by Barbara Gee
I sighed wearily and looked down at the creek at my feet, watching the water bubble over the rocks. Would I or wouldn’t I?
I dropped to my knees, cupped my hands, and brought cold, delicious water to my lips. Kids swam in rivers and streams all the time, right? It wouldn’t kill me to take a drink.
I drank slowly, but I drank my fill. If there were parasites in the water they sure were tasty.
Feeling better, I stood back up and looked around for a spot to spend the night. My gaze was drawn to a large tree butted up against a rocky outcrop. The tree trunk and the stone formed a little corner that I could prop myself up against, which felt a bit safer than just lying down in a random, open spot.
Not as good as being wrapped in JP’s arms, of course, and not nearly as warm, but…it was a little protection at least.
Chapter 33
T
hus commenced the longest, scariest night of my life. I was cold, so cold. And noises in a pitch-black forest are the things of nightmares. Rustles. Slithers. Snuffling. Scratching. Steps. Some of them were the result of my over-stimulated imagination, I knew that, but I couldn’t discern which.
I sat silent and unmoving, huddled up in my corner, praying for it to be over. When morning sun filtered through the trees at last, relief allowed my sore, tense muscles to finally relax as exhaustion hit me hard. Minutes later I was asleep.
I don’t know how long I slept, but I woke up to a noise. It was some kind of vehicle, but not a car. Maybe a motorcycle?
Whatever it was, my body reacted as soon as the sound registered in my brain and I jumped to my feet and started running toward the noise. I stumbled and fell twice because my legs were tight and cramped from sitting immobile for so long, but that didn’t stop me.
The engine got louder. No wait, it was two. Two…..somethings….were coming closer.
I kept running and without warning I burst out of the trees and onto a road. Or rather, a narrow trail. Too narrow for a car or pickup.
The roar got louder and then a four-wheeler came around a bend, closely followed by a second. I jumped out of the center of the trail as the driver of the lead machine braked hard, sliding on the dirt but stopping in time. He took his helmet off and stared.
He was young, probably late teens, short dark hair and shocked dark eyes. The other driver pulled up beside him. A girl, same age, same disbelieving gaze.
“Who are you? And what in the world are you doin’ all the way out here?” the young man asked.
I was panting from my wild run. I leaned over to try to catch my breath, resting my hands above my knees. “I’m lost. Really lost. I could use some help.”
“Wait, are you the one they’re looking for?” the girl asked, cocking her head. “The one who was kidnapped from the meth house?”
I nodded, still breathing hard, wishing I had some water. “I imagine so, although I wasn’t kidnapped. I got away. Can you help me? I need to find a phone.”
“Sure, that’ll be easy,” she said with a grin. “There’s a ranger station a couple of miles from here. This trail goes right past it and there’s usually someone there during the day. Hop on behind me. You can wear the helmet.”
I shook my head. “Thanks, but you wear it. I’ll be fine.” I climbed on and grabbed the bars behind the seat. “Just hurry, okay? I really need to make a call.”
We pulled up to the station a few minutes later. Thankfully it was open. A female ranger greeted us and sat me down at her desk. She assured me I could use the phone sitting there to call whomever I needed, right after she called the sheriff’s department to let them know I’d been found.
As soon as she was done I dialed JP, my hands shaking so much I could hardly punch in the numbers. It rang four times, then his voicemail picked up. I hung up and tried again. Voicemail again. This time I left a brief message, saying only that I was okay and I was going to try Ava and I’d call him back again as soon as I could.
Ava answered on the first ring. I was so glad to hear her voice that for a moment I lost mine.
“Hello?” It was the third time she’d said it and I knew she was going to hang up if I didn’t speak. I was calling from an unknown number and she had no idea it was me.
I forced my dry throat to cooperate. “Ava.”
Now it was her turn to pause, but not for long. “Myla! Is that you? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Thank God. Are you okay? Where are you? I’ll come to you right now. Just tell me where.”
