Amish Wilderness Survival, page 8
Tanner had promised to accompany her to a party but then changed his mind and tried to talk Leora out of going. She hadn’t listened, and Tanner had gone looking for her later that evening, around the same time the fire occurred. She often wondered, but couldn’t bring herself to ask, if he blamed her for their deaths. If he’d been home, perhaps he could have saved their parents. Or perhaps she would have lost him, too.
“I can understand.” He told her about his bruder Eli. “The fire that had taken his first wife’s life was emotionally devastating but knowing that the people around him believed he was actually the one responsible for setting the fire hurt terribly. Eli never wanted to return to Libby after he left. It was too hard. What about Tanner? Did he ever talk about going back?”
“Not really. Tanner took Daed’s death especially hard because they were so close.”
She could see her answer was disappointing. Leora didn’t believe their past had anything to do with what was taking place now.
With her body suffering from extreme exhaustion, not to mention the cold that seemed to slow every step, thinking clearly was difficult. Even if all the answers were right in front of her, Leora doubted if she could figure it out.
“Why had you gone to Ethan’s house?” Leora asked him. They’d been so busy trying to stay alive that she hadn’t thought to ask before now.
Fletcher told her about his last conversation with Ethan. “He’s not usually so vague about his comings and goings. We’ve actually become quite close over time, which was why I thought it strange. I could tell this was something he didn’t want to share for some reason.”
He’d been worried about Tanner.
“Anyway, Ethan rarely goes more than a few days without reaching out to either myself or Mason. Since Mason is out of town and Ethan knew this, he would check in to see what was on our agenda. It’s getting into hunting season, and there have been a few rescue missions already. He wouldn’t not reach out. When I heard the shots, I couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right.”
It seemed they’d both been too late to help their friend. “If only I’d gotten there sooner. I might have been able to save Ethan.”
“Or you could have ended up hurt or more likely taken.”
The need for answers continued to grow stronger. Ethan, clearly injured, could be bleeding out somewhere. The man who had radioed Sam had said they were closing in on Tanner. They might have him by now. “When I called Ethan to tell him I hadn’t heard from Tanner in a week, Ethan was instantly worried. That’s when I knew this wasn’t me overreacting.”
Her answer clearly troubled Fletcher. “What do you mean?”
“Tanner kept in touch with Ethan, as well. When Ethan found out Tanner had left his truck unattended and simply vanished, and that his employer told me Tanner had quit, we both knew this wasn’t like Tanner. At the time, I didn’t realize Ethan still had Tanner’s old number.”
“His old number?”
“Tanner said he’d lost his old phone. He’d gotten a different one with a new number.” She hesitated. “But the strange part is, this is the third time he’s lost his phone recently.”
Looking back at the incident and everything that had happened, Leora wondered if Tanner had been trying to stay hidden from the men coming after them now.
“Maybe Tanner was forced to abandon his truck because he was running from these dangerous men.”
She’d thought the same thing. “Probably. I was surprised Tanner hadn’t reached out to Ethan, considering he was obviously in trouble.”
“I think if he could, he would have. Until we find Ethan and Tanner and get answers, we’re playing a guessing game. I say let’s stay focused on reaching the building.” He looked her way. “It’s freezing, I know. Unfortunately, we can’t do much about it, but if you need a break...”
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. I just want to get to them as soon as possible.” They believed Molly had been focused on Ethan’s scent for a while. She prayed Tanner was still with him and they hadn’t gotten separated somehow.
Up ahead, Molly had zeroed in on something. A second later, she dashed through the woods.
“She’s on the scent again,” Fletcher told her with relief in his voice.
Trying to keep up with the determined Molly was hard, especially with both of them injured.
Occasionally the shepherd would stop and sniff the air to home in on the scent.
Leora had a feeling that whatever Molly found at the end of the trail would only be the beginning.
The thought had barely cleared her head when the ground beneath them began to give way.
“Leora!” Fletcher shouted, reaching for her. His fingers brushed hers, but it wasn’t enough to hold on.
“Fletcher. Help me! I’m falling.” She screamed. He tried to grab her wrist but couldn’t.
Leora hit the ground hard. The wind left her body. She’d landed in a four-by-four-foot hole. It was deep—well over her head. She gasped in air and stared in horror as the soggy earth above her sloughed away, raining down mud everywhere. Leora scrambled to her feet and as far away from the mudslide as she could manage.
“Fletcher.” She frantically searched the darkness above.
His face appeared. A relieved breath shuddered through her body.
“Are you hurt?” he asked then looked down at the ground.
“I’m oke.” But her shaky voice revealed it wasn’t true.
“Hang on. I’m going to look for a way to get you out of there.”
He backed up as the earth under him continued to slide. “The ground is still collapsing.”
Leora’s frantic gaze searched the small space, which was filling with mud at an alarming rate. All she could think about was that she didn’t want to die here.
