by H. L. Wegley
Fearing some other setback, she backed completely onto the road, pushed the lever to drive, and rolled forward onto higher, firmer ground.
She would leave her SUV parked on the small road rather than risk getting stuck again.
The lost time, the wind, and fear for the girls…she was losing it. Panic, worse than her attacks of acrophobia, screamed its alarm in her mind.
“Are you OK?” Lee stepped to her side.
“Not at the moment. What if they aren’t here? I keep—”
“We can’t allow that kind of thinking right now.” He took her by the shoulders and peered into her eyes. “Jenn, look at me. The girls are only a quarter mile away. So are one or more goons. Those thoughts must be the basis of everything we think, say, and do, until we’re done here.”
She had never seen his deep blue eyes so intense, so piercing.
“Listen, I want you to burn that bit of logic into your EEPROM and throw away the burning software. We’re going to stand right here until you can tell me you’ve done that.”
The girls were being held at this mill site. They had to be. Jennifer closed her eyes and pictured a room where several girls were tied and guarded by armed thugs. Somewhere deep inside of her mind, or her heart or her soul, a young voice cried. It wailed hopelessly.
She gasped and grabbed Lee’s arm. “We need to go now.”
****
The rapid transformation of Jennifer’s face from a frown to a clenched jaw, from mental engagement to response, concerned him. “Whoa, Jenn. Remember, we need to be cautious as we move in. I didn’t know that little pep talk would affect you like that.”
“Thanks for your encouragement, but there’s more to it than a pep talk. She’s crying for help again. Would God do that to me?”
There was a lot going on here he couldn’t explain—the delays, Jennifer’s awareness of a girl in trouble, the intense storm. He exhaled sharply, blowing a cloud of mist from his mouth. “I can’t answer for God. But if He wants you involved in rescuing those girls, He can use any means He chooses to motivate you. Think how he motivated Jonah. He had—”
“Lee, I’m not like Jonah. I’m running towards the girls, not running away.”
“Sorry, bad analogy.” He paused. “You know, we skipped your site, so I have the point for this site. Are you ready?”
“But—”
“That’s how it needs to be. I’ll be careful. You with me?”
She nodded.
His watch said 10:55 and his line in the sand said they should be well inland by noon. He strode out towards the mill site, knowing that meeting their deadline wasn’t likely, wondering if it was even possible.
They emerged from the dense, dripping foliage of recently planted trees into a small opening. Ahead lay a stand of older trees. These overshadowing trees limited the undergrowth, allowing them to pass quickly through.
The urge to check his watch was impossible to ignore. 11:00 now. From the moment this storm began developing, a fuse had been lit. Now the fuse burned short. Before the explosion of wind came, they had to find the girls and get out of here. He broke into a jog.
Jennifer caught up with him and grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. “Whoa, Lee. Remember, we need to be cautious as we move in.”
His own words thrown back at him, but she was right. “Sorry. I’m worried about the wind. Over the next couple of hours, it will become a major factor in everything we do.”
They reached a small stand of old-growth timber. It was dark under the forest canopy, but a lighter spot appeared less than a hundred yards ahead.
“That’s the mill.” He gestured towards it. “Let’s stop for a second.”
He took her hands. They were trembling.
He pulled her close.
Jennifer’s whole body was shaking.
He kissed her forehead. “Are you OK?”
“I think so. Just so full of adrenaline that I’m shaking.”
“Then it sounds like you’re ready. Time to execute the plan.”
They approached from the south, the least likely direction from which anyone would come. When they neared the clearing, he slowed and surveyed the site. The mill yard looked open, recently used.
Braithwaite had given them a good description.
Jennifer tapped his shoulder. She was pointing ahead, to their left, where thick bushes lined the edge of the trees.
“Good idea,” he whispered in her ear.
They moved to the edge of the forest, leaving a single tier of the bushes for cover.
“Wait here, while I take a closer look.”
“Be careful, Lee. No heroics, remember?”
He took her hand and squeezed it. “No heroics, I promise.”
He pushed his head through a bush until he could see out the far side, and then jerked to a stop when the buildings came into view.
10
Lee watched the smoke rise from the chimney of the only enclosed building on the property. The down rush accompanying the heavy rain brought smoke from the chimney to the ground, where it spread out around the building. There, the synergism of the wind and the rain quickly washed the smoke away.
How convenient for the goons. No passersby could tell the mill was occupied unless they came into the site.
No vehicles visible in the area. Either they hid them, or they were in use.
The building had probably been a millwright’s shop. It had only one window and one door, both on the front side of the building. A single glance in that window should provide enough evidence to bring the FBI.
But he would have to circle around to approach it from the windowless side bordering the forest. From there he could peek in the window and move back to the trees.
Now for the hard part, convincing Jennifer this wasn’t a hero tactic.
How should he give her the news?
She stood a few feet back in the trees, eyes wide and expectant.
