Page 23

TWENTY-THREE

P enny stopped rearranging the shelves. The space was still too small, closing them in. She should be out finding her family.

“Maybe He is real. Maybe He actually does care. But I can’t stay here any longer doing nothing.” She shoved against the door. Nothing. She tried again, but it didn’t budge. She rubbed her sore shoulder. “I need more space. A running start.” She gritted her teeth and was about to throw all her body weight against it when Bryce grabbed her and held her tight.

“It’s not gonna open that way.” His strong arms kept her from falling to the ground.

“I have to try.” She tried to pull away from him, desperation taking over.

But Bryce’s grip was solid. His voice quiet. “Whatever they did to block this door, they jammed it good. Help is on the way, Penny. We need to sit tight and wait a little longer. You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep going.”

She shook her head. “I can’t do nothing.” Her voice came out as a weak whisper. She needed to do something before the panic came back. Her sister and the kids were out there at the mercy of evil men, and it was her fault. She never should’ve come back to Last Chance.

“Hey, did I ever tell you about the frogs?”

“What?” Her gaze landed on Bryce, his eyes steady, a glint of humor teasing. How could he find anything funny about this?

“I never told you about that?”

He was distracting her. Obviously. But hey, if it kept the panic at bay…by all means. “You never mentioned a story featuring frogs, no.”

They sank back down to the floor. She sat between his knees, leaned against his chest. His strong arms wrapped around her, sheltering her from the chill.

“Buckle up. This is riveting stuff.”

Penny huffed. “Riveting, huh?”

“Oh yeah. See, my buddy and I wanted to be heroes. We knew that meant we had to rescue someone, and in the fourth grade, there weren’t many damsels in distress. So we set our sights on animals. Our science teacher, Mr. Hale, had specimens of different animals in jars, which always seemed kinda cruel to me.”

“Ugh. Those jars always creeped me out.” Penny shivered.

Bryce held her closer.

“What did you do?” she asked, settling into his embrace.

“Obviously it was too late for the animals in the jar, but I was determined to make sure Mr. Hale wouldn’t dissect any more creatures in the name of science. I wanted to send him a message. So my friend and I spent a week catching as many frogs as we could. We kept them in a couple of big buckets, and one day we cut last hour and filled Mr. Hale’s car with all the frogs.”

Penny chuckled lightly. “You didn’t.”

“Oh yes, we did. Got in so much trouble too. I think we had detention for a month.”

“You and Logan?”

Bryce froze. He didn’t say anything.

It was so foreign for this energetic man to remain this quiet and still.

“Bryce? Are you okay?” She pulled away from his arms, which had gone strangely limp, and turned around to face him. Seeing something beyond the good-time grin he always wore, or the powerful glower when he faced a challenge, was a rare glimpse at a man she’d always suspected was there but had hardly ever seen.

“What happened?” she asked.

He shook his head slightly. “Oh, nothing. Just…remembering. I haven’t thought about him in a long time.”

“About what? Your friend?”

“Yeah. Luke.”

“Did something happen to him?”

He looked at her, a sorrow in his gaze she’d never witnessed before with him. “Yeah. Luke died. And even worse, it was my fault.”

“What are you talking about? How was it your fault?”

“Because I didn’t do enough to stop it.”

The heartbreak in his voice almost wrecked her. “What happened?”

“Luke was my best friend. It was just him and his mom, and she worked a lot, so he was at our place all the time. Enough that I noticed bruises and stuff. When I asked about them, he’d get really quiet. He never said anything, but I suspected his mom. He admitted she got pretty mad sometimes, but he didn’t want me saying anything.”

“Did you?”

“Not at first. Then he missed a few days of school, and I got worried about him, told my teacher what I thought. She told me I didn’t know what I was talking about, that I shouldn’t accuse innocent people. His mom was simply an overworked single parent. She had already contacted our teacher and said Luke was on a trip, so of course my teacher wasn’t going to believe me.”

“Did he come back?”

“Yeah. And when I asked how his trip was, he had no clue what I was talking about.”

“So his mom lied.”

“And when I tried to talk to him about it with the teacher, he lied. Said I was just being typical Bryce, class jokester. He laughed at me, said no one could ever believe what I said. Then I got in trouble for taking a joke too far. And after the frog incident, who was going to believe me? The teacher even called my parents and told them I had a problem, that I wasn’t taking my classes seriously enough, was causing issues.”

“What did they say?”

“They were mad I was failing reading, and so I don’t think they really heard me when I tried to explain.”

“And Luke?”

Bryce squeezed his hands, tucking his thumbs into his fists. “He died not long afterward. They said it was an accident. He fell and hit his head. And I tried again to tell my parents, that they needed to go to the police. But they thought I was trying to deal with the death by making up a story that gave me someone to blame.”

