Calculated Revenge (17 page)

A figure stepped inside, and Noah swung at his head. Watts staggered and went down, bleeding from the side of a bald pate. Adelle lunged through the door, firing. The wild shot spanged off the crowbar, wrenching it from Noah’s grip.

He lunged for the woman, and they grappled for control of the gun. Her wiry strength challenged him, but he began to get the advantage. Then a leg swept his feet out from under him, and he whumped flat onto his back. Air whooshed from his lungs.

Watts cackled. “Gotcha!” The man struggled to his feet.

Noah stared, fighting to suck air back into his lungs. How could the guy get up so fast? The blow Noah had delivered should have KO’d an ox.

“Metal plate.” Watts knocked on the side of his head.

As Noah finally heaved a breath of oxygen, the black maw of Adelle’s pistol appeared above his face. A click announced the weapon was cocked.

The woman glared down at him, lips drawn back from white teeth. “Bye-bye, P.I.”

Breath sawing as hard as the knife, Laney cut the last strand of rope binding her wrist. She leaped up and snatched the can of bug spray. Scarcely sparing a nanosecond to aim, she hit the button in the direction of Adelle’s face.

Screeching obscenities, the woman scuttled backward, one hand scrubbing at her eyes. The hand that clutched the gun waved crazily in the air. The weapon blasted, and a buzz like a speeding hornet swept past Laney’s ear. She kept spraying toward Adelle, then toward a snarling Watts, who covered his eyes with his forearm and charged toward her. Laney dodged, and he swept past, caught himself and turned, shaking his head like a frustrated bull. Blood still trickled from the split skin on the side of his head.

On the edge of her vision, Laney watched Noah roll and stagger to his feet, coughing and shaking his head. The fallout from the spray must have caught him full in the face. Still swiping at her face and cursing, Adelle fired aimlessly again, and Noah leaped toward her. They struggled while Watts snatched the tire iron from the floor and came at Laney.

She yelped and flung the spray can at him. He dodged, and she charged out the door, pelting toward the woods. Heavy footsteps pounded after her.

Another gunshot sounded from the cabin, echoed by a male cry of pain.
Noah! Oh, Noah!

Laney reached the tree line and leaped over encroaching undergrowth to enter the woods. Her thrashing progress was a fatal giveaway to her location. But then, so was his. She had to find someplace to hide and plan an ambush with the knife still clutched in her fist.

A faint deer track beckoned for the quieter passage it offered, and she took it. To her left, the river gurgled, but tangled bushes hid the water from view. A dip in the earth beneath the branches
caught her eye. She plopped onto her stomach and crawled under the thick foliage. Branches snagged her hair and clothes and clawed her face, but she didn’t stop until she was snug and concealed, facing the path she’d just left.

“Oh, Laney, darling,” a masculine voice singsonged. “Come out, and I’ll take you to your daughter.” Watts’s footsteps approached. “And your sister, too. You know I killed Gracie, don’t you?”

A shocked cry filled her throat, but Laney held it at bay between clenched teeth. Watts killed Gracie? He was a kid at the time. Did he find out about his dad’s affair and decide to punish the other woman by killing her child? That seemed more like sophisticated, though twisted, adult reasoning.

“Are you surprised?” Watts drew closer at a slug’s pace. He had to know she was hiding somewhere because the sound of her movements had ceased. He’d be watching, listening for any hint of her presence.

“Would you like to know why, dear Laney?”

She swallowed and readied her knife for a strike. He was taunting her. Hoping to make her lose her head to her emotions, and he was doing a good job of it. Sweat trickled from her hairline down her nose and stung her eyes.

“I know you can hear me,” he continued softly. “Grace was a pain. Always throwing fits over nothing. And stupid, too.” His foot snapped a branch, and Laney flinched. He was close, but not close enough yet.

Watts chuckled. “I told her I had a whole box of her favorite candy, but she had to come with me on my bike to get it. We went out to the caves and walked up the trail. She kept whining for the candy.” He snorted. “It was supposed to be a joke, but she didn’t get jokes, you know. I was just going to leave her there. Serve her right. But she clawed at me, and I gave her a little smack across the cheek. Just to shut her up, you understand.”

