Chapter Nine
“Killing him won’t save your sister,” Danny said. Rand could see him out of the corner of his eye, his face as white as milk, the muscle beside his left eye twitching. But he kept his cool and spoke firmly.
“Don’t think I won’t shoot,” the young man said. He shifted the pistol’s aim to Danny. “You come too. You can help him.”
“All right,” Rand said. “We’ll come with you.” They’d look for an opportunity to overpower the young man. The odds were in their favor—two against one.
Still holding the gun, the man urged them toward a mostly powder blue sedan, which had been manufactured sometime in the 1980s, by Rand’s best guess. As they approached, a second, larger man got out of the passenger seat and frowned at them. He was older than the first man but dressed similarly, his shirt a faded blue-and-white-checkered flannel; his shoes old house slippers, the suede worn shiny at the toes. He opened the back door, and Danny, with another wary glance at the gun, got in.
“You sit up front,” the bigger man told Rand before joining Danny in the back seat. His voice was a reedy tenor, nasal and thin.
So much for two against one. Rand wondered if the second man was also armed, then decided he didn’t want to find out. Instead, he focused on the driver, who shifted into gear with one hand, the other still holding the gun. “What’s wrong with your sister?” he asked.
“She’s having a baby,” he said. “But something isn’t right.”
“What isn’t right?”
“She’s been in labor a long time, but nothing is happening.”
“How long?”
The younger man hunched over the steering wheel, the barrel of the gun balanced on top. “Two days. A little longer.”
“How advanced is her pregnancy?” Rand asked. “Has she lost much blood? How is the baby presented?”
“I don’t know! Stop asking questions. You’ll find out everything when you see her.”
“Where are you taking us?” Danny asked.
“You’ll find that out soon enough too.”
Rand was aware of his phone in the back pocket of his jeans. Could he get his hand back there and dial 911? He shifted and slowly moved his hand back.
A meaty fist wrapped around his bicep. “I’ll take the phone,” the bigger man said.
When Rand didn’t respond, the man squeezed harder, a jolt of pain traveling to the tips of Rand’s fingers. Reluctantly, he surrendered the phone.
The car turned away from town and down a county road, which, after a couple of miles, narrowed and became an unpaved forest service road. Realization washed over Rand. “You’re with the Vine, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Who told you that?” the man from the back seat asked. He had released his hold on Rand but sat forward, within easy striking distance.
“I heard you had moved your camp to the woods,” Rand said. He studied the driver more closely. Were these two the ones who had attacked him and Chris last night? Nothing about them looked familiar, but Rand hadn’t gotten a look at whoever had hit him in the darkness.
Another turn onto an even narrower dirt lane brought them to a cluster of trailers and tents parked among the trees—everything from a battered Airstream to a truck camper up on blocks, old canvas tents, new nylon structures and even a large tepee. The driver stopped the car, and his companion got out and took hold of Rand’s arm. “This way,” he said.
People emerged from the various dwellings to stare as the two men led Danny and Rand past—men and women, many young, none older than middle age. Rand counted eight children and a couple of teens among them.
The driver stopped at a set of wooden steps that led into the back of a box truck. A door had been cut into the back panel of the box. “My sister is in here,” the driver said, and pulled open the door.
The first thing that struck Rand was the smell—body odor and urine, but above that, the slightly sour, metallic scent of blood. The aroma plunged him back to the battlefield, trying to tend to soldiers who were bleeding out. He blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the dimness. The only light in the windowless space emanated from an LED camping lantern suspended from the ceiling. The woman was lying on a pallet in the middle of the floor, dark hair spread out around a narrow face bleached as white as the pillowcase, the swell of her pregnant belly mounding the sheets. A girl knelt beside her, laying a damp cloth on the woman’s forehead. The girl couldn’t have been more than nine or ten, with long dark hair and eyes that looked up at Rand with desperate pleading.
Three other people—two women and a man—were gathered around the pallet. They studied Rand and Danny with suspicion. “Who are they?” the man—blond and stocky, with thinning hair—asked.
“He’s a doctor.” The driver nudged Rand. “Go on.”
Rand knelt beside the pallet. The girl started to get up and move, but Rand motioned her to stay. “It’s all right,” he said. “I might need your help.” He wouldn’t ordinarily ask a child to assist him, but this girl seemed calmer and more willing than the others in the room.