Fletcher circled the gaping hole. “I’m going to grab a tree branch so I can pull you out. I’ll be right back.”
Molly peeked her head over the side. The dog was a welcomed sight. Molly held her position.
Leora tried to keep a positive outlook, but there was no way their pursuers wouldn’t have heard the earth’s rumblings, not to mention her screams. Time was running out.
The ground continued to collapse. The tiny space felt like a coffin.
“Grab hold of this.” Fletcher lowered the lodgepole pine branch down to where she could reach it as his attention jerked toward something else. “Hurry, Leora. I see flashlights heading this way.”
Her heart clenched, and she latched onto the branch. “I’ve got it.”
“Hold on tight. I’m going to pull you up.”
She kept her eyes fixed on Fletcher and prayed she would make it out in time.
He slowly pulled her up. Halfway to the surface, the branch cracked. Leora bit back a scream. This couldn’t be happening.
“It’s breaking,” she said in an unsteady voice.
“Grab hold of it higher up.”
Leora didn’t want to let go.
“Quickly, Leora.”
Leora stretched out her right hand as high as she could. She grabbed a handful of pine needles. The branch felt much thicker there. She repositioned her left hand up above the right.
Behind her, a terrifying sound had Leora jerking her head around. The ground continued to cave in. Fletcher quickly pulled her the rest of the way.
Leora still held on to the branch with a death grip. Fletcher grabbed her around the waist and helped her to her feet and into his arms. “I was so worried.” He held her close, and slowly her heartbeat returned to normal.
The ground beneath was still falling away.
“The rest of this space is going into the hole. Let’s get out of here.” With his arm around Leora’s waist, he called the dog to follow. They reached the woods. Behind them, multiple footsteps were getting closer.
“The sinkhole might work to our advantage,” Fletcher told her. “It appears to be closing in on itself. Hopefully, they’ll think it caved in on top of us. Unfortunately, I don’t think they’ll leave without having proof we’re dead.”
If Fletcher hadn’t acted so quickly, Leora had little doubt she would have ended up buried beneath all that mud.
SIX
Fletcher stopped once they’d put some space between themselves and the sinkhole. “Take a moment to catch your breath. Are you hurt?”
“Nay, but I’m still shaking. It was so scary. I thought I would die.”
Fletcher had been terrified he wouldn’t be able to get her in time. His reaction to believing she might die scared him. He barely knew Leora. Sure, he cared for her as one human being to another, but...
His fingers shook as he brushed strands of her red hair from her face, his hand lingering on her cheek. Her huge eyes found him. Feelings he’d thought had died with Catherine returned.
Too soon, his head warned. Catherine’s rejection still tasted bitter on his lips. I want a mann who doesn’t insist on remaining in West Kootenai forever. Catherine wanted to travel; she’d longed for a warmer climate. But how could he leave the only place he’d ever called home, or the family who had been there for Fletcher his entire life?
In the end, Catherine had chosen another man. They planned to wed. She’d told Fletcher recently they would leave for Virginia soon after. Catherine hadn’t even waited a year after she’d broken up with him to plan her wedding.
Fletcher had tried to forgive her for breaking his heart, yet seeing her at the biweekly church service had become like a knife to his heart. Many times, Fletcher had talked himself out of attending because of it.
“You’re shivering.” His voice came out rougher than intended. The way Leora reminded him of what once he’d longed for was hard to ignore. He removed his coat. “It’s not dry, but it will help you warm up.”
She didn’t protest as he slipped it on.
“How are you doing?” she asked.
He couldn’t deny having to use his injured shoulder to pull her out of the hole hadn’t done it any favors.
“I’m going to take a closer look and see if those men are convinced we are buried under the mountain of mud.” He gave the order for Molly to stay.
The shepherd responded as she’d been trained to do. Molly was a fine example of what he hoped to accomplish with the rest of the dogs in training someday. If they survived.
Fletcher studied Leora for a moment before heading back the way they’d come. She’d been through so much. All he wanted to do was to keep her safe and to find Ethan and Tanner. Hopefully, give her the answers she needed to put this terrible experience behind.
He did his best to keep the noise to a minimum as he retraced their steps. The sinkhole had been an unexpected shock. Of all the things they’d gone through, having the earth fall away from beneath them was the last thing he’d expected.
Fletcher had no idea what might have caused it. He’d read about such things in the past. Sinkholes mostly happened where the rock below the surface was limestone or carbonate. Sometimes they were attributed to rocks naturally dissolved by the groundwater circulating through them. As the rock softened, spaces and caverns developed underground. The recent rain plaguing the countryside had probably compromised the ground above the underground cavern, and their weight had been the last straw.
As he neared the spot, Fletcher noticed several flashlights closing in. He ducked behind a tree and strained to hear what they said.
Scraps of conversation drifted his way. Fletcher peeked around the tree. The men believed he and Leora had gone into the sinkhole. One of the flashlight beams flashed across the space where the hole had once been. It was now covered by earth. If Fletcher had been a little slower in getting Leora out...
