty feet away. Arden opened the door enough to slip inside and closed it quickly. She caught her breath and started coughing. She covered her mouth with her sleeve to mute the sound. She felt miserable, and something about the place made her feel disgusted.
She descended one step at a time. Her journey ended in a hallway lined with multiple doors and red lamps.
Screams leaked through the walls. They weren’t of pleasure, but of agony and terror.
Arden’s pulse quickened. It was like she was taking a tour through hell. The hallway ended at a door labeled “Play Room.”
Arden stopped.
She felt something inside her screaming for her to leave. It was what she felt at the planation but much stronger.
“The Lord is my strength and my deliverer,” she quoted under her breath. She took hold of the door knob and gave it a twist.
She opened it just a sliver, seeing candles placed across the floor. She could see multiple women on their knees. They formed a circle and didn’t wear masks. They were burning incense and chanting. Arden opened the door more. She could see masked men standing behind the women, involving themselves in the ritual by drinking from chalices and pouring a thick liquid over the women’s heads.
Arden slipped inside. Apart from the candles, the room was shrouded in darkness. Arden stuck to the shadows. She moved around the edges. The men and women all had their eyes closed. Arden made it to the back of the room.
She got through the next door, stepping into another hall lined with doors. She heard sobs, cries, and calls for help. She wanted help those inside, but her eyes stayed fixed ahead.
The hall ended at a final door.
Arden opened it into a final chamber. It was the largest room of the basement. A dozen men and women stood in two rows and watched a wooden box at the back of the room. It was square with a few holes on top. Two wood pillars stood beside it. A man stood facing the box. He wore a suit and full-head mask with stag antlers branching out of it.
One of the spectators leaned into the woman next to him and whis
pered, “What’s the time?”
The woman next to him checked her watch. “Two minutes till midnight.”
“I hope she’s worth it.” The man remarked.
“She will be,” the woman replied.
Arden’s hand slid over her pistol. Her heart raged. Her breathing quickened. She eyed the box. She knew who was inside. There was no further explanation needed. She had a choice. Run now or go for it. She didn’t know how she’d get out of here anyway. It was everything or nothing.
She drew out her weapon and aimed it at the man with the antlers. “Hey!”
All twelve spectators turned back to her, alarmed and silent.
Arden kept her gun aimed. “On the ground. This is your only warning.”
The twelve exchanged worried looks and slowly dropped to their knees and then faces.
The man with the antlers still hadn’t moved.
“You!” Arden shouted. “Open the box!”
The men with antlers turned back. For the first time, Arden saw the front of his mask. It was half a deer skull bolted into a copper helmet. His eyes were black pits. The skeleton’s teeth were stained yellow. “You’ve made a horrible mistake.”
Arden bounced her eyes between the man in the mask and the twelve on the ground. “Shut up and open it.”
The headmaster stared at her.
“Now!” she commanded.
The man took the lid off.
It clacked on the ground.
Arden took a step forward, longing to steal a glance inside but knowing it was impossible from where she currently stood.
“Pull her out.”
The headmaster reached his hands inside and pulled out the little girl. She was dressed in sackcloth. Her perfect hair was a rat’s nest. Dark circles underlined her eyes. The headmaster put her on her feet right in front him. It was Scarlet Gales. She was alive.
“Scarlet, I’m here to take you home. Come here,” Arden said.
The trembling actress looked up at the headmaster.
He nodded.
The little girl ran to Arden.
Arden kept her gun aimed at the headmaster as Scarlet Gales embraced Arden.
“Not now,” Arden said, not looking away from the others in the room. She took a few steps back as the others on the floor began to rise up.
Arden closed the door behind her.
She took Scarlet’s cold hand and ran.
She burst into the ritual circle. The people gawked at her. Arden kept her gun out and kept running. She threatened to shoot anyone who moved. For people obsessed with hell, they were not so eager to get there.
No time to think, she whisking the girl through the halls of inferno. Shouts followed sounded her. Doors flung open in her wake. She raced up the stairs and saw the guard trying to make sense of the confusion.
In the heat of the moment, Arden flipped her gun around and slammed him in the face with the butt of her pistol. The plastic mask caved in and the man went staggering back. Arden hit him again. She pushed Scarlet ahead, grabbed the dazed man’s collar, and pushed him down the stairs. Watching him tumble, Arden slammed the door.
“Joe!” she shouted into the darkness.
Her partner came running out from the trees. His eyes were wide. His face bandana pressed against his beard as he ran.
“What is going on?”
“Golf cart, now!” Arden commanded.
Joe glanced around until he found the cart. Arden followed behind him. The pain in her body screamed. Bolts of agony shot up her calves and made her queasy. Scarlet squeezed her hand tightly. Joe got into the cart first. Arden and Scarlet followed after.
Joe flipped on the ignition and slammed his foot on the gas. The cart lurched forward.
He sped through the orchard. “You could’ve tried to be quieter.”
“Shut up and drive,” Arden replied. Scarlet held on to her waist. Arden kept one hand on her weapon and pulled out her flip phone with the other. She dialed the police.
Joe weaved through the trees. He stayed off the trail on purpose.
