Deceived (Unlikely Heroes Book 3)

by Leslie Georgeson

  Kristen giggled. She’d seen them kissing in the kitchen last night. She’d been shocked at first, then she’d decided it was a good thing. Maybe her dad would marry Meg and she could have a cool stepmom.

  Kristen headed deeper into the trees. She came upon that fallen log with the hole in its trunk where she’d seen a chipmunk the other day and glanced down inside the hole, hoping to see the little creature again. But the chipmunk was nowhere to be seen.

  The hair sprang up on the back of her neck. She had the eerie sensation that someone or something was watching her. She hefted her backpack tighter over her left shoulder and glanced around.

  The wind picked up. Tree branches swayed and crackled. Pine needles scraped each other in the breeze.

  Kristen started walking again. Meg’s house was only a little ways across the forest.

  Something dashed across the woods in front of her. Kristen startled, her hand flying to her throat, her chest heaving in fright.

  A white tail flashed at her as a deer bounced away.

  She snorted. It was just a stupid deer. Dumb animals were always bouncing around like that, scaring the crap of her.

  She started forward again. The hair sprang up on her neck again. She slowed, her gaze scanning the trees.

  A man stepped out from behind a tree trunk in front of her. She gasped and leapt back, her heart slamming into her ribs.

  He lifted a gun and pointed it at her. “Come along quietly, little girl, and no one will get hurt.”

  Kristen stared, her heart pounding, her legs frozen to the spot as terror gripped her. What had her dad told her about a situation like this?

  Run! Run for your life. Don’t get caught or you might never get away.

  Kristen threw her backpack at the man and screamed, dodging around a tree and racing in the opposite direction, into the forest. The river wasn’t far. Maybe she could jump in and float downriver. Away from the creep.

  The man cursed behind her. She heard him slamming her backpack to the ground. Then he thundered after her.

  Her heart in her throat, Kristen weaved this way and that through the forest, around the trunks of the giant pines, stumbling through the underbrush, leaping over rocks and fallen logs. She tripped over a branch and went down hard, landing in a pile of fallen pine needles on the forest floor. Gasping, her palms and knees stinging from the poky needles, she scrambled to her feet and kept going.

  She could hear the sound of the river now. It wasn’t far away.

  Keep going. Keep going. It’s just a little farther. You’re almost there.

  The man was close behind her. His labored breathing taunted her as he closed in. The river appeared as she came out of the trees. It was only a few feet away.

  The man tackled her legs. Kristen cried out as she slammed to the ground near the bank of the river. Gasping, she spit out a mouthful of dirt. The man grabbed her legs and tried to pull her back, away from the water. Kristen kicked out at him with all her might. He grunted when the heel of her black boot connected with his cheek.

  “Bitch!” He flipped her over, reached for her hands in an attempt to subdue her.

  Kristen clawed his face with her fingernails, leaving three bloody scratches down the side of his cheek. He backhanded her across the face. She gasped. Her head spun. Her vision blurred. She tasted blood.

  “I’m not supposed to hurt you, you dumb bitch, but you’ve got to stop fighting!”

  Kristen gasped in air as he struggled to subdue her. She opened her eyes and stared up at the man’s frustrated, scratched up face. Regret crossed his features.

  “I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to get paid.”

  Run. Don’t let yourself be caught. Or you might never get away.

  Kristen jerked her knee up and rammed it into the man’s groin. He howled and fell back, clutching his crotch.

  She rolled away from him toward the river. Her body kept tumbling downhill until she hit the water. Kristen gasped and sputtered as she sank into the shockingly cold river. Terror gripped her as the current swept her under and thrust her away.

  Air. She needed air.

  Kristen pushed herself upward…upward, struggling with her arms and legs, until she reached the surface. She gasped in air, blinked water out of her eyes. She glanced around. The current pulled her swiftly downriver, past her dad’s house, deeper into the wilderness. Away from her pursuer.

  She spied the man back by the bank, staring after her. He looked furious. Then he started to run after her, following the river, into the woods.

