by Ashley Emma
As he was leaning over, Liv made a split-second decision. She lunged and grabbed the knife from out of his belt. Before she could even raise it, he was on her, whisking the blade out of her hands and thrusting it back into his belt, concealing it under his pants. He wrapped his burly hands around her throat.
“I told you not to try anything,” he seethed, his rancid, hot breath on her face. Images of Jake trying to strangle her flooded her memory. She cringed, wriggling in his grasp, then he released her and whispered, “If you call for the guards or try anything else, I’ll stab her right here and now.”
Suddenly the nurse appeared at the doorway again, her short dark hair bobbing. Ian hid the Amish dress and kapp behind his back just in time. “Are you almost done in here?” she asked.
“Oh, yes.” Ian grinned.
The nurse smiled. “Okay.” Then her gaze fell on Liv. “Hey, weren’t you here with another man named Isaac last time?”
Ian smoothly put his arm around her shoulder, but the nurse didn’t see him pinch her skin, hard. She winced.
“Uh, yeah. That was my brother.”
“Hmm… That’s not what Jill told me. She said Isaac was your boyfriend.” The nurse looked suspicious.
“Um, I mean this is my brother. Sorry. It was quite a trip here. I must be more tired than I realize.” Liv lied as badly as she could. With Ian’s arm around her like that, it should have been obvious that he wasn’t her brother. She hoped the nurse would pick up on something, realizing something was wrong. An Amish woman would never date two men at once, and hopefully that was common enough knowledge for the nurse to realize that.
“Oh, I see. Where did the little girl go?”
“Well, my mom is here too, and they went to the bathroom together.”
“Okay, then,” the nurse said awkwardly. “Finish up in here, okay?” She left again.
Ian grabbed Liv and whirled her around. “Try a stunt like that again, and I will kill you and Jill. Got it?”
Liv nodded rapidly.
Ian whipped out the dress and blanket from behind him. He yanked the dress onto the unconscious, limp girl, right over her hospital gown. He put on the head covering.
“You really think that will work?” She hoped that it didn’t with all her heart. They kept their voices down so the guards outside the door wouldn’t hear.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, no one has been paying attention to us except that nosy nurse. The woman at the desk didn’t even hardly look at us. The guards didn’t blink. No one will think twice about an Amish couple leaving the hospital holding their sleeping child in their arms,” Ian sounded annoyed as he finished putting on her dress. He unhooked Jill’s IV, and Liv hoped that wouldn’t hurt her.
Liv glanced at the doorway. But the guards didn’t even bother looking their way.
“I better put this where you can’t reach. Just in case you try something stupid again. And if you do try anything, I really will kill both of you.” He took the knife from his belt and tucked it under his shirt. Then he picked up the child and carried her over his chest. Jill really did look like she had fallen asleep in his arms, and did not look much different from the decoy he had been carrying before, especially when he draped the blanket over her.
Oh, no, this maniac was right. No one would notice, would they? He was going to slip out of the hospital, kidnapping a child right in plain sight.
“Ready to go, dear?” he said, walking out of the hospital room, putting an arm behind Liv to make her walk next to him. The guards didn’t even look at them twice as they walked by. Liv was about to give them a signal, but Ian looked at her and gave her a warning glance that only she noticed.
They went on the elevator and walked into the lobby. Jill looked so peaceful in Ian’s arms, just as any daughter would look as she slept, safe in her father’s hold. But inside Liv, a storm of turmoil and desperation raged, and she tried to show it to the people surrounding her without Ian seeing.
The woman at the desk didn’t look up as they passed, though Liv desperately wished she would. Liv tried to give pleading, fearful looks to everyone who passed by, but no one seemed to care. They just walked along, smiling blankly, politely, not even noticing what was going on right under their noses. Why would they? There was no reason to suspect an Amish family of anything.
Ian had been right. No one even realized that they were witnessing a crime.