A soft pat on the trail betrayed another step closer to where she hid. Laney trembled. Every nerve-ending screamed
attack!
Not yet. Wait.

“How was I to know she’d turn and run straight over the edge of the ravine? She cracked her skull open, and it was her own stupid fault.”

The brown lace-ups came into view through miniscule gaps between leaves.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Watts continued, “but Mom did. She said hiding the body was just the thing. She’d found out what scum you Thompsons are. In Dad’s shop, she discovered the paperwork on this little love nest he bought, and a romantic note from him to your mother. Wasn’t my mom clever not to let on she knew until after the FBI and your family left town?” He eased forward. “And you know what? Destiny brought you across our path so we can finish the job. Mom and I are going to cut off the generations of your family forever.”

He took another step, and Laney ripped the reins off her self-control. Snarling, she pounced and plunged the knife toward his crippled foot.
Snap!
The blade met solid resistance and broke. Half in, half out of the bushes, she stared at the stub of knife in her hand.

“It’s prosthetic, Sweetcakes. All the way to the knee.” Watts grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to her feet, delivering a sharp slap to her cheek with his other hand.

Scalp and cheek stinging, Laney’s clawed fingers sought his grinning face, but he held her at arm’s length, and she came up short. She drew her foot back and rammed a kick into his right leg just below the knee. Something cracked and buckled, and Watts tumbled sideways, yelping, into the bushes.

Laney tore up the deer track the way she had come. She had to find Noah, make sure he was all right. Adelle hadn’t killed him, had she? Not her Noah.

“Laney!” His hale and hearty voice answered her question.

“I’m here, Noah.”

He thrashed toward her and emerged onto the path in front of her. Laney flung herself into the safety of his arms. Tears flowed onto his strong shoulder.

He petted her hair. “Hush now. It’s all right.”

But it wasn’t. Where was Briana?

Laney lifted her head and gazed up into his loving face. “Watts killed Gracie. It was a prank gone bad. Adelle engineered the rest.”

Noah nodded. “You don’t have to worry about her anymore. She’s tied up back at the cabin.” He jerked his head in that direction.

“Watts is that way.” She pointed down the deer track. “I think I broke something on his prosthetic leg.”

His eyebrows climbed. “You never cease to amaze me, woman. He won’t get far one-sided. I’ll go truss him to a tree.” He wagged a piece of rope dangling from his hand.

A patch of red on the side of his shirt caught Laney’s eye. “You’re hurt!”

“Just a scratch across the ribs. Burns like someone rubbed a cut with jalepeno peppers, but I’ll live.” He shrugged. “You’ve lost a lock of hair.”

Laney gasped and felt the side of her head. Sure enough, a patch of her hair was missing below the ear. “Wow! That bullet came closer than I thought.”

Noah chuckled. “At the moment, it’s the cutest haircut I’ve ever seen. I sure don’t want to contemplate the alternative.”

“Me, either.” Laney shuddered. “Say, what do you suppose happened to George?”

“His body wasn’t lying in the yard, so I suspect he hightailed it toward town and Bucky’s Bar as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him.” Noah sent her a muted smile. “You go call the cavalry while I round up Watts.”

Laney wrinkled her nose. “As in Agent Burns?”

“I know you’re desperate to find Briana. I am, too. They’ve got trained interrogators for our pair of slimeballs. But if they won’t talk, the feds know how to throw a first rate search party. Don’t worry.” He touched her cheek. “We’ll find her.”

Laney nodded, gnawing her lower lip. But would they find her little girl alive?

W
hy couldn’t the horror end? Laney thrashed through undergrowth toward the cabin clearing. The mystery was solved, the monsters caught, and yet Briana was missing and Grace’s remains were not recovered. Just wait until she got back to that cabin. She’d throttle the answer out of Adelle. She’d—

Laney burst free of the forest into the clearing. She halted and her jaw dropped. A sheriff’s SUV and a pair of dark sedans filled the area. Law enforcement personnel traipsed in and out of the cabin.

