by Barb Shuler
“You won’t get away, Laney!”
“Fuck you, bitch! I’m not Laney!” I slammed my fist into her nose again and grabbed the knife as she dropped it. Run. I had to run. As she curled up on the floor I saw a cell phone by her. I grabbed it up and ran. My feet took me right out the door. The sting of the glass could be ignored. I just had to run. The man’s SUV. I ran to it, but cursed and cried out. There were no keys. What the fuck? There was no way in hell I was going back inside to look through his pockets. Fuck that.
“LANEY! Come back here!”
I looked back to see her stumble to the door. No, not happening. Fuck you very much. I flipped the knife over so the blade was next to my arm and ran like hell. I was still clutching the phone. As soon as I got a little distance between us I could call Drew. Or Daddy. Someone. I just needed to get a little further away. The fields all around us looked easier to escape in than the woods, plus with no shoes on the woods would kill em.
“LAAAANEY!!”
As her shrieks got further away I pushed harder, running through the edge of the wheat field to get to the corn. It was taller and it would give me some kind of protection. Right? When I hit the corn field I cursed at the stinging in my face and arms. Yeah, this was gonna suck monkey ass. But I kept running. Breathing was becoming a problem and I was bleeding, so my trail wouldn’t be too hard to follow. Fuck. I pulled my shirt off and wrapped it around my arm. That cut looked gnarly before, but now that the pain was kicking up the beat of my heart I knew I was going to be in trouble if I didn’t get help soon. I shifted my tank top and shivered. The air was chilly, but I’d just have to keep moving until I could find help.
I ran until my pace faltered and I fell to my knees, gasping for air. I pulled the cell out of my bra where I had shoved it and with shaking fingers I realized it was mine. Oh thank fuck. I hit the speed dial for Drew and waited. And waited. No answer. I quickly dialed Daddy. Again, it just rang and rang. No, no, no! “Answer the fucking phone!” I screamed as I hit Drew’s number again. I rocked back and forth on my knees as I waited. The moment I heard his voice I started to sob. He was screaming into the phone and I didn’t care. His voice was like a balm I needed. My heart needed it. It took me a few tries to get my voice to work before I could speak.
“Stuff it, Landry!” I snarled as I fought to get to my feet. My throat was so dry speaking was almost not happening. Shit. “Drew.. it’s me.”
“Dani Lynn? Baby, is that really you?”
“Yes…” my voice was a whisper as I fought back another sob. I gripped the knife in my good hand and the cell in the other. “Please… help me…”
“Oh God, baby. Where are you? Did she hurt you? Dani Lynn? Talk to me, Sugar.”
I stilled as I heard a vehicle moving my way fast. Was it her? Was it someone else? I let out a breath and took off running to the left, away from the road, just in case. I couldn’t run and talk so I had to just run as fast as I could until my legs burned so bad I couldn’t take it anymore. I fell over, my arms going out so I didn’t stab myself or drop the phone. I cursed as I laid there, my eyes going to the sky above me as I brought the phone back to my ear.
“DANI LYNN! Answer me, dammit!”
“What is that sound? Where is she?” I heard Daddy’s voice and let out a sob as I called out to him. “Listen, princess, you have to tell us where you are. Drew and Jackson are here with me. Tell me where you are.”
“I... I’m in the corn.” I let out a crazed laugh before the tears started again. It was a horror movie... I swear this was all one nightmare I just couldn’t get out of.
“Is she drugged or something?” I heard Jackson ask from somewhere in the background.
“Shut up, asshole,” Drew’s terse voice snapped.
“Hey…” I took a deep breath and tried to get back up. My legs were like wet noodles but I had to keep moving. “Would y’all shut the fuck up for a minute. I said, I’m in the corn… a cornfield... Somewhere.”
“There is corn all over the place. We need more.” Another voice said in the background. I really hated being on speaker phone, but I guess it was needed in this case.
“Daddy… she... there are bodies in the house. She killed him... Oh God...” I sobbed. I had to move fast as the images once again flooded me and I doubled over retching, my body shaking with the effort to expel anything from my body. But there was nothing left. “Shit, that hurts.”
