by Jodi Thomas
He backhanded her as she ran toward her room.
Autumn tumbled backward like a rag doll, hitting the floor hard. She crawled to her knees and managed to avoid a kick.
He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet. “I told you to go get your things. I don’t want you leaving nothing here. As far as everyone knows you just left, like you always leave.”
He was almost holding her off the ground. She grabbed at his hand, trying to make him let go of her hair.
He slapped her almost playfully as blood from her mouth splattered across the polished floor and counters.
The wind outside rattled the panes in the windows. He dropped her suddenly, and she crawled away as fast as she could.
“Hurry up!” he yelled. “I want to get out of this place before it gets any worse.”
Autumn ran to her room, slammed the door, and threw the bolt. She knew it would never keep him out for long, but she only needed a moment.
Without looking back, she ran to the closet and closed herself in. Using her fingers to find the trap door, she opened the latch and slid down the old rope, pulling the trap closed behind her.
Halfway down, the rope broke, sending her sprawling to the concrete floor.
“Help!” she cried once before collapsing into tears.
Kate reached her first. For a moment she thought the girl had been hurt in the fall. As Calvin lifted Autumn up to carry her into the light, Kate’s cell rang.
She answered it, knowing who it was. “Tyler!”
“Are you all in the basement?” he shouted.
“We are now. Autumn just came down.”
“Good, lock all the doors and stay there. From what I just heard, Leland is upstairs in the kitchen. From what I heard he was beating Autumn. I’m glad she got away. I’ll send the police as soon as possible. All hell has broken loose out near Lone Oak Road.”
The phone went dead before Kate could ask any questions.
She followed the others into the break area. Beth and Calvin were holding Autumn up at the sink. She was crying and blotting her bleeding mouth with a towel, but she didn’t look too badly hurt.
“Calvin,” Kate whispered. “Lock the doors.”
“They’re already locked, except for the one Autumn used, and it closes automatically when someone goes through. No one upstairs will find it unless he knows how to open it.”
“Good. We’re safe enough.” She left Autumn with Beth and crossed to the wide stairs leading to the hidden passage. From the bottom of the stairs she could see both the place where Autumn had landed from the trap door and the closed panel above. She’d know if anyone came down either way.
Martha Q joined her. “I never could tolerate a man who would hit a woman. That guy upstairs better pray he doesn’t find the way down or I’ll teach him a lesson he’ll never forget.”
Kate lifted the snow shovel. Preparing, like the soldier she was, for battle.
All seemed silent for a while except the wind wheezing through the cracks. She thought she heard footsteps. One, maybe two sets.
Then, like a bell chiming once, Kate heard a shot ring out from above.
Then silence.
Kate looked at Martha Q, knowing the others would be little help.
“Do we go up?”
Kate nodded. “We do.”
Martha picked up a pipe.
Chapter 52
HARMONY FIRE STATION
THE OUTSIDE LINE RANG NEXT TO TYLER’S LEFT HAND. He picked it up quickly. All firemen were accounted for except Brandon Biggs. He hadn’t called or radioed in since the first sightings of tornadoes touching down near Harmony.
“Hello. What is your emergency?” Tyler asked.
“Sir Knight?” came Saralynn’s frightened voice. “Are you or my uncle Hank coming to get us?”
“We’re a little busy.” Tyler tried to sound calm, but a tornado had scraped along the cottonwoods fifteen minutes ago and damaged most of the trailer park just outside town. Every fireman they could spare had been called out except Brandon Biggs, and as soon as Tyler could contact Biggs, one more would be on his way.
The sheriff’s office was setting up roadblocks. Right now no one was getting down Lone Oak Road because of scattered debris on the road. “Are you with your mother, Saralynn? Are you safe?”
One emergency at a time, Tyler reminded himself.
“We are all safe, but it’s cold in the basement since the tree knocked down our door.”
The Matheson place was several miles from the trailer park, but close enough that it could have taken damage from the hundred-mile-an-hour winds. “I’ll get your uncle Hank on the line. Give me a minute.”
