Missing in the Desert

by Dana Mentink

  Mara’s grip tightened. In the distance, they could make out flashlights slicing through the gloom of the approaching sunset. Her breathing had gone shallow as the minutes ticked by and no news came. A half hour limped past. He was about to try one more time to take her back to the ranch, when his phone buzzed. He put it on speaker.

  “It’s Jude,” he said. “Can you bring Mara here?”

  “What did you find?” she cried.

  “I need you to be strong now, Mara. Levi’s going to escort you over here along with my officer. It will be over soon. Promise.”

  Over soon.

  Levi helped her out of the car. “We’ll just take it slow,” he said, noting her legs were trembling. She clung to Levi, and they made their way over to the light the police must have put up.

  When they were almost there, she stopped. “I feel dizzy.”

  He held on to her, chafing her arms. “It’s okay. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

  “I have to see.” But would she be able to withstand the sight that would meet her eyes soon enough? All he could do was offer his own strength to bolster hers. He thought of his own siblings—Willow, Austin—his cousins. What would they find in that bunker? Would it destroy Mara? Her parents?

  Her phone buzzed, and she checked the screen. “It’s my dad.” She sucked in a breath. “I can’t tell him. Not until we know.”

  They reached a small wooden door, lying almost flat to the ground. It was obscured by a layer of grass, bisected only at the borders where it had been lifted open.

  Levi turned to look back at the houses. Mara followed his gaze. Gene’s house did not have any windows facing the underground shelter, but Teegan would have a view from his upstairs. What did you do, Teegan?

  Jude stopped her. “You can’t go in. We’ve got to photograph and dust for prints and collect fibers. I’m going to allow you to look, all right? Just look.”

  But she didn’t move, frozen to the spot.

  Levi just held her hand and stood silent and steady. After a few moments, she nodded. “Okay.” It came out in a whisper.

  They walked to the edge and looked down.

  * * *

  At first she could not process what she was seeing. There was a room illuminated by an electric lamp that hung from a cement ceiling. It was tiny, no more than ten feet by ten feet, with no windows. Inside was a twin bed, the covers tumbled and twisted. There was a commode and a plastic water pitcher on the only table. A shallow shelf next to the bed held several paperback books. There was no one inside.

  “I don’t understand,” Mara said. “Was she...was there someone here?”

  “Long dark hairs on the pillow case.”

  Long dark hairs. She fingered her own strands, dark. Her mouth went dry.

  Jude beamed his penlight at the door that covered the opening. “There was a tiny piece of paper jammed inside the lock which kept it from fastening properly. We think whoever was in here escaped, recently.”

  The shock shuddered through her body, and she would have collapsed if Levi hadn’t held her up. “My sister? She’s alive, then. Where did she go? Where could she run? Do you think Teegan took her?”

  “If indeed the person was your sister, and that’s a big if, Mara—” Jude started.

  “Teegan might have caught her running,” Levi said. “Realized he couldn’t cover it up anymore and made her go with them.”

  “Possible. A K-9 team is coming to search the property. We have roadblocks set up and a BOLO. Got cops at the airport. They won’t get far.”

  “And Gene?”

  But she already knew. “He won’t say anything to incriminate his son. He’d lie, conceal evidence, whatever, wouldn’t he?” The injustice of it choked her. He would protect his son, yet allow him to imprison someone else’s child.

  “If he knows something, we’ll hold on to him. Matter of time before we find him, too.”

  Jude eased them back away from the opening. “There’s nothing now for you two to do here. Go back to the ranch, and I will call you with updates.”

  Mara stared into the small prison. Had it been Corinne’s cage for nearly five years? And where was she now? She felt as if the stars were going to swallow her up as Levi took her back to his vehicle. The police were questioning the campers, now that the horses were under control. They drove in complete silence back to the Rocking Horse.

  She wanted to cry, to wail. As she got out of the truck, Banjo and Tiny ran over to sniff her. Banjo whined, as if he could sense her torture. “It isn’t fair,” she said. “Where is she? Was that even her in that bunker?”