“They didn’t take you seriously?”

“Not that time.” Bryce shrugged. “Most people don’t.”

“That’s not true.”

“Sure it is. In school, people liked hanging out with me, playing sports with me, partying with me, but no one expected anything more than just a good time. I barely graduated. Even my high-school girlfriend broke up with me right before she left for college because she needed to grow up and be with someone serious.”

“There’s a lot more to you than a good time, Bryce. You know that, right?”

“I know I can be impulsive, and I do love having fun and going out, but sometimes, yeah, I wish people would realize I’m not stupid. I even looked up Luke’s mom later. She had a record of allegations of child abuse before they moved to Last Chance. It wasn’t just me.”

“Did they ever reopen the investigation into Luke’s death?”

“No. His mom left soon after his death and ended up dying of a drug overdose.”

“How sad.” Penny reached out for Bryce’s hand. “You know I always saw you as more than just the life of the party, right?”

He looked at her with a question in his eyes, not convinced.

“You’re a loyal and courageous man. They way you jumped in to help protect your family with Sosa, the way you run into burning buildings to rescue people—do you know how rare that is? And you’re still the only guy I’ve ever dated that would hold open doors for me.”

He gave her a sad smile. “Then why did you leave without letting me explain? I wasn’t serious enough?”

“Uh…no. Probably because you were too serious…about us. And that’s not a bad thing. Any other woman would probably be thrilled to have someone as committed and loyal as you. I’m just not sure I’m cut out for the kind of long-term relationship you deserve.”

He squeezed her hands, tugged her closer. “Can’t we give it a shot? Penny, we’re good together. And I’m willing to try if you are.”

Oh, she could so easily fall for this man. The intensity in him, the way his touch steadied her and ignited her at the same time. The way he would give his all for family. And as a package, there was nothing lacking in this cowboy firefighter.

Before she could vocalize anything, a scraping noise sounded from the other side of the door.

“Bryce? Penny?” voices yelled.

They stood and banged on the door. “In here!”

“Hey, guys. Hang tight. We gotta move this cabinet and you’ll be home free.”

Within moments, Penny and Bryce walked into Libby’s kitchen to find Izan and Zack Stephens.

Finally, Penny could breathe. But she couldn’t rest. Her family was out there. And until she could find them, she didn’t have the headspace or time to worry about her heart and everything circling there.

“Sosa has my sister and her kids,” Penny told the guys. “And we haven’t been able to get ahold of Jude.”

Zack nodded. “Most of the police force and emergency services are out at a raid. I bet Jude is there too. But they sent us back. Maybe things are wrapping up.”

“Try calling him again.” Bryce handed Penny his phone. She called, put the phone on speaker, and set it on the dining room table.

“Hey, do you know where Penny is?” Jude answered. “I’ve been trying to call the both of you.”

“I’m here. You’re on speaker with me and Bryce. What’s going on?”

“The militia just issued a statement. They kidnapped the governor’s wife and son.”

“The militia? What do they have to do with this? And why would they kidnap the governor’s family?” Bryce asked.

“We’re still trying to figure that out. In the meantime, you need to get here. The task force has been called in. All available law enforcement is being pulled in to find them,” Jude said.

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him.

We had it wrong. It wasn’t your family they were targeting. It’s mine.

She could hear Emma in her head.

You don’t know squat. Because if you did, neither of you would be here right now.

But Jude’s job was to protect the governor and figure out what was going on with the militia. If she said anything about her sister and kids, Jude would be there in a heartbeat.

And he’d probably lose his job because of it.

She couldn’t let him do that. Besides, they could split forces. He could keep looking for the governor’s family. She would get her sister and the kids back.

Emma Kemper and Alonzo were her case.

Bryce opened his mouth to say something into the phone. To shut him up, she quickly pressed her finger against his lips. Lips she’d kissed tonight. Lips that tempted her to do crazy things like give her heart away and put down roots in Last Chance.

But that was way too much to unpack right now. First…Libby and kids. And keep Jude out of it.

“I can’t be there to help. I’m working another angle of my own.” Penny spoke into the phone. “That’s why I called.”

“What is it?” Jude asked.

“I’m gonna need you to trust me.” Jude didn’t have to know how she got her intel. Many times it was better when he didn’t.

“I don’t feel right about your pursuing it on your own. And it’s the governor’s wife and child missing. Are you sure this lead is worth your time?”

“I’m not alone. Bryce is here. And believe me, the life of a woman and any child isn’t something I’d take lightly.” Her sister was a wife too. Her niece’s and nephew’s lives mattered very much.

“I’ll try to put off Woods. He’s breathing down our necks, demanding every resource we have be spent on this, but I don’t know how long I can hold him back.”

“We’ll be there as soon as we can.” That’s all she could promise.

