Doctor Huxley asked for a lawyer two seconds after Tanner and Wilder showed up. Which was just as well since the FBI arrived minutes later, acting all annoyed that Tanner had dared to do his job. It didn’t help that Janine Huxley was now in the wind, but at least they had a slew of charges to add to Doc’s case. Nico wouldn’t be happy, but hopefully, if he did find Janine Huxley first, he’d have the good sense to turn her in. He had brought the check copies to Tanner, after all.
The storm was still raging outside, and Tanner was growing more and more worried about his own family. He’d been fighting an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach for hours, and it was only growing the longer he kept ignoring it. He needed to check on them.
Leaving Wilder to deal with the Feds and Dr. Huxley, Tanner promised to call later. He could come back tomorrow if he was needed, which wasn’t likely since it felt like the Feds couldn’t get rid of him fast enough.
Tanner pulled out his cell phone only to see over a dozen missed calls from Faith. With a sinking feeling, Tanner dialed her back.
“Tanner?” Her voice was shaky. Something was wrong.
Every fiber of his being tensed, and he ran out the door to his truck, ignoring the pouring rain that soaked him to the bone in seconds. “What’s going on? What happened?”He asked, putting her on speakerphone as he buckled his seatbelt and gunned the engine out of the parking lot.
“They’re gone, Tanner. They’re just gone.”
Tanner drove like a madman all the way back to the ranch. He’d been so focused on making the arrest and closing his case…work had always been his number one priority, and then the guilt he felt for letting Janine Huxley slip through his fingers had only made him double down even harder on what he was doing. His job meant everything to him. It was how he made a difference. Finding the killer, making the arrest, being part of the process that ensured they’d never hurt anyone again. That had been his life for years.
But his life had changed the day he met April, and then again when he found out he had a daughter. Everything was different now. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let Nico of all people, and a little competition with the FBI and a Texas Ranger get in the way of his own family?
Wilder could’ve handled the arrest. He’d called in plenty of backup. Or Tanner could’ve just called Caden and let the Feds handle it like they’d wanted to. Either way, they hadn’t actually needed Tanner tonight. Not really. Not like his family had. He never should’ve left them alone.
A bolt of lightning lit up the barn as Tanner came to a skidding halt in front of the house. He ran inside to find Faith and Sienna in the kitchen. Sienna was nibbling on a cookie, but it was the fear in Faith’s eyes that had Tanner’s stomach in knots. He didn’t miss the muddy footprints just inside the backdoor leading to the staircase. Not only were they too small to be his father’s, but Peter knew better than to make a mess and leaveit for Pam to clean up. “Who was it?” Tanner nearly roared, but controlled his volume for Sienna’s sake.
Faith was practically trembling. “We never saw them. We didn’t even hear anything. Sienna and I went upstairs to tidy up her room. When we came back down, that door was wide open, those muddy boot prints were there, and April and Violet were just gone. I ran outside, thinking maybe they went to the barn to help Mom and Dad with the mare, but I didn’t see anyone. It was still storming and it had gotten really dark, so I came back inside. Mom said she was taking her cell phone with her so I tried calling her, but there was no answer. Sienna was getting scared so I’ve just been sitting here with her while trying to reach you. I was so scared when you didn’t answer any of my calls either. I was just about to call 911 when you finally called me back. What’s going on, Tanner?”
He had no idea, but he was going to find out if it was the last thing he did. “Stay inside. Call Caden, tell him what happened, and lock this behind me.” Uncaring of the wind or the sheets of rain pelting down on him, he raced back out to the barn, just as another bolt of lightning revealed that he was the only one inside, except for the horses. Faith said his mom had come out here to help his father with the mare. The very same mare that stood not ten feet away from him now, her foal resting at her feet. They seemed to be doing fine. So, where were his parents?