I couldn’t help but smile, because everyone should have a friend like her. “Yeah, it’s me. Um, I’m at a ranger station—I don’t even know where it is.” I looked at the ranger hovering nearby. “What’s the address here?”
She quickly pulled an information card from a holder on the wall by the door and handed it to me so I could read off the address, which I did.
“I tried to call JP but he didn’t answer,” I said. “Do you know where he is?”
Ava quickly filled me in. “He’s with a couple of sheriff’s deputies. Willard and Bobby were found a few hours ago, in a town about two hundred miles away. They stopped to sleep and their SUV was spotted. We all thought you were with them and JP insisted on going along with the deputies to pick you up. Janna’s FBI friend, Beckett, was with us, and he’s buddies with the sheriff so he made it happen. But then they got a call from the local PD up there and they said they raided the room and you weren’t there. Needless to say, that threw JP for a loop.”
I pressed a trembling hand to my forehead, beyond sorry for what I was putting him through. “Can you get through to him somehow? Make sure he knows I’m okay? I got away from Willard so I was never with them. I spent the night in the woods, but I’m fine.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he gets the message. Jude and Janna and I are coming to get you. We’re leaving our place right now and we’ll be there in no more than an hour.”
“Thank you,” I said gratefully. “I’ll be waiting.”
I stood up so the ranger could have her desk back, but I immediately felt light-headed and nauseous. “Um, do you think I could have some water?” I asked.
My rescuers, who’d introduced themselves as Zach and Allison, took hold of my arms and led me to a chair while the ranger came with a bottle of water. I pretty much chugged it—nothing had ever tasted so good.
“When was the last time you ate?” the ranger asked.
I had to think about it. “Nothing yesterday. Just a cup of coffee in the morning.”
“I have a granola bar and a turkey sandwich,” the ranger said. “You’re welcome to them.”
I smiled. “Maybe just the granola bar. I don’t want to eat your whole lunch. My friends will be here in an hour and they’ll get me food.”
She went and got the bar, along with a bottle of green tea. I took them gratefully as she pulled up a chair and sat down facing me.
“The sheriff wants more information as soon as you’re ready to give it,” she said. “The guys who you had the run-in with were just arrested.”
I nodded as I bit into the granola bar, which was covered with chocolate and tasted like heaven. I swallowed the first bite and told her to tell the sheriff I’d have my friends take me to his office as soon as they picked me up.
As it turned out, that wasn’t soon enough. There was a deputy at the ranger station within ten minutes, and he insisted on taking me back to the sheriff’s office himself. I called Ava to let her know about the change in plans, then went with the deputy.
The sheriff himself questioned me in great detail about what had happened at the cabin the day before. He had already listened to Ava’s tape, but he wanted my firsthand perspective, especially my description of the meth lab, which had been destroyed in the fire.
I could tell he wasn’t very impressed with my decision to go inside the cabin, but since I’d already concluded myself that it was foolish, I didn’t take it personally. My only defense, which I kept to myself, was that I’d do almost anything for JP Keller. Including �
�act now, think later.”
While I was answering questions, the deputy who had driven me there went and picked up two sausage biscuit sandwiches from the fast food place around the corner. I devoured them both and was feeling almost back to my normal self by the time Ava, Jude, and Janna arrived.
I knew I looked worse for wear, but so did they. It broke my heart to know how much worry I’d caused them.
“Myla!” Ava said as soon as she spotted me, running across the room to hug me. “I love you and I’m so glad to see you but I’m so so so mad at you,” she blubbered. “And I’m mad at myself too. I should’ve never let you go in that cabin. How do you always talk me into going along with whatever you want to do?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, hugging her hard. I looked over her head at Jude and Janna. “I really am sorry, guys. I know it was stupid and I couldn’t feel more terrible.”
Jude came over and planted a kiss on the top of my head. “We’re just glad you’re okay, sweetheart.”
