Page 23 of Valor (Long Hot Summer: Christian Romantic Suspense #2)

CHAPTER TEN

Dry, pebble-like flakes pelted Allen’s face as their captor yanked them out of the car. He didn’t know the man’s name, nor did he know how any of the details of the case were connected. Why had Oliver and his son spoken up about the plot of land mentioned on the thumb drive? Were they connected, or was that a red herring? Obviously, whoever was at the heart of all this was well-connected since they’d also hired the man from the Wall Mart.

His head pounded in his ears during the long walk. The man led him and Heather down into a crevasse cut into the rock about a mile from where he’d left the car parked. Heather had leaned against him for most of the hike where it wasn’t too narrow, helping both of them navigate easier on the uneven, dark terrain. He appreciated she knew what both of them needed without saying anything. She’d been nothing but supportive since he’d walked into her life on the worst day she’d ever had.

She had every right to treat him like dirt, but she hadn’t. Her focus had been supportive. She’d helped him investigate, and even taken on the load when both of them were injured. She was more precious than gold. A woman like that deserved a good man. If he knew for sure he was one of those, he’d be first in line to stand at her side.

With any other woman, he wouldn’t question his worth, but this woman could find out things about him he might not even know. That scared him. What if he wasn’t good enough for her based on those things? He was certain her father believed he wasn’t worthy.

Their kidnapper shoved Heather down on the hewn-out floor, then lit a torch. He looked at Allen and glared a warning. “Don’t make me shove you. You already know I can beat you.”

Only because he’d been surprised. Where was the man who had been in the car when they’d attacked him on the side of the road? He’d been cloaked in a dark coat with the collar pulled up, making him impossible to see.

“Where’s my dad?” Heather looked around the small space, her eyes wide.

“You’ll see him soon enough. Keep your voice down.” The man pulled the roll of tape from his jacket pocket once again. “For now, you’ll sit here and wait. Micha will be right there.” He pointed to a man coming down the decline they’d just descended. “Don’t test him.”

Allen squinted at Micha. He very well could be the one from the car, but with such dim light, he couldn’t say for sure.

“Don’t worry, boss. These two will be as quiet as rabbits.” He narrowed his eyes at them and snorted. “Not much of a challenge for me at all.”

Allen refused to take the bait. Micha was hoping Allen would spring on him and give him a reason to beat Allen to a pulp, but that would not happen. While they’d been walking, he’d been working at freeing his hands. Since they’d been led and his hands had been bound behind his back, no one had noticed he was almost free.

“I need to see my father.” The fear in Heather’s voice tore at him. He wished he could comfort her. Deep inside, he worried that if their captor hadn’t brought them directly to Ed, he might not be alive. It had been two full days since his abduction, and the statistics were not in his favor.

The men ignored her pleas for information. Micha kneeled near a mound of ashes about ten feet away from them. If he lit a fire, they would both be too far away to get heat from it. He doubted they lit anything during the day, since smoke rising from the center of the park would be a giveaway that there were people somewhere they shouldn’t be.

How had they carved out this place with no one the wiser? Ranger George hadn’t indicated they’d had any troubles in this area when they’d searched. He had said nothing that would confirm this cavern existed.

Micha piled some kindling over the ashes and squirted lighter fluid over it. He then set about lighting the fire as the other man left. Micha acted as if they weren’t even there. Allen recognized the tactic. He was trying to maximize the fear and worry, letting Heather’s emotions make her pliable. But why? Did she have more information than she thought? Fear was used to manipulate people, but that only made sense if there was a reason to manipulate her.

He glanced her way, but her eyes were closed. A stream of tears ran down her cheek. He wasn’t sure if he should risk talking to her or not. If he did, he already knew Micha was quick to pull a knife. The other man seemed to prefer guns, but Micha had drawn his knife on Allen, which had surprised him. He’d been so focused on the gun that Micha had been able to get too close with that sharp blade.

Fire licked at the dry sticks, crackling and sparking, sending bright ash into the air as it wafted up to the foot-wide crack in the ceiling above. Smoke gently rose with the natural chimney effect of the cave. He recognized the shape of the crack from when they’d been there before. He’d heard someone groaning down here and had assumed it was Ed Sundin. That had been earlier today. Had they killed the man between then and now?

“He’s no killer. Yet.” Micha stared into the fire as he spoke. “He just wants what’s rightfully his. You have no business keeping him from his family land. You should’ve just given him the drive when you had the chance.” He grabbed a long stick and poked the fire.

