Amish Wilderness Survival, page 2
“The people? How do you know there was more than one person involved?” The question came out sharper than he’d intended, but at this point he couldn’t afford to blindly trust anyone, including her.
She flinched at his tone. “I don’t know. I assumed there had to be more than one person involved if they were able to get to Ethan.”
Get to Ethan... Was it possible Ethan had been here and then taken against his will? The idea didn’t make sense. Ethan was a soldier. His vehicle wasn’t in the garage. Fletcher wanted to believe his friend was still out there somewhere, waiting to return home.
“How did you get into this panic room? Ethan always leaves it closed.”
Fletcher waited and watched her reaction. Was she as innocent as she appeared? As much as he wanted to believe she’d just happened here, looking for Ethan, he hadn’t heard Ethan mention her before, and she claimed to be a friend. Was it simply a coincidence she was in the secured room right after Ethan’s house had been ransacked? Maybe it was all those stories Ethan had talked about with some of the covert missions he’d worked on with CIA officers, but Fletcher couldn’t let go of his reservations. Ethan had told him many times to never question his sense of doubt. It might be the only thing to keep you alive.
“It was open when I came in...” She stopped abruptly and touched a hand to her head, swaying slightly on her feet. “I’m sorry. It’s been a very long trip from Colorado to Montana,” she added when she caught his surprise.
Fletcher forgot all about his worry over Ethan and his mistrust of her. She wasn’t well.
“Are you oke?”
She closed her eyes and dragged in several breaths, proving she was far from okay.
Fletcher covered the space between them in two strides. Leora grabbed hold of his arm to steady herself. A moment of panic showed on her face before she collapsed into his arms.
After the initial shock subsided, Fletcher carefully lowered her onto the carpeted floor. She appeared so pale. The light blue shade of her dress beneath her cloak enhanced the washed-out color.
What did he do now? He knew very little about her—only her name and that she’d come from Colorado. He skimmed her delicate features. Freckles scattered across her nose, and her eyelashes were the color of her hair. Leora’s bonnet had slipped slightly sideways, revealing several curls escaped from their pins.
It had been a long time since he’d held a woman or had someone to protect—not since Catherine.
Unbidden, Fletcher recalled that final argument. Once, they’d planned to marry, until Catherine had told him she wanted more than the life he could provide for her in West Kootenai, Montana. The bottom had fallen out of his world and the life he’d envisioned for himself would never be. Since then, he’d thrown himself into work and tried to shut out those ugly words.
In his peripheral vision, something alarming jerked his attention from the unconscious woman. Movement showed on the security monitors picking up what was happening outside. Fletcher jumped to his feet and stepped closer to the monitors. There were five screens reflecting every possible angle of the property as well as each room of the house.
Through the fading daylight, several people emerged from the woods at the side of the property. All wore disguises covering their faces, and all were heavily armed.
If these were the ones who’d ransacked the house and possibly taken Ethan, perhaps they hadn’t found whatever they’d been looking for. They’d see the horse and know someone was there.
Leora moaned softly. He knelt beside her. She turned her head toward him, her eyes latching onto his. “What happened?”
“You fainted. Leora, we’ve got trouble.” He hated to alarm her, but she needed to know the danger coming after them. “There are armed men moving this way. Stay here. I’ll be right back.” Fletcher rushed from the room and quickly closed the keypad access panel. If you didn’t know it was there, you would never guess it existed or that there was a room tucked on the other side of the wall. But Leora had said the door was open when she’d arrived, so chances are they’d have seen it already. Still, he had to do everything within his power to protect them. If it were open earlier, perhaps they wouldn’t know the code to enter.
Fletcher returned to the room and closed the door. The state-of-the-art locks slid into place. Ethan had told him the room was soundproof. Those outside the walls shouldn’t hear anything from inside. Still, he didn’t want to test it out and realize Ethan had made a fatal mistake.
He knelt beside Leora and carefully helped her sit up. As troubling as her health issues were, what was coming their way would be a lot worse.
“We should be safe here.” He kept his voice low and tried to assure her of something he didn’t actually believe. No sooner had he spoken the words when the monitor confirmed the armed gunmen were closing in on the house.
Fletcher rose and helped Leora to her feet.
“They’re almost here.” She watched the screens with a look of horror on her face. “What have they done to Ethan and my bruder?”
“Your brother?” Fletcher swung toward her. “He’s with Ethan?”
I have to help a friend...
She nodded. “I believe so. Ethan went to find Tanner.”
Her bruder was the friend Ethan had been helping.
While Fletcher tried to untangle what was happening, several of the armed men fanned out across the property. Had Ethan escaped the attack? If he had, these men appeared determined to find him and make sure he didn’t tell his story.
* * *
Leora clamped her hand over her mouth while panic rose, replacing the stress of the trip. She edged closer to the Amish man at her side. Though she didn’t know him personally, Ethan had spoken of Fletcher as a friend. She could trust him.