“State your emergency,” the operator said.
“I’m at Radford Orchard. There’s a hut at the back that is full of abducted women and children. I’ve just extracted Scarlet Gales. She’s alive but not well. We’re escaping now. Send help immediately.”
Joe jerked the cart to the side, nearly flinging Arden out.
They passed the first two guards before one started shouting.
The operator continued. “Ma’am, I can hardly understand you.”
“Radford Orchard! Send backup!”
Arden hung up and used that hand to hold on to the cage bar. She kept her other hand on her weapon.
Joe swerved as he passed by the estate. He deliberately turned off road and raced down the trail. The cart bounced as it sped over uneven terrain.
Scarlet shut her eyes tightly and held on to Arden’s waist like it was a life raft.
Arden looked back, expecting to see resistance. It was quiet.
One of the guards stood by the sealed gate. He saw them coming from far off.
Joe shouted. “Open the gate!”
The man stood there, confused. Arden shot into the sky.
The loud pop convinced him she was serious.
He started to pull open the gate. Joe didn’t slow down. The momentum had made Joe faster.
They raced through the gap tight.
After driving a quarter of a football field’s length, Joe whipped the golf car to the right and drove off road. The Mustang was where they had left it.
Joe slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the golf cart without turning it off.
Pushing Scarlet along, Arden jogged around the front of the car and opened the passenger door. She lowered the seat and gestured for Scarlet to climb in. “Seat belt.”
The eleven-year-old obeyed. By the time Arden got into her seat, Joe already had the car moving. They peeled out of the woods and got back on the skinny, single-lane road.
Arden kept looking back. The gate to the orchard remained sealed. She expected it to open. It didn’t.
Joe floored the accelerator.
The Mustang’s engine revved as it lurched forward.
Did they really make it?
Arden trembled from the rush. She glanced over at Scarlet and pulled down her bandana. “We’re getting you to safety, okay? I’ll make sure you see your parents tonight.”
Scarlet mustered a weak smile.
As they raced down the street, Arden noticed the orchard’s gate starting to open.
They reached a T-intersection. Joe took a sharp turn. The car drifted. Its back tires slipped off the road mid-turn. They kicked up dirt and gravel as Joe struggled to gain control of his car. Fishtailing, Joe stomped on the brakes nearly hitting a tree.
Arden glared at him.
“I know. I’m slowing down,” Joe replied as he reversed the vehicle
“Just drive better.”
“You’re not helping.”
Joe straightened up the car and zipped ahead when the Escalade whipped around the corner. Its diamond blue headlights blinded Arden.
“Go! Go! GO!” she yelled as the SUV gained on them.
The road snaked through trees and swamps. It was hard for Joe to maintain speed and control.
They reached one turn, but the SUV kept driving straight at them.
Just as Arden opened her mouth to scream, the large SUV slammed into Joe’s side of the car.
In an instant, the tires dragged across the road and dirt. The side that was hit lifted up and the entire vehicle rolled through thin trees and bushes before landing upside down in swamp muck.
Arden remembered feeling the impact.
Then nothing.
She smelled gas and swamp water
A cold, watery sensation swirled around her fingers.
Lightheaded, she opened her eyes.
She was hanging upside down. Her arms were dangling above her head.
J
oe’s face rested in the spent airbag. He wasn’t moving.
Arden glanced around as dirty water started to fill the cab. She glanced behind her, seeing Scarlet was knocked out. Blood poured from her lips and rolled up her face.
The water reached Arden’s wrists. She started to move, but an agonizing pain across her chest prevented her. The seat belt had left a nasty bruise. She grimaced and tried again. She managed to unclip the seat belt. She fell headfirst into the water. Little spots dotted her visions. She reached into her pocket and downed two pain pills.
Arden sat up as the water filled up to her waist. She shook Joe. He didn’t move.
She un-clipped his seat belt. His limp body crashed into the water. Arden rolled him over so his head was out of the swamp. The vehicle was filling up fast. Algae and wet leaves floated on the surface of the smelly water.
She crawled back behind her and did the same for Scarlet. The girl would have a bruise on her head, but at least she’d be alive.
Boom!
Arden recoiled as a shotgun blast peppered the outside of the door.
She rolled around to her back and kicked the window two times before it shattered. She grabbed her gun and quickly slipped out into the waist-high swamp water.
There were no lights apart from the Mustang’s, which were already in the water.
Thankfully, it had stopped sinking.
Thirty feet away, the Escalade had two wheels in the swamp. The front end was crunched like a coke can. Both of its lights had been shattered.
Arden crouched behind the Mustang’s engine.
“The police are coming!” she shouted. “It’s over!”
Boom!
Another blast of buckshot slammed against the engine. Smoke billowed out.
Arden scurried through water. Her feet sank into the slimy floor. Her upper body brushed against the floating algae on the surface. She got behind a jagged tree trunk jutting from the water and took aim. A shadow moved near the Escalade.
Arden fired.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
It was too dark to tell if she hit the target.
Boom!
A shotgun blast exploded in front of her. She quickly dived below. She swam a few feet and resurfaced.
Secrets Boxset: A Riveting Kidnapping Mystery Collection Page 20