Darcy sat rigid on the back of the giant draft horse. Her tension no longer had anything to do with riding bareback or finding God. She had seen someone in the woods.
“It could be some of the kids from the singing,” Thomas suggested. But she could tell by his stern expression and the way he’d quickened his step that he knew it was an intruder. The intruder.
But how? She understood an intruder at Jesse’s, or at her town house, but here? At Thomas’s? Why would they come here?
“Oh, no,” she cried. “Thomas, where did you put the Bible and the other things we found at Jesse’s?”
“Agent Ross took them,” he said. “Why?”
“Because why else would someone be here?”
The intruder at Jesse’s cottage had fled the house and the flames, but he might not have completely fled the scene.
“What if the man who shot at you stayed near the house during the fire and watched us leave? What if he saw us throw those things out of the window to save them? What if he knows we have that key? And what if he already knows what to do with that key”
“Slow down, Darcy.”
“No. Thomas, the person I see is running. And he most definitely does not look Amish. Do you see him?”
Thomas followed her gaze. She could see his expression of concern amplify as his eyes found the dark figure.
“Ja. I see him. Here, Darcy.” He lifted up an arm. “Slide down. I’m going to go see who it is.”
“After he shot at you?” Darcy slid off the big horse. “You can hardly walk. Plus, what if he has a gun again?”
Thomas wasn’t even listening. She might as well have been talking to the horse. She knew Thomas well enough to know that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to all those people at the singing. They were under his roof and they were his responsibility. And so was she. He was going to keep them all safe and if that meant his leg hurt or he got shot at again, he most likely didn’t care. Why was it that the thing you admired most in others could also be the thing that drove you crazy about them?
She wanted to grab his arm and hold him back, but even with Thomas being wounded, she was no match for his strength. She watched as he slid the halter off the horse and handed it to her. He took the reins from her hands and with teeth clinched he swung himself up on the back of the horse. His face betrayed the pain that had to be rippling through him. He’d probably reopen the wound.
“Go back inside, Darcy. I’ll be right back.”
He clamped his legs around the huge gray and he galloped toward the forest’s edge.
At the same moment, shrieks sounded from inside the barn and then there was a sound a bit like rolling thunder. Darcy had never heard that noise before, but instinctively she knew it was horses. A lot of horses, all moving together in a herd.
A large door where the gathering was taking place slid open and about ten of the horses came barreling out. They bucked and ran and whinnied and snorted until they’d all exited and then, like horses do, one of them stopped and so did the rest. The boys from the singing were already running after them with lead ropes.
Darcy glanced back at Thomas, who looked back at the commotion. Her heart raced wildly. Maybe he would come back now? The intruder was probably long gone anyway. But Thomas kept moving away from the stable.
* * *
Thomas heard and saw the commotion back at the stable, but he didn’t stop. There were plenty of boys at the gathering who could tend to his horses. Darcy would be safe if she went back toward the others. And to keep them all protected, he knew he had to keep going.
He had easily closed more than half the distance between the runner and himself. But they were getting close to the highway now. If there was a car waiting, Thomas feared he might not make it in time to stop the intruder.
“Stop! You’re trespassing!”
The runner looked back. Thomas saw his face, reflecting in the bright snow-lit night. It was not anyone he knew and yet his face seemed familiar.
Thomas saw the man’s car parked at the edge of the woods. There was a creek several yards from the road and only one good place to cross. The man had not parked near enough to it to make his escape. Thomas clamped on to his mount and clicked his tongue against his cheek, urging the steady horse to increase speed and jump the creek. He’d forgotten the pain in his leg.
Thomas pulled up on the other side and cut the runner off before he reached the car. The man slipped and slid in the snow right under the horse’s belly, but was not able to escape as Thomas jumped down and grabbed the man by the collar of his black coat.
The man stood and turned to him with his head dropped. It was a man he’d never met before, but he looked so much like an image he’d seen on Agent Ross’s computer screen that Thomas knew that it had to be Wissenberg’s son.
“Going somewhere?” he asked the man.
“This is not what it looks like. I promise,” the man said. “I was trying to stop her. She’s crazy.”