“Stay in touch. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“You know me better than that, Book. Bye.”

Penny ended the call.

Bryce glowered. “Why didn’t you tell him?” Izan and Stephens looked confused.

“What do you think he’d do?” Penny faced them, arms folded across her chest.

“He would come help us find them,” Bryce said, as if it were obvious.

“Right. And he’d lose his job for doing it when he’s been called in to the investigation with the governor’s family. Then where would he be? Anthony and Olivia are probably out there too.”

Bryce lost some of his bluster. “I suppose you have a point.”

“So it’s up to me.” Penny needed him to understand.

“I’m sure as heck not gonna let you go alone. You already told Jude I was coming with you.” Bryce straightened.

“Not just you. We’re here too. And we’ll do whatever we need to help.” Izan pointed at himself and Zack.

“You guys will help?” Bryce asked them.

“Of course. We’re family. What do you need?” Zack leaned over the table.

Penny looked the men in the eyes. Each was ready to face who knew what. “Thank you.”

“Okay, so where do we start?” Bryce was ready for action as always.

“I don’t know why Sosa would target my family, but I’m going to call my brother-in-law before we do anything else. He needs to know.”

“Do you think they planned this? Your sister and kids taken the same time the governor’s family is kidnapped?” Izan asked.

“I don’t know, maybe they wanted the distraction. But I have to call Dan. Why don’t you do a quick search of the house. See if Gomez and his goons took anything. Left anything. You get the idea. Bryce and I can start upstairs after I call. You guys go through the main living area.”

After Penny called Dan and told him what was going on, Bryce and Penny quickly searched through the kids’ rooms together. “Nothing here. You?” Bryce asked as he righted the rocket lamp that had been knocked over in Harry’s room.

“Just my phone. It must’ve fallen out of my pocket earlier. Let’s try Libby’s room.”

The blankets on the king-sized bed bunched up in the middle. A novel lay on the floor next to a pillow that had been knocked off. They’d probably grabbed Libby as she was winding down for the evening. The kids as they slept. They must be terrified. Penny couldn’t think about that too much. She had to focus on finding them.

On the nightstand next to the bed, Libby’s phone charged on a wireless charger. Another cord next to it dangled off the edge.

“Her watch!”

Bryce paused his search on the other side of the bed. “What?”

“We can track her smartwatch with her phone.”

“Doesn’t the watch have to be near the phone for that to work?”

“Libby doesn’t like to take her phone when she runs, so she has a cell plan just for the watch. It should give me her exact location.” Penny snatched the phone off the charger.

“You know your sister’s password?” Bryce came and looked over her shoulder.

“You know Logan’s?” She gave him a look.

“Point taken.”

She opened up the app, clicked on the map icon and zoomed in. “Do you know where this is?”

“Looks like a trailer on the outside of town.”

“This is where they must be keeping her and the kids.”

“Let’s go,” Bryce hollered as he ran downstairs. “We got ’em.”

They showed the location to the others.

“Do any of you have a weapon?” Penny asked them.

“I’ve got a pistol in the truck,” Zack said. Izan shook his head.

“We need more firepower. Dan must have something around here.” Penny spun around the living room where they stood.

“There’s a 12-gauge with a box of ammo on top of the hutch over there,” Izan said. “I saw it as we were searching.” He pointed toward the dining room.

“We’ll take that. I have my backup weapon in the guest room.” Penny grabbed the shotgun and handed it to Bryce. “I assume you know how to use that?”

“Does a cowboy know how to two-step?” He winked at her.

And after his story, she knew. The wink wasn’t a sign that he didn’t care or wasn’t taking this seriously. He would do everything in his power to save her sister and the kids. He really was a hero.

“Good. We’ll need to park farther away and scope things out when we get there. But let me make one thing clear: nobody shoots anything if innocents are nearby. Understood? And we need Sosa alive. He’s got something going on, and we have to find out what it is. If he’s not there, we’ll need his henchmen.”

She waited until each man nodded understanding before they left. Soon they were jogging through a tree line that ran around the outside of the lot the trailer was parked on. The trailer had seen better days. Coyotes barked in the night. Lights were on inside, but all the windows were blocked with blinds or drapes. Straw bales surrounded the outside of the trailer, most likely used for winter insulation to keep the pipes from freezing.

“What’s the plan? We can’t go in blind with guns blazing,” Izan said.

“We need to draw them out and get eyes on what’s going on inside.” Penny peered at the trailer, trying to best guess where her sister and the kids would be.

“Why don’t we go knock on the front door?” Zack asked.

“Seriously?” Bryce balked.

“I play a good drunk guy. I can pound on the door, pretend it’s someone I know. Try to push my way inside.” Zack made it sound easy, but there were too many ways that could go wrong.

