by Diana Palmer
He pulled and yanked and talked in a low tone until finally he coaxed her out. The moment she left the stall, he let loose the rope and slapped her behind. “Go on, girl, get out of here!”
She galloped out of the barn, flaming boards falling around them as he chased her outside. By the time he exited the barn, the smoke had grown so thick he could hardly see. But the wail of the fire truck rent the air, and Julie’s hands touched his face.
“We got them all out,” she said as he fell to the ground, coughing and begging for air.
“Will?”
“He helped,” Julie said.
Then they both scanned the area, but Will was nowhere in sight.
Dammit. He had disappeared.
*
JULIE HEAVED FOR a breath as the smoke billowed higher in the sky. Three ranch hands had arrived, yanking a hose from the house and trying to douse the flames.
The siren wailed closer, the fire truck screeching to a stop, workers jumping down and rolling out their hoses to attack the fire. Heat wafted off the barn, flames shooting toward the sky, wood splintering and cracking as the barn began to crumble.
Brody jogged over to meet the firemen. “The horses are all safe, and the barn’s lost. Just try to keep it from spreading.”
“How did it start?” the lead fireman asked.
“I don’t know but look for the origin,” Brody said. “I have to find my brother.”
Julie’s pulse clamored as she scanned the area. “The Jeep’s still here and so is the truck.”
Brody scowled. “I’ll check the other side of the barn.” He ran to the right then behind the flaming building, and Julie hurried to check the house.
“Will! Are you in here?” She dashed through the house, checking the office, then the bedrooms but the bag of clothes she’d bought Will still lay on the bed unopened.
She snatched her service revolver and phone from her room and strapped it on, then jogged back down the steps. By the time she made it back outside, the barn collapsed with a thunderous roar.
The scene was chaos as the firemen and ranch hands worked to extinguish it. She squinted through the smoke, searching for Brody and Will. Then she spotted two figures running toward the wooded area to the west.
Brody raced from the back of the burning barn, sweat and soot coating his skin.
“Brody!” She motioned him to head west, and she took off running.
He met her at the corner of the stable. “I saw two figures running that way.” She pointed toward the woods, and Brody headed into the thicket of trees.
Twigs and leaves snapped, the sound of the blaze echoing in the air as they ran deeper into the woods. Julie saw the figures veer to the right, and she took a shortcut, praying she could catch them.
Although she’d had training and jogged regularly to stay in shape, Brody’s legs were longer and he sprinted ahead of her.
“Will, stop!” Brody shouted.
Julie shoved a strand of hair behind her ear, perspiration trickling down the back of her neck as she tried to keep up. A branch slapped her in the face, but she shoved it away, ignoring her stinging cheek, then she jumped over a stump.
By the time she reached the clearing, Brody was leaning against a tree, anger coloring his face. Dust spewed from the back of an old pickup truck in the distance, blurring her vision. She had a bad feeling Will was in that truck.
And that he was getting away.
She stumbled forward and gripped the tree, her chest aching for air.
“Did you see him?” she wheezed.
Pain wrenched Brody’s face as he cut his eyes toward her. Then he gave a clipped nod and wiped sweat from his face. “Jeremy was with him,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Good God,” Julie said. “I wonder if he set that fire as a diversion to get Will.”
*
BRODY CLENCHED HIS HANDS into fists. Had Jeremy set the fire?
Maybe he and Will planned his escape together.
But how would they have made contact?
He had to clear his throat to force the words out. “You think Will set it to get away?”
Julie reached for her phone. “Don’t go there, Brody. He was the one who woke you up to tell you about the fire, remember? He helped save the horses.”
Brody’s chest eased slightly. “So why would he go back with Jeremy, especially after all the things we told him?”
“I don’t know. He’s scared. That family, that life, it’s all he knows.” She tried her phone but there was no connection. “Let’s go back. I have to call this in.”
Panic seized Brody, and he caught her by the arm. “Julie, what if some cop chases them down and shoots Will?”
Julie’s eyes crinkled with concern as she squeezed his hand. “They’ll have orders not to shoot unless it’s in self-defense. But you know I can’t hide the fact that he left the ranch, Brody. Will and Jeremy both know where Hank Forte is. We have to find them.”
He didn’t like it, but he knew she was right. He wanted Will found, wanted to know why he’d run from the brother who loved him to the man who’d abused him for years.
God, he’d hoped that when Will saw the family photos and heard stories about their youth he’d remember his life before the kidnapping.
But he hadn’t, and now he’d lost him again.
“Come on.” They walked back through the woods, the sight of the smoke still billowing above the pasture making anger knot in his belly.
“At least no one was hurt and the horses are okay,” Julie said as they reached the pasture.
“But the animals could have died, and someone could have been hurt,” Brody said. “You could have been hurt, Julie.”
Julie’s expression softened as if she was touched by his concern. “I’m fine and so are you. We’ll find Will again, I promise.”
Brody wanted to believe her, but if Will told Jeremy the feds were looking for him, he’d probably run.
The bastard had been hiding out for twenty years and hadn’t been caught. He could hide out another twenty and they might never know where he was.
And little Hank Forte might grow up like Will and forget about his real family.
