Book of Love Page 17

“Going up highway 39, heading out of town.”

  * * * *

  David pulled the SUV into a pharmacy parking lot and parked behind the building. “You do anything to arouse suspicion or try to make a run for it, and you will be dead,” he told her before he got out and went into the store.

  Janice twisted around in the passenger seat, and tried for endless moments to reach the OnStar button on her inside rearview mirror. After many attempts, she finally got the button pushed in.

  “OnStar, how may we be of assistance?”

  “I’m Janice Meyers. I’ve been kidnapped and I’m tied up in my SUV. My arms and legs are tied, and I can’t move or get out. Please call the sheriff’s office and tell them where I am!”

  “We’ll put a tracer on your vehicle and will notify the sheriff’s department right now.”

  She looked up and saw David coming around the corner of the building. “He’s coming back to the car.”

  The operator immediately went silent.

  David came back to the SUV carrying a bag. He threw the bag in the back seat then climbed into the SUV and pulled onto the road. As he drove Janice kept asking him different things to let OnStar know where she was at.

  “Why are we heading north?” she asked.

  “I’ve got a special place just for you,” he snarled. David made a right turn, going over a set of railroad tracks and heading into the mountains.

  “There’s a train coming,” she said.

  “No, there isn’t,” he yelled at her.

  She pleaded with him. “David, please don’t hurt me. You really don’t want to do this. Where is the man I once knew? The good man, the man I married?”

  “That person grew up,” he sneered at her. “Now you’re going to pay for your deceitfulness, just like my mother,” he spat the words.

  “Oh, we’re by the East Fork Creek. Remember how you loved to go fishing in the creek?”

  “Yes, I’ll be living off the fish while watching you die.”

  She cringed at his words. They drove for miles, and the road got bumpy and hard to navigate. They passed a sign that read Huizen’s Ranch. There were horses running inside the fence.

  “I never knew where Huizen’s Ranch was.”

  He didn’t respond to her.

  * * * *

  The OnStar operator kept relaying information to Shane as Janice spoke, telling them where she was at. He in turn relayed the information to Chris, who was several miles ahead of him, heading north on highway 39. Shane got the Montana State Police to send out helicopters to search the mountainside. They knew she was past Huizen’s Ranch, and past the East Fork Creek.

  “She’s doing really good right now, and she’s giving us clues that we can act on. We’ll get her back, Chris. I swear we’ll get her back for you,” Shane vowed.

  In the meantime, Chris was going through his own private hell. He had notified Aaron of what was going on and where he was headed. Aaron had let Robin know before stopping by to pick up Alexis, and they took off in Aaron’s truck to follow his dad.

  * * * *

  “It’s awfully bumpy here, David,” Janice said, shuddering.

  “It gets worse. You’ll be walking a good mile to where I have a special spot just for you.”

  “You’re not in a vigilante camp, are you?” she asked.

  “No, oh hell no. No one knows where we are,” he yelled.

  “But where are we going then?”

  “Just shut up!” he yelled again.

  He came to the fork in the road and hesitated as if he didn’t know which way to go. She saw a map next to him, and peered at it.

  “There’s a vigilante camp south, twelve miles, according to this map and the fork in the road here.”

  “Yes, we’re to go opposite of that camp,” he muttered.

  “What are you going to do to me, David?”

  “You want to know?”

  “If I’m going to die, I’d like to know how,” she said flatly and with resignation.

  “I’m going to finish what I started. I’m going to make you drink the poison I have prepared for you and watch you suffer a horrible death, and just for good measure, at the very end, I’ll pump a few bullets in you.”

  She closed her eyes, tears spilling down her cheeks.

  They kept driving, going around the mountain. They were on a one-lane road now and the overgrowth revealed that no one had been there in years.

  “Are you lost?” Janice asked.

  “No, I know right where we’re at.”

