“OKAY, WE’VE GOT TWO ARMED AND DANGEROUS MEN out in the woods looking for the girl,” Sheriff Gary said to his men. “Johnson, I want you and Henderson to make sure these three we apprehended are turned over to the state troopers and taken back to Wilkes-Barre. There’s an ambulance on its way up the hill. The wounded man will go back in that along with one of the men that came with the PSP.”
The sheriff turned to Jonathan. “Well, son, so far your directions have been spot on. So you spent a lot of time up here when you were a kid?”
“Actually, sheriff, that wasn’t so long ago,” Jonathan said. “I’m only nineteen, and I was up here just two summers ago. I’ve been coming up here every summer since I was six. I caught my first fish in Bear Lake.”
“Good,” Gary said. “So what’s the lay of the neighborhood?”
“The creek in the ravine behind the cabins comes down from the ridge above the lake and splits—part goes down the north leg of the ravine and feeds the lake, and the other branch goes south down the ravine toward Tannery road, dips under a bridge, and then runs down on the south side of Tannery until it levels out and flows into Spruce Swamp. The woods up here on top are full of brush, but there aren’t a lot of places to hide.
“If you get across Tannery and follow the ravine down to the bottom of the hill, you come to a really swampy area, and anybody who walked in there would get stuck bad, believe me. I would park my bike on Tannery and use the ravine to get up the hill and down to the lake because you can’t see into it from the cabins up on top. The folks who lived here before weren’t very friendly, so I had to be cool and stay out of sight.”
“So where might Luis and his partner be?” Bobby asked.
“The ravine cuts the woods in half, so if they were still up on top they most likely would have run into the troopers coming up the hill,” Johnny said. “Jenny would have seen the police too if she was up here, and she would have shown herself. So my guess is that somehow she got down into the ravine, and the crooks followed her down there after we came up.”
“You should probably have them sweep the woods on top of the hill, starting at the ravine and working east until you come to the road,” Bobby said to Gary. “Tell them to send a couple of men up the ravine from the road. The rest of us can get down into the ravine and search it down to the road and over to the lake.”
“Sounds good,” Gary said. He pointed at Reuben and Jonathan. “What about these two? Do they have guns? It might get a little sticky down there.”
“I’ve deputized them, so they can carry guns,” Bobby said. He reached over, grabbed a shotgun that was leaning against the wall, and tossed it to Reuben. Reuben instinctively caught it and then stared at it. He turned and handed it to Jonathan.
“You sure?” Bobby asked.
Reuben nodded. “It’s got to stop somewhere, Bobby,” Reuben said, and then he smiled. “I’ll stick with Jonathan. We’ll be okay.”
Sheriff Gary looked dubious, but Bobby said, “Okay, pal, but keep your head down. I’m getting too old to be bailing you out of trouble.”
Jorge looked around. Jenny’s tracks disappeared under the trees where the ravine narrowed, so Jorge went down the trail until the ravine opened back up, and there was snow on the ground. There were no tracks coming out from under the trees. Jorge thought about it for a minute and then realized that Jenny must have backtracked and hidden along the trail. He turned and headed back down the trail.
Luis had followed the trail by the creek for about a half a mile. He saw the tracks of the men coming up the trail, but they all wore large boots. He couldn’t find any tennis shoe tracks among them, so he turned back. It had been longer than twenty minutes, and he knew that the police would be looking for them. He started running back up the trail, looking for Jorge.
Bobby, Reuben, Jonathan, and the rest of the men stood at the top of the stairs leading down into the ravine. Sheriff Gary sent two of his men with the PSP boys and the local police to search the woods around the cabins. Then the rest of them, seven in all, headed down the steps to the creek. When they got to the bottom they divided up. Three men went down toward the lake. Bobby, Reuben, Jonathan, and Gary headed the other way. The sun was just coming up.
When Luis came to the bottom of the stairs he stopped and listened. He thought he heard voices talking quietly, and then he distinctly heard someone coming down the steps, so he quickly ran back down the trail looking for Jorge. In a few minutes he saw Jorge coming up the trail. He ran up to him and grabbed him by the arm.
“We’ve to get out of here,” Luis panted, out of breath. “They’re coming this way. We have to get down the ravine into the woods on the other side of the road.”
“What about Jenny?” Jorge asked. “She’s around here somewhere. A little way down the path her tracks went under the trees, but they didn’t come out on the other side, so somewhere right along here she got off the trail and hid. There can’t be too many places.”
