Love Inspired Suspense June 2021--Box Set 1 of 2, page 11
A low and deep rumbling came behind her, like the sound of a glacier about to break off and crash into the water. But it wasn’t until Poppy leaped to her feet and turned to her partner that he realized where it was coming from.
Stormy was crouched to spring like she’d been before the bear, the gentle calm of the moment before all but forgotten. Her lips parted in a half snarl.
“Stormy!” Concern washed over Poppy’s face. “What’s wrong?” The dog woofed urgently. “Show me.”
Stormy turned and ran across the living room and up the closest staircase to the second floor. Poppy and Lex pelted after her, one step behind the dog. Even before they reached the top of the stairs he heard a sound that sent terror pouring down his spine.
His little son was whimpering, a small plaintive and pitiful sound that Danny only made when he was too scared or hurt to scream.
Poppy froze as she reached the top of the stairs, laying her hand on Stormy’s collar to make the dog pause, too, while they assessed the threat. He stopped one step behind her. An empty hallway lay ahead of them. Silence surrounded them, punctuated only by the faint sound of the K-9’s lingering growl and his own son’s tears. He prayed hard, beseeching God for Danny’s safety and help in whatever lay ahead. Then, without a sound, Poppy stepped slowly down the empty hallway, Lex one pace behind her, toward his son’s bedroom door.
They reached Danny’s room. The door flew open ahead of them, smashing against the wall with a deafening crash.
“Daddy!” The sound of Danny’s whimpering grew to panicked sobs. “I... Want... Daddy!”
A lanky masked figure in camo fatigues stood in the doorway of Danny’s bedroom, his sunken gray eyes as cold as a shark’s as they fixed on Lex and Poppy.
In one arm he clenched Lex’s son. With the opposite hand he held a gun.
“Don’t move!” he said. “Or the kid dies.”
* * *
The masked man blocked the doorway of Danny’s small room. The barrel of the gun was pressed against the boy’s side. Fear pooled in the child’s eyes. She smelled rain in the air, but it wasn’t until the poacher took a step back into the room that she noticed with a start that the window was open about four inches, caught on what looked like a safety lock. How had he possibly gotten in? She had no idea. All that mattered right now was that he was cornered, and he knew it. And he had little Danny in his grasp.
“What do you want?” Poppy asked. She stood in the hallway and faced the man down, keeping her motions just as slow and deliberate in the face of the criminal as she would a wild bear. Vicious killers were always the most dangerous when trapped. She could sense Lex standing stock-still by her left shoulder, his eyes on his son and whispered prayers for Danny’s safety on his lips. Poppy’s right hand tightened on Stormy’s collar, signaling the animal not to move. Her other hand raised slowly to show the man that it was empty.
She willed her mind to block out everything but how she was about to protect the small child and save his life.
If only she had her weapon.
Help. Us. Lord.
“I want you to leave me alone to go about my business,” the poacher snarled. He stepped backward, moving deeper into Danny’s room. “Someone’s been poking their noses around where they don’t belong, trying to get in the way of me getting what’s mine.”
Did he mean Will’s questioning? Her own online investigation? Something her team had dug into?
Whatever it was, she was pretty sure he wasn’t lying.
“What do you mean?” she asked. She kept her voice low but firm. “What’s yours? Do you mean the money you’ll get for bear cubs you’re trying to capture and sell? Those animals aren’t yours.”
“You don’t get to tell me what’s mine!” the poacher shouted. “So, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to take something that’s yours and hold on to your kid as collateral to make sure the bear cub sale goes through with my client tomorrow without interference. Once the buyer has the bear cubs and I have my money, you’ll get a call telling you where to pick him up. Turn around right now and walk away.”
Fear beat through her heart. She could feel Stormy almost quivering with energy under her hand, coiled to leap into action to protect the little boy. Poppy stared the man down, her tactical mind calculating every piece of information she’d need to save Danny’s life—from the man’s build, to where he was standing in the room, to the position of the gun, to the way he was clutching Lex’s son with one arm.
Her jaw set. “That’s not going to happen.”
“I’m leaving with this boy right now!” the poacher shouted. “You don’t want to face the consequences of stopping me. So turn around and walk away. Now.”
Poppy heard the floorboards creak slightly behind her, as if Lex was shifting his stance. They were standing so close and yet she couldn’t see his face or know what he wanted her to do. She just hoped he trusted her as much as she trusted him. The gunman shifted Danny around to the other side, as if struggling under just how unwieldy and heavy a squirming toddler was. Come on, Poppy, think! The poacher wasn’t about to kill Danny here. He wanted the boy alive and unharmed for his collateral plan to work.
So, if he opened fire, it wouldn’t be at Danny.
“Now, here’s what’s going to happen,” the masked man said. “You’re going to back up down the hallway. I’m going to walk out of here and you’re not going to stop me.”
“No.” Her voice rose, calm and clear, with an authority that came from somewhere deeper than just herself, from her badge, her team and the legacy of her fellow officers. “Because I’m an Alaska state trooper, this is my K-9 partner and we’re not about to let anything happen to Danny. So, set him down gently, drop your weapon and raise your hands now.”
