by H. L. Wegley
Once Lex and KC noticed Gemma was gone, they would come quickly, plan or no plan.
The boys were smart, they would know what to do if Gemma could tell them Lex was coming soon. But what if she couldn’t get that message to them without being overheard? And how could she be sure the boys got away at the same time, or just before, the men took Gemma?
No matter how it turned out. Lex would be better off. He and KC would have at least one less person to try to keep safe. Because Gemma Saint would be dead.
Chapter 20
Blade stopped at the intersection of two country roads somewhere northeast of Sisters. He had been driving for fifteen minutes and feared he had lost too much time to catch James’s SUV.
“Walker, where are we?”
“Right where you wanted to be. Lower Bridge Way straight ahead.”
“I said Lower Bridge Road.”
“This blasted app keeps changing the map display. You can’t zoom in and pan around. You can’t find anything.”
“Then just keep tracking the SUV. Where is it now?”
“After it stopped along Highway 97 in Terrebonne, it went back to Crooked River Ranch—to the rim above it.”
“That’s KC Daniels’ place. Tell me if it leaves.”
Blade made a U-turn and backtracked for a half mile. “What happened to Lower Bridge Way? The sign just said this is Lambert Road.”
“That may not be a bad thing, Blade. If you stay on this road for about two miles, you should come to Lower Bridge Road near the bridge over the Deschutes.”
“Well, we’re not lost anymore, but we’re losing time. If we can get to Daniels’ house before that SUV leaves, we won’t need those kids. I’m betting Mr. James and Ms. Saint are paying KC Daniels a visit. I think we should pay them one too.”
“If they’re all there and we start shooting, what do we do about Daniels?”
“What do you think? We don’t shoot her.”
“Blade, you’ve heard about her. What if she starts shooting back? If we kill her too, you know, all three of them together, some local detective is going to put two and two together and this whole thing could backfire. Carr would have a cow.”
“No, Walker. In that case Carr would have a cell in Leavenworth. But we would retire in South America.”
“Uh … I don’t think we have to worry about that.” Walker’s eyes had locked on the cell phone in his hands.
“What do you see, Walker?”
“The SUV just left Daniels’ house. It looks like it’s headed back to Lower Bridge Road.”
Blade pushed the accelerator to the floor. “Tell me which way it turns when it gets there.”
In a couple of minutes, the Deschutes River became visible in a canyon below them.
“This app must have hiccupped or something. The SUV fast forwarded and is now headed west on Lower Bridge Road. Do you think it’s going to Sisters?”
“One thing I do know,” Blade said. “If I can get to Lower Bridge Road first, we’ll see it go by and possibly we’ll see who’s in it.”
Why would Lex James be going toward Sisters? Did he know about their safe house? That thought troubled Blade in a dozen different ways.
He accelerated to fifty, but it was too fast for the small road. He backed off on the accelerator.
“It just passed Lambert,” Walker said. How could they possibly know where our safe house is?”
“KC Daniels. She was a world-class hacker. Used to protect defense networks in DC. She’s caused trouble ever since she got involved.”
“Blade, that woman killed part of a contingent of Army Rangers, a black ops team.”
“I guess I didn’t hear that part. You mean a team like us?”
“No, a team of special forces. A lot better than us.”
Blade braked to a stop at Lower Bridge Road. “Then I’ve got one question for you. Who do you suppose is in that SUV?”
Walker looked up from the app display. “Maybe you should add … and what are they packing?”
Chapter 21
Where was Gemma?
“KC, isn’t Gemma in the bathroom?” Lex said.
“Yeah. Second time in about fifteen minutes. She’s upset.”
“I’m going to check on her. Something’s not right.“
Lex walked through the living room and down the hallway.
The bathroom door stood open.
He looked in and saw what looked like a note on the bathroom counter.
Reality hit Lex like a blow to his solar plexus. “KC, I think Gemma’s gone.”
KC’s footsteps sounded from the living room then stopped.
