Desperate Rescue - Janet Feldman Series

Seth and Tommy made it back to the shack and were waiting impatiently for Jake to join them. They were getting ready to reenter the cave when they both heard a terrifying scream. Scrambling back into the tunnel, flashlights lit, they soon encountered Jake struggling to drag a lifeless form with one arm while shining his light with his other hand. He was grateful to see his friends.

  “Give me a hand, Seth, will ya?”

  “Sure thing!” Seth hurried to help Jake with the body. “Is this the girl?”

  “Is she dead?” Tommy asked.

  “Yes, I think it’s the girl, and no, she’s not dead,” he answered both of his friends, panting with exhaustion and a huge adrenaline spike. “We gotta hurry! Someone’s coming after her!”

  Seth handed Tommy his flashlight and then helped Jake carry the girl out through the cabin and down the steep steps.

  “We should’ve blocked the closet door,” Seth suddenly thought.

  “No time!” Jake replied.

  “Well, let me carry her over my shoulder,” Seth offered. Carefully lifting her up, they all noticed how pretty she was in spite of cuts and bruises.

  “That’s fine, but we’ll never get away on foot,” Jake remarked.

  “Let’s run!” Tommy started off.

  “Hold up there, buddy!” Jake called to him. “We can’t outrun these guys.”

  “Here, take the girl,” Seth unloaded her, and Jake grabbed hold. Seth ran up to the jeep, and within moments, it sprang to life. Easing it out of the trees and down the hillside a bit, he got it turned around and drove up to his friends. Tommy helped Jake get the girl in the back then hopped in the front with Seth.

  “Hot dog! You hot-wired it!” Jake was ecstatic.

  Seth smiled and let out a “Yaaaahoooo!” as he put the jeep in gear. At the same moment, two men burst from the cabin and raced down the steep steps.

  “Hey!” they both were yelling. “Stop!” they yelled again, accompanied by a gunshot.

  “They’re shooting at us!” Tommy yelled and ducked down in front.

  Seth was also crouching down but continued maneuvering the jeep between trees and over rocks, causing the vehicle to lurch and bounce.

  “Take it easy!” Tommy was yelling at Seth. “You’re gonna kill us!”

  “Just shut up and let me do the driving!” he screamed back. The adrenaline was pumping hard as the occupants of the jeep, fearing for their lives, tried to set a new record for descending a mountain in the dark.

  “Turn your lights on!” Jake shouted, and Seth complied.

  The jeep continued its bouncing and jerking pace down the mountainside. All four occupants were growing confident that they had satisfactorily distanced themselves from further gunshots and stopped crouching. The jeep bounced along for a distance when Seth came to a stop to catch his breath and calm down. He left the engine running, set the brake then leaned back for a moment, breathing hard.

  “Why’d we stop, Seth?” Tommy wanted to know.

  “I needed to start breathing again. I think I held my breath all the way down,” he replied, panting. His hands were still gripping the steering wheel however. Then releasing his grip, he turned around to look at Jake and their new passenger who was wide-awake and staring at all of them in disbelief.

  “Are you okay?” Jake asked her.

  “I...I guess so,” she stared at him and then the others. “Who are you guys?”

  “Oh, well...I’m Jake.” He held out his hand to shake hers. Mechanically, she obliged. “This is Seth.” He pointed to their maniacal driver. “And…”

  “I’m Tommy...er...Tom,” he said excitedly, then gave her a funny smile and looked away, embarrassed.

  “Nice to meet you, Tom.” She smiled back. He was grinning from ear to ear but didn't look back at her. “And you too.” She looked at both Jake and Seth. “But what’s going on?” Janet asked, looking behind the jeep nervously.

  “We’re rescuing you!” Tommy was elated finally turning around again.

  “Rescuing me?” Secretly, Janet was glad to have rescuers but uneasy about trusting anyone anymore. “What makes you think I need to be rescued?”

  Jake gave her a curious look then said, “Well, in the tunnel back there, I thought I heard you say you wanted help from someone. And the sheriff has been trying to find you...at least I think it’s you.”

  “The sheriff?” she asked nervously. “Are you going to take me to the sheriff?”

  “No!” Seth blurted out. “We’re not. At least not yet.”

  “Not yet?” she asked quickly.

  “What he means is we don’t know who to take you to for help just yet, so we’re going to take care of you until we do.” Jake was matter-of-fact. “Anyway, right now, we need to get moving again, Seth.” Then turning back to Janet, he said, “What did you say your name was?”

  “I didn’t.” She looked at him.

  “Oh...right.” He seemed a bit sheepish.

  “But it’s Janet.”

  In a short while, they had reached Jake’s truck. Seth kept the jeep running while Jake, Janet, and Tommy hopped out.

  “What do you want me to do with the jeep?” he asked Jake.

  “Hang on to it for now. We don’t want Danes and that other guy to catch up to us.”

  “Right!”

  “Tommy, you can ride with me and Janet in the pickup, okay?”

  “Sure, Jake.” He headed for the truck as Jake helped Janet out of the backseat of the jeep.

  “Come on, Janet. You can sit between me and Tommy, and Seth’s gonna follow in the jeep.”

  In a few minutes, both vehicles were headed back down the mountain. The sky was starting to light somewhat. It would be dawn soon. Jake was hoping they could get all the way back to Cold Creek before the sun was completely. The farther down the mountain they headed the less steep it became and the going was not as rough. Jake debated about whether or not to turn on the CB but decided not to for now. No telling what would be said, and he didn’t want to upset Janet or Tommy.

