Rescue on the Run

by Jaycee Bullard

  “Shh,” she whispered.

  The little boy gave another wail of distress. How could a child this small have this much lung capacity?

  “Abby, in here!”

  Cal motioned toward the front of a large walk-in freezer.

  “This seems to be our only option. Don’t worry. There’s a latch on the inside that we can open when we’re ready to come out.”

  With a lurch, the metal door creaked open on its hinges. Abby looked back down at the baby. She didn’t like the idea of exposing an infant to such cold temperatures again. But on the plus side, it was a soundproof solution to their problem. Of course, it would be impossible to know for sure when the coast was clear, but the thick walls would muffle the sounds of a crying infant. She hesitated for a moment and then followed Cal inside. As the door swung closed, they both let out a sigh.

  But her relief was short-lived. The arctic temperature was already causing her to shiver. The baby didn’t seem to appreciate his new cold environment, either, as his cries turned into howls. She patted his back in a desperate attempt to comfort him, but it only increased his distress.

  “He’s really cold,” she said, pressing him closer to her body for warmth. “And he’s resisting all my attempts to settle him down.”

  “Let me give it try.” Cal’s voice sounded deeper in the enclosed space.

  She lifted the baby out of the sling and reached out in the darkness to find Cal’s hand. He took the infant from her arms and began moving back and forth, singing something soft under his breath. Abby took a couple steps away from them and listened.

  “The Wheels on the Bus” was an odd choice to sing to a baby in a freezer, but the tune worked its magic. After a few minutes, the baby stopped wailing and settled down.

  “Abby,” Cal whispered. “Come back over here and stand next to me. I’ve got a plan. But we both need to be in position over here by the door.”

  She hurried to close the gap between them.

  “Good. Now I’m going to lay the little guy down on the shelf.” He clicked on the flashlight he had grabbed in the store and then quickly flicked it off. “He should stay warm enough, swaddled up tight in his blanket. You can put the rest of the baby stuff on this shelf. Stand as close as you can to me, and I’ll explain the plan.”

  Abby moved closer. She felt the warmth from Cal’s side as she pressed beside him.

  “The door opens in,” he said.

  Huh? She waited for him to elaborate.

  “If they check inside the freezer, we’ll be blocked by the door. So as long as our little buddy here doesn’t decide to have another crying fit, we may be able to escape detection.”

  Abby considered this. Cal’s plan was based on the assumption that the kidnappers wouldn’t take the time to enter the freezer. And that the baby would remain asleep. It seemed risky, especially since they didn’t even know for certain that Ricky and his crew had entered the building. For all they knew, they had bypassed the main lodge and gone on to search the smaller cabins. She could feel her body tightening as doubts crowded her mind.

  Cal reached down and cupped her hand in his own. “Trust me.”

  Abby closed her eyes. Trust. Faith. That was what she needed now. Help us, God. Her heart squeezed in her chest.

  Seconds ticked by as they waited. Within the insulated wall, she couldn’t hear anything, but the not-knowing was almost worse than being found. Cal squeezed her hand as she prayed for courage and protection.

  Just as she was about to suggest they give up waiting and escape the cold—clunk—the door flew open and crashed against her forehead. She bit back a yelp of pain, forcing herself to stay silent as a triangle of light opened on the space.

  “Nobody’s in here. Maybe we should check upstairs.”

  Abby’s heart quaked. She didn’t recognize the husky voice of the interloper, but it might have been Tomas, the man Cal shot in the gunfight at the bank. For a while, it seemed that he was down for the count. But that no longer seemed to be the case.

  “I’ll meet you on the steps,” the man with the deep voice spoke again. The freezer was once again plunged into darkness as the door thumped closed.

  For several minutes, she and Cal remained like statues, fixed in place. After a couple of minutes passed without a sound, she felt Cal’s body shift as he lifted the baby back into his arms.