  Levi shook his head. “I wish I could answer that.” He took her in his arms and held her close. “All I can say is that I’ll be right here for you, no matter how it turns out.”

  Right here? On a ranch that would soon be sold? After he’d told her to go home with her parents? It was too much to process, too much to endure. His arm stayed tight around her shoulders as he led her to the cabin and opened the door for her.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to stay in the main house? You can have my bed, and I will sleep on the sofa.”

  “No, thank you,” she mumbled, head spinning. “I’m going to try and lie down for a while and clear my head.” Banjo and Tiny followed her in. She closed the door and rested her forehead against the old wood.

  Corinne, where are you?

  She sank fully clothed on the bed and sobbed. Sleep. She craved the escape from the tumult. At long last, eyes closed, prayers exhausted, empty of tears, she dozed.

  Until her phone rang. The police, she thought in terror. What had they found? Could she endure it?

  “Hello?” she said, heart in her throat.

  “Marbles.”

  * * *

  Levi didn’t bother to try and sleep. He’d paced until he was tired and then slumped on the sofa. He dozed for what seemed like a moment, when he heard something on the front porch. Instantly, he was wide awake, reaching for his rifle. He eased the curtain back just far enough to make out a silhouette of someone holding an oil lamp, one of those old kinds they used for the reenactments. The flame illuminated a flash of arm, no more.

  He tiptoed to the door, one hand on the knob, the other on his rifle, and gave himself a slow count of three.

  One.

  He thought he heard the murmur of voices. Were there two people?

  Two.

  He squeezed the rifle in his hand and yanked the door wide.

  Whoever it was screamed and dropped a cell phone.

  “Stay right there,” he shouted. Mara’s cabin door flung open, and she plunged into the courtyard. She would run right into the intruder.

  “Mara, stop.”

  It was as if she hadn’t heard him. “No!” she shouted. Running, she stumbled to a knee, righted herself and kept on going until she skidded to a halt at the porch step. Banjo followed her, barking fit to burst.

  He saw now it was a woman on the porch, extremely thin, long hair wild in the lantern light. Her fingers clutched the lantern in a death grip. The dark eyes were unmistakable, so like her sister’s.

  “Corinne?” Mara whispered.

  After a few starts and stops, the woman spoke. Her voice was hoarse and raspy. “I came to find you. I kept a phone that I found in the house. I sent you a text.”

  “Yes,” Mara whispered. “I got it.”

  She chewed her lip, face slack. “I tried to send more but service in the bunker was spotty, and then the phone went dead. I found a phone charger when I escaped. I heard him say you were coming to the Rocking Horse with Seth. I thought you would be here, at the ranch.” Banjo started barking, and she jerked in fright.

  Levi quieted the dog.

  “Who said that?” Mara asked, gently. “Teegan?”

  “No,” came a voice from the dar
kness. “Put down the rifle, Levi.”

  Gene stepped into the light. He was holding a revolver.

  Levi did not lower his rifle. “What’s going on, Gene?”

  Gene spoke genially as if he was shooting the breeze. “Just came for her. Come here, Corinne. I’ve been thinking this would happen since the moment Jerry’s phone went missing. He dropped it, the dope, while he was on our property. I brought it into the kitchen, but you found it first, didn’t you?” He shook his head at Corinne as if she was an errant child. “Sent your sister a message? Jerry told me he got a call from Mara that she was coming to town.” He actually chuckled. “You hid that phone well, because I tore that bunker apart many times, and I never found it. Sneaky girl. Phones and postcards and texts, oh my.” His soft chuckled made the hair on Levi’s arms stand up.

  Mara grabbed Corinne’s wrist. “You and your son are not going to hurt her anymore.” In spite of Levi’s commands, Banjo’s barking reached terrific levels. The scruff of his neck was raised.

