Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
ZACH
It was a little after one when I stopped at a gas station for a bottle of water.
It used up most of my five dollars, but it was hot outside.
I’d gotten off the school bus at seven forty-five that morning and had been walking—sometimes running to put more distance between me and that town—ever since.
That was more than five hours ago.
The guy behind the register gave me a funny look when I first walked in, but he didn’t say a word as he rang up my water, so I figured I was in the clear when I headed back outside, opened the bottle, and downed half of it. I knew I needed to make it last longer, but I was just so freaking thirsty.
I started back on the road again and had barely made it out of the gas station parking lot when I heard the sound of a car coming up fast behind me. I turned to look and had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. I lost my balance and rolled into the ditch, landing in the mud at the bottom.
The sound of brakes squealing cut through the air as I climbed my way out of the muddy ditch, and when I turned to look, the car had come to a complete stop.
“Asshole!” I shouted, throwing my middle finger up at the driver.
Then the white lights on the back end flipped on, and the car started driving backward just as fast as it had been going when it almost hit me.
I was frozen in place while I watched it getting closer.
There was something about that car, something familiar.
I’d seen it before, I just couldn’t remember where.
Then it hit me.
But by the time I remembered why I recognized that car and turned around to run, it was too late.
Rory
“This doesn’t make any sense,” I whispered, the tears leaking from my eyes of their own accord.
I sat on the floor of Zach’s bedroom with the textbooks and notepads I’d found shoved under his bed scattered all around me.
The drawers were hanging open from where I’d pulled them out, and a ton of his clothes were missing.
I looked up at my mom, who was sitting on his bed, and asked, “Why would he run away? Did I do something wrong?”
“No, honey,” she whispered, her own tears falling as she pushed off the bed and came to her knees, pulling me into a her embrace. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Kids just do these things sometimes. You threatened to run away at least a dozen times when you were his age.”
“I threatened it, yeah. But I never actually did it.” A sob ripped its way from my chest as Mom began to rock me. “Zach actually did it. Why?”
“Shh now, honey bunch. We’ll find him. Don’t you worry.”
It had been two hours since we discovered Zach was missing.
Two hours since my world stopped. Those two hours were the longest, most miserable hours of my life.
My father had already searched the house and barn by the time Cord and I got there and was just coming back from taking his truck out to check some of the spots he’d shown Zach on the ranch. He couldn’t find him anywhere.
The police were called and showed up within a matter of minutes, with a bunch of guys from Alpha Omega on their tail.
Word spread fast that Zach was missing, and a short time later, my girls arrived as well, holding me close and offering comforting words as I silently lost it.
Cord answered all of the officers’ questions, and I found a recent picture for them to get out there so people in town might recognize Zach if they spotted him somewhere.
Once that was done, I’d gone back into his room, hoping I’d stumble on something I missed before. Then I found his schoolbooks.
He’d left that morning with his backpack. I remembered that clear as day. But all of his books had been shoved under his bed. He’d dumped it out to make room for his clothes. Then he took the bus—the driver confirmed he’d dropped him off in front of the school—and from there, my boy took off.
I was a wreck after finding that out. A complete and total disaster. Cord had to handle everything with the cops and the guys from the Alpha Omega, because I was barely holding it together.
“We’ll find him, sweetie, and we’ll bring him home. I promise. We’ll bring him home, and we’ll get this all worked out. You’ll see.”
“Rory!” my father’s voice suddenly boomed from my kitchen. “Rory girl, get out here.”
Mom and I shot to our feet, making the short trip from Zach’s room to the kitchen at a dead run.
I skidded to a stop, my eyes scanning all the faces in the room.
There was a flurry of motion as all the police officers and several of Lincoln’s men started out the door.
The rumble of car engines filled the room next as they all peeled off.
“What?” I clipped, moving to Cord and grabbing hold of his shirt at his chest. “What’s happening? Did you find him?”
“Baby,” he said, his voice sounding like he’d just gargled rocks. “I need you to stay calm, okay? Stay with me, dollface.”
Standing on my tiptoes, I fisted the material of his shirt tighter and demanded, “Tell me.”
But it was Lincoln who spoke, and as he did, I felt the others in the room circle us and start closing in, like they were worried how I might react and wanted to be close to contain the damage.
“Call came in from a gas station clerk just outside of town who reported seein’ a boy matching Zach’s description. ”
“Well, that’s good, right?” I asked, my voice rising with hope. “Why are we just standing around? We need to get over there!”
“Rory,” Cord started, his fingers wrapping around my arms when I tried to pull away.
“His initial call was to report a kidnapping in progress. Uniformed officers went out there to investigate, showed him the picture of Zach, and he confirmed it was him he saw being shoved into the back of a car against his will. He ran out there, tried to get to him, but the driver took off before he made it.”
