by Harley Tate
“I’m not a cat.”
“And I’m not an idiot.” The man with the gun stepped forward. “Who are you and who are these girls?”
Walter took a step back and held up his hands. It took all his self-control not to charge, gun be damned. “I was just looking for something to steal. That’s all.”
“Just shoot him and be done with it, Silas.” Donny could have been a five-year-old whining for ice cream. “My balls are about to fall off.”
“Get that brown-haired one.” Silas motioned to Madison. “Haul her over here.”
Walter clenched his fists. “I told you, I don’t know them.”
“Then you won’t care what I do to them.” Silas waited while Donny hoisted Madison up and half-dragged her over.
“Prop her up. I want him to get a real good look.”
Donny gripped Madison around the waist and hauled her into a standing position. She sagged against his shoulder and her head lolled back. The sight of his daughter so fragile and unprotected kicked his heart into overdrive.
Silas reached out with his free hand and stroked Madison’s cheek. “She’s a real beauty, this one. Helpful, too. She fixed up my leg when I was about to bleed out all over the back seat. But it turns out her friends did a real bad thing.”
Walter sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, air sawing in and out as he teetered on the brink of losing control. “What’s that?”
Silas reached out and grabbed a handful of Madison’s hair. “Maybe you know the story.” He twisted her hair in his fist and yanked.
Madison moaned.
Walter gave a start. Oh my God. She’s alive. Madison is alive. He fought down the rising emotion. Knowing she was alive changed everything. He had to concentrate and focus on Silas’s words. He had to find a way to save her.
Silas kept talking, twisting Madison’s hair until it pulled at her scalp. “Silver Camaro full of weapons and ammo.” He lifted up Walter’s rifle. “Guns just like this. My father left last spring on a gun run and he never came home.”
Walter reeled.
Could it be? He thought back to the day that he stumbled across Colt in the forest. He’d found them after the car crash, but it didn’t take long for more men to show up looking. And they weren’t just any men, but members of Cunningham’s group. If the man in the Camaro was this bastard’s father, then Silas was a Cunningham, too.
Madison was in much deeper danger than he’d thought.
He tried to play it off. “Seems pretty crazy, if you ask me. The chances of running into your father’s killer out here in the woods.”
Silas must have caught the shock on Walter’s face. He leaned forward, his lips brushing Madison’s cheek.
Anger surged through Walter’s veins and he leaned in. “Stop it.” The words rushed out before Walter could hold them back.
Silas turned to him, a smile on his lips. “Why? I thought she was a stray.”
“She is.” Walter could barely speak. “Doesn’t mean I like you disrespecting women. She looks like a kid.”
“Well, which is she? A woman or a child?” Silas leaned in and took a sniff of Madison’s hair. “Smells like a woman to me.” He leaned down and unzipped her jacket. It fell open to reveal a tight-fitting sweater. He ran his hand down her front, pausing on her chest. “Feels like a woman.”
Walter took a step forward. He would die before that man laid another hand on her. “I told you to stop.”
Silas ran his tongue along the front of his teeth, pushing his lower lip out as he stared at Walter. “So is she your girlfriend or your daughter?”
Walter snapped. The roar that rushed up his throat and burst from his lips sounded more animal than human. He rushed at the man holding Madison, but it was no use. Silas used his massive weight advantage to bust Walter across the head. The butt of the rifle landed hard on Walter’s temple and he slammed into the snow.
His entire face was buried in the icy powder and he spit out a mouthful as he tried to breathe. Silas stepped over and kicked him in the side. Walter rolled over onto his back, clutching his head where the gun made impact.
The whole world spun. Nausea threatened to turn his stomach inside out. He could barely see. His ears rung. He tried to lift his head, but the shooting pain forced him back to the ground. He couldn’t move, let alone stand.
Donny whined again. “Just shoot him, man. This chick’s heavy.”
“Complain again and we’ll have matching bullet wounds.”
