Lies Come True

by Emerald O'Brien

  What if the girls weren’t even close to here? What if they were taken further north, or in a completely different direction than what the witness saw?

  He needed to know when the witness saw the girls, and he would know how far away they could be.

  He took his phone out, and ducked behind a tree.

  A text from Ethan and a missed call from Owen.

  He pressed five, held the phone to his ear, and waited in the dark.

  “Noah. The girls are being hunted.”

  “Owen? What’s going on?”

  “They’re behind the trailer park at Tipper’s Point, or they were when I left them there almost an hour ago.”

  Clouds of Noah’s breath drifted away from him into the fog, and as he pressed the phone to his ear, he felt like he was drifting away with them.

  “Why?”

  “Arnold took Missy.”

  “What?” He steadied himself against the tree.

  “He took her right from our house while I was at work, or somebody did. They kidnapped her. Someone called me, and told me what I had to do if I wanted to see her alive again. Listen Noah, she’s okay. She’s safe, but those girls…”

  “You delivered them to Arnold?”

  “He told me where to drop them off. He left a pair of GPS trackers by the gate, and he had me put them in their pockets. I got the call like, five minutes ago, telling me Missy was back home safe. I called as soon as I saw her Noah. Noah?”

  “You gave them no chance.”

  “I— I couldn’t…”

  “Where did you take them?”

  “I’m sending you the coordinates now.”

  “He knows you’ll do that. What’s he going to do?”

  “Hunt them. He’s going to try to hunt and kill them like the others.”

  “You knew this, and you just served them up?”

  “He was going to kill Missy, and the baby, and I couldn’t tell anyone…”

  “I don’t have time for this. Is there anything else I should know?”

  “I don’t think he’s alone. Maybe it’s Bob Pope, but there’s too much to have done by himself. Taking Missy, planting the GPS here, and who knows what else? I tied the girls to a tree, and I tried to leave it a little loose. I tried to give them a…”

  “Anything else?” Noah raised his voice.

  “I’m sorry Noah…”

  “Send the coordinates, Owen.”

  Noah ended the call, stared at the screen, and waited for the coordinates. His chest heaved, and his hand shook the cell as the screen lit up blue. He checked the coordinates, and realized they were further south than he had originally thought.

  He started out at a run, and just before he reached the entrance to the trailer park, he pressed the number for Ethan.

  Chapter 65

  Avery wanted to get to safety, and she wanted help to come, but more than anything, she wanted to escape from the whistling.

  She couldn’t have walked more than fifteen feet before the weight of Fiona’s body slowed her down. She tried to focus on the sound of the stream, but her breath was too loud in her own ears. After another ten paces, she put Fiona down again.

  “Should we try you on my back?” She panted, “Like a piggy back?”

  “I don’t know.” Fiona looked in the direction the whistling came from. “Maybe we should try to hide together?”

  “He keeps coming this way. You think we’re loud?”

  “Maybe he can hear us.”

  Avery knew that if they could reach the stream, the noise from the water could drown out the noise they made, if they just stayed close to it. Her mind wandered to a place she never thought she would consider voluntarily.

  “I have an idea. I think when we get to the river, we should jump in.”

  Fiona shook her head and licked her lips.

  “Trust me, I probably feel worse about this plan than you do, but it could take us farther away than we’ll ever get on foot.”

  “Yeah, it could kill us too.”

  Avery looked toward the whistling that grew louder, and back at Fiona.

  It was all she had, and when Fiona nodded, Avery felt a small pressure inside release.

  “Try my back.”

  Avery bent down, and Fiona jumped off one leg awkwardly onto her back. She slipped down, but Avery bounced her up, and started toward the water.

  “That hurt.” Fiona hissed in her ear.

  “Sorry.” Avery spat.

  But she wasn’t anymore.

  They came to a hill with a steep incline.

  “We have to go around that way.” Fiona said, and Avery nodded.

  Piggy-backing her might have been a good idea at first, but Avery wasn’t sure how much farther she could carry her at all. Her stomach ached, and she could only imagine how Fiona’s leg felt.

  As they started up hill, the whistling faded.

  “I think we’re losing him.” Fiona whispered, and the weight felt heavier on Avery at that exact moment.

  She caught her foot under a tree trunk, and started to fall, but grabbed a nearby tree.

  “Just put me down. I can walk.” Fiona whispered.

  Avery let her slide off her back, and held in a groan as she rested her hand on her stomach. She looked down at her warm hand, covered with blood.

  “Oh shit,” Fiona stared at her stomach. “I’m sorry.”

  Avery remembered the wound on her forehead, and touched the blood that had begun to clot. Compared to the pain in her stomach, her throbbing head was easy to deal with.

  Almost forgettable.

  “It sounds like we’re close.” Avery whispered. “We have to hold onto each other when we go into the water.”

  Fiona nodded.

  They inched their way over the other side of the hill, and in the distance, they saw a river.

  “My leg’s not that bad. I can make it. Almost there.”

