Hidden Away, page 21
part #2 of Hearts of Montana Series
He scanned the woods around the cabin.
He’d been in law enforcement for several years and grown up in these woods. Using his tracking skills, he followed the trail of crushed grass and broken branches that led away from Sam’s bike. “He went this way.”
Cherry stuck closely on his heels as he charted the path of the boy and the dog.
They came to the creek, and he lost their trail. His gaze searched the banks of the river for any signs that they’d crossed the creek.
Taylor prayed that the boy hadn’t crossed the water and headed up the hills on the other side of the creek.
Who knew what Sam would encounter in those woods? Growing up in these parts, he’d seen bears, mountain lions, and too many nasty rattlesnakes in those hills.
Dusk was settling in, which made it harder for him to see. And he felt an uneasiness settle in his chest as he thought of Sam being out in these hills alone after dark. He nervously paced the bank of the river, searching.
There. A bare spot in the dirt where a boy might have scrambled up. A grouping of rocks crossed the creek in front of the eroded spot on the bank, and he assumed that’s where Sam would have crossed.
“I think he crossed the creek here and scrambled up that bank.” He pointed to the rocks in the water.
“Let’s go then.” She barged ahead, but he took her hand to help her across the slick stones in the creek.
Water from the creek splashed against his boots as he stepped across the rocks. He gave her a boost, and she climbed the side of the bank. Red streaks of dirt covered her legs, and mud stuck to her tennis shoes.
Thank goodness she hadn’t been wearing those stupid flip-flops today.
He stood at the top of the bank and looked across the wooded hill. Why would Sam cross the creek?
He tried to think. Had he told Sam that he had roamed these hills when he was a kid? Or had he said that he liked to come up here and walk when he needed to clear his mind?
He searched his memories, trying to recall their conversations the day they’d gone fishing. Remembered telling him he liked to hike here.
He suddenly remembered making a plan to bring Sam hiking later that summer. To bring him up to see the cave.
The cave! That was it.
“Cherry, I think I know where he’s headed. I just remembered that I told him how I used to hike around up here as a kid and that I’d bring him up here later to show him the cave.”
“The cave? Why would you tell him about the cave?”
He’d brought Cherry to the cave numerous times when they were in high school. Was she thinking of the many times they’d laid on the floor of that cave, curled together in a sleeping bag, kissing and touching in teenaged frenzy?
The angry look on her face told him that she was not fondly reminiscing any times with him right now. “Why the heck would you tell an eight-year-old boy about a cave? That’s like winning a golden ticket to the mind of a young boy.”
Was she pissed at him? For an innocent conversation he’d had while they were fishing? “How was I supposed to know he’d try to come up here by himself? We were just talking. Are you seriously blaming me for this?”
She sighed. “I don’t know.”
He stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist.
She resisted for a moment then let him fold her into his arms. He rested his chin on her head. “Listen, babe, there’s plenty of blame to go around. But tossing blame and accusations doesn’t help us find Sam. Let’s just focus on that right now, okay?”
Her hands gripped the cloth of his shirt tightly, but she nodded against his chest.
He tipped her chin up to look at him. “What do you say we go get our boy?”
“Yeah, okay.” She let him go and turned to trudge up the hill.
He followed, searching the trees and the ground for signs that the boy had passed through.
She froze. “Did you hear that? I thought I heard a dog bark.”
He stopped, his senses alert for any sounds.
He heard the soft whistling of the night breeze as it blew through the leaves of the trees and he heard the trill of a chickadee. He trained his ear to listen for anything out of the ordinary.
Then he heard the dog bark. Once. A loud, sharp yelp. Then more barking followed by the frantic screams of a child.
Pulling his gun from the holster, he raced up the hill toward the sound.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cherry raced behind Taylor, her lungs burning from running up the steep hill. They crested the top, and her heart stopped.
Sam was there, tucked in between two rocks. Rex was on the ground in front of him, racing back and forth. And barking at a large black bear.
The dog’s constant barking only seemed to upset the bear as it swiped its paw in the air toward Sam.
Rex jumped up, and the bear’s giant paw caught him in the side. The dog yelped in pain then lay motionless on the ground.
Sam screamed and tried to run for the dog, but the bear stepped toward him, huffing with aggression.
“Sam, get back,” Taylor yelled as he pointed his gun in the air and fired a shot.
The sound of the gunfire ripped through the air.
Mustering up her loudest voice, Cherry screamed at the bear. “Go on. Get out of here.”
Taylor fired again, and the bear lumbered off up the side of the hill.
He ran for Sam, then grabbed the boy and lifted him into his arms.
She was only seconds behind him and threw her arms around them both, burying her face in Sam’s small shoulder. Pulling back, she searched his body for signs of injury. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Sam looked over her shoulder, and his face contorted in pain. “Rex! He’s bleeding. Taylor help him.”
She looked down at the dog lying motionless on the ground, his fur matted with bright red blood.
Oh no.
Taylor set Sam down and bent over the dog. “He’s got a pretty bad cut down his side. He’s still bleeding.” He pulled off his uniform shirt and pressed it against the wound.