Allen leaned against Heather, praying she understood she shouldn’t take the bait. She should remain silent. Micha didn’t know the other man had turned killer and wanted to control her using her emotions. Heather sucked in a shuddering breath and wiped her cheek against her shoulder.

“If it’s legally his, then he shouldn’t have to do anything illegal to get it,” Allen said, breaking the silence for her. He would do whatever he could to make sure she made it out of this alive, even if that meant he had to draw the anger of their captor.

Micha snorted. “Spoken like a true officer of the law. You will never be anything but an obedient dog, will you, Pendleton?”

His back stiffened.

Life was light vs. dark. Good and evil. He was on the side of good, and that wasn’t wrong.

With slow deliberation, Micha shook his head. “That’s your choice. It’s not in your blood. You’re attempting to make everyone in town forget that your father is an alcoholic. You try so hard to avoid every vice. You’re as squeaky clean as a steamed shirt, but that won’t cover up your past or who you really are.”

He looked over at Heather to see if she agreed with Micha’s assessment of him, but she still had her head down, clothed in shadows. He needed confirmation that she didn’t believe this man. What good would it do him to try to continue their friendship if she thought his valor was nothing more than a whitewashed tomb?

“I’m a good man. I’m not my father.” So why didn’t it sound like he believed his own words?

“You keep acting like that and repeating yourself. Someday, everyone will forget the truth.” Micha threw a large stick onto the flames and a cloud of smoldering flecks filled the air in a wave that rose higher and higher. The cold air made them flicker and die within seconds.

He’d let Micha get to him. Instead of convincing Heather not to listen, he’d fallen for the bait. “What do you want from me?” Now he was angry. Since this man seemed to know about his past, his childhood, maybe information he didn’t even have himself. He tugged on his wrists and the tie slid the last few inches, freeing his hands.

“I want you to disappear. I want you to go far away so my mother can quit mourning over you and crying that you don’t know her,” Micha spat the words at him.

Heather gasped and looked over at him, accusation suddenly making her eyes hard. “Your mother?” she whispered.

“I don’t know who my mother is. Never have. I don’t believe you.” He was motherless. That wouldn’t change.

“Wrong. Your mother is Gwenn Reicher. She worked at the bar here in town thirty-four years ago. Your worthless father decided to seduce her one night, and she got pregnant. She didn’t want to tell him because he was a drunk with no future. Fortunately for her, she got a grant to go to school to make something of herself. Unfortunately for you, she couldn’t take you with her. When I was asked to find you because those two former associates stole our thumb drive and slipped it in her bag, I was more than happy to get involved in something that would bring you running to help.” Micha rubbed his hands together, then held them up to the flame.

He turned his icy stare back to Allen. “And if I have anything to say about it, you won’t make it out of this cave. I’m tired of my own mother seeing me as ‘the other son’ when I was there. I gave her everything I could. You weren’t.”

He had a mother? Could this guy be telling the truth? Everyone knew who his father was, but no one seemed to know his mother. Not that he’d asked. That would lead to questions, and the last thing he wanted was for people to question his past.

“You’re lying.”

Micha shot to his feet. “You want proof? You have a birthmark on your right leg, just above your knee. My mother told your father after you were born when she had no one to watch you while she was in school. He was terrified of being a father to anyone, yet he could see my mother was struggling at the time. He told her he would take you, but under the condition that she could never, ever come for you. She had to walk out of your life for good because he didn’t want to marry her, and he didn’t want anyone to know about his one-night stand. He’s worthless. And so are you.”

That mark on his thigh had always been there. He never thought it would lead him to his mother. It was dark brown, and he’d been self-conscious about it his entire life, so he never wore shorts. The only ones who knew about it were his father and his doctor.

“I can see you’re processing that. Don’t worry. As I said, you don’t have to worry about her. You’ll never meet her.”

The fire crackled again, but the silence of the park and the others in the cavern made the sound loud. He promised himself this wasn’t the end. He needed to wait and see if Ed was still alive so they could all escape together. Until then, he’d be silent. Now, after Heather and her father were safe, he had to find his mother.

* * *

Heather forced her breaths to come slowly. Poor Allen. To learn in this awful way about his mother was downright low. But what else did she expect from a man like Micha? Someone willing to help another man murder people and take land. Since she didn’t recognize him, she assumed he wasn’t from Wall, which meant Allen’s mother wasn’t either.