The woman on the pallet was so still that he thought at first she might already be dead. He took her wrist and tried to find a pulse. It was there. Weak and irregular. He looked up at her brother. “I can examine her, but I can tell you already, she needs an ambulance.”
“Examine her. There must be something you can do,” the driver said.
Danny knelt on the other side of the pallet “Is the baby’s father here?” he asked.
The others in the room exchanged a look Rand couldn’t interpret. “He isn’t here,” the stocky man said after a tense moment.
“I’m going to examine her,” Rand told Danny. “Help me get her into position.”
The woman was almost completely unresponsive, only moaning slightly when Danny moved her legs. The girl took the young woman’s hand and held it. Rand used the sheets to form a drape around her and examined the woman and her unborn child as best he could. The situation wasn’t pretty. The woman had lost a lot of blood, and the child was wedged firmly in her narrow pelvis. Without a stethoscope, he couldn’t tell if the child was even alive.
He covered the woman again and stood. “Whoever is responsible for leaving her in this state and not calling for help should be shot,” he said. “I think the baby is dead, and she will be, too, soon, unless you call an ambulance.”
“No ambulance,” the stocky man said.
The door opened, bringing in a rush of fresh air. The others in the truck rose to their feet or, if already standing, stood up straighter. Rand turned to see Jedediah moving toward him, followed by several other men and women, some of whom Rand remembered from the day of the fire.
“Thank you for coming,” the woman’s brother said to Jedediah. He sounded close to tears.
“I’ve come as an emissary from the Exalted,” Jedediah said. He looked down at the woman, who now moaned almost continuously and moved her head from side to side, eyes closed. “He is sorry to hear our sister is troubled.”
“She’s not troubled. She’s going to die if you don’t get her to a hospital right away,” Rand said. She would probably still die, he thought. But at least in a medical facility, she had a chance.
“Silence!” Jedediah clamped down on Rand’s shoulder, fingers digging in painfully. Rand shook him off. If the man touched him again, he would fight back.
Jedediah held up a palm, and everyone fell silent. He knelt and took the woman’s hand in his own. “Sister, the Exalted sends his strength to you,” he said. “Strength to deliver this child. You need not rely on your own frailties, but on his power.”
The others in the room murmured some kind of affirmation. Rand looked on in disgust. Danny didn’t look any happier than he did. Jedediah stood and turned to Rand. He smiled and stared into Rand’s eyes with an expression Rand read as a threat. “I’m confident you can heal her,” Jedediah said. “Tell us what you need, and we will bring it to you.”
“She needs to be in the hospital.”
“We don’t need a hospital. We take care of our own. It’s up to you to help her.”
C HRIS TIMED DINNER to be ready at seven. When Rand still hadn’t shown up, she turned off the heat under the mushrooms and told herself he had probably gotten involved in something at SAR headquarters. By seven thirty, she debated texting him, but she decided that would be out of line. He didn’t owe her any explanations for how he spent his time. She fixed a plate for herself and set aside the leftovers to reheat when he came in.
By nine o’clock, she was truly worried. Rand hadn’t struck her as the type to disappear without letting her know what was going on. She texted him Everything OK?
No reply. She stared at the phone screen. He had said he was meeting Danny, right? She sent a quick text to Danny. Is Rand with you?
No reply. A chill shuddered through her, even as she tried to tell herself there was a logical explanation for the failure of both men to reply. Maybe they had decided to go out after finishing up at headquarters, and time had gotten away from them. She hesitated, then looked up the number for Carrie Andrews, Danny’s partner and fellow search and rescue volunteer.
“Chris? What’s up?” Carrie answered right away as if she had been waiting for a call.
“Is Danny there?” Chris asked.
“No. He was meeting Rand at SAR headquarters and was supposed to be back by seven or so. I’ve been trying to reach him, but he’s not answering his phone.”
Chris’s stomach clenched. “I’ve been trying to reach Rand. He’s not answering either.”
“I was going to drive over to headquarters and see if their cars are in the parking lot,” Carrie said. “But I can’t get hold of my mom to watch the kids, and I don’t want to upset them.”