  Kristen’s teeth began to chatter. The water was too cold. She would get hypothermia if she didn’t get out soon. But the man was chasing her.

  The current sucked her downriver, around a bend, then another, and another, bend after bend, until she could no longer see the man. After another mile or so, the water became shallower, the current weaker. Her feet scraped the bottom. Kristen sloshed toward shore, shivering and soaking wet. She knew the man couldn’t be too far behind her. She had to find a hiding place. She wasn’t sure how far from home she was, but it was quite a ways. There were no houses in sight. She was somewhere deep in the woods.

  She reached the bank and climbed out, scrambling up the side and into the trees. She glanced around. The forest animals went silent at her approach.

  Where was a good place to hide, where the man wouldn’t see her?

  A bird let out a loud squawk from the trees and swooped down toward her.

  “Stupid bird.” She waved the animal way. It must have a nest close by, up in the tree.

  Up in the tree.

  That was it. That was where she could hide.

  Up in a tree.

  Kristen glanced up. The trees were huge. As tall as some of the skyscrapers in Spokane. A hundred feet. Maybe more. The trunks were thick with branches that would make climbing and moving around difficult. But if that man was close behind her, the only safe place was up. And she was skinny. She could probably squeeze herself around and in between the thick branches. She’d probably get scraped up and bruised, but it would be worth it if she survived.

  Kristen quickly selected a tree that was a little skinnier than the others and looked easier to climb than some of the massive trunks surrounding her. She took a deep breath and lunged upward, her hands wrapping around the nearest branch.

  So far, so good. She swung her legs up and around the branch, then slowly hefted herself up. Grabbing the next closest branch, Kristen pulled herself up and began to climb.

  An inch at a time, she went up the tree. She didn’t dare look down.

  Ten or fifteen minutes later, after she’d climbed about halfway up the tree, something crashed through the underbrush beneath her. Kristen went still, hugging the trunk of the tree, her heart racing. She peered down into the forest floor.

  The man thundered through the forest, his gaze darting around, looking for her.

  “Where are you, bitch?” he shouted. “I’m going to find you, yes I am. If you come on out now, you won’t get hurt. I promise I won’t hit you again.”

  Kristen held her breath. Her eyes filled with tears. Her breath hitched. If he looked up, he’d see her. And he’d probably come after her. Drag her out of the tree.

  And do whatever he wanted with her. She forced back a sob.

  Don’t cry. He might hear you. Don’t make a sound.

  Holding tightly to the tree trunk that had scraped her arms and left bloody scratches on her tender skin, Kristen waited, as still as possible, for the man to leave.

  She didn’t make a sound.

  * * *

  Kristen was missing.

  Zach pounded on Meghan’s back door at 5:45 p.m. that evening. Kristen was supposed to have gotten on a different bus that afternoon and gone to his parents’ house where she would be safe. Apparently she hadn’t. He wasn’t sure what had happened. Zach had called the school transportation department to find out if Kristen had gotten on the regular school bus that afternoon. He’d been info
rmed that indeed she had and that she’d been dropped off in front of the house. A miscommunication of some kind had occurred at the school. No one had told Kristen to get on the different bus.

  Which meant something had happened to her sometime after she’d gotten off the school bus.

  Zach had been caught up with that accident until after 5:00 and had stopped by his parents on the way home to pick Kristen up, but they said she’d never shown up. They’d tried to call him on his cell to tell him Kristen hadn’t arrived, but he’d been so busy helping with the accident that he hadn’t been able to check his messages until it was too late.

  Zach hadn’t been overly concerned until he’d gotten home and Kristen was nowhere to be found. Now he was worried sick that something had happened to her. That Cummings had somehow snatched her up. The thought of that man touching her in any way sickened him.

  So he’d rushed over to Meghan’s with the hope that Kristen was with her.

  Please God, let Kristen be with Meghan.

  Meghan opened the door, her eyes wide as she stared up at him. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

  “Have you seen Kristen?” He glanced behind her into the house.