Even though she’d left as much room as possible with the ties around her wrists, the plastic still dug into the pad of her thumb as she worked to get it off. The darkness helped. Micha stayed near the fire, ignoring them. She refused to think about the fact that they’d been to this very place earlier and she’d heard what she’d assumed was her father. If he wasn’t here now, where was he? Micha had said their abductor wasn’t a killer yet. What did that mean? That he hadn’t killed her father? He hadn’t been told the man had killed someone right in front of them.

She looked around the narrow passage. Curious, she decided to distract Micha by asking questions. She’d found as a photographer that if she could lead people into answering simple questions, they became more at-ease with her.

“How did you hollow out this cavern?” She swallowed hard. The surrounding rock was incredibly dry, like microfiber sucking the moisture from her skin.

“Water,” came Micha’s short answer. “Rainwater washes away the rock very slowly over time, but blasting it with a pressure washer makes the process much faster. There were four of us working on it every night for months. The rocks here erode about one inch a year because of rain. Multiply that and you can make a small space like this for protection pretty quickly.”

The man’s weakness was his ego. Heather committed the fact to memory. If she had to distract him, she would have to play to his weaknesses.

“Interesting. I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

Her breath hitched as she finally freed herself from the zip tie. With care, she hid her hands in her lap. Allen looked over at her, his eyes hooded in shadow. She wouldn’t hold up her wrists to show him, but he had been so observant the whole time, she was sure he knew what she’d done.

A scuffling sound from above them made Micha glance over at the makeshift entrance. “There you are. Just like I said, these two were completely boring.” He motioned with his thumb over his shoulder. “Next time, I’ll need a more interesting job.”

Heather’s dad weakly stumbled in front of their captor and slid down the wall next to her. His hands were bound like hers had been, but his were raw. The skin around the plastic tie was swollen and red. There were cuts like he’d tried to pull his hands apart.

“Dad...” Tears burned her eyes.

“I’m fine,” his gruff voice bolstered her. At least she’d been able to see him again. “You got what you wanted. You know the drive is destroyed. Let us go.” She clasped her hands together to keep from jumping to her feet and fighting her way free.

“Let you go? Oh, I don’t think so.” Micha laughed. “You know what’s going on now. There’s no way you can leave. I told you he wasn’t a killer, but I am. Who do you think it was who took care of those two in Rapid City who thought they’d get back at us by telling the world our plans?”

The whole plan was on that drive? Her chest clenched tightly. Rod had looked through everything that he’d been able to, but hadn’t come up with any information except the land description. That in itself wasn’t illegal. “Then why did you hold on to my father so long if you planned to kill him?” None of this made sense.

“I still need to make sure nothing goes wrong. While you three are missing, they’ll be looking for you. They won’t be paying attention to Oliver and Aaron, who don’t realize they’re working for me, not themselves. They managed to successfully rush the vote. You’ll need to be seen by someone to ramp up the intensity of the search. We can’t do that if you’re dead.” He slowly smiled at them, clearly enjoying the threat.

Her mouth went dry. She’d known Oliver for fifteen years and his involvement had come as an enormous surprise. Learning that he hadn’t been part of the actual plot made her feel better. The poor man would be so ashamed to know someone was using him, especially if he ever learned that his help led to the deaths of his friends.

“It’s horrible that you’ve used Oliver like that.” She didn’t know Aaron, though he had purposely avoided his father for as long as she’d known him. That made her suspect something was wrong, either with him or between himself and Oliver.

Dad leaned against her. “Are you alright?” he asked quietly. “That good-for-nothing cop hasn’t done much of anything.”

She nudged him with her shoulder. “I’m fine, and it’s because of Allen.”

Dad wrinkled his nose. “I don’t believe that.”

She hated confronting her father and his way of thinking, especially now. He was her dad, and she’d always respected him. She still respected him, but he couldn’t keep thinking about Allen in a way that wasn’t right. “I don’t know what you have against him, but he has been the most amazing partner in hunting for you.”

“His mama was?—”

“No.” Heather had never let people judge her art based on her father’s. That wasn’t fair. He was his own man, and his art was different from hers. In the same way, she wouldn’t allow her father to equate a son with his mother. Especially now that she knew the circumstances.

“How do you even know who his mother is? Even Allen didn’t know.”

Allen stiffened at her side. She’d obviously spoken too loudly, meaning Micha had probably heard her too.

Micha swung toward them. “You don’t know my mother.” His words were venomous.

