The Way Back to You

by Sharon Sala

  When he saw the door under the portico was ajar, he got out in a panic, running up the steps and into the house, calling her name.

  He found broken glass and blood all over the hall and followed the trail of blood into the kitchen, shouting her name as he ran. But when he reached the kitchen and saw more evidence of a struggle, and the back door open as well, he called 911 and started praying. All he kept thinking was that he couldn’t lose her, too.

  Within three minutes, the yard was full of police cars, and Chief Pittman was getting the particulars on the make and model of car Melissa had.

  “It’s a blue 2019 Chevy Equinox. I just put the new tag on her car. The number is CYG 777,” Sully said.

  Chief Pittman used his cell phone to call dispatch and told Avery to broadcast the info out to all law enforcement in the area, including notifying the Georgia State Police of Slade’s last location, then started organizing officers, leaving one behind on duty in town.

  “What are you doing?” Sully asked.

  “We have reason to believe he’s on his way up to the family homestead where he was raised. He has one relative still living, and we think that’s where he’ll go for food and water.”

  “And then where?” Sully asked.

  “Into the woods. It’s hard to trail anyone in there, and almost impossible to see them from the air.”

  “But he can’t take a hostage and try to outrun the law. What will he do with her?”

  “It’s hard to say. That’s why we need to catch him,” Lon said.

  “I want to go with you,” Sully said.

  “You can’t. Stay put. I’ll keep you updated.”

  Sully watched them pulling out and then ran. Melissa’s life was in danger, and he wasn’t waiting. He jumped in his car and followed them.

  Chapter 13

  Melissa regained consciousness in the dark. Her head and jaw were throbbing as she reached for her face, then realized her hands were tied, and so were her feet.

  I’ve been taken hostage!

  The horror was real, and with no idea of the kidnapper’s intent or destination, she had to get free. She lifted her wrists to her face and began trying to untie the knots, using her teeth to bite and pull. As she did, she smelled the same fabric softener that she used in her laundry and realized he’d tied her up with her own dish towels.

  Ignoring the pain in her jaw, she kept biting and pulling on the knot as the wild ride continued. She was just beginning to make headway when he took a sharp turn to the right. It threw her against the inside of the trunk, bumping her head and shoulder. She groaned beneath her breath. She didn’t want him to know she was awake for fear of what he’d do, but she could tell by the sound of the tires that he’d turned off the highway onto another kind of paved surface—likely blacktop.

  The change in direction was frightening. She began pulling harder, tugging and tugging on the knots, afraid of what might happen to her when he reached his destination, afraid she’d never see Sully again. She couldn’t die. Not now. It had taken her such a long time to find happiness again. She wouldn’t let herself believe it was going to end like this.

  Melissa had the first knot untied before she realized it, and when she did, she began pulling harder, loosening the knots enough that she could finally yank the bindings away from her wrists.

  Now her hands were free, but she still needed to untie her feet. Her knees were bent in a kneeling position, with her feet behind her. The ride was getting rougher, and she was constantly being bounced around as she pulled her knees up to her chin and began working on the knots in that fabric. The car was slipping and fishtailing, which made her remember last night’s rain. He was driving in mud, which had slowed him down, but it was also a rougher ride.

  One minute passed, and then another, and another, and sweat was running into her eyes and down the back of her neck. Then, like before, when she got the first knot untied around her ankles, it was easier to undo the other.

  Once her hands and feet were free, she didn’t feel so helpless. She began feeling around inside the trunk for anything she could use as a weapon and thought of the doughnut spare beneath the carpeting on which she was lying, and the funky little jack and lug wrench that went with it.

  She was reaching for the edge of the carpeting when the car hit a pothole. She reached out to brace herself, desperate to grab onto anything to keep from being bounced up against the trunk lid again.

  After that big bounce, the driver stomped the accelerator. She could hear mud flying up beneath the fenders and grimaced. The ride was getting so rough that it was making her feel nauseous. She was searching for something to hold onto when she felt some kind of lever. Without thinking what it might be, she grabbed onto it with all her strength, bracing for the next jolt.

  One second the car was moving, and the next it hit a hole so deep that it momentarily stopped. The sudden stop threw Melissa forward. The lever she was holding onto popped the trunk lid. One second she was in darkness, and the next she was looking at trees and blue sky. She’d been holding onto the safety release, and now she was free!

  She scrambled up onto her knees and had one leg out of the vehicle when he stomped the gas again, sending mud flying out into the air behind him. The lurch was nothing short of a launch that ejected Melissa out of the trunk. The trunk lid slammed shut as the driver kept going, and so did Melissa. She landed hard on the edge of the road. When she tried to get up, she lost her balance and fell backward onto a steep slope that led to the hollow below. Her descent was out of her control, and she picked up speed as she continued to slide. She began screaming and grabbing for bushes and trees, reaching for anything that would stop her fall, but the slope was as slick as the road above, and she couldn’t get traction.

  She saw a sapling just below her that had grown up between two larger trees. If she could just catch it, it might save her. She stiffened her leg, and when her left foot hit one of the big trees, it slowed her down enough to make a grab for the sapling.

