Runaway. Part 23

"Let's just put some distance between us and the fence. Then we need to rest for a bit. My leg actually hurts."

They hiked another hundred yards or so, keeping their eyes on the forest floor, picking their way forward. Maddy didn't see the three men approaching, but suddenly they were right in front of them, their rifles pointed at their chests. They were wearing camouflage like the man they'd seen the day before.

"Get your hands up," said the man standing in front. He had a name sewn onto his uniformMartinand appeared to be in charge. He wore lieutenant's bars on the collar of his s.h.i.+rt.

Maddy and Kristi raised their hands, just like in the movies, which was the only reference they had for what was happening.

"I think there's been some mistake" Maddy started to say.

"Shut up," Martin said. He motioned with his head to one of the men behind him, keeping his rifle trained on them. The man came forward and pulled restraints from his back pocket. He reached Maddy first and started to pull her arms down and behind her back.

"Now, wait a minute," Kristi said. "If we're on your land, all you have to do is ask us to leave. There's no reason to go crazy on us."

Martin strode forward quickly and hit Kristi in the midsection with his rifle b.u.t.t. She dropped to the ground and Maddy could hear her struggling for breath.

"You a.s.sholes!" Maddy screamed.

"Get a gag on them," he said, and the other man moved up to a.s.sist. Within a minute, they had both Kristi and Maddy on the ground, gagged and with their hands tied behind them.

Maddy was lying on her side, face-to-face with Kristi. She worried about Kristi's labored breathing, though she felt strangely calm, as if she were watching events unfold in a video game and she just needed to be smart about her next move. Her own situation didn't feel real, but Kristi's terrified face did.

The men didn't talk after Martin ordered the other two to pick them up and force-march them through the woods. Maddy's arm hurt where her guy gripped it tightly. She felt unbalanced and as floppy as a rag doll. She looked at the man holding on to her; he was about her parents' age, pretty old, and he stank and had a scraggly beard. She could see that the uniform he wore was ancient with patched elbows and knees, frayed collar and cuffs. He wore one of those floppy camouflage hats. If it were white it could have said "Aruba" on it and been at home on the beach. It didn't look like this man had ever spent a day on a beach. He kept his eyes grimly forward as he dragged Maddy along.

Ahead of her, Kristi was having a harder time, her one arm gripped by her guard and the other hugging her stomach. When she sagged, her man barked at her and tugged ferociously at her arm. Ahead of them was Martin, setting a brisk pace as they moved farther and farther away from the ranch. Even if she weren't gagged, Maddy wouldn't have bothered to scream for help. It was clear there wasn't anyone coming. She guessed these were the Idaho cronies of Drecker's, the ones they were hooking up with out here. She knew that Drecker must have called them or radioed them or sent smoke signals. She wasn't sure how they had it worked out, but he wanted Maddy gone and these guys were going to oblige him.

After a half hour's march, Maddy and Kristi were brought into a large clearing in the middle of the woods. There were no roads leading in or out of it. It was as if some force had planted a cookie cutter from above and simply lifted a large circle of forest up and away. Maddy tried to get her bearings as they were dragged toward the far side of the clearing. They saw a large wood structure in the middle of the clearing, low and wide, with smoke coming out of its chimney. In front of it was a group of women staring at them, their eyes wide in surprise. Several of the women moved to gather the children running around in the area in front of them. They all looked like they were dressed in homespun clothing. Maddy had seen similar clothing at some of the museums her parents dragged her through on their vacations.

There was a row of small shacks lining the northern perimeter of the clearing. She saw several more children playing in front of those. She did not see any men, other than the ones dragging them toward two large cabins on the eastern edge. Maddy felt her first frisson of fear. What if they locked Kristi and her up in a dark cabin, tied up and gagged? When they got to the cabin, she dug her heels in and struggled, uselessly, she knew, but the idea of going into the cabin was sending her into a panic. When her guard yanked at her arm, Maddy tried to drop to the ground, making herself boneless and too heavy to hold. It was a trick she'd used as a child, when her parents tried to drag her someplace she didn't want to go.

"Pick her up," Martin barked. The guard picked Maddy up from behind and under her arms, dragging her into the cabin behind Martin and the others. Then he dropped her on the floor. Her shoulder nearly popped out of the socket as she landed on her back with her arms tied behind her.

"We've captured intruders, sir," Martin said. "Two girls."