“Taylor! Help him!” Sam’s voice rose to a frantic level and tears streamed down his face. “Don’t let him die. Please.”
Taylor looked up at her, a question in his eyes.
There was no decision.
“Go,” she said. “Run. Take him down the hill. You can go faster on your own. Take him to Zack. We’ll hike down and wait for you at the cabin.”
“No way. I can’t leave you up here by yourselves.”
“The heck you can’t. I’ve grown up in these woods. And I can practically see the cabin from here. We can certainly walk down a hill on our own. And I’m not asking you, I’m telling you.” She raised her voice in command. “Take the dog and go.”
“Take him, Taylor. You have to save him.” Sam was pushing at his legs.
He picked up the little dog and cradled him against his chest, wrapping the ends of the shirt around his little body.
He gave her a nod. “Take care of Sam. Call my dad to come out and get you. And I’ll radio him from the cruiser, too.”
“We’ll be fine,” Cherry told him. “Just go.”
He turned and raced down the hill.
Please let him get the dog to Zack on time. Please don’t let that little dog die.
She picked up Sam’s hand. “Taylor will do everything he can.”
Sam nodded. “He’s a fast runner. He’ll save him, right? Right, Mom?”
She couldn’t take the heartbreak in his voice. “I hope so, Sam. I know he will try his hardest.”
It was getting dark, and they needed to get back down to the cabin.
“Are you hurt at all, or can you walk down okay?” She bent down on one knee and inspected his clothes. His pant legs were encrusted with dried mud, and he had a long scratch down his arm. She picked a dead leaf out of his hair.
“I’m okay. I’m pretty tough for being eight.”
He didn’t look tough.
He looked small and vulnerable, and she thanked God that they found him and he was okay. “Listen Sam, you can’t ever run away like that again. You scared us so bad. We didn’t know what happened to you, and we’ve got the whole town looking for you.”
Sam looked confused. “I didn’t run away. I wouldn’t leave you. I just came here looking for Taylor. He said this is where he goes to think, and he told me he likes to hike up here when he needs to figure stuff out. I knew he would be here. And I wanted to tell him not to leave us.”
How could she argue with that? She wanted to tell Taylor not to leave them, too.
“He wasn’t at the cabin so I thought he must be hiking. And he told me about the cave, so I was trying to find it.”
She told Taylor that dang cave was too much of a temptation. “I appreciate that you wanted to help, but you should have told me, and I would have driven you. Taking your bike and riding out by yourself was dangerous. You could have been hit by a car or…worse.”
She didn’t know if Stacy had had the “stranger-danger” talk with him yet. She didn’t want to scare him right now by putting thoughts of evil kidnappers in his head.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for anyone to get upset. I just wanted to help. I already lost my mom and dad. I didn’t want to lose Taylor, too.”
His chin bent all the way to his chest, and Cherry’s insides twisted with all the pain that this poor little boy had had to endure the last month.
She pulled him into a hug. “I know. I don’t want to lose him, either.”
Sam dropped his head and spoke softly into her shoulder. “If I wouldn’t have done this, Rex would still be okay. It’s my fault that he got hurt.”
She pulled back and took his chin in her hand. “Sam, listen to me. You shouldn’t have run off like you did, but Rex getting hurt was not your fault. And it really wasn’t the bear’s fault, either. He was just doing what comes natural to him. And Rex was trying to protect you.”
“But he got hurt because of me.”
“No, he just got hurt. It was an accident. And accidents sometimes just happen. We don’t always understand when people get hurt or even when they die. Sometimes things just happen.”
He scuffed his tennis shoes into a pile of leaves, avoiding her eyes. “You mean like with my parents?”
“Yes, like with your parents.”
He tipped his head back, looking her in the eye. His voice trembled with emotion. “Is Rex gonna die?”
“I hope not.” She pulled her cell phone from her pocket.
No bars. No surprise.
She knew cell reception was terrible out here and hoped it would be better the closer they got to the cabin. “Let’s get back down to the cabin. As soon as I can get reception again, we can call Russ to come and get us. And call Taylor to check on Rex. Okay?”
Sam nodded and trudged down the hill in front of her. It was getting dark, but there was still plenty of light to see by. She wasn’t as concerned about the bear coming back as she was about poor Rex.
It didn’t take them long to reach the creek, and she helped Sam across. They headed for the cabin. Taylor had told her where they hid the key so they could go inside to wait for Russ.
She pulled her cell out again. A few bars showed, and she tried Taylor’s number. It went straight to voicemail. If he were still driving, it would probably be too much to take care of the dog and answer the phone.
She tried Russ’s cell next.
He picked up right away. “Cherry, did you find him?”
“Yes, we found him at the cabin. He’s okay.”
She heard him breathe a sigh of relief then relay the message to the others in the diner. “They found him. He’s okay.”
A cheer went up in the background, and she smiled at the support of the town.
Small towns also had their advantages. The members of the town might know all of your business, but they could also be counted on to be there for you when you needed them.
She turned away from Sam and lowered her voice. “So, Sam did ride out to get Rex before he came to the cabin.”
“I figured he did, the little stinker. I’ll call Sophie to let her know that the dog’s okay, too.”