  It seemed like they had been driving for hours, and she was trying to keep David busy talking and trying to give clues. They finally came to a point where they couldn’t drive any further. He pulled the truck into a hidden place among the trees. She thought she could hear helicopters somewhere overhead.

  He untied her legs and yelled, “Get out, bitch.”

  She stumbled, because she had her three-inch high heels on and her arms were still handcuffed behind her back. He laughed as he grabbed her roughly.

  “Your feet will be killing you before we get to this beautiful little place I have for you.”

  “What is this place?” she asked, shivering and trying to maintain her balance.

  “Oh, you’ll see, wife,” he spat disdainfully.

  “Is there a camp or...or a log cabin or something out here?”

  David grabbed the bag he threw in the SUV at the pharmacy. He shoved Janice, and she fell to the ground. David pulled her up by the arm and she let out a yelp. One of the heels of her shoes broke off. He moved to walk in front of her down a path. He turned around when he realized that she wasn’t immediately behind him.

  When she caught up with him, he slapped her so hard that she fell to the ground again. Her face stung, and she knew her nose was bleeding.

  “You keep up with me, bitch,” David growled.

  He shoved her forward and she fell again. He yanked her up and pushed her forward. She almost lost her balance, but managed to stay standing. They heard helicopters twilling around in the sky.

  “You fucking bitch. You have them tailing us, don’t you?” He ranted at her.

  “No, David, I don’t.”

  He shoved her again. This time he pulled the gun from his belt and began waving it around frantically. After walking for what seemed like hours, they came to a small cabin. He shoved her in the cabin and she fell again. Her feet and legs were bloody, and blood continued to ooze down her face from where he’d made her nose bleed.

  David put the bag down in the kitchen then pulled her up and shoved her over to the couch. He held her by her throat and stared into her eyes. She saw nothing but the devil in him.

  He threw her down on the couch then slapped her one more time. After tying her legs he walked over to the sink and grabbed a dirty cloth and wet it. He came to her and sat down beside her, wiping her face. She wondered why he was doing that.

  He left the gun on the side of the couch while he stood up and grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back, looking in her face. He leaned down and kissed her hard. Then he came up for air and rasped, “I’ll have you one last time before I shove that poison down your throat.” He released her and walked back to the kitchen.

  Not if I can help it. She looked over at the gun he seemed to have forgotten about.

  He pulled out a container from under the sink. He placed the container on the counter and stirred the mixture he had there, and emptied the contents from the bag into it, then poured it into a pitcher that had a spout on it. Janice watched him nervously. She knew he’d be able to get that spout into her mouth and force the stuff down her throat.

  She looked over at the side of the couch where the gun was laying, and then slid in that direction, turning halfway on the couch so she could pick the gun up with both of her hands. With her hands handcuffed behind her back, it was awkward, but she managed to do it.

  She thought she could vaguely hear helicopters again. David looked out the small kitchen window. He
turned around, grabbing the pitcher, and started walking toward her, getting ready for his final revenge. Then he stopped cold. She was sitting sideways on the couch and had the gun pointed directly at him.

  He smiled wickedly at her. “You can’t use that, you’re too afraid.”

  “Try me.” She cocked the gun.

  He came toward her. She was shaking, but she wasn’t going to let him hurt her if she could stop it. He set the pitcher down on the table in front of Janice and stepped toward her to grab the gun, and she fired.

  * * * *

  OnStar reported that the vehicle had stopped and the occupants got out. Shane called Chris and said, “I don’t know of any property up here that has any buildings or cabins on it.”

  “Me either. Alexis may know of something. Him and his buddies spent a lot of time in the area with their snowmobiles. I’ll call him and ask.”

  “While you do that, I’ll call a real estate business and see if they know of anything.”

  They disconnected the call and Chris dialed his son’s number. “Alexis, I’m by Huizen’s Ranch, and I just passed the East Fork Creek. Do you know if there is any place back in this mountain where this madman could have taken Janice?”