The next two hours were chaos as the firefighters worked to extinguish the last flames. The barn was lost, but he called the vet to check the horses, and Sheriff McRae had arrived and alerted the locals to look for the truck.
“I called the bureau,” Julie said. “They’re alerting local authorities and issuing an APB on Will and Jeremy. They will put one out on Jeremy. Sadly his parents died a while back.”
Brody scrubbed a sweaty hand through his hair. “Maybe it’s for the best. It would be hell to finally find your son and learn that he’s wanted by the FBI for aiding his kidnapper.”
Julie stroked his arm. “Maybe there’s hope for him,” Julie said. “And don’t give up on Will. We have no idea what’s going on in his head. Maybe on some level he did remember you.”
Brody sighed. Dr. Hornsby, the middle-aged vet with graying hair, approached, his hands in his lab coat. “The horses are okay,” he said. “I didn’t detect any signs of smoke inhalation.”
Brody shook his hand. “Thanks, Doc, that’s a relief.”
David Thornton, the fire investigator, had also arrived, and had been examining the scene. Brody saw him talking to Sheriff McRae and strode over to them. “Did you find something?”
Thornton gestured toward a gas can lying near a shovel in the rubble. “Looks like someone set it on purpose.” He folded his arms. “You have yourself an enemy, Bloodworth? Or do you think it was one of the kids on the ranch?”
“I know who it was,” Brody said, his throat thick. “And I know why he set it.”
Sheriff McRae adjusted his Stetson. “I’ll let you know if we get a hit on that truck.”
Brody thanked him then explained the situation to the fire investigator.
Julie had been speaking with one of the ranch hands, but she darted over. “Brody, I have
to go.”
“Did someone find Will and Jeremy?”
“Not yet,” Julie said, her look full of compassion. “But Chief Hurt said a detective in San Antonio arrested another teenager in a convenience store robbery. They took the boy’s prints, and it turns out he’s one of our missing kids.”
“I’m going with you.”
Julie shook her head. “You have your hands full here. I’ll call you.”
“No,” Brody said. “I’m going. The sheriff and my ranch hands can take care of what needs to be done here.”
Julie hesitated, but finally shrugged. “Let me get my keys.”
“No, I’ll drive,” Brody said. “Just give me a minute.” He stepped back to talk to the sheriff for a moment, then hurried inside and snatched his keys.
A minute later, they climbed in his Jeep and headed off the ranch. The smoke curling in the sky behind him taunted him with what had happened tonight, and despair threatened. He wondered if he had lost his brother forever this time.
Still, hope fought its way through. Will hadn’t talked, but maybe this kid would. Then they could track down the bastard who’d kidnapped him and lock him away for good.
*
KYLE COULD STILL smell the smoke on his clothes and hear the horses bawling to escape. Sweat cloaked his body as he remembered the frantic scene, the flames erupting, ceiling falling, the heat sucking the breath from him.
Then Jeremy had appeared, and he’d realized that he had set the fire.
The truck barreled over the ruts in the road. Face flushed with anger, Jeremy suddenly swung the truck onto a side road, racing onto the dirt road and flying into a desolate area that looked as if it went nowhere. A ravine appeared ahead, and fear shot through him.
Jeremy whipped the truck near the edge, parked and jerked around to him. One hand snatched Kyle by the shirt collar, yanking it so tightly he was nearly choking him.
“You stupid fool,” Jeremy said in a sinister voice. “What did you tell them?”
“Nothing,” Kyle said, his throat raw.
“Nothing?” Jeremy snarled. “You’ve been with that agent and came here to live with that rancher, and you didn’t tell them anything about the family? About where we live? About the compound and Father and the brotherhood?”
“No, I didn’t, I swear it,” Kyle said shakily. “But Jeremy, they said that Father took us from our families, that you were the first one he kidnapped.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Shut up, Kyle. The law lies to people, to kids,” he said. “Father told you they were bad, that they invade people’s privacy. They locked you up, didn’t they?”
“Yes, but I didn’t talk.”
“Not even when they beat you?”
“They didn’t beat me,” Kyle said. “They just asked me questions.”
“You told them about Father?”
“I told you I didn’t tell them anything….”
“What about Hank?”
His stomach roiled. “No. Nothing.”
“You know Hank’s parents didn’t want him. That Father is taking him in to make a man out of him. That his parents paid Father to take him.”
Kyle nodded. Although Brody’s words echoed in his head. Father had told him that his other daddy didn’t want him, either. That his brother wanted to get rid of him.
But Brody said they’d looked for him for years. That he…loved him.
That his real name was Will Bloodworth. That he was that little sandy-haired boy smiling in those pictures.
But Jeremy’s fury made him hold his tongue.
Jeremy hated anyone who came between him and Father. Anyone who crossed him.
Was he going to kill him now, then dump his body into the ravine where no one would ever find him?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Brody tried to focus on the road as they drove toward San Antonio. “Who was the kid they caught?”
“Tray Goodner. Apparently he tried a robbery on his own and the owner retaliated. Took a shot at him and skimmed his arm. Nothing serious but we’re meeting Chief Hurt at the hospital.”
