Jon knew that Leah was about to jump out of her skin. He could feel her tensed muscles, her shaky breathing. He saw the animallike fear in her eyes. But to expose themselves right now would be suicidal. He knew that in his gut. And in the event Krantz should catch them—and Jon knew this was a possibility—Jon would have to remember to toss his smartphone into the brush in the hopes that someone would discover it later and learn the truth. Even if it was too late for him and Leah. And her poor mom.
Jon’s thigh was on fire. He wasn’t sure if infection had set in or if it had been more damaged than they’d assumed last night. All he knew for sure was that he wasn’t going to make it to the jetty. And now that they knew Leah’s mom was here, he wasn’t even sure he wanted to leave. Except that they needed help.
Krantz yelled some more nasty threats—more evidence that Jon collected on his phone. This thug was clearly feeling desperate. But his desperation just made him more dangerous. For a moment, Jon considered surrendering himself in exchange for Leah’s mom’s safety. But he knew that Krantz would simply take him hostage along with the frightened woman. And he felt certain that Krantz would not hesitate to kill him. Unless he thought Jon was leverage, too.
Before Jon could come to a conclusion on this idea, Krantz yanked Leah’s mother back into the warehouse, slamming the door angrily behind him.
“I’ve got to help her,” Leah whispered in a terrified tone. Despite all they’d been through together, this was the most frightened he’d seen her—and it cut him to the core.
“I have an idea,” he said quietly. “You stay hidden, and when Krantz comes out, I’ll offer myself in exchange for your mom’s safety.”
“You know he’ll just kill you, Jon.”
“Maybe not.” He looked into her eyes. “If I can convince him that I’m more important to you than your mother—maybe he’ll be motivated to keep me alive for a while.”
“Why?”
He could feel himself making this up as he went, but if it kept Leah safe, maybe it didn’t matter. If only one of them could survive, it had to be her. With his eyes fixed on the warehouse door, he continued, talking quietly—trying to be convincing, almost like presenting a case in court.
“I’ll surrender myself. I’ll explain that I’m crippled and I’ll act like I’m really sorry about all this, like I have no idea what’s going on with the trafficking business. Like I think he’s a trustworthy cop and I was just trying to protect you. I’ll tell Krantz that you’re on your way into town. I’ll say that you have my phone, which you will have. I’ll tell him that he can contact you by phone and that he can tell you he’s got me—and he can even put me on the phone—enticing you to come back here. But you’ve got to go, Leah. You need to go now, while he’s inside.”
“But then what?” Although she sounded slightly intrigued, she didn’t budge.
He took his eyes off the door to look at her and, seeing the confused expression in her eyes, he knew the idea was half-hatched, but somehow he had to sell her on it. Just to get her to safety.
“I’m not really sure. But there’s no time to waste. You need to run, Leah. Now.”
“But I’m not sure about this plan.” She frowned. “It sounds like a suicide mission...for you. And what does it accomplish?”
“It buys us some time. While you run as fast as you can into town—or to wherever you can get phone service—I’ll be keeping your mom alive.”
“How can you keep Mom alive if you’re dead?” she asked stubbornly.
“You’re our only hope. You’ve got to go now, Leah. Before Krantz comes back out. Call the state police again. If they refer you back to local law enforcement, call the FBI. And you’ll have my phone with evidence, Leah. That should help convince someone we’re not criminals.”
“But I can’t leave you behind. Krantz will kill you, Jon. You know he will.”
“Not if I can convince him I’m worth more alive than dead. That I’m his link to you. And if I was inside that building, maybe I’d think of something more to do. Maybe I could catch him off his guard, grab his gun...or something.”
“Or get shot.” She frowned. “That’s what will probably happen.”
“What if I could help your mom, Leah?”
She looked almost hopeful, then sadly shook her head. “It’s too risky.”
He pointed to his leg. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but I’m not going to be able to run. I can barely walk.”
“More reason I can’t leave you here alone.”
“Leah.” He locked eyes with her. “This might be our only hope.” He forced his phone into her hands. “You won’t have connectivity for a while. That will buy me some time with Krantz. You’re a fast runner, Leah. Without me to drag you down, you could make it—” Before he could finish, a sound from the compound made him turn to see that Krantz was emerging from the warehouse.