“Did you talk to JP?”
He nodded, his smile wide. “I called him and also your parents. Those had to be the two best phone calls I’ve ever made. Your mom wants you to call her as soon as you can. JP and Beckett are on their way back, but they’ll be a few hours. He said to take you to his place and he’ll get there as soon as he can. Adalyn has a friend at her house to help with Lily, so she’ll stay there tonight.”
I sighed in relief. JP’s house was exactly where I wanted to be.
Janna stepped in for her own hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said. “My brother was a basket case and I hope I never have to see him suffering like that again.”
I groaned. “I hope he can forgive me. I hate what I put you all through.”
“He knows your intentions were good,” she said. “I doubt he’ll let you out of his sight for a while, though.”
“I doubt whether I’ll want to be,” I admitted. I remembered what Ava had told me about Beckett Foster pulling some strings and I pulled back and narrowed my eyes at Janna. “I have to ask—how’d your Agent Foster get involved in all this?”
Her face turned pink. “He’s not my Agent Foster, and I’m not sure I even know. He just got back from his assignment a few days ago and I hadn’t even seen him, and then when I went over to the house to paint yesterday, there he was. We were in the same room when Jude called me about you being missing, and he heard me talking and saw how upset I was. He said I shouldn’t have to drive myself and insisted on taking me to Jude’s.”
Ava had been avidly listening to Janna’s explanation, and she chimed in. “He went with us to the cabin, but it was already burning and we couldn’t get close. Turns out Beckett knows the sheriff personally, so he’s been our go-between. He’s the one the sheriff called as soon as they determined there was no one in the cabin when it burned.”
I winced. “I was afraid you thought I was in there. Did the sheriff call my parents, too?”
“They were with us at Jude’s at that point,” Ava replied. “They came over and we waited together, but once we knew you weren’t in the fire they went back home because Donna and Ray and some others wanted to bring them food and be with them through the night.”
“You should have seen us when we found out the cabin was empty,” Janna said with a wry smile. “We were all so relieved we just started bawling.”
Ava chuckled. “Well, Janna, your mom and I were bawling. The guys held it together a little better, but there were definitely some tears there.”
Janna nodded. “But then we realized those horrible men must have taken you with them, and that gave us a whole new scenario to worry about. When Beckett got the call this morning that the scumbags had been found at the hotel, we thought we finally had you back. We were sure they’d taken you as a hostage.”
“All the ups and downs were awful,” Ava said, shaking her head and giving me a side hug.
“Jed basically freaked,” Janna said with a grimace. “He was determined to get to you, so Beckett talked to the sheriff and arranged to have him ride along. Then Beckett decided to go too.”
“It was so sweet of him,” Ava said. “Jude was going to go so JP wouldn’t be alone, but he didn’t want to leave me, and then Beckett just stepped in and made it work. It wasn’t until they were halfway there that they found out you weren’t with Willard after all. Thankfully it wasn’t too much longer after that that you called me.”
I appreciated them telling me what all had happened, but I felt worse and worse as they went on. When they finished I started crying again.
“I’m so sorry for everything. You tried to stop me, Ava, and I should’ve listened. I was just so sure I could get in and out of that cabin with no problem. And I think I would have, but there was a stupid mouse or rat or something in that loft and it made me jump and they heard me. When I made it out the window, Willard was waiting for me.”
Ava tried to lighten the mood. “Just remember this the next time you don’t want to listen to my good advice,” she teased, handing me a tissue from her purse.
“At least I was smart enough to ask for your help,” I said, dabbing my eyes. “Thanks, by the way. You were so awesome. You should’ve seen their faces when they heard you call them out by name from my phone.”
A deputy approached us and gave me a polite smile. “Sheriff says you’re free to go, Ms. Garret. We’ll need to be able to reach you at all times, so let us know if you’re going to be leaving the area for any reason. And if you come up with any ideas of where Haley Knight could be, give us a call. I’m heading over to talk with her mother now. Maybe she’ll have some suggestions.”