Lex picked up the note and started to read it.
KC’s rapid steps echoed from the hallway. “Your SUV’s gone, Lex.”
Another punch to Lex’s gut.
“She left a note.” The knot in Lex’s stomach tightened.
Lex,
I have brought you, the boys, and KC so much trouble that the best thing for everyone is for me to disappear—to go someplace where I will never be found. Don’t look for me. I need to stay hidden, indefinitely. You won’t see me again. That is as it should be.
Lex, I took your SUV but will leave it where you can find it. Thanks for helping me escape the FBI thugs. I’m not sure I could have done that on my own.
While we were on the run, I said some things and did some things that I should not have done or said. Even if there was no danger, it would be best for me to leave now. I was never meant to be a wife and certainly not a mother.
I wish you well with your business. Feel free to break my story. You know enough of it to alert the people of this nation to the truth about government corruption.
Goodbye, Lex.
Gemma
When Lex finished the note, he realized KC’s heavy breathing came from over his shoulder. Now she knew the truth about Gemma, too.
Gemma was like all the women he’d ever known. He should never have trusted her. Never have fallen for her. And she had probably broken the boys’ hearts, too. They had seen their mother in Gemma. Then she left, stealing every bit of joy she had brought and more. Then she stole his SUV.
“Gemma, Melissa—they’re all the same.”
“What in heaven’s name are you talking about, Lex James? Let me see that note. I didn’t get to finish reading it.”
Lex flung it at her.
KC snatched it out of the air, before it floated to the floor. She focused on the note. “Oh, man. Oh, woman. Lex, this thing is full of lies. Can’t you see what she’s—”
“Oh, I see it alright. Gemma is the return of Melissa. The only difference is Melissa didn’t even leave a note. I should have seen this coming. How could I be so—”
“Stop it right now, Mr. James!”
“Why?”
“Just answer this question. When did Gemma ever mention marrying you—even the remote possibility of that—or mention being a mother to your boys?”
He didn’t reply.
“When, Lex?” KC’s eyes bored into him. Her nostrils flared with each breath. She had clenched both fists.
Lex backed away before one of those fists found his face.
“What happened to your Melissa accusations? Is the truth starting to jell in that mushy head of yours?”
Lex looked away from KC’s fiery face and tried to concentrate. “She—she didn’t.”
“Then why did she mention them in this note, a note obviously intended to be her final communication with you?”
“Evidently, she wanted her words to be hurtful.”
KC nodded slowly. “Maybe. But if she hadn’t thought about being your wife and Josh’s and Caleb’s mother, she wouldn’t have thought to put it in the note.”
“I—”
“Don’t bother answering that. Try this instead. Where do you think Gemma is going? Tell me what you really believe. Not what’s in that thick skull of yours but what’s in your heart.”
“I don’t know.”
; “Come on. You’ve seen her in action when danger threatened her. Was she so terrified that she thought only of herself? What would the Gemma you’ve come to know over the last two days do?”
“I don’t think I really knew her.”
“If you were Gemma, and you had brought danger to a family, then its children were kidnapped, how would you feel? And if you thought you could sacrifice yourself to save the kids, what would you do?
“I wouldn’t leave a note that—”
“Be honest, Lex. Keep your emotions and Melissa out of it. What would you do?”
“I’d probably try something to free the kids.”
The truth came with a lightning flash of insight followed by a thunderclap that shook Lex to his core. “We’ve got to stop her, KC.”
“Lex James just got his two hundred back. Follow me into the study. I’ve got an idea.”
Lex wanted to bolt and run to the door. But he had no vehicle outside and had no idea where he would drive it if it was there. He followed KC into the study, while his heart played a percussion solo in his chest.
“She was on my laptop. Let me see what she was up to.” KC opened her browser and restored its open tabs.
“Darn. She accessed the map of the place I thought those men may have taken the boys. Let me look at the applications log.”