  She slowly exhaled as her pounding pulse returned to normal. “It worked!” she breathed.

  “It did,” Cal whispered back.

  Abby realized with a start that her fingers were still entwined with Cal’s. Her breath hitched in her throat as she pulled her hand back and took a step to the side.

  “Cal? I think the man who checked the freezer was Tomas. Which means there are four of them now, and they probably all have guns.” She drew in a deep breath. “So, what do we do next?”

  “Finding a new hiding place is our first priority. Right now, they’re just doing a cursory search. But when they don’t find us, they’ll become more methodical. If they check the kitchen again, I don’t think we’ll escape their notice twice. Besides, it’s too cold to stay in here much longer.”

  “So?” She let the question hang.

  “So,” Cal replied, “I’ll take a peek out of the door to make sure no one’s around. Then we’ll need to make a run for it.”

  Abby stared at him. Make a run for it? How did he think that was going to work with a baby and a sheriff with a shot leg?

  She swallowed her question.

  Because Cal was already reaching for the handle on the freezer door.

  FOURTEEN

  The latch clicked open. Cal handed Abby the baby as he inched forward to peer through the slit. The kitchen was as dark and quiet as a tomb. Tomas was gone, at least for the moment.

  This was their chance. When Ricky and the others finished on the upper level, they would undoubtedly return to do another, more thorough sweep of the dining room and kitchen.

  Cal snuck a look behind him at Abby, who held the baby in her arms. In the dimness of the space, it was hard to read her expression, but her dark eyes shone like black pools, reflecting a wariness that he had seen earlier on her face.

  He whispered, “We need to find a way out of here without being seen.”

  “Right. There ought to be a back door around here somewhere. Places like this usually have a separate entrance for deliveries and staff.”

  Bingo! If they could find another exit, they could head to one of the cabins. A twinge of uncertainly pinged across his brain, but he brushed it away. Staying one step ahead of the kidnappers was hardly a long-term solution, but at this point, it was just a matter of running out the clock. The place was huge, so that was an advantage. And the police were on their way.

  Cal took a step forward, and a jolt of pain rocketed up his leg. This wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought, but staying put was not an option. “C’mon,” he said. He held the freezer door open and waited for Abby to step through.

  “Wait.” Abby tilted her head to the left, toward the far wall. “When I moved the snowmobile, I saw a dumpster along this side of the building. The delivery door is usually close to the garbage. Let’s go this way.”

  Cal turned and followed Abby. Trust her to have noticed the dumpster. If she hadn’t become a paramedic, she would have made a great cop. Observant. Brave. Intrepid. Qualities he looked for in all new recruits. He shook his head. Was he seriously cataloguing Abby’s virtues again? It wasn’t as if he needed more reasons to like her. He had gone too far down that road already. He wiggled the fingers she had been clutching just a few minutes earlier. That had been nice, even though she had pulled away once the danger passed.

  A bump in the carpet caused him to stumble and another agonizing bolt of pain pierced his leg. Time seemed to stop as he felt himself tumbling forward in slow motion even as a host of re
criminations flashed through his brain. He should have been watching his steps rather than thinking about Abby. He should have focused more on noticing what was in front of him instead of remembering what it felt like to hold Abby’s hand.

  A second later, his body slammed into something softer than the floor. And then he was being pushed back up as Abby slowly unfurled from the crouched position beneath him.

  He grasped the edge of the counter and pulled himself the rest of the way up. A moment later, Abby stood facing him. She was breathing hard. His own heart pounded like a jackhammer in his chest. The ache in his leg was worse than ever. But, even as his brain registered the pain, his mind couldn’t focus on anything except the woman standing in front of him. Their eyes locked, and he caught and held her stare for the beat of half a second.

  “That was close,” she whispered.

  “Too close,” he breathed back.

  His ears strained to hear the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs, but all was silent. Eerily so. Before he could think twice, he pulled Abby toward him and pressed his lips against hers. It was a gesture born of pure instinct, but it felt surprisingly right. Even more shocking was the fact that Abby returned his kiss before pulling back from his embrace.