“Dad?” Tanner called out. But there was no answer. “Mom?” He called out, growing more anxious when all he heard was the pounding rain on the barn roof. A gust of wind picked up, blowing water into the barn. Fear and panic flooded his body as he charged out of the barn in search of them. He looked back at the house and didn’t see anything amiss. Whatever the danger was, it had come and gone long before he’d returned. That’s when he noticed an unusual bump on the ground about fifty feetfrom the back door. He must’ve run right by it on the way to the barn and not noticed it.
“Dad!” Tanner beelined for the form, pumping his legs as he raced across the open field. But when he fell to his knees over the heap and turned it over, Tanner gasped. “No! Mom! Mom, wake up. Mom?” He pressed his index finger to the side of her neck, and blew out a sigh of relief when he felt a strong pulse. What the hell happened here? “Mom,” he shook her shoulders gently, trying to revive her. “Mom, wake up. Can you hear me? Mom?”
She moaned and then started to turn in his arms. “Tanner?” Her voice was barely there but she was slowly coming out of whatever it was that had knocked her out.
“Yeah, Mom, it’s me. What happened? Did you fall?”
Her hand went to the side of her head and then she looked up at Tanner, bringing her hand up to shield her eyes from the downpour. “I went to see if your dad needed help with the mare, but he wasn’t in the barn. I decided to go back to the house and then - where is your dad?” She asked, suddenly more alert.
Tanner shook his head. “I don’t know. I saw you lying here and I thought you were him. Mom, can you stand?”
“I think so,” she said, already pushing herself up to her feet with Tanner’s help.
Tanner rubbed her back, fearing that whatever happened here had nothing to do with the storm, or her falling. “Mom, I need you to go back to the house and check on Faith and Sienna. Can you do that for me?” He knew the only way to get her to go inside while his dad was still missing was to give her an important mission, and nothing was more important to Pamela Rhodes than her children and grandchildren.
“Yes, of course. Just find your dad.” She looked in the direction of the corral and then the barn. Tanner followed her gaze, but all he saw was the outlines of the red barn being pelted by the unrelenting rain. “Where could he be?” She asked.
Tanner had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling that was only growing like a volcano in the pit of his stomach, threatening to erupt at any moment. He needed to find his dad. Now. “I’ll find him, Mom. Just go back to the house and stay there. Dry off and make sure Faith called Caden like I told her to.”
“I will,” she said, starting toward the house.
“Mom,” he called after her. “No matter what, don’t leave the house. If Caden comes before I get back, tell him everything you remember, and let my friends handle it. Got it?”
His mom looked at him with a slight bit of confusion, but gave a quick nod and hurried off, pushing her way against the gusts of wind and rain. He watched her until she was climbing the steps of the porch, then he turned back. If his dad was out here, he was going to find him.
“Dad!” He called out at the top of his lungs, racing back toward the barn. It was the last place Tanner knew he was going. The mare hadn’t moved, standing over her foal protectively, right where he’d left them. “Where is he, girl? Where’s my dad?” He asked, not expecting the horse to answer in any way. A bolt of lightning lit up the space again, and that’s when he saw it. His father, lying on the ground on the other end of the stall. The mare had positioned herself in such a way that it made his father nearly invisible from almost any angle except the one he was standing at right now.
As if anticipating that he was about to circumvent her, she made an unsettling noise, her nostrils flaring. “Easy,” he soothed, reaching to stroke her. That seemed to settle her, but only slightly. “I’m just going to help him,” he said, inching his way closer to his dad. The mare eyed him warily, but allowed Tanner to pass. He dropped to his knees beside his father. “Dad?” Tanner carefully turned him over and felt for a pulse on the side of his neck. Thankfully, it was strong. “Dad, can youhear me?” Tanner’s mind raced with the possibilities of what had happened, but his best guess was that they’d been drugged.
The ranch manager was nowhere to be found, but this was clearly Ned’s doing, which meant whoever did this, also took April and Violet.
“Come on, Dad,” Tanner said, not willing to wait a second longer for him to wake up. “Dad, please, open your eyes and look at me.”