“Well, actually the dog might not be okay. Rex was trying to protect Sam from a bear and got hurt in the process. Taylor is taking him to Zack right now. Sam and I are still at the cabin. Is there any chance you could come out here and pick us up?”
“What? Taylor left you at the cabin by yourselves?”
Cherry lowered her voice. “We told him to. Rex was hurt pretty bad. We knew Taylor could move faster without us and get the dog to Zack. We didn’t care about waiting here by ourselves. We just want the dog to be okay.”
“Okay, I get it. And of course I’ll come get you. I’ll leave now and be there in ten minutes.”
“Thanks, Russ. We’ll wait inside. Can you tell Stan to lock up the diner and go home?”
“Sure. See you in a few minutes.”
Cherry hung up the phone and turned back to Sam. “Russ’s on his way out to get us. Let’s find the key, and we can wait inside the cabin.”
The sound of a car coming drew both their attention.
A familiar black Denali was speeding down the driveway.
What the heck is Reed doing here?
How would he have even known about Sam running off? How could word have traveled that fast?
And how could he have known that they would be at the cabin?
The car came to a shuddering stop, and Reed threw the car door open. He wore an angry look on his face as he marched toward her. “What the hell were you thinking? I knew this was too much for you to handle.”
He reached Sam and knelt down to bring him into an uncharacteristic embrace. “You okay, buddy?”
A tiny flutter of compassion beat in her heart. Reed could be a total ass-wad, but he really did love Sam.
Olivia had been slower to exit the car, but she joined Reed in hugging Sam.
“I’m okay, Uncle Reed.”
“Well, you scared the daylights out of us.” His angry tone was back. “Don’t you ever run away like that again.”
The compassion she’d been feeling for Reed disappeared in a flash. It was one thing for her to scold Sam for running away, it was another for this jerk to be yelling at him.
“I already talked to him, Reed,” she said. “He’s not going to do it again.”
Reed stood and pointed a finger at her chest. “You’re damn right he’s not going to do it again. Because he’s not going to have the chance. I knew it was a mistake to even let you bring him here. You’re not even responsible enough to take care of yourself. How could you have let him out of your sight for long enough for him to ride his bike all over this damn county?”
“I thought he was with Stan. It was just a mistake.”
“The mistake was in letting you have Sam for the last several weeks. This is the last straw, Cherry. This proves that you’re not capable of handling him on your own.”
“I’m not on my own,” she said, even though she knew she was. “I have Taylor—”
Reed sneered at her. “Don’t give me that Taylor bullshit line. I already know the two of you split, and you and Sam are staying at that piece of crap motel on Highway 9. Sam’s probably got lice by now.”
“I don’t have lice,” Sam said.
Olivia was peering at his head, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
“Of course you don’t,” Cherry told him, avoiding the subject of the motel. “Uncle Reed is just making a joke and not a very funny one.”
“Can Uncle Reed take us to get Rex now?”
“Rex? That scruffy little dog? I thought I told you to get rid of that mutt.”
His accusations were really starting to piss her off. “We did. That’s why Sam took off. We left the dog with a friend who lives out on a farm, and Sam took off so he could go out to get the dog back.”
“But now he’s hurt,” Sam explained. “He was trying to protect me from a bear, and he got scratched, and he was bleeding a lot.”
A red flush moved up Reed’s neck to his face, and he turned to Cherry in fury. “Is he really telling me that he was almost mauled by a bear? That’s it. This is over. You’ve given me more than enough ammunition to gain custody of Sam.”
He turned to his wife. “Olivia, put Sam in the car.”
Olivia stood frozen in place, as if unsure of her husband’s command.
Cherry took a step forward, but Reed blocked her way. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re not taking Sam anywhere.”
Reed clamped a hand roughly on her arm. He spoke through gritted teeth. “Olivia, I said put Sam in the car right now.”
Olivia ducked her head, and Cherry almost felt sorry for her, always having to put up with Reed’s bullying tactics.
But her few ounces of pity dried up when Olivia grabbed Sam’s hand and led him to the SUV.
He looked small and bewildered. “Where are we going? I don’t think I want to go with you.”
Cherry lowered her voice and narrowed her eyes at her cousin. “Do NOT do this, Reed. I will not let you take him from me.”
She pushed against her cousin’s body. He didn’t have Taylor’s muscles, but Reed was solid and strong, and his fingers tightened on her arm.
He turned his head to Sam. “Get in the car, Sam. We’ll take you to get your dog, then we’ll go get ice cream.”
Sam reluctantly moved toward the car. “Is Cherry coming with us?”
Olivia ignored his question, as she opened the car door and boosted Sam in.
She pleaded with her cousin. “You’re scaring him. And me.”
Reed had always been a bully, but she’d never seen him like this. A chill ran through her at the icy glare he gave her.
“I don’t know what my sister was thinking when she named you Sam’s guardian. But I am his uncle, his next closest relative, and I will fight you in every court to see that you do not gain custody of this boy.”
Her fear crossed into anger.
She was actually Sam’s closest blood relative, but she wasn’t ready to share that with her cousin yet.
