Love Inspired Suspense December 2015, Box Set 2 of 2 (49 page)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

P
romise whined beside Wade from the backseat of the SUV. Michael Ackerman and his operatives were inside the hangar discussing their next move while they waited for the film to be developed.

Wade anxiously fiddled with Clay's red handkerchief while thoughts of Lacey made him want to run with no destination in mind.

Promise nosed his hand to get his attention, causing Wade to drop the cloth to the floor. His fists clenched to keep from touching her. Wade couldn't give her a second of his focus. He was wound so tight he thought he might shatter into a million pieces.

This wasn't the first time he'd felt like this. The first time had been when he was eight years old and he was told his parents and baby brother, Luke, were gone forever. Numerous other times during his life he'd fought against this same feeling, always believing if he refocused on the plan, he could overcome it.

But what was
it
that he needed to overcome?

Promise licked his hand, growing more frantic. She barked up at him with one loud “Woof!” and pawed his arm.

Wade looked down to see his hands and arms shaking. No amount of refocusing would stop them. He knew it as surely as the morning sun could be seen rising over the mountains. How many times had he tried to stop the reaction? How many times had he lost?

Promise head butted him.

“Stop it!” Wade yelled in her face. “Can't you see I'm trying to focus? Can't you see I'm in more pain than I've ever been? I can't lose her, Promise. I just can't. I can't lose another person I love.”

Promise pushed her head up, nose in the air, unfazed by his outburst. But her eyes drooped with glistening understanding and sensitivity...and love.

Wade reached for her and grabbed the sides of her furry head. He latched on and let her love bring him back down from his fear.

Fear. That was the
it
he'd tried so hard to overcome. It had surrounded his life for so long he barely remembered a time it didn't consume him. It left him with a wound that would never heal. Sure, he could refocus on the plan to bring some control back over his life. He could convince himself that he was winning and even healed, but the healing was superficial and equivalent to a scab covering everything up. A scab waiting to be torn off to start the whole process over again.

And over again.

And over again.

And over again... Unless he opened his mouth and faced it.

Words were powerful, as Jeff had said. But could Wade actually talk? What if admitting to his fear had the power to break him even more?

“But what if it doesn't?” Wade spoke into the empty car.

No. Not empty. His battle buddy was here with him, and she was ready to wage war against his fear. He could see it in her brown, liquid eyes. She was waiting for him to tell her all his darkest secrets. It was what she'd been trained for. Nothing he said to her would hurt her. She was taught to take it all and hold no judgments in return. And whatever he said, she would take it to her grave.

She'd promised.

Wade let out a sigh and as he refilled his lungs, he blurted the words, “I am so scared. I am so scared.” The words just kept coming, tumbling over each other until tears blurred his vision and Promise licked them from his face. Wade burrowed his face into the fur of her neck and cried for all the years he wouldn't let himself. Not when he was eight. Not when he was eighteen. Not when he'd lost his first comrade in battle. Not when he'd lost his twenty-first.

The tears quieted down, but his breath still came in short sporadic inhales. Wade knew what he had to do before he could take one step more.

“I'm ready for You, Jesus. I'm done charting my own course to an unknown destination. All I ever do is go in circles, reliving the horrors over and over again. From now on, I will follow the plan You have for my life. I surrender it all to You. Lacey—” Wade's voice cracked at her name on his lips. “Lacey thinks You will lead me. That I'm worth something to You. I want to believe this. I want to belong to You. And I want to believe You will lead me to her before it's too late. Please, Lord, lead me.”

Promise whined in his ear and shuffled her body backward. She let out a “Woof!” and wagged her tail from her spot.

Just then a tap came on the window. It was the suit who was supposedly his grandfather. “We've got a face and a name, and we're tracing his car. But you're not going to like it. It might be best if you stay here.”

Wade lowered the window. “Who is it?”

Michael hesitated, but turned his handheld device around to show a picture of a younger version of Clay.

“You think my uncle took her? That doesn't make any sense. He would never do anything like that.”

As he denied the accusation, he looked down at the red cloth spilling over his boot like blood. Had this been a message from Lacey? Had she dropped it so he would know his uncle was behind it all? The real traitor in all of this?

