Vanished in the Mountains

by Tanya Stowe

  Despite his best efforts, the car gained on him...which told him the driver was moving faster than he should on this slick road. Moments later, it caught up. It was a white single-cab truck. Because of his angle of view, he couldn’t see the face of the driver but he didn’t need to. Only desperate men would drive the way they were in this storm.

  He hit a straightaway on the road and the truck sped up so fast, it pulled up beside him in the lane of the oncoming traffic. Now he could clearly see two figures inside. Benally and Carson. He jammed on the gas and his Jeep shot forward. But the bigger engine of the vehicle easily caught up to him.

  If they kept this up, he’d never be able to get far enough ahead to secure the house. Maybe he should go past his home, try to draw them away.

  No, they could double back and find the house on their own. His best option was to slow them down, somehow disable their vehicle.

  It wouldn’t be difficult. The snow was coming down so hard, visibility was almost zero. Whatever he was going to do had to happen soon. They were coming up on a stretch of road with twists and turns and a nonexistent shoulder between the road and the guardrail. But what could he do? How could he slow them without risking his own safety? Maybe he could block the road and hold them off until help could arrive. It was the only way to keep Dulcie safe.

  He lifted his foot off the accelerator and slowed to a crawl. He just needed an open space to turn his Jeep around without spinning on the slick road.

  The truck zoomed up so fast, Austin didn’t have time to turn around. He pressed the accelerator again, determined to get out of the path of the oncoming vehicle. But the white truck kept coming, close enough to see Benally in the driver’s seat and Carson on the passenger side. Benally crossed into the path of oncoming traffic and pulled up beside Austin’s vehicle. Then the man jerked his wheel and bumped the side of Austin’s Jeep, pushing him toward the edge. He was trying to shove him off the road just like Delacroix!

  Austin manhandled the swerving vehicle back onto the road and jammed on the accelerator. He sped forward through another curve, barely keeping his Jeep on the icy road. Another bump like that and he might spin out.

  He had to keep his distance. He sped down the road but the truck followed. Only a few feet of space separated the two cars running down the slick road at fifty miles an hour. If either of them lost control, they’d crash. With his eyes on his rearview mirror, Austin watched the white vehicle gain on him once again. He pressed the accelerator all the way to the floor. The Jeep barreled ahead putting a few more feet between them but not much.

  “Idiots! We’re going to crash.” He mumbled the words out loud and realized that’s exactly what Benally intended. He and Carson had nothing to lose. This was their last gambit. Their operation was broken. Whitehorse was arrested. Cade might not survive to testify against them. Austin and Dulcie were their only other witnesses. The criminals were going to make sure the two of them didn’t live. They intended to kill him first, right here on the road.

  Any hope of escape or slowing them down flew out the window. Gripping the wheel, he focused on the black strip of highway rapidly disappearing beneath the onslaught of the snowstorm. Surviving the next few miles would take all his concentration. His cell phone rang. He couldn’t answer it and didn’t even have time to wonder about who was calling. The ringing cut off, as if he’d lost reception. Probably because of the storm. The icy road was ahead of him. A curve was coming.

  Please, Lord.

  He barely had time to send up the words before he was leaning into the turn and slipping...sliding to the edge of the drop-off. At the last minute, his wheels caught and pulled him up the hill. Straight into the next curve.

  He took a quick breath and looked in his mirror. The truck made the turn too, sliding into the other lane of traffic. Veering into that lane again helped Benally close the distance Austin had gained. Benally’s vehicle took the curve better than Austin’s lighter Jeep and closed on him. Austin pulled into the other lane, praying officers had stopped the oncoming traffic. He sent up another prayer as he hit the next curve and slid once again. This time the side of his car skimmed the guardrail. Sparks flashed in the dark air as metal ground against metal.

  He glanced back. The heavier white vehicle took the corner better again, not even coming close to the rail. It gained more mileage, driving up so quickly, Austin was sure it would hit his bumper. He took his eyes off the mirror. The next curve came upon him fast. He barely had time to turn into it. He released the gas pedal, hoping to slow. He felt his vehicle sliding and suddenly...the truck bumped him from the back.

  It was all the impetus his slipping Jeep needed. He slid across the road, broke through the guardrail, flew off and hurtled down a short, flat incline to the side of the mountain and a hundred foot drop-off.

  * * *

  Long after Austin left, Dulcie’s mind kept wandering back, remembering the look in his eyes, the one that made her feel beautiful. She could see the shape of his lips, still feel the yearning to touch them with her own. The way he leaned in...and then the shuttering of his feelings. The cold remembrance of a woman Dulcie could never match.

  That’s what had stopped him from kissing her. He remembered Abey, her strength, her compassion. Dulcie could never match that, could never be that woman. She didn’t even want to try anymore. But it felt good to know his feelings for her were strong. That she almost made him forget. That gave her hope for another man and a future. It wouldn’t be Austin. She knew that. She also knew she would always compare any man to Austin. But at least now she had the knowledge that she was capable of love, that a man could ignite those feelings and she could respond. There was a time when she thought that wasn’t possible. She would always be grateful to Austin for protecting her and awakening her womanly emotions, for making it feel safe to love and be loved.