“This is unreal,” Brody said his hands sweating. “How in the hell do you deal with this kind of stress all the time?”
Julie sighed tiredly and rubbed at a knot in her shoulder. “I wanted to find Will.”
Brody glanced at her, his heart in his throat. “I’m so sorry for the way I acted years ago. I was hurting and looking for someone to blame because I knew Will’s disappearance was my fault.”
“Forget it, Brody,” Julie said. “I’ve dealt with enough cases to see how people react during trauma. People either pull together or the trauma drives them apart.”
He grimaced. He should have clung to Julie back then, realized that he could lose her any minute just as he’d lost his brother. Instead, he’d blamed her and driven her to this dark world.
“Do you actually like the job?” he asked. “I mean, how could you?”
“It was challenging at first,” Julie said quietly. “But I felt like I was helping people, somehow making up for what I’d done wrong.”
Brody cradled her hand in his. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Julie. Like you told me, we were kids, teenagers doing what all teenagers do.”
“I know, but still, Will was hurt because of it. We have to save him.”
The fear lacing her voice told him she’d seen more unhappy endings to her cases than happy ones.
“When this is over, are you thinking about doing something else?”
Julie licked her lips. “I don’t know, Brody. I…am tired. I worked that Slasher case. It still haunts me at night.”
Dear God. The case where the women had been butchered, their reproductive organs cut out. “I can’t believe you saw that. It must have been horrible.”
“It was,” Julie admitted. “But no more horrible than some of the things I’ve seen humans do to children.”
Brody swallowed hard, her words making his fear rise.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered in a pained voice. “I’m supposed to be optimistic, professional, encourage you.”
“You have. I thought I’d never see Will again, but now I know he’s alive, and we won’t stop until he’s safe.” Brody squeezed her hand again and held it tightly against his thigh as he maneuvered the Jeep into the hospital parking lot. He had thrust her into this world of horrors and he was terrified of what he might hear from the kid they’d caught.
But this time he didn’t intend to drive Julie away. He needed her.
And he sensed she needed him, too.
*
JULIE FLASHED HER BADGE at the police officer outside Tray Goodner’s door. Apparently the doctor had removed the bullet and the injury wasn’t serious, but the thirteen-year-old was dehydrated and had bruises covering his body that garnered suspicion.
Unfortunately Julie knew where he had gotten them.
She tapped on the door, then she and Brody entered. The boy was sleeping, his body a small lump in the hospital bed. According to her information, Tray was eight when he disappeared, making him thirteen now. But he was so thin and haggard-looking that he looked around eleven or twelve. Dark bags shadowed his eyes, indicating he was probably malnourished.
An IV dripped fluids into his body and his right arm was bandaged. He looked dirty, his hair chopped off in uneven layers.
She glanced at Brody and saw the turmoil in his eyes. “You can wait outside if you want,” she whispered.
“Stop treating me like I can’t handle it,” he said gruffly. “This is the reason I started the BBL.”
*
“I’M SORRY,” Julie said in a low voice. “I didn’t mean it like that.” She simply wanted to protect him.
He squeezed her arm. “I know. Now let’s do this together.”
Julie crossed the room to the bed, hesitated beside it, then brushed the boy’s dirty blond hair back. She didn’t want to think about the horrible things that had happened to him.
“Tray?”
He slowly opened his eyes, blue eyes that looked frightened.
“Tray, my name is Julie. I work with the TBI.”
His thin lips pinched together.
“That is your name isn’t it? Tray?”
He shook his head. “RJ.”
Julie choked back her anger. “Okay, RJ. How are you feeling? Does your arm hurt?”
His eye twitched. “It’s no big deal.”
He’d probably had worse. “You’re going to be all right,” Julie said softly. “But you are in trouble, RJ.”
He cut his eyes away from her.
“RJ, I know that whoever you live with made you do this. We have you on camera with Kyle robbing those first stores.” She paused. “Kyle was in our custody for a while, but he disappeared tonight with Jeremy.”
RJ jerked his head back toward her, his eye twitching again, and Julie dragged a chair up beside his bed. “This man is Brody Bloodworth. He’s a rancher who owns a place called the BBL.”
RJ looked up at Brody who moved up beside her. “Hey there, RJ.”
Julie offered the kid a small smile. “I know you’re scared—”
“I’m not scared of anything,” RJ said quickly.
Julie gave a small nod. “All right, you’re a tough guy. But you’re also in a bad situation. I can help you though.”
“I don’t need no help.”
“Yes, you do,” Julie said matter-of-factly. “So I’m going to tell you everything we know, then let you fill in the blanks.”
RJ shrugged as if he knew he had no recourse.
“Brody is here because his little brother was kidnapped seven years ago. When we caught Kyle, we took his DNA and discovered he’s Brody’s little brother. We also believe that you were stolen from your family, RJ.” She paused, but noted his eye twitching faster. “We have software that shows age progression for missing children, and our program tells me that your real name is Tray Goodner.”
He twisted the sheets with his uninjured hand.
“Your mother reported you missing from a carnival.” She touched his hand. “Your mother is still alive and misses you very much, Tray. She’s been looking for you all these years and loves you.”
