When Love's Gone Country (Sequel two of the Embracing Love Trilogy)

by Merri Hiatt

  They slowed their pace and made a habit of scanning the woods. It took longer, but they had to be certain they weren’t walking into a trap.

  Fifteen minutes later the woods became sparse. Fewer and few trees gave them cover and they all felt vulnerable.

  The waterfall could be heard nearby, but not seen. The rushing whirr of white water was much closer. They crested a small hill on their bellies and found Bart and Red sitting on the other side down by the river bed.

  “There’s the double y,” Brad said.

  “It’s beautiful. Funny how both of the y’s to the right are so slow and the ones to the left are so wild,” Court said.

  “I think there are more rocks to the right, and it’s shallower. When the sun hits the water, I can see right to the bottom,” Alex said.

  Bart and Red stood close, pointing to areas at the river’s edge, then huddling close to confer some more.

  “What now?” Courtney asked.

  “We wait for the calvary,” Alex said.

  “When Frank and Emma show up, my guess is they’ll have Bart and Red escorted off the premises for good.”

  “Seems a bit anticlimactic,” Court said.

  “You want more drama?” Brad asked.

  “Well, something could happen to make it a bit more exciting. All we’re doing is lying on a hill. Big whoop!”

  “I’ve had enough excitement,” Brad said.

  “Here, here,” Alex concurred. “I need a vacation from this vacation.”

  “Maybe we should have stayed at Moon Spirit Lodge and forgotten all about coming to the ranch,” Brad said.

  “I’ve had fun. Just a different kind of fun. And I really liked working with the horses, they—”

  “Sh.” Brad pointed to the right. Jacob walked toward Bart and Red.

  “What’s Jacob doing here?” Alex asked.

  “Is he alone?” Court asked.

  Alex felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. “I don’t think so,”

  Two men traced Jacob’s footsteps, guns drawn.

  Courtney started to get up, but Brad held her down. “Not yet. We have to see what they’re up to.”

  “They’re going to hurt him. We have to do something,” Court said.

  “Wait,” Alex said. “I know what you’re thinking, but wait.”

  Courtney’s adrenaline was pulsing through her veins. She wanted to kick those men in the teeth and gouge out their eyes. How dare they put Jacob into such a dangerous position.

  They watched as Jacob began taking off his clothes.

  “What in the hell?” Court asked.

  Realization dawned on Brad. “They’re going to make him find it, the healing well. Damn cowards. They won’t go in those rapids, but they’ll risk Jacob’s life.”

  “Who can swim?” Alex asked.

  “I can dog paddle, a little,” Brad said.

  “I sink,” Alex said.

  “I can swim,” Court said. “I used to be a life guard during the summer.”

  “You’re it, then,” Alex said.

  “For what?”

  “Follow me.”

  They shimmied back down the hill until they were sure no one could see them, then they stood up. Alex led them down river, explaining. “When Jacob goes in the water, you swim upstream, find him and lead him underwater back to where we are.”

  “The current is strong here. I don’t know if I can. And, I don’t know if Jacob can hold his breath that long.”

  “We have to try. It’s our only chance. No one from the ranch is coming and they’re about to send Jacob to his death.”

  “Ferocity of love,” Courtney said as chill bumps ran down her arms. “I’ll find him, and I won’t let go.”

  About thirty yards upstream they heard a splash as Jacob dove into the river.

  Courtney stripped down to her undergarments and slid into the water. Her vision was blurry, but she squinted and headed against the current. It would be easier on the way back. She began to count, one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand.

  She knew the men’s attention would be focused on Jacob. She stayed close to the river’s edge, came up for air once, then took one huge breath and slid to the bottom of the river, moving upstream at the same time.

  She searched for signs of an arm or leg, but saw nothing. She had begun counting again, but was having a hard time keeping track. The rapids made ripples along the edge of the riverbed, allowing for little light to seep through.

