It was impossible to run through the wooded area. And in places, it was hard to simply walk. Thankful for Jon’s compass, she kept it handy as she pushed through a particularly dense section of undergrowth. It would be so much easier to walk along the beach. But that would be too dangerous. She knew Krantz would be on the lookout for them today. And knowing that he had two kidnapped victims besides her mother made her even more aware of what a desperate man he was.
As she trudged along, she prayed. She prayed that God would lead her to someone who could help and that God would protect her mother and the two girls. And finally she prayed for God to keep Jon from harm. Her worst fear was that Krantz would return, and Jon would try to intervene with his plan A.
She understood Jon’s thinking—that he might be able to buy them some time. And Jon, being an attorney, was probably good at reasoning with difficult people. But Krantz was not a rational man. He might just shoot Jon to get him out of the way. The thought of this sent a chill down her spine—and she prayed even harder for God to keep Jon safe. As she climbed over a fallen tree, she remembered the kiss. At first she’d been totally caught off guard by it. She suspected he had been, too. But after she’d recovered from the shock, she realized that it was the sweetest kiss she’d ever experienced. And she hoped it wouldn’t be the last one.
Maybe she was wrong about Monica. Maybe when he’d told her it was over between them, he had meant it. Just because the woman was beautiful didn’t mean that she was Jon’s soul mate. For all Leah knew Monica could be a horrible person that Jon was fortunate to be rid of. Or she could be married to someone else by now. Hadn’t Jon said it had been a year ago? A lot could happen in a year.
And what about how Jon had quizzed her about her own relationships? Why would he have been so curious to find out if she was single unless he was interested in her? And what about that kiss?
Please, God, don’t let it be the last one!
Leah could hear the rumble of the ocean waves to her right and according to the compass, she was still going directly south. But according to her watch, she’d been walking for an hour. Shouldn’t she have reached the jetty by now?
Seeing light coming through the trees up ahead, she knew she must be close. She also knew there was a dune area that ran alongside the jetty. A popular place for ATVs in the summertime or on a sunny weekend at other times of the year. But this was midweek and the off-season. The chances of someone being out here today were slim. What she wouldn’t give to run into a friendly ATV enthusiast just now—someone to give her a lift through this last stretch of dunes and over to the road.
But when she reached the edge of the woods, leading out to the open area of the dune, she met silence. She looked all around, worried that Krantz could’ve staked someone out here to watch for her. Or he might even be here himself. She studied the tops of various dunes, trying to determine if an irregularity was a clump of grass or a tree or a sharpshooter hunkered down with a high-powered rifle and scope pointed right at her. And just because Krantz was a poor shot didn’t mean that his cohorts were, too.
Still hiding in the shadows of the wooded area, Leah took out Jon’s phone, hoping against hope that it might be getting at least one bar here. Nothing. No connectivity whatsoever. Hopefully Jon was right about the jetty. Hopefully she’d be able to use the phone there. If nothing else, perhaps she could send a text. She could explain the situation, tell them the location of the compound. And send the video, too.
In fact, she decided to start preparing a text. That way she’d have it all ready to go as soon as she saw as much as one bar of connectivity. Standing in the shadows, she carefully typed a message into the notepad. She explained as best she could about the location of the compound. Then she listed the names and ages of the victims being held captive, as well as information about Krantz and his plan to get the women out by boat at high tide tonight. She also explained that Jon was an attorney who’d been shot by Krantz and that she was a nursing student that Krantz had attempted to kidnap.
Feeling there was no more she could do and hoping that—if by chance—something should happen to her, the phone might still be useful for rescuing Jon and her mother and the girls—if it didn’t fall into Krantz’s dirty hands—she knew she needed to continue.
Breathing a silent prayer, Leah stepped out into the open area, bracing herself for the sounds of possible gunfire. But all she heard was the nearby surf and the screech of a gull. On high alert, she cautiously walked across the soft sand, watching all around her with each step. Although there were lots of tire tracks left from ATVs, there didn’t appear to be any human footprints. She hoped that was a good sign.
Checking the compass, she spotted a twisted spruce tree that was due south and, knowing time was of the essence, she started to run toward it. The sooner she made it out of this cleared area, the better it would be. And once she reached the jetty, she would have a good solid surface to continue running. And hopefully phone connectivity.
She was only about a third of the way across the open dune when she heard the rumble of a helicopter coming from the direction of the jetty. Judging by the increasing whop-whop sound of the blades, it was headed her away. She stopped for a split second, trying to decide. Should she press forward or turn back?
If she pressed forward, she would have a long way to go before finding the shelter of trees. If she turned back, she might be able to get out of sight before the helicopter spotted her. And all her instincts said that was why it was flying through this area. Whether it was the coast guard or the police, they were probably searching for the “dangerous criminals.”