Ed held his hands in front of his head to protect himself. “I do. She was a very good friend of mine. I was trying to get her to befriend my wife. We’d planned to bring her to church. She was friendly, open and so smart. Gwenn deserved better than the bar. She deserved better than what his father did to her.” He jutted his chin toward Allen.

“She did,” Micha muttered. “So much better.” He took slow steps toward Allen.

No, this couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t let Allen get hurt. Not when her hands were free, and she could do something to stop him. Allen aligned his feet in front of him and scraped his back against the wall to push himself up. She winced, knowing that had to hurt his hands and probably the back of his head. Her own injured arm was screaming at her with the lack of moisture and being forced to stay in the same position. As the wound dried, it pulled against her tender skin.

“Stop right there.” Allen leaned slightly forward, gaining his balance away from the wall.

“And what are you going to do? Rush me like a football player?” Micha laughed.

Heather glanced at the other man in the room who’d brought her father down. He’d slowly drawn his gun in preparation for the fight. “Allen, look out.” She nodded her head toward the man across the room.

Allen spread his arms wide, surprising her and, obviously, Micha. While Allen was bound, he was an easy target. Free, he was a strong and capable adversary. She took the opportunity and stood, standing arms wide like Allen, to let them know she was free and ready to fight too.

Allen glanced at her for a split-second. Worry creased his brow. “Help your father, I’ve got this.”

She shook her head. If she stayed, it was two against two. They could help Dad once these two men weren’t breathing down their neck. Micha drew his knife. “I don’t recall giving you permission to free your hands. Either of you.” He glanced at the other man. “Eric, you may have to figure out a new plan. I don’t think these two will be available to be seen.” He pulled his knife back and crouched to lunge.

Allen gently shoved her toward her father and ran in the opposite direction, toward Eric. Micha was too far away to be a threat unless he flung his knife. He wouldn’t do that and risk being unarmed. She held onto her father, shielding him and watching the indecision on Micha’s face. For being so sure of himself, he wasn’t sure what to do when his authority was questioned.

“We need to run,” she whispered to her father.

He nodded and tried to push to his feet. Micha stepped toward him and narrowed his eyes. “I helped you, old man. I kept you alive the last few days. If I’d known you had a connection to my mother, that you tried to help her, I would’ve let you go. I didn’t know. Forgive me.” He closed his eyes as he thrust the knife.

Heather screamed as she shoved her father out of the way. Her brain did it for her. She didn’t consciously think of anything until the knife tore through her side.

“Heather!” Allen’s voice brought reality back and the pain along with it.

“You fool! What have you done?” Eric screamed at his minion.

“They’re trying to escape,” Micha retorted.

Allen rammed into Eric, knocking him against the wall. Eric grunted as his head slammed into the rock behind him. Micha stared at her, indecision clouding his eyes.

“You don’t have to do this,” she whispered, holding her side. Warmth spread over her fingers. Her blood pounded in her ears. She tried to focus on anything but the pain and the fact that if she didn’t get help soon, she would die.

Dad stood and headed for Micha in slow steps. “This isn’t who you are, son. Your mama wouldn’t be proud of this. You know she wouldn’t. She’s a good woman. Do you think she would support you hurting me or my daughter?”

Micha shook his head. “No, but I’m too deep. Eric will kill me if I don’t help him finish this job.”

“Don’t you think he’ll kill you anyway? Just like you had to get rid of those two who knew too much and, just like you told us we knew too much to stay alive. You are the only link left to his crimes. He can’t let you live.”

Micha turned to Eric, then looked back at her father. “I’m sorry, Ed. I can’t believe that. Eric helped my family when my mother’s school debt was about to bury us. He was there for us. All he wants is what should’ve been his. That land belonged to the Thornquist family before they couldn’t pay the taxes. Hardship shouldn’t cost you everything. Eric’s father is Oliver’s brother.”

She could understand—not kidnapping and killing people—but faced with losing her own business, she could understand the need to hold on to what was hers. “There has to be another way.”

“No,” Eric yelled from against the wall. His lip was now bloodied from the fight with Allen. “Don’t listen to them. This is the only way to make sure the land never ends up with anyone else. I told you I’d give you some. It’s yours. Just follow through.”

Allen was doing his best to hold Eric back, but he’d lost a lot of blood and was weak. She knew he wouldn’t be able to hold Eric much longer. Once he was free, they’d be tied again and watched much closer, though she wouldn’t live long without help.

She closed her eyes and prayed for strength, then turned and, lowering her shoulder, ran as fast as she could toward Micha.