  But there were other women who were not safe, who needed protection. That’s what Dulcie should concentrate on now, finding the location of Susan and the other missing women. The gang had to have a holding place. But where?

  Rocky Mountain Dreams... Pierce’s real estate company. Austin told her that Carson’s mother said Pierce had handled the sale of her home. She said he was representing property all over the mountain. Could that be the answer? Was Pierce finding different locations all over the mountain, multiple places to move the girls from one to another? It made sense.

  She pulled up the real estate sales and searched through the listings. Rocky Mountain Dreams had facilitated ten sales in the last month. There were six residential homes, two retail businesses in town and two pieces of property without buildings. She looked up the first one and clicked on the satellite app to get a visual. It was hard to see through the pine trees, but there were no buildings on that property or the other.

  Next she looked up the retail buildings. They were smack-dab in the middle of downtown Silverton. Even though they were large vacant buildings, neither place was a good location for holding women as prisoners. They were far too visible.

  Frustrated, she made herself a mug of hot chocolate. The wind kicked up and howled. It sounded like the storm had turned into a blizzard. She thought of Austin traveling down the mountain and wanted to call but first, she wanted to have good information, something positive for him to hang on to as he watched Cade fight for his life.

  Settling down on the sofa again, she pulled up the satellite photos of the remaining six homes Pierce’s company had sold. Each of them had buildings, cabins or larger houses...making them viable locations to hide victims. But how could they know which one? Would they just walk up, knock on the door and start asking questions?

  She dug deeper, looking for the buyers of each property. A company called Equine Properties purchased two of them. Satellite images showed that both locations had smaller cabins with no outlying buildings, something like what Austin found on the Carson property. More suitable to hunting or weeken
d places rather than homes. Interesting.

  Equine Properties’ website listed itself as a small renovation company, ready to buy fixer-uppers. There was another blurb about turning renovations into dream vacation homes. But when she went to look up the owners, she found nothing.

  “Who are you, Equine Properties?” Saying the name out loud made something click.

  Wait...equine meant horses. Could Whitehorse be Equine Properties? She opened files in the county clerk’s office and found nothing. She dug deeper and finally found the registration DBA for Equine Properties. Owner and sole proprietor...John Whitehorse.

  Dulcie leaped to her feet and whooped. “I got you, you snake! I got you!”

  This was the evidence they were searching for, enough proof to fill out a search warrant for the cabins. She wrote the addresses of the two locations on a sheet of notepaper. Snatching up her phone, she dialed Austin’s number.

  It rang and rang until his voice mail clicked on. “Austin, I have the link. Whitehorse has a shell company buying property around Silverton from Pierce. They’re working together! Two of the places look like the Carson cabin you described to me, and I’ve written down their addresses. I’m sure they’re using those places to hide their victims. I hope that’s enough probable cause for a search warrant... Okay. Call me when you get this.”

  She hung up. In the sudden silence, the storm howled. It was terrible and Austin was driving in it. For the first time a tingle of fear climbed up her spine. She hurried up the stairs to the loft to look out. All she could see through the window was a sheet of snow, falling so fast she could barely make out the trees around the property. Austin was outside...in this? Had he made it down the mountain?

  Her heart stopped. Will he make it back up to me? Am I stranded?

  The blood pounded in her temples as she ran downstairs to check the weather on the internet, but she couldn’t connect. The storm had knocked out the internet. She tried her cell phone reception. Nothing. She was all alone in a blizzard. Panic started to sweep through her. Suddenly, the sound of a car engine made her pause. Had Deputy Bolton arrived?

  She ran upstairs again to look down on the yard. A white truck she didn’t recognize pulled to a stop in front of the house. Definitely not the deputy. Two men in dark clothing stepped out. She couldn’t see their faces, but she saw enough to know they were strangers.

  Panic surged through her and she ran back downstairs. There was no knock on the door or calling out. Instead, gunfire exploded and hit the door. The solid wood splintered, sending pieces across the room. Dulcie screamed and dove for the couch.

  They had to be members of the gang and they were here to get her. They concentrated their shots around the dead bolt. They were shooting out the lock! Any minute they’d be inside. She looked around desperately searching for somewhere to hide. There was no place. No nook or cranny. Just Austin’s wide-open home, the place she’d loved from the minute she saw it. Now it would be her trap.

  Her notes! She needed to hide her notes. Most likely they’d take her to one of the locations she’d just discovered. Austin needed to know where to find her. Her mind stumbled at the thought. But what if they had no intention of kidnapping her? What if they meant to kill her? Her heart banged in her chest for one long moment before clarity came to her.

  If they killed her, then Austin needed the evidence to stop them. She ripped the note off the pad and stuffed it under the sofa cushion just as the metal dead bolt flew out of the door and across the room.

  A large hand reached in through the hole and turned the lock on the handle. The door slammed open. Two men stepped inside and marched toward her. Numbness crept over her. Everything slipped into slow motion. She wanted to scream. Wanted to turn and run...somewhere...anywhere. But she couldn’t move. Couldn’t make a sound as one of them grabbed her arm and shook her.

