Page 161 of Running to You

The men, all as fierce as Jon and Grant, wore solemn faces as they geared up with bulletproof vests and weapons and night-vision goggles. They donned camouflage jackets and smeared black on their faces before heading to their posts in different spots surrounding the lodge.

Sam suited up as well, feeling like a little kid playing dress-up surrounded by all these warriors. But this wasn’t a game. And he wasn’t sitting on the sidelines.

After Daniel, Bryan, and Derrick fought their way through the forest, Sam shimmied back from the ridge and greeted them with hugs.

“Looking good, man.” Derrick eyed him from head to toe. “I should get a picture.”

“Try it and find out how it feels to be tased.”

Derrick lifted his hands, a big grin on his face. “Take a joke, bro.”

The smiles faded when Jon joined them, handing out night-vision goggles and bulletproof vests and jackets. “Keep these on. This is our uniform, how we’ll know good guys from bad. You see someone in camo, don’t shoot.” He gave Derrick and Daniel pistols and tasers, then handed Bryan, who’d brought his own rifle, a taser.

“For now, we’re just watching.” Jon gave them a quick rundown on the plan, then focused on Daniel and Derrick. “You two find a place out of sight to hunker down.” Then to Bryan, “I’ll show you where we want you.”

Rifle slung over his back and leaning on his cane, Bryan followed Jon higher up the hill, where he’d have a view of the front and the side of the building.

They disappeared into the trees.

Until they got the video feed from Eliza, there was nothing to do but wait. And pray.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Eliza had planned on having time. But the ride from Portland to Augusta passed too quickly. Even so, she figured she’d get to Augusta and call Jed, then wait for someone to come pick her up.

But she hadn’t stepped ten feet from the grumbling bus when a sweaty hand gripped her upper arm. “Took you long enough.”

She held her duffel bag close and tried to keep up with Gil as he dragged her toward the parking lot, ignoring the other passengers who disembarked, not that any of them were paying attention to her.

Gil wore a brace on one arm and had a scrape across his face and bruises beneath both eyes. The scuffles with Sam and Jon had left their marks. Unfortunately, he was still standing, still much stronger than she was.

“I’m here voluntarily,” she said. “You don’t have to abduct me.”

The rage in the look he sent her could’ve sparked a house fire. He shoved her into the backseat of a black SUV and slammed the door.

She had to fight the urge to open it and run. This was what she wanted. This was her way back to Levi, her way to rescue her mother and Nicole.

Even so, terror squeezed her tight, nearly choking her.

Gil drove for twenty minutes, away from the congestion of the city. Though she couldn’t see his face from her spot in the backseat, she didn’t miss how his meaty hands gripped the steering wheel.

Then he turned down a country road lined with forest on both sides and braked hard.

This couldn’t be the campground. Michael had told her it was an hour’s drive at least. “What are we doing?”

He climbed out of the SUV and slammed the door.

Panic had her trying the handle. She had to get out of there, to run before he hurt her. But the door wouldn’t open from the inside.

Gil opened it and reached past her for the duffel bag. He opened it, rifled through it, and pulled out the manila envelope, which he dropped on the front seat before pitching the duffel into the woods behind him.

Then, he yanked her out.

Before she could protest, he slammed her against the side of the car and rubbed his meaty paws over her neck, her shoulders. “Where is it?”

A scream tried to claw its way out, but she couldn’t make her throat work. Couldn’t do anything but stand there and take it, dreading the worst, especially as his hands slid down her front and beneath her shirt, his calloused palms scratching her skin.

But they didn’t linger. They slid around her back, then down her hips and both legs. He lifted her foot, levered off her sneaker. Looked inside it and all around the outside and then tossed it into the woods. “Where is it? If I find it before you confess, you’ll be sorry.”