“Baby, can you focus for me, please. We can’t find you unless you can find something for us to look for.” Drew’s panicked voice caught me and I stood back up, moving straight up the path I was on. Walking this time. My body wasn’t going to make it much longer running. The fact that my arm had its own heartbeat - one that beat stronger than the one in my chest - had me worrying.
“Corn. All I see is fucking corn!” I snarled as I stumbled. I held my bad arm up for a minute, missing whatever it was he said next. “Hold on... You can’t yell, I have to put you on speaker... I can’t... It hurts so bad….” My words were slurring even to me. I had to do something to stop the bleeding in my arm. As I hit the speaker button I heard a loud ruckus and Drew talking a hundred miles and hour to someone.
“Keep talking, Ms. Dani Lynn! I can find you.” My head tilted slightly as I tried to focus on that voice. I knew that voice. Didn’t I?
“Let’s move. The kid has an air card, we can do this from the SUV.”
I sighed and stumbled again. “Son of a fucking bitch!” I hit the ground hard. I gasped as the phone now in my bra slammed into me. The Otterbox dug into my skin. That would be another fucking bruise.
“DANI LYNN!”
“Shit, what was that?”
“What happened to her?”
There were so many voices that it took me a minute to roll over and cough the dust out of my mouth. I saw the red dirt road. Thank God. A road. “Road…” I croaked as I tried to stand. My body was wobbly but I was determined. I was not going to give up. “Red dirt…” It was then I heard a vehicle coming up the road. Please God, be on my side just this once. It’s not too much to ask for. “Baby….”
“Yeah, sweetheart. I’m here baby. We’re comin’ for ya. You keep talkin’. Don’t let us lose that signal.”
“Dirt road… big.. A big something. A silo.. thingy. Blue.. green, something, I can’t fucking tell.” The damn tears blurred my eyes and I tried to focus.
“Does it have a big ass flag on the side, ma’am?”
Ma’am? Who the fuck is that? I snorted and stumbled again sending pain to shoot through my body. “Mother fucking fuckers!” I bit my lip as the stumbling made me jerk my arm.
“Princess, stop swearing and focus,” Daddy snapped. I sniffled and let out a deep breath.
“Excuse the fuck out of me, old man. I’m bleeding to death and have a psycho up my ass, so let’s not focus on my swearing! ‘Kay?”
I heard a snort before Drew spoke again. “Dani Lynn, focus for me, baby. I can’t get to you if you don’t answer Lt. Carson’s question.”
I looked up at Drew’s words and nodded. “Big, big, fucking flag.”
“That’s the Jamison Farm. The Jordan and Ashford farms are close by there, too.” It was a new voice, but strange to me. I assumed it was the Lt. Carson person Drew mentioned. I moved to the side of the road and tried to make it to the grass. I was shivering, but hot, oh so fucking hot and sweating like a cow in this heat.
I stopped, hearing the name Jordan. The images of earlier flashed back through my head and I gasped. “Jordan… they... they’re….”
“Deep breath, princess. They’re what? Do you know that name?”
“Dead… they’re all dead…. Nicole… Daddy, she killed them….”
“She’s on the north side of the Jordan property. I just programmed the GPS for you.” There was that familiar voice again. Focus, I was supposed to be focusing.
“You hear that, baby, ten minutes.”
My eyes locked on the
blue truck barreling my way. It was her. I let out a sob and said her name, almost in a whisper.
“We’ll be there in ten minutes, baby. Hold on for me. Please!”
“She… found us…”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Nowhere to Hide
Derek
MY EYES HADN’T closed in so many hours I’d lost track. I was trying to find Ms. Dani Lynn. I had to find her. Hatcher and I had been trying to pinpoint the location of the cell phone that had been calling Drew with no luck. Its signal was being rerouted all over the world. Yes, I said world. Talk about a pain in the butt. Finally, it seemed luck was on our side. Ms. Dani Lynn was on the phone. The longer she talked, the more chances I had to find her. We had left the command post - or whatever you wanted to call it - and were speeding down the road. Bumps and laptops were not made to be friends, but I hunkered down in the backseat and let my fingers fly over the keys.
