Chapter 26 #2
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 feet from 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 you hear 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.”
Peter winced then cleared his throat before grabbing at Tanner’s jacket. “Tanner? Son, is that you? What’s going on?”
“It’s me, Dad. Can you stand for me? We have to get back to the house.” Tanner hated to rush him, but the thought of April and Violet back with Ned was nearly killing him. As soon as his parents were safely inside, he was going to find them.
“Tanner,” his dad said again. The man was slightly confused and Tanner couldn’t blame him.
“It’s me, Dad,” Tanner said. “Come on, try to stand.” He gripped his dad under the arms and used all his strength to pull the man up to his feet. “How does that feel?”
“Wobbly,” Peter admitted. “What the hell happened?”
“I think someone drugged you and Mom while I was away. Faith and Sienna seem fine, but I sent Mom back to the house to check on them. Then came to find you.”
“Drugged? Wait, they drugged your mother? Why?” His dad was now alert and panicking as he tried to put one foot in front of the other, but wasn’t quite balancing yet.
“Easy, Dad. Mom is fine. She woke up and came out of it pretty quick. I think you’re taking it the hardest. We might need to get you to urgent care just in case.”
“In case of what?” His father roared. “Someone dared to hurt my family and you want me to go to a hospital? Come on, let’s get back to the house. Where is that security team I hired? Why aren’t they doing their job?”
Tanner had completely forgotten about them. “Something tells me they met with the same fate you and Mom did. I’m sure they’ll be waking up soon, but we have to get back to the house right now.”
Peter didn’t put up a fight as Tanner rushed him back to the house. As soon as they came in through the back door, Tanner was met with worried glances from his mom, Faith, and Sienna.
“I know,” Tanner said, keeping his tone level, despite wanting to tear down the walls with his bare hands.
“April and Violet are gone,” Pam said. “We checked the entire house, Tanner. They’re gone. Why would that awful man do this to them?” She was no doubt referring to Ned.