“There she is,” one cried and pointed in her direction.

A man in a suit broke away from the pack and strode toward her. Burns.

“Where’s Ryder?” The agent glared. “He’s got a lot to answer for.”

“Riiight. Like finding me and saving my life. If he’d left the matter in your hands, you would have arrived in the nick of time to recover my dead body. I’m fine, by the way. You’ll find the very much alive Watts Addison tied up in the woods.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, and then planted her hands on her hips. “Now, what are you going to do to find my daughter?”

“Brianaaaaa!”

Laney’s plaintive cry sliced another wound in Noah’s heart. They’d searched and called, and called and searched for two hours steady. Her voice was going hoarse, and the light of hope was dying in her eyes. If only he could promise her they’d find the little princess, but he’d seen too many cases where the ending wasn’t happy.

Dear Lord, please, don’t let this be one of them.

The FBI did have a first class operation running, neat search grids, dogs, helicopters. But no one had found a trace of Briana, and the perps they had in custody weren’t talking. Noah hadn’t told Laney, but he was pretty sure the feds figured they were looking for a body, not a live child. From his own experience, he had to agree that the odds were heavily that way.

Laney plodded through the woods beside him, shoulders slumped. She called Briana’s name one more time. No answer but wind in the trees and the distant
whump
of helicopter blades. They came to a fallen log, and Laney sank onto it.

She bunched her fists and pressed them to her face. “I hate her!”

Noah sat down beside her. “Adelle? Yes, she’s despicable.”

He wanted to add a caution against allowing bitterness and anger to warp her the same way, but Laney needed to vent honest emotions. Besides, right about now he’d pay big money for five minutes alone with the woman or her rat-faced son, and no holds barred.

Laney looked away and stared at the ground. “No, I mean my mother. None of this would have happened if she’d kept her marriage vows.”

He nodded.
God, give me wisdom.
“That’s true, but it’s not the whole picture.”

Laney issued a sour snicker. “You got that right. Then there’s
me leaving Grace alone to be picked on by the neighbor kid we trusted. And me again, leaving Briana behind so I could chase down leads hundreds of miles away.” She sat up stiff. “If I’d been sleeping in the bed next to her, Watts couldn’t have gotten to her.”

Noah frowned and scuffed his toe through a mound of moldy leaves. “Are you sure about that? I tend to think you’d be dead, and Briana would still be gone. These people weren’t about to let anything stop them.”

Her lips spread in a grim smile. “But we did. Only it was too late.” She slumped again.

He gripped her shoulders and turned her to face him. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve sensed a divine hand guiding us through this trial.” The words spilling from his lips surprised him. He’d always relied on his own wits, but he’d prayed more over this case than any other, and answers had always come—many times from unexpected quarters. “I’m not ready to give up,” he told Laney. “Not by a long shot. But I’m also not prepared to watch you make the same mistake as Adelle. I couldn’t bear to see your fineness turn to rot and misery.”

She pulled away. “What do you mean?”

“You’re a special woman, Laney. Caring, gentle, giving. You have a lot to offer the world.”
And me.
“You can stay that way and go on to have a life—no matter how this search turns out—or you can go down Adelle’s path, and live as pure poison to yourself and others.”

Her eyes stared toward a wall of trees ahead of them. “You mean, I have to forgive my mother.”

“And yourself.”

She turned a desperate gaze on him. “How do I do that?”

Noah spread his hands. “Believe me, I’m no expert, but I’m guessing you choose it, in spite of your feelings, one moment at a time.”

“Have you forgiven yourself for what happened to Renee?”

“I’m going to.” He expelled a breath. “Right now, I choose to let it go.” With the words, an airy sensation expanded his chest.

“And Burns? Have you forgiven him?”

A laugh spurted between his lips. “I suppose I need to do that, too.”

“But forgiving him doesn’t make him any less of a blockhead.”

“You got that right.” He opened his arms to her, and she melted into them. “I love you, Laney.” He kissed the top of her head.