  When her lungs began to ache for oxygen, she pushed herself further upstream. Ferocity of love, dammit! She wasn’t leaving without some part of Jacob in her hands.

  The current would carry them downstream. She just needed something to grab onto.

  Her lungs were going to burst. She fought the urge to inhale. Jacob! She screamed the word in her head. She began to feel dizzy and lightheaded, like she was making her way through a dense fog. Tiredness was settling into her limbs. Jacob, please, you have to see me.

  She made one last, frantic attempt, reaching out to find some part of Jacob to latch on to. Her fingers met cloth and she fisted the fabric into her hand. She allowed her body to go limp as the current pushed her swiftly down river.

  She inhaled. Her lungs burned with a fire that both woke her senses and made her heart beat wildly. When her body pushed through the wall of water and air swirled around her head, she gulped air into her lungs, even as she coughed and spit water out.

  Brad and Alex spotted her and jumped into the river themselves, pulling both her body and Jacob’s to shallow water.

  Courtney rolled to her side and coughed while Alex performed CPR on Jacob.

  “You okay?” Brad asked.

  His words sounded hollow and distant to Courtney’s ears. She coughed, then threw up. The action seemed to clear her head and she was able to focus. “Is Jacob okay?”

  Brad smiled with relief. “Alex is trying to get him to breathe. You look better.”

  “Damn stupid thing to dive into freezing river water and then try to swim upstream,” Court said.

  “Yes, it is a damn stupid thing. I love you.”

  Brad pulled her close and held her in his arms.

  “I love you, too.”

  As Courtney took deep breaths, the sound of Jacob coughing brought tears to her eyes. She looked over Brad’s shoulder to see Alex rolling Jacob onto his side so he wouldn’t choke.

  “Did they see me,” Court asked.

  “I don’t think so. They were concentrating on Jacob.”

  “We got to get out of here.”

  Brad stood up, lifting Courtney into his arms.

  Alex did the same with Jacob.

  “Is he breathing?” Brad asked.

  “Yeah, but it’s shallow. We need to get him to the hospital.”

  “Let’s go.”

  As they retraced their steps back to the trail, Bart, Red and the other two men stared into the river.

  “How long can someone hold their breath?” Bart asked.

  “I heard tell of a guy who did it for ten minutes,” one of the men said.

  Not to be one-upped, his partner said, “I heard it was fifteen minutes.”

  “No one can hold their breath for fifteen minutes. They’d be brain dead,” Red said. He looked up river and then down river. “He ain’t comin’ back up. One of you two’ll have to go down and look.”

  “Us? We ain’t goin’ in that water,” one of the men said.

  Red pulled a gun from his holster. “I say one of ya are.”

  “We got guns, too.” Both men aimed their guns at Red.

  Bart pulled his gun out, as well. “Looks like we got ourselves a stalemate.”

  “Why do you care so much about this healin’ well anyways?” one man asked.

  “That’s none of your business. Are you gettin’ in the water or not?”

  “Not.”

  Red pulled the trigger and a shot sailed right through the man’s forehead.

&nbs
p; The other man turned to run. Red shot him in the back.

  “You got a problem with what I just done?”

  Bart shook his head. “I’d a done the same thing.”

  Red aimed his gun at Bart. “Take off your shoes.”

  “You want me to go in there? Red, we’re partners. I got your back and you got mine, remember?”

  “Take of your shoes, Bart.”

  “You know I can’t swim. I’ll drown if I go in that river.”

  “Pick your poison, then. Drownin’ or bleedin’.”

  Bart swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared down the gun barrel and then at the river. He removed his boots, then his shirt and pants. At least with the river he stood half a chance.

  He walked into the cool water and was soon enveloped by liquid. He sunk to the bottom like a stone.

  Red picked up Bart’s clothes and tossed them in the river, then put his boots under his arm and headed back toward the ranch.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Purity saw Alex carrying someone, but couldn’t tell who. Courtney was leaning on Brad. Even from her vantage point, she thought Court looked pale.

