Kathleen put her hand over Ruth’s. “You did nothing wrong,” she said. “What could you have done? Colin had a knife. I would’ve complied too, just to make sure that nothing happened to Patton. Don’t take the blame for any of this. I know I sound like a broken record, but we will get Patton back.”
“What if he blames me too?” Ruth said, sounding tearful.
Kathleen pulled Ruth into a tight hug. “He knows you would move heaven and earth for him. He loves you so much. Don’t think that he would ever stop.”
Ruth’s shoulders shook. “Thank you,” she said. “Matthew said something similar, but I keep imagining all the things I should’ve done better. If I could just go back in time and re-do everything…”
“Wishful thinking,” Kathleen said and pulled back so she could see Ruth’s face. She wiped at her own tears and looked at the meager offerings they had for food. “We should probably make something to eat while we wait for Matthew to come back. Not much else to do, and I’m going crazy waiting around. I figure we should all be fortified for what’s to come. How does that sound?”
Ruth nodded. “I’ll get Allison.”
“And I’ll drag my no-good brother down here.”
Ruth paused. “I know Max is troubled,” she said. “I can see that he loves you and the family very much, but I’m proud of you for drawing the line in the sand. He needs to know where he can and can’t push. Kathleen, that’s such a hard thing to do. It takes such courage.”
Kathleen was at a loss for words. She didn’t know what else to say and instead pulled Ruth into a quick hug before departing the kitchen. As she walked back up to Max’s room, she felt her steps become heavier. She didn’t want to start another fight with Max, but now that she had, in a way, given him an ultimatum, she hoped it didn’t change things between them. Her heart could only take so much.
His door was closed. She rapped three times and waited for an answer. Nothing. Maybe he had fallen asleep. She opened the creaky door and saw that the rumpled bed was empty. Frowning, she noticed that his shoes and socks—usually in a heap on the floor—were gone as well. A piece of paper sat folded against the lamp. Normally, she would dismiss something like that, but her name had been clearly written in large block letters on the front. Not just a piece of paper. A note.
Her throat closed up, and she thought she might pass out. She banged the door open as she dove for the note and flipped it open, standing next to the empty bed with her body as tight as a bowstring. She scanned the message. Max had never been a man of letters, but she felt his sorrow in each line as he apologized over and over again for what had happened. His self-deprecation made her insides clench with sadness. When she’d told him they needed to be truthful with each other, she didn’t think he would see it like this. She wasn’t asking him to sacrifice himself. She would never do that.
She ran for the window and looked desperately out. Scanning the grounds, she hoped she would see his limping form making its way across the road, but only the trees and jagged mountain line met her line of sight. When would Max have left? How far away was he? Did she have any chance of catching up to him and begging him to reconsider? She’d take back everything she said, that they could be as they’d always been. Nothing had to change. If only he’d wait for Matthew to come back.
The letter clutched in her hand, she ran downstairs and stumbled back into the kitchen. Allison and Ruth were talking softly at the counter and Kathleen flung the crumpled note down between them. “He’s going to give himself up,” Kathleen said. “He’s going to get himself killed.”
Ruth took the letter and opened it up, her eyes scanning the words. Kathleen trembled uncontrollably, her teeth wanting to chatter because her fear made her feel so cold. Ruth handed the letter to Allison and looked up at Kathleen with concern. “Did you see him outside? Did you check?” Ruth asked.
“I didn’t see him,” Kathleen whispered. The few strings that were keeping her upright and focused began to fray and split. The box where she’d kept her fear over Patton exploded and now in conjunction with Max’s disappearance, made her want to collapse to the floor in a bundle to scream out her pain and frustration.
“Mom, don’t cry, please,” Allison begged.
Kathleen realized tears were pouring down her cheeks, and when she opened her mouth to say that she was okay, that she would figure it out, nothing came out but a choked sob. Ruth rounded the counter and took Kathleen in her arms, holding her tight.