Ian put Jill in the backseat, buckling her as she remained unconscious. They got in the car and drove back to Unity, and the entire time Liv shook in fear, trembling at the thought of causing this innocent child to be back in the captivity of a sociopath. How could Liv buy more time? Someone at the hospital would notice them missing soon and come looking for them. Maybe Isaac knew about the shack, just like he had known about the cabin, and would tell the police.
But Isaac was probably already asleep for the night, and he might not even realize she was missing until morning. As for the hospital, she didn’t know how long it would take them to realize Jill had been taken.
Please, God, send someone to rescue us. And if not, give me the strength to get us out of this situation safely.
“Here we are,” Ian announced, throwing the car in park. “Well, looks like we’ll be camping out here for the night. I’d offer you a bigger space, but someone already found my cabin hideout. It’s no longer a safe place to stay.”
Ian got out of the car and unbuckled Jill, carrying her into the shack. Liv knew she could run as his back was turned, but she knew he would hear her and shoot at her. Then Jill would be left alone with her kidnapper.
No. She would not save herself and leave Jill behind.
They went inside the shack where Ian rolled out a mat for Jill to sleep on, and he carefully set her on it. He tied up her hands and feet as she was still motionless, then he tied Liv back onto the chair. Great. Tied up again.
“Now go to sleep.” Ian unrolled a sleeping bag for himself.
“Here? Like this?” she asked incredulously. How was she supposed to sleep tied to a wooden chair?
“I know you’ll try running off, so I have no choice but to restrain you like that. Or, if you’d rather, we can share my sleeping bag.”
“No thanks. I’m good.” She wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not. She’d rather sleep on the edge of a cliff than anywhere near him.
“Get some rest. We leave in the morning.”
“Where? Where are we going?” Liv panicked. If he took them somewhere else, they might not ever be found. Why didn’t he just kill her?
“Not sure yet. Just go to sleep.” He lay down and closed his eyes.
Liv knew at that moment she wouldn’t sleep one moment for the entire night. Overcome with worry, she trembled throughout the night, drifting in and out of a half-sleep. Her neck hurt and she was stiff, but that pain was nothing compared to the anxiety within her.
Please, God. Save us.
*
“Olivia?”
Liv heard a small voice calling her name and she opened her eyes. Morning sunshine was pouring in the small window, brightening the small shack. She looked down to see Jill waking up on her mat.
“Olivia, what’s going on?” she asked, her eyes darting back and forth. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, her blonde hair mussed. “Why am I tied up again?”
How was she going to explain this? “Well—”
“Good morning, Ava. Did you sleep well?” Ian rummaged around the shack, putting things into a bag.
“My name isn’t Ava. I told you that before.” Jill shrank back into the corner of the shack. She stared at Ian wide-eyed, and Liv knew that even though Jill might not have seen Ian’s face, the girl knew this was her kidnapper. She showed every sign of distress—rapid breathing, shifting eyes, covering herself with her arms, trying to get as far away from him as she could. But the child had nowhere to run, and Liv’s heart broke for her.
“Why am I tied up?” the child repeated, trying to tug her hands free
. “How did I get here?”
“Well, your friend Liv here told me where to find you, so we went and took you from the hospital. And now, we’re leaving,” he explained.
“No! Where are we going? I want to go home to my mom.” She cried, her brown eyes filling with tears. She was actually handling this very well. If this had happened to Liv at that age, she would have had a panic attack. “Why did you take me?”
“Well, Ava, the truth is, we need each other. I need you more than your mom does, and I can keep you safer than she ever could and take better care of you. I’ve been watching you for a long time now, my dear. Look. See what I made for you?” He showed her the wall of pictures.
Jill stared up at the collage of her, all the photos of her at home and even at school, or doing chores. She shook her head wildly. “No, no. We aren’t supposed to be in pictures. It is considered vain.”
“You had no idea I was taking these pictures, so don’t worry. It’s not your fault.” Ian knelt down to her level. He touched her shoulder, but she wriggled away.
“Why did you take all those?” She looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock.