In that same split second, she decided on a third option. Instead of continuing forward to the jetty or retracing her steps, which would lead them back to where Jon was camped at the compound, she turned east. Running directly toward the preserve area, she wanted to make them think she planned to cut across that really rugged terrain. Even though it was full of swamps, quicksand and black bears, she wanted them to believe she was going that way in order to reach town.
But first she had to get out of this wide-open space. Running as fast as she could through the soft, unstable sand, she pressed toward the preserve. But each step felt sluggish and slow and hard, just like a dream she used to have as a child—running through a pool of Jell-O with some villain chasing her. Only this was for real.
The sound of the helicopter blades was getting louder and she knew it was over the dunes now. In Jon’s mother’s purple warm-ups, she would be easy to spot out here. But there was nothing to do but keep running—and to pray.
She glanced over her shoulder in time to see the helicopter diving down low—directly toward her. She was disappointed to see it wasn’t the bright orange coast guard helicopter. If it were, she would’ve felt relatively safe to surrender to them. Because she couldn’t imagine the coast guard would be in cahoots with Krantz. But this was a small black helicopter and unless she was mistaken, that was Krantz in the dark glasses, pointing down at her.
She heard the helicopter lifting up and circling back around, as if getting into a position. Were they going to land on the dune—and pursue her on foot? Or were they just getting better positioned to shoot her from up in the air? She didn’t want to find out.
Arms and legs pumping as hard as she could make them go, she threw all of her energy into the last twenty feet of uphill sand between her and the trees. She could hear a man’s voice yelling from the helicopter—probably Krantz, telling her to stop or he would shoot. But she was not stopping. If that was Krantz, it was too dangerous.
She had nearly reached the tree line when she heard the first shot. Making a zigzag trail, the way she’d seen in action movies, she continued without looking back. One more shot rang out, and now she was in the trees. But the strip along the dunes wasn’t as overgrown as she’d hoped. Running from tree to tree, trying to stay in the shadows and out of sight, she pressed on into the denser brush ahead.
The helicopter was not giving up. And although her lungs were burning, she knew she needed to find a heavy thicket where she and her trail of footprints couldn’t be spotted from the air. Fighting through the same kind of underbrush she’d just been so grateful to put behind her, and hearing the sound of the helicopter flying low overhead, she finally reached a thicket where the sky wasn’t visible. Crouching down there, she paused to catch her breath. And taking a few gulps of water, she attempted to think and get her bearings. She looked at the compass, trying to calculate the best way to retrace her steps back to the compound and rejoin Jon.
The sound of the helicopter continued as it relentlessly circled in the sky above her. She could tell they were flying low, probably just above the treetops. And probably using their rifle scopes in the hope of spotting her—and shooting. But to her relief it also sounded as though they were expanding their search more to the east, deeper into the reserve and more toward town. It almost seemed that they’d fallen for her deception. She could only hope.
She continued to move through the woods, bearing her course northward and careful to stay in the densest thickets, which made moving tedious and slow, but it did allow her a chance to recover somewhat. Then, hearing the sound of the helicopter coming closer, she knew they were returning. Hopefully they didn’t have some kind of a heat sensor that could pick her out from within the trees. She’d heard of things like that.
The helicopter circled around where she’d entered the preserve area a few more times and then finally sounded as if it was heading back toward the jetty. Feeling safe that she could run through a more open area, she took off, hoping to put more distance behind her as she worked her way back toward the compound. Pausing to check the compass, she realized that the helicopter engine was slowing down. It sounded as if it was landing in the nearby dune area.
She shuddered to think what might happen if it had landed. Would they pursue her on foot? Imagining armed and determined men—led by Krantz—getting out in the dune area and following her trail across the sand, she knew she needed to move even faster now. It wouldn’t be easy for them to track her through this area, but it wasn’t impossible either. Not if they were good trackers. She just hoped they didn’t have dogs with them. Then it would be hopeless.
Feeling exhausted and defeated, she trudged on, forcing one foot in front of the other. She checked her compass occasionally and even Jon’s phone in the hopes she might pass through a hot spot. Straining her ears, she paused to listen, but all she could hear was the sound of the ocean. But that didn’t mean they weren’t following her on foot, although it wouldn’t be easy out in this rough terrain.
At one point she looked around to see what she was actually trudging through and was startled to see water moving below the brush she was walking on. It looked like a stream or slough and it was at least six feet below her. She was actually walking high above the ground—that was how thick and tall the underbrush in these parts could grow. A coastal jungle. Seeing the water reminded her that she was thirsty.