  She caught it with both hands, but the pain that shot through her shoulders as it yanked her to a halt made her feel as though her arms were being pulled out of their sockets. The good news was she wasn’t sliding anymore.

  Still clutching the sapling, Melissa lay there trying to catch her breath and, in the quiet, heard sirens in the distance. The police! Sully had come home. He knew she’d been taken, and somehow they knew where the man was going. She had to get back to the road or they’d never see her, and the only way to make that happen was to crawl.

  “Help me, Lord,” she whispered, and managed to roll over onto her belly without sliding farther down.

  Gritting her teeth against the pain in her shoulders, Melissa pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and started making her way back up the slope, grabbing at anything she could to anchor her as she crawled.

  She didn’t know she was crying, or that her body was covered in countless bleeding scratches. She was alive, which was all that mattered.

  * * *

  Hoover had seen the trunk lid fly up, but thought it was from the impact of hitting the pothole. When he took off and it slammed back down, he just kept driving. He knew the cops weren’t far behind because he was beginning to hear the faint sound of sirens, but he was almost to Aunt Sugar’s house. When he saw the curve in the road, he breathed a sigh of relief. Home was just beyond it.

  He saw the rooftop as he took the curve, but when he drove up into the yard and saw Aunt Sugar sitting out on her porch, he frowned. She looked fit to be tied, which meant they’d told her he was coming. So what! She could get glad in the same shoes she got mad in.

  Hoover stomped the brakes and then killed the engine. He couldn’t drive any farther, but he had another card to play. His hostage. Aunt Sugar would surely help him if he promised to let the woman go.

  Sugar stood up as he got out of the car, and the swagge
r in his steps ended when he saw her aiming a shotgun at him.

  “You don’t come a step closer, Hoover Slade. You have brought shame once again to my name, and I’m done with you and your worthless brother. You git, or I swear to God, I’ll shoot you where you stand and those cops I hear coming can have what’s left of you.”

  Hoover aimed the remote at the car without looking behind him. When he heard the trunk lid pop up, he started backing up.

  “You might think again,” he said, but when he backed into the car and turned around and saw the trunk was empty, he let out a cry of disbelief. “What the f—”

  Sugar fired a shot over his head. “Shut your filthy mouth and run, boy. Run like you never ran before, or sit down and wait for the cops. You choose.”

  Hoover shook a fist at her, cursing her and the ground she stood on, but when she aimed the shotgun straight at him, he turned and ran—straight toward the trees just beyond the barn and down to the creek, where he jumped into the swift flow of runoff and kept moving upward.

  Sugar sat down and laid the shotgun back at her feet, then set her jaw, glaring down the road and waiting for her peaceful little home to be invaded by the law. She’d never be able to hold her head up in church again.

  * * *

  Melissa was crawling as fast as she could, but was still a good fifty feet from the top when she heard the first police car fly past, and then another, and now she was sobbing, trying to catch them before they were all gone.

  Another flew past, and she was crying “stop, please stop,” even though she knew it was futile. She couldn’t even hear herself over the sound of the sirens.

  Then she heard a fourth car coming. She was less than ten feet from the top when she slipped. She dug her toes into the hill and caught the slide, and then had to regain the ground she’d lost, but the car was already gone. When the fifth car sped past and the sirens began to fade, she didn’t quit.

  There’ll be one more. There will be one more.

  All of a sudden, she felt the flat surface of the road beneath her fingers and looked up. She’d made it! She toed her feet into the ground again and pushed herself up a few more inches, but then stopped. If she moved her feet again, she’d slide back. Without anything to hang onto to pull herself the rest of the way up, she put her head down and started praying three words over and over again.

  “Help me, God. Help me, God.”

  A minute passed, and then another, and the sweat on her body was making the scratches sting and burn. When she heard another car coming up the slope without a siren, she started shouting and waving her hand. She knew they couldn’t see her body, but maybe they’d hear her. Maybe they’d see her waving. It was all she could do to help herself.

  * * *

  Without knowing the twists and turns of the road like the locals, Sully had been forced to back off the eighty miles an hour he’d been running and was praying this road only went one way. If the police took a turn, he’d lose them. Leaving the blacktop and having to driving in the muddy ruts of the cars ahead of him slowed him down even more. He’d already hit one pothole, and now he knew to watch for them so he didn’t blow a tire.

  He had just started up another slope and was looking at the road ahead of him when he saw movement at the side of the road. He shifted his gaze and then couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Just a hand and part of someone’s arm up in the air, and they were waving for help! The thought went through his mind that maybe Slade had dumped her off the side of the hill. He hit the brakes, then killed the engine, and the minute he got out of the car, he heard her voice.

  “Melissa!” he shouted and ran toward the edge of the road, where he saw the precarious position she was in, then dropped down on his belly and grabbed her by the wrist. “I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you.”

  Melissa looked up, straight into the horrified look in his eyes.

  “You came! I prayed for help, and God sent you! I can’t climb any farther without sliding back down.”

  “You don’t have to do anything more. I’ve got you. Give me your other hand,” he said, and when she turned loose and reached up, he caught her other wrist.

