by B. J Daniels
The water had risen to the point where she could tell from the sound that there wasn’t that much room above their heads.
“He’s going to save us,” she told Geneva, who was beginning to get hysterical again. “You have to believe me. You have to hang on.”
“I don’t know that I can. I’m so tired,” she cried and sputtered as her head went under. JJ grabbed hold of her and pulled her to the surface.
“Fight!” she yelled at the young woman. “You have to fight.”
But she could feel that Geneva didn’t have much fight left in her.
* * *
THORN PULLED HIMSELF up the last few stones. He could see where there used to be a catwalk across to the top of the tank. But the boards had rotted away over the years, leaving only a little of the original framework.
He considered trying it, feeling time running out, but decided not to trust it. His only other option was to leap across the expanse and grab hold of the edge of the cap on top of the tank. If he missed it...
Missing it wasn’t an option, he told himself as he considered the drop to the ground. There was no way to get a run at it as he teetered on the edge of the stone building, which like the rest of the place was eroding. He was able to take one step back, and no longer hesitating, he jumped.
For a moment, he thought he’d misjudged the distance. One foot landed on the rounded top of the tank and began to slide, the other dangling in midair. He scrambled, like he’d never scrambled before. His right hand found purchase, locking down on the rusted edge of the tank’s cap.
He held on for a moment to catch this breath before he pushed with his one foot on the tank and managed to grip the edge of the cap with his other hand and pull himself to the apex. The top of the tank was slightly flattened and large enough that he could stand. He worked to open the cover, feeling time running out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
WHEN THE LID on the top of the tank opened, JJ heard the sound and looked up. For a moment she was shocked at how close the water had already risen. She saw stars in the night sky and heard Thorn’s voice and began to cry. She’d known that if anyone could rescue them, it would be him. And yet, like Geneva, she had been losing hope.
“How do we get out?” Geneva cried, swimming over to look up.
“I think I can reach you,” Thorn yelled as JJ heard him sprawled on the top and extend his arm into the tank.
“You go first,” JJ said to Geneva, who reached up. Thorn clasp her arm and pulled as Geneva kicked her feet frantically.
“Easy,” Thorn told her as he pulled her up.
JJ trod water, feeling the water and exhaustion taking its toll. And then Thorn was reaching for her. The moment he grabbed her arm, she knew she was going to be all right. He pulled her up and into the starry night, as in the distance she heard the sound of sirens over Geneva’s crying.
She sat on the edge of the tank’s opening along with Geneva and Thorn, the three holding on to each other, as the rising water in the tank spilled over. JJ breathed in the summer night and leaned into Thorn’s strong body. She’d never been so glad to be alive.
* * *
AS THE JUDGE pocketed his phone, he turned to the others waiting anxiously for the news. “Thorn found JJ and Geneva. They’re both alive and safe.”
Franklin looked as if he was about to collapse with relief. He leaned on the back of a chair as if to catch his breath.
“What about the kidnappers?” Helen asked.
“One dead, another taken into custody,” WT said. “There is a third, but I’m sure they’ll find him. Thorn had to call the police because the three of them had to be rescued from the top of a water tank.”
“Is Zac the deceased?” Franklin asked.
WT nodded.
Helen sighed, looking relieved. “Thank God it’s over, then,” she said, before adding, “I could use a drink. How about the rest of you?”
“What about the money?” Curtis asked.
The judge shook his head. “I don’t know. It could be gone.”
“I don’t give a damn about the money,” Franklin said as he followed Helen to the bar. “I just didn’t want that bastard Zac getting it.”
“I think you should be ready for the fallout,” WT said as he waved off a drink. “The police will have all kinds of questions. I’m sure the FBI will be involved. They won’t be happy that we didn’t call them right away.”
“I just want to see my granddaughter,” Franklin said, his voice breaking. “Until I see her...” He took a gulp of the drink Helen had made him and then cleared his throat. “Then I’ll deal with whatever I have to.”
WT knew his friend was strong and could handle what he had to know was coming with the conclusion of this affair. He just wasn’t sure Franklin realized how bad it would get before it was truly over.
“Will you be needing me?” Curtis asked as he picked up his briefcase.
Franklin nodded. “Please stay a little longer. There are a few things I need you to take care of. Let’s talk in my office.”
“You’re going to just let him leave?” Helen asked WT as Curtis left the room and Franklin followed him down to the hall.
“I’ve verified that he was where he said he was during the ransom drop,” WT said. “He wasn’t one of the kidnappers, Helen.”
She raised a brow. “Well, you know best.” She let out a laugh, before adding, “Judge.” She took a sip of her drink, studying him over the rim of her glass, her blue eyes dark with emotion.
“I trust Curtis,” Franklin said, weighing in as he came back into the room and heard the conversation. He also must have felt the tension between them. “I never trusted Zac.” He walked to the window and looked out. “Shouldn’t they be here by now?”
