Desperate Rescue Read online

  Her heart leaped and pounded in her throat and one of her mother’s favorite sayings burst into her mind.

  Better the enemy you know.

  She broke into a run toward the house. Eli had left the door open and she leaped up past the squeaky plank, right to the stain where a welcome mat once lay and in the next step, over the threshold.

  “There’s no one in the kitchen.”

  She spun, so quickly she nearly lost her balance.

  Eli didn’t seem to notice her agitation. He’d already turned and headed into the living room. To her left stood the stairs. Up to her prison.

  Get a grip, she scolded herself. They’re gone. No one’s here. That rustling was just an animal.

  Eli appeared at the end of the hall ahead that lined the stairs, having walked the circle from the living room to the back hall. “Let’s try upstairs,” he said, his voice tight with anxiety.

  “You fully expect to find someone here, don’t you?”

  He didn’t answer. She barreled on anyway. “There’s no one here, Eli. I can feel it.”

  “How so?”

  “In the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping, or when they were gone for supplies and there were only a handful of us here, you could tell. There was life here. Now there’s nothing.” Her voice wobbled.

  “You don’t sound completely convinced. What’s wrong?”

  “I heard an animal outside, that’s all. It spooked me.”

  With a frown, he studied her. “Noah wouldn’t be noisy, if that’s what you’re thinking. You just said we’re alone.”

  She bit her lip at his comment. She wanted to leave and to have Eli leave with her. But she knew what she’d said would only cement Eli’s resolve to find out for himself. Not to prove her wrong, but to prove to himself that there was no one here, dead or alive.

  He brushed off her comments. “We need to look for any clue to where they may have gone. Let’s try upstairs, then work our way down.”

  She nodded, telling herself again that she was here for Eli. She’d agreed to get him into The Farm, to help him find Phoebe.

  Eli swept past her and up the stairs. They all could be upstairs, but she doubted it. Even dead, she wagered that Noah and his cult would command a certain presence.

  And there was nothing here. With a deep breath, she forced herself to remember that. And that Eli was here. She was safe. There was nothing in this house to hurt her.

  The urge to run still burned in her. Swallowing it down, she climbed that first step with shaking legs. Then another step, each worn tread giving way to her. Without staring at Eli’s legs as they walked upstairs, she knew he was there, guiding her in a way he didn’t realize. “So who slept in what room?” he asked casually when he reached the top.

  A moment of righteous anger surged through her. Didn’t he realize that this was one of the most difficult moments of her life, here and now? Couldn’t he show some compassion?

  At the top, Eli turned, fully expecting an answer. She stepped on the upstairs hall floor before giving him one. “Um, Phoebe and Trisha and I had this one.” She pointed to her right. Each door of the five small bedrooms was closed. “The older women had the two end rooms and the kids slept there.” She pointed to middle room.

  He flicked his eyes from door to door. “There are five rooms up here.” He looked at the one she hadn’t mentioned. “Who had this one?”

  “The married couple.” She didn’t want to think of them. They’d been the hopeful pair to lead the way for all of them to start a new generation. Except their plans hadn’t turned out the way they wanted them to.

  Eli shoved open the door of the room she’d shared. It was empty. Only then, did she realize she’d pulled in a breath and held it. Letting it out felt like a relief. She focused on her old room, noticing that all the furniture was still there.

  It only added to the eerie atmosphere.

  She found herself stepping into the bedroom. The bed was made, the threadbare bedclothes not quite as neatly made as she remembered. The cheap, thin pillows, three in a row on the double bed ahead of her, barely made a lump under the faded chenille bedspread. The whole room had a hasty-looking feel to it, not at all like Phoebe’s usual meticulous standards.

  She walked over to the window and looked down at the front yard. The same view as she’d seen so many times before.

  Movement to her left caught her attention. That animal? Could it still be there, not scared off by her sudden flight into the house? She must not have made enough noise.

  Like the silent house around her.