“We don’t have time to find her,” Luis hissed. “We have to go! Now!”
Jorge shrugged, and the two men headed down the trail. They had only gone a few hundred feet when Jorge spotted movement in the woods ahead. He grabbed Luis and pointed. They both ducked behind some brush. Ahead of them about a hundred yards away were two men with rifles. They were coming slowly up the trail, looking into the woods on either side.
“We have to find a way up the bank,” Luis whispered.
“I’m telling you, Jenny found a place to hide back along the trail,” Jorge said. “If we can find her, she’s our ticket out of here. Come on, I have a pretty good idea where she got off the trail. She’s not far from here—I know it.”
Luis and Jorge headed back down the trail. They came out from under the trees where Jenny’s tracks had disappeared.
“She’s hiding right along here somewhere,” Jorge said, “We have to find her.”
The two men frantically began to search among the brush and trees. Suddenly Luis grabbed Jorge. “Back there, behind those bushes.”
They pushed through the bushes and spotted the mouth of the cave.
Jorge smiled. “Smart girl.”
The two men ducked down and went through the cave mouth on their hands and knees. Jorge pulled out his flashlight and turned it on. He shined it down at the ground. There in the sand were the marks of Jenny’s shoes.
“She’s in here all right,” Luis said. “Jenny,” he called softly. “Come on out, we found you.”
Jorge shined the light around. The cave opened into a narrow passageway. Jenny’s tracks led toward the opening. Luis and Jorge followed. In a few minutes the passage ended at a blank wall. The two men looked around. Then Jorge pointed the light up higher. About five feet up was another narrow opening.
“How did she get up there?” Luis asked.
“By using these,” said Jorge, as he shined the light on the steps carved into the wall.
Jorge called out. “Come on out, Jenny, we know you’re up there. Don’t make me come up there and get you.”
Outside, the four men moved quietly down the trail. Ahead of them in the snow were two sets of tracks.
“Luis and the other guy,” Bobby whispered.
They followed the tracks. Then they saw another set of tracks coming up out of the creek bed. Johnny pointed. The tracks were from tennis shoes, and the left leg was dragging in the snow. Jonathan stooped down and looked closer. There were a few drops of blood in the snow by the tracks.
“It’s Jenny, and it looks like she’s hurt. She’s dragging her leg, and there’s blood here.”
“We have to find her before they do,” Reuben said, starting up the trail.
The others hurried after him.
Jenny lay in the darkness. She had been either dozing or unconscious, and something had awakened her—a bright light shining on the roof of the passage where she had climbed in. She could see that the pine stick that was her splint had wedged in a crack as she slid, and that was what had kept her from going all the way down. Then she heard a voice. Jorge!
“Come on out, Jenny, we know you’re there. Don’t make me come up there and get you.”
Jenny’s heart began pounding. She looked around. There was no way out except down. She reached over and tried to pull the pine splint out of the crack where it was wedged.
Stop!
Jenny’s hand jerked back. The warning had come like a shout. She reached toward the splint again.
Stop!
Then she knew what it was. Once again she was trying to save herself. The words came to her quietly. My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Jenny lay back. “All right, Lord,” she whispered. “You win. I’m helpless. I put my life in Your hands.”
Gary and Bobby were in the lead with Reuben and Jonathan right behind. They came to a place where a jumble of tracks led under the trees. The light snow covering had begun to melt, and it was hard to tell if anyone had gone farther. What tracks remained in the melting snow were mixed up and confused. Bobby and Gary moved forward and around the corner, where the ravine narrowed. Jonathan and Reuben followed. They came out the other side, but the confusion of tracks didn’t come out from under the trees. Bobby saw the two troopers coming down the path about fifty yards away.
“Gary and I will go see if those guys have found anything,” Bobby said. “You two go back along the trail and look to see if Luis and his buddy found a way out of the ravine.”
“But, Sheriff, what about Jenny?” Jonathan asked. “If she’s hurt, she couldn’t climb out of here.”
“Well, get in behind the brush along the trail and see if she’s hidden somewhere,” Bobby said. “We’ll talk to these guys and then come find you.”
Bobby and Gary headed up the trail. As they did, Jonathan stopped and grabbed Reuben’s arm.
“The cave!”
“What?” Reuben asked.
“The cave—maybe Jenny found the cave!”
“What cave?” Reuben asked.
“There’s a big cave behind the brush back there. I’ll bet Jenny’s in there!”