“Am I going to lose my family, Ruth?” Kathleen asked desperately. “I can’t lose them both. I won’t survive it.”
“We’ll get them back.” Ruth hugged her tighter. “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay. Patton is strong, and Max will do everything in his power to make sure they’re both safe.”
“What if Colin kills them both?” Kathleen clapped her hand over her mouth to keep the what-if away. “That exchange could mean nothing. They’re both in such danger.”
The door to the kitchen opened, and Kathleen looked around to see an unknown man step into the kitchen. His dark hair was cut close to his head in the same military style she was used to seeing David wear, and a goatee encircled his mouth. Kathleen waited for the punch of fear to overtake her, but she felt nothing but the same dread that seemed to follow her everywhere now. Somehow, she had reached her emotional limit and not even this stranger could scare her anymore. Behind him, she saw the familiar sandy blond hair of her husband and let out a small noise of relief. She took the note back from Allison and ran to her husband, pulling him into a desperate embrace.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, noticing immediately that something was amiss.
“Everything,” Kathleen choked out and she handed him the letter. Matthew’s eyes flickered from her to the rest of the people in the room, and he read the missive out loud. Everyone fell silent as Max’s words filled the room. When Matthew had finished reading the note, he looked at Kathleen with a strength she’d never seen before. “He’s gone to trade himself for Patton,” he summarized.
“There’s no guarantee that Colin will willingly give Patton up,” Jade said, sliding into the room to stand next to Allison. Two long-barreled guns were slung over her shoulder, and she laid them out on the table. They looked to be sniper rifles, but Kathleen didn’t really know.
“We have to go after him,” Kathleen said, letting the desperation building inside of her finally have a voice. “We can’t let Max get killed by a bunch of druggie-thugs who should rot in prison.”
“Kathleen,” Matthew said to her as he laid his own gun down on the table, “let’s think about things for a moment. No one is arguing with you. We will go after Max and we will get Patton back. We won’t let Max sacrifice himself.” Matthew looked up at the unknown man. “Wyatt and I have a plan.”
Kathleen turned to the newcomer and let out a wild laugh. “It’s a bit late for introductions,” she said. “I’m so sorry we dragged you into all of this.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Wyatt said. “I want to help. This Colin guy sounds like he’s only going to create problems for everyone around here, and I have a low tolerance for people who kidnap kids. Matt is right. We have a plan, and if I may be so bold, it might actually work in our favor that your brother took matters into his own hands.”
“Tell me exactly what you mean,” Kathleen demanded.
Wyatt smiled. “Good to see you have spunk, ma’am. We’d planned to have Max hand himself over to Colin, but now that he’s doing it willingly, the act is much more convincing. Colin won’t have any reason not to trust him.”
“Max will be convinced no one is coming for him,” Jade said quietly. “Colin won’t suspect that Max is lying. He’ll think he has everything he’s ever wanted and because of that, he’ll be sloppy.”
“And then we strike,” David wheezed, and plopped down in a chair. “We should get going though, before Max gets too far ahead of us all. If we wait too long, we won’t be able to save them both.”
Kathleen bit her lip, noticing that David was flushed and panting, as if the walk had strained his heart more than he wanted to admit. She would never forget the way David had looked in the hospital after his heart attack, and it seemed that that bed-ridden version of her father-in-law was returning. David looked about ready to fall over. Matthew frowned in concern at his father.
“Dad, are you sure you’re up to this?” Matthew asked gently.
David waved him off. Kathleen noted that Matthew and Wyatt exchanged worried looks.
“I do apologize for that lump on the back of your head,” Wyatt said “My men should know better than to knock the living daylights out of people, even if they are approaching our club in the middle of the night.” Wyatt grinned and David matched the smile. “Are you sure you don’t want to sit this one out?”
“I’ll be fine,” David said. “There’s no way I’m going to stay behind, not when my grandson’s life is on the line.”