KC clicked a couple of times with the mouse and waited for a window that opened and eventually filled with information. “Gemma printed the map. Using my history, she pulled up the phone number I used in my search. She has a map to the house and the landline phone number for it. So what do you think she’s up to, Lex?”
“She’s going to try to trade herself for Josh and Caleb. I’m not completely stupid, KC.”
“But you’re pretty doggoned close.” KC sent something to the printer and it fed a sheet of paper through to the output bin.
Lex turned to leave the study. “We’ve got to stop her.”
“First, we need a plan. A new one. We can’t take off half-cocked and get her and us killed. That wouldn’t help the boys.”
KC’s phone rang.
“Great timing.” She shook her head. “I’ve got to get this. It could be them.”
KC picked up the phone in the study. “Hello … I’m not sure I should answer that.” KC nodded to Lex.
It was the kidnappers.
KC wrote something on a sheet of paper. “Got it. You want me to repeat after you … Okay … This is a message for Lex James … He is to come to the address you gave me and exchange himself for his two boys … Be there in one hour or bad things will happen.”
“He hung up, Lex. But you got the gist of the message.”
Lex nodded.
“They didn’t mention Gemma. That means she hasn’t had time to get there. But this is going to get really sticky when she shows up.”
“They want me as badly as they want Gemma. When she arrives, they’ll kill her and keep the boys as bait for me. When I take the bait, they’ll kill me and, when they realize how bright the boys are, they’ll kill them too.”
Chapter 22
Josh tried the bedroom door after the man called Kirby left.
Kirby wasn’t real smart, but he didn’t forget. He’d locked the door.
But they could get away if he and Cabe both used their two hundred. Somehow, they could do it. They always came up with a way to do stuff.
“Cabe, remember what Uncalex told us about why Mama and Dad called us Joshua and Caleb?”
“Yeah,” Caleb said. “They were the good spies. They weren’t afraid of those giants. Joshua and Caleb said if we follow God, He’ll lead us. And we don’t hafta’ be afraid of our emenies, ‘cause we can eat’em alive.”
Sometimes Caleb went a little crazy when he told stories. This was a Bible story, so it needed to be told right. “I think they said devour. It’s like eat, but it means more like gobble up.”
“But we can do this, right?” Caleb said.
“Yeah. And we don’t hafta’ tear our clothes.”
“I think they ripped their clothes ‘cause they were mad.”
Josh shook his head. “I’m not mad. Only a little bit scared.”
“But Joshua said don’t be afraid of’em.”
God said that a lot of times in the Bible, but it didn’t always help Josh. He still got scared of stuff, sometimes. “I wouldn’t be afraid, Cabe, if I knew how we were gonna get’em? Kirby took out all of the stuff we could hurt’em with.”
“I got my squirt gun.”
“Cabe, they took all the water out of it. It wouldn’t help anyway.”
“Maybe we can fill it with something really bad. Something dangerous.”
He couldn’t let Cabe try to act out one of his crazy stories. “That’s not a good idea. First let’s look for something that’s gonna work.”
“Okay. You check the closet, Josh, and I’ll look in the bathroom.”
Josh looked through the closet and spied one golf club leaning against the back wall. Good thing some hanging stuff hid it or Kirby would’ve taken it too.
He took the club in his hand. It would hurt somebody. But if they just tried to hit him, a big man like Kirby would probably just take it away and hit them with it.
Cabe’s voice came from the bathroom. “Josh, come and look what I found under the sink.”
Josh ran to the bathroom door and looked at the bottle in Cabe’s hand. “Toilet bowl cleaner? We’re not trying clean’em up, Cabe.”
“Somebody needs to clean up their mouths. They’re always talkin’ about that stuff floatin’ in the toilet bowl.”
“Yeah. I wonder if their mamas ever washed their mouth out with soap.”
“They shoulda’. But soap’s not strong enough for what we need. We need something that really hurts.”
Cabe grinned. “Yeah, that’s why I read the warning on the bottle. It’s got bleach.”