“He’ll want proof. We can’t take the chance they’ve somehow gotten away.” This was Jade speaking. She was telling the men to dig up the hole to make sure.
“Aw, Jade, it’ll take hours.”
“I don’t care. Do it. You—take some men and spread out to the right. See if you can find any trace of them. I’ll check straight ahead.”
“You want me to come with you, Jade? There’s a lot of space to check.”
“No, I don’t need you to come with me. Get some shovels and start digging.”
The woman obviously didn’t like having her orders questioned.
Fletcher ducked back when she stepped his way. He’d waited too late to leave. There would be no way to escape without her seeing him. He flattened himself against the tree and watched the light grow closer. When it was almost right on top of him, the beam suddenly stopped moving. He held his breath and prayed desperately.
Jade had to be standing just on the other side of the tree. From where he stood, he could see his and Leora’s footsteps. A second later, Jade started back toward the sinkhole.
Why wouldn’t she keep pursuing him?
He quietly released the breath he’d held inside and eased far enough around to see that she’d reached her people.
“They didn’t go that way.”
Fletcher kept watching as the other search party returned. “There’s no sign of them.”
Jade ordered the men who were digging to stop. “There’s only one place they can be and it’s in the hole. Besides, we have bigger problems. Our people lost Tanner, and Connors is still out there somewhere. We can’t let them reach the police. Come on. Let’s head out.”
Jade started off in the direction she and her men had come while Fletcher wondered if she’d actually missed their footprints. He didn’t see how.
Fletcher moved to the other side of the tree and leaned down to see their footprints clearly visible.
“Gotcha.”
Fletcher whirled toward the sound of the voice.
The person no longer wore his disguise as he aimed a gun at Fletcher. “Jade was wrong—I knew it. You were hiding right in front of her all along. She’s not up to the task he’s given her.” He glanced past Fletcher. “Where’s the sister?”
Fletcher wasn’t about to give Leora up. “I don’t know. We got separated.”
The man smiled smugly. “Nice try. You’re lying. She’s with you. Let’s go. I’m taking you both in. I can’t wait to show him how incompetent Jade really is. By capturing you, he’ll promote me over her.”
When Fletcher didn’t budge, the man shoved him hard. “I said let’s go. Where’s she hiding? Once I get you both, this will look good for me. I’ll be the person who saved the day—not Jade.”
Fletcher’s mind worked overtime to come up with a plan of escape. Without a doubt, he would have no choice but to try to disarm the man as quickly as possible. His bruders had told him stories about how they’d been forced to go against the things they believed to save someone they loved. Love. The word stuck in his head. He didn’t love Leora—love didn’t work so quickly. It took time to cultivate—years even.
He couldn’t deny that he felt a fierce duty to protect her. No matter what, he wouldn’t lead this dangerous man to Leora. “She’s this way.” He pointed to the right.
The man scowled. “I don’t believe you. The footprints say you went straight. You better not be trying to fool me. You’ll regret it.”
“We circled around to throw you off our tracks,” Fletcher told the man and held his gaze without flinching.
“All right, go.” He shoved Fletcher hard. Fletcher stumbled but caught himself before he went sprawling on the wet ground. His captor fell in behind him while keeping the gun against his back as a reminder he meant business. At some point, Jade would notice this guy was missing and come looking. Fletcher didn’t have long.
What would Ethan do in this situation? Ethan was one of the bravest men Fletcher knew. He’d keep fighting till his last breath.
Fletcher kept walking while looking for the right distraction to overpower the man as each step took him farther away from Leora.
The faintest of movement appeared off to his right side. A flash of blue. Leora. Fletcher tried not to draw attention to her. He wanted to warn her to go back before the man found her and they were both captured. He had to do something fast.
Fletcher stopped and focused on the ground. Jade and her people had left footprints. He pretended to study them.
“What’s going on? Why are you stopping?” The man circled around to face Fletcher while pointing the gun in his face. “What kind of game are you playing?”
Fletcher thought fast. “I think she’s on the run.”
His captor’s eyes narrowed. “Enough. What do you take me for?”
Fletcher looked past the man’s shoulder. Leora had come closer. She held a log in her hand. Molly was at her side and ready to go into battle.
“Get moving.” The man grabbed Fletcher by his collar. This was the moment Fletcher had been waiting for. He clasped the weapon, his action taking the man by surprise.
The gun went off, barely missing Fletcher. The shot would have alerted Jade and the others.
“Go, Molly!” Fletcher commanded. He could use the canine soldier’s help right now because this guy was much stronger than he’d imagined, and Fletcher was injured.
They fought for control of the weapon. Fletcher could feel himself fading. Molly latched onto the man’s leg. He yelped in pain and loosened his hold on the gun. And not a second too soon.
Fletcher managed to take possession of the weapon while the man continued to try to fend off Molly’s attack.