This crappy area - all the trees and fields - was making it seem worse than it was. I think. It was like one of those horror movies -The Texas Chainsaw Massacre came to mind - with the creep factor making me want to find her even more. She was a nice lady. I mean, she lived across the street from my Grams. When the Bible thumping started I always went outside. Anytime I saw her -Ms. Dani Lynn - she was always smiling and asking how I was. She was a cool lady.
I smacked the laptop I was using as the signal blinked. “Come on!” I glared as the red dot got bigger, then blinked out. The cell towers that were in this area were so far apart it was taking forever to get pings. Have you ever tried to triangulate something with only two sides? The words exchanged around me were muffled as I concentrated. I flipped between maps and letting the FBI dude beside me point out things. When I lined up the Google map and the tower map I was able to coordinate where things were.
I heard Drew and Gabe talking and getting louder so I called out, “Keep talking, Ms. Dani Lynn! I can find you.”
Minutes passed and I swear my heart was going to race out of my chest. When she said she was on the road and the Lieutenant Carson asked about the silo, it all fell into place. Holy... YES! I had her location! We were right on top of her -so to speak- but it was just a race to get to her in time. I hacked into the GPS on the dash and programmed the coordinates.
I did it. I gave a fist pump and slammed the cover on the laptop down. But when we arrived it wasn’t a scene I would have imagined and honestly, it’s not one I want to see, ever again.
Nicole
It’s one thing to come home to find a visitor, but another to find out someone is trying to steal what is yours. That man on the floor had gotten what he deserved. He was trying to take my girl from me. I’d managed to foil his attempts before of finding out what happened to the Jordans. He was convinced I was their granddaughter from out of town, here to visit while college was on break. College. Bleh. That was the story I was to give anyone who asked about me. That was what he set up for me. He’d not be happy with another body to hide. I only hoped he wouldn’t punish me again. I needed him to trust that I’d only done what was necessary to keep Laney safe.
I wanted him to let Roy come and visit me, but that hadn’t happened yet. Roy was my friend from the music store. He had been helping me with things, getting set up for me to bring Laney home with me. Roy was nice to me, too. He always let me pay him for his help in a way that not many people got. We both got something out of it. When he found out, he was none too pleased that Roy knew of my plans. Knew what I was doing and where I was going. We had to have help, though. And I was a woman, after all. As he would tell me, I had needs. Needs he made sure his friends made into something dirty when I was bad. Nothing was as good as having my Laney girl back, though. That was, if I could fucking catch her again.
The anger that had bubbled inside me uncoiled and the mailman met his end… but now Laney was scared and on the run. I was not losing her. Not again. Laney was mine, dammit. Why did this keep happening to me? I charged after her, sprinting through the open door of this godforsaken house just in time to see her run through the yard and into the fields.
“LANEY! Come back here!” She would not get away from me. My feet carried me across the yard and right behind her to the fields. If she got away he would be mad. Chase would yell at me again. Make me do things I didn’t want to do. He’d have his friends come over… like they had after I took Laney for the first time. Her body had felt so right, though. She was mine, but he had me punished for touching her first.
Lost in thought, I cursed at the corn as it started to bat me in the face. The stinging was an annoyance, but so was losing sight of my girl. “Fucking plant!” I picked up my speed. “LAAAANEY!!” I shrieked as the anger bubbled up inside me. I ran back out of the field and around the property. I had to think quick. I ran to the barn where I had just left the old man’s truck and hurried to climb in. The dust was left flying after me as the blue pickup barreled down the red dirt road. There had to be a way to cut her off, like I had last time. There was no escaping me. No precious fucking Drew to save her.
When I saw her in the road ahead of me I smirked. “Got you now, Laney. Now, you pay.” I slammed on the brakes and slammed the gear shift up - the truck rocking from the action - as I flung the door open and snarled. “LANEY! Get your ass over here!” I stalked towards her as she backed up and tilted her head at me. My predatory grin turned up as I met her gaze. “Come here, little rabbit.”