“I’ll go over there,” Chris said, already pocketing the Jeep keys.
“Let me know what you find.”
Chris had never realized how isolated the search and rescue headquarters building was before. Almost as soon as she turned onto the road leading up to the building, she left behind the lights of houses. She gripped the steering wheel tightly and checked her mirrors every few seconds to see if she was being followed. Relief momentarily relaxed her when she turned into the parking lot and spotted Rand’s and Danny’s vehicles side by side near the door. They must have become so engrossed in their work they had lost track of time.
She parked and hurried to the door, Harley at her heels. The security light flickered on at their approach. She grasped the knob, but the door was locked. “Hey, open up in there!” she called, and pounded on the door. No answer. She tried phoning Rand again. No answer. Next, she punched in Danny’s number. He wasn’t answering, either, but she could hear a phone ringing somewhere just on the other side of the door.
The phone stopped ringing, and she heard the electronic message telling her she had been redirected to a voice mailbox.
She ended the call, and almost immediately, her phone rang. Carrie’s voice was thin with worry. “Are you there? Did you find them?”
“Their cars are here, but no one is answering my knock,” Chris said.
“Something’s happened to them,” Carrie said. “I’m going to call the sheriff.”
“Do that,” Chris said. “Tell them I’ll wait for them here.” She ended the call. Maybe she and Carrie were overreacting, but she didn’t think so. Something was wrong. The knowledge tightened her gut and made her cold all over.
She waited twenty minutes, she and Harley sitting in her car with the doors locked, phone in hand, willing Rand to call. When headlights illuminated the lot, she sat up straighter. The Rayford County Sheriff’s Department SUV swung in behind her, and Deputy Ryker Vernon got out. Chris went to meet him. “Hello, Chris,” he said. “What’s going on?”
“Rand Martin and Danny Irwin were supposed to meet here this afternoon about five o’clock,” she said. “Their vehicles are here, but the door is locked and no one is answering my knock or my calls.”
“What makes you think they didn’t just go off with friends for a drink or something?” Ryker asked.
“Carrie was expecting Danny home. The last time I spoke with Rand, he said he would be home about six thirty. He’s not answering his phone. It’s not like either of them to disappear like this.”
Ryker nodded. “Do you have any reason to suspect someone harmed them?”
“Rand was attacked outside my apartment last night,” she said. “Maybe that person—or persons —came after him here.”
A second vehicle pulled into the lot. Ryker and Chris watched as the black-and-white SUV parked next to Ryker’s cruiser. Deputy Jake Gwynn got out. “I heard the call for assistance here at headquarters and came to assist,” he said. “I have a key to the building.”
“Let’s go inside and see what we find,” Ryker said. He turned to Chris. “You wait out here.”
She wanted to protest but only nodded. While they unlocked the door and went inside, she hugged her arms across her chest and paced beside her car. How could Ryker and Jake be so calm? Sure, she was known to be cool during a search and rescue emergency, but those situations rarely involved anyone she knew. But Rand and Danny were friends, both fit, capable men who wouldn’t be pushovers. If something had happened to them, she couldn’t help thinking it would be bad.
The deputies emerged from the building and Jake relocked the door. “There’s no one in there,” Ryker said. “But we found Danny’s phone on the floor near the door. He must have dropped it.”
“Are you sure Rand didn’t have to report back to the hospital?” Jake asked. “Or maybe he’s visiting a friend?”
She shook her head. “He wouldn’t go back to work without his car. You need to talk to the members of the Vine. Someone told me they’re camped out past County Road 14.”
“Do you think they had something to do with Rand and Danny?” Jake asked.
“I’m sure they were the ones who attacked Rand and then me last night,” she said. “I can’t prove it, but I’m sure of it. Maybe they came back for Rand tonight.”
“Why would they do that?” Ryker asked.
“To get back at me?” She shook her head. “I don’t know. But please, go talk to them. Rand and Danny might be with them now.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to go out there,” Jake said. “But there’s a good chance we’re wasting time.”
“Do you have a better idea of where to look?” Chris asked.
Ryker pocketed his notebook. “We’ll drive out there and take a look,” he said. “You go home. We’ll be in touch.”
“I’m staying at Rand’s place,” she admitted. “My apartment needs the doors and locks replaced.”