Tyler stood and searched the bay area of the fire station. Hank had been loading up supplies five minutes ago, but now he was nowhere in sight.
“Saralynn, could I talk to your mother?”
“Okay,” she said. “But don’t forget to tell someone to come get us. I don’t like it down here.”
Tyler waited until Claire said hello, then asked, “Is everyone all right? Are you in any danger?”
“No,” she said calmly. “Just frightened. The Trumans are here, and tell Alex her brother Noah is with us. We’re trapped but unharmed.”
“Good.” Tyler wasn’t sure what to say. “Hang in there. The road is blocked out your direction, but we’ll get to you as soon as we can. Looks like the worst of it is over. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re not seeing sunshine soon.”
“I hope so,” Claire answered. “Can you check on my sister and Gabe? I can’t get either of them on the phone.”
Tyler grinned, already knowing that answer. “They drove in an hour ago to the hospital. I think Hank tried to reach them also. When he called the hospital, a nurse told him cell phones were not allowed in the delivery rooms.”
“We should be there.”
The always-calm Claire sounded like she was beginning to shatter. Tyler wished he could help her, but there was nothing anyone in town could do.
Tyler could guess how it would feel being trapped. “We’ll get out to you as soon as we can,” he said again, hoping it would be sooner and not later. “Make sure everyone is warm.” It was a dumb thing to say, but Tyler felt he had to give some advice.
She thanked him and hung up.
Tyler sat back down at his desk and tried one more time to call his funeral home. The line was still busy. It had been for twenty minutes. The 911 call had come in only a few minutes before everything happened. He’d picked it up, thought he heard someone scream and then nothing. A few minutes later he’d reached Kate, but in the storm he’d lost the connection.
Tyler answered two more calls of people reporting damage before he had a few seconds to dial Kate’s number. No answer. She’d had her phone with her when she’d talked to him. She’d said they were all safe in the basement. No tornado had touched down inside the city limits. His home and business were safe . . . so where was everyone and who had called 911?
He was not a man who panicked, but he could feel his insides winding up for an explosion.
Hank called in to say they were transporting two people to the hospital from the trailer park. Another fireman reported that he was en route to the hospital with a man who might have suffered a heart attack.
Tyler took the calls, and relayed them when needed, but all the time he was worried about his people at the funeral home. Calvin and Dave were older; Beth should have retired five years ago. Autumn was pregnant. He thought of a hundred things that might have happened since he’d talked to Kate. He kept telling himself that Kate was there, she could take care of any emergency. She would call his cell if she needed him. They were safe in the basement where no one could get to them.
Five more minutes passed, then ten. The rain stopped pounding. Tyler glanced at the window. The sky was no longer black. People were still calling in. Some to say their electricity was out. Some to report damage. He’d put Ronny to work taking down reports. The girl had prove
n to be a great help, as had Border Biggs. Though he frightened a few people off, he was more than willing to do all he could. When folks saw his grandmother pass by and pat him on the cheek, they lost most of their fear of the kid.
Tyler needed to leave. He only had to go a few blocks and check on his people, but right now he had a job to do and he couldn’t abandon his post until someone showed up to relieve him.
His cell finally rang. “Kate,” he said as he answered. “I’m so glad . . .”
Kate’s voice broke in. “We need an ambulance, Ty, as fast as possible.”
Tyler picked up the other line and punched speed dial. “Who?” he said, mentally going through his list of employees who might be hurt.
“One man down. Gunshot wound. Life threatening.”
Tyler’s training kicked in. He relayed the message as fast as possible before asking any of the questions firing through his brain.
“It’s on its way,” he said to Kate. “Fill me in.”
“Thank God.” She took a moment to breathe before she answered. “Its one of your firemen. I think his name is Biggs. Leland beat Autumn up and when she escaped, the fireman must have come through the back door and surprised Leland. The fireman took a bullet in his chest, but near as I can tell it missed his heart because his pulse is pounding hard. Good vital signs, but he keeps asking for someone named Reagan. From his breathing, I’d guess he has a lung collapsed and he’s lost a lot of blood.”