  Silent? She cocked her head, listening. Hadn’t Eli just opened a door? What was he doing?

  “Eli?”

  Nothing. She peeked one more time at the far view outside, but saw no movement or rustling in the woods that had closed in on the compound.

  “Eli?” she called again.

  Still nothing. Swallowing, she moved from the window, avoiding any accidental glance around the room as she slipped into the hall.

  All the bedroom doors were open. “Where are you? Did you find anything?”

  There was nothing but a chilling silence. She dared to peek into the next bedroom, then the far one and soon all of them. No one. Not even Eli.

  She hadn’t heard him walk down the stairs. They were old, and creaked—especially on cold, windy nights when falling temperatures and harsh eastern winds shifted the house.

  Where was he? What was he doing? Trying to teach her not to be afraid of ghostly memories? To trust in God when there was nothing left to trust in?

  Anger bubbled in her, followed swiftly by fear.

  Maybe he’d left her in this house and that movement by the fence was him leaving.

  His way to teach her a lesson on trust?

  Just like Noah. The thought spat into her head and close on the heels of that accusation was another.

  He was Noah. Eli Nash didn’t exist. That was why Phoebe never mentioned him. He didn’t exist. For all she knew, Eli was Noah’s middle name and he was both left-handed and right-handed and had sought her out to avenge her desertion and fulfil his threats.

  And Noah, now that he knew how she had escaped, was going to make sure she didn’t escape again.

  Tears burned her eyes. Her throat hurt from the choke of falling totally apart.

  She had to get out of there.

  Whirling, she flew down the stairs, missing the last two treads in a blind panicking stumble.

  Two arms caught her. Firm, well-muscled, they wrapped around her torso and stopped her from falling on her face.

  Pinned by them, she let out a cry and threw them off. “No! Let me go! What kind of sick lesson are you trying to teach me, anyway? You’re insane!”

  “It’s me, Eli!”

  Total panic flooded into her and her eyes widened in horror. “No, no! You’re Noah! There’s no such person as Eli! You’re trying to trap me in here! To kill me like you threatened to do. I saw you!” She thrashed away from him, twisting until she was free.

  “Kaylee! It’s okay!”

  She heard him, but couldn’t control the fear racing through her. She flung herself at the front door, finding it closed. Then, firing it open, she fell over the threshold.

  Eli shouted her name again. This time it registered, but she didn’t dare listen. Gulping in the fresh fall air, she raced across the front yard, not headed to the cut in the fence, but straight at the gate.

  She tripped over something and fell ungracefully on the dry, dormant grass.

  “Kaylee, stop! You’re going to hurt yourself. I’m not Noah! It’s me, Eli!”

  She saw him close in on her. Even now, with the panic settling in her, she couldn’t stop herself. She knew the craziness of her actions, but she was beyond any self-control. She stumbled to her feet and began a zigzag trek around the house.

  Reaching the back gate, she thrust out her arms and shoved hard. The posts, weakened by too many high winter snows, had lost their grip on the gr
ound. One good shove from her and they toppled loudly, dragging brittle brush with them.

  But they weren’t so weak that they gave her full rein. She stumbled and crawled over them, only to have one post fight back. Her weight wasn’t great enough to keep it down and she found herself scraped and tangled in the mix of chain link and barbed wire.

  “Kaylee! What’s going on? Are you crazy? Stop! You’ll cut yourself to shreds!”

  She stared up at Eli. He stood over her, worry frowning on his face.

  There was no mockery, no smirk on his face. He held out his left hand and she saw the puckering scar he’d shown her before.

  Confusion swept through her. Did Noah have that scar?

  No, he didn’t. She was sure now. “Where were you?”

  “You mean, just now? I went into the basement.”

  “Why?”

  “Looking for—Looking for any clues to where they went.”

  “Didn’t you hear me call?”

  “Once, but by the time I got up into the kitchen, you were already racing down the stairs. I had to grab you when you stumbled. You could have killed yourself.”