  Pure got out of the golf cart and walked toward them.

  “Get back in,” Alex said. “We’ve got to get Jacob to the hospital.”

  “Where’s Frank and Emma?” Brad asked.

  “I’ve been leaving messages for them. They’re not answering their phones. How did Jacob get here?”

  Purity returned to the cart and sat in the back. She planned on keeping a close watch on both Jacob and Courtney.

  When they reached the golf cart, Alex laid Jacob gently in the back seat, his head resting on Purity’s lap. “Keep him on his side, if you can. He swallowed a lot of water.”

  “He’s barely breathing,” Purity said, feeling for a pulse. It was there, but very faint.

  “The bastards held him at gunpoint and made him go in the river to look for the cave,” Alex said.

  “Red and Bart?”

  “No. Two other guys.”

  Alex got behind the wheel and Courtney sat in Brad’s lap.

  “Slow and steady,” Brad said. “Your air will come back.”

  Courtney didn’t say anything. She concentrated on breathing in and out. It felt like something was blocking her airway. She leaned into Brad’s embrace, trying to match his breathing rhythm with her own.

  Alex turned the cart around and headed back toward the ranch.

  “Slow up on the turns,” Brad said.

  “I remember,” Alex said, releasing his foot from the gas pedal and allowing the cart to slow down before attempting the turn.

  Jacob coughed several times. Water slid from his mouth each time.

  Purity rubbed his back. “You’re going to be okay. We’ve got you. You’re safe now. Just hang in there.”

  “Where is everyone?” Alex said, frustration making his words harsher than he intended. “There’s usually a ton of people milling around and today, when we need someone, there’s no one to be found.”

  Alex headed up the small incline to the main house. Once there, he ran inside to find Emma and Frank. He searched every room, calling their names, but no one replied. He used a landline phone to call 911. They promptly informed him that the nearest hospital was forty-five minutes away in Milton.

  “We may not have forty-five minutes.”

  “You say you’re at the Double Y?”

  “Yes.”

  “Frank’s copter will get you here in ten, take it.”

  “He has a helicopter here on the ranch?”

  “Sure. Most of ‘em do ‘round these parts. It makes it easier to find stray cattle when you’ve got so much land to search.”

  Alex hung up the phone and returned to the cart. “Anyone know how to fly a helicopter?”

  Charlie Mankins approached the group. “You need to go somewhere?”

  “To the hospital in Milton.”

  “I know how to fly. I’ve got over three hundred miles logged.”

  “Do you know where Frank keeps the key?”

  “Yeah. I know where all the vehicle keys are.”

  “Then you’re our man.”

  “We should go get Meg and Bobby,” Purity said.

  “No one’s around,” Charlie said. “It’s like they all just got up and took off all at once.”

  Purity frowned. “We have to get Jacob and Court to the hospital, then we can worry about everyone else.”

  “Charlie, are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Brad asked.

  “I can understand why you’d be wonderin’, but I’m real careful. I wouldn’t let anything happen to anyone on my watch. I’ll go get the keys.”

  Charlie headed into the house.

  “We don’t all need to go. Pure, you can look after Jacob and Brad can take care of Courtney. I’m going to go find out what the hell’s going on around here.”

  “Be careful,” Purity said.

  “You, too.”

  Charlie got behind the wheel of the golf cart and drove them to one of the many areas of the ranch they hadn’t seen yet. Sure enough, there was a helicopter sitting in the middle of a painted yellow square.

  “There’s only room enough for four in here. One of you will need to hang back.”

  Purity and Brad exchanged glances. “You stay, Purity. I can lift Jacob and Court can walk a little.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “We don’t have a lot of time to weigh the pros and cons.”

  “All right. I know you’ll take good care of them. Call me. I want to know everything.”

  “Will do.”