Walter rolled over to see Silas motion to the running snowmobile. “There’s a tarp in my saddlebag. Use it to wrap them up, then tie them to the back. They should fit on that rear rack just fine.”
“What about him?”
Silas smiled and turned to Walter. “Don’t worry. I’ve got something in mind.”
With a gun digging into his throbbing temple, Walter managed only limited resistance as Donny tied his hands behind his back and propped him up against the closest tree.
He sat in the snow, slowly regaining his faculties while Silas raided the Jeep and Donny wrapped Madison and Brianna in a tarp.
Every minute that ticked by sharpened Walter’s senses and steeled his resolve. He wasn’t letting them leave. He would die before his daughter ended up at the mercy of the Cunningham clan.
When Donny finished securing the girls to the snowmobile, they looked like a giant burrito that barely fit on the rack. One wrong move and Madison or Brianna would hit the ground or a tree and be dead on impact.
Donny stomped over, chubby fingers wrapped around Walter’s own handgun. “Can I shoot him now?”
Silas climbed up onto the seat of the snowmobile and turned to Donny. “Get that other snowmobile started and head out as soon as you can.”
Donny turned in alarm. “What? You’re leaving without me?”
“Not my fault it took you so long to load this precious cargo.” Silas looked back at the lumpy tarp. “Get your sled running. Wait for it to warm up and then follow me.”
“What about him?”
Silas grinned. “Leave him. He can freeze to death imagining all the fun we’re gonna have tonight.”
Donny’s eyes widened. “Sweet.” He almost licked his lips. “I’ll be right behind you.” He hustled to the snowmobile and turned the key as Silas squeezed the gas. The snowmobile shot forward and Walter’s stomach heaved.
I have to find a way. His head throbbed as he looked at Donny. Way heavier than Walter and armed with at least a handgun, the man posed a serious challenge. But with Silas driving off into the dark, Walter was out of options.
He tugged on the rope holding his hands. It loosened but didn’t come free. While Donny climbed on the snowmobile, Walter rose up onto his knees and pushed his arms down as far as possible. Wiggling back and forth, he managed to slide his tied hands beneath his butt. Falling onto his back, he pulled first one leg and then the other through the loop of his arms.
Sweat coated his face, but he could move and he didn’t have much time. The snowmobile was running. Walter clambered to his feet. It was only him and Donny now and Walter knew who was going to win.
He charged at the big man leaning over the sled and hit him full force in the back. With an oof, Donny slammed into the handlebars. Walter kneed him in the back, one, two, three times, rocking with all his weight before striking again.
Donny twisted around, fumbling with the gun, but Walter wasted no time. He scrambled up onto the seat of the snowmobile and scrabbled for Donny’s head. His arms looped over the man’s face and the rope still tied tight around his wrists jammed against Donny’s neck.
Walter yanked hard enough to pull them both off the sled and into the snow. He tightened his grip on Donny’s neck, sawing the rope into the big man’s flesh. Donny rolled over him, kicking and flailing as Walter crushed his airway.
Fingers clawed at Walter’s hand, digging in and ripping his frozen skin. Walter pulled the rope tighter. “You think you’re going to touch my daughter? That your h
ands would get within an inch of her skin?”
Donny gurgled and Walter rolled him forward. The gun fell into the snow and Walter released his death grip. He slipped the rope off Donny’s neck and the big man gagged and coughed, his face purple from lack of oxygen. Walter dug the gun out of the snow and crawled over to Donny. He jammed the barrel so tight against his forehead, the skin around it turned white.
“Where did Silas go?”
Donny sputtered.
“If you don’t tell me by the time I count to three, I’ll shoot you in the foot. One, two, three.”
Walter whipped the gun down and stabbed the meaty part of Donny’s boot and fired. The guy screamed.
“I’ve got fifteen rounds. When I’m done with your feet and hands, I’ll work my way up.”
Tears streamed out of Donny’s eyes and he tried to speak. “He… took… them…” He erupted in a gurgling cough.
Walter twisted around and shoved the gun against Donny’s other foot. “One.”
“Donner… Lake. We live at the lake.”