“Ya’ mean that stuff Uncalex ruined our jeans with?”
“Yeah. That stuff,” Cabe said. “But ya’ know something? The people that own this house really gotta be stupid.”
“Right. Only stupid people would leave poison stuff with bleach where little kids like us could get it.” Josh laughed until he snorted. “But listen to what it says on the bottle. Danger: Causes irreparable damage to eyes.”
“Josh, what does repurble mean?”
“Means you can’t fix’em.”
“So he’ll be blind?”
Josh shrugged. “Or maybe he just can’t see very well. But they can probably fix his eyes while he’s in jail. I know it’s bad, Cabe. But we gotta do it anyway. It’s all we have, and these people want to hurt Uncalex and Gemma.”
“Let’s use it. But we gotta wait and see if they leave Kirby alone in the house. Cause I can only squirt one guy before they get us. That Blade guy said he and Walker were going somewhere. If they go, we can try it on Kirby.”
Josh looked down at the floor and shook his head. “If we miss his eyes, ya’ know what’s gonna happen?”
Cabe grabbed his shirt and yanked. “He’ll tear his clothes off like those people in the Bible.”
“Nope. He’ll probly tear our heads off.”
“Then I have to get both eyes, so he can’t see.”
“You’re a purty good shot with your squirt gun, Cabe. But you gotta make sure ya’ don’t miss, because—.”
“Cause if I miss, we’re toast.”
Josh carried the bedroom chair to the door. “Hear the motor? The car’s leavin’. We gotta get ready.”
“I’ll fill my squirt gun.”
By the time Josh adjusted the chair by the door, Cabe was back with his squirt gun. It wasn’t light yellow anymore. It had turned a weird blue-green color. “If you stand on the chair, your squirt gun will be even with Kirby’s eyes.”
“How do you know that?”
“I looked where his head poked in last time he checked on us. You gotta remember stuff like that, Cabe, ‘cause you never know when you might ne
ed it.”
Cabe climbed up in the chair and stood. “Am I up high enough?”
“Looks perfect. But stay back until he pokes his head in. Then ya’ gotta shoot fast before he knows you’re there. Ready, Cabe?”
“I don’t know?”
“I thought you said we’re gonna eat our emenies alive and that God would protect us.”
“Yeah. And God doesn’t lie, so … I guess I’m ready.”
“One more thing,” Josh said, “Don’t let him get his hands on ya’, Cabe. Just a minute.”
Josh went to the closet and pulled out the golf club. “I saw this in the closet when you found the toilet bowl cleaner. If Kirby grabs one of us, the other one should hit him in the head with this.”
“What number does it have on it?”
“It doesn’t matter, Cabe. It’s gonna hurt.”
“But what number is it?”
“It doesn’t have a number. It says SW. I’m gonna lean it up by the door. Are we ready?”
“Yeah.”
Josh beat on door and yelled, “Caleb is sick! Help us! He’s pukin’ all over the bed.” He listened.
Nothing.
He pounded with his fist and yelled again, “Oh, gross! He’s really sick now!”
Footsteps clomped down the hallway.
“Get ready, Cabe. Shoot fast.”
If this didn’t work, it would be worse than the time they opened Melissa’s purse in church and had an accident with her pepper stuff. Kirby would be a lot madder than the pastor was when he had to stop the church service. Maybe as mad as Melissa.
The door knob clicked.
Josh stepped back.
The door opened, and Kirby poked his head in.
Cabe’s squirt gun shot a lot with each squirt. He shoved it in Kirby’s face and shot one long squirt that went across both eyes.
Kirby’s eyes turned purple and he screamed. Then he put his hands over his eyes and his potty mouth started. Somebody needed to flush it.
Cabe took care of it. When Kirby screamed again, Cabe got him in the mouth. That was a good place for toilet bowl cleaner.
Josh grabbed the golf club and watched Kirby.
But Kirby must have sucked in some of that yucky stuff, because he bent over and hacked and choked.