Two thumbs-up would tell it all.
Jennifer’s smile widened as he saw his signal. She bounced up and down on her toes and reached for his hands when he got closer to her. “Tell me what you saw.”
“This has to be the place. There’s an inhabited building with smoke coming out of the chimney. No vehicles in sight, but that’s not surprising.”
“So what do you think we should do next?”
“I need to get in close. Maybe I can listen through the walls and hear the girls. But most likely, I’ll need to look through the window on the front of the building.”
“No way.” She shook her head so hard her hood fell down.
“Jenn,” he adjusted her hood. “Before you get dogmatic on me, please listen. We can mitigate the risks here.”
“OK, I’m listening.”
“Come with me around to the south side of the mill, and you can see exactly what needs to be done.”
She pulled back and shook her head again.
“All right. We’ll drive to Lake Quinault, and you can call Peterson with the facts we have and try to convince him to send a SWAT team out here. Come on, let’s go.”
Would his bluff change her mind?
“Lee…” Jennifer ran to catch up with him as he walked back towards the car. She grabbed his arm. “Lee, wait. Show me what you’ve got in mind.” Her expression contained fear, mixed with torment.
He hated to hurt her like this. It cut him to the quick. “I’m not trying to do anything risky. But we need evidence that Trader or his goons are there holding some girls. We need to see the girls, or at least, hear them. We don’t have the option of going inside and searching for evidence.”
“I know you’re right. But—”
“She’s still crying for help.” The words just slipped out. He desperately wanted them back because he hadn’t fought fairly. In trying to draw the confrontation to a quick close, he had only hurt Jennifer again.
She was on the verge of tears. She bit her lower lip, and then her body slumped in surrender. “OK, show me what w
e have to do.”
He wanted to hold her, comfort her.
Jennifer backed away from him.
“I shouldn’t have said that. I’ll do anything if you’ll forgive me…anything.”
She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. I should take you up on your offer, but I’d rather just forgive you.”
Who was this woman? Certainly not the unforgiving Jennifer he’d met last March. This woman was the product of God’s love which had free course to work in her heart for the past seven months.
He returned her embrace. “I really am sorry.”
“You should be, but—” She put her hands on the back of his head, pushing his hood forward as she pulled his lips towards hers.
Jennifer gave him a kiss more intense than any he could remember. For a few seconds, nothing else existed in the world but the sweetness of her.
When their lips parted, she stepped back, revealing an incredibly beautiful woman whose eyes were wide with excitement, but fierce in their intensity.
They were both ready now. Maybe the timing really was perfect.
“Now you can show me what we need to do. We’ve got some girls to save, before we all blow away.”
The intensifying wind changed from a moan to a drone that howled at them from the treetops. The ominous, tornadic sound signaled the closing of their window of time. They would now battle deadly winds, as well as deadly people. When they reached a position south of the mill, they crept to the edge of the trees near the windowless end of the building.
The droning of the wind grew louder.
She wouldn’t be able to hear him unless he placed his mouth next to her ear.
“The window is around the corner, so they can’t see me when I approach. See the small bushes?” He pointed ahead. “They’ll give me cover to within twenty-five yards of the side of the building.”
Jennifer turned her mouth towards his ear and lifted her Smith & Wesson .38 from her coat pocket, and then slid it back in. “Lee, if you’re spotted, I can cover you for a few seconds. But you’ll need to get out fast if I start shooting. They’ll have more firepower than we do.”
They stood cheek-to-cheek, mouth-to-ear.
“I can get to the side of the shop without being seen. From there I can listen through the wall.”
“And if you don’t hear them?”
“Then I’ll need to move to the front of the building and look in the window. If they spot me, I’ll run back to a point in the trees to the east of you. If anyone comes out to take pot shots at me, pin them down for a few seconds while I round the corner of the building. That will give me enough cover to escape into the trees. Then we both should circle back to the car as fast as we can. I’ll make sure to catch up to you before we reach it.”
“And if you don’t see the girls?”
“If they come after us, our agreement was we tell Peterson they’ve got the girls. That’s the only logical conclusion to draw, especially if they start shooting. But if I look in and don’t see the girls, and they don’t come after us…there’s nothing more we can do until they leave the building.”
“That’s not so, Lee. We can be on the beach by midnight—the place where they made the last exchange—and try to break it up.”
Jennifer didn’t understand what the beach would be like, why the two of them could not go there. “First, the wind has gotta die down, or nobody can be on the beach and survive. And second, I’ll only agree to intervention if we can get Peterson to commit to bring an FBI team out here.”
“If we need to convince Peterson, let me handle him. He treats me like a daughter. I can come up with something to get them out here.”
“I’ve never seen the manipulative side of you. Where did that come from?”
“I got you to start courting me, didn’t I?”
“You sure did. Now, are we ready to do this?”
“Yes. I’ll hide behind the last tree and keep my .38 ready. We’ll react to their response.”