He snorted, pulled the gun away from Danny’s side and pointed it right between Poppy’s eyes. She heard the floorboards creak behind her and then she felt Lex’s hand brush against her back for just a fleeting moment and yet filling her with strength. She swallowed her fear. As long as the only weapon in his hand was pointed at her, it wasn’t pointed at Danny.
Poppy stroked the back of the dog’s neck with her fingertips and felt the tension radiating through her fur. She knew everything inside Stormy wanted to leap into action to rescue Danny. It was her purpose. It was what she was trained for. Stormy wouldn’t hesitate to risk her life for the child.
“I would’ve thought losing Johnny was enough incentive to show you we really meant business,” the poacher said. “But apparently you wanted to learn the lesson the hard way.”
Poppy let go of the K-9’s collar. “Stormy! Attack!”
Snarling, Stormy leaped.
TEN
Stormy reared up on her hind legs and stretched herself to her full, ferocious seven-foot height. The man shouted a swear word in terror and swung toward the K-9. Danny slipped from his kidnapper’s grasp, tumbling onto his bed. Poppy leaped for the toddler without hesitation, diving into the room, catching Danny up into her arms and cradling him to her chest. She turned back. Stormy had the poacher down on the floor of the bedroom, her huge paws on his shoulders. The assailant thrashed against the dog, his weapon still in his grasp, their struggle blocking her exit.
The gun fired.
Plaster rained down as the bullet struck the ceiling above their head. Poppy curled herself into a protective ball, shielding Danny with her body.
“I’ve got Danny!” she shouted. “He’s safe!”
The poacher shouted in pain as Stormy’s strong jaws clamped onto his arm. A second bullet ripped from the poacher’s gun, shattering the window. Glass rained down around them. She and Danny were still caught in the middle, with no way to escape the room and just one stray bullet away from being seriously hurt.
“I can take him down!” Lex shouted.
“Okay,” she yelled. “Stormy! Stand down!”
She looked back, cradling Danny’s small head into the crook of her neck. Lex’s strong shoulders filled the doorway, blocking the kidnapper’s path. Stormy sprung back. The perp stumbled to his feet, then as she watched, he turned and threw himself through the broken glass of the second-story window, shoulder first, like a desperate football player trying to block a tackle. He crashed through and into the rain outside.
“Keep my son safe!” Lex shouted.
“I will!” she called. “I promise!”
Without hesitation, Lex ran toward the shattered window and dove through. She looked out. The poacher scrambled and slid across the slippery roof of the covered porch below them. Lex tackled him. The two men struggled for a moment, rolling and battling in the darkness. Then the roof gave way under their weight and they fell through, landing on the lawn in a mass of limbs and broken boards.
The perp recovered first, leaping to his feet and sprinting across the lawn into the blackness of the night beyond. In an instant, Lex was on his feet and running after him. She lost sight of them in the darkness.
Stormy whimpered softly as if asking permission to jump through the second-story window and charge after them.
“Stay,” Poppy said, unexpected tears choking her voice. “Good dog.”
A moment later she heard an engine roar to life and then a few seconds later a second vehicle, which she recognized as Lex’s. So, the poacher was trying to get away and Lex was chasing him. She prayed for his capture.
She ran her hand down Danny’s back and gently tousled his hair, thankful he’d stopped crying. Okay, his breathing was strong, there were no obvious bruises or contusions and how hearty his cries were earlier were very good signs. Thank You, God. She’d give him a more thorough checkout in a moment, but first she had to get him away from the mess and chaos of the room.
The little boy’s tearstained face looked up into hers and suddenly it hit her—Lex had entrusted her with the most important thing in the entire world to him, without even a moment’s hesitation.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” she soothed, looking into Danny’s wide and trusting eyes. “You’re safe.”
She stood slowly, holding him gently and asking God’s help to keep the promise she just made to the little boy. She slid her phone out of her pocket and texted Will what had happened and that she was now with the toddler. Will texted her back an instant later that he would inform the team, contact Gillian, try to reach Lex and would head back to join her ASAP. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing Will had it covered and all she now had to worry about was Danny.
Truly, the most important job of all.
She kept praying while she scooped up all the stuffed animals on the bed, along with Danny’s blanket, and cradled them around him like a nest. Then she carried him out of the bedroom, with Stormy by her side, leaving the tossed mess of the room with shards of glass and plaster covering the floor behind. She closed the bedroom door behind her firmly and then looked down at Stormy. The dog peered up at her solemnly under shaggy brows as if Stormy felt the responsibility, too.
She started down the stairs with Danny in her arms and her K-9 partner by her side. A tiny hand brushed her face.
“Daddy.” Danny sniffled. “Want Daddy!”
“I know, I wish your Daddy was here, too,” she admitted, “but you and I, and Stormy, are going to go hang out in my room until he gets back.”
“And Mu’shoom kitten?” Danny asked hopefully.
If she could figure out where the kitten was hiding, considering she’d probably been frightened by the chaos. “Yes, and Mushroom the kitten, too.”