“I think that’s them now,” WT said as he saw the police vehicles pull up along with Thorn on his motorcycle. JJ and Geneva climbed out of the back of a police car. “Let me talk to law enforcement. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.” He went to the door as Geneva and JJ came up the walk. They were both soaked to the skin. “Helen, can you find some clothing for these women?” he asked over his shoulder as he went out to speak with the police officers and then Thorn.
* * *
DAYLIGHT CREPT THROUGH the large window that looked out over the lake. JJ realized she’d lost track of time. She felt exhausted, empty and cold inside, as if everything that had happened to her had finally hit home. She was still shivering after the hot shower and the change of clothing even though she was standing in front of the fireplace. It felt as if someone had been trying to kill her for days—and almost had. Just the thought of being in that tank... She shuddered and Thorn stepped to her to put his arm around her.
Like her, he’d been given dry clothing to wear. She suspected it was Franklin’s given the look of it—golf shorts and matching T-shirt. JJ again found herself wearing some of Geneva’s clothing that apparently she’d left at her grandfather’s house for when she visited. After all, he had a large swimming pool, hot tub and sauna out back. JJ had never seen such a huge place. It was like a castle. She wondered if he got lonely here, all by himself except for the staff.
Franklin had been pacing the floor since hearing from Thorn and JJ about what had happened. After wrapping his granddaughter in his arms, rocking back and forth with her for a few minutes, Helen had taken a sobbing Geneva to one of the guest bathrooms so she could also get a shower and change into dry clothing.
Now as Geneva came into the living room with Helen following her, she was no longer crying. She’d fixed her hair and even applied makeup, JJ saw. The young woman was nothing if not resilient, she thought.
“We need to talk,” Franklin said. “Please sit down. We don’t have much time.” Geneva looked as if she might argue, but something in his tone must have warned her not to. She sat on the edge of a chair as if not planning to stay long
.
While Geneva had been showering and changing, the judge had taken Franklin aside to talk to him. When the two had returned to the living room, JJ had seen that Franklin had been upset.
“I need to hear your side of the story, Geneva,” her grandfather said now. “But—” He stopped her before she began to speak. “Do not lie. I need the truth if I am going to be able to help you.”
Geneva looked around the room for a moment as if not wanting to say anything in front of the others gathered there.
“All these people helped save you,” Franklin said, cutting her off as if seeing where her thoughts had been headed. “We all need to hear it.”
The young woman took a breath and let it out slowly. “None of this is my fault.”
“I said don’t lie. Are you telling me you had nothing to do with the kidnapping?” her grandfather demanded. “Geneva, you’re in enough trouble. Lying right now would be a very bad mistake.”
“I was almost killed!” she cried.
Franklin’s voice remained calm. “I need to know what part you played in the kidnapping, Geneva. I can’t keep the police at bay much longer.”
Geneva glanced toward the window as if in surprise that they hadn’t left. JJ realized that the young woman had no idea how much trouble she was in.
“It started as a joke. I wasn’t serious.” Geneva began to cry. Her grandfather handed her a tissue and waited. Slowly she raised her head, wiped her eyes and lifted her chin indignantly. “I was angry. I didn’t feel you were being fair with me. I jokingly suggested kidnapping myself.”
“How did it go from a joke to so many people dying?” Franklin asked, sounding tired and old and brokenhearted.
Geneva looked away for a moment, licked her lips and sighed. “Zac asked me how I would do it. I had no idea but the more we talked about it, a plan kind of emerged.” She looked at her grandfather. “I knew you wouldn’t want me to ever be in danger, so I had this idea.” Giving JJ a sheepish look, she said, “I never dreamed anything would actually happen to her.”
“Other than being abducted by force from your house?” her grandfather said in obvious disgust. “How was it you thought no one would get hurt?” Geneva shook her head and began to cry again.
“Whose idea was it to steal the plane?” the judge asked.
“Zac said the thing to do would be to get the kidnappers and the pretend me far away from here until we picked up the money. Then they could come back, but by then we would be long gone with the money. It was Zac’s idea to ask for ten million. I would have been happy with five.”
“How frugal of you,” her grandfather said.
“No one was supposed to get hurt,” she said plaintively.
“Whose idea was it to leave your phone in your bedroom?” JJ asked.
“Mine,” Geneva said, brightening. “I knew my grandfather had put a tracking device on it. So I always left it behind when I didn’t want him to know where I’d gone.” She smiled and shrugged.
“So it was your idea to have the kidnappers pick it up when they took JJ?” Thorn asked.
Geneva frowned. “Did they?” She looked confused. “I guess I never thought about it. Why would they do that? I mean, then my grandfather would know where they went.”
“So you didn’t know the plane was supposed to crash with your phone on board?”
Her eyes widened. “No, I swear. Zac promised that no one would get hurt. It was an accident. He said it was an accident. He was really upset about it.”
“No, Geneva,” Franklin said. “It wasn’t an accident. He was really upset because one of the kidnappers survived—and so did your double.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” she cried.
“We believe the plane was disabled and the pilot given the wrong coordinates to the airstrip, and it crashed in the mountains. Everyone—including what was thought to be you—was to die,” the judge said. “There were explosives on board.”