Jon considered standing up, holding his hands in the air and approaching. But he knew it was too dangerous to draw Krantz’s attention over here. Chances were, he’d see Leah, too. And then it would be over for both of them. If only she’d listened to him—if only she’d taken off while she’d had the chance. Now it was too late.
Krantz gave the area one more long hard look, then unlocked the gate and, quickly relocking it, returned to his car and appeared to be using his radio. Jon wondered who he was contacting. Was he even still on duty? His civilian clothes seemed to suggest otherwise, but why did he still have the unmarked car? As Jon waited for Krantz to go, he wondered—how many other cops were crooked like Krantz? Was there anyone on the Cape Perpetua police force they could trust?
Eventually the sound of the car’s engine signaled he was ready to leave and to Jon’s relief, the dark car drove away. When it was well out of sight, he turned back to Leah. “It’s not too late to make my plan work. You can still head for the jetty, get to a place where the phone connects and call for help.”
“I hate to leave you here.” Her eyes looked misty.
“At least you’re not leaving me in Krantz’s hands.” He attempted a smile, feeling a bit of relief himself over this.
“That’s true.”
“And you’re fast.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m guessing we could get help back here in a couple hours. Three at the most.”
She looked at her watch. “That’d be around two.”
He nodded.
“What if Krantz comes back before then?”
“I’ll just lie low.”
“But what if he decides to move my mom?”
Jon frowned. “Maybe that’s when I go back to my earlier plan. I offer myself in exchange for your mom.”
She looked tenderly at him. “Jon, I appreciate your valor—I really do—but I can’t imagine it would work.”
He shrugged. “Maybe not.”
She looked up at the building. “I wish we could break into there.”
He followed her gaze, cringing at the forbidding razor wire. “Just getting over that fence would be a challenge. And those dead bolts look pretty tight.”
“What about your Swiss Army knife and your survival upbringing?”
Jon tried not to grimace in pain as he slowly stood. “I could try to scale the fence. Maybe use the saw blade on my Swiss Army knife to cut that razor wire. Try to jimmy those locks.”
“Or maybe I could,” she suggested.
“No, this is a job for MacGyver.” He made a weak smile.
“Let’s walk around the compound,” she suggested. “Find its weakest link.”
“And let’s hope no one’s watching their security cam.”
“Oh, yeah.” She stopped in her tracks. “Maybe we should stay in the brush until we figure this out.”
Keeping a safe distance and hiding in the shadows of the trees, they worked their way around to the back. The fence was tight and secure all the way around and with no back door or windows, the metal building was like a small fortress.
“You go around front,” he told her. “Watch the road.”
“What if you need my help?” She looked down at his bad leg with uncertainty.
“It’ll be more helpful to have you warn me if Krantz returns.” Jon pointed to what he felt certain was a security cam. “Once I start going up the fence, I’ll probably be in plain sight. If Krantz is watching, he’ll probably be right back.”
“Okay. But if I see him what should I do? Yell?”
He considered this. “Can you make a hoot owl sound?”
She frowned. “I don’t know.”
“It sounds like this.” He demonstrated a pretty authentic owl call, and she attempted to imitate him.
“Not bad.”
“Be careful,” she said gently.
He nodded. “You’ve got my phone. If anything goes wrong, it’s back to plan A. Okay? You duck into the trees, then run toward the jetty.”
She pursed her lips with a shadow of uncertainty in her eyes.
“Do you promise me, Leah?” He reached for her hand.
“I promise.” She nodded solemnly.
Shaking her hand in agreement, he longed to just hold on to her, to lead her away from this ugly place—to run away together. But her mom was inside. They had to at least try to get her out.
After she was safely away, out of sight of the security cam, Jon stealthily approached the fence. He wasn’t sure if he could do this with his bum leg, but there was no way he was going to let Leah attempt it. Chances were that Krantz was watching that camera right now. If he turned around and came back, he’d probably catch Jon red-handed. But at least Jon had made Leah promise. If anything went wrong, she was to run. He felt sure he could count on her.