Maddy twisted around to see who Martin was talking to. As her eyes adjusted to the dark she could see more detail in the cabin. It was rectangular, all one room, with a bare minimum of furniture in it. A square table and chairs at one end, a cot along the side, and, at the end farthest from her, a fireplace and a straight-backed chair beside it. She could see someone sitting in the chair, leaning back on the two rear legs with his back against the wall. The chair tipped forward and the man stood up.

"Bring them to me," he said.

Maddy was hauled to her feet and the group moved to stand in front of the cold fireplace. She got a good look at the man as he got a good look at them. He also wore a camouflage uniform, a little worse for wear, but his boots were s.h.i.+ny. He looked really old, like her grandfather, but with a fire in his eye that she never had seen in her grandpa. He looked mean, and Maddy knew the situation was only getting worse, that these men weren't going to just send them back to their ranch or home to her parents. She looked at Kristi standing next to her and saw she was staring at her feet with tears in her eyes.

The man looked at Martin with a question in his eyes. He wore a colonel's insignia, s.h.i.+ny on his worn lapel. "Report."

"Colonel, we got a report of the fencing being activated, and when we investigated we found these two trespa.s.sing. They were headed straight here, Colonel. They did not appear to be lost."

"Remove their gags. And radio the others to maintain their patrol. There may be more of them out there."

Maddy heard Kristi take a huge breath when her gag was removed, and Maddy worked her jaw to ease the ache hers had caused. Then she spit on the floor of the cabin. The gag had been her guard's dirty bandana.

Martin reached over and slapped Maddy hard across the face, which made her stumble and fall, again against her back, straining her shoulders. This time she screamed. The colonel sat back in his chair as Maddy was picked back up to stand in front of him.

"Now, you'll tell me quickly what you're doing on our land, or you will regret not telling us. Your choice."

Kristi looked at Maddy.

"Look, mister, I'm sorry if we came onto your land. It was an accident. But I don't know why you're making such a big deal about it. We're happy to leave."

The colonel stared at her. "You're not going anywhere just yet. Now, tell me why you're on my land."

"Didn't I just say it was an accident? We didn't know it was your land. We were just taking a walk in the woods. We live on the ranch on the other side of your property."

"There is no ranch on the other side of my property. You're lying."

Now Maddy looked at Kristi, and she could see her own confusion reflected on Kristi's face. She turned back to the colonel.

"I don't know what your problem is, but you can't just hold us here. Let us go and we'll be on our way."

"I'm giving you one more chance to tell me who sent you here. You better take advantage of it."

The colonel looked calm except for his eyes. They were a deep, almost black color, eerie and frightening. Maddy could see he was furious and quite possibly crazy. She knew these people weren't Drecker's Idaho cronies, and she dearly wished they were.

"Okay, I'll tell you everything, but this is all I've got. I was running away from the people who own the ranch nearby and that's why we accidentally came onto your land. We didn't know any better."

The colonel reached over and picked up a poker from the fireplace. Without missing a beat, he swung it at Kristi's knee, catching it full on the side. She screamed and fell, her hands still tied. Maddy moved toward her but one of the men grabbed her arm again and held her close.

"There's no accident involved when you continue into our land after hitting the electric fence. Now, you can tell me the truth, or we can continue along in this manner. Again, it's your choice."

Maddy could find nothing to say. With every word she seemed to make things worse, and for some reason they kept taking it out on Kristi instead of her. The room was perfectly still as the colonel stared at her. Kristi was groaning as she lay on the floor.

"I would tell you what you want to hear if I had any idea what that is," she finally said. "Telling you the truth doesn't seem to be enough."

For a moment, the colonel almost looked impressed. He regarded Maddy for a bit before his eyes hardened again. He looked up at Martin.

"Lieutenant, I think our prisoners need some time in the stocks to think their situation over. See to that."

"Yes, sir."

Martin led them out of the dark cabin and into the clearing. He held them there while the two other men disappeared into the cabin next to the colonel's and came out with a set of stocks, rolling it on a cart to the center of the clearing. It took two of them to lift the wooden contraption off the cart and set it up. Martin pushed them forward toward the stocks. Things were getting worse by

the minute.

Chapter Eleven.

After ditching the car halfway back to the county road, as far out of sight of the access road as they could manage, Jan and Catherine hiked north along the western edge of the property. They kept their guns in hand. Jan didn't doubt that the uniforms were spreading out in the forest to keep them from getting to the property again. Between the compa.s.s and the map on her phone, Jan led them far enough north to be able to circle around to the rear of the ranch. Catherine remained silent as she walked behind her, and Jan was glad to have her at her back.