“Too risky,” she said.

“What about the TIC? I have one in the truck I was repairing.” Bryce used his thumb to point toward his vehicle.

Izan stared at him. “You know how to fix a TIC?”

Bryce froze for a second. “It wasn’t a big deal. The screen needed replacing.”

Zack looked confused. “And you knew how to do that?”

Bryce shrugged like it was no biggie. “There’s a YouTube video for everything.”

“Focus, boys. Yes, the thermal imaging device will help. We should be able to distinguish where the kids are at least. And I’ll use Libby’s watch to see if we can figure out where she is in the building.”

Bryce jogged away and soon came back with the thermal imaging device. Thankfully, with the cooler night air settling all around them, the ninety-eight-degree bodies stood out in red and orange on the TIC’s screen.

“There are the kids, on the south side of the trailer.” Bryce pointed to them. The orange blobs were significantly smaller than the others.

“It doesn’t look like anyone is guarding them. There’s three adults on the other end of the trailer. Is that where your sister is?” Izan asked.

Penny used Libby’s phone app. “Yeah, she’s over there.”

Bryce pointed at the TIC screen. “She’s probably the one sitting down on the ground while the other two people are standing. That must be a kitchen. Looks like there’s heat coming from a coffee pot too.”

So all three of them were alive at least. That brought the nerves down a smidge. “First, let’s grab the kids. If we can get them out while they’re not guarded, and without alerting Sosa, we can focus on getting Libby next. And we’ll take away their leverage.”

Bryce looked at the other two. “Izan, you stay here. You have a clear shot at the back door. Watch our backs and give us a signal if you see anything. Zack, you take the front yard. If anyone else approaches from the driveway, take them out.”

Zack moved away silently, and Izan hunkered down among the shadows of the trees. Penny and Bryce approached the room on the south side. The window was boarded up with a piece of plywood.

“Let’s try the room next to them. It’s empty, right?” Penny asked.

Bryce checked the TIC again. “So far. But I think it’s a bathroom. Look how small and high that window is.”

“It’s our best shot for getting in there undetected. Give me a boost.” Penny tugged a long straw bale out from under the trailer and stood on it. She removed the window screen without a sound.

Bryce stood next to her on the ground. She easily slid onto his shoulders. “Step up here onto the bale, and I’ll be able to reach,” she whispered.

Bryce held on to her legs and stepped up. Once Bryce was stable, she used the side of the trailer to brace herself and moved to kneel on his shoulders. The flimsy window didn’t take much to wiggle open.

She shimmied her body through the small opening and quietly stepped onto the toilet situated right under the window. Peeking around the door, she saw only dark outlines of frames hanging on the walls of the hallway. A light from the opposite end of the trailer glowed, but the coast was clear.

She tried the door next to the bathroom. Locked.

Of course it couldn’t be that easy. She quietly tapped on the door—the secret code she’d taught Hazel and Harry when they had a clubhouse. Nothing.

She tried it again.

“I’ll check on the kids. I’m telling you, you’re hearing things. No one is out there.” A deep voice came closer.

A noise like bedsprings squeaking sounded on the other side of the door.

Penny tapped the sequence one more time. She laid her ear against the thin wood of the hollow door.

“Aunt Penny?” a young voice said. Hazel!

“Yes, it’s me. Unlock the door,” she whispered, hoping Hazel could still hear.

Noise from the other side of the trailer, the deep voice of a man—was it Alonzo?—reached Penny. They were coming this way.

The jostling of the knob creaked, and soon, the door cracked open, Hazel’s scared face on the other side. As soon as their eyes locked, the door swung wide open and a whimper escaped. Heavy footsteps from the other end of the hall sounded louder, the man getting closer. He would see her soon. Penny engulfed Hazel in one arm and quietly closed the door behind her. She relocked the door, then scooped Hazel up and held her close.

“I knew—” the little girl started to say.

Penny pulled away quickly enough to cover Hazel’s mouth and scanned the room. A queen bed took most of the space, and the little body curled up on it about broke her heart. But the rise and fall of Harry’s chest meant he was alive. Thank God.

“Listen carefully. The man is coming to check on you. Lie down next to your brother and pretend to sleep. Be super-duper still. Quick!” Hopefully the whispered words conveyed how urgent it was. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Penny laid Hazel next to Harry, who thankfully was already asleep, though tears and sweat ran down his forehead and cheeks. She had barely enough time to slip under the bed before the doorknob jiggled again and the door opened.

Heavy breathing from the doorway. A grunt. Then the door closed again. Penny waited for a ten count and slowly rolled out from under the bed.

“All right, Hazel. Let’s wake up Harry and get you two out of here.”

Hazel popped up and fell into her auntie’s arms, crying. “I knew you’d come,” she squeaked out between sobs.