Mountain Captive (Love Inspired Suspense)

by Sharon Dunn

  The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs sent a surge of terror through her. She heard the door unlocking just as she locked the bathroom door. She opened the bathroom window.

  “Hey. What do you think you’re doing?” Bug Eyes pounded on the bathroom door and jiggled the doorknob.

  She flipped open the window and pushed the screen out.

  A tremendous thud shook the whole room. The man seemed to be slamming his body against the door. She stared down at the dark ground below. Two stories was a ways to jump, but what choice did she have?

  She climbed out of the window and hung on for a moment before letting go, praying for a soft landing. Some barren bushes broke her fall but scratched her up. The man must have given up breaking the door down and was headed down the stairs and outside. She rolled toward the darkness of the bushes that surrounded the house.

  She heard two men shouting at each other. One of them came and stood beneath the porch light. It was the man she’d seen in Lodgepole and then later on the television, George Ignatius.

  Another man, the bug-eyed one who had been in the van, came up to George again. They shouted at each other before resuming their search for her.

  She glanced around. The lights of other houses glowed, the nearest one was maybe a quarter mile away as the crow flies.

  They could get to help, but first she had to find Jude. She ran toward the house, peering inside. She saw a kitchen and living room. Then she came to a room where the curtains were drawn but the window was open. She stuck her head in. It was some sort of rec room with a fireplace, couch and shelf filled with books and games. No one was inside.

  Footsteps pounded off to the side. She glanced around spotting a tarp, which she rolled under just as the footsteps reached the side of the house she was on.

  “She has to be here somewhere,” George said. “Find her.”

  “How do you know she’s not already headed down the hill to get help?”

  “She wouldn’t leave without him.”

  More footsteps. “I think we got a problem. Looks like he’s gotten out too.”

  “Find them. Find them both.” George’s voice filled with rage. “I’ll see if I can spot them headed down the road or anywhere around it.” George lifted a gun and then shoved it in his waistband.

  Lacey lifted the tarp to a view of a pair of white cowboy boots that belonged to Bug Eyes. The man paced.

  The man stopped with the boots facing her. Then took a step toward the tarp. Her breath caught in her throat. Of course, the tarp looked like a good hiding place. There was no way to escape.

  The boots stopped about three feet from the tarp, turned slightly and then Bug Eyes ran off. Something had caught his attention.

  Heart racing, she lifted the tarp. The cold night chilled her. She still had on her winter coat but no hat or gloves. Lacey hurried toward the edge of the property where there was a fence. She circled around one side of the house searching for Jude. She stayed back in the shadows knowing that she might encounter Bug Eyes.

  She came around to the second side of the house. Jude might be hiding in the shadows, as well. How were they ever going to find each other? Maybe the smart thing to do would be to head down the road but not where George would see her. She could get help. But would she get back in time to save Jude? It was too risky. She had to find Jude.

  Still not seeing anything, she ran around to the next side of the house. From this vantage point on the edge of the property, she could see George walking down the road shining his flashlight. He aimed the flashlight in the bushes. Her breath hitched. Had he seen movement? Was Jude down there?

  She’d circled around to three sides of the property and still had not run into Bug Eyes. Maybe he’d gone back inside for some reason.

  Lacey ran around to the fourth side of the house. No Jude and no Bug Eyes. She was facing the back door. She saw movement inside. A man crouching as he walked past the kitchen window in the dimly lit house. She could not tell if it was Jude or the other man. Both men must be inside.

  She stepped into a mudroom area. She heard footsteps in the adjoining room which had to be the kitchen.

  Lacey pressed against the wall, trying to find the courage to step into the dark kitchen and face the danger there.

  TWENTY

  Jude slipped out of the kitchen into the living room. All the lights were off, but the curtains were not drawn like they had been in the rec room. He hurried to hide behind a couch just as he heard footsteps behind him entering the living room.

  “I know you’re in here,” Bug Eyes said.

  Jude pressed against the side of the couch knowing that any noise would give him away. Bug Eyes must have seen Jude through the window when he was upstairs looking for Lacey. Jude had gotten out of the house through the window, but he’d slipped back in to search for Lacey through an unlocked door on the main floor. When he’d looked upstairs for Lacey, he found a room with a broken bathroom door, an open window and the cut rope that had bound Lacey’s hands. Speculating that she must have gotten out too, he hurried downstairs to find her but had encountered Bug Eyes before he could get outside.

  The man switched on the lights.

  Jude braced himself. It was only a matter of seconds before he was found. He listened to the slow footsteps. From where he crouched, he watched the man as he checked behind the curtains. The man still had his gun in his waistband. His white cowboy boots pounded on the wood floor like a funeral dirge.

  Jude crawled to the front of the couch, staying low. He had a straight shot to the door that led into the kitchen. Could he get there before the man pulled his gun and aimed? He doubted that Bug Eyes cared about George not wanting the bodies connected to this rental. It was the only option he had. He took in a breath and prepared to run when the lights in the kitchen flashed on and off.