“Because you are my sister, and I love you, and I wanted some pictures of you. Aren’t they lovely?” He presented the collage as if it were a masterful work of art.
Jill looked at it skeptically, then she glanced at the other wall. “You took pictures of Olivia, too?”
“Yes. I’ve been watching her, too. Anyway,” Ian continued, stuffing more things into a box. “We are going out of state. We leave now.” He went to the wall with Liv’s photos on it and began taking it down carefully, laying the photos in a box. Then he started taking down Jill’s pictures.
“Where are we going?” Jill demanded. “Please, take me home!”
“I can’t, Ava. We need to go somewhere where we can be a family. Here, no one understands the love we have for each other. If we go somewhere else, we can start over. Finally, we can be one happy family.” Ian turned to Liv and looked at her in a sickening way. “What I said before about killing you if I were Jake, that wasn’t true. I always knew that if I married you, you would have been much happier with me than you ever were with him. I promise, I will take better care of you, Olivia. I have lots of plans for you.”
She wished her hands were free so she could plug her ears. With the way he looked at her, she almost wished he would just kill her now rather than carry out whatever plans he had for her.
*
Knock knock knock.
Isaac stirred in his bed and groggily opened his eyes. Was that someone knocking on his door?
Knock knock knock!
There it was, much louder this time. Oh, no! He must have overslept for work again. He had only done it once, and Gideon had been understanding, but he had promised himself he wouldn’t do it again, and now he had. He passed a hand over his face and ran his fingers through his hair, then scrambled out of the bed and threw on a shirt. He hoped Gideon wouldn’t be angry with him.
“Coming!” he shouted and ran for the door. He pulled it open to see a tired, worn Gideon standing on his porch.
“Oh, Gideon, I’m so sorry for oversleeping—”
“No, Isaac. That’s not why I’m here.”
Gideon looked older all of the sudden. Worry lined his face, aging him by a decade.
“Have you seen Liv?” Gideon asked.
“Jah, I saw her last night when she walked me home, after we visited Jill in the hospital.” Then, like an avalanche, worry hit him. “Why, what’s happened?”
“She never came home last night. We never heard her come in, and Mary is a light sleeper. When we woke up, we realized she was gone. And Mrs. Johnson just told me Jill was taken from the hospital and is now missing.”
Liv! And poor little Jill. Isaac collapsed against the doorway, his knees giving out. His vision tunneled, and for a moment he was afraid he’d pass out. Gideon instantly reached out to support him.
“No! I should have walked Liv home last night. We thought she’d be safe now that Samuel was arrested!”
He should have walked her home! He had had his gun on him. He would have done anything to protect her, even shooting the criminal if he had to, but he didn’t say that in front of his boss, who didn’t even have a gun for hunting.
“Wait, Samuel was arrested?” Gideon asked. When people didn’t have cell phones, word didn’t travel so fast.
“Yes… I guess you haven’t heard what happened yet. I’ll tell you more later.”
“Liv could have been taken too,” Gideon replied in an urgent tone. That had to be what had happened. Liv was supposed to go to her house, and she wouldn’t have left like this. “Let’s go pray with the others.”
“No, you go ahead. I need to get myself together here.” Isaac motioned for him to go.
“All right.” Gideon didn’t argue. He hurried off.
Isaac retreated into his house and collapsed at the table, thinking. Samuel clearly was not the culprit. But his sister had been named Ava, and the man who kidnapped Jill had called her Ava. No one else had ever been named that here.
Then realization struck him like a speeding car. There had been one more son in the Sullivan family, a son who had been forgotten long ago when he had left the community. The sound of his name had died the day he had left. No one had spoken of him since, so it was like he had never existed, except in people’s memories. Isaac still remembered his childhood friend.
Ian Sullivan. It had to be him.
Isaac remembered how Ava had drowned while Ian and Samuel were supposed to be watching her. The rumor was that Bill blamed Ian for Ava’s death because he was the oldest, so that was why Ian had left.