The biggest sucker punch ever nearly bowled Wade over. He snatched up the cloth and papers she'd left behind and stuffed them in his pocket.

“I'm going with you,” Wade announced.

“You're too close to this. It might be best—”

“I'm tired of doing what's best. Get in.”

Michael opened the door. “We're not taking the cars. It'll be faster to chopper out.”

“Perfect. Now you're speaking
my
language.” Wade jumped from the SUV.

So this was what it was like to follow God's plan. Wade's feet had never felt so sure.

* * *

Intense cold jolted Lacey from her sleep. She flashed her eyes wide, inhaling deep and choked. Water. She was lying in frigid water in the backseat of a car. She tried to push up, but her arms refused to budge from their place behind her. Her hands were bound. Pulling harder only made her roll her body off the seat. She yelped when she hit the floor and sank deep into icy liquid. The shock at the temperature had her body writhing in panic and sputtering.

She pushed back and got her first view of the side window covered in murky water.

She was in a car sinking to the bottom of a lake!

“Help!” she screamed. “Help me!”

Adrenaline came through her confusion. Her bound hands against the floor and her stomach muscles joined in to push her body up to a sitting position. Over the top of the seat, she could see someone sat at the wheel.

A man. He was slumped over, unconscious.

Lacey shivered in the water filling the car. How long before it reached the ceiling?

She used her palms again to lift her body up out of the water and to her back on the seat. The sunroof above showed light shining through.

She wasn't fully submerged...yet.

The sunroof was her ticket out of here, though. But how with her hands tied?

“Hey!” she yelled to the guy. She pushed harder. Grinding her teeth, she used her feet to sit up on the seat—and get her first glimpse of the driver.

Clay.

The scene at the base flooded back. Teigen had said he'd planned that Clay take the fall for this. Teigen must have knocked Clay out and put him behind the wheel before pushing the car in...a murder/suicide, just as he'd said.

But she wasn't dead yet!

Lacey frantically looked to see if Clay was.

His hands weren't bound like hers. Could he be revived?

With Clay awake, he might be able to get them both out of here. Or at least he could save himself. Wade needed him.

Without this man in his life, Wade would very likely close up forever. Lacey had to do everything in her power to make sure that didn't happen.

She pushed herself to kneel and lean forward over the front seat on her stomach. Immediately, the car jerked and more water gushed in. Lacey picked up her speed, jabbing her shoulder into Clay's slumped back. “Clay! Wake up! You've got to get out of here. We're going to drown. Clay!”

His head moved to the other side, but he gave no sign of hearing.

“Clay! You've got to help Wade! Can you hear me? Wade needs you!”

“Wade?” Clay shot up straight, but quickly let out a loud groan. He reached for his head where blood dripped. Water sloshed around his waist, jolting him. “Huh? Wh—” He looked around. “What's going on?”

Panic set in as the man fumbled with the understanding of his surroundings.

“Clay, listen to me.” Lacey tried to bring his focus to her. Uncertainty crossed his face. He couldn't place her in his confused state.

“It's me, Lacey, Wade's friend. You need to get out of this car. It's sinking to the bottom of a lake. You've got to break the window above and swim out as fast as you can. Get help. I can't do anything with my hands tied.”

The blank look on his face remained. Had he heard anything she said? “I did this. I helped Chuck.”

“You helped him put the car in the lake?”

“It was all a lie. He used me.” Clay's vacant look snapped away. “He made me think I was serving my country by spying on Meredith for him. He learned who Meredith's father was and said the government was looking for a link to him. I wasn't joking when I said Gary Shelton was mafia. Chuck told me he was Russian mafia. We used the track to get and pass information to each other, but Chuck was also using it to pass information to someone else. It was why he pushed for the track's opening at the state level. It had nothing to do with jobs. He wanted to take down Meredith and Gary. I believed him when he said they worked for the Russians. Times were heated then. I couldn't let her hurt our country and my family. But it was all a lie. Chuck was the one making the deals with the Russians.”

Lacey felt her mouth drop. “Are you saying you knew the Spencers would be pushed over the ledge?”

“No! I didn't! That was an accident. The police said so.”

“No, Clay, it was murder.”