“Sounds good. You should see me move from the trees to the last bush in about sixty seconds. I love you, Jenn. There’s nobody I’d rather have watching out for me.”
She reached a wet hand inside his hood and cupped his cheek. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I promise. See you, after I see the girls.”
In a few seconds he reached a point even with the end of the millwright’s shop. By lining up his approach with the front wall of the building, he could watch the door, but couldn’t be seen through the window.
Even knowing where Jennifer was, he couldn’t see her through the rain and vegetation. Good. She is as safe as possible.
He ran to a position behind the lone bush that provided cover, less than twenty-five yards from the building.
The mill yard was still empty of vehicles and people. Time to run to the end of the shop. He stood.
The door of the shop swung open.
He dropped to his knees in the mud behind the bush.
The door shut.
He resumed breathing, not even aware he had stopped.
Something moved near Jennifer’s location. Probably her aborted shot at the person who opened the door.
A few running steps brought him to the windowless side of the shop. This was also the windward side and water ran down the deteriorating cedar boards and into his ear when he pressed it against the outer wall.
Through the boards came an occasional crackle and pop of burning wood and a few muffled sounds of human voices. The words were indistinguishable, as was the sex of the speaker. Lee needed to look inside.
At the corner of the building, his pulse quickened as the danger of detection intensified.
He scanned the mill yard. There were numerous tire grooves in the mud. Vehicles had been stopping near the door of this building. But right now, there were no vehicles and no people. Time to move to the window.
The rough boards rasped against his back as he slid across them. Only a couple of feet to go.
He swiveled to face the window and inched his way to it, keeping his eyes focused on the door that lay beyond.
This was the moment they had been waiting for since Saturday morning. But looking in the window at this acute angle wasn’t providing visibility into the interior of the room. He took a deep breath and slid his face in front of the window. A huddle of bodies—
The door flew open. A man stepped out carrying a pan.
Lee had to get to the trees before the pan was replaced by a gun. He swiveled to run. His feet slipped. He gasped, and then blew it all back out when his back struck the ground, knocking the breath out of him and sending his body sprawling only a few feet from the open door.
The pan clattered on the doorstep. The man whirled and leaped back into the building.
Lee kept his gaze locked on the doorway as he pulled his feet under him. But what had he seen in that brief look into the room? He tried to recall the image captured by his eyes, tried to record it permanently in his memory. Two or three bodies and heads with long hair.
He sprinted towards the trees, angling around the corner of the building.
The look on the man’s face said he would return with a weapon. Now the man would have to come several feet out of the shop in order to shoot past the corner.
He needed four or five seconds.
Jennifer would have to buy him that time.
****
Jennifer held her breath as Lee looked in the window. Her hand gripped the .38. She gasped and pulled the gun from her pocket when the front door flew open.
No. Lee fell down by the door.
She stifled a scream, and then took a two-handed shooting stance, cocked the hammer, and aimed.
The man in the doorway disappeared.
Lee sprinted along his planned escape route. He was fifteen yards short of the trees when the man burst through the door holding an assault rifle.
She fired into the top of the doorway.
&nb
sp; The man’s weapon fired a single burst in automatic mode. The gun wasn’t aimed at anything. The guy had panicked when her bullet splintered the boards above his head.
Her second shot cracked the top edge of the door frame.
The gunman jumped back into the building.
She kept her shots high to miss the girls, the girls she was now certain were inside.
Lee had said he would circle the mill to meet her. She rushed through the trees towards the car, praying he would catch up with her.
He overtook her with a hundred yards to go.
His heavy breathing sounded above the noise of the wind and rain.
“Did you…see them…Lee,” she managed between breaths.
“Yeah, I think so…we need cell reception.”
She pressed her key fob, unlocking the door before they reached the SUV.
“Drive to the gate. I’ll open it for you.” Lee sprinted the seventy-five yards down the old timber access road to the gate.
After she pulled through the gate, he jumped in, splattering mud on the carpet.
Normally she would have scolded him. But this wasn’t a normal time.
“To Lake Quinault?”
“Yeah. It’s the closest cell service.” He reached for his seat belt.
She wheeled the car to the right.
“Doggone it!” The tires kept spinning as she tried to accelerate through water standing on the pavement.
“Take it easy, sweetheart.” He fumbled with his seatbelt, unable to latch it.
She slammed on the brakes, sending Lee crashing into the dashboard as the big SUV slid to a stop.
“Not that easy, Jenn. Go!”
****
Lee saw a white SUV emerge through the rain and fog. It must have pulled out of the road to the mill.
The vehicle sped towards them.
Jennifer floored the accelerator and cranked the steering wheel hard left. The car spun a half doughnut on the highway. In a blur of hands and arms, Jennifer straightened the wheel. They accelerated down the road towards Kalaloch with the white SUV on their tail.
“Just like old times, huh, Lee? Except Trader’s in the white car and we’re in the black one.”