Tyler gripped the phone so tightly he was surprised when it didn’t shatter in his hand. “You and the others?”
“We’re fine. Calvin and Dave tied Leland up. They’re sitting on him now, so send a policeman when one is free. Autumn is still crying, but I think she’s fine. How are you? We’ve been hearing the sirens. Was anyone hurt in the storm?”
Before Tyler could ask any more questions, she shouted, “I hear the ambulance. I’m going to the hospital with the fireman and taking Autumn along to have her checked.”
She hung up before he could say anything. It took every ounce of his strength to force himself to stay grounded in the chair. He called the sheriff and asked them to pick up an intruder as quickly as possible. The young dispatcher, who was barely trained, relayed him through to Alex, who was at the trailer park.
“Sheriff McAllen,” she snapped.
Tyler explained as quickly as he could about Leland being tied up at the funeral home.
Alex said she was just leaving the park. Miraculously, no one had been killed. Trailers were scattered and trees down, but everyone was alive. It would be hours before they got even one lane of Lone Oak Road passable, but at least all were safe. The firemen and local construction teams were moving in now.
Tyler set the phone down and closed his eyes for a second, blocking out the noise around him. He turned to McNabb. “Can you handle the phones for a minute?”
McNabb nodded.
Tyler crossed the room to where Border was lifting supplies onto one of the trucks heading out. “Border, I need to talk to you a minute.”
“Sure. How can I help you, Mr. Wright?”
Tyler put his arm around the big kid and walked him to the kitchen. “You’re going to need to be strong right now for your grandmother’s sake.”
“All right.” Border looked confused.
Tyler had to tell it straight. “Your brother is on his way to the hospital. He’s been hurt.”
Border shoved away. “No,” he said, as if he could deny Tyler’s words and make them untrue. “No.”
Mrs. Biggs heard her grandson and seemed to feel his pain even though she hadn’t heard Tyler’s words. “What is it?” she asked, moving closer.
Tyler looked at her. “Brandon was shot. He’s on his way to the hospital. That’s all I know.”
To Tyler’s surprise, Ronny took charge. She wrapped her arm around Mrs. Biggs’s waist and pulled her toward the side entrance. “Come on now. We don’t know how bad it is. Border will drive us both to the hospital and we’ll see for ourselves.” She motioned for Border to follow.
Border just stood like a huge tree growing in the room. He didn’t follow, and from the look on his face Tyler couldn’t tell if he was planning to cry or hit something.
Before Tyler could get to him, Ronny grabbed his hand. “We have to go. Can you drive us?”
He nodded and followed her out the side door.
Tyler smiled. Silent Ronelle Logan had stepped in to help. He didn’t know how, but the girl seemed to have woken up from a deep sleep and decided to join the human race.
Tyler sat back down at the phones. In an hour his job would be over and he could leave. He knew he’d go by home and check on everyone, and then he’d head to the hospital.
Chapter 53
DENVER CHECKED THE WEATHER AS SOON AS HE COULD turn his phone on. Tornadoes in the lower half of the Texas panhandle. Three spotted in open land and two close to Harmony. It might all be over before he could get there, but he would get there.
He called Derwood’s Flight Service and Crop Dusting while his plane pulled into the gate. He got off and picked up his next assignment, then walked out the side door of the airport and across to a row of hangars where private planes landed.
Derwood was there by the time he finished a cup of coffee. Denver had tried Claire and the house twice during his wait and finally called the fire department. A man named Tyler Wright, whom Denver barely remembered, told him the road to the Matheson ranch was blocked.
Old Derwood finished gassing up and grabbed a bottle of pop. He must sleep and eat in his plane. The cockpit smelled like old barbecue sauce, but then so did Derwood.