  Bug Eyes cursed and ran into the kitchen just as the lights were turned out again. Jude heard a muffled thud and then the man yelled. Leaping to his feet, Jude ran into the kitchen. Lacey hit the man with a golf club. The man grabbed the golf club and yanked it out of Lacey’s hand. Jude dove toward the man before he could attack Lacey, balling his hand into a fist and smashing it against the man’s jaw. In response, Bug Eyes swung the golf club and hit Jude in the shoulder. Pain vibrated down Jude’s arm making his fingers tingle.

  Lacey jumped into the fray slapping Bug Eyes on the face and chest. The blows were not strong enough to disable the man, but they served as a distraction. Jude maneuvered around him and reached for his gun. Before he could get it, the man had swung around unleashing the full force of his rage on Jude. Hitting him on the head and in the stomach before pulling his gun and aiming it at Jude.

  The man spoke to Lacey but kept his eyes on Jude. “Take one step closer to me, and he gets a bullet through his chest.”

  Lacey put her hands up.

  “George doesn’t want us to die in this house,” Jude said. “Those are his orders.”

  Bug Eyes took a moment to respond. “I’m tired of his orders.” He tilted his head and pointed the gun at Lacey. “Go and stand by him.”

  The only chink in the armor of George’s plan was that his goons were losing heart. One man had driven off and the other’s enthusiasm for helping George was fading.

  Keeping her arms in the air, she walked across the floor and positioned herself by Jude.

  The man was breathless from the altercation and his face was red. He pulled the phone out of his front shirt pocket, still keeping the gun on them.

  “Phone George and tell him to get back here.” He extended the phone in Lacey’s direction. “It’s the last number I called, listed just as GI.”

  Lacey took the phone and pressed the required buttons. She cleared her throat. “He has us both. You can come back and stop looking.”

  Jude could hear George’s laughter even though he wasn’t on speaker. Onc
e George got back and loaded them in the van, it would be all over for them. Their bodies might not be found for months or maybe never.

  Lacey hung up the phone.

  “Good girl.” Bug Eyes never took his eyes off Jude, probably judging him to be the bigger threat. “Now put the phone back in my pocket and don’t try anything.”

  Lacey did what the man asked. And then stepped back toward Jude. The man indicated the kitchen chairs. “Why don’t you both sit down, turn the chairs so they face me?”

  With the gun pointed at them, they had no choice but to do what he requested.

  They had only minutes before George got back and it would all be over.

  “George has put you through a lot,” Jude said. He knew he couldn’t win the man over, but maybe he could weaken his resolve.

  “He’s paying me extra.”

  “Yes, but is it worth it?” Lacey said. She must have picked up on his game plan. He doubted the man would turn on George, but maybe they could make him let his guard down enough for them to overpower him. “Your partner left, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, he got mad and took off,” Bug Eyes said.

  “What is your name, anyway?” Jude said.

  “Does it matter?” The man lowered the gun a little.

  Jude could tell from the man’s body language that he was softening toward them. All the same, they didn’t have much time.

  “You look tired,” Lacey said. “George is asking a lot of you.”

  The remark made the man’s posture soften even more.

  While the man focused on Lacey, Jude glanced around the room to where the golf club lay. He couldn’t get to it before Bug Eyes pulled the trigger.

  Jude waited for the moment when the man’s gaze rested fully on Lacey. Jude grabbed a chair and swung at the man. Lacey dove for the golf club. The man let go of the gun as he fell to his knees and it slid across the floor out of sight. They heard a door open.

  George would be coming through the mudroom and into the kitchen any second. They’d have to take the other door. The man remained on his knees, conscious but dazed. As they hurried toward the other door, which was actually the front door, Jude heard George step into the kitchen.

  The door they went through looked out on the golf course and several outbuildings which were only silhouettes in the nighttime darkness.

  They ran across the snowy rolling field toward the first building. When he peered inside, he saw that it was a storage area for golf carts. The door was locked.

  They had to find a way to get turned around so they could run to one of the houses and get help. Maybe there were other houses connected to other holes on the golf course, but he could not see any lights that indicated that.

  When he looked out the side of the building closest to the rental house, he saw one man moving toward them on foot. That meant the other man, probably George, must be watching for them to try to connect with the road that led to the other houses.

  “The brochure I saw said that these are vacation rentals that had a golf course and swimming facilities.” Lacey pointed. “That other building must be where the swimming pool is.”

  “We don’t have much choice.” Jude grabbed Lacey’s hand and squeezed it before taking off running.

  The half-melted snow had crusted up and frozen in the low night temperatures. They slid but did not fall down. When Jude glanced over his shoulder, he could see a man drawing closer to them. Bug Eyes ran at a steady pace toward them, shining a flashlight.

  Jude hurried around to the far side of the building hoping to see light that might indicate a house on this side of the building. He saw only a line of trees and more rolling hills where the golf course was spread out.

  Lacey shook the doorknob. “Maybe we can hide if we can find a way in.” The door didn’t budge. “This is a big building. There are two of us and only one of him. Maybe we can take him out before George gets here.”

