Page 46 of Calder Strong (The Calder Brand #5)

R EELING BETWEEN PANIC AND RAGE , J OSEPH STEADIED HIMSELF AS Britta gasped out the story of what had happened.

“The children—Lucas, Ellie, and my girls—they were playing on the swings in the front yard. I was busy in the kitchen and didn’t see anything.

But my daughter told me later that a man drove up in a big, fancy black car.

He got out and said that he’d been sent by their mother. She wanted to see them right away.”

Joseph groaned, imagining Lucas and Ellie, in their happy excitement, running to get in the car. It would have been so easy for someone to take them. How terrified they must be now.

“When did it happen? How long ago?” Joseph demanded.

“Half an hour maybe,” Britta said. “I came to check on the children and found out just a few minutes after it happened. Then I tried to call you—at your house and at the jail. I talked to a deputy. He said you’d been there and gone.”

“How much did you tell him?”

“Nothing. I was afraid he might tell Annabeth.”

Joseph breathed his thanks. Annabeth would be frantic if she knew her children had been stolen.

“I tried calling the sheriff when I couldn’t reach you,” Britta said. “But there was no answer. I know you don’t think much of him.”

“Try him again,” Joseph said. “We need all the help we can get.”

While Britta went back inside to use the telephone, Joseph examined the scene to learn as much as he could.

It was surprising that the kidnapper had managed to approach the house without being seen by an adult.

But it wouldn’t have been impossible. Once they knew where the children were staying—which would have been easy enough—they could have watched the place from the road, maybe with binoculars, waiting for the right moment.

Joseph studied the tire tracks in the dust, looking for anything that might help him identify the vehicle.

The depth of the tread suggested that the car, or at least the tires, were fairly new.

The pattern looked ordinary. But as Joseph bent closer, he could see the imprint of something stuck in the tread—a bit of gravel, maybe, or a shard of glass.

If he were to see it again, it might help him track the car.

But what were the chances of that? Heaven save him, he had never felt more helpless in his life.

But he took a moment to memorize the exact shape and location of the tiny object.

Why would two children be kidnapped? They and their mother had no enemies.

But what about Silas? Joseph remembered pulling the wounded man from the bullet-riddled truck.

Silas had had enemies, dangerous ones. And he’d had money—the cash that Lucas had burned when he started the fire in the potato pit.

If the kidnappers were after Silas’s money and didn’t know it had been burned, Joseph might expect to get a ransom demand.

What then? He would willingly pay the ransom himself.

But he knew what happened to most kidnap victims, even after the ransom was paid.

The urgency of the situation screamed in his head.

He had to find his children before it was too late.

Britta came out of the house. “I tried the sheriff again. Still no answer.” Her hands twisted the hem of her apron. “Why would anybody do that—take two innocent children?”

“My guess is, it’s about money,” Joseph said. “If I’m right, we should be getting a ransom message. I’m going home to wait. If there’s a message, it’s likely to come there. Or it could come here. Stay close to the phone and keep your eyes open. Call me if anything changes.”

“Of course, I will,” Britta said. “And I’ll do something else. I’ll pray.”

The room was dark and chilly, with a thin quilt laid over the hard earthen floor.

Lucas could hear the sound of footsteps overhead and the occasional mutter of voices.

The gray light that filtered under the door allowed him to see the wooden crates stacked around the walls and the porcelain chamber pot in one corner.

But he had no idea where he and Ellie were.

Two men in the car had wrapped them in blankets so they couldn’t see where they were being taken.

Lucas only knew that it wasn’t to see their mother.

“I’m cold,” Ellie whimpered. “I want Mama.”

Lucas pulled the thin blanket they’d been given around her. “Be still. Whining won’t help. We need to find a way out of here.”

Brave talk. But he’d already explored as much of the room as he could.

The only way out was the door, and it was locked.

The one thing that seemed strange was the aroma of mouthwatering food that drifted down from somewhere above them.

The smell reminded him of how hungry he was.

Ellie would be hungry, too. But something told him they would get none of the food he could smell.

He didn’t know much about the men who’d taken them prisoner.

But their evil was something he could feel.