  “Good thing you’re making it easy for us,” one of them ground out. “After all the trouble you’ve caused, I wasn’t of a mind to be nice.” He had sandy hair and light-colored eyes.

  The other man had darker coloring. “You just gonna stand there and let us take you?”

  Dulcie didn’t answer, couldn’t. She was paralyzed but her mind still raced. She recognized the raspy voice they heard echoing in the ruins at Canyon de Chelly. This man was Benally.

  He spun her around. Something tight and sharp pulled her hands together. She heard the distinctive zip of a plastic tie. “Maybe you don’t fight ’cause you think Deputy Turner is coming to your rescue.”

  The sandy-haired man laughed. “Yeah, Benally. That’s what she thinks. Why she’s not even moving.”

  How did Carson and Benally escape the Navajo police custody? She wanted to ask, thought the words, even tried to shape them with her lips, but still, she was paralyzed.

  Benally shoved her bound arms, turned her around to face him and pulled her close. His dark eyes glinted with something cold and cruel. “Let me take care of that right now. Turner isn’t coming. Not now. Not ever. We pushed his car off a cliff into a canyon where if they ever find him, he’ll be crammed so tight in that tin-can Jeep of his, they won’t know where he ends and the metal begins.”

  For the first time since they’d entered, Dulcie was able to make a sound. She whimpered a mournful cry. Then her knees gave out. Benally caught her and threw her over his shoulder. Carson laughed all the way out the door.

  NINE

  Austin’s Jeep landed with a bone-jarring thud. His airbag exploded in his face, momentarily stunning him. But the vehicle didn’t stop. It was still rolling down the flat incline toward the drop-off. He couldn’t see what was ahead, but he knew there was a hundred-foot cliff at the end of his slide. If he didn’t get out, he’d be hurtling over it too. He gripped the steering wheel. Through the side window, snow flew by as his Jeep continued to plow through the deep drifts. They slowed his momentum but still, he needed to stop or get out before his Jeep reached the cliff.

  Struggling against the airbag, he tried to touch his seat belt. Suddenly, the vehicle dipped into a ditch and lurched to a stop. Austin jerked forward but stayed cushioned by the seat belt and the airbag.

  He sat motionless for a moment or two. His chest hurt from his slam into the seat belt. A corner of his neck burned where the belt had sliced him. But he had stopped and he was alive.

  The nose of his Jeep was pointing downward. He could hear the hissing of his hot engine melting the snow. At least he hoped that was the hissing sound.

  Please, God, don’t let the engine be damaged. But the most important thing was that he was no longer headed toward the cliff. He leaned his head back against the seat and took a deep breath.

  Thank You, Lord. Thank You.

  Relief swept over him and a thousand unrelated thoughts jumbled his mind. He was glad to be alive. A few months ago, he didn’t want to live. He’d wished for the numbness of death, but now...now he wanted to live. Dulcie’s lovely, distinctive image with those dark eyes and wild hair flashed into his mind. How could he have ever thought she wasn’t attractive?

  She was unique. Tender but strong in her own way. She wasn’t a warrior like Abey, but she was a capable fighter. She battled her way through her fears. Conquered her own desire to hide and pushed forward every time...even when he wanted to run away. She was special. He should have told her so and held her close when she trembled. He wished he’d kissed her when he left her at the cabin...and at the ruins. Instead, he’d criticized her. Said hurtful things and made her feel less than she was.

  Please, Lord, give me the chance to tell her how I really feel. Let me show her how much she amazes me.

  His thoughts came to a stuttering halt. Benally and Carson had just pushed him off the cliff. Now no one stood between Dulcie and those animals. He had to get on the road and back to her!

  Galvanized into action, he released the seat belt. He couldn’t move with the airbag. He nee
ded to cut it open, but he couldn’t reach his pocket knife. The engine had stalled, but the key was still in the ignition. He shut it off and pulled out the key. Positioning it between his knuckles, he punched the key into the airbag holes at the bottom to enlarge them. It took three punches before the key finally pierced and deflated the bag. When he could move, he pushed on the door.

  Cold, fresh air rushed in, but he couldn’t open it more. The depth and weight of the snow he’d plowed through was piled against it and had it jammed. Finally, free of the airbag, he shoved the seat back. The extra room gave him the space to turn and push both feet against the door. It swung wide and he tumbled out, landing in the soft snow. He lay for a moment, letting the flakes fall on his face, once more thanking the Lord for his safety.

  But he had to get going. He climbed to his feet and hurried to the front of his Jeep. The ditch he’d slid into wasn’t deep. Apparently, the snow had slowed his descent enough so that the dip stopped his momentum. His bumper was crushed, but it looked as if his engine was intact.

  Looking back up the slight incline, he could see that his Jeep had made a clear path for about twenty feet down. Snow was plowed away, down to black dirt in places, enough solid earth to give him traction. The guardrail where he came off the road lay broken and spread out over the boulders of the drop-off. It wasn’t much of an incline, just about six feet, and a rough enough landing to trigger his airbag. But the four-wheel drive of his Jeep could make the climb up the incline to the road...if he could get it started and out of the ditch.