“Go there, then,” Jake said. “We’ll let you know what we find.”
They returned to their vehicles and she to hers. The deputies waited for her to drive away, then followed her back toward town. They turned off toward County Road 14 while she continued toward Rand’s place. She didn’t like the idea of returning to the unfamiliar house alone. At least Harley would be there with her.
And what if Ryker and Jake didn’t find Rand and Danny with the Vine? What if someone else had taken them or they had left for some other reason? She might have wasted the deputies’ time and put the two men in further danger.
“W E DON ’ T HAVE proper medical equipment or medications,” Rand protested. “We can’t help this woman without the right tools.”
“We’re very good at making do,” Jedediah said. “Tell us what you need, and we’ll supply a reasonable substitute.”
Which was how Rand and Danny found themselves minutes later with a stack of clean towels, a selection of sharp knives, a sewing kit, a bar of soap, and a bottle of what looked and smelled like grain alcohol. “I’m not going to perform surgery without anesthesia,” Rand said.
“If you don’t operate, she’s going to die anyway,” Danny said softly. The two huddled over their patient, having sent everyone else to wait either outside or against the far wall. Jedediah had left, but the patient’s brother stood nearby, the gun tucked into the front of his jeans, quickly accessible if he decided he needed to use it again.
The two men knelt beside the woman, and Rand once more assessed her condition, which he could only classify as poor. She was barely conscious and mostly unresponsive, her pulse faint. She needed an emergency C-section, and even then her chances of survival were slim. But he couldn’t do nothing and watch her die. “I can try to turn the baby,” Rand said. “Let’s see if we can revive her enough to help us.” He looked up at her brother. “What’s her name?”
“Lana,” the man said.
“Get down here and talk to her,” Rand said.
The brother shook his head and backed away. Exasperated, Rand looked across at the girl, who hadn’t spoken and had scarcely moved since he and Danny entered the truck. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Serena.”
“Serena, is Lana a relative of yours?”
The girl shook her head.
“Then why are you here?” Danny asked.
“It’s my job to help the healer.”
Rand would have told whoever was in charge that this was no place for a child so young, but since Serena was already here, he asked if she would hold Lana’s hand and talk to her while he and Danny worked. “She may be able to hear you, even if she doesn’t respond,” he explained.
Serena nodded. “All right.”
Rand looked back at one of the older women against the wall. “I need some ammonia.”
“Ammonia?” She looked puzzled.
“The cleaning fluid. You must have some somewhere.”
“I’ll see what I can find.”
Lana’s brother moved a little closer, though he didn’t kneel beside the pallet. “What’s your name?” Danny asked.
“Robert.”
“Why did you wait so long to go for help?” Rand asked as he busied himself with cleaning his hands and drying them on one of the towels.
Robert shoved his fingers through his lank hair. “We don’t believe in doctors,” he said. “We’re supposed to trust in the Exalted.”
“Are you going to be in trouble for bringing us here?” Danny asked.
Robert shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. Can you help her?”
“We’re going to try,” Rand said. “But it may be too late.”
“Here.” The woman returned and thrust a plastic bottle filled with yellow liquid at Rand.
He twisted off the cap and sniffed, his eyes watering. It was ammonia, all right. He poured some on a cloth and held it under Lana’s nose. She moaned and turned her head away. “Lana, wake up,” he said. “Open your eyes and look at me, please.”
Her eyes flickered open, and she stared up at him. Her eyes were dark brown, fringed with long dark lashes. She was probably beautiful when she was feeling better. “My name is Rand,” he said. “I’m a doctor, and I’m going to try to help you. I need to try to turn the baby. When I tell you, you need to push.”
She nodded. Rand looked at Serena. “Talk to her. Encourage her.”
Serena leaned close and whispered to Lana. Rand couldn’t hear what she said, and he didn’t care. Her job was to try to calm and distract Lana, if that was even possible, given her condition. He nodded to Danny, and the two of them moved down to tackle the dilemma of somehow delivering this baby. Rand was searching for some way to lubricate his hands when the door to the trailer opened, a woman’s strident protests breaking the tense silence. “You can’t go in there—”
Rand turned to see what the commotion was about just as two Rayford County sheriff’s deputies stepped in. “Rand?” one of the deputies asked.