Grasping the cyclone fence with his hands, he decided to just go for it. Despite the searing pain in his thigh, he clambered up to the top, careful to remain below the razor wire. Then, holding himself in place with his good leg, he got out his pocketknife, opened it to the saw blade and started to work on the wire. After he made a decent-size dent in it, he switched over to a small cutter tool and snapped it, causing it to spring out, catching him across his forearm and nearly making him lose his balance.
Silently praying, he carefully bent the nasty wire aside, making a small opening that he knew would be tricky at best to climb through. But somehow he made it over the top and was letting himself down onto the ground. With his heart pounding hard and his leg throbbing in pain, he went close to the building, hoping to be out of sight of the cameras, working his way around to the front of the building—and hoping that Leah was still keeping guard and that Krantz was nowhere nearby.
To his relief the front yard was still vacant with no sign of any vehicles on the road. Now he took out the wire he’d put in his pocket. Using it as well as his pocketknife blades, he attempted to jimmy the first dead bolt lock open. But it was not giving. He considered trying the other one, but knew that it would be useless, too.
He doubted that they could be opened from the inside, but decided to give it a try. Knowing that there could be someone in there guarding Leah’s mom—and that this could be a bad move for him—he decided to go for it anyway. Pounding on the door, he called out. “Anyone in there? Can you unlock the door? Can you let me in? I’ve come to help!” He pounded again. “I’ve come to get you out of here!”
The voice of a girl responded. “We’re in here!” she yelled. “Help us!”
“Can you open the door?” Jon yelled back.
“It’s locked. We don’t have a key.”
“Who are you?” Jon yelled.
“Hallie Talbert,” she yelled back.
“How old are you?” he yelled.
“Seventeen!”
“We’re going to get you out of there,” he shouted, looking over his shoulder to be sure no one was coming yet. “But don’t tell anyone we’ve been here, Hallie. We’ll get help as soon as we can. Just keep calm. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“How is Mrs. Hampton doing?”
“The old woman?” Hallie called back.
“Yeah. Is she okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Anyone else with you?” he yelled.
“Yeah. A girl from California. Her name is Rosita Garcia. She’s only fifteen.”
Jon felt even more sickened—and then enraged. “We want to help you, Hallie,” he shouted.
“I heard him say that the boat is coming,” Hallie yelled back.
“What boat?”
“To take us out of here.”
“When?” Jon demanded.
“Tonight at high tide. They’re taking us away.” She let out a loud sob. “Please, help us!”
“We won’t let them take you,” Jon shouted.
“Please, please, help us!” She pounded on the door. “Please!”
“You need to stay calm,” he told her again. “And pray! Ask God to help us!”
“I have been praying!” she cried.
“Good! And don’t let on that we’re here. Keep calm.” And now, worried that Krantz could be coming down the road, Jon limped back to the fence and, trying to block out the pain surging through his leg, he focused his energy on scaling the fence. But each step was excruciating. Finally, he reached the top, carefully slipping between the cut wires, trying not to fall.
He was barely over the edge when his bad leg slipped, giving him a hard landing on the other side. Doubling over in pain, he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath—begging for God to give him strength and a plan that would get those captives to safety.
“Are you okay?” Leah was beside him now, her hand laid gently on his back.
“We need to get out of sight,” he huffed.
She wrapped a supportive arm around him, helping him to limp back into the surrounding brush behind the building.
“Let’s stay in the shadows in case Krantz is on his way back.” He leaned on her, wishing his leg were stronger as they made their way through the thick brush.
“The locks wouldn’t give?” she asked.
“No. They were tight.”
“Did I hear you talking to someone inside?”
He nodded, trying to catch his breath as he dragged his bum leg behind him.
“Did you talk to my mom?” she asked eagerly.
“No.” He huffed. “But the girl said she’s okay.”
“What girl?”
“Hallie Talbert.” He tried to get his breath. “She’s seventeen. You need to remember that, Leah.”
“Hallie Talbert, seventeen,” she echoed.
“Another girl.” He winced in pain as they pushed through a thick place of undergrowth. “Rosita Garcia. fifteen.”
“Fifteen?” Leah sounded as shocked as he’d felt. “She’s only fifteen?”
“Uh-huh. Memorize those names, Leah.” He repeated them for her.
“Hallie Talbert, seventeen,” she said. “Rosita Garcia, fifteen.”