“Go fuck yourself, Nicole.”
“Now, Laney, is that how you want to play this? You want me to punish you again? He might not be mad this time… Come on, rabbit.” Her fingers curled around the hilt of the blade in her hand. “So that’s the way you want it, then?” I asked, a part of me cheering that I would get to play again. Unlike the last time, this go ‘round Laney wouldn’t cower, she would fight back. I watched in rapt fascination as her spine stiffened. She’d made the choice. It was play time. I grinned as I rolled the handle of the knife in my hand. She took a step forward as I did.
“You won’t get away with this. Any of it.”
My head tilted to the side as she stumbled. Ah, she was trying to be strong, but the weak little rabbit had no idea she was about to be skinned. Her eyes darted around. My eyes narrowed as I charged her, knocking us both to the ground. We rolled and I was surprised she had the fight in her. It only served to piss me off more. She wouldn’t get away from me.
“D-Drew is coming for me!” she yelled as she elbowed me.
I grabbed her arm and pinned it to the ground. The nerve of some people. I was doing all of this for her, and she had to bring him up? “Why are you fighting me, Laney?” I slammed the butt of the knife in my hand against her temple. “Why do you make me hurt you? I love you. Can’t you see that? Why can’t you let me love you?!”
As her eyes fluttered she whispered, “I’m not Laney!” She tried to twist, but I grabbed her left hand and pinned it on the ground. She wanted to be able to wear his ring? Wear a white dress, all the things she’d never give me? No, that was not happening. “You are mine!” As the idea hit me I cackled. Genius! I positioned the knife above her finger. “You’ll never wear his ring! You hear me Laney? You are mine!” With a warrior’s cry I pressed the blade down on her finger, the skin parting swiftly. Her body jerked and she screamed. She fought so hard that I lost my grip on her. The blood pooled around the flesh of her finger as she flipped us over. Her anger and pain sent a spark through me. “That’s it, little rabbit. Fight back.”
“I- I will… Kill you myself!” Laney was panting, her words slurring as she slightly slumped over.
“Hmm…” I grinned at her words. She was so much better this time around. Last time she just laid there, blubbering over that brute’s body. My brow arched as I waved my knife at her. “Laney, Laney, Laney…” I shook my head as I spoke again. “Maybe I should hide you again. Let that spawn he seeded you with grow a bit… then cut it from your womb and keep it for my own?”
Lane
y straightened at that. Her eyes blazed heat as she wrapped her arm protectively around her belly. “You. Will. Not. Touch. My. Child!”
“Oh, but I will,” I smirked as I stalked around her. My mind was in a million places as I watched the fear grow in her eyes. I was the wolf and she was the rabbit. She would be mine or no one’s… it ended now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
We Can’t Be Too Late
Drew
SHE WAS ON the phone. The words didn’t matter as much - well not at first - the important thing was that she was okay. But then, my heart stopped as she whispered Nicole’s name and the phone went silent. The “thump” of it hitting the ground made me want to leap from the truck and just run to her. I could hear screaming. Scuffling, muffled curses and then… I heard her scream. A pain lanced through me at the sound. What was happening? I heard Lt. Carson growl out something into his cell just as Jacks barreled our SUV around a curve in the long ass, never ending red dirt road.
We had to get to her in time. Dani Lynn sounded like she was in bad shape. Her words had been slurring and faint at best. Unless she was cursing. That was my girl. She was so sweet and delicate until she was pissed, or sick. Then she could make a sailor blush crimson.
“Baby!” I got nothing. Radio fucking silence. The phone went dead. “How much further?”
“Less than a block, it’s ‘round that corner,” Derek said, his arm up and pointing.
“Fuck!” The curse left Jacks as I tried to get a handle on what I was seeing.
The moment the silo came into view my heart lept. The flag drew my attention to the spot and I scanned the area. When I saw Dani Lynn, her body was upright but she was swaying, one arm wrapped around her, the other hanging limp at her side. Nicole was stalking around her and the blood drained from my face when I saw the knife in her hand.
