Hunted (2 page)

Zeke joined her under one of the awnings the group had constructed between cabins. “I know you're upset, but you can't give up hope.”

“I have to do something. The GC is making all the moves. It's like we're trapped.”

“You know how long it would take you to get to South Carolina from here? The best thing you can do is pray.”

“I don't want to pray. I want to do something!” Vicki sobbed.

Zeke nodded, his long hair swishing against his chubby shoulders. “I know exactly how you feel. When the GC picked up my dad, I wanted to go in there with guns blazing and get him out. You know how hard it is to know someone you love's going to die?”

Vicki couldn't speak.

Zeke put a hand on her shoulder. “Dad was ready, and Judd and Lionel are too.”

“Don't talk like that! Judd's coming back, and I'm going to help him!”

Vicki ran inside the building. “I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need a vehicle.”

Marshall Jameson stood. “Vicki, you can't be serious.”

“I have to help them.”

Shelly hugged Vicki and they both cried.

Mark ran a hand through his hair. “Vicki, this is insane.”

She turned to Zeke. “Isn't there a part of you that wishes you had tried to save your dad? Don't you ever wonder if you might have been able to help him?”

Zeke just stared at her.

Colin Dial stepped forward. “If this program that Commander Fulcire created goes through, there'll be a million eyes watching. If everyone knows they can make money finding people without the mark of Carpathia, we'll be a prime target.”

“The program hasn't started up here,” Vicki said. “Besides, I'll stick to back roads—”

Becky Dial put a hand on Vicki's shoulder. “I know how upset you are, but Colin's right. You can't go anywhere right now. We have to trust God.”

“He helped you by sending that angel Anak,” Charlie said. “Maybe God will send an angel to Judd.”

Vicki looked from face to face, sensing their concern. Everyone in the room wanted Judd and Lionel to return safely.

“I'm going to my cabin,” Vicki said. “Call me the moment you hear anything.”

Vicki raced away, wiping tears from her face. She collapsed on her bunk and sobbed, crying out to God.

Judd caught his breath as the two men in the next room shoved wicker furniture away from the window. Lionel struggled to his feet and moved toward the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Judd said.

Lionel turned and felt along the tabletop. His eyes lit and he scampered back to the couch. With his hands still cuffed behind him, he held out his pocketknife. “He took this and some clips from me earlier.” He sat on the couch, leaning forward, trying to open the small blade.

Max returned and Lionel sat back, hiding the knife in his palm.

“Get these two into the back of the truck,” Max said, glaring at Judd and Lionel. “And switch your gun to kill. No more trying to be nice to these kids.”

Albert hustled Lionel and Judd into the back of the truck and closed the tailgate. Max had fastened plywood over the broken window, and it was dark inside.

“You try to get away and it'll be the last time,” Albert said.

The plastic cuffs were tight around Judd's wrist, and Lionel said he had lost most of the feeling in his hands. Lionel told Judd to scoot close. He pricked Judd's arm once with the blade, and Judd helped guide the knife to the plastic strip.

Lionel pulled the blade back and forth along the plastic. With the sawing motion they hoped to cut a notch into the thick plastic.

“Good thing they didn't have the metal cuffs or there would be no way we'd get them off,” Lionel said. “You think the guy you saw was Luke?”

“I've never seen him before, but I can't imagine who else it would be.”

Judd held still as Lionel worked. Max and Albert hadn't returned, and Judd wondered if they had followed Tom into the woods. After a few minutes, Lionel pulled the knife away, and Judd managed to get his little finger to the middle of the cuffs.

“I don't feel any notch at all,” Judd said. “It's not working.”

“I have another blade with a serrated edge. Let me try that.”

Judd helped guide the blade again, but this time the edge cut his arm and he yelped.

“Sorry, man,” Lionel said.

Minutes later the bounty hunters returned, and Judd heard the clatter of a weapon in the front seat.

“You know I don't do well at that place,” Albert whined.

“It's not like there's a bunch of gators down there,” Max said. “Just take these two and have them processed. I'll stay here and wait on the dogs so we can find the other one.”

“Max, let me stay.”

Max spoke through clenched teeth. “Go. I'll find the other one.”

The door closed and the truck started. Lionel kept working on the cuffs as they bounced along the bumpy road.

“You ever think it would end this way?” Lionel said. “Guess you won't get to see Vicki again.”

“Concentrate!”

Judd didn't want to think about anything but getting free. Now, as Albert drove along the deeply rutted road, Judd thought of Vicki. Unless Tom got back to his group and told the story, no one would know about Judd's and Lionel's fate.
Is this God's plan?
Judd thought.
How could this possibly glorify God?

Years before, Bruce Barnes had said, “Pray as if everything depends on God, but work as if everything depends on you.”

Lionel stopped for a moment and worked out a cramp in his hand. “Feel it and see if we're making any progress.”

Judd ran a little finger around the plastic, feeling for a notch. Lionel had been working the new blade long enough to get a cramp, but Judd's heart sank when the surface was completely smooth.

2

JUDD
leaned forward and tried to relax. He had been straining to help Lionel cut the plastic bands since the beginning of their bumpy ride and now felt despair. He imagined the Global Community facility as a dark place with some kind of courtyard where they executed prisoners. He shook his head and tried to concentrate.

“Give me the knife and let me try your cuffs,” Judd said.

Lionel passed the knife to Judd but lost his grip, and it clattered onto the truck bed. Judd stretched to reach it, the cuffs cutting into his wrists. He had tried twisting his hands, but that only made the pain worse. His hands were swelling, which made it difficult to grip the knife.

“I don't think it's going to work,” Lionel said.