Denver buckled in. Derwood laughed as he fought the wind to take off. “You were lucky. I was halfway to Amarillo dropping off vet supplies when you called.”
Denver made his living on planes, but he’d never experienced anything like Derwood. If he didn’t know better he would have sworn they flew low enough to do crop dusting on their way to Harmony.
Once they were in the air, Denver explained that tornadoes had taken out a few trees along Lone Oak Road and they needed to land on the hard packed lane that ran a quarter mile from the farm-to-market road to the Matheson house.
To Denver’s surprise, the old pilot didn’t seem to think it would be a problem, but he said it would cost an extra twenty for the wear on the tires at landing.
Denver closed his eyes as they lowered into the clouds looking for the Matheson place. He didn’t open them until they touched ground. Derwood took him almost up to the front door of the ranch house. Or what would have been the front door if a tree hadn’t been blocking the way.
Denver jumped from the plane and ran to the wreckage.
“Claire!” he yelled as he pulled splinters of wood and glass away from the entrance.
“I’m here,” she yelled back. “We’re trapped.”
Denver laughed, loving the sound of her voice. “No kidding,” he said.
Derwood walked up, his hands in his baggy pockets. “What a mess,” he said simply. Rain lightly dribbled over him, making him look like a melting scarecrow left out long after Halloween.
Denver jerked his coat off, not caring about the cold. “Want to lend me a hand?”
Derwood was gone when he turned back to where the man had been standing. Apparently manual labor wasn’t included in the charter price.
Pulling branches off as fast as he could, Denver worked his way to the trunk of the tree lodged between the porch and the door leading to the basement. Or what was left of the door. The wood had been shredded by branches as though it were the thickness of cotton.
“I’ll get you out, Claire!” Denver yelled, but he didn’t see how. He needed an ax or a chain saw.
“Denver?” a young man’s voice shouted. “We’ll push from this end if you can pull.”
Denver didn’t care who was below. He was happy to have the help. “All right. Push!”
Nothing moved. The tree was wedged too tightly.
; The sound of a motor heading his way drew Denver’s attention. Derwood pulled up to the porch in a tractor.
“Where’d you find that?”
Derwood smiled. “This is a ranch, city boy. They do have equipment on ranches. I looked in the barn.”
Maybe Derwood hadn’t destroyed all his brain cells smoking weed. Denver grabbed a chain and within minutes they’d pulled the tree away, taking most of the porch along with it.
One by one the people in the basement climbed out. When a man passed Saralynn out, Denver hugged her tightly and said, “I’m so glad you’re all right. You mean the world to me, kid.”
She smiled at him and whispered, “I knew you’d come.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him carry her all the way through the living room with its broken windows to the kitchen, where everything looked just as it always had.
When Denver went back, Claire was climbing over the door frame. He offered her his hand and guided her out. For once he didn’t hold her, didn’t kiss her. He just smiled, and she seemed to understand. Just knowing she was all right was enough for now.
They carried Uncle Jeremiah out while he protested. When everyone was settled in the big ranch kitchen, Denver lent his cell to Noah, who called in to tell everyone in town that they were out and safe.
He reached Tyler, still manning the phones. “Tell my sister that there’s no need to send anyone to the ranch. We’re fine.”
Noah listened, then said, “She’s right here. I’ll tell her.”
He hung up while everyone waited silently.
Noah turned to Reagan. “Rea, Mr. Wright wanted me to tell you that during the storm Brandon went over to answer a 911 call and was shot. He’s in critical condition. He’s asking for you.”
Reagan held her breath, fighting not to cry. “I have to go to him.” She turned toward Derwood, who was in a corner finishing off the last of the pie she’d brought hours ago.
“I can’t fly in,” Derwood said, still chewing. “I just called to check on the Harmony landing strip. One of the fellows said the runway has tin all over it. Seems the roof on my hangar blew off during the storm.” He shrugged. “Appears I’m stuck here for a while, folks. Hope you’ve got plenty of food. I skipped lunch to go get him.” He pointed with his fork toward Denver.