  Courtney crawled into the back seat of the helicopter and Alex picked up Jacob and placed him next to her. When they were both seat belted in, he took his place next to Charlie.

  “Be safe,” Pure said.

  “You, too,” Brad said.

  Purity moved to an area behind the safe zone and watched the blades as they began to turn. Charlie was checking gauges and flipping switches. Pure thought it seemed like he knew what he was doing. They had little choice at the moment, they had to trust Charlie. At least he was someone they knew. It didn’t seem like anyone at the ranch was trustworthy, they all had secrets just below the surface.

  Once the aircraft was on its way, Purity got in the golf cart and headed toward the ranch hand quarters. Everyone should be there waiting for them. The knots in her stomach told her that when she reached her destination, it would be empty.

  Her gut was right.

  “Where would Alex go if he came here and no one was around?” she said aloud. The gazebo or the big, red barn were the only places she could think of. Maybe the fire pit. “Maybe I should just stay here. We could be running around in circles looking for each other.”

  Purity decided to leave a note telling Alex, or whoever showed up, that she was heading to the orchard and then the big, red barn. She laid it on the dining room table, then headed out the door on foot.

  Ten minutes later, Red entered the ranch hand quarters, read the note, then crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. “Mighty kind of you to leave me a note, little lady.”

  When she passed the cow paddock, her cell phone rang. The display read Brad T.

  “How are they?” she answered.

  “We’re at the ER in Milton and they’re being treated now. I don’t really know anything yet, but we’re here and that’s good.”

  “Call me in ten minutes, even if you don’t know anything.”

  “I will. What’s going on there?”

  “I have no idea. I can’t find Alex.”

  “This is giving me a bad feeling.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I’ll call you. Be careful.”

  “I will.”

  They hung up their phones. It wasn’t like the ranch to feel so eerie, but with no other souls around, she felt like she was in an episode of The Twilight Zone. “What would you say, Rod Serling?”

  Purity surveyed the ar
ea. What she needed was some place to hide where she could see everything. She put her ring tone on light only, then headed toward the covered area of the cow paddock.

  Hay bales were stacked against one wall, but there was about a twelve-inch opening near the roof. If she could climb up and lay as flat as possible, she might be able to see out without getting noticed.

  Climbing was more difficult than she thought and the hay was making her sneeze. When she was about four bales high, she looked down. “Mistake. Don’t look down. It’s all in your head. Just keep climbing.”

  The hay bales became less balanced the higher she climbed. Several straps were hanging to the right. She used them to help her balance. She finally reached the top and pulled herself up and over the bales until she was in a sitting position.

  She looked out to see the orchard and gazebo to her right, the cow paddock to her left, the chicken coop to her far left and the road to the main house and ranch hand quarters straight ahead. No one would get past without her knowledge.

  Purity pulled her shirt up over her nose to help eliminate the sneezing and cover her face. The last thing she needed was someone realizing where she was hiding. She put her cell phone on her lap so she’d be able to see the flashing light when Brad called.

  When fifteen minutes had elapsed and she hadn’t seen anyone, nor received a phone call, her worries deepened. She texted Alex, then Meg and Bobby. No one replied.

  She was about to text Brad when she heard a rustling sound coming from the orchard. She scanned the area, but didn’t see anything.

  There it was again. But this time it wasn’t so much rustling as a banging, like a screen door on a porch. There were no screen doors in the orchard. It didn’t make sense. What kind of door would you put in an orchard?

  A cellar door. Maybe they stored bins of apples down there. It would be cool. Do they have twisters around here? She had no idea. How big was a cellar? Probably as big as you wanted to make it.

  “I don’t care what you say, I’m not doin’ it,” String said.

  “Don’t know why you’re gettin’ a conscience now,” Red said.

  “I don’t hurt kids, women or animals. Period.”

  “You’d be puttin’ the dog out of his misery. He’s hurtin’. You’d be doin’ him a favor.”