She paused long enough to finish the last of the water from the bottle. She pushed on, wanting to find a place where she wasn’t so high from the ground. What if she fell through? Would she ever be able to get out again? Finally, she came to a more open area with real ground beneath her feet. With treetops concealing her from the helicopter that she still heard passing by occasionally, she continued to walk, allowing herself to munch on the energy bar as she went. When she finished eating, she started to run again.
She had started cutting back toward the ocean in the hope that she’d find marks of the trail she’d made on her way to the jetty. Some broken branches or trampled-down brush. But it was useless. And she eventually discovered that she’d gone nearly to the beach. Wanting to remain somewhat under cover, she continued along the beach grass, working her way north on the edge of the dune. At least it was a little easier to travel that way. Where she was going? She wasn’t even sure. Perhaps she’d end back up at the cabin.
But maybe the police would be gone from that area by now—out by the jetty or scouring the preserve area. And then she could climb the rock Jon had shown her and get phone connection up there—send the message she’d painstakingly prepared. As she ran, she vaguely wondered how many miles she would have gone by then. Certainly more than ten. Probably more like twelve. And much of that in rough terrain. If by some chance she got to run the Portland marathon in the summer, she should be in fairly good shape. Well, unless Krantz killed her.
As she slowed her pace to a fast jog, she could hardly believe that it had been less than twenty-four hours since her ordeal had begun. When would this madness end? And how would it end? Thoughts of reuniting with Jon helped to drive her as she continued moving north. But, worried that she’d overshot the compound area, she wondered if she’d ever see Jon again. And what if something had happened to him while she was gone? What if someone had come and taken her mom and the girls away while she was gone? What if Jon had been harmed trying to protect them? She couldn’t allow herself to think about that.
She paused to look at her watch. According to her calculations she should’ve made it to the compound by now. Except for that side trip she’d taken to throw off her trackers. Who knew how far off that had taken her? She ventured beyond the beach grass now, looking over the top of the dune, down toward the beach, hoping for some familiar sign. The creek or some driftwood. But nothing along this stretch stood out particularly. Scanning the ocean, she noticed a boat out there. Probably a crabber. Unless it was a boat waiting to smuggle the kidnapped victims at high tide. That was possible.
Just before she turned back, she noticed a set of tire tracks on the beach. They appeared to have turned inland. Was that where they’d driven the ATV up the side of the dune? Although she saw no sign of its wreckage below. She continued jogging and as she got closer, she realized that the tire tracks seemed to lead to what looked like a beach access road. Not a road exactly, but it did look accessible. Maybe that was how Krantz had gotten his car down onto the beach to chase them this morning.
She hurried over to where the tire tracks cut through the dune, then followed them up until she realized they were merging into the same narrow rutted road that they’d followed to the compound earlier today. So she hadn’t overshot the compound after all. Feeling strangely hopeful, she speeded up into a fast run.
And as crazy as it seemed, she felt as if she were almost home. Oh, it made no real sense. But somehow, the idea of being reunited with Jon—and knowing she was near her mother—appealed to her. Well, she thought, it was better than being out there by herself and being chased by a killer. She couldn’t wait to see Jon again—hoping that he’d hold her in his arms as he’d done earlier. Well, after she’d foisted herself onto him.
Suddenly she felt defeated as the compound came into sight. Jon would be disappointed to find out she’d been unable to use the phone. She had failed at her mission. As she slowed down her pace, she realized that she was, quite literally, right back where she’d started. There was no help on the way. They were still in very serious danger. Perhaps even more so than before.
She approached the compound cautiously, remaining in the shadows in case someone besides Jon was around. But as she got closer, she could see there were no vehicles. That was a relief. But then, when she went to the place she’d left Jon, she didn’t see any sign of him, either. Feeling a tightness in her chest that was more than just exhaustion, she went to their previous hiding spot. Not there, either. She walked all around the compound, quietly calling out to him, but he didn’t answer. A chill went through her as she stood there. With his bad leg, he could barely walk. Where could he have gone?
She stared at the windowless brown building with its creepy security cams that resembled evil eyeballs. Was it possible that Jon had somehow done a MacGyver trick and gotten inside there? Or more likely, maybe Krantz or one of his cohorts had already been here and taken the hostages—as well as Jon? Perhaps they’d been monitoring those security cams and knew that she and Jon had been here. If that was the case, she would be a fool to stick around one minute longer than necessary.
She knew the only way to figure this out would be to scale that fence herself—to get inside and knock on the door in the hope that someone would answer. Even if Jon was gone, she could at least reassure herself that her mom was still here. Or not.
She had just reached the top of the fence and was about to go over when she heard the loud snap of a twig breaking behind her. She felt the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. Someone was watching her. Bracing herself for a gunshot, she knew she must decide. Jump over the fence and land in the compound area and use the building to hide behind? Or tumble back down on the outside of the fence and make a run for it? Neither option felt safe.