“When you call the state police—or FBI—you tell them those names. They must be aware that those girls have gone missing. It will help them to believe us this time.”
“Okay.” She sounded uncertain. “You still think I should go?”
“You’ve got to, Leah.”
“But I hate to leave you—”
“You’re their only hope. Our only hope. You have to make a run for it. There’s no other way.”
They’d made it all the way around to the other side of the building, to an overgrown area with a good view of the front of the compound.
“What about you?” she asked quietly. “What will you do?”
“I’ll stay here and keep watch.” He eased himself onto a moss-covered fallen log, trying to catch his breath, trying not to show how much pain he was in.
“Will you remain out of sight?”
He turned to look directly into her eyes. “I might have to resort to plan A, Leah. If necessary, I’ll reveal my whereabouts to Krantz.”
“But he’ll kill you.”
“Not necessarily. And I’ll only do it as my last resort. And just to buy us time—to prevent him from taking them away from here.”
“Taking them away?” She frowned. “Where would he take them?”
Jon considered keeping this from her. He knew how worried she’d be for her mom if she knew she might be transported on a boat—to who knew where? And yet, he knew it was wrong to keep her in the dark. They were in this together. They had to be honest with each other. Besides, if something happened to him, she would need to know the details.
“Listen, Leah, Hallie told me something important just now.”
“What?” Her eyes widened with concern.
“She must’ve overheard Krantz. It sounds like he plans to take them away from here. By boat tonight.”
“By boat?”
“At high tide. I’m guessing they must run it up onto the beach. Pretty slick way to transport illegal drugs—apparently it works with people, too.”
“Will he take my mom with them, too?”
“I don’t know about that. But I’m sure the girls will be gone.”
“We have to get them out of here, Jon.”
“That’s why you need to make a run for it, Leah. You have to get help. And if you can just make it to a place where the phone can connect—probably somewhere on the jetty.” He dug his compass out of his pocket. “Take this for when you’re in the trees. Just keep pressing south and you’ll eventually run into the jetty. Hopefully the phone will work there. And you can send the video I shot to the state police. Or the FBI. Footage of a cop threatening to kill an innocent old woman—that alone should get their attention.”
Leah pocketed the compass, then leaned over and, to his surprise, she wrapped her arms around him and held tightly to him. “I hate to leave you, Jon.”
He returned the embrace, holding her close and wishing they had this moment under different circumstances. He’d been longing to take her into his arms. As he smelled the sweetness of her hair, the pain in his leg seemed to diminish. She felt so good next to him, as if she belonged there. As if they belonged together. “I hate to let you go,” he said quietly. “But you have to, Leah.”
She pulled away from him slightly, looking into his eyes with an intensity that nearly took his breath away. “If we never see each other again, Jon—if something happens to either of us and—well, I just want to tell you that I—”
“We will see each other again.” He placed his hands on either side of her face, willing her to be strong—stronger than he was able just now. “You’re going to get help, Leah. We’re going to get out of this. And we’re going to rescue your mom and those girls.” And now, still holding her face, he pulled her gently toward himself and kissed her. He couldn’t even believe that he’d done it—but just like that, as if it were meant to be, it had happened. And despite their hopeless situation, the kiss was sweet and promising and her eyes lit up as if she felt it, too.
“Okay.” She smiled. “You’re right. We will see each other again.”
He reached into another pocket, extracting the half-full water bottle and the last energy bar. “Take these.”
“No.” She held up her hand. “You keep them.”
“Take them,” he insisted. “You need them more than I do.”
“But I—”
“I mean it.” He gave her his I-mean-business look and to his relief she didn’t argue. “Now, run like the wind, darling.”
“I will.” She stood, holding up his phone. “See you in a few hours—hopefully with the state police, the FBI and the coast guard, too.”
“Good for you!” He gave her his bravest smile, but as soon as she took off, he felt completely deflated with worry and fear. Sending her out like that—on her own and with Krantz well aware that they were in this vicinity. Well, it was just crazy. And he knew she’d have to run through some wide-open spaces to reach the jetty—the one place where everyone would expect the two of them to head for after they’d been spotted on the ATV going that way. What if Krantz was out there waiting for her right now? Perched on a high dune with his automatic rifle? She’d make an easy target.