“No. No.” He shook his head, but soon crumpled, unable to deny it any longer.

“And we're about to be murdered, too, by the same killer. Please get out of here. Get through the window before we sink. Wade needs you.”

“He needs
you
. You love him. I know you do. I didn't believe you for a second when you said you didn't.”

“Yes, I do. I do love him, but you're his family. He can't lose you. He's lost too many already. Please, just do as I ask.”

“Here, let me untie you.” Clay knelt to reach her. The car tilted back and more water gushed in. The current pushed Lacey back at full force, straight to the back of the hatchback.

“No time! Go!” She tried to speak through the water hitting her face and holding her down.

“I can't leave you!”

“Go!”

The command pushed Clay into motion. He flipped to his back and lifted his leg to kick up and out the sunroof. But nothing happened.

He kicked again and again. The car creaked and groaned and slipped deeper down. A current poured in; Clay finally pushed through the glass.

Relief for Wade rushed in, even as gushing water pushed Lacey down, keeping her there. There was no three-push warning this time. This was it, and in this final moment it wasn't about pushing back or going where God led. It was about trusting Him and letting go.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“T
he ice on the pond isn't solid enough to land on!” The pilot's voice came through the headsets of the three passengers on board the helicopter. Clay's car had been traced to this mountain location where he used to live in the old caretaker's cabin. They'd passed over the pond and were circling back around to look for an open space in the thick growth of trees. No open, flat land could be seen to bring the helicopter down on.

“How about the road?” Wade suggested as he scanned the area below. He saw an open space on the road, but it was a distance away. It would require a half-mile run, time they didn't have.

Michael swung around from his passenger seat. “How do you feel about rappelling down?”

“Could be dangerous on my own without a rappel guide.”

“Is that a yes?”

Wade thought of Lacey, but not just the danger she was in. He thought of her motto in life. Go unless God told her no. “Affirmative.”

“We'll get the chopper down below seventy-five feet. Gear up. Agent Samson, help Wade as best you can. And, Wade, go slow.”

With the help of the agent, Wade prepped a deployment bag that would be tossed out before he began the descent. He removed his headset to fit the helmet to his head. All audio communication would now cease with the men in the chopper. A pair of all-leather gloves came next. The double-leather palms and fingers would provide protection from the intense heat created by his hands on the slide down the rope. He grabbed the safety belt with a harness and tether. In a moment the nylon rope would be his only lifeline. Before fitting them on, he emptied his pockets for a snug fit. The red cloth and papers fell to his seat.

Again the cloth turned his stomach.

He would be rappelling down to save Lacey from his uncle, the one person Wade thought would never hurt him. Lacey was right. It was the people closest to us who could hurt us the most. But Wade would make sure Clay paid for all his crimes and for taking away the people Wade loved most...including Clay. The pain ripped him apart, but he gritted his teeth and prepared for his jump.

Geared up, Wade gave a thumbs-up to the pilot. He was ready.

The pilot swooped the helicopter back out over the pond. Wade leaned in to the turn and looked down at the cloth and papers again. The business card with Senator Charles Teigen's name printed across the middle faced up. Wade read the line below his name and froze.

A slogan for the senator's latest campaign screamed at Wade from the card.

“Words are Powerful: Vote for Literacy.”

Those powerful words blared louder in Wade's head than the rotating blades of the helicopter.

Teigen was the direction Jeff was sending him. Teigen was why Jeff had been killed.

Jeff had gone after a dirty senator, the man responsible for killing Wade's family. The true spy and traitor.

Wade called to his grandfather, holding the card up, but no one could hear him. Wade leaned in and shoved the card in Michael's face. His grandfather caught on quick and did a search for Teigen on his phone. Photographs came up, new ones then old. Michael showed an image that popped up.

An old campaign photo of a familiar-looking man from Wade's nightmares lit the screen. The man from the grandstand, and a much younger Senator Teigen.

There was no doubting it now.

All these years it had been him under the grandstand, a friend of Clay's. And now he had Lacey at the cabin.

Suddenly, Agent Samson hit Wade's back. He pointed out the opened door for Wade to look. Wade saw nothing but an expanse of the partially frozen pond.

The helicopter raced west, over freezing water. It shied north and approached the cabin.