  Her panic drained away. “What did you find in the basement?”

  He pulled in a deep breath and shook his head. “Not much. A table, a few chairs. It looked as if it was set up for one of those prayer sessions you described. A few candles. There was a lightbulb hanging from one of the beams.”

  A light? The times she’d been down there, only candles were used and she’d kept her head down in hopes no one would notice her. A shudder danced through her. Old knobby candles that smoked and stank and shot long shadows through the basement.

  “To control us,” she whispered. “He only used candles to keep us in the dark.”

  His lips tightened. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

  She lay sprawled on the wire, looking up at him, trying to sort out her panic. “You didn’t answer when I called and I didn’t hear you go downstairs. I saw something outside…” She trailed off and her gaze flickered over to the break in the fence.

  He followed her gaze. “What did you see?”

  “The bushes move. Something deliberately stalking us, following us in.”

  He looked down at her. “Deliberately?”

  She felt a warmth seep into her cheeks. “We’d made enough noise to scare off most wild animals. I—I thought it was you.”

  “Me?” A light of understanding dawned on his face. “You thought I was Noah, that I’d tricked you into revealing how you escaped.” He shook his head, and she saw pain and hurt flit across his features. “I’m not Noah. And I don’t ever want to be him.”

  “Neither Noah nor Phoebe ever mentioned you.”

  “I’d been chasing my brother, searching for Phoebe for years. Of course they wouldn’t talk about me.” He surveyed her grimly. “Now, we have to get you up, but don’t move. You have barbed wire very close to your temple.”

  She rolled her eyes to her left. A sharp V-shaped piece of wire sat just inside her vision. Only then did she feel sting of the scrapes and scratches. She lay still as Eli gently freed her from the tangle of wire. He stepped on the fence, firmly enough for her to know he wanted her off it, too.

  She reached out her hand. When he tugged her to standing, she glanced down. Her best pair of jeans was torn once at the left thigh and once along the outside of her right knee. The fence behind them lifted slightly under the release of the pressure from Eli’s foot. They were outside the fence.

  She watched him flick off twigs, her heartbeat slipping back to normal. Slowly, she recalled her crazy reasoning.

  Crazy, it was. If Noah had lured her in with plans to trap her here, he wouldn’t have been willing to go inside alone. He’d have lured her into the house.

  And he would never have been so kind to her now.

  Still bent over, Eli stared down at her feet. Curious, she followed his gaze to her well-worn street shoes.

  “Kaylee.”

  She heard the warning in his voice and then saw what he saw. A thin wire had tangled itself around her shoe and leg.

  “No!” He reached out to clamp his hand on her arm. “Stay still.”

  But she couldn’t. “It’s digging into my foot.”

  “Kaylee! No! Stay still!”

  Too late. Jumping up, she flicked up her foot to toss off the wire.

  Eli grabbed her and flung her down. Branches broke and gouged into her abdomen as she hit the ground. A second later, he fell on her.

  A second after that, the ground around them exploded.

  FIVE

  The noise was deafening. Vibrations from the blast ripped through her body. She tried to rise, but Eli pinned her firmly to the ground.

  “No,” he whispered in her ear. “Not yet.”

  The acrid odor of burning chemicals stung her nose. She blinked, but it hurt even to keep her eyes closed. Heat roared up her, a whooshing, searing wave blocked only by Eli’s big frame. He shoved her arms under her body to protect them. His short hair bristled against her ear as burning debris rained down on them.

  Then, abruptly, everything stopped. Eli lifted his head and she could feel him above her, scanning the woods. “Ready?” he asked.

  She opened her eyes. “For what?”

  “To run.” He paused, then leapt to his feet, dragging her up with him. “Run! Straight that way! And don’t stop!”

  He pointed and pushed at the same time and Kaylee obeyed immediately, despite the question of why ringing in her head. It was answered immediately. Another series of explosions rocked the woods around them. They both jumped, but continued to run, snapping branches, galloping over fallen logs and moss-covered rocks. Fear pumped energy into her legs and she used it to push deeper into the woods, away from the compound.