  Slowly, slowly, he began scooting backwards across the muddy ground and pulling her up until she was on the road. Then he stood and picked her up in his arms.

  “Oh, honey…baby… What did he do to you? Let me get you in the car.”

  She locked her arms around his neck as he carried her back to the car. The moment the door was open, she crawled inside on her own, shaking so hard her teeth were chattering.

  “How can I feel cold when I’m bathed in sweat?” she asked.

  “You’re going into shock,” Sully said as he buckled her in, then got a blanket from the trunk of his car, reclined the seat a little, and covered her up. “Did he throw you out of the car?”

  “No. I was in the trunk. I got myself untied, but he was going so fast I didn’t know what to do. Then he hit a big hole and the trunk lid popped up. I was about to climb out when he gunned the engine to get out of the hole. It threw me out of the trunk, and I rolled off the road and then fell over the edge. I’m caked with mud. Your car is going to be a mess.”

  “To hell with messes, and you’re sitting on leather seats. Everything will wash, including us,” Sully said.

  He reached for the pocket on the back of her seat and grabbed a bottle of water and opened it, then remembered how raw and scratched her hands were.

  “I’ll hold it, you drink,” he said, and when he put it to her lips, she drank thirstily.

  “Thank you,” she said, and then started to cry again. “I can’t seem to stop.”

  “You cry all you want. I need to let the Chief know I have you, and then we’re going to the ER.”

  Melissa laid her head back and closed her eyes as Sully got in the car and made the call.

  Chief Pittman saw the caller ID and groaned. They’d just arrived at Sugar Slade’s house and discovered the stolen car empty and no sign of Melissa. Sugar told them Hoover had arrived here without her, and that’s all she knew. Now Lon and his men were waiting for the county sheriff and the Georgia State Police to show. He’d come after Melissa. The search for Slade was theirs. He didn’t know what the hell he was going to say to Sully when he answered.

  “Hello.”

  “Chief, I’ve got Melissa. It’s a bit of a story, but she’s somewhat mobile. I’m taking her to the ER.”

  “Thank God,” Lon said. “When we got here and found an empty trunk, we were sick. Take care. We’ll catch up with you later.”

  And while Sully was turning around to head back down the road, the chief was giving everyone the good news.

  * * *

  The news was spreading around Blessings that Slade had taken Melissa Dean’s car, and her with it. It was Ruby’s kidnapping all over again, except that Ruby had been missing for hours. Before the people could work themselves up into organizing a prayer vigil for Melissa, Sully carried her into the ER.

  Their arrival caused something of a stir because everyone knew what had happened. The nurses had her in an examining room within moments, and Dr. Quick was right behind them. They began questioning her regarding injuries and the locations of pain, and when they started to cut her clothes away, they asked Sully to leave.

  Melissa stopped them.

  “He stays. It’s nothing he hasn’t already seen, and this is the second time he’s saved my life. I need to see his face.” Then she choked on the words, looking at him with tears in her eyes. “I didn’t think I would see him again.”

  Sully didn’t budge, nor did he break his gaze. He could tell by the changing expressions on her face when they touched something that hurt. When they wheeled in a portable X-ray unit and focused on her head, ribs, and shoulders, he held his breath.

  Once the nurses had cleaned up all her scratches and treated them w
ith antiseptic wash, they put her in a hospital gown, then covered her with blankets straight out of the warmer.

  “As soon as we get pictures back from X-ray, Dr. Quick will be back in to talk to you.”

  Melissa watched them leave, and the moment they were out of sight, Sully took off his T-shirt and turned it wrong-side out and then put it on backwards. At least the front of his shirt was presentable. His jeans, not so much.

  He hurried to her side, leaned over and kissed her forehead, and then brushed a soft kiss across her lips.

  “Giving you something better to think about,” he said.

  Melissa took a shuddering breath as he started talking.

  “Fred told me about the escapee when I went to the hardware store. I left immediately, trying to call you from the car, but there was no answer. I kept calling you all the way home. And then your car was gone, and the door was open. I’ve never been so scared. I walked in to broken glass and a trail of blood from the hall to the kitchen. I didn’t know what I would find. I knew he’d taken your car, and then the blood… Lord. Thank God you’re alive.”

  “That was his blood,” Melissa said. “I was taking out the garbage when I caught him trying to break into my car. He saw me and started chasing me. I ran for the back door, but I wasn’t fast enough to lock him out. He tackled me in the kitchen. We fought. I broke the coffeepot on his elbow. I was aiming for his head. He caught me again in the foyer. I scratched my fingernails down the side of his face. That’s when he knocked me out.” Her chin quivered as she took a breath. “I thought I was going to die. I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

  “Ah, baby, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I love you so much. Just know that you’re safe now. That man is on the run up in the hills, likely with the state police and a bunch of dogs on his trail.”

  “I love you, too. I’m so tired,” she mumbled, and then closed her eyes.

  Sully sat on the edge of her bed with her hand in his, and when she began crying in her sleep, he knew she was remembering the pain and the fear.