“Where exactly?”
“An old motel. Donner Lake Motor Court.”
“What’s your name?”
“D-Donny.”
“Your whole name.”
“Donald Henry Cunningham.”
Walter clamped his jaw shut. It was true. Madison and Brianna were on their way to Cunningham’s camp. The men who ambushed them on the road were part of Cunningham’s crew. It could always be worse, but in the moment, Walter wasn’t sure how.
He lifted his gun off Donny’s boot, took aim, and buried two bullets in his skull.
Chapter Twenty-Four
TRACY
Northwoods Boulevard
3:00 a.m.
“Did you hear that?”
“Sounded like gunshots.”
“A pair.” Tracy pointed toward the forest. “From that direction.”
Peyton crouched low behind a snowmobile turned on its side. “You think we should check it out?”
Tracy clicked off her flashlight and plunged the road into darkness. Without a moon that night, the forest darkened the road to the point of blindness and she blinked, barely able to tell when her eyes were open or closed. She slid over to Peyton, boots kicking up gravel and bits of asphalt as she hid.
A low hum sounded in her right ear and Tracy shook her head. “Is that an engine?”
Peyton’s parka rustled beside her. “Maybe. Too quiet to tell.”
Tracy didn’t like it. They had managed to find the scene of the shootout without too much trouble, but since then, their search had been hopeless. Hours of driving up and down the roadway in Ben’s shot-up F-150 followed by more hours on foot.
Without Colt or Larkin to guide them, it was impossible. Tracks led off in almost every direction from the road. Tracy had followed one set for hours, convinced it would lead them straight to Walter and Madison. It turned out to be a wild goose chase, leading them at last right back to where they started on the road. All they knew was that Walter was on a snowmobile and the girls were in the Jeep. It simply wasn’t enough to go on.
Tracy exhaled and listened to the mechanical hum. “I think it’s coming our way.” She shifted her weight on her feet and reached for a shotgun hanging from a strap across her body. “We should be ready. If that’s one of the men from the ambush coming back, we need to catch him and find out where they’re from.”
She steadied herself, gripping the shotgun tight in her thin gloves, waiting. The hum turned into a groan and grunt of an engine. Moments later, a single headlight pierced the tree line. Tracy held her breath.
The snowmobile headed for the road, headlight wobbling this way and that.
“I don’t think that’s one of the men.” Peyton’s voice was full of doubt. “He doesn’t look like a good driver.”
Tracy pressed her lips together. She refused to let the hope pawing at her insides in. She couldn’t risk the disappointment if the driver heading their way wasn’t Walter.
At last, the vehicle broke through the trees, headlight blinding, as it turned. It shimmied in the roughed-up snow beside the road, bouncing over tracks from the skirmish. As the driver tried to accelerate toward the north and the rising terrain, the snowmobile bucked.
One ski came off the ground. The driver leaned the wrong way and as Tracy and Peyton watched, the whole sled flipped over and landed in the snow. The tread on the back kept spinning, flinging bits of ice into the air.
“Come on,” Tracy whispered to Peyton as she eased into the road. “Let’s get a better look.”
Peyton followed a few steps behind as Tracy made her way closer and closer to the upended vehicle. As she cleared the back end, a man emerged from the snow. He shut off the snowmobile and cursed himself.
Tracy recognized the voice. “Walter? Is that you?”
The man spun around and lifted a pair of glasses off his eyes. “Tracy?”
She ran for him, high stepping through the snow, until she collided with his sturdy frame. “Thank God you’re all right.” She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed.
“I won’t be much longer if you crush my lungs.”
Tracy let Walter go and laughed. “Sorry.” She peered in the direction that he came. “Tell me you found our daughter. Tell me the girls are all right.”
Walter held out a hand. Even in the stratified light from the snowmobile, Tracy could see him shaking.
Tracy’s insides seized. “What is it? What’s happened?”
Peyton stomped up beside Tracy. “Are they dead?”
Walter shook his head. “No. They’re alive and I know where they’ve been taken.”