  Even though they had taken their time heading up the mountain the day before, coming back down was different. They weren’t looking for someone they didn’t know this time, and going downhill is always easier that going up. They were getting closer to Danes’ cabin, and the sky was definitely showing signs of dawn by now, but sunrise was still about an hour away. They finally came within about an eighth of a mile of the cabin where Jake pulled up and stopped his truck. Seth pulled up beside him, and they had a brief conversation.

  “Now what?” he asked Jake.

  “Well, I think I want to hike down to the cabin and check around first.”

  “Good idea. You want me to come along?”

  “How about halfway, just in case? If there’s anything wrong, you can hustle back up here and take off with Tommy and Janet.”

  “Where would I go though?”

  “Back up into the hills, I guess,” Jake replied, not too sure himself.

  Janet just stared at them, then asked, “Wouldn’t it be better if we all stayed together?” Tommy was nodding his head in agreement with Janet’s plan. “What if Greg and his...his...friend show up?”

  “We got his jeep!” Seth thought it was a pretty smart answer.

  “Yes, you have Greg’s jeep, but what about the other guy? How’s he been getting around?” She made an excellent point.

  “Uhh...well, I don’t know, but for right now, I think you and Tommy should stay here in the truck. Seth will follow me partway down, and I’ll go on to Danes’ cabin and see what’s going on there.” Jake had made up his mind, and there was no changing it.

  Janet slumped back against the seat and shook her head in disbelief. It did not sound like a rational plan to her! Instructing Seth to park the jeep among some nearby trees, Jake and Seth took off down the road while Janet and Tommy watched in spite of her objections. Janet decided to adjust the rearview mirror so she could see anything comin
g at them from behind. Tommy figured she was just checking her hair and smiled at her.

  “You look real pretty...even with the scratches.”

  “You are very sweet, Tom.” She smiled at him and took his hand. “I know you will protect me.”

  Tommy blushed but agreed. “Yes, I will.”

  Janet rested her head against the back window of the truck cab and kept her eye on the mirror. Tommy just stared ahead watching and waiting for his pals to come back.

  Jake and Seth hurried down the road, listening for anything unusual. They tried to keep to areas with lots of pine needles to walk on to mask the sound of their approach and eliminate footprints in the process. Jake finally indicated for Seth to stay put, which he did, crouching down. Jake then went ahead listening and watching for anyone or anything.

  Jake finally came within sight of the cabin. He didn’t smell any smoke from the wood burning stove and didn’t see any trailing wisps of smoke coming from the stovepipe. He heard no sounds. Approaching from the rear of the cabin, he crept around one side until he could get a clear view of the clearing in front of the cabin. It was still fairly early and though still somewhat dark outside, he didn’t want to take any chances. Seeing nothing, he retraced his steps around to the back of the cabin and over to the other side to check it out as well. Nothing.

  Glancing around, he then eased around to the front of the cabin and mounted the steps to the porch and front door. Carefully peering in a window, he couldn’t see anything for the darkness, but then he figured no one could really see him yet either. He quietly tiptoed to the front door and tried the latch. It released easily, and he carefully pushed the door open.

  Seth was getting anxious and beginning to wonder if he should go find Jake or return to the truck when his friend returned to report that the cabin was empty. Together, they headed back to the truck to tell the others.

  Tommy squeezed Janet’s hand the moment he saw his friends. She sat up straight and silently chided herself for having dozed off. “What took so long?” she demanded.

  “Yeah!” Tommy joined in.

  Jake looked at Tommy somewhat amused and then glanced at his watch. “We’ve only been gone for about twenty minutes.” He said. “Besides, I had to make certain no one was at Danes’ cabin since we have to drive right by it.”

  “Fine,” she acknowledged. “Can we go now?” Janet’s nerves were definitely on edge. These last few days have been the worst she could remember. She was cold, tired, hungry, and just wanted to find Sally, go home and forget all about mountains and caves and drips and dogs.

  “What happened to Shad?” she suddenly asked.

  “Who?” all three friends asked together.

  “Shad. Shadow. Greg’s dog?” Janet’s voice trailed off.

  “Didn’t know he had a dog,” Seth answered then hopped into the truck bed on top of their sleeping bags.

  Jake climbed in the driver’s side and started up the engine. They headed on down the road and past Danes’ cabin taking the same road she and Greg had traveled a couple of days before.

  “My car!” she blurted out suddenly.

  “Your car?” Jake asked. “Where?”

  “Back up the road somewhere. Greg hid it in some trees.”

  “I’ll bet the sheriff has found it by now and probably towed it into town. Besides, we don’t have time to go look for it now.” Jake carefully guided his truck along the dusty road. The sky was getting lighter, and he really wanted to get on the paved road and head for Cold Creek as fast as they could. It wasn’t long before they reached the place where Janet had spent her second night in the hollow, where she had been startled by the two deer. Everything looked different to her now. She began to relax and rested her head against the rear window again, closing her eyes. They were almost to the highway, she could hear Jake saying. She smiled at the idea of getting out of the mountains and back to a town with a room somewhere with a hot shower and comfortable bed. Even that run-down motel next to Rosie’s sounded okay for now.

  The truck jerked and wobbled over potholes and rocks in the road as they headed around one more bend in the road. Then Jake slammed on the brakes, and Janet sat up with a start. Positioned in front of them were two patrol cars, the sheriff, and his deputy.

  Chapter 17