Time crawled as Joseph waited in the ranch office. The sunset was fading from the sky when the telephone rang. Answering, he was startled to hear a familiar voice.

“Joseph, this is Lola. Don’t talk, just listen, please.”

“Where are my children, Lola?” he demanded, almost screaming at her. “So help me—”

“I don’t know.” Her voice shook. “I didn’t take them, and I don’t have them. I’m only the messenger. I’m trying to help you.”

Joseph took a deep breath, struggling to stay calm. “All right, I’m listening.”

“The men who took them, all they want is Silas’s money—the money that he saved from his moonshining business. Give them that—I’ll tell you where to leave it—and you’ll get your little ones back. Otherwise …” She left the words unspoken, letting Joseph’s imagination fill in the unthinkable.

“The money’s gone,” Joseph said. “Mosby hid it in the potato cellar, and Lucas set it on fire. It was burned to ashes. The sheriff’s men looked for it. That was all they found.”

“Do you really think those men are going to believe that?” Lola asked.

“That won’t make any difference. I’m prepared to pay whatever they want. How much would they take?”

“You could offer thirty thousand. But they might want more.”

“I don’t have the cash here. I’d have to take it from the bank in Miles City, and they’re closed now. I could get it first thing tomorrow. I would just need to know that Ellie and Lucas are safe.”

“I’ll pass that on. Meanwhile, you know better than to involve the law—no sheriff and no feds. And don’t play hero and try to rescue them yourself. If anything goes wrong, those children will be the first to die.”

Her words sent a shudder through Joseph’s body. “Damn it, who are those men? Where are my children? You know more than you’re telling me, Lola!”

“I don’t know enough to help you. As I told you, I’m just the messenger. Stay near the phone. I’ll relay your message and get back to you.”

The call ended. Sick with dread, he hung up the phone and walked out onto the porch.

In the distance, he could see the lights of Blue Moon like an island in the dark.

Farms and ranches were scattered here and there across the landscape.

Headlights crawled along the roads. Somewhere out there, his precious children were being held hostage.

He would pay any amount of money to get them back.

But what if their captors got tired of waiting? What if the money came too late?

The Boss faced Lola across the table. Her ravaged face wore a calm smile, but her fingers drummed a nervous rhythm on the tabletop.

She had shut down the speakeasy while her partners were here, so no one would be coming downstairs to disturb them.

But she’d begun to feel trapped by these men—and scared.

For the first time since prison, she sensed that she’d gotten in over her head.

She had just told the Boss about the burned money and Joseph’s offer to replace it with his own cash. Now, as she waited for his reaction, she could hear the swish of Forrest’s broom as he swept behind the bar. In her head, she counted the strokes, one … two … three …

At last the Boss spoke. “I don’t like it,” he grumbled.

“The idea was, we get Silas Mosby’s money and hit the road.

If there’s a question, we can claim that the money was in the partnership and we were just claiming our share.

Now we’ve got Dollarhide offering cash that he can’t get his hands on until tomorrow.

While we wait, the feds could move in, and we’d all be in trouble. It’s too damned risky. I say we bail.”

“And the children?” Lola dared to ask. “Surely, it would do no harm to let them go.”

“You know better than that. Kids see and hear things. And they talk. They saw Carlos and his pals when he took them. They saw the car. And they’ve heard our voices. They could point you out in a second, and you’d probably turn the rest of us in to save your hide.”

The Boss stood, one hand massaging the small of his back.

The motion exposed the shoulder holster with the .

38 Special he wore under his jacket. “The world has plenty of kids. It won’t miss a couple.

Keep Dollarhide dangling. Don’t tell him anything.

By the time he figures it all out, it’ll be too late. Got it?”

“Got it.” Lola swallowed her terror. The man could kill her on a whim and would if he had no use for her. She felt sorry for the children, but if she were to cross him, she’d be as good as dead.

Needing a distraction, she listened for the familiar swish of Forrest’s broom. But there was nothing to hear. Forrest had finished his work and gone.

It was past midnight, and Lola hadn’t called.

Joseph knew that there would be no call.

For whatever reason, most likely distrust, the kidnappers had withdrawn.

There would be no demand for ransom and no more reason to hold the children.

Either Ellie and Lucas would be released or they would be killed.