  The river was just beyond the line of trees, and as Avery heard the rocks knock together below, she grabbed Fiona. She pulled her back over the hill, and pointed to the river. They crouched down and peered out from behind the top of the hill.

  A man stood wearing all black with a balaclava over his face. He had black gloves, and was waving at someone.

  Out of the trees came the man with the mask, and when Avery saw it, she started to cry. Fiona grabbed her hand, and held it tight, as they watched on.

  While the man in black looked up and down the river, the man with the mask looked down at something in his hand and then straight up in their direction.

  They both dropped crouched down further.

  “Did he see us?” Avery whimpered, and wiped her blurry eyes with her fingers.

  “He looked right at us. I couldn’t tell. His eyes.” Fiona let tears fall down her cheeks, and Avery grabbed her hand again.

  “We have to go a different way.”

  Fiona’s chest heaved up and down.

  “Just hold on.” Avery started to crawl up to the top of the hill. Fiona still had a hold of her hand, and Avery eased out of the grip as she steadied herself.

  She peered over, and saw the man in black disappear into the bush where the masked man emerged from moments before.

  No sign of the man in the mask.

  Avery reached her hand out to Fiona. “We gotta go.”

  Fiona grabbed her hand, and Avery pulled her over the hill.

  “Where is he?”

  “They went back in the way they came.” Avery told her. “We have to focus, okay?”

  Fiona nodded and pointed to the river. “Are we going in?”

  “I don’t know anymore, they’re too close.”

  Fiona took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face.

  “Let’s go that way. Left down the river, away from them.”

  “Hopefully it leads to a road. You think…”

  The whistling was back, and coming from where the men went back into the bush. It was quiet, and distant, but he was coming for them agai
n.

  They were coming, and they would keep coming until…

  “He must have seen us.” Fiona broke her train of thought, shook her head, and covered her mouth with her shaky hands.

  “We’re gunna be okay.” Avery told her, and zipped up Fiona’s jacket all the way. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait. There are two of them.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Who’s the other person? Owen?”

  “I don’t know. Come on.” Avery tried to pull her, but Fiona wouldn’t move.

  “It doesn’t make sense. He had Owen working with him the whole time? Or just now?”

  “We have to keep moving.”

  “What if they split up?”

  Avery shoved her cold hands in her pockets, and when her fingers touched something hard, she pulled it out.

  “What the?”

  “What is that?” Fiona whispered.

  Avery stuck her hand in Fiona’s pockets and pulled out the same thing.

  “I think it’s some sort of GPS.” Avery studied them in her hand. “They’re tracking us.”

  “That’s how he knew. Get rid of them.”

  “Not yet.” Avery shook her head. “Come on.”

  Fiona limped behind her. “Avery, where are we going?”

  Chapter 66

  It was the first time Noah pictured someone as he held the gun up, and followed the tire tracks into the woods where Owen first took the girls. In training, his mind was always clear, and ready for whoever the target may be, but this time, the face of Arnold Henderson burned in his brain.

  He followed Owen’s tire tracks until they stopped and rushed into the forest. He searched for the big tree Owen spoke of, and a quarter of a mile in, he found it at the exact coordinates Owen had sent.

  They’re gone.

  It was a straight shot to the car, and he wondered if the girls had escaped back to the road, as he stared at the tangled rope on the ground.

  He texted Ethan his location and Ethan wrote back.

  Ten more minutes.

  Noah stood at the base of the tree and looked around.

  The wind blew, and the leaves on the trees rustled around him. He kept his gun drawn, and walked around the base of the tree. On the south side, he saw struggle marks, and on the north, he saw the majority of the rope. He looked at the dirt and followed the marks away from the tree. It was a clear dragging pattern, but there was no blood, and he was hopeful.

  He followed it to the bush, and crouched down. The last of the markings were below him, and the rest of the forest floor was too wrought with grass and branches to see clearly after that.

  Heading Northeast, he texted Ethan.

  As he made his way into the woods, he started off slow, and searched the area for any clues as to their direction. When he found none, he continued in a straight line from where the marks stopped, along the path of least resistance.

  As he forged on, the fog swirled away with the wind.

  Chapter 67

  “Don’t leave me.” Fiona whimpered, and Avery shook her head and put a finger to her mouth.

  “It’s the only way,” Avery whispered, and pointed to a tree trunk a few feet ahead. “I’ll see you there soon.”

  If she had to look at Fiona’s face for one more moment, she wouldn’t have been able to leave her. Her nose was bright pink, and her eyes were filled with tears. Before Fiona could protest, Avery was stepped away.

  She clamored up the steep hill to their left, and considered her next route when she reached the top. Each step toward another hill went against her nature, but she pushed herself to climb.

  She reached the top and glowered.

  No more hills to climb. No more rough terrain to cross.

  Nothing more to slow them down.

  She broke into a sprint. It felt good to run free without having to wait for anyone else and her thoughts shoved the pain in her stomach away.

  I caught you, Arnold. I’m onto you.