As the officers moved closer, Rand recognized Jake Gwynn. “We need a medical helicopter,” he said. “Right away.”
“I’ll make the call,” the other deputy said, and stepped out of the trailer.
Jake took in the woman on the pallet and the people gathered around her. “Are you and Danny okay?” he asked.
“We’re fine, but this woman needs emergency surgery.”
“No surgery.” The older woman who had fetched the ammonia stepped between Rand and Lana. “No hospital. The Exalted forbids it.”
“Then if she dies, I’ll be happy to testify in the Exalted’s murder trial.” Rand stood.
Robert stood also. There was no sign of the gun now, and he moved toward the door. Jake moved to intercept him. “You need to stay here,” he said.
The other deputy returned. “This is Ryker Vernon,” Jake said. “What happened?”
“Two men grabbed us outside search and rescue headquarters,” Danny said. “They forced us to come here to help this woman.”
The four men looked down at Lana, who lay still, her breathing slow and labored. “They should have called for help hours ago,” Rand said.
“They forced you to come here?” Ryker asked.
“They had a gun,” Danny said.
“The Exalted had nothing to do with that,” the older woman said. “He forbids the use of violence.”
“Apparently, he also forbids outside help, even for a medical emergency,” Rand said.
“I think we need to talk to this Exalted person,” Jake said. “Where can we find him?”
“I have no idea,” Rand said. “I’ve only spoken to his representative, a man named Jedediah.” He turned to Danny. “Let’s get Lana ready for transport.”
They were making Lana as comfortable as possible when an approaching siren signaled the arrival of the ambulance. Moments later, two paramedics pushed into the trailer, ignoring the orders to stop from some of the onlookers. The first paramedic to enter, a burly fortysomething with close-cropped gray hair, surveyed the room. “We need to get this crowd out of here so we can work.”
“You heard the man,” Jake said. “Everybody out.”
When no one moved, Jake and Ryker began taking hold of people and escorting them out.
Rand introduced himself and Danny and provided what medical information he had been able to assess, then stepped back to allow the paramedics to take over. By the time he heard the distant throb of a helicopter over the camp, they had started an IV line and fitted Lana with an oxygen mask and various equipment to monitor her vitals. The deputies were still outside, presumably dealing with the other campers. Jedediah didn’t make an appearance, and Robert and his fellow kidnapper had disappeared. Serena was gone, too, pulled away by one of the women as the paramedics started their work.
Rand and Danny followed the stretcher out of the trailer and watched as Lana was loaded into the ambulance. She would be driven to the cleared area that had been designated as a landing spot for the helicopter, then rushed to the hospital.
Jake joined Rand and Danny as the ambulance pulled away. “Can you identify the men who kidnapped you?” he asked.
“I can.” The crowd of onlookers was mostly moving away now, presumably to the trailers and tents scattered among the trees, their faces indistinguishable in the darkness. “My guess is you won’t find them here tonight.”
“Give us a description, and we’ll conduct a search.”
Danny and Rand each described what they knew about the two men who had waylaid them and also provided what they knew about Jedediah.
“How did you know where to find us?” Danny asked when that was done.
“Chris went to SAR headquarters to look for you and found the place locked up tight,” Ryker said. “Both your cars were there, and we found your phone on the ground. Carrie called 911 and reported you missing. Chris said she thought the persons who attacked the two of you last night were from the Vine and that they might have gone after you again tonight.”
“These men didn’t hurt us,” Rand said.
“One of them was the woman’s brother,” Danny said. “I don’t think he would have harmed us. I think he was desperate to help his sister.”
“Threatening someone with a gun and forcing them to go somewhere against their will is still a crime,” Ryker said.
“Let’s get you out of here,” Jake said.
Rand and Danny shared the back seat of Jake’s SUV for the ride to search and rescue headquarters. Neither spoke. Rand was exhausted. The sight of Lana, struggling to stay alive while he was helpless to do anything, would remain with him for a long time. If the Exalted and his followers were willing to sacrifice one of their own for the sake of their misguided beliefs, he could believe they wouldn’t hesitate to break laws in order to obey their leader’s command to bring a former member back into the fold.