Several inches taller than Tanner, his light brown hair was swept back from a wide forehead. He’d lost the straw hat he’d worn when he’d first come into the room. Leora’s attention returned to the screen, where Fletcher continued to watch the nightmare unfold.
Three of the armed men entered the house.
“Someone’s here. Search the entire place. Bring them to me.” A woman’s voice! The person giving the orders was a woman. She walked with the confidence of someone in charge.
The two men spread out, following the woman’s command. Cameras positioned inside the house showed them searching through each room.
Nothing about these past two weeks and the threats she’d endured made what was happening now a surprise.
It had all started when someone had entered her house while she’d been at work and torn it apart, much like they had Ethan’s place now. Then, a man she didn’t know had called the shop and demanded to know where her brother was hiding “the stuff.” She’d had no idea what he was talking about and told him as much.
As soon as the call had ended, Leora had tried to reach her bruder, hoping he could explain. Only, Tanner hadn’t answered any of her calls. Desperate, she’d turned to Ethan. Though she’d never actually met Ethan in person, she’d considered him a gut friend and they’d spoken frequently. Ethan knew what she’d gone through in the past and would call to check on her often.
When he’d heard what had happened, Ethan had been immediately concerned and assured her he would try to locate Tanner. He’d told her to stay with someone else until he could figure out what was happening. She had believed there was a simple explanation, and everything would be oke. Only, it hadn’t been. Far from it.
“There’s no one here.”
Leora’s attention jerked to the screen once more, her eyes wide with disbelief. She recognized the voice of the man speaking. He’d been one of several who’d broken into her house that final time.
As bad as those two prior incidents had been, it was the last event that had been the most terrifying.
A few days after the threatening phone call at work, several men had broken into her house wearing disguises—just like the ones now. The same person talking here was the one who had done the speaking at her home. He’d told Leora she’d had a day to return what Tanner had stolen, otherwise they’d come back and “take care” of her like they planned to do to Tanner. As hard as she’d tried to understand why they’d been accusing Tanner of taking something, it hadn’t made sense. Her brother wasn’t a thief. Sure, he’d gotten into a few scrapes when he was young—mostly acting out of anger or, as Leora believed, because of the horrific way their parents had died. But the marines and Ethan had straightened him out. In her opinion, what Tanner was being accused of doing went way beyond youthful anger.
After that distressing confrontation, Leora realized Ethan had been right; it hadn’t been safe for her to be alone. She’d left right away for her great-aunt and -uncle’s. Planning to stay awhile, she’d then tried to reach Ethan by phone and couldn’t. With each failed attempt to contact her friend, Leora’s fear had increased. She’d made this frantic trip from the San Luis Valley of Colorado to the West Kootenai community because she’d been terrified the men hunting Tanner might have come after Ethan.
“Whoever rode the horse must have seen us approaching and run away,” the woman said. “Let’s go. We’re wasting our time here.”
“Not so fast,” the man Leora recognized said, contesting the woman. “We didn’t check the panic room. The door was open before.”
A chill sped down her spine. They knew about the panic room.
The woman slowly faced him. “One of our people probably shut it by accident. Let’s go.” She raised her voice to get the man’s attention.
“Not until we check the room.” The man’s steely voice confirmed he was challenging her authority. “He won’t be pleased if we let someone get away and they go to the authorities. What if it’s the sister in there?”
Shockwaves chased through Leora’s body. Was it possible they’d followed her here? She saw all the questions in Fletcher’s eyes, and she couldn’t begin to answer any of them. Not with the threat closing in.
Fletcher removed a pocketknife from his coat pocket and tucked it into his boot. He aimed the rifle toward the entrance as the man whose voice she’d recognized purposely stopped by the wall where Leora had seen Fletcher use the keypad.
“This is a waste of time,” the woman insisted, but the man ignored her.
“They know the code,” Fletcher said. There was only one way Leora could think of that they’d be in possession of the security code...and it meant they’d forced it from either Ethan or her bruder. The disturbing truth had barely cleared his lips when the door popped open and he pushed Leora behind him.
“Gun!” the man yelled and leveled his at Fletcher. “Drop it.”
Leora peeked past Fletcher’s shoulder as the horror unfolded.
“That’s far enough,” Fletcher told the intruders.
The woman ordered the man with the gun to stand down, but he didn’t listen. He advanced on Fletcher, seemingly unafraid of the weapon in his hand.
Fletcher fired. All three ducked. The shot pinged off the soundproof wall.
Before Fletcher had a chance to pull the trigger, the shooter grabbed the barrel of the rifle and his second shot hit the ceiling.
While Fletcher struggled to free his weapon, the second man attacked him.
“Don’t fight me,” the woman snarled, grabbing Leora’s arm.
A weapon pressed against Leora’s head.
“Drop your weapon unless you want me to shoot her,” the woman ordered Fletcher.
Leora could smell gun oil. The faint scent of gunpowder released through the bullets the weapon had fired recently.
Fletcher’s eyes latched onto Leora’s. “All right, I’m dropping it.” He stopped struggling and slowly lowered his rifle.