“What, you're giving up?”

Lionel grunted. “We've been through a lot of stuff, man. Remember when we were trying to save Nada and her parents and those locusts attacked?”

“Don't do this, Lionel.”

“I gave up a long time ago.”

When Judd tried rolling over so he could see Lionel, the truck hit a bump. His body flew up a few inches, and he found himself looking at the back of Lionel's head. “What do you mean?”

“Control,” Lionel said. “I gave it up a long time ago because somebody else is running this show. We'd have been dead by now if God hadn't taken care of us. And he'll take care of us now, one way or another.”

“So you're ready to take the blade?”

Lionel quivered. “I had a dream the other night in Petra. I saw this sharp blade dripping blood and it was mine.”

“Why didn't you tell me? We could have postponed the trip.”

Lionel chuckled. “The night before that I dreamed I was riding in the pouch of a kangaroo and we were flying over water.”

“A kangaroo?”

“Yeah, I could guide him by reaching up and pulling his ears.”

“You're strange,” Judd said.

“I'm just saying there was no reason for me to tell you the dream when the other ones I've had were so strange.”

Judd settled back again and gripped the knife. “You didn't make a dent in these handcuffs.”

“I didn't think I would, but I figured we ought to at least try.”

Judd looked around the back of the truck bed. A little light was coming through the tiny windows on the sides of the camper. He spotted some rope and small chains at the front. A cardboard box lay on its side with a few rolls of duct tape inside.

“Maybe if you hold the knife on the plastic and I try to twist my arms we can break it,” Lionel said.

The road was smoother now, and Judd no longer heard gravel striking the under-side of the truck. He rolled over again, held out the knife, and let Lionel guide it into position.

Lionel grimaced in pain as he jerked the cuffs, trying to snap the plastic. They worked for several minutes without results before Judd felt the truck speed up. The tires whirred and Judd knew they were on asphalt. Albert's muffled curses came from the front, and Judd wondered whom the man was talking to. Something clattered in the front seat, and the truck swerved wildly to the right. Judd rolled onto Lionel and dropped the knife, hoping he hadn't injured Lionel.

Another sound beside them. More tires on pavement. Was there another vehicle?

A high-pitched sound came from the front, and Judd recognized the high-tech weapon. The burst sent a wave of pain through him as he recalled the intense sting of the weapon. Tires screeched beside them, and gravel flew against the side of the truck. Albert sped up, swerving to his left, then to his right, sending Judd and Lionel rolling. Judd tried to hook his foot on something, but Albert swerved again, throwing the two to the other side of the truck bed.

The second vehicle was closing in on them, bumping them from behind and trying to get around. When Judd heard the shotgun blast, he screamed.

Vicki lay on her bed, her face buried in a pillow. She cried so hard she didn't hear Shelly walk in. The girl put a hand on Vicki's back and sat on the edge of the bunk.

“Why did I do it?” Vicki moaned.

“Do what?”

“I was the one who suggested Judd take that flight to South Carolina, remember? If he winds up getting … if he gets hurt, it's my fault.”

“You know that's not true.”

“I told Chloe Williams that Judd was in France and she—”

“I know how it happened, but you can't blame yourself. We have to trust God that—”

“Trust God?!” Vicki screamed. “We trusted God for Bruce, and look what happened to him. We trusted God for Ryan, and he still got trapped during the earthquake. We trusted God for Natalie and Zeke's dad and Chaya. There's a long list we've trusted to God, and they're all dead.”

Shelly looked at the floor, and Vicki shoved her face back into the pillow. “He and Lionel are going to die and it's because of me.”

Vicki sobbed and Shelly seemed content to sit, not saying anything.

After a few minutes, Vicki sat up and Shelly pulled her close. “You're upset and not thinking straight. You're the one who's said all along that God's in control. He's working his plan, and though we might not understand it—”

“It's too hard! I don't want to be part of his plan anymore. I don't want to hide or worry about how we're going to eat or if the GC is going to come rushing in on us any moment. Why does God expect so much?”

“Shh,” Shelly said, patting Vicki on the back. “God's all we have right now. I've seen you stand up under a lot of pressure, and we're not going to let this stop us from believing that he wants what's best for us.”

“Oh, Shelly, I'm so scared.” Vicki put her head on Shelly's shoulder and cried. “I can't imagine what's happening to Judd and Lionel right now. I don't want to sleep. I'm afraid I'll have an awful dream about the two of them getting their heads chopped off.”

“Listen to me. You know God protected us from the GC with that angel. It's obvious he has more for us to do. Do you think he still has more for Judd and Lionel to do?”

Vicki nodded. “I hope so. It's just that I keep hearing that creepy guy's voice who answered Judd's phone.”

“I understand. Right now the best thing we can do is pray. And when you're all prayed out, we'll find something to do. I'll stay with you until we hear from them.”

“You will?”

“You bet.”

Judd flinched when shotgun pellets slammed against the truck bed and left dents in the metal. The truck immediately dipped to the left, and a horrible scraping made Judd want to plug his ears, but he couldn't. The truck slowed as the smell of hot rubber filled the camper. The tire flopped, ka-thumped, and smoked while Albert tried to keep the truck on the road. He finally veered off, came to a bumpy stop, and called Max on the radio.

The other vehicle screeched to a halt somewhere near the truck. Judd and Lionel tried to see out the small window, but a voice called out to them. “Judd, Lionel, stay down!”

“That wasn't Tom,” Lionel said as he and Judd quickly dropped to the floor and lay flat.

A click and a hum sounded from the truck cab. The right front door opened, and Albert plopped to the ground.