  “No. Why? What’s wrong?” Her eyes filled with worry.

  “She’s missing.” He heaved out a sigh as panic tried to grip him. “She was supposed to have taken a different bus and gone to my parent’s house, but she never did. The school messed up and forgot to tell her. I thought maybe she was over here. I was hoping she was over here.”

  Meghan shook her head. “I haven’t seen her. Maybe she went for a walk in the woods.”

  Zach scrubbed a hand over his face. He was shaking. He’d never been this scared before. “I have to search for her. I have a bad feeling about this.”

  Meghan squeezed his arm. She looked into his eyes. “I’ll come with you.”

  Zach’s chest tightened. He swallowed hard. “Thank you.”

  A half hour later, they stopped in Zach’s front yard. They’d searched the woods and called Kristen’s name, but there had been no response. They’d found her backpack laying on the ground about halfway between their houses. Zach’s stomach twisted into a knot. He’d already gone through her backpack, but had found nothing suspicious. Had she been attacked in the forest? Where the hell was she?

  He sighed. He needed to get control of his terror and do what he’d been trained to do. But the situation was different when it was his own child.

  Stay calm, dammit. You’ll find her.

  Had Cummings kidnapped her? Zach didn’t want to even contemplate that. If the son-of-a-bitch touched Kristen in any way, Zach vowed he would kill him. He should have taken Kristen to Agent Miller first thing that morning and had her placed into protective custody. But he hadn’t, arrogantly believing he could protect her.

  God, he was a fool.

  “What if Larry has her?” Meghan looked up at Zach, her face filled with worry.

  He searched her gaze. His heart pounded. “You think he does?”

  “I don’t know. He said if I didn’t do what he wanted, he’d ‘extinguish’ you and Kristen.” She paused. “But he promised to give me a few days to come to him first. Why would he just take her like this? It doesn’t make sense.”

  Zach swore. “Maybe he decided to speed things up a bit. Maybe he figured you couldn’t refuse if he took Kristen.” The knot in his stomach twisted even tighter. “I need to call in a search party. Can we use your horses?”

  “Of course. I’ll go get them ready.” Meghan hurried home, quickly disappearing into the trees. Zach got on the police radio and called in search and rescue. He would find his daughter, dammit.

  An hour and a half later, Zach’s yard was packed with volunteers who’d come to help in the search. The road between his house and Meghan’s was lined with vehicles and horse trailers.

  Sitting astride Meghan’s black gelding, Zach glanced around at the large group of people that had gathered on his front lawn. Some Zach recognized. Others he didn’t.

  His neighbor, Max Montgomery, the veterinarian who lived across the river, rode up on a large gray and black horse. His fiancé, Jennie, followed with his daughter, Emily, each astride horses of their own. Jennie’s father, Steve Jones, was with them. Max nodded at Zach.

  “We’re here to help any way we can, Sheriff. I know how you’re feeling right now. Just hang tight and have faith. We’ll find your daughter.”

  Zach’s chest tightened. Montgomery’s daughter, Emily, was the one who’d been held captive for three years in the basement of the cabin Meghan had purchased, along with Jennie Jones, Max’s fiancé. If anyone understood what Zach was going through right now, it was Max and Steve, who’d both lived the nightmare of not knowing where their daughters were.

  Zach noticed that Max’s Border collie, Lucky, and Jennie’s three-legged wolf had come with them. The wolf kept back away from the group, lingering alone near the edge of the woods.

  “Gray’s a good tracker,” Jennie said, motioning to the wolf. “And Lucky’s very talented at sensing injured creatures. We thought they could help.”

  Steve Jones, Jennie’s father, who was astride a large, muscular horse, came forward and halted the animal beside Zach. He nodded. “You helped bring my daughter home last winter, Sheriff. So I’m here to help bring yours back.”

  Zach’s throat seized up. He cleared it. “Thank you. All of you.”

  The group moved on, disappearing into the throng.