“Tie them both up. Start with him.” She was starting with the stronger of the two. If Fletcher was disabled, the chances of Leora escaping were small. “We’ll have to take them with us.”
“Or we can shoot them,” the aggressor who’d attacked Fletcher said with a nasty grin. She remembered his grin, and it gave her cold shivers.
“No one’s shooting anyone. That’s Tanner’s sister. She may know where the stuff is hidden. Let’s take her along with the Amish man. He might be useful in getting her to talk.”
What were they looking for? What had Tanner gotten embroiled in that had brought these dangerous people to her home and to Ethan’s?
The woman lowered the gun but still clutched Leora’s arm tight, forcing her to watch the two men rough-handle Fletcher. While one man kept a gun against his side, the second blindfolded Fletcher and secured his hands in front of him with zip ties.
“Watch him while I get her hands secured.” The woman shoved the weapon into the waist of her jeans. Keeping her attention on Leora’s face, she secured her hands together. Was it Leora’s imagination or was the woman trying to warn her of something?
As the thought worked its way through her fear-numbed brain, a blindfold was placed over her eyes, and a fuzzy blackness replaced whatever secrets the woman had been trying to convey.
“Get him outside.” She kept a firm grip on Leora’s arm.
“Where are you taking us?” Leora asked. “Where are my brother and Ethan?”
“Keep quiet,” the woman ordered. The sharpness of her tone had Leora doubting she’d seen anything compassionate in this woman.
A cool breeze whipped Leora’s dress around her legs once they reached the outdoors.
“Get the others. We’re leaving. This was a waste of time.” She emphasized the words she’d told the one man earlier. “Tanner didn’t hide the stuff here.” The woman led Leora carefully from the porch.
A shot rang out. Leora screamed out Fletcher’s name, terrified they’d shot him.
“I’m here. I’m oke.” His voice came from close by.
“Both of you keep quiet,” the woman said and released Leora’s arm. Leora swayed slightly. She could feel herself fading quickly. The last treatment had taken its toll on her body. Her doctor had warned about the severe fatigue. Leora couldn’t imagine what he’d say if he knew she’d traveled from Colorado so soon after the final round of chemo. But what choice had she had? First, her bruder had gone missing and now Ethan. After hours on the road, the hired taxi driver had brought her to Ethan’s door and into a nightmare she didn’t understand.
Leora inched toward the sound of Fletcher’s voice while praying she wouldn’t draw attention to herself. Her foot connected with a rock and she stumbled into the solid wall of his chest.
“I’ve got you,” Fletcher whispered and did his best to steady her despite his secured hands.
Leora pulled in several breaths and ran her clasped hands across her damp forehead. “What are they going to do with us?” she murmured for him alone.
“I don’t know. But we must do whatever is necessary to stay alive.”
Whatever is necessary... The words settled into her troubled thoughts. What would this entail?
Leora focused on the sounds around her. Off to her right, the woman spoke to another man. She appeared angry with him.
“There’s been enough shooting already. The last thing we need is to draw more unwanted attention. Gunshots have a way of carrying.”
“Sorry, Jade. I thought I saw someone in the barn.”
The woman’s name was Jade. There was something familiar about it.
“Stop! You used my name,” she snapped. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“Sorry, Ja—Sorry.”
“Did you make sure Connors’s truck is hidden so no one will find it?”
“Yes. It’s hidden. Don’t worry, no one’s going to find it.”
Leora’s heart sank. Ethan had been here. These people had hidden his vehicle to try to make it seem like he wasn’t home.
“Good. Bring our vehicles from their hiding spots and get them both inside. We need her to force Tanner to talk. Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s get out of here before someone comes to investigate.”
They had Tanner! The blood on the door sent her mind spiraling down a dark road. They needed Tanner to tell them where he’d hidden whatever it was they believed he’d taken. But Ethan would be a liability. Were these people capable of murder? She didn’t want to find out.
First one and then a second engine fired. The surveillance cameras hadn’t picked them up because they’d been hidden from view. The vehicles pulled up closer. Next, several footsteps headed toward Leora and Fletcher.
“Stay calm. Don’t do anything to make them angry,” Fletcher said to her.
“Let’s go.” Leora was yanked away from Fletcher’s grasp. She recognized the voice of the man who had spoken Jade’s name. Another weapon bit into her back. He grabbed her arm and forced her along while Leora’s panicked brain imagined all sorts of terrible things.
“Get in there.” He pushed her hard. Her legs struck something and she fell forward. Her bound hands collided with a seat. The man shoved her inside and against someone else.
“It’s me.” Fletcher’s deep voice reached out to her. How could he sound so calm?
“I’m so scared,” she breathed unsteadily.
Someone else got in beside her. “No talking. Keep your mouths shut,” the same gunman warned.
Leora tried to recall the number of people she’d seen on the monitors. At least ten, which explained the multiple vehicles. She and Fletcher were far outnumbered.
Dread settled over her shoulders like a second cloak. She and Fletcher were now hostages in a situation that went much deeper than what either of them understood.