“I’m sure she’ll tell you whatever she can. Just remember she’s really sick, so be gentle with her.”
“Will do. You take care.”
He left and Ava stuck her arm through mine. “Let’s get out of here. Have you eaten? I hope not because I’m starving.”
“I had two sausage biscuits but I could eat more,” I admitted. “And I can’t seem to get enough to drink.”
The four of us got into Jude’s big black truck and found a restaurant a few blocks away. We all ate big breakfasts while I told them about my night in the woods.
“You sure paid a stiff price for getting the goods on Haley,” Janna said when I finished.
“Speaking of Haley,” I said grimly, “I assume you guys listened to what she said in the cabin.”
“We heard it loud and clear,” Ava said, her face hardening. “Including the part about drugging JP.”
I looked at Jude and saw banked fury in his eyes. “Jed was the only one of us who wasn’t surprised,” he bit out. “He said he heard about it happening to a friend of a friend a couple years ago and after that he was convinced that’s what Haley did to him. But with no way to prove it he was afraid it would just sound like he was making excuses, so he never mentioned it.”
I felt my blood pressure rising. “If I ever come face to face with Haley you guys might have to hold me back.”
Ava gave Jude a sideways look. “I’m not sure who will be holding who back,” she said. “This one’s feeling a little protective of his big bro, too.”
“We can take turns,” Jude said wryly.
“She’ll get what’s coming to her,” Janna said confidently. “That guy Bobby will talk, I’m sure of it.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I think he will. Willard will probably keep his mouth shut about everything, though. Not to protect Haley, but just because he won’t want to give the sheriff the satisfaction of a confession.”
Janna shuddered. “I can’t believe he pulled a gun on you. I would’ve fainted.”
“I can’t believe you kicked out his knee,” Jude said, grinning. “Does JP know about your violent streak?”
“I didn’t know about it. I just saw the opportunity and knew if I didn’t get away right then, I wasn’t going to.”
Ava leaned over and put her arm around my shoulders. “I’m not surprised. You were always a scrappy
little thing. But I’m sorry you had to go through that. It must have been terrifying.”
I swallowed my last bite of scrambled eggs and felt suddenly overcome with emotion. Now that I was safe, with a full stomach and surrounded by friends, I felt a crash coming on. My adrenaline was all used up.
“Can we go to JP’s now?” I asked, my voice a little shaky. “I need a shower really bad…and some clean clothes…and I need to sleep for a while.”
“And you need him,” Ava said softly. “Come on. We have an hour to drive. You can start off by sleeping in the truck.”
I did need him. So bad. And I did sleep in the truck. Like a rock.
Chapter 34
I
didn’t wake up until we stopped by Ava and Jude’s to get a change of clothes for me. Thankfully Ava and I were close to the same size. She chose a pair of soft dove-gray sweatpants and a lightweight navy sweatshirt, informing me she was going for warmth and comfort and something I could sleep in. I knew she was assuming I’d stay at JP’s, and I hoped that’s what he wanted, too. I had no desire to go back to my place, nor did I know how I’d get there, considering my SUV was still behind that hunting cabin.
Once at JP’s, I went straight to the shower and stood under the hottest water I could stand until the cold and dirt of the woods was only a memory. I dried my hair, dressed in the soft warm clothes my friend had provided, and padded in thick socks out to where the others were waiting.
They all looked as tired as I felt. I sat down beside Janna on the couch while Jude and Ava made coffee and built a fire.
“So did Beckett stay close by your side once you guys got to Jude and Ava’s?” I asked, wanting to talk about something besides myself.
Her lips curved up. “Yeah, kind of, I guess. But it didn’t really mean anything. I think he’s just one of those guys who shines in crisis mode, you know? Like, when he sees someone in need he just responds. I don’t think he drove me up here because it was me, I was simply someone who needed help.”