Tracy clutched at her middle. “Taken? By whom?”
“The Cunninghams. That’s who ambushed us in the road.”
“What?” Tracy palmed her forehead and looked out at the forest. The Cliftons had run into a few of Cunningham’s men while scavenging in the early days before Tracy and her family arrived. They had talked about how dangerous and brutal they were and convinced everyone to stay far, far away.
Colt, Larkin, and Dani were the only ones to even encounter some of the clan, and it had been months ago. She couldn’t believe the news. If what the Cliftons had said about Cunningham was true, Madison and Brianna were in grave danger.
She turned back to her husband. “Was it Cunningham who ambushed you on the road?”
“I’m afraid so. We took out a good number of his men, but the rest are all living in an old motel on the shores of Donner Lake. I know where it is. It’s where they’ve taken the girls.”
“What are they going to do to them?” Peyton voiced the question Tracy didn’t dare consider.
“Nothing good.”
“Then we need to go. We can hit them before they even know we’re coming.”
“It’s not that simple. You remember all the guns Dani recovered from that car. If we show up, just the three of us, we’ll not only get ourselves killed, but we’ll be signing Madison and Brianna’s death warrants.”
Peyton agreed. “No one else knows where they are. If something happens to us, they’ll be on their own.”
“Then go home and tell everyone, but I’m not waiting. I have to save my daughter.” Tracy took a step toward the truck, but Walter reached out and grabbed her arm.
“We only have one chance to save them, Tracy.” He closed the distance between them. “We have to do this the smart way.”
Tracy sobbed. Her whole body urged her to go, to chase down whoever took her only child and make them pay. But her husband was right. She would only get them both killed. “We have to be fast, Walter. Every minute she’s out there…”
“I know.” He clutched her tight, his lips brushing against her ear. Walter dropped his voice so only Tracy could hear. “I will do whatever it takes to get them back. You have my word.”
She pulled away. “Let’s go. We need to plan.”
Together, Tracy, Peyton, and Walter piled into the F-150 and Tracy
punched the gas. It would take at least half an hour if not more to make it back to the Cliftons’ farm and a few hours to prepare.
She checked her watch. They wouldn’t be ready until close to sunrise. She prayed they wouldn’t be too late.
Right on her internal schedule, Tracy whipped the F-150 into the Cliftons’ farm just as the her watch turned to 4:00. She shoved the truck into park and blasted the horn three times.
Colt and Dani were the first to emerge, followed by Larkin and Brianna’s parents. They all stood on the porches to the cabins, waiting.
Tracy hurried to meet them. “Madison and Brianna have been kidnapped.”
Anne covered her mouth with her hand. Barry’s cheeks flushed in anger. “Who took them?”
Walter stopped beside Tracy. “The Cunninghams. That’s who ambushed us with the roadblock.”
Barry’s face slipped from red to white in a matter of seconds. “Then it’s too late. They’ll be dead already.”
“Don’t say that.” Tracy turned to Barry. “We’re going to rescue them.”
“How?” Anne looked up at her husband, echoing his fear. “There’s fifty of them at least, all built like tanks and stockpiled with weapons. We even step foot near the lake and we’re asking to get strung up by our feet and left for the bears. We almost died when we ran into a group of them in Truckee.”
Tracy slammed a fist into her palm. “We are going to get them back.”
“We need all the guns and ammo we can carry and more besides.” Larkin motioned to Peyton. “Help me get everything together.” The two set off for the weapons shed and Tracy exhaled in relief.
Colt nodded. “We’ll need diversions, too. Dani and I can get started making up some smoke bombs. We can do what we did in Eugene and flush them out.” They took off, leaving Tracy and Walter and the Cliftons alone.
Walter reached for Tracy’s hand and gave it a squeeze before turning to Anne and Barry. “I know this is scary, but Colt, Larkin, and I are no stranger to combat. We can do this. We can get our daughters back.”
Barry nodded, but his expression was still grim. “We’ll go together. All of us.”
