CHAPTER 24
Hovering just outside the area that led to their target, the helicopter didn’t even land. They rappelled down, two at a time, hidden under the cloak of a thick tree line. The helicopter left as quickly as it came, circling high in a wide birth around the area in question so they would be nearby if needed, but without giving away the team’s position.
Like a stealthy elite team of operatives, they moved in quickly, using hand signals to silently direct each move and communicate with one another. They were like no other search and rescue group, with the unique expertise among them that had been passed on to the rest of their group, they were prepared for anything. It wasn’t long before the tree line thinned and an open prairie came into view, an old dilapidated cabin sat front and center. A plume of smoke swirling out of the chimney, along with Clyde Burtons old truck parked in front, told them there was someone home.
Adrenaline coursed through them as anxieties ran high, they had found their mark and it was go time. Clandestinely moving around the cabin, each taking a different position or point of entry, they were ready to execute the detailed plan they put together on the chopper ride in. Shit was about to get real.
Doc and Beck watched from the tree line through the intense maneuvers about to take place. Blake and Declan flanked the front door, ready to kick it in as soon as Wylie broke the front window, that hadn’t been boarded up yet for winter, and tossed in a stun grenade also known as a flashbang. The space was so small that the exploding bang
created such a force, it tossed the front door open, making it easier for the team to access the inside.
Each stretched a wide band from their neck over their faces to filter the smoke from the grenade, making it easier to breathe as they charged through the cabin, clearing the small space in only seconds. Doc and Beck rejoined the gang when Dace gave them the all clear, only to find that the cabin was empty. An obvious struggle had taken place, blood spattered on multiple surfaces, but no sign of Clyde, or Everly.
They combed the space, looking for evidence, finding only a locket in the corner of one of the bedrooms. It belonged to Everly. It had been placed there on purpose, neatly laid out so it would be obvious to anyone looking closely like they were. She left them a clue.
Doc smiled weakly. “She got away…”
Running as fast as she could, Everly stumbled when the overwhelming grogginess she felt kept trying to reclaim her. A tickle on her forehead prompted her to raise her hand and brush at whatever was there. Startled by the dampness she felt, she quickly pulled her hand away and it was covered in blood – her head was bleeding somewhere in her hairline.
She tried to remember what happened, how she ended up in the Burton cabin, but her last clear memory was of driving down highway 91, toward McKenzie, before slamming on her brakes. She had looked down for less than a second and when she looked up, there was someone in the road. Swerving to miss him, she hit a small snow berm on the side of the road and that’s where the memory ends. Maybe she hit her head on the steering wheel?
Head wounds bled worse than any other, she knew that, and it didn’t help that she was running. She stopped for only a moment to rip the bottom hem of her already torn shirt and tied it around her head, covering the area of the wound. As much as she wanted to slow the bleeding, she was more concerned about leaving a blood trail.
Back to an even paced run, she continued forward in the direction opposite of the cabin. More and more of what happened came back to her, and she was beginning to wish it hadn’t. Chills crept up her body and they weren’t entirely from the snow but from the chilling ordeal that was unfolding in her mind as she continued to regain her senses.
The man in the road had come to her door as she was getting out to see if he was okay. In hind sight, probably not her smartest move, but given her profession and choice of pastimes, it was in her nature to protect, heal, and fix. What happened next wasn’t anything she ever could have imagined, even in her wildest of dreams, or rather…nightmares
. The conversation that took place was straight out of a made for TV movie or a novelist’s thriller.
“Are you okay?” she had asked.
He gave her a broken toothed grin. “I’ve been waiting for you. I was afraid something happened.”
“I’m sorry, what? Waiting for me? Here?” Everly had looked around, trying to make sense of what he was saying, or better yet, why?
“I had a nice evening planned for you. For us. Your favorite flowers, those candles you love so much. It was going to be perfect. I was going to make you mine.”
“You were…wh-what?” She slowly backed away from the man until she was backed up against the car door that was still open.
“I heard that bastard on your answering machine. Doc said he was finished up and waiting for you. Couldn’t risk him showing up and ruining everything. He already tried to ruin what we were meant to have. So I came to you.”
“Y-you were in my…house?”
The fear was all consuming, the pieces were falling into place.
“I’ve been in your house, Lou’s house, I even watched you sleep at the hospital. So sweetly sleeping, next to Lou like that – it took all I had to keep my distance then, but not now. I thought our plan was ruined when that prick called until I saw your appointment reminder on the refrigerator. Then I knew…I was to meet you here. Brilliant really – nobody would know.”