Jonathan and Reuben went back to the pine trees. They pushed their way through the brush and began walking along the face of the cliff. Ahead of them in the wall of the cliff was a dark opening.
“There it is,” Johnny said. “You have to get down and crawl in, but it opens up right away.”
The two men crawled into the cave.
“Jenny, are you in here?” Jonathan called.
“Yeah, she is,” said a voice. “But so are we—now drop the shotgun.”
As their eyes adjusted to the dark, Jonathan could see Luis and another man standing at the back of the cave. Luis had a pistol pointed at them. Jonathan slowly put down the shotgun. Luis walked up to him and stuck the pistol in his face. “Well, Johnny the Candyman, I see you got away from Sal. I should have just killed you. I think I’ll do it now.”
He pulled back the hammer of the pistol. Jonathan turned his head, but before Luis could fire, Reuben spoke.
“The woods are full of armed men. You fire that gun and they’ll be here in a minute.”
Luis looked at Reuben and then grinned. “You’re right, big man. So maybe I’ll just beat him to death.”
“You’re not going to get Jenny again!” Jonathan shouted as he lunged forward and tried to grab Luis’ arm.
Luis raised the pistol and struck Jonathan a powerful blow on the side of the head. Jonathan crumpled into a heap. Luis leaned over him to strike again, but Reuben leaped forward and grabbed his wrist. The two men began to struggle for the gun. Jorge had a gun and aimed it at Reuben.
Reuben swung Luis around between them and Jorge leapt forward, trying to get to a place where he could fire at Reuben without hitting Luis. Reuben reached out with his free hand and grabbed Jorge’s gun arm. Now the three men were locked in a deadly dance. Slowly Luis and Jorge forced Reuben backward. Reuben struggled to keep the guns pointed away from him, but the combined strength of the two men began to force Reuben to his knees. Luis began to move the gun toward Reuben. Reuben used all his strength, but he knew he was about to be shot. Then Luis felt something cold on his neck.
“If you want to live, drop your gun.”
The two gangsters felt the guns in their backs, and they stopped struggling. Bobby, with Gary at his side, reached in slowly and relieved them of their guns. Then he used his leg to sweep Luis’ legs out from under him and knocked him facedown in the sand.
“You too,” Bobby said to Jorge. “On your face.”
Jorge dropped to his knees and lay facedown in the sand. Gary stepped in, pulled Luis’ arms behind his back, and quickly snapped on a pair of handcuffs. Bobby handed him another pair, and Gary did the same to Jorge. Reuben looked up at Bobby.
“We’re even, old pal,” Bobby said with a grin.
There was a groan from the corner and Jonathan slowly raised himself to his knees. A stream of blood ran down the side of his face where Luis had hit him. Bobby and Reuben helped Jonathan to his feet.
“Are you all right?” Reuben asked.
“I’ll be okay,” Jonathan said. “I have a pretty thick skull.”
Just then they heard a distant voice from the back of the cave. “Papa? Uncle Bobby? Is that you?”
Reuben ran to the back of the cave. “Jenny!”
“She’s in there,” Jonathan said as he ran back. He pointed up the wall to the mouth of the passage. “Jenny, are you okay?” he shouted.
“Jonathan? I’m here, but I’m stuck.”
“Don’t move,” shouted Jonathan. “That channel is a tunnel that goes through into another cave. There’s a fifty-foot drop at the end of it. Stay right where you are. I’ll come and get you.”
Jonathan picked up the flashlight where Jorge had dropped it in the struggle.
“Point this in there so I can see her,” he said.
Quickly, Jonathan scrambled up the footholds and disappeared into the opening. Carefully he made his way down the chute until he came to where Jenny lay.
She looked up at him and tears began to form in her eyes. “Jonathan? I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”
“Just lie still, Jenny,” Jonathan said. “I’m going to put my hands under your arms and pull you up. Be very still and let me do it. I don’t want you to slip.”
Carefully Jonathan grasped Jenny under the arms and began to pull her up the channel. Slowly, inch by inch, he eased her up. When he came to the opening, Jonathan looked down into Reuben’s face.
“I’ve got her, Mr. Springer. I’m going to pass her down to you.”
Reuben reached up. Slowly Jonathan pulled Jenny past him until Reuben could take her. Gently Reuben lifted her out and into his arms.
Jenny felt her papa’s strong arms wrap around her, and she put her arms around his neck. She could feel his body begin to shake. She pulled her face back and looked at him in surprise.
Reuben pulled her close, and Jenny began to cry with him.