Ruth stepped up closer to David and rubbed his shoulder. Her face was pinched with concern. David’s harsh breathing filled the room. Finally, Ruth shook her head and said, “I’m not sure that’s wise, David. You need to rest. Think of your heart. This stress will do you no good, and it will do everyone else no good if you suddenly collapse while we’re fighting Colin.”
Kathleen felt grateful and saw the sentiment reflected on Matthew’s face. She didn’t want David to risk his life by overexerting himself and putting everyone else in danger at the same time. Egos needed to be set aside. They all needed to think about the bigger picture: saving Patton and Max.
“I have to go, Ruth,” David said and he tried to stop his breathing from coming out so loudly. “I’m not feeble. I might have a black eye, but I can’t sit this one out. If it comes down to a firefight—and we all know it will—we will need every able-bodied person out there doing everything they can. I won’t back down on this.”
Ruth gave David a disapproving look, and Kathleen felt sympathetic toward her. If Matthew had suffered a heart attack in the past, she’d be terrified to let him go out into a gunfight where the biggest concern wasn’t bullets but the integrity of his own working body. If David did fall down and have another attack, no one would be able to stop to help him. He could very well die today. Kathleen wanted to cry again. The same awful thought bulged up into her mind, taking away her senses: Would everyone in her family die? When would they ever be safe again?
“If you’re decided, David, we can’t talk you out of it,” Wyatt said. “I know I’m an outsider here, but you can’t make a man stay back if he’s determined to come. Maybe just stick to the back though? You can cover us.”
David nodded and his breathing seemed to have eased. Ruth forced a bottle of water into his hands, and he drank from it greedily.
“Either way, we need to get a move on,” Wyatt said. “As David pointed out, the timing of this is critical and if we wait too long, Max might be a dead man before we get to him. Do you have any idea when Max left?”
Kathleen shook her head. “He couldn’t have more than a thirty-minute head start. Plus, he’s wounded and won’t be walking very fast. You can probably beat him to the gas station, if you hurry.”
“Perfect,” Wyatt said. “Let’s head out. We don’t want the whole thing to be over before the cavalry arrives.”
28
“We’ll need everything we can carry,” Matthew said as he loaded his pockets with ammunition.
“You got it, boss,” Wyatt said with a smile as he slung his own sniper rifle over his shoulder. A handgun was strapped to a holster around his waist, and Matthew couldn’t help but grin back.
As much as he hated to admit it, he was starting to like Wyatt. Hopefully, they could expand on the trade agreement David had promised when he’d first gone to the Carpenter Country Gun Club. Wyatt’s knowledge of the local area astounded Matthew and he grudgingly admitted to himself that he had made a mistake in not trusting his father’s instincts to connect with them earlier. The Marine had come to their aid and would be saving their bacon in more than one way. When they’d arrived at the club asking for help, Matthew had been first shocked, and then impressed, at the way Wyatt had acted. The Marine had thoughtfully listened to their predicament without interruption and then grabbed his own guns, already deciding to join their cause. His humility and kindness had been a stark contrast to the interactions Matthew had experienced since the EMP disaster, and it heartened him to know that there were still good people out there.
“Not sure he’s the boss,” Jade cut in, keeping her eyes focused on her own weapons.
For a moment, Matthew wondered if Jade said such a thing in a spirit of meanness, but he pushed down the instinct to lash out. Jade had proven herself invaluable on this trip, and Matthew realized he hadn’t been giving her the chance she deserved. Like Wyatt, she had also come to the Rileys’ aid, even when she could have left them for anywhere else. She’d put aside their differences to help Patton. Thus, Matthew was resolute that he would do his best to make her feel welcome. Even if she decided to leave in the end, at least he could try to make amends for the things he had said and done to her.
Matthew nudged David and said, “She’s right, you know. Pretty sure Jade is the boss.”
David looked surprised, as if he hadn’t expected Matthew to go along with the teasing.
Wyatt clapped Jade on the shoulder. “I don’t doubt it,” he said as he checked all of his pockets, as if to reassure himself that he had everything within easy reach. “All right, team. I’m ready to go.”