As they moved east, the barn became visible, and then the rest of the ranch behind it. They knelt while still at the edge of the trees, scanning the area for signs of anyone. No one seemed to be about.

"Let's give it a few minutes here," Jan said. "Maybe we'll be able to see what building they're hiding in."

"We can't do much if they're armed," Catherine said.

"True. But I'm betting at some point they won't be at the ready, and that's when we'll have to make our move. First we have to see how they're set up here."

After a few minutes, the barn door creaked open and a young man walked out, the same one Drecker had sent running an hour before. He stood in front of the barn door, slowly turning a full circle as if he were surveying the scene as well. Then he sat on the ground and leaned against the barn, staring off into s.p.a.ce.

"You go right, I'll go left," Jan said. "Let's meet on either side of him and see what he knows."

They slipped away from their cover and split in two directions, coming around the barn on either side of the young man. He shot up as soon as he saw Jan approaching from his right with a gun pointed his way. He turned to run and saw Catherine coming at him from the other side. He put his hands up in front of him.

"For G.o.d sake, don't shoot me," he said.

"We don't want to shoot you," Catherine said. "We want information from you."

"What's your name?" Jan asked.

"Tommy."

"Tommy, where's Maddy Harrington? That's all we're here to find out."

He put his hands down and looked at his feet. "I can't tell you that. David would be furious."

Jan and Catherine looked at each other.

"So she is here?" Catherine said.

Tommy didn't respond.

"Tommy, David will be in a lot of trouble if the authorities come in and find he's been harboring a minor. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

"I don't. But he knows what he's doing. He's got it under control."

"I think not," Catherine said. "It doesn't look to me like he's in control at all."

"I'd say it's the guys with the guns who are calling the shots around here, don't you think, Tommy?"

He shrugged.

"We need to get Maddy out of here," Jan said. "You don't want it on your shoulders if something bad happens to her because of these soldier friends of David's, do you? Just let us know where she is and we won't let on that you told us."

"Where are David and Drecker and everyone else?" Catherine asked.

"I sent the others into the woods to look for Maddy and Kristi," Tommy said.

"Which way?"

Tommy pointed to the west and Jan and Catherine moved toward it immediately.

"But you won't find Maddy and Kristi there," he said.

Jan stopped and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"'Cause I sent them that way," he said, pointing to the north.

"You're a good man, Tommy," Jan said.

"Who's Kristi?" Catherine said.

Tommy paused. "She's Maddy's friend. She'll look out for her."

Catherine and Jan headed north.

As they moved as fast as they could through the woods, the feeling of strangling familiarity washed over Jan again. It was as if they were in an Amazonian forest, the cloying heat and humidity making it hard for her to breathe, rather than a backwoods forest in crisp, dry air. She pulled at the collar of her s.h.i.+rt, felt herself gasping a little for air.

She tried to concentrate on tracking the two girls. Her tracking skills were excellent, even after all these years, for she depended on them when she hunted as a girl and had been taught by the best tracker she could ever imagine, her father. When they entered the woods, she began to pick up the broken twigs and trampled undergrowth that kept them on pace behind Maddy and Kristi. But each step brought her into more intense rebellion, as if her body was trying to keep her from going forward. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath.

"What's the matter?" Catherine said. She put a hand to Jan's face. "Are you ill?"

Jan stepped away, trying to shake off the feeling as well as Catherine's concern.

"I'm fine. Just trying to keep us on their trail. I'm not entirely sure we're still behind them."

She thought they were, but it was impossible to know. She looked around, trying to act as if searching for trail markers was the reason she stopped.

"It's just that you looked a little green for a minute."

"I said I'm fine."

"Wait, is this around where your father's camp is? Is that what's going on with you?"

Jan's eyes fell on a fallen tree just to their east and she went to inspect the ground in front of it. "I think they rested here. See how the leaves are moved around?" She walked a few paces farther east, looking at the ground, before turning back to Catherine. "Let's head this way. I'm pretty sure they changed course"

Jan moved quickly now, drawn by the fresh scent and by something more primal, the same thing that makes a horse pick up its pace when its rider turns toward home. Home, without comfort, without love, without even a bag of oats waiting, still had its pull. Jan hated every step forward, but could not have turned away. Maddy Harrington seemed a secondary part of this journey.

She stopped to check her compa.s.s and saw they were heading straight east. The sun was overhead and bright, doing its best to penetrate the treetops. They heard a sound farther east and Catherine pulled Jan down to lay flat on the ground.

"Militia guy about twenty yards on," she whispered.