When the dog was as far away as possible, he dropped from the porch and ran for the fence. The dog didn’t seem to notice as it wolfed down food from the tin Kaia held in her hand. Brave woman. He wouldn’t have gotten that close to the animal.
Jesse reached the fence and opened the gate. He stepped through then shut it behind him. How would they get her brothers out? He hurried to Kaia. “Can you go around back and do the same with the two dogs back there? Your brothers are trapped on the back porch.”
“I’ll need more food.” The dog lifted its head and growled at Jesse. Kaia snatched her hand back as the dog lunged. “He doesn’t like you. You’d better get out of here.”
He left her there and hurried to the SUV for more cat food. He grabbed four cans and ran along the fence row to the far back corner. “Get to the front,” he called to Bane and Mano. “Kaia is there with the other dog. I’ll distract these two.” He raised his voice louder and called to the dogs. “Hey, pooches, look what I have for you.” He began to bang on the iron fence, and the dogs raced toward him. He pulled off the tops of two cans and dug out the insides with nervous fingers. Tossing it to the dogs, he watched Kaia’s brothers hurry over the rooftop.
He fed the dogs the food as slowly as he could until he heard Mano call to him from the front yard. Wiping his messy fingers on his jeans, he tossed the cans over the fence and raced back to join the rest.
Kaia was running to meet him. “We’ve got to get to town! They’re after Heidi!”
Twenty-five
Faye woke with a start, drenched in perspiration and shaking with regret. In her dream, her children were swimming. Their laughter changed to shrieks of fear as sharks’ dorsal fins sliced through the blue water from every direction. Kaia began to scream her mother’s name, but Faye had turned and walked away, left her, just like she’d done in real life.
She pressed her fingers into her eye sockets. Her head felt heavy and lethargic. She reached out to touch Curtis but found only cold, empty sheets. The green glow of the clock said it was nearly eleven thirty. Where could he be?
She slipped out of the bed and padded to the door. Stepping into the hallway, she peered downstairs, but there were no lights on. She moved into the hall and nearly fell over a figure lying at her feet.
“Curtis?” She dropped to the floor and touched him. He groaned as she rolled him to his back, and his eyes fluttered. A trickle of blood ran from a cut on his forehead. Just then, she heard a child’s voice from downstairs.
“Let go of me! I want my mommy. Mommy!” Heidi’s wail ended with a sob as a man’s voice answered her roughly. It didn’t sound like Jesse.
The keiki’ s wail had been in her dream. Faye shot to her feet. She glanced down at Curtis, her hand to her mouth. He needed her, but so did Heidi. Fear held her immobile. She’d never in her life been able to face down danger.
She shrank back against the wall then sank to the soft carpet. Crawling toward her bedroom, she thought she could hide in the closet. For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and a sound mind. The words thundered in her head. She stopped and looked down the stairway. Tears leaked from her eyes. She was such a coward. Heidi could be in real danger.
She tried to tell herself it was Jesse who’d come for his niece, but she knew the truth. Someone bad had taken the keiki, and only Faye could stop him. She rose on trembling legs and prayed for God to help her. Then she turned and hurtled down the stairs.
At the bottom of the steps, she stopped and listened. Heidi’s sobs seemed to be coming from the kitchen. Faye heard the back door open. On bare feet, she ran toward the sound. When she entered the kitchen, she saw a tall, blond man carrying Heidi. The little girl was pummeling him with her small fists.
“Let me go. I want my mommy!” Heidi howled again.
Faye acted on instinct. She grabbed up the bowl of fruit on the table and brought it down on the man’s head. It bounced off his skull and rained apples, bananas, and mangoes onto the floor. The man paused and turned his head to look at her. She quailed at the fierce glare and hesitated. Then Heidi screamed again, and Faye was galvanized into action. She snatched at Heidi and must have caught the man off guard, because she managed to pull the keiki from his hands.
Heidi burrowed into Faye’s arms. Her wet face soaked the neck of Faye’s nightgown. “I’ve got you,” Faye crooned.
The man grabbed Faye’s arm. “Fine, you can come along too,” he growled. He propelled her out the door.
She backpedaled, trying to shake loose his grip. Opening her mouth, she gathered her breath to scream, but he clamped a hand that smelled of—was it cabbage? She bit him.
He swore and clamped his hand around her throat. “Do that again and you and the kid are dead. Got it?”