  Another blast tore up something big behind them and, yet, it sounded farther away. Because she was running? Or had this blast been at the other side of the house? The car, maybe?

  She didn’t stop to see. She kept slashing her way wildly through the thick, untouched forest, widening the distance between her and Eli. Her heart pounded in her throat, beats so rapid they drummed a steady blur against her tight windpipe.

  Finally, she stumbled to a halt, panting as her burst of energy suddenly waned. Turning with her hands on her knees and lungs on fire, she scanned the way she’d come for Eli.

  Where was he?

  Had one of the blasts got him?

  The branches she’d slashed through parted. Eli, well camouflaged in his clothes, stepped into sight.

  She sighed. When he reached her, she managed to croak out, “What was all that? Bombs?”

  Panting himself, he nodded.

  “Where did you go? You were right behind me.”

  He offered her a short smile. “I didn’t expect you to be Olympic sprinting material. I stopped once to see if the explosions were moving in a circular pattern, which they were, ending at the house. When I turned back, you’d already passed the border.”

  She glanced around. “We’re in Canada?”

  “Yes. Don’t you remember passing a clear-cut line? There was a stone marker, too.”

  She blinked. Her beating heart and panting breath choked off her answer. All she could manage was a shake of her head.

  “Let’s go.”

  She looked up at Eli. “Where?”

  “Back to the car, if it’s still in one piece. I have a cell phone there. We should call the police and the border patrol, if they don’t already know what’s happened. We’ll have to give the area a wide berth. There could be more unexploded devices still there.”

  “Still some left? The whole compound must have exploded! There won’t be anything left!”

  “We still need to call the police.”

  Refusing to move, she threw up her arms. “Why? Give me one good reason why I should talk to the police. They did nothing to help me when Trisha died. I told them she was murdered, but they said there was no evidence. They weren’t
interested in helping me and I was too beaten down to try to convince them. I’m not going to bother talking with them now.”

  She stalked away from him, smacking back branches still clothed with the yellow leaves of autumn, all the while feeling Eli’s eyes on her back.

  “They’ll believe you now.”

  She stopped. Eli held his breath. Turn around, Kaylee. Stop fighting the life God has given you.

  In the distance, cutting through the autumn stillness, a siren wailed.

  Still, Kaylee refused to turn. Strangely, her actions hurt him.

  But why? Because she refused to do what he knew was right? Because she wasn’t a Christian?

  Slowly, she turned around and Eli found himself exhaling in relief. She took several hesitant steps toward him before she spoke.

  “I hope they believe me. And the only reason I’ll talk to them now would be because it’s justice for Trisha. And to show them I’m not that petulant woman who Noah supposedly spurned.” She straightened her shoulders and nodded.

  Yes, she wanted justice for her sister and rightly so. But she also wanted to prove to the police that they were wrong about her.

  He was only here to find Phoebe. At any cost, too. Something sharp dug into his heart. He inhaled. Was Phoebe right when she accused him of selfishness?

  He swallowed, looking down at Kaylee’s dark hair and pale, exotic features. How she could be of English origin, he wondered suddenly. Her eyes were dark, mysterious and she looked very much the Biblical prophetess. Noah must have seen the advantage she could give him.

  Eli shut his eyes. Was he doing the same thing here?

  “All right. We’ll go back. But,” she told him quietly but firmly, “you may have to face the fact that Noah could have killed them all. If not here, then somewhere else.”

  With gritted teeth, he said, “Don’t you think you’re just avoiding the issue here? I know you don’t want to confront Noah again, but that could be our only solution. You can’t run away from it.”

  “I’m not running away! But a person doesn’t stick their hand out again after the dog has bitten it!”

  “Not even if it could save someone else? Would you think this way if Trisha were still alive? If you think that these people are beyond help, why did you try to talk her into coming home in the first place?”