She was shaking her head. “That’s crazy. It doesn’t make any sense. Eventually, someone would realize it wasn’t me in that plane.”
“But by then, you and Zac would have the ten million dollars and have disappeared. Wasn’t that the plan?” Thorn asked.
“Zac said they would come back safely,” Geneva said. “We never wanted anyone to be hurt otherwise I would never have gone along with it.”
“You weren’t aware of the phone calls Zac made to me demanding the ransom money even after the plane crash?” her grandfather challenged.
“Well, yes, but...” She looked around the room as if hoping to find someone who would help her and, finding none, looked at the floor.
“What about the man who fell off the balcony at the house you rented on the lake?” Thorn asked.
“The man was threatening Zac!” she cried. “They got in an argument and the man fell. I didn’t see it, but Zac told me about it.”
“The man was the one of the kidnappers who survived the plane crash,” the judge said. “They argued because John Baker had figured out that Zac had set him up, planning for him to die when the plane went down—if not in the explosion.”
Geneva’s expression crumpled. “But I didn’t know any of this. I was a victim too.”
“Why does Ridge Brandemiller think you owe him money?” Thorn asked.
The young woman avoided her grandfather’s gaze. “I haven’t paid him yet for building my house. It wasn’t my fault. When my allowance got cut... Ridge has been a real jerk, threatening me.”
“Is that why you told Zac about the Brandemiller plane?” Thorn asked. “You did know about the plane.”
Geneva squirmed on the edge of her seat. “I’d been up in Ridge’s plane when we were dating—”
“Dating? The man is married,” Franklin said. “Not to mention old enough to be your father.”
She waved that off. “Zac was trying to figure out a way to get his friends and the woman they kidnapped—”
“JJ,” Thorn said. “The woman who helped save your life.”
Geneva’s eyes filled with tears again. “Why are you all so angry with me? I almost died. Zac never planned to take me with him. All he wanted was the money.” She bit her lower lip for a moment. “He used me.”
“Well, you got that part right,” her grandfather said.
“But now it’s over,” she said brightly as she wiped at her tears.
“Geneva, it’s far from over,” Franklin said. “You are facing criminal charges. People have died because of you. Others have risked their lives to find you. You’d be dead now if it wasn’t for these people.”
She swallowed. “Criminal charges? But I didn’t really do anything.”
Her grandfather sighed. “You were part of a kidnapping scheme. At any point until almost the end, you could have stopped it.”
“But by then—”
“There are no excuses for what you’ve done,” Franklin said, getting to his feet.
“We have lawyers,” Geneva cried. She looked to Helen. “You can get me out of this. Isn’t that why you’re paid so much?”
“Not nearly enough,” Helen said as she put down her drink glass. “I wasn’t going to tell your grandfather until later, but now is as good a time as any. I quit. I’m going to let you handle this from here on out without my help.”
Geneva mugged a face as Helen walked out. “You have other lawyers,” she said to her grandfather. “Probably better lawyers than her. You can’t let your only granddaughter go to jail.”
“I’m afraid it is worse than jail,” he said. “You’re looking at prison.”
“Prison?” she cried. “No.” She laughed, shaking her head. “I know you’re angry and I don’t blame you, really. You must have been worried about me. But you wouldn’t let me go to prison.”
“It won’t be up to me, Geneva.”
“But I was...manipulated.” When she saw she was getting nowhere, she said, “Fine. I’ll throw myself on the mercy of the court. No judge or jury can look at me and think I belong in jail, let alone prison.”
Silence filled the room.
She looked around at everyone for a moment, before her expression turned sour, marring her pretty young face as she turned on JJ. “What about her? She got herself kidnapped. She was in my house. She had no right to—”
“Shut up, Geneva,” her grandfather snapped. “I’ve never struck you. I’d like to leave it that way. But if you say one more word against this woman...”
The judge stood. “I think we’re done here.” He turned to Franklin. “The police are outside, and the FBI has been called. They will be here soon. With Helen gone—”
“I’ll take care of everything,” he said, suddenly looking his age. Geneva looked shell-shocked, as if this couldn’t be happening to her. JJ knew the feeling.
As she walked out with the judge and Thorn, she heard Geneva begging her grandfather to save her. To blame it on someone else. To bribe the police or a judge who owed him a favor.
“I’m so sorry I got you involved in this,” WT said to Thorn. He looked to JJ. “Are you going to be all right?” She nodded and hugged herself. “The police and FBI will want to talk to you, but I know Franklin will see that you get the best lawyer money can buy if it comes to anything. I don’t think it will. He won’t let you be charged. You helped save his granddaughter’s life.” He turned to Thorn. “They’ll want to talk to you too. But I would imagine you’re anxious to get back home. You have livestock, right?”
“I’ve had a friend looking after my horses and mule.” He didn’t sound anxious to get home, but he didn’t deny it either, JJ noticed.
“I’ll explain that to the police and FBI. You can go home and take care of your place. I’m sure we’ll talk soon,” the judge said, and walked toward the officers waiting at the curb.