  “Hmm...” Alexis paused for a second and then said, “Yeah, there’s an old log cabin back there, it hasn’t been used in years as far as I remember.”

  Chris got off the phone with Alexis and called Shane back. When Shane picked up, Chris told him, “There’s a cabin out here somewhere.”

  “Yes, the real estate business told me that too, and they gave me the coordinates. I’m punching them into my GPS now.” After a moment’s pause, he said, “Bingo.” Shane gave Chris a set of quick instructions to the cabin.

  The road turned into a one-lane path, bumpy with a lot of ruts. When Chris missed one rut, he would hit another one, causing him to bounce around in the truck. He continued down the path and came to the fork in the road that Janice had reported inconspicuously to OnStar. Aaron and Alexis had arrived on the off-road that led to where the sheriff was at. Chris was a couple of miles ahead of them.

  Chris got to the end of the path and saw the SUV parked under the trees.

  “I found her SUV,” Chris said to Shane from his cellphone.

  “Don’t approach the vehicle. They could still be in it, and he could harm you.”

  “I’m not waiting,” Chris replied tersely. He sure as hell was not going to sit around and wait for Shane and his officers to arrive. Chris got out, then went to the back of his truck and pulled out his rifle and loaded it.

  He silently came up alongside the SUV and peeked inside to make sure they weren’t in it. Then, as Chris looked to see where the trail was and if there was any evidence of Janice, a gun went off and echoed in the hills. Chris’s blood went cold. Searching the path frantically, he managed to find two sets of footprints and followed them. He saw blood, and it looked like she’d fallen. He found one of her shoes, and then he found another one. Chris thought she might have been leaving the shoes behind to lead him to her.

  As he hurried along, desperate to reach Janice, his ears were tuned to the noises around him. It wasn’t unheard of to find elk, moose, deer, wolves, or other animals lurking about. Deer were in rut right now and they would charge anything. He heard choppers coming nearby.

  Finally, he found the cabin. Chris approached stealthily. He walked up quietly and peered into the small window. He saw Janice sitting sideways on the couch with her hands handcuffed behind her back, and a gun in her hand. David was staggering toward her. It looked like he had a gunshot wound but was still able to move about. Janice went to fire another shot and dropped the gun.

  Chris heard David laugh. He grabbed a pitcher from the table and walked over to Janice, and she slithered to the other side of the couch. David brought the pitcher up as if he was going to pour the contents into Janice’s mouth.

  Chris took his shot from the window, and David fell instantly, the pitcher falling back on him and pouring its contents over his body. He screamed, writhing in pain.

  Chris entered the cabin. He grabbed the keys on the table and went over to Janice. He untied the rope around her legs and removed the handcuffs, and then he held her in his arms as she sobbed.

  Aaron, Alexis, and Shane came running into the cabin. Shane looked around, quickly assessing the situation, and called for two medivac air lifts to the hospital.

  “Janice, are you okay?” Shane asked.

  Janice nodded her head, still clinging to Chris.

  “What happened, Chris?” Shane asked.

  “When I got here he was trying to pour that liquid on Janice.” He pointed at David, who was moaning softly.

  “What is that?” Shane asked.

  “Probably potassium hydroxide,” Chris replied.

  “Did you shoot him twice?” Shane asked.

  “No. Janice shot him once from behind her back,” Chris replied. “He had her legs tied together and her hands handcuffed behind her back. But she was sitting sideways on the couch and had the gun in her hands when I got to the window.”

  Chapter 20

  Shane and his men took care of all the evidence and the medical crew was flown in by helicopter. They strapped Janice on a gurney and took her to the chopper. There wasn’t enough room for Chris to go along, so he walked back to the truck with Aaron and Alexis. It was a hell of a long drive. When they finally got to the hospital, Dr. Merck was tending to Janice and all they could do for the moment was wait.

