CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Matt hated splitting up from Bree, but she was right. They had to do the jobs that best suited their skill sets. She could take care of herself. She’d built a good team of loyal deputies, and he needed to have faith in all their abilities. Juarez and Collins—and Greta—would have her back.
On the bright side, she was far away from the unstable dynamite, which made him feel much better. The kids needed her.
He climbed the hatches and dropped his backpack into the silo. The two-by-two hatch was a tight squeeze, and his entry wasn’t pretty. Holding a rope tied to a vehicle bumper, he turned, intending to put his feet on the wall and lower himself slowly, but his foot slipped. He smacked face-first into the concrete wall. He dropped the remaining distance, landing on soft knees.
The smell of a camp toilet nearly gagged him. Grabbing his pack, he skirted the solar-powered space heater to reach the woman on the cot. She cried silently as he peeled the tape from her mouth and cut the ropes binding her. “It’s OK. I’m going to get you out of here.”
She sobbed into his shoulder, then her body bowed with tension. “I thought they were going to kill me. I think the only reason they didn’t is they didn’t want to take the time.”
Matt held her hand as she panted for a minute and tried to remember the childbirth section of his first aid class. “How far apart are the contractions?”
Her body relaxed, the contraction over. “I don’t know.”
Matt checked the time. “What’s your name?”
“Sabrina. Sabrina Hopkins.”
Matt pictured the desperate man crying in Bree’s office just a few days ago. “Is your father’s name Joel?”
She nodded.
“He never gave up looking for you.”
Sabrina cried harder.
“Do you know what happened to Grace?” Matt asked.
Sabrina shook her head. “They took her a little while ago.”
“Have you been in this silo since August?”
She nodded. “They took me outside to exercise once a day.”
Just like prison.
She pushed off the cot and sat up. “They tied the ropes so tight, my hands and feet are asleep.” She wore a pair of large sweatpants and a warm sweater, but her feet were bare.
With no idea what kind of trauma she’d experienced, he didn’t want to touch her without permission. “Is it OK if I massage your feet?”
She nodded and rubbed her hands together. Her feet were swollen and cold. Matt massaged them to get the blood flowing. He felt something odd on her soles and lifted her foot to see crisscrossed scars.
She flushed. “They beat my feet with a horse whip in the beginning to keep me from running away.”
Matt wanted to find Eric and beat him with a whip. He could think of only one reason to kidnap multiple pregnant women and hold them prisoner. Eric and Sandy had been selling babies. So many questions rolled through him: How many times had they gotten away with it? What had happened to the mothers?
Sabrina doubled over, holding her swollen belly with both hands.
Matt checked his watch. Six minutes had passed between contractions. “Can you stand?”
He held her arm as she slowly straightened her legs, wobbling only a little. She was tiny, slight of build, maybe an inch or two over five feet tall. Her basketball-size belly didn’t seem big enough to hold a full-term baby.
“We can’t use the door. It’s booby-trapped.” Matt didn’t use the word explosive. “My buddy, Chief Deputy Harvey, is working on opening one of those hatches. Our only other option is to hoist you up through the one I used.” He watched her face for any sign that she thought that would be impossible.
“If that is the fastest way out, I will get through it.” She wiped her eyes and sniffed. “I don’t want to have my baby in here.” A long, involuntary groan sounded from her lips.
Matt looked at his watch. Five minutes since the last one. No time to waste. “I’m going to check with the deputies outside about their progress.”
Because that hatch seemed ridiculously small and high. The whir of a drill sounded. Matt went to the wall and called up, “Todd? How’s it going out there?”
“The screws are coming loose,” Todd yelled back. “I’ll have the hatch open in a few.”
As if reading his mind, Sabrina said, “I’ll do anything to get out of here.”
“OK, then we will get you out.” The sound of wood scraping came from outside. A minute later, the second-to-lowest hatch opened, and Todd stuck his head inside. He held a rechargeable drill in one hand. “There’s an EMT and an ambulance here waiting.”
Matt almost sang “Hallelujah.” He squeezed Sabrina’s hand. “Your parents will be so glad to see you.”
He helped her to her feet. She waddled toward the opening, both hands cradling her belly. Halfway to the hatch, she stopped and doubled over. Her groan sounded primal.
Matt waited until the contraction passed. He helped her to the hatch. “Can you put your feet through?”
“I don’t think I can bend that way.” She was sobbing. “I just want out.”
Matt leaned out the hole and called to the EMT, “Get the backboard.”
They passed it through. Todd came with it. Matt strapped her onto it. Then he and Todd lifted the board and passed her through the hatch to the EMTs.
As soon as the medics had her, Matt exhaled. His relief was short-lived as he remembered Bree was chasing a pair of killers.
“Have you heard from the sheriff?” he asked Todd as they squeezed through the narrow hatch one by one.
Todd’s expression went grim. “The trail washed out. They’re continuing pursuit on foot.”