“I love you, too, Noah. I’ve known that for a long time, but especially when I saw your face in that cabin when I was sure I was about to die.” She sat back. “Now, if we could only find Briana alive. But if not…” She gripped his hand. “Could we pray together? Right now?”

“Sure.” He put his arm around her shoulder, drew her close, and they bowed their heads.

“Father God,” Laney started, “I’ve been really angry with You for a long time. But now, I’m at the end of my ro-ope.” Her voice cracked, and Noah pulled her closer. “I think I’ve always known that blaming You for people’s evil actions was silly, so I want You to know that I choose…to forgive You. And I ask You to forgive me, too.” She paused, and her shoulders heaved. “And I forgive my mom. I don’t understand why Gracie’s gone, or where Briana is, but You know. I’m giving them to You now.” Sobs replaced words on her lips.

“God, You know I haven’t been all that faithful to follow You the way my parents taught me.” Noah took over praying. “I figured doing my best to be a good man was enough. I don’t think that so much anymore. I think I need lots of forgiveness and mercy from You, just like everybody else. So if You’ll have me, I’d like to be Your man now, not just my own.” He took a deep breath. “If little Briana is in heaven with You, then
she’s got the best Father already, but if not, I’d consider it the highest privilege if You and Laney would let me be her earthly Daddy.” Laney stirred in his arms and kissed his chin. His pulse gave a
kabump.
He’d take that as a yes from her. “In that case, we need to find her, and we need Your help. We thank You in advance for Your answer. Amen.”

“Amen,” Laney echoed. She rose, not releasing his hand, and tugged him after her. “Let’s go find Bree.”

Laney glanced at the strong profile of the man beside her on the deer track. They’d been searching and calling for another ten minutes with no results but a few more mosquito bites. Noah looked so calm, so confident, while her stomach churned.

For that brief instant of prayer, she’d felt an incredible release in choosing to forgive and to trust. But with every passing minute, worries and fears battered her emotions. Frowning, she followed Noah up the path. The battle was in her thoughts and feelings, but did that mean she had to give up on faith? No! To preserve her sanity, she had to hang on to God and the man He’d sent her way for a time like this.

Ahead, the river gurgled, and they emerged on the bank. A figure sat slumped on a rock at water’s edge.

“George Addison,” Laney murmured.

Noah led the way over to him. “Happy to see you’re all right.”

The man stood and faced them. “Likewise. No thanks to me.” His complexion was pasty pale, and his eyes bloodshot, but the strong gaze and firm set of his jaw spoke a sobriety Laney hadn’t seen in him since her childhood.

“I’m a mess,” he pronounced. “I don’t know how I let myself get this bad.” He lowered his gaze. “Sorry for running off like that, but I wasn’t thinking too clear.”

“You were also being shot at.” Laney stepped toward him. This man was much more like the neighbor she’d liked.

George examined his fingers. “Did they get away?”

“No, they’re in custody,” Noah said.

George nodded and sighed. “It’s for the best. They had to be stopped. I’m going to visit him, you know.” He looked up at them.

“Visit?” Laney blinked.

“In prison. I’m going to see Watts as often as I can. So he turned out to be a rotten human being. Like I should judge.” He snorted. “He’s still my son. And as long as there’s life, there’s hope. Isn’t that the saying?”

Laney’s chest tightened. As long as there’s life…Was there really any hope of finding Briana still breathing? Noah squeezed Laney’s arm as if he knew what she was thinking. She shot him a grateful look.

“Maybe you can help us out, George,” he said. “Would you know of any hiding places around here? Somewhere they could stash a little girl?”

George responded with a blank stare. “The kid’s still missing?”

Laney’s heart sank to her toes. They’d never find her daughter. Briana would remain close to them only in their memories…like Gracie.

Then George’s face brightened. “Say, come to think of it, when I bought the property, I noticed an old root cellar marked on the plat map.”

Laney rushed forward and grabbed the man’s arm. “Where, George, where?”

He scratched the back of his head. “I’m not too clear on the exact spot, but it was somewhere behind the cabin near the river. I never went looking for it myself.”