“Me too,” Jade said.
“Count me in,” David said.
“Let’s go,” Matthew said. He held his tongue about asking David once more to reconsider his role in this mission. Ruth had done her best to convince David to stay behind, insisting that his heart wasn’t strong enough, but David had refused to listen to her reasoning. In a way, Matthew understood, but he wasn’t sure what he would do if David’s heart started to fail him.
He had to keep his son in the forefront of his mind. David was a grown man, who’d made this decision to come along. Patton was a young boy and still in need of a father’s protection.
Together, they made their way out the front door. Matthew paused at the threshold when he saw Kathleen standing on the steps as if waiting for them. She turned around to face them with a stern look.
“I hate that I’m not going with you,” she said.
Matthew swallowed hard. He couldn’t help but feel relieved that she would be out of the fray. If for some reason Matthew didn’t come home, then his children would still have one parent to raise them.
He stepped close to Kathleen and took her hand in his. “I know, but it will be better that you, Allison, and my mom stay at the hotel. You’ll be needed here if any of us turn up with injuries, or something happens and Patton needs a safe place to run to. We’ll be okay, I promise.”
“Not just okay,” Kathleen said, a line forming between her brows. “You’ll all come back in tip-top condition. All of you. And you’ll have our son with you.”
“He’ll be safe,” Jade said softly. “I promise.”
Kathleen studied Jade for a moment before swiftly embracing the young woman. Jade looked over Kathleen’s shoulder at Matthew with wide eyes before Kathleen released her and turned to give Wyatt a similar hug. “I don’t know you very well, but believe me, I will have to thank you a hundred times over for what you’re doing for me and my family,” she said.
“We’ll get your son back,” Wyatt said. “If you see anyone that you don’t know coming up to the hotel, book it to the gun club. My people know you might be coming their way and will be ready to lend a hand if things go south. We don’t want Colin’s men coming up the mountain and aggravating anyone else. It seems he’s done enough damage already.”
“Thank you,” Kathleen said. “You’re a good man with a good heart. Please, all of you be safe.”
Wyatt tipped his head as if her praise made him shy. He
turned and walked down the porch. Jade followed.
Kathleen embraced David without a word, but she held onto him tightly. When she pulled away, David gave her a kiss on the cheek and then descended the porch steps to follow Wyatt and Jade, giving Matthew a moment of privacy with his wife.
At long last, Kathleen turned to Matthew. She felt fragile in his arms and he held onto her tightly, hoping this wouldn’t be the last time they saw each other. “For luck,” she whispered and kissed him hard. Matthew couldn’t help but feel his heart soar. Despite everything they had gone through, he felt bonded with Kathleen, as if they had connected on a completely new level. When he broke the kiss, he said, “I love you.”
Kathleen smiled and kissed him a second time on the cheek. “And I you. Be safe.”
Matthew squeezed her and then left her to join the others waiting for him. He turned around one last time before they rounded the corner heading down the mountain. Kathleen still stood on the porch, showing as only a sliver of darkness against the side of the building. Her arm lifted high in the air to wave goodbye, and Matthew knew she would have tears in her eyes as she watched them depart. A new kind of resolve strengthened within him. He would come back to make his family whole or die trying.
As he walked down the mountain and the hotel passed from sight, Matthew studied the sun, watching it lower into midafternoon with a sense of trepidation. Even though he knew they were heading straight into a gun fight—and Matthew wasn’t any kind of fighter—he still didn’t know why he felt so steady. Maybe it was because he was learning to trust again. He was glad to have David, Jade, and Wyatt all on one side for once without having to worry about fighting or clashing ideas between them. He felt as though they were a united front, on the same side. The overwhelming fear about people—and what they could do to him and his loved ones—took a back seat. Even though they had been through some tough times, he realized he could finally trust these people. That realization lifted a weight from his shoulders.
EMP Catastrophe | Book 2 | Erupting Danger Page 20