  Gene stared for a moment. His voice remained calm. “Drop the rifle, quiet the dog, or I start shooting.”

  Mara’s face blazed. “You’re bluffing.”

  Gene’s mouth tightened. “You think so? I wasn’t bluffing when I shot into your brother’s windshield.” His tone had gone hard and dead as petrified wood. “You should have died in the hospital, like I said. None of this would have happened, then.”

  Levi tried to edge closer, between the women and the man who was a stranger to him now.

  Mara stepped back but did not let go of her sister. “That was you?”

  “We’re not going to have an extended discussion here,” Gene said. “Drop the rifle, Levi.”

  Levi stayed put. He knew if he laid the gun down, their leverage was gone. Gene fired a round at Banjo. The shot nearly deafened them. Corinne screamed. The dog tumbled over backward with a yelp. Tiny mewled and squeezed under the porch.

  “Stop!” Levi hollered.

  Mara clung to her sister’s arm.

  Gene readied another round. “Next one’s for Mara.”

  Hot with rage, Levi put down the rifle. “Let’s talk this out,” he tried. “No need for anyone to get hurt.”

  Corinne was trembling as though she could hardly stand. Her eyes were dull and staring.

  “Right.” Gene tossed Mara a roll of tape. “Tape his hands behind his back.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Then, I’ll shoot him right now.”

  With a whimper, Mara used the duct tape and circled it around Levi’s wrists. He flexed as much as he could. Gene took the tape and did the same with Mara. He shoved them through the front door of the house and pushed them both toward the bathroom. He took their phones. “Inside.”

  They stumbled in.

  “My sister!” Mara screamed. “What are you going to do to her?”

  He slammed the door. They heard a chair being wedged under the handle.

  “Corinne!” Mara screamed.

  There was a crash of glass. All Levi’s nerves fired at once as the smell of burning oil trickled under the door. Gene had smashed the lantern on the floor. In a matter of moments, his house would be on fire. He set to work quickly working the tape to loosen it.

  Mara was looking up at the small window. When he freed himself, he quickly ripped the tape from her wrists. He aimed several vicious kicks at the door, but it was wedged tight.

  “Window is the only option. You’ll fit.”

  “I can’t leave without you.”

  “Oh, yes, you can.”

  “No,” she said, grabbing at his arms.

  “Mara, you have to get out or Corinne will die. They will kill her to protect themselves.”

  She blinked, her face a ghastly white.

  Before she could offer a retort, he linked his hands together and hoisted her up. She wrenched the window open. “I’ll come back for you,” she called as she wriggled through.

  “No. Call Jude. I’ll make it out. Get away. This place is a tinderbox.”

  When she was gone, he exhaled. Hopefully Gene had fled and would not be a further threat to Mara. Jude would track him down, save Corinne. He tried kicking the door several more times without success. Smoke was oozing through the gap between the door and floor now, and he wet the bathroom towels and shoved them in.

  He considered the tiny bathroom. The towel bar caught his attention. Strength wasn’t going to get him out, but brains might.

  He yanked the bar from the wall and shoved the end under the door hinge. With a huge effort, he levered the pin out of the slot. He was working on the second one when the door was wrenched open.

  Mara’s face was blackened, the whites of her eyes luminous in the smoky air. “Come on,” she yelled.

  “I told you not to come back,” he snapped as he followed her.

  “Since when do I follow directives?”

  They stumbled free. He grabbed his fallen rifle as he searched frantically. “Where’s Banjo?”

  “I don’t know,” she said helplessly.

  Jude’s car roared up. “Fire department is following.”

  “Gene’s taken Corinne,” Mara panted.

  Jude’s eyes widened. “I didn’t see them on the way in.”

  “They must have gone the back road off the ranch. Follow me.” Levi was running toward his brother’s truck. Mara leaped in while he was cranking it to life. He didn’t try to argue that she should stay behind. Time was of the essence. He gunned the engine and hit the gas, speeding them past the startled horses in the near pasture.

