Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
“Go!” Moses yelled to Jackson. “I’ve got the kids.”
Jackson left Dylan and Wynne in Moses’s capable hands and took off at a sprint, a line of police cruisers in his way. Rather than going around them, he jumped on one and slid across the hood. If he dented it, the department could bill him for the repair later.
Feet pounded the dirt behind him.
He hurtled off a fallen log and kept going.
“Jackson, go left!” Mark shouted.
Jackson curved away from them. He figured they wanted to surround the area.
He followed the sounds directly ahead. Mia seemed to be heading back toward the cave. Every few seconds, she yelled out again.
He’d let her out of his sight for a few minutes. She’d been fine, then suddenly he’d heard a man yell, followed by her scream.
He’d hear that sound in his nightmares for the rest of his life.
Mark yelled orders into his radio.
Dispatch responded, “Backup is on the way to your location.”
The radio crackled, and Captain Balluff’s voice boomed into the clearing. “Southwold police units, block all roads in and out of the surrounding area.”
Jackson approved of the call, but would they arrive in time? He wasn’t sure who had Mia, but he knew there were at least two of them. He could hear multiple sets of feet running ahead.
Mia screamed again. Her voice was growing hoarse.
Hold on, Mia. We’re on our way.
He sent up a silent litany of prayers. Unable to think of the words, he used one word and repeated it again and again. Help.
Mark’s radio crackled.
“A helicopter is on the way to your location.”
The dispatcher’s voice crackled through the radios. “All available police units report to assist. Multiple kidnap victims, multiple suspects, armed and dangerous.”
He didn’t have to do this alone. His colleagues, his friends, were all coming for the woman he’d been falling in love with all over again.
Would it be enough?
I can do all this through him who gives me strength. The familiar verse from Philippians ran through his mind.
No, he was not alone. He pumped his arms and continued running. His brother was in good hands. Now it was up to them to help Mia.
“We have visual.” Ace’s voice came over the radio. He must be piloting the helicopter. “She’s running toward the main road at the north end of the woods. I see a car waiting there.”
Jackson shuddered. She was running from one danger to another.
“I have visual of her pursuers. Guys, I recognize one. He’s her father.”
Blaine Turner. Hunting her like an animal.
Jackson’s stomach knotted, and it had nothing to do with his running. He feared that Blaine had something much worse planned for Mia than an early grave.
He was going to sell his own daughter. Jackson swallowed the bile that erupted at the thought and continued pushing on. Their voices were getting closer.
Come on, Jackson. Move it, move it.
He stretched his legs and pushed ahead of Mark, running to save the woman who had wormed her way into his heart.
It didn’t matter if she never loved him back. He wouldn’t face a world without her. God had given them another chance.
Jackson raced on, knowing everything was at stake.
Mia tore through the trees, lungs burning, her breath wheezing from her tight chest. Thankfully, no gunshots cracked behind her. She had no sense of where the enemy lay in wait.
Panic clawed at her throat. She leaned into her run, pushing herself faster, gulping in air through her open mouth. Desperation churned. She wasn’t getting enough oxygen!
But she couldn’t stop. If she did, she’d die.
Sean’s feet pounded behind her, closing the gap.
Blood trickled from various scratches, but Mia kept going, forcing herself to move.
Up ahead, she saw a break in the trees. For a moment, she tasted freedom. Then she realized her error. Through the break, she had a clear view of Blaine’s car.
They were herding her toward it.
Panicked, she veered to the right. Sean was practically breathing down her neck. Lowering her head, she pumped her arms and put on a burst of speed. If she could just get—
A hand grabbed her hair, and pain stabbed her head. She fell backward, screaming. Sean lifted her in his arms, his grip more punishing than before. Tears filled her eyes, and she tried to breathe through the pain.
“I got her, boss.”
“Good work, Sean,” Blaine wheezed, breathing hard. “Let’s get her in the car quickly, before the police arrive.”
They weren’t planning on killing her. But she still wasn’t relieved.
“You won’t be much of a replacement, Mia.”
Replacement? Replacement for what?
Sean laughed. “One instead of nine? Is it even worth it? Maybe we should just kill her. I’d enjoy that. Payback for biting me.”
Mia’s blood chilled in her veins. She was going to be trafficked. Her energy, which had been sapped by her escape attempt, was refueled by the new spurt of adrenaline coursing through her system.
Sean half carried, half dragged her back toward the car waiting. A helicopter whirred somewhere up above. She kicked and twisted, but she was no match for his strength.
When she was within feet of the car, she began to cry, terror filling her mind. She could no longer think rationally or even pray. If she was forced into the car, she’d never get free.
She cried out again.
Blaine stepped forward and backhanded her. “Shut. Up. For once, you will do what you are told.”
No, she wouldn’t. The metallic taste of blood in her mouth brought her back from the edge of panic. She would not give in without a fight.
“Put her in the car,” he told Sean.
Sean turned and dragged her backward the rest of the way, then started shoving her toward the car. She kicked and scratched, straining away from the door that yawned open like the maw of a dragon waiting to devour her.
Jackson burst from the trees and hurled himself at Sean. With a shout, Blaine’s henchman threw her to the side to grab his gun. Before he could get a shot off, Jackson’s fist connected with his jaw. Sean’s head bounced off the car, and he slid to the ground.
Blaine turned to run, but Mark stood in his way, his gun pointed at Blaine’s chest. “Blaine Turner, you are under arrest. Hands up.”
Blaine shifted. He was gearing up to run. A second gun clicked, and another officer came from behind.
“Geoff,” Mark called out. “Please take Mr. Turner into custody and read him his rights.”
Mia turned away from Blaine. She fell, weeping into Jackson’s arms. “You saved me.”
“I’ll always come when you need me.”
She smiled, and his lips touched hers briefly before he closed her in his embrace.
She was safe.