That was when Wade saw the front end of a black car protruding out of the pond, contrasted against the silvery ice.

Wade shouted at the top of his lungs, “Go!” He knew no one heard anything above the noise of the whomping blades, but Lacey was in that car. He just knew it.

Wade grabbed the rope and nearly jumped out without going through the protocol of safety. The agent warned him by mouthing, “Slow down!”

But Lacey was going under!

Wade gave a stiff nod and performed the final check of the hookup, rappel seat, rappel ring. He pulled on the rope to double-check the anchor-point connection. A few hundred feet took them closer to the sinking car. Wade's heart plummeted right along with it as he went through the steps that slowed him down.

Wade threw out the rope, but still there were more steps. Wade never wanted to rush through them more than in this moment. Always he'd been a stickler to the rules of safety.
Slow and steady wins the race. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Lacey's motto never looked so good.

He sent the deployment bag out and away from the helicopter. He made sure the rope didn't fall between the side of the chopper and the skid legs used for when the chopper lands. Wade looked down to prove the rope was indeed touching a frozen piece of ice near the car and also free of tangles and knots. He then took his place in the door.

Ordinarily this was where things got intense, but the real intensity was knowing Lacey was in that car sinking into freezing water below, and he might never see her alive again.

Wade braced himself for the jump. On a one-hundred-eighty-degree pivot, he stood out on the skid, facing the inside of the helicopter. His feet were shoulder-width apart, his knees locked, the balls of his feet on the skid and his body bent at the waist toward the helicopter. He placed his brake hand on the small of his back and told Promise to stay. The dog looked as if she was smiling.

He gave the nod and the signal to go never felt so good.

Wade flexed his knees and vigorously pushed away from the skid gear. He let the rope pass through his brake hand to his guide hand. The descent sped by at eight feet a second, with no jerky stops. The rope zipped through his hands smooth and clean.

Wade shot a look at the car, now barely above the surface, speeding his way.

When his feet touched, he quickly cleared the rappel rope through the rappel ring to free the rope. Samson signaled above that he was off rappel, and he dropped the rope away from the helicopter.

Wade turned around and took off in a run on cracking ice. He pushed faster to get to the car; now only the front bumper protruded.

A loud burst from below his feet knocked him to his knees. The seeping, freezing water barely fazed him as he elbowed the rest of the way to the car and to Lacey.

The sheet of ice beneath him pushed up. At the same time the car slipped below the surface in a blink of an eye.

“Lacey!” Wade called and reached for a connected piece of ice. He slid over to it just as a hand reached out from the water.

Lacey!

Wade reached the edge and grabbed hold of the hand splashing the icy water.

It was not a female's.

Wade shimmied over to his left and grabbed the forearm of the man to get a better grip. The man came up sputtering and heaving for air. It was Clay.

“Where's Lacey?”

Clay still heaved on his belly, but gestured with weak hands that she was down below. “Backseat. Tied up. She made me leave her. I'm so sorry!” Clay could be heard yelling, but Wade was already entering the water.

The water sliced right through him like a million sharp knives. He ignored the pain and moved his arms to pull his whole body down. The car was just within reach, still floating with its back end deeper. Wade debated which side he should try for. Would the door be unlocked?

With time so critical, he could only pray.
Lord, guide me and I will steer Your way.

Wade went left.

The front seats were empty as expected, and Wade reached for the handle of the back door. He fumbled when he saw Lacey floating in the backseat, unmoving.

He was too late, the thought came, but he still pulled the door wide and swam in to pull her into his arms and out of the car.

With her cradled in his arms, her head floating back to expose her slender neck, Wade kicked up with all his strength to the surface.

Ice blocked his path above, but a quick maneuver opened his passage clearly enough for him to push through with Lacey headfirst. Wade could only hope it would be in time.

Her body was quickly removed from Wade's arms. He grabbed hold of the ice and used the edge as leverage to free himself from the water. It cracked and broke off beneath him. He reached for a large broken-off piece to climb up on and get out of the freezing water.

Clay held Lacey, crawling with her to shore. Wade's grandfather and Samson could be seen running down the road from where they'd landed the chopper, a bag and blanket in hand. Would they reach Lacey to help her in time?