“Who’s crazy?” Thomas asked.
“My sister.”
* * *
Darcy broke into high gear and arrived at top speed at the open barn, throwing her helmet aside. On her way, she passed a few able adolescents who had rushed forward to catch the loose horses. Most of the kids had backed up along the sides of the indoor paddock. One or two others had not been fortunate enough to get out of the way before the horses had run through. Darcy checked these kids first. A couple of scrapes and bruises, but thankfully no one had been seriously injured, mostly just frightened. Some of the grown-ups, including the Millers, had stayed on and were helping attend to the frightened kids.
Darcy scanned the room for Thomas’s grandmother. Nana Ruth stood back near the entrance to the main stable. She looked unharmed.
“Are you okay?” Darcy asked. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” said Nana Ruth. “All of a sudden the door to the aisle was thrown open and ten or twelve horses came running through. It was madness.”
“Did you see anyone suspicious inside the stable? Did any of the kids wander away from the group?”
“No,” answered Nana Ruth. “I kept track of the children. Everyone was here and accounted for except for you and Thomas. Thankfully the kids had stopped singing and lined up close to the table for more food and hot chocolate. Otherwise there would have been many more injuries. Where is Thomas?” Nana’s brows knitted together in a deep frown.
“He saw someone running into the woods. He went after them on the horse.”
Nana whispered something under her breath that Darcy couldn’t quite understand, but she knew it wasn’t anything good.
“I’m going to go check the rest of the stable.” Darcy turned away.
Nana grabbed her by the shoulder. “Take one of the boys with you. I don’t think you should go in there alone.”
Darcy scanned the large room for Amos. Nana was right. She shouldn’t go into the stable alone. She was just so used to doing everything herself. Having people around that watched her back was a completely new experience for her.
She just hoped that the dangerous people who were after her wouldn’t hurt any of these good people. If they did, she would never forgive herself.
Darcy spotted Amos helping some of the girls to the benches. She hastened toward him and asked for his help. Within a minute, they had passed through the great door and into the main aisle of the stable.
The horses that were still inside their stalls twitched their ears and showed the white in their eyes. They paced to and fro at the doors of their stalls. Their anxious calls of distress reverberated through the hollow barn.
A large whip had been thrown in the center of the aisle. Amos stopped and picked it up.
“I suppose this is how the intruder herded those horses through a closed door. It is a good thing the door lifts as well as slides, or it would have come down completely,” said Amos. “That would have hurt even more people.”
A clippity-clop sounded behind them. Darcy jumped, thinking someone had let out another horse. But when she turned to look back, she relaxed. Some of the teens were bringing in the horses that had escaped. The animals were restless and fearful, but the Amish teens were experienced and patient as they soothed them back into their proper homes.
“Everything looks fine,” said Amos. “I think someone played a prank on us.”
Darcy didn’t believe that for a second. This was all because of the artwork and her and Jesse... Clearly, someone thought he still had them and was willing to do anything to get their hands on them.
Darcy shook her thoughts away. “There’s two more rooms at the other end. I want to check those, too.”
Amos followed her down the long aisle to the stable office. She was surprised to find the feed room door wide open and the lids off of all the food bins. The floor, too, had a thin layer of grains spread all over the floor.
“I’ll clean this up,” Amos said.
“Thank you, Amos. Do you think there’s anything stolen from in here?”
“Sometimes people steal tack but I never heard of stealing horse feed,” Amos said. “But I guess people are always surprising us.”
Darcy nodded. “Do people play pranks like this often?”
“No, ma’am. But you know how Englischer kids can be.”
Darcy forced a smile. She hadn’t lied about being Amish, but she felt like she was lying by wearing their clothing. “I’m going to check the office. Be right back.”
Darcy walked the remaining steps to Thomas’s office. That was where he had told her he kept his tack and anything else of value. The office door was also open and clearly it had been forced as the bolt had ripped through the frame of the door and splintered the wood. Darcy peered inside just as someone dressed in all black came flying through the office doorway. He plowed her down and made his escape through the far doors.