  He pushed the truck so fast they bounced and rattled over every rock and dip.

  “There,” Mara yelled, pointing to a turn in the road ahead. “There’s his SUV.”

  “We can’t get to the main road before him,” Levi yelled back. “There’s only one way to stop him, but this might not go well.” He shot a look at her. “Do you trust me?”

  Mara did not hesitate. “I trust you with my life.”

  The words fueled him, stripped away all the doubts and fears. This woman trusted him with her life and her sister’s...and he loved her with everything he possessed. He took one moment to squeeze her hand and make sure her seat belt was buckled. “Hold on.”

  EIGHTEEN

  Mara clung to the armrest as Levi shot off the road and across a bumpy pasture. They were moving so fast everything was a blur. Gene’s headlights in the distance shone closer as he turned into the final bend in the road. Impossibly far away it felt. She found herself straining forward as if to hurry them along.

  Corinne. Her mind could not process what she’d seen. Her sister, standing there, alive after five long years. What had happened to her? Was it Gene? Teegan? Both of them? Levi’s jaw was tight, fingers gripping the wheel.

  “Gonna get bumpy here.”

  She held on with one hand, the other braced against the dash. They dipped into a lower area that took them rocketing over uneven ruts, what had been a creek in the wet season. With anyone else she would have assumed the vehicle would not survive the terrain or they would flip at any moment, but she trusted that Levi knew every dip and swell of his land.

  She trusted him.

  Breath held, she tried to fight off the dizziness. Ahead, Gene’s headlights plowed through the dusk, indicating he was also traveling at a high rate of speed. From somewhere she heard sirens. Jude was following, but not fast enough. He would have summoned backup, but by the time they arrived, Gene would have made it off the property.

  Could this really be happening? Was it all a torturous nightmare? They hit a bump hard, and she would have smashed her head into the roof if she hadn’t been braced so tightly.

  Gene’s headlights and Levi’s tangled together in a direct intercept course.

  Please, Lord, please.

  If Gene made
it to the main road, he could get away, escape down any number of side trails, hide long enough to kill Corinne if that’s what he intended to do. Why? Teegan and Amelia would be captured. It was not necessary to kill Corinne to keep her from testifying against his son, was it?

  There was no more time to think as the truck closed in on the SUV.

  “He’s not slowing,” Levi shouted over the roar of the engine. “I’m afraid if I try to stop them, Corinne will be hurt.”

  Her reply was instant. “Levi, you have to. We’re her only chance.” And I trust you. She completely, thoroughly trusted this man above all others. He could save her sister, if anyone could. He would sacrifice himself, his ranch, his future for her family, for her.

  The knowledge lit her heart from the inside.

  He didn’t answer, just floored the accelerator. The truck jumped forward the crucial few feet, enough to plunge into the road a few yards ahead of Gene’s oncoming SUV. He slammed the brake, and the truck skidded to a halt.

  “Hold on!” Levi yelled.

  Seconds later the SUV plowed into them from behind. A screech of metal deafened her. The impact crumpled the back of Levi’s truck, hurling them forward. Levi threw an arm protectively in front of Mara. The seat belt did its job, tethering her in place with a violent jerk.

  The breath was driven out of her. By the time she’d assimilated the facts...they were stopped, the SUV wedged behind them, Levi was already out of the car and running, snagging his rifle on the way. She threw open the passenger door and tumbled free.

  Gene’s driver door was open, the white airbags deployed. He staggered out and went to one knee, reaching for the gun in his waistband.

  “Stop right there, Gene,” Levi said, sighting down the barrel of his rifle. “I don’t want to shoot you, but I will if you give me reason.”

  A trickle of blood leaked from Gene’s mouth. He got to his feet, looked from Levi to Jude’s police vehicle approaching in the distance. Savagely he tossed the gun to the ground and lifted his hands.

  He looked hard at Mara and shook his head. “Why didn’t you leave it alone?” he whispered. “Everything was perfect.”