  “No man left behind,” she mumbled. “C’mon. We’ve got to move.”

  She turned her gaze away from him and resumed her trek through the darkened kitchen. Cal kept his eyes trained forward. Maybe later he could explain why kissing her in that moment had felt so right. But for now, he needed to concentrate. There was no way he was going to make another misstep, even though the ache in his leg had intensified tenfold. Already, a damp warmth was spreading down his leg. But that didn’t matter. He needed to get Abby and the baby as far away from the kidnappers as fast as he possibly could.

  Anxiety pitted in his gut as they made their way past the shelves in the pantry and an open storage bin along the back wall. There were still sounds coming from the rooms upstairs, and with each moment that passed, they were that much closer to being discovered before they made their escape.

  “Found it!” Abby whispered.

  Thank you, God!

  Grasping the handle, he pushed open the door. A thin strand of gray had appeared along the edge of the eastern sky. In less than an hour, the dim shadows of early morning would lighten into day. And there was the dumpster, just as Abby had said. And the snowmobile was only about thirty yards away. Should they climb aboard in the hope of making a quick escape? No, it was too risky. It was almost out of gas, and the sound of the engine would cause Ricky and the others to rush down the stairs. But what was the alternative? Heading for the hut with the ATVs was out of the question. It had been difficult enough to cover the short distance from the lobby to the kitchen.

  He shifted his gaze across the landscape, and dread washed over him. The nearest cabin was at least eighty yards away. The pathway would take them through open terrain. And they would undoubtedly leave footprints in the snow.

  Could he make it without being seen? Probably not at his current pace. But Abby and the baby could. Especially if he provided a distraction.

  “You go ahead,” he whispered. “I’m headed back inside to buy you some time.”

  Abby fixed him with a stubborn glare. “Excuse me? Just what exactly are you suggesting?”

  “It’s the only way, Abby. You have to see that. You have a real shot of making it to safety. But I’m a liability. There’s no chance that I can reach the cabin without being seen. But I can still protect you if you’ll do as I say.”

  Abby quirked her lips. “I don’t think so, Cal. We’ve gotten this far working together, and we still have one or two more moves to put into play. At this point, Ricky and his thugs can’t find us, and for all they know, we could be anywhere at the lodge.” She shifted the baby to one arm and looped the other around Cal’s waist. “Plus, the police will be here before we know it. So, why would we give up now? What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

  There wasn’t time to argue. He threaded his hand around Abby for support. Summoning up a reserve of strength he didn’t know he had, he increased his speed to a slow jog as she matched his pace toward the cabin’s front door.

  “We made it,” he panted as he stepped up onto the porch. “But I left the key ring on the desk. I guess that means we’ll have to do this the hard way.” He pushed open the screen. Then he leaned forward and slammed his body into the lightweight inner door. The wood creaked, but the hinges gave way as the door crashed inward and he landed, sprawled in the middle of the living room floor.

  Ouch. That hurt.

  “Well, that was fun.” He turned his head and offered Abby a cheeky grin.

  But his joy was short-lived as he glanced back out through the screen door.

  Like signposts guiding a hiker along a trail, bright red splotches of blood staining the snow under their footprints had marked their route from the kitchen to the porch.

  * * *

  Abby’s heart twinged in her chest. There was something incredibly appealing about Cal’s crooked smile as he looked up at her from his position on the floor. Except that he was no longer smiling. His jaw was clenched and his lips were curled into an anxious grimace.

  She set the baby down on the braided carpet for a quick check. Good news. After everything they had been through, the little guy seemed as healthy as ever. She laid a hand against his forehead. Even his temperature felt right.