  Sandra had closed up the shop for the evening and came to the hospital with Robin, Ruthanne, Glen, Dale, and Cheryl to wait. Cathy pulled up behind Aaron’s truck. The hospital staff members were reassuring Chris and his family that Janice was getting the best possible care. Pretty soon, a psychiatrist arrived. No one knew why.

  Even though it had only been two hours, the wait seemed to take all night. Finally, Dr. Merck and the psychiatrist came out together, and they sat down in front of Chris.

  “Chris,” Dr. Merck said. “We treated her wounds and bandaged them, and she will be okay physically. She has a broken nose, and that will heal. He did slap her around a bit. Her feet were swollen and cut up pretty badly, but they’ll be okay. He did not get the poison in her and he did not rape her.”

  Chris released a sigh.

  “Emotionally though, she’s pretty shook up. She may need psychiatric counseling for a while before she gets back to normal. I believe that Janice will recover, however, it will depend on her, and her surroundings and environment. Not many people have had the experience of surviving two attempts on their life.”

  Dr. Merck and the psychiatrist decided to keep Janice in the hospital for a couple of days to monitor her emotional well-being. Chris practically lived at the hospital for those few days, staying with her from morning to late evening. The kids all pitched in, managing the business for Chris. Glen handled the major portions of the business, while Sandra answered the phones and took care of the customers. Cheryl kept everyone’s spirits up and helped Robin, who was running the library for Janice. After Alexis got off work for the day, he would go help his brother and Glen wherever they needed him.

  Thanksgiving arrived, and though Robin fixed a nice dinner and all the family was there, Chris stayed at the hospital with Janice. That evening Robin brought them some food. She paused at the door to the room, watching Chris cradle Janice in his arms as she sobbed. She finally quieted down, and Chris stood up to stretch. He turned to greet Robin, his eyes burning from crying and lack of sleep.

  Robin stepped inside the room and passed out the plates and silverware to Janice and Chris. Janice picked at the food, barely eating. Chris dug into his plate and ate like he was starving. He realized he’d been so worried and focused on Janice that he hadn’t eaten anything all day.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you with Thanksgiving dinner, Robin,” Janice said quietly.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about, Janice. I’m so glad you got through this horr
ible ordeal and will be okay.” Robin smiled gently at her.

  Janice set her plate on the nightstand, then lay back in the bed and nodded off.

  “Have you asked her to marry you yet, Chris?” Robin asked softly.

  “No. The timing never seemed right,” he said sadly. “I’m still not convinced that we should do that. I’m worried about how people will treat her if she’s married to me.”

  “Have you asked Janice how she feels about that?”

  “Yes, she’s not even concerned about it. She says people will say what they want and it doesn’t matter to her what they think.”

  “Well, I can tell you this—a deaconess from the church Janice has been attending approached her about being involved with you, and Janice very politely put her in her place. The deaconess said that Janice shouldn’t marry outside her own race. Janice asked her, ‘Do you think God cares what color someone’s skin is?’ and the deaconess said no. Janice said ‘Then why should you?’ Then Janice politely brushed her aside by telling her she had work to do and walked back into her office.”

  Chris looked at Robin and then back at Janice. “You’re kidding,” he said.

  “No, I’m not. She handled it beautifully.”

  “Yeah, she did.”

  Chris thought about how well Janice had fit into his home and his family and how accepting she was of them and how they had taken to her. They all seemed to adore her as much as she adored them. A peace settled over him as he determined in his mind that they would be married...if Janice wanted it.

  * * * *

  After two days in the hospital, Janice was released. However, Chris took her to his house instead of her apartment. When she walked in the door, Ruthanne came running up and threw her arms around her. She hugged the child and whispered, “Have you been practicing?”

  “Yes.” Ruthanne giggled.

  “Good.”

  Chris looked at her, wondering what was going on between the two of them.

  Later that day Shane came to the house to take a formal statement from her. “Janice, tell me about the day David kidnapped you. What were you doing and how did he get into your apartment?” Shane asked.