“Wh-what?” I whispered in disbelief. “Someone kidnapped my boy?”
“We got a description of the woman and the car. Rory, it was Miriam Weathers.”
“No,” I breathed, my voice coming out in a whisper. “No, no, no, no, no.”
“We’re gonna get him back,” Cord proclaimed, his tone unwavering. “We know which direction she was headed in, and we already have units out. Someone’ll spot her, and we’ll get our boy back. I’m joinin’ up with them right now, but I wanted to let you know first.”
I pulled my arms from his grip and shoved through my friends and loved ones on my way to the door. “I’m going with you,” I declared, grabbing my purse off the kitchen table and yanking the strap onto my shoulder.
“Rory, no—”
“This isn’t up for debate, Cord!” I barked, leaning in close to him. “This is me telling you the way it’s gonna be. That’s my son out there.”
“Sweetheart, I know. But it’s not safe—”
“That evil, wretched woman has my son, and there’s no goddamn way I’m sitting on my ass and waiting for you guys to track her down and bring him back to me. Now I’m done arguing about this. It’s a waste of fucking time, so let’s go!”
With that, I spun on my boots and threw the door open wide.
“That’s the spirit I was tellin’ you about, son,” I heard my dad announce curiously. “All you can do is hold on.”
But I stopped listening as I stomped down to Cord’s truck. By the time I made it to the passenger door, he’d already beeped the locks, and I took that as a good sign that he was giving me my way in this. He climbed in the driver seat a moment later, and together we headed out to get our boy.
Zach
“Your fault. All your fault,” Ms. Weathers muttered as she turned the wheel and whipped the car down a narrow mountain road.
I hadn’t liked the woman from the first moment I met her years ago. There was something about her that made me feel weird. Fortunately, I hadn’t had to see her a lot, considering she never did her freaking job.
But sitting in the seat beside her, listening to her mumble a whole bunch of nonsense, I knew what it was I didn’t like about her.
The woman was freaking crazy.
She’d nearly run me over, then kidnapped me in broad daylight in front of a gas station. Now she was driving like a maniac on dangerous roads. The longer I was stuck in the car with her, the more scared I got that she was going to wreck.
Totally crazy.
“Uh… Ms. Weathers, maybe you should slow down.”
“Devil’s spawn!” she shouted, turning her demented eyes to me. “That’s what you are! The child of Satan. Evil through and through.”
She whipped around another turn so fast that I slammed into the door.
“I’m sorry,” I said as my whole body began to shake. “I don’t know what I did, but whatever it is, I’m really sorry.”
“Lies,” she hissed, sounding almost evil.
“All lies. You’re a sinner. A dirty, rotten sinner.
Should’ve done away with you first time I laid eyes on you.
Knew then you were a bad seed. You’ll always be a bad seed.
Saw you on the side of the road and knew what I had to do.
It was God giving me the chance to right a wrong. ”
My teeth began to chatter as a fear unlike anything I’d ever felt took over.
I shouldn’t have left. I shouldn’t have run away.
I should have stayed with Rory and Cord.
I could have talked to them, told them I’d do my best to help out when they started having kids.
I’d be good, I’d clean, I’d learn to cook.
If they’d just let me stay, I’d do anything they asked.
But I didn’t. I ran away, and now I probably wasn’t ever going to see them again.
That sting started back up in my eyes, but instead of fighting it, I let the tears come. I didn’t even bother trying to stop them.
I let them come as I squeezed my eyes closed and prayed.
I prayed that I’d make it out of this okay.
I prayed that I’d get away from this crazy woman.
But mostly I prayed that I’d get to see Rory and Cord again, and if I did, the first thing I was going to tell them was that I loved them.
Then the car filled with flashing blue, white, and red lights, and the sound of police sirens pierced my ears.
“You did this!” Ms. Weathers shrieked as cars seemed to come from everywhere on all sides of us. She hit the gas and started going even faster. “This is all your fault!”
“Ms. Weathers!” I cried. “Please, please slow down!”
But she didn’t, and I started to panic. I caught something out of the corner of my eye, and when I turned to look, I saw a big white SUV with Hope Valley Police Department painted along the side.
The man in the driver seat waved his hand, and when I glance up at him, he grabbed hold of his seat belt and pulled at it.
I nodded, letting him know I understood, then quickly tugged my seat belt and clicked it into place.
The SUV on my side suddenly sped up and drove way ahead of us before pulling into the lane in front of Ms. Weathers’s car.
Another car came up on my side and took its place.
I looked over and noticed an SUV on the driver side and craned my neck to see two police cars were riding close behind us.
Five cars, all of them boxing us in.
Then it happened.