Sheer fright washed over her and weakened her knees, almost collapsing her. She drummed up the adrenaline and strength to push through and quickly spun on the door, trying to make it inside the car to get away from him.
She wasn’t fast enough. She hadn’t hit her head on the steering wheel at all…she had been struck with something hard and sharp.
Everly lost time after that because her next memory was waking in a cold damp place, God knows where, huddled in a corner. It was dark, windows were boarded from the outside, and it smelled of spoil, old dirt and mildew. Someone was coming, but she was too disoriented and weak still to react.
It was him, again. He had a wicked grin full of menace, his eyes roaming over her with a type of desire that made her feel ill.
“Please…don’t hurt my baby.”
Whatever he was thinking or feeling just a moment before was quickly replaced with disgust and anger. “Doctor Charles used you, ruined you. He’s filthy, undeserving, but don’t worry. I will take care of you…and our
baby. He didn’t even have the decency to marry you first, just took what he wanted and left you in this condition.”
His villainous words matched his unkempt appearance. He was dirty, unshaven, and brought an odor with him that couldn’t be described. Everly wasn’t only stricken by his troubling words and appearance but also how different he seemed. She had always known him to be quiet and harmless. This version of him was anything but.
“Are you ready, Everly?”
“For what
?”
“Tonight. Our…wedding night.” He stood in the broken down doorway, watching her as he began to stroke himself.
She recoiled, trying to bury herself deeper into the corner as if it provided protection from what he threatened.
“Aww, don’t be afraid. I know you’re nervous – you didn’t think I knew, did you?” he asked, his wicked smile of rotten teeth making her cringe.
“Knew what?” she asked, trying to gauge her fate, and how hard she would have to fight.
“That you love me too. I see it. When everyone else hides from me, or looks at me in disgust with their nose in the air – there you are, the only one approaching me, asking me how I am, if I need anything. And when you finally walk away, that sexy sway in your hips – I know it’s for me when you look over your shoulder and flash that smile that says it all.”
The bile in her stomach began to rise, making her feel ill. “You’ll never get away with this.”
“I already have. They can’t find you, there’s no trail.”
A crashing sound came from behind him, knocking him to the ground, causing Everly to huddle under her arms, shielding herself from whatever had just happened. Grunts and moans accompanied the sound of flesh upon flesh in a scuffle that she didn’t have time to decipher. That was her chance, she ran and hadn’t looked back. She wouldn’t stop until she got to the ridge.
Nothing more than a shack with a few broken down buildings – the men had scoured the grounds looking for anything. The only sign of Everly being there was the locket – the obvious sign of a scuffle their only other clue. She had put up a fight, they thought. Chairs were overturned along with the lone table. There were shattered glass lamps and the smell of spilled kerosene everywhere. And the blood…a lot
of blood.
Moving outside, the team picked up what looked like two sets of tracks, trailed by blood. They hoped it was Ev, it was all they had to go on, but the second set of tracks meant she was being chased. Following the tracks in a wide line so they wouldn’t miss anything along the way, they came to a dead end at the creek. Another vanishing act where their clues disappeared.
“This has to be Ev. She’s smart, especially out here. She knew to cover her tracks - I bet she jumped in the creek and started running. No trail for whoever was chasing her,” Blake assumed.
“Agreed. But which way did she go? Upstream? Downstream?” Doc asked, looking left to right, running his hands through his hair. “She has to be freezing and who knows if she’s injured. If the baby…”
“If she’s running, they’re both still okay. Let’s not borrow trouble and assume both are still okay,” Beck offered as moral support, hoping their efforts were leading to a happy outcome.
Blake took a long look left, to the east, then west. “She knows this area. She’s been out here hiking, climbing, even training for SAR. She’d head west, toward the ridge, and try to get to the highway from there.”
“Highway? She doesn’t have gear…how would she get down the face of the ridge?” Wylie asked.
Doc stared to the west, nodding confidently, believing in Blake’s theory. “She’s a skilled climber – resourceful – smart. She’d find a way.”
The helicopter flew in from the west, heading up stream, Declan signaling them as they did. “Helo’s headed upstream, just in case we’re wrong. They’ll catch up with us down stream once they clear the east side.”
“Alright, let’s move, cover both sides of the creek,” Blake ordered.
“Hold up. They flew over a wrecked truck off the access road – no tango,” Declan said, no tango meaning they didn’t have eyes on Everly or anyone else. “Not much snow accumulated on it…it hasn’t been there long. They dispatched a team to investigate…has something hanging off the back bumper.”
“Back bumper…to drag the snow and hide tracks,” Doc assumed.
Blake’s jaw tightened. “Another vehicle? Shit, we might have more than one suspect?”