AllFreeNovel
Share Us
37
Laura tried to open her eyes, but it was difficult. She struggled until she was finally able to raise her lids a little. Where was she? What happened? She tried to remember, but her memory was hazy.
She remembered walking out of church. Amy had asked her if she wanted to get something to eat, but she’d turned her down. She was tired. She wanted nothing more than to go home and cuddle up with Sabrina.
Laura tried to move but couldn’t. She turned her head and looked around her. Was this a basement? Why couldn’t she move? Then she realized she was tied down. Her arms were raised above her head, and her wrists were bound with rope attached to the legs of a large table. Her own legs were tied to the other end of the tabletop.
What was going on? Fear coursed through her. How did she get here?
She searched her mind again, although it was like fighting through a thick fog. Laura remembered driving home. She got out of her car ... What next? She tried hard to find her memories. There was a voice ... and nothing after that. She thought about calling out for help, but what if whoever did this heard her? She fought against the terror she felt. She remembered what Amy had said—that she wasn’t alone anymore.
As tears fell down her cheeks and dripped into her hair, she silently cried out to God to save her. As she prayed, fear turned to hope. Hope that God would get her out of this. She wanted to get married. Have children. Live the kind of life she once thought was impossible. She wasn’t the useless, unwanted girl her parents had rejected. She had a new Father, and He loved her. He’d adopted her. Laura decided to believe He would rescue her.
As the words from a worship song they’d sung at church began to play in her mind, she sang along in a whisper. And as she thought about the words, the fear dissipated until she was certain God had heard her. That He had a plan for her life, and no one could stop it. No one.
Logan and Monty had borrowed an SUV from one of the computer analysts trying to track down Adam Walker. He’d checked in a couple of hours earlier and was prepared to work all night. Monty told him someone had borrowed their car and that they needed to follow up on a lead. It wasn’t really a lie—although they didn’t tell him they’d probably be driving in pretty tough terrain.
When they opened the back door of the CP building, they stepped into a cold rain, then ran to the car. Monty threw himself into the passenger seat.
“Turn on the heater,” he said as Logan got in. “It will probably take a while to warm up.” Logan started the car and pressed the button for the car’s heating system. Cold air blew out of the vents. Logan turned on the car’s GPS system and put in the address of Lake Lotawana, a small town with the same name as the lake. Finding it would lead them to the lake.
“It’s going to take about thirty minutes to get there,” he said, putting the car in gear and heading out of the parking lot.
“I wish we knew what was going on with the churches,” Monty said. “We’re going into this blind. Are we looking for a kidnap victim? Or are we just trying to find Walker?”
“Just assume we’re looking for a kidnap victim and a man who may be planning to unleash a deadly pathogen.” And Alex. “If we find this guy, we find the virus. And if we find the virus, we’ve saved many, many lives.”
“And if we don’t, we may be working at McDonald’s.”
Logan snorted as he looked over at Monty. “Hey, I like McDonald’s. Don’t be a hater.”
Monty grunted, then looked out the windshield. “Uh ... is that still rain? It’s looking more like sleet.”
“I guess we better hurry up and get there, then.” Logan didn’t like driving in ice, but what choice did he have?
“You didn’t tell Harrison where we were going, right?”
“No, but I think he’ll figure it out—if he checks his voice mail. If we find something, I’ll call him immediately.” He glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “It’s a little after nine forty-five. Most church meetings will have dismissed by now.”
“I would feel a lot better if you’d actually talked to Harrison,” Monty said. “What if they’ve already caught Walker? We may be doing this for nothing.”
“But Alex is out there. We need to find her. Try her again.”
They’d called Alex’s cell phone several times, but it went straight to voice mail. Monty nodded at Logan when he got the same thing again. “Hey, Alex,” he said, “this is Monty. Logan and I need to talk to you. We’ve left you several messages, and we’re getting worried. Assuming you’ve gone to the lake, we’re headed your way. Please, please call us so we know where you are, okay?”
He disconnected and sighed. “She obviously doesn’t want to talk to us. And I don’t think she’ll be pleased to know we followed her.” He sighed again, this time more loudly. “Let me get this straight. We’re all driving into the woods, it’s dark and sleeting, and we’re not even sure the guy we’re looking for is where we’re headed. Can this get any worse?”
“Actually, it could get much worse. I looked over some information about the lake while you were in the restroom. A lot of the roads around the lake are dirt, especially on the south side where we’re going.”
Monty turned to stare at him. “Super. Let’s add that to the list. Woods, darkness, ice, no one will know where we are except a woman who won’t return our phone calls and a man who might or might not figure out where we’ve gone. A man who could ruin our careers. Who told us not to do this. Good.” He slumped down in his seat. “Now dirt. We better find this Walker guy, rescue Alex if she needs it, and save the world. Unless we can pull that off, those jobs at McDonald’s are looking pretty good. Maybe I can be a fry guy.”
Logan was certain they were doing the right thing, but he understood the point behind what Monty was saying. They needed a win here. But first they had to find Alex. Logan hadn’t mentioned she was gone in the message he’d left Harrison. At least he could keep her out of it if the situation went south.
He tried to tell himself he would do the same thing if Monty had gone off on his own, and he believed he would. But something about Alex had wriggled itself into his mind. She was an exemplary agent, but she was also fragile. He hadn’t worked closely with her before this assignment, but he’d been around her enough to know the way she was acting was new. It seemed to have started after she went to Wichita. Something was clearly wrong—something beyond what she’d told him about her past.
He suddenly realized she reminded him of someone. His great-uncle Jasper, who served in Vietnam. Alex had the same look in her eyes he’d had. His wife told Logan’s mother Jasper had PTSD. Jasper saw a counselor several times, but two years ago, he’d taken a gun into the bathroom and killed himself.
A chill went through Logan that had nothing to do with temperature. The car was warm enough now. Was Alex going through PTSD from her experiences with her aunt? She certainly had been through more than most children should ever endure. A father who left and a depressed mother who killed herself, leaving Alex to find her body. And then she was thrust into the home of a strange aunt who allowed Alex to be the adult while she spent her time espousing crazy teachings. It would be almost impossible for anyone. And finding that aunt standing over your bed with a knife? The more Logan thought about that, the more bizarre it sounded. No teenager should feel she had to hide a gun under her pillow to protect herself.