So that was why he had kidnapped Jill and called her Ava. Jill resembled Ava, and he was probably trying to recreate his sister to make himself not feel guilty anymore.
Isaac wracked his brain for more places they had played at as children. Where else would he want to take his sister if she were alive?
Isaac shot up out of his chair.
Ian must have taken her to the place where his sister had died. There was an old shack they used to play in by the pond where Ava had drowned. Maybe he was stashing Olivia and Jill there.
He had to tell the police! He had to protect her at all costs. Decision made, he grabbed his gun, pulled on some boots, and bolted out the door. Isaac sprinted down the lane, dialed 9-1-1 and told them what he knew, then he hung up and ran into the woods.
He wasn’t going to wait for the police to arrive and assemble a team to go in the woods. Isaac figured the average time for police response was twenty minutes, and it would take them even longer to trek through the woods. If Isaac left now, he could be at the shack in only a few minutes. It would be dangerous, but he couldn’t just wait around and waste precious minutes.
A sense of urgency filled him. He just knew in his heart that he didn’t have much time. If he didn’t go now, he’d regret it for the rest of his life.
*
“Everything’s going to be okay, Jill,” Olivia whispered to Jill as Ian loaded some things into the car. “I know this is scary, but you are being really brave. I didn’t want to bring him to the hospital to find you, but I didn’t know what else to do. I’m trying to get you home, okay? I’ll get you home, Jill. I promise. Don’t worry.”
Liv meant it. She would get Jill home, even if it was the last thing she would do. Jill nodded somberly, then Ian came back into the shack.
“Let’s get in the car. I’ll bring Ava first.” Ian picked up a wriggling Jill and carried her out the door.
Liv sighed heavily, her heart wrenching for the little girl. It was morning, and someone must have realized they were gone by now. Would Isaac remember Ian? Did he even know where Ava had drowned?
She just kept on praying Isaac would be able to lead the police here.
Ian came back inside and cut her ropes off and tied her hands together. He led her to the car.
“Oh, I forgot so
mething,” he muttered, then went back inside. “Wait here, Olivia.”
“I’m scared,” Jill cried from the back seat. Her brown eyes were wide with fear, and her small hands trembled.
“It will all be okay, I promise,” Liv said.
She hoped it would be true.
Chapter Fourteen
Isaac raced through the woods, gun in hand. He sprinted toward the shack, branches whipping at his hands and face, but he didn’t feel the pain. He had one goal in mind, and nothing else mattered.
He reached the pond and saw the shack. Behind it, hidden in the trees, was a car. Someone was there. Was it Ian? Where was he taking Liv and Jill?
Isaac crept toward the shack and hid behind a large bush. Now that he was closer, he heard voices.
“Oh, I forgot something. Wait here, Olivia,” came a man’s rumbling voice.
Olivia! She was alive. Where was Jill? Maybe she was still in the shack.
Footsteps crunched twigs. Isaac readied himself, heart pounding, gripping his Walther P99.
This was his one chance. His only shot.
He watched Ian go into the shack, then waited for him to come back out. Isaac wanted to see his face first, just to make sure it was Ian. Waiting for him to come out was complete torture. Though it was only a few minutes, it seemed like an hour.
A door shut, and the man came out from behind the shack.
It was him. It was Ian!
Isaac aimed his gun at Ian’s torso, the area of the body that was easiest to hit. He hoped he wouldn’t kill him, but he had to injure him enough for Jill and Olivia to escape. He steadied his aim, then fired. The gunfire exploded in his ears along with Ian’s screams as his face contorted and he crumpled to the ground. In the distance, Liv screamed, shouting something.
A dark, angry, endless crimson flowed from Ian’s leg. The hours Isaac had spent target shooting with this new gun had paid off. At least he had missed the torso and only hit the leg.
Isaac waited for remorse to set in, for him to regret what he had just done.
But all he felt was relief. Isaac stood, and once Ian saw him, Ian shouted at Isaac.