She checked that the front, back and sliding door to the kitchen were all locked, then went into her bedroom suite. She’d barely managed to lock the door when she’d heard a small but persistent scratching sound and opened it to see the kitten shoot past and dive under the bed. Stormy positioned herself against the door, with her head on her paws and her ears perked. All right, then, the gang’s all here. Poppy locked the door again, climbed up on the bed with Danny and curled up beside him.
“Now,” she said, keeping her voice playful and light, “we’re going to play a special wiggling game. I’m going to point to different parts of your body and you’re going to show me how good you can wriggle it, okay?”
Danny nodded enthusiastically. She breathed a sigh of relief, then sat cross-legged on the bed and methodically started checking the boy for any external or internal injuries. First, she started by having him follow her waving finger with his eyes, to help rule out the possibility of a concussion. Then had him wiggle his feet, kick his legs, waggle his fingers and wave his arms, while he laughed and giggled at the game. She laughed along with him, feeling tears of relief brush her own cheeks. His color and breathing were good, his pulse was strong, he had no bruises or scrapes and nothing was broken.
When she’d run through everything in her mental emergency first-aid checklist, she hugged him tightly and felt the little boy hug her back.
Thank You, God. Just thank You so much.
A gentle knock sounded on the door and Stormy’s ears twitched slightly but her body didn’t tense. Her heart leaped, hoping it was Lex, but instead Poppy heard Will’s voice. “How’s it going?”
“Good.” She looked down at the little boy in her arms. “Is Lex back?”
“Not yet,” Will said. “It’s just us for now. Scout and I are going to do a perimeter search and make sure all the exits and entrances are secured.”
“See if you can find out how he got in,” she told him. “I checked the doors, too. The window was only open a few inches and the porch roof didn’t look strong enough to climb up.”
“Will do,” he said. “You’re going to hold tight there?”
She swallowed hard. There were a dozen very important things related specifically to her training as a trooper she could be doing right now, and yet as she felt the small boy nuzzle against her she knew there was nowhere else she’d rather be. “I will.”
Danny’s small hand brushed the side of her face. “Read story?”
“Yes.” Poppy looked down into his big eyes. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.” She turned back to the door. “Will? Can you pop up to Danny’s room and grab us some of his storybooks?”
Will came back with the books in moments. Poppy thanked him and locked the door behind him. She checked her phone in vain for texts from Lex, and seeing none, she set her phone down and turned to Danny.
“Okay,” she said brightly. “Which one should we read first?”
He grinned. “Pi’gon story!”
Stormy gave up her post at the door and climbed across the bottom of the bed as Poppy tucked her legs up to make room for her. Mushroom slipped out from under the bed, balled up beside Stormy and started purring. Then, finally, Danny curled himself into the crook of Poppy’s arm. She leaned forward and brushed a kiss on the top of his head, and she started to read.
She had no idea it was possible for a heart to feel both so light and so heavy at the same time. Was it possible to mourn the marriage and family she never had, while still being thankful for the amazing lives she and Lex had without each other? Could gratitude and grief, joy and pain, coexist inside her heart?
She settled back against the blanket, feeling Danny rise and fall on her chest with each breath. Maybe on some level she’d blamed herself for losing Lex. After all, if she’d been a better partner and done a better job of loving him, he would have stayed, right? And yet, at the same time, if he’d blamed himself for Johnny’s life going down the wrong path she’d be the first to point out that no matter how hard and genuinely a person loved someone, they weren’t responsible for that other person’s choices.
And with those conflicting thoughts swirling inside her, she let her mind both leave the sadness of the past and the anxiety of the future, and exist in the present moment of the stories on the page, the animals snoring by her feet and the precious child in her arms.
* * *
A torrent of rain beat down around Lex’s truck, streaming down the windows and clattering on the roof as if trying in vain to drown out his thoughts. He’d been chasing taillights on narrow, rural roads through the dark Alaskan wilderness for almost half an hour, and was no closer to catching the masked gunman. His gas light had been on for at least half of that, warning him that his tank was almost empty, and his windshield wipers were working overtime as they beat furiously against the rain.
The twin lights ahead disappeared as the poacher cut onto a rough road through the trees, then reappeared ahead of Lex as he made the sharp turn after them. It had been like that since they’d left the outskirts of Gustavus—the lights seeming to blink off and then on again, as the truck swerved and weaved, then growing smaller as the truck sped away, then larger as Lex caught up.
He had to catch him. This man had threatened the life of his child, taken the life of his friend and was endangering the lives of rare bear cubs. And yet, after throwing everything he had into the chase, Lex was no closer to catching him.
Lex could feel the steady drag of his truck beneath him, letting him know it was pretty much down to running on fumes. The headlights ahead disappeared in the darkness and this time they didn’t return, no matter how fast he drove or how intently he peered through the storm looking for the poacher. Had he taken a turn Lex had missed? Had he recklessly turned off his lights and either kept driving without them or hidden somewhere?
He had no idea. All he knew was that his truck was minutes away from running out of gas and the man he was chasing was gone. But even then, he kept driving, watching minute after minute tick by, until finally he admitted defeat and pulled over to the side of the road.