Wade pushed his piece of ice closer to the large one Lacey was on. The ice popped and cracked when he got on. “I can't get to her!” he yelled to Samson, who ran up to the shore. “The ice is breaking!”

“Come in a different way! I can get her from my side!” Samson crawled his way out onto the ice toward Lacey, taking her from Clay, who couldn't pull her anymore. He needed medical attention, as well. His body seemed to be fading fast from his cold plunge.

Wade moved as close to Lacey as he could without causing her to cave back into the ice-cold water. Samson moved her onto a wool blanket and tried to revive her, but Wade was too far to touch and too far to help.

His gut twisted at the sight of her unconscious face. Lips of purple surrounded by stark white undid him. “Come on, Lacey!” he yelled to her. “You've got to wake up. Please, Lacey. Don't give up. Come back to me!”

Wade couldn't take his eyes off her for one second. Not even to hear the uncommon bark of his dog. Promise waited for him to look her way and to assure her he was all right. Her barks picked up to a crescendo.

“Wade, you're hyperventilating,” Samson said from across Lacey. “Take slow, deep breaths through pursed lips, or you're going to go into cold shock. Get yourself to shore quickly.”

Wade followed the directions for the breathing, but he couldn't leave Lacey. He spared a glance at his barking dog, but Promise wasn't looking at him. She was facing the woods. Her barks continued, but the sound of Lacey coughing stole his attention.

Water spurted out of her mouth and Samson turned her on her side. More ingested water released from her lungs and her eyelids parted but quickly shut again. Samson turned her onto her back.

“She's breathing. But I need to get her off the ice and warmed. Wade, we have to get her to shore without falling in. I'm going to try to pull her along.”

Wade couldn't feel his hands against the ice anymore, but he managed to move toward shore little by little. Ice cracked beneath him. He dared not move closer to Lacey in case it broke through. But this meant he couldn't help Samson pull Lacey in. His weight wouldn't allow it.

Promise barked and padded onto the ice in a run toward him. She reached him, but her face seemed a little blurry, and her barks seemed to be growing softer. She licked him, but even that he couldn't feel. He figured he must be frozen to the point that his senses were shutting down. He reached for Promise's furry neck and saw how his fingers barely bent. They didn't look real hanging there in front of his face.

But they also weren't shaking.

“See, P-Promise, I'm okay, girl. But Lacey needs you. H-h-help L-L-Lacey.”

The dog bumped her head to his.

“Help L-L-Lacey.”

Promise ran over to Lacey as she was told to do.

Wade hoped the ice would hold his dog, especially when she started pulling on the blanket with her teeth. Each pull, Wade held his breath then released it when they moved a little closer to shore.

“Keep going!” Wade yelled. At least he thought he yelled. A slow realization came to his mind that he didn't actually say anything. Samson's words flashed in his mind. He'd warned Wade about cold shock.

Wade's eyelids grew heavy, but he shook his head to keep them open. He would be no use to Lacey if he went into shock, too. He looked to shore and saw her being picked up and transferred to the ground. Wade saw Clay draped in a blanket with Michael standing by him, a hand on his shoulder. A movement in the trees behind them caught his eye.

Someone was watching from behind a tree.

Wade looked to the face of the man.

Chuck Teigen.

Air whooshed from Wade's lungs. He tried to push up off the ice, but his appendages had shut down. This was the man who'd put the deaths of Wade's family into action when Wade had opened his mouth and told.

Wade opened his mouth again to alert his grandfather to the danger in their presence, to finally speak the truth and end the hold Teigen had had on his life for so long. Wade opened his mouth to talk, but no matter how much he tried, no words would come out.

Not even when the man stepped out of the trees and lifted a gun, aimed straight for Lacey.

Wade slapped the ice, hoping to get someone's attention. Promise ran back out to him, pacing around him. Wade grabbed the fur at her neck. He turned her to face the trees. “At-tack.” Wade was unsure if Promise even knew that command.

But the smart dog shot off. Her strong muscular body took her back to shore; her legs lifted her high off the ground in her swift sprint. She zeroed in on Teigen's back, coming up behind him without his knowledge. With stealth and precision she took her last leap and soared through the air just as the gun exploded.