  Zach scanned the crowd again. He spied the FBI agent, Nick Miller, with his wife, the famous horse trainer, April Huntington. Zach had never met Miller’s wife before, though he’d seen her on T.V. The fact that she’d come to help search for a girl she’d never met caused his heart to squeeze even more. He was grateful they were here.

  His gaze swept the swarm of people again. He spotted his deputies, his dispatch crew, his secretary. The mayor and his wife. The town council. Vicky, the real estate agent, and a group of ladies who lived in town. His parents.

  Zach met his father’s gaze across the yard and nodded. His mother clung to his father’s arm, her face pale. She waved at him. Zach waved back.

  Then he spied Curtis, standing with a group near the driveway. Zach had believed Curtis to be a bit flippant, but now he was beginning to suspect it was more than likely the drug use or perhaps even a front he put up to keep people at a distance. It couldn’t be easy suffering from his condition.

  Guilt slithered into Zach’s chest at the sight of Curtis, reminding him that he’d misjudged the man from the start. Curtis was indeed harmless. Zach owed Curtis an apology. Curtis had come to help find Kristen. Because he cared and wanted to help.

  It was long moment before Zach was able to find his voice. Then he addressed the group. “Thank you everyone for coming. We know Kristen got off the school bus out front. We found her backpack in the trees over there.” He pointed into the forest. “We don’t know what happened, though we found signs of what looked like someone running through the forest. The trail headed toward the river. I think she may have been chased by someone. We found evidence of a struggle near the river’s edge. She may have gotten away from her pursuer.”

  He hoped to God she had. While waiting for volunteers to show, he and Meghan had continued searching the woods. They’d discovered the trail and the place by the river where an obvious struggle had occurred. “If she got away, she could be anywhere, hiding somewhere in the woods, near the river, laying injured behind a tree...” He swallowed hard, forcing the lump from his throat. “If you see anything, anything at all, sound the alarm. She may have left a trail, a clue of some kind. It’ll be dark in a few hours, so we don’t have much time. If you see anyone out here, anyone at all, sound the alarm. It may be the guy we’re after. Please stay in groups of two or more. We don’t want anyone getting lost. Any questions?”

  Everyone glanced around. There was collective murmur of “no” before they all spread out, most on foot, others on horseback, a
nd headed into the woods.

  Meg rode up beside Zach. She touched his arm. Her gaze was kind and compassionate as it met his.

  “We’ll find her Zach. Have faith.”

  He gave a curt nod and turned the gelding toward the woods. He hoped so.

  “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Kristen hugged the trunk of the tree. She shivered. The sun had gone down a while ago. The man had searched the ground below for her for several hours, cursing and muttering as he went. Finally, at nightfall, he’d gone away. But Kristen didn’t dare come down from the tree, no matter how cold she was, no matter how much her arms ached from hugging the hard tree trunk. He could be waiting out there somewhere in the dark, waiting to snatch her up. She forced back a sob. Her dad would find her soon. He had to. He was probably already out searching for her.

  An owl hooted from a nearby tree. Kristen glanced toward the sound. There was a full moon tonight, spilling gentle light into the tree where she clung to the trunk. She was able to make out the outline of the animal as it turned its head toward her, its eyes glowing in the moonlight.

  She shivered again. She knew the bird wouldn’t hurt her, but it was creepy, the way its eyes glowed in the dark, reflecting off the light of the moon.

  The owl’s head spun away from her. It leapt off the branch, taking flight, its wings silent as it flew away. Whatever the owl was hunting wouldn’t hear the owl until it was too late.

  Then she heard voices.

  From somewhere below.

  Her heart slammed into her ribs. Her breath caught.

  Someone was down there.

  Trying to control her shaking limbs, she glanced down into the dark forest. Flashlight beams swept the ground beneath her. Kristen waited, holding her breath, and listened.

  “Kristen!” a male voice shouted. “Kris-ten!”

  It was her dad. Her breath hitched. Her throat tightened. A sob burst out of her mouth. She began to cry, great wracking sobs that she couldn’t control.