  Jude cupped a hand on Lacey’s shoulder. “He’s getting closer.”

  She stopped shaking the door and followed him to the side of the building. He crouched along the wall of the brick building. There was a concrete pad connected to part of the facility. They could hear footsteps as Bug Eyes drew near.

  “Let’s split up. You go that way around. Maybe we can catch him.” If they could get one guy out of commission, it would be that much easier to get to help.

  Lacey disappeared into the darkness. Jude turned back around and headed in the direction that he’d heard the footsteps. He pressed his back against the brick building and eased around the corner. Bug Eyes was standing there looking out with his back to Jude. Jude took cautious footsteps, trying to hide beneath the shadows that the eaves on the building provided. The man stepped away from the building but continued to look in the opposite direction from where Jude was. He thought he heard another set of footsteps, faint and barely discernible. Lacey.

  Bug Eyes must have heard them too. He drew his pistol. Jude leaped toward the man and landed on his back, taking him down to the ground. Jude braced the man in place with his body despite his twisting and kicked to get away as he lay on his stomach.

  “Lacey, I got him. Find something to tie him up with.”

  Bug Eyes groaned beneath Jude’s weight.

  “Lacey?”

  Jude looked up hearing more footsteps. Lacey stood over him. “I can’t find anything.”

  “Get his coat off. We’ll use the sleeves to time him up.”

  The man continued to struggle. Lacey ripped fabric and handed pieces to Jude. They tied his feet and gagged him, as well.

  Both of them jumped to their feet. Jude grabbed the man’s gun. It was a different gun than the one he had dropped in the kitchen.

  Headlights glared at them from the road. George was getting desperate if he was taking the van out. Of course, if he mowed them down with it and then got rid of it and their bodies, the evidence left behind would not be substantial.

  They took off running across the golf course which was still covered in snow. George lumbered toward them in the van.

  Though the snow slowed George down, they would be no match for him on foot. They circled back around to the brick building where the pool was.

  They ran around to the far side of the building and pressed against it. The van made a rumbling noise as it made its way across the snow toward them. Then he heard it. Wheels spinning. George had gotten bogged down in the melting snow and mud.

  Jude gripped the gun. “Now’s our chance. I’ll go get him.”

  “I hope he’s not armed,” she said. “I’m going around the other side.”

  Jude crouched and moved along the building until he reached a corner where he could peer out. George had gotten out of the car and was stomping toward the swimming pool building.

  It didn’t look like he was holding a gun.

  Jude listened to the sound of the approaching footsteps, waiting for the right moment.

  The footsteps slowed down. Then stopped.

  Jude’s heart pounded.

  Was George trying to figure out where Jude had gone? Or did he know and was waiting to jump him?

  Taking in a breath Jude angled around the building and lifted the gun. “Hands up, George. It’s over.” George was maybe five feet away.

  “You got me,” George said. But he didn’t raise his hands.

  Jude tensed.

  “But not really. I gave that gun to my associate when he lost his in the kitchen. I happen to know it has no bullets. We were in a hurry. I figured a gun pointed at you would be enough to stop you.”

  Was he bluffing? Jude pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

  Fear pierced Jude’s heart as George lunged toward him, but then crumpled to the ground.

  Lacey stood behind him holding a golf club that she had used to hit George on the head.

&n
bsp; “Where did you find that?”

  “In the outside garbage can by the pool. Someone must have been frustrated with it and tossed it.”

  “Give me the golf club. I’ll watch him. You run over to that stuck van and find something to tie him up with.”

  Lacey returned a moment later. “All I could find were the cords they use to plug things in.”

  George stirred and groaned but didn’t try to sit up.

  Lacey tied George up and helped him into a sitting position.

  “I’m going to need George’s phone to call the police.”

  Lacey searched his coat pockets and made the call. “The police are five minutes away. They picked up that other guy based on the description the farmer gave. He ran a red light. They’ve been looking for us ever since we didn’t make it to the sheriff’s office.”

  Jude leaned close to George. “I want to know. If you wanted to keep your hands clean of the kidnapping, why even be in Montana at all? You might as well tell me. It’s over for you.”

  “The ransom had to be in cash. After Reed took his cut, I needed that money to cover a debt before my wife found out. The snowstorm trapped me there. My wife couldn’t get the ransom to my associate until the storm cleared. I met Dale. I saw how desperate he was for money. I got him to help me.”

  Exhausted, they both slumped down on the ground.

  They sat with their shoulders touching. “I’m not a washed-up cop, you know,” Jude said to George. “I’m a good detective and I’m thinking about going back on the force.”

  “Really?” Lacey said.

  “When I almost died in that avalanche, I realized I needed to start living again. I cut people out of my life. I gave up on the job I loved. It’s like I’ve been treading water for the last ten years.”

  “I know the feeling. That’s not living and it’s not what God wants for anyone. After my family died, I think I didn’t want to risk loving someone ever again,” she said.

  Jude’s hand was resting on his knee. She reached over and placed her hand on top of his. The gesture made him believe that she was feeling the same way he was.