  She stopped in a more dense area of trees and tore her jacket off. She tucked the tracker into the pocket, and stuffed it into the bush beside her. She stepped back, and thought from a distance, it might look like someone was hiding in it. She tucked Fiona’s jacket in above it, and it looked like the size of a person.

  She held her stomach, and tried to remind herself that the wounds from the knife were superficial, and not life threatening. What she felt for the man who marked her was deeper than any cut.

  She tried to catch her breath, but the faint sound of the whistling came from the distance, and forced Avery to run.

  If they shoot at the jackets, she thought, we’ll know where they are and when.

  It’s our last shot.

  *

  When Fiona got to the log, she laid down on the ground parallel to it, and pushed her body close, until she was pressed against it.

  As she caught her breath, she felt the chill of the night air on her arms, and the hairs rose there and on the back of her neck. She drew her legs up underneath her in a ball when she heard the whistling again.

  She knew she was closer to the men than Avery was and hoped Avery didn’t come back at the wrong time.

  If she came back.

  She could lose her way, as they already had, or she could be caught by the men in an attempt to draw them away.

  Or she could leave the dead weight behind, and focus on saving herself.

  The whistling seemed closer than it should have come if they were following the devices.

  Too close.

  They should have gone left after Avery.

  No talking. No whispering.

  Just the whistling.

  They could not have been more than ten feet away, and with each step, Fiona shook harder.

  When the steps stopped, so did the whistling.

  She closed her eyes, shivered into her ball, and prayed they hadn’t spotted her. She tried to control her breathing, but keeping her body so still made her physically jump. Or was it the cold, she wondered, as the whistling started again.

  She heard one set of footsteps and then another, and for a few seconds, she couldn’t tell if they were coming closer, or going away.

  Away, away, away.

  And they did.

  She took a deep breath, but the shivers continued to send jolts through her body, and she could barely keep any part of her still.

  Avery should be back soon.

  If she’s coming back.

  When the footsteps faded, she huddled herself up in a tighter ball, breathed heat into her palms, and rubbed them together.

  The whistling was faint, and then, there was nothing at all.

  Until the bang.

  Chapter 68

  Seconds after the gunshot rang out in the distance, Noah ran toward the sound.

  Just one shot, he thought, and the sound was loud, but he knew he wasn’t close.

  Ten minutes away?

  Twenty?

  He waited for another, but there was only silence.

  If anyone was screaming, or crying, he couldn’t hear it.

  Please, no.

  His phone buzzed in his hand, but he clenched it in his fist, and ran toward the sound. He was already losing the direction it came from, but he continued to run, to close the gap.

  The fog cleared bit by bit and formed a path ahead. Noah followed it further, and stopped to listen to the forest.

  Nothing.

  He opened his phone and read Ethan’s text.

  At Tipper’s Point. Units close behind.

  Noah texted him his coordinates, and then wrote one gun shot.

  He listened for another sound.

  Anything but a gun shot, he thought, and hiked on.

  Chapter 69

  Fiona rocked back and forth in a ball when Avery rounded the log and tapped her on the boot.

  Fiona looked up at her, and a smile flew across her face.

  “Avery.”

  “Told you I’d be back. Now’s our chance.”
>
  Fiona nodded as Avery pulled her up, and scrambled to her feet.

  Avery grabbed her hand, and led her through the forest.

  They wove around trees and bushes. They pushed through thick brush.

  Every few steps, Avery listened for the whistle.

  She looked over her shoulder, and felt Fiona pull on her hand as she started to fall. Avery steadied her, and held in a gasp as her stomach screamed at her for using it.

  “You okay?” Avery huffed, “Your leg?”

  Fiona nodded, grimaced, and squeezed Avery’s hand tight.

  They continued at a pace that Avery knew couldn’t last, but she pulled Fiona harder, and tried to remember her as the girl with attitude.

  The one who thought nothing of shooting her dirty looks, talking back, and criticizing her.

  She needed the distance between them. It might be the last time she knew where the masked man was, and she had to use the knowledge to her advantage.

  Fiona started to resist against her tugs, but she pulled her harder despite her whimpers.

  “My leg. I can’t,” Fiona panted, and let go of Avery’s hand, “it hurts, it hurts.”

  “Can I carry you?”

  Fiona shook her head and her face twisted in pain.

  “You’re too slow when you carry me.”

  There was the Fiona she knew.

  Avery grabbed her hand again, and yanked her further— harder.

  “Ah, did you see them?” Fiona panted.

  “No. Quiet.” Avery continued to pull her along, and when she felt the same resistance again, she stopped. “There.”

  A rusty trailer sat in front of them in a small clearing and Fiona sighed.

  She limped ahead of Avery toward it, but Avery pulled her back.

  “We must be close to a road. We have to keep going, but not that way. Not out in the open.”

  “I can’t.” Fiona gasped, and when she looked into her eyes, she knew it was true.

  They hobbled over to the trailer, leaned against it, and looked behind them into the forest.

  Avery knew they were both waiting for the whistling, and that they couldn’t afford to wait any longer. She pushed herself off the trailer, and searched for a path around it.

  “Just go.” Fiona whispered. “I know you’re going to.”