  Satisfied that the baby was warm and comfortable, she turned to her other patient who had pushed himself upright and was slowly making his way toward the door. His hair had twigs in it. His arms were covered in small scratches. His clothes were wet and his pants had a deep red stain where he had been shot. She put up her hand to stop him. “Where are you going? Your stitches are bleeding and torn.”

  “I can’t worry about that. Look.”

  He pointed out toward the open door and the footprints and droplets of blood that marked their path in the snow.

  Abby pulled in a deep breath. This was not good. But it also wasn’t catastrophic. It was likely that the kidnappers were still inside the lodge. They hadn’t expanded their search outside the main building—at least not yet. And the screen entry to the cabin was still intact. From a distance, it would be hard to tell that the inner door was off its hinges, especially if they leaned it back upright. But it was only a matter of time before one of their pursuers noticed their tracks and followed them to the cabin. She needed to find some way to cover their bloody trail with snow.

  “Cal, you can’t go back out there,” she said. Her tone was sharp, but it had the intended effect. Cal turned to face her, his eyes weary and deep creases furrowing his brow.

  “I have to,” he said.

  “No, Cal. Think about it. Your leg is still bleeding. You’ll make it worse.”

  He took a deep breath, and his entire body seemed to shudder. “But we need to do something.”

  “I agree. And the first thing we have to do is have you sit down so I can give your leg a quick check.” She guided him toward the sofa in the center of the cabin. He sat down with a thump, and she bent to examine the wound.

  Cal’s leg didn’t look as bad as she had expected. A thin bubble of relief expanded in her chest. “It looks like you gouged out part of the suture and split about five of the stitches. But the rest ought to hold, at least for the time being.”

  “Great. So, I can go take care of those footprints.” Cal started to stand up.

  “No. You stay here and watch the baby, and I’ll go outside.” She took two steps toward the cabin’s front door.

  “No.” Cal’s voice was a low growl, and there was something in his eyes that stopped her in her tracks.

  “It’s the only way.” She grabbed the three bath towels that were laid out on the counter. “I know that you think I am a civilian and that it is your duty to protect
me. But we need to play to our strengths.” She tossed one of the towels to Cal. “Press this against your leg to try to stop the bleeding.” She tucked the other two towels into the pocket of her sweatshirt and headed toward the door.

  “Abby, wait.”

  She paused and turned to face him.

  “You talk about duty,” he said, “but that’s only part of it. Keeping everyone safe is my job, but that’s not all. After everything that’s happened tonight—” he spread his hands out in a hopeless gesture “—it’s been so much more.”

  “We’ll talk about that later, Cal. But, for now, you need to relax. I’ve got this.” She turned back toward the door.

  “Wait,” Cal called after her a second time, and once more, she turned to face him.

  “What?” she said. “Really, Cal. You don’t need to worry about me. You’re the one who...”

  Her words trailed off as Cal pushed himself upright and limped toward her. As he reached for her hand, there was an intensity in his eyes that caused her heart to pound even harder in her chest.

  “I get it, Abby. I don’t want to argue anymore. Just be careful. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

  She released a long breath and nodded her head. She wanted to hold on to this moment, to freeze time just for a second, but she knew that was impossible. She untwined her fingers from Cal’s hand and headed toward the threshold, willing her eyes not to turn for one last look at the man who had been her constant companion throughout the long night and into the new day. She couldn’t—she wouldn’t—let herself think about the promise that had been in Cal’s eyes, at least not until the kidnappers were in custody and the baby was safe. For now, she had a job to do, and she needed to train her eyes on the path ahead.

  No doubt she stood out against the white backdrop with her dark hair and black hoodie. But if she moved quickly and stayed low, she might be able to avoid detection. With the two towels wrapped around her hands, she patted on a fresh layer of flakes over the first couple of drops along the path, taking time to dust some over their footprints in the snow. The crimson stains disappeared beneath the whiteness as did the shallow depressions of their tracks. She took a step forward and did the same thing again. It was slow going, but gradually she covered the distance to the lodge’s kitchen door.