Noah whipped out his cell phone. “I’ll notify the searchers to converge in that area. Laney, we’re going to find that cellar. I promise you.”

Laney’s breath snagged. Yes, they had to locate the cellar, but what would they find in it?

Eternal minutes turned into an awful hour, as searchers crawled like ants over every square inch of the forestation behind the cabin. Noah stamped his foot on the earth beneath his feet, listening for the hollow sound that would betray a cavity below. Nearby, but unseen in the trees, men’s voices called as they cleared brush and checked grid areas. If Adelle and Watts had used the cellar as a hiding place, they had hidden the entrance well.

A few feet from Noah, Laney made the same stamping motions he did. Her face was drawn, gaze fevered, hope stretched to the limit. They neared the edge of the tree line. Not far away a steep slope led down to the river. Noah approached the lip of the slope, and a sizeable patch of moldering leaves caught his eye. The area was roughly square and shadowed beneath the massive branches of an oak tree. Had someone spread the leaves to mask a spot of earth they didn’t want discovered?

Noah eased over in that direction, watching Laney from the corner of his eye. She was absorbed in checking an area farther upriver. He didn’t want to get her hopes up until he could confirm that he’d found something. As he neared the suspicious spot, he noted that the leaves seemed raised an inch or so above the other forest floor mulch. His heart rate went into overdrive. He lifted his foot and brought it down on the edge of the leaf mound. A woody
thunk
answered him.

Noah closed his eyes, and a hot tear traced a path down one cheek.
Thank You, God. Now make us strong to bear whatever we find.

“Here!” he cried. “It’s here!”

A feminine shriek announced that Laney had heard. Noah got on the phone and notified the search coordinator as Laney rushed up beside him. She fell to her knees and began sweeping leaves away, saying, “Oh, God, please,” over and over again.
Noah closed his phone and helped her remove the debris. Soon, a set of paintless and rotting cellar doors was revealed. The sound of voices said the other searchers were drawing near.

Laney lunged for the rusty handles, but Noah pulled her back.

“Let me go!” She wriggled against him.

“We’ll go together, but we’ll go with caution. The wood is rotten, and we have no idea if there are critters down there that won’t take kindly to intrusion.” Noah beat back a mental picture of a dead or drugged Briana at the mercy of a carnivorous animal.

Laney’s face went pasty-pale. She was a bright girl. She’d glimpsed the same vision he had.

“Stand aside!” Burns’s strident tone broke them apart. “This is a potential crime scene. We’ll take it from here.”

The lead agent reached them, along with a couple of other agents and sheriff’s department searchers.

Laney marched up to Burns and stuck her face in his. “You’ll have to arrest me to keep me from going down to look for my daughter. And if you do, I wonder how that will look in the newspapers—FBI Jails Distraught Mother of Abducted Child.”

Burns’s mouth came open but no sound came out. She’d pushed a major hot button, and she knew it. Noah suppressed a snicker.

“Noah and I are going to see if my daughter is down there.” She poked him in the chest. “If she’s awake and scared all alone in the dark, we’re going to be the first people she sees. After that, you can set up housekeeping in the cellar for all I care.”

“Miss Thompson,” Burns said with exaggerated patience, “an agent
is
going down with you. Evidence must be protected.”

“Send as many as you like, but Briana is not evidence. We’re going down now.” She turned away and marched toward Noah.

He nodded to her and pulled the handle on one of the doors. It was more solid and heavy than it looked, and the hinges creaked a loud protest. The darkness below exhaled a
musty odor, but not the smell of a decomposing carcass. Of course, if Adelle and Watts had killed Briana, she wouldn’t have been dead long enough to stink. A steep and narrow set of wooden stairs led downward, another hazard if any of them were rotten.

Noah grabbed Laney’s hand. The little member was clammy and trembled. Bold as a lion to the pretentious agent, but petrified of what the next few minutes might hold. He didn’t blame her.

He brought her fingers to his lips. “Me first.”

She nodded without a word.

Noah held out a hand toward one of